How to organize and showcase your memory clutter

What can you do with your old memorabilia (memory clutter) such as old cards, letters, school papers and awards, tickets to shows you attended, etc?

Well, I have a fabulous idea to show them off and keep them organized. For awhile now I’ve been wanting to try out the online bookmaking service from the site Blurb. In the meantime, as I’ve talked about on my blog here, I’ve been scanning all kinds of stuff, old slides and negatives, black and white family photos, my cards and letters from over the years, and YES even tickets to shows I’ve attended from high school until now.

So know I’m making books out them!

I know many of us have memorabilia we’ve been holding onto and every few years we do some deep house cleaning and we’ll stumble upon that box, look through it for a few hours, stroll down memory lane, and promise to deal with it. Yet, it goes back into that messy box until we stumble upon it again in another few years.

So here are my recommendations…first, sort these items out and store them in photo boxes. What doesn’t fit in photo size boxes can be stored in larger flat boxes. There are many places to find archival storage boxes like Target, Michaels, one of my faves, Archival Methods, and many more. You can even make you’re own out of old shoe boxes if you like and cover them with fabric or paper for a uniform look. (I got that idea from Martha!)

Once organized, I recommend scanning anything that can fit on your flatbed to make them digital. There are many fun projects you can create once you’ve done the hard part of scanning.

So here’s what I got in the mail today!

I created a book of old tickets to shows I went to starting in high school. Blurb has a 7×7 inch size book that was perfect for this task. I created a hardcover book in their photo wrap style and I’m so happy with it. It’s a beautiful, professional matte finish and I scanned my tickets to fit 2 on a page. To create the cover all I did was zoom in on one of the tickets to create a cool graphic effect that enhances the theme of my little book. Now I have something to keep on my bookshelf, flip through pages and remember going to these shows.  I can even show it off on my coffee table for others to view and make fun of my old musical tastes.

I’m am just loving this idea! I wanted to give the Blurb service and my idea a try and it’s awesome. Now I’m going to create more books. Some ideas I have are to create a book just of old polaroids, one of my old cards and letters (much easier way to read them) and all kinds of other books that I will share with you as I create them. Hopefully I’ll inspire you to get a move on your old stuff!

Visit the Blurb site and you will learn about all the different printing options you have and you can download their free Booksmart software which is what you use to create your layout options and then upload to their site and order.  With a little tech know how, it was very easy to to do.