The Art of Keeping Keepsakes

I love keepsakes.  Maybe I'm a hoarder.  Maybe I'm just sentimental about visual and tangible reminders of the past.  Whatever the case, I love keepsakes.  For the past six years, I have kept a box for every school year, and a few extra boxes for side trips, such as my trip to Wales in 2009 and my study abroad in China in 2011.  I keep lots of things in my boxes...things like movie tickets, football game tickets, programs, pressed flowers, notes, etc.  I even have a vending machine plastic "engagement" ring from some of my very silly friends my freshman year of college.  Normally I just recycle an old shoe box and decorate it with magazine clippings, brown paper bags, ripped up Starbucks cozies, and other things I might have collected that year that will give each box individuality.

 

Here are a few of my boxes in my closet.  The bottom one is my senior year of high school (about the cold quote, I was always sick in high-school which made the quote relevant to my life. haha...seems weird now), the top right is freshman year of college, and top left is what I used for my study abroad in China.  As you can see, as college has gone by, I've gotten a little lazier. :)

Now, since I just got engaged, I'm starting a new box for very special things from Tyler. I will continue my other box for this year, however I'm using a wooden box my grandma gave me to hold special things from the man I'm going to marry.  I'm excited, and I think this time of my life qualifies for a "grown up" box.

 This is my "grown up" keepsake box.

As you would have read about my engagement in my last post, I decided to preserve some of the flowers that Tyler used to propose to me.  I let the flowers hang dry for about a week.  My mom had a plain white cardboard watch box that she gave me to protect the flowers, so I lined the bottom with the square, compact cotton swabs, then decorated the outside.  I just measured a piece of scrapbook paper to fit and folded and glued it around the outside of the box just like you would wrap a gift box with a removable lid.  I then wrote a little story on the inside of the lid about the story of the flowers for a little sentimental charm.  :)

*I might change the cotton swabs to something else later, but I mainly like that the coarse texture helps prevent the flowers from moving around and crumbling since they are brittle.

Oh, and I had some time to play with my camera last night since I worked the graveyard shift, so I got a more detailed picture of my engagement ring.  I can't help but share.  :)

Beautiful, right?  I think my "Coffee-Darling" did well.  I love it!

That is all, until later.  Next time I might show off a few old keepsakes, and maybe some new crafts if I get around to them.

-Saxon