Spring Fling: Memory Keeping

Kristina from One Happy Mama

Hi there everyone!
I'm so excited to be a part of this Spring Fling Blog event to kick off the Spring season! Yay for Spring! It's one of my favorite seasons! I just love this time of the year!
Today I'm going to be talking a bit about memory keeping and ways that you can improve your memory keeping by incorporating some Spring cleaning to it all. Who doesn't love to freshen things up a bit and declutter? Well, it's important to remember to do that when it comes to your memory keeping as well. Here are a few things that you can do to freshen up and Spring clean your way through the piles of photos and memory keeping supplies you have:

• Go through the photos that you've taken and part with the ones you don't REALLY love. I know how hard it is to "let go" of those images that you just aren't sure about, but you feel bad just ditching them. It really does help though when it comes to organizing your photos and when it comes to memory keeping. Having TOO many photographs to choose from or just having TOO many photographs period can be overwhelming and make that memory keeping that much more difficult. Why not simplify your process and before ordering your prints OR printing out your photos as home, go through the ones you've taken and just delete the ones right away that you don't love or any multiples you have of a photo. Then once you've done that - be sure to organize your photos - so have a folder for them or just a place on your computer where you keep them all neat and tidy. It'll make ordering/printing those photos that much easier and if you ever need to go back to find a photo, it'll help at that time, too! I have folders on my computer broken down by year and then months so that I can drop and drag the photos that I use into those folders and keep them organized that way. Oh, and I think I'm do for another photo purge soon! Be sure to back up your photos as well! That is important!
• Go through all of the memory keeping supplies you have and purge! Whether it's scrapbook paper, cardstock, stickers, buttons, embellishments, etc. taking the time to go through your supplies and weed out what you don't use, have too much of or just don't want will help as well. Even if you just do that every Spring, it'll freshen your memory keeping supplies up and then you can see what you need more of, etc. and add some new little goodies to your stash!
• Simplify the process. I am all about simplifying things. I think it's important to do because too much clutter, even when it comes to our memory keeping supplies (photos, papers, embellishments, etc) can limit us creativity and also keep us from being productive and getting that memory keeping done. I know a lot of us have busy lives and don't have a lot of time to take photos, journal, scrapbook, etc. I am the same way. That's why I'm SO happy that this year I've jumped on the Project Life bandwagon. If you haven't heard of Project Life you can find out more about it HERE, but trust me - it IS such a life-saver when it comes to my memory keeping. You can make it work for YOU and customize it to fit your lifestyle. I think that is what makes it so great - it's DOABLE and THAT is refreshing. :) I even have a "Project Life Tuesday" that I share on my blog each week. It's a great way to keep myself accountable AND be inspired by so many other creative people who are doing Project Life! So definitely simplify your process and it'll help when it comes to how you do your memory keeping.
• Don't be hard on yourself. VERY important to remember. Lots of people think they can't start now because it's too late, but that's so not true. Do you think your kids or family will remember WHEN you started? Nope. They'll just remember that you DID start ... at some point. So why not get started now? Spring is a great time for a fresh start, don't you think? Whether it's picking up your camera a couple times a week, jotting down some funny things your kids say or documenting the every day life - it's doable and you CAN do it. So just do it. Don't compare yourself to others and how they document their memories - just get organized, find a way that works for you and your life and do it. Oh, but remember - it's important to live in the moment too and I truly believe that being IN the moment is the best way to keep those memories. They are best kept in the heart first and foremost, don't ya think? ;)

Well, I hope those couple of tips will help you either a) get going when it comes to your memory keeping or b) freshen up and simplify the way you document your memories. With Spring here - most of us want to spend as much time as we can outside enjoying it so don't let your memory keeping overwhelm you. ;)
One last thing ... I wanted to create a little printable to share with you all! You can right click on it and save it to your desktop and then print it out! I think it's a great reminder to us all.You could even include this in an album while your memory keeping! ;)

Thanks so much for reading and I'd love for you to join me over at my blog www.one-happy-mama.com! Thanks Dianna for asking me to be a part of this! Sending you all BIG hugs! Happy Spring! :)
Kristina