I’m a happy lady today. The kids are with a babysitter while I sit at Starbucks to work. I’ve been here almost 2 hours and have yet to accomplish much. I need to stop smiling at strangers. I’ve already struck up a conversation with an ex-restuaranter who is going to contribute a few of his seafood recipes to the blog. So exciting! Must. Stop. Talking.
On to this fun and inexpensive way to display keepsakes. You know how much I hate to spend money on decorations. I’m a huge fan of creating my own artwork for our home. If you’ve been reading long, you probably also know that I’m not a fan of clutter. I hate it. I can’t stand having knick knacks or little keepsakes around the house. Of course, there are a few keepsakes that I have to keep. I can’t bear to toss out my sons’ birth announcements or their hospital hats, which is why I came up with an easy way to display baby keepsakes.
I wanted the focus of my display in the hallway to be on the boys’ birth announcements because there is a story behind these. These announcements are in the same style of everyone born on my dad’s side of the family. My dad, his siblings, and my sisters and I all have the same style. In case you haven’t recently been looking into birth announcements I can tell you how hard it is to find this style these days. Reaves Engraving is the only place I could find them. And they start at $135 for 50.
With Robert, we bit the bullet and bought them. I didn’t want to break tradition so $135 seemed worth it. When Jackson was born we were saving money for the new house and didn’t have an extra $135. Luckily I found Blair with Lovely Little Party. I heard of her through a friend. All she needed was a picture of Robert’s birth announcement and she replicated it for half the price! The paper quality is even better than Robert’s! Isn’t it amazing how similar they are?
Blair has a new product out that she is promoting. Check it out at the end of the post for a chance to win it or $25 to her Etsy shop!
I finally got around to framing the birth announcement this week. I bought super cheap frames at Michaels on sale ($2.50 each!), and backed them with scrapbooking paper that I picked up on clearance months ago.
Then I hung them up next to the shadow boxes that I made for each boy. The shadow boxes were also purchased at Michael’s on sale. I always pick up frames and shadow boxes when they have half-off sales. The picture below is Robert’s shadow box.
It has his shower invites, hospital bracelet, footprint, hospital card, sonograms and hat. I love walking by this everyday. Such wonderful (and slightly painful) memories.
Since I made one for Robert, I had to make one for Jackson. This is his box. He was born at a different hospital so the hats are different. The Naples hospital has hand knit hats and booties. Isn’t that the sweetest thing? Also crazy since we live in subtropical climate. He never wore them. Ever.
Doesn’t everything look so cute together? Okay, I’m biased. But really, I think it came together well.
The thing I love the most is that I made cheap, meaningful, decor for our home. I’m not certain that these will be hanging up in our house forever. They may find their way to storage eventually, but for now it’s the perfect way to display our baby keepsakes. Overall, I spent less than $25 for this display!
Want to help me promote Blair and her new product? Enter the giveaway and get a chance to win this fun clothing stamper or a $25 credit to her Etsy shop.
This is such a cute way to keep track of clothes. I can’t help but think of summer camp when I see this. I can’t tell you how helpful this would have been when I worked at camp. We had piles upon piles of lost and found at the end of the summer.
What are you waiting for? Enter the giveaway. Even if you don’t have kids, you can find something you love at Blair’s Etsy shop.
What is your favorite way to display keepsakes? I’m curious! I’m always looking for new ideas.
Like this post? You’ll love these too!
I would buy “Modern custom self inking address stamp style 578 – Lovely Little Party”
I love the return address stamps!! This would be such a cute time saver at Christmas, especially, and look nicer than the stickers I usually use!
I love those stamps too!
I would love to get the Modern custom self inking address stamp style 428 – Lovely Little Party!
I follow you on Instagram as Angelasnoozy which is a different username than on the giveaway form, but there is no box to leave my username for Instagram.
Thanks for letting me know! I’ll see if I can change the box for leaving an Instagram name.