Three Display-Worthy Kid Keepsakes

Back to School is a time we are particularly aware that our kids are growing up. Whether your…

Back to School is a time we are particularly aware that our kids are growing up. Whether your child is starting preschool, kindergarten, or high school, it’s hard not to have feelings of “Where did the time go?” and “How is my child so big already?” With my daughter off to school for the first time this year, I want to capture the memories of them young more than usual. In general, I don’t tend to print off many photos. Because I have two very boisterous, bouncy, borderline-insane (I kid) toddlers, I take a lot of pictures but nothing really makes it outside of my blog or my phone. I had Pinterest-worthy dreams of capturing their handprints on different mediums, capturing each centimeter of growth as the months went by. In my best vision of myself, their art would be in meticulously distressed frames, memories perfectly presented and preserved. I had also hoped each year I would send out some sort of ornamental momento during the Holidays to share a bit of our family with those we love. Oh, how reality-inducing parenting can be! While we are “busy making memories” by making our own play dough, cardboard dollhouses, and crafting up a storm in other ways, I haven’t even come close to hitting the mark on these other visions.
Recently, I came upon CrinkledNose.com. Based out of Birmingham, AL, Crinkled Nose offers gorgeous, custom-made note pads, stationery, invitations, announcements, and more. My favourite things about what they offer are that their site has templates to make the item of your choice, if you want it frame or formatted. Or, you have the option to upload your photo or icon to a blank slate. It can have text or no text. Additionally, I love that they suggest you make your item into a magnet. When I receive wedding invites or baby announcements, I always put them on my fridge and like to keep them there for time to come. So I ordered some items from Crinkled Nose and got to crafting 🙂

From what we did, here are my three recommendations for Display-Worthy Kid Keepsakes that are really easy to make too 🙂

3 Display-Worthy Kid Keepsakes

Magnetic pictures: From CrinkledNose.com, you can order a set of 25 or 12 and 12 of pictures made into magnets. I chose the 50/50 option so I could have some of both my daughter and son. I love the magnetic 5×7 photos I received. Because I love them on my fridge, the family I’ve given them to have loved them too, they fit into 5×7 frames for someone who doesn’t put magnets on their fridges, and they come with their own envelopes for mailing/ giving. Make your own distressed frames by clicking here.
Hand printed flower pots: We did this one for my mom for Mother’s Day one year and they turned out great! Both times, I used acrylic paint, a paint brush, a standard plastic pot, a wine cork for stamping, and varnish to finish it off. I had baby wipes beside me during this whole process, painted my daughter’s hand when my son was sleeping to avoid having them go nuts with paint, and then did my son’s after. After their hands were cleaned, we took turns stamping the pot with wine corks. After the paint dried, I sprayed to pot with varnish and we were done 🙂 TIP: If you’d like to date your pot, add a quote, or indicate whose hand is whose (if your kids are close in size like mine), using a toothpick dipped in paint to write works really well.
First Initial keepsake from Twitchetts: In following Twitchetts.com, I saw this idea and wanted to try it with my kids. From the dollar store, I bought two thin canvases and a set of alphabet stamps. With scotch tape, I taped my children’s respective first initials to their respective canvases, gave them the corresponding letter stamp and let them have at ‘er. Now they sit above my stove and I love them!