I’ve had a pile of sweet treasures from my kids collecting on a shelf in our living room for a few years. Everything from Mother’s Day cards to a certificate they were awarded. I regularly had to dust it because we live in the high desert and dust is ever present.  Have you ever finished a project and looked back to think, now WHY IN THE WORLD did it take me so long to do something about that.  Easy. Cheap. Quick.  This is one of those projects.

Like many of you I’ve been inspired by Marie Kondo’s Netflix Special to get organized and to declutter in 2019 – this topped my list of areas I needed to tackle. Now she doesn’t necessarily promote frugalness at $89 for a set of small boxes  that get this are SOLD OUT! However her tip to store things in pretty boxes resonated with me.  Immediately I knew I needed a box for these keepsakes.  I planned to look around next time I was in town at various stores, likely Hobby Lobby.

A day or so passed and I was putting something away in our closet when I realized I already had the perfect box – a large box sitting empty that once held my Sorel snow boots.  It was perfect!  I grabbed an old falling apart music book that I picked up at a garage sale with the intention of using the sheets of music for a craft project and I knew this was just.that.project.  I then grabbed a bottle of Elmers Glue from the days when the kids were making slime and a paint brush.  I painted glue on the box and began to trim and piece together the music sheets.  I suggest painted the glue on to keep it pretty thin, big globs of glue would just make the paper bubble up.  This was one of those projects that gives instant gratification, within minutes it was done and my treasures were placed inside with PLENTY of room for new memories to be added.

I get that this was overly simple and really didn’t need a whole blog post dedicated to it, except that maybe you’re like me – putting off a project that will in the end be easy peasy and leave you feeling that spark of joy!   If you’re not the crafty type I spotted some storage boxes here and you don’t have to leave the house!