How will you remember who made or gave you those special keepsakes that you have? How will your children know? At the time we are given a special gift, we think we will remember it forever, but as time passes, it is too easy to forget.

When I was expecting John, our first child, a lady from Gallatin named Eddie Binney (an amazing woman with so many talents), told me I should start a Keepsake Album. I had never heard of that before, but I thought it was a great idea. And now that we are expecting our first grandchild and going through John’s baby box, I am so glad I did.

To start a keepsake album take a photo of your keepsake and type or write up a brief description of it. I used clear labels to type the descriptions on. I used a 3-ring binder and photo album pages, but you could also use scrapbook pages.

When John was a baby, two of his great-grandmothers crocheted a blanket for him. They are very similar, but because we have the photos we can easily tell who made each one. Now when John and Lauren use them for their baby, the baby will have a blanket made by his Great-Great-Grandmother Carr and his Great-Great-Grandmother Davitt. How amazing is that?

I made copies of these pages for John so he can start his own Keepsake Album. I also scanned them and have started a digital keepsake album, so I can easily share it with others. I like having the physical book, but you could do it all digitally if you prefer.

You could include handmade gifts that you made. This is a little baby blanket that I made for the nursery when John was a baby.

Since I was the oldest of six children, I have very few things from my childhood, but I do have my first doll, given to my Grandma Steinhauser. The Dancing Kitty from our good friends, was in Laura’s nursery.

Often certain pieces of clothing may have special memories. This is a dress that Mark’s sister gave to Emily to wear to her wedding.

Record special projects that you completed. I painted these Santas in a class right before John was born and we still use them every year. I also painted the recipe box in the same class and still use it. I need to take photos of the furniture that Mark has made and include them.

Whether you make baby blankets, wooden furniture or anything in between, always sign your work in some way. The next generation can treasure them, knowing that you made them. Depending on the project, you could embroider your name, use a permanent marker to sign on the underneath side, attach a note or whatever is appropriate for the material that you used.

I know the photos of these keepsakes is low quality. Many were taken as we moved last time. As we were packing up I quickly snapped photos of things I considered keepsakes. Think about treasures you have – maybe special books, furniture, photo albums, jewelry, dishes…the list goes on. Somehow document why they are important to you so that the next generation will know why they were treasures to you.

Just looking through the Keepsake Album brings back so many happy memories. If things are not written down or recorded, they are often forgotten.

One of my goals this year is to update mine. I want to make sure my kids will know which quilts were made by their grandmothers and which ones I just picked up at antique stores. Enjoy your treasures and make sure others know about them so they can create new memories with them.