An idea emerges...

So, I like a lot of things but don't want to be engulfed in a lot of things. Hmmm.

A few years ago, one of my daughters shared with me a great idea from a friend of hers. This clever woman photographed the cute little items that her children made at and brought home from school. She also photographed special assignments, reports, tests, etc. Then, at the end of each school year, she turned them into books. Not scrapbooks, mind you, but glossy hardcover books from Macbook or Fickr or Shuttefly or whatever your choice is!

I love scrapbooking (I know, I know! I haven't done any in forever! [See Profile statement re motivation - or lack thereof...]) but scrapbooking is time consuming, labor intensive, messy, and expensive. The photo books are clever, fun, relatively inexpensive, and fast! They also fit very nicely on your bookshelf and look great on the coffee table.

My daughter used the idea to make a book of my grandson's (her nephew) first year. What a great idea! She used photos taken by all of us and put them together as a great gift for her sister on the little guy's birthday. After all, who is more deserving of a gift on a child's birthday than the mother?

So it occurred to me that I could use this same idea to save the memory of "things." My plan is to photograph some of the items that I cherish - from my great-grandmother, my grandmother, my mother. Also, perhaps, the few items I have that were my father's. I will then use a quick and easy template for a photo book and add some notes about the items and perhaps a photo of the original owner. I plan to keep the items themselves, but I will not have to have them on display to enjoy them. I can simply look at the slim, glossy, book! Easy to share with others, too! I am loving this idea!

This deer planter lived on the bottom shelf in my grandmother's kitchen thoughout my childhood.

Likewise, this rooster planter was a constant in my great-grandmother's home.

As our home approaches an empty nest, we have been remodeling and redecorating. My husband and I like to think of ourselves (perhaps mistakenly) as still young-and-with-its. Neither of us wishes to live in an old lady's house! We like clean, contemporary decor with not a lot of clutter. This juxtaposes with my desire to still have contact with the past. I look at my photo book idea as the perfect solution!

So now I must get busy! I'll have to dig some things out in order to photograph them! Wish me luck, my cupboards are filled with UFOs (un-finished objects)...