Tuesday, January 19, 2016

School Memory Boxes


Hello!!

If you have followed my blog for any length of time you'll know that I'm not a scrap booker.  I find the task absolutely daunting and for that reason alone have steered clear off the scrap book path. With that being said however, I still want to preserve our memories so the boys can reflect back in the years to come.  I've spent countless hours, on and off through the last couple years, searching the internet for other solutions and I think I finally found one alternative that works for me!

I decided that 2016 is the year I'm finally going to divorce the excess clutter in my house, beginning in my craft/office space. In the last couple of weeks I've emptied out the ENTIRE space, purged, organized, and slowly began the process of putting only the things that belong and I truly need back. Wow, what a chore - but its so close to being done!

One of the biggest areas that needed to be organized was the boys past schoolwork and projects.  I have a hard time throwing things away but it was beginning to take up too much space.  I had a little stashed here, and a little more over there, and oh, don't forget that drawer over there too!  I hated never knowing where I put things and I was starting to worry that things were going to be misplaced or mishandled and we'd lose those memories they worked so hard to create.  I wanted a system where I could put their entire schooling from Pre-K to Grade 12 in and it be safe and protected for years to come.  Enter in Jen from I Heart Organizing.  I've followed her blog for a couple of years now and while looking through her archives for something else entirely I stumbled upon her School Paperwork Organizing post.  It was literally a light bulb moment - it was exactly what I was looking for!  The post comes with free printables, tutorial, and tips; it truly couldn't get much easier!


I first began by purchasing my bins.  I went a little (ok a lot) bigger than Jen's file boxes but I wanted to make sure I had tons of room for growth.  These particular bins are Sterilite brand and are 4.5L.  I had a couple of hanging folder frames that I used inside them to hang my hanging folders onto. Using my Silhouette Cameo I cut both boys names and "School Days" from vinyl and added them to the side of each bin so there's never any confusion about who's is who's.

I printed out the Grade labels for each boy and affixed them to my file folders then printed out the Grade info sheets from Pre-K to Grade 12.  I added some solid colored paper, and a piece of the Schoolhouse DSP underneath their school photo from each year and added it to each corresponding year file folder.  I made sure to complete all the years so that everything co-ordinates and is ready for each school year.  Then all that was left was to fill them up!


As you can tell I have lots and lots of space left but I'm okay with that!  If the next couple years are anything like the last couple of years in school, it will be filled up in no time!

So, now that I have the boys school work in order I've given myself the next hill to climb...family photos.  I haven't done a thing with our photos since prior to 2006.  There are literally hundreds of them.  I've managed to sort them into years but that's it.  As I mentioned in the beginning of this post I am by no means a scrap booker but I think I'm going to attempt to take the plunge and use the Project Life products; they are simplified and easy to use for "newbies" like me LOL.  I'll keep you updated as I go but I would love to hear your advice and any words of wisdom you might have on how I should tackle this one!

Until next time...
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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I have used a similar system to this for my kiddos. I don't have labels or pics just their name on the top from a piece of paper! As I now have 2 finished high school (Yr 12 in Australia) and going to Uni this has worked OK for me. Although the eldest ran out of room in her tub! I had to start a second tub. I am not a scrapbooker either but do like to keep things! hubby has a name for me :( I am trying to let things go a bit one of my friends suggested taking pics of special art work so you have the photo when you no longer have that art work. I have done that with Christmas decorations they made in primary school. As for photo albums I use pocket photo albums and slip the pics in - I must admit I am way behind and have some older inherited family photos I need to scan. Wishing you all the best and looking forward to seeing how things work out for you.

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