Now that Labor Day has come and gone it is beginning to really feel like fall. Everywhere around the country for the last few weeks first day of school pictures have been popping up all over social media. I love seeing the bright smiles and excitement of kids heading back to school. This also means the beginning of the endless stream of art, stories, worksheets, etc. If you want to save some of these items for your kids, I have developed a process that works well for me and I hope it will help others to tame the paper piles that can so easily overwhelm us.
If you open up your kids’ closet door and mounds of papers come falling out at you, you’re not alone. Whether you stack them someplace out of the way or have a box or bin that you just throw your kids’ school work into, there is still hope.
I have a list items that I consider the basics for putting together school memories for your children.
- Albums – Decide what type of album you want to use and how much you plan to fit in each one. I have purchased a series of We R Memory Keepers 8.5×11 albums for both of my kids. Although I may not need as many as I’ve purchased (their school work is less paper based with each year as they get older), I have a matching set for them to take with them when they move on from our house someday. I realize this might pose a storage issue for them at some point but I’ll leave it up to them to decide if they want to whittle down the papers they keep or find a place to store the binders as is. I print a label for each school year so that it is easy to see what year it is.
- Page Protectors – I use both 4×6 page protectors for photos and small items, as well as 8.5 x 11 page protectors. I actually use the heavy duty office store brand of 8.5×11 page protectors as they are much cheaper than the scrapbook version.
- Cardstock – I keep white 8.5×11 cardstock with my protectors for anything that needs a backing. I get this cardstock in a ream from Walmart for just a few dollars.
- Tri-fold presentation board – I use this as a white backdrop for photographing work, mainly art, that is too large to fit in the binders. These photos are then printed individually or in a collage.
- Electronic file folder – I keep a folder under each kid’s name with the year and their artwork. I include their school photos in our monthly photos that I keep for all of my photos. Photos from school events are saved in a separate folder each month so they are easy to pull out and print.
In my next post I will include more information about my process for putting together school albums. Is this starting to sound doable? I hope so!
Giveaway – Ali Edwards Story Kit™ AM/PM
We are lucky enough to have an extra AM/PM Story Kit™ that is part of Ali Edwards’ monthly subscription. Since it is the time of year when getting back on schedule is key we wanted to help one lucky winner document what AM/PM means to them. You can see all of the goodies that are included in the kit here at Ali’s page.
Edited to Update: Giveaway is now closed.
All you have to do to be eligible to win is go to the very top of our page and subscribe to our blog to get our posts sent right to your inbox. It’s that easy!
The giveaway will remain open through Monday, September 21 when a winner will be chosen at random. U.S. residents only.
Good luck!
