Making new memories from old memories

We visited my in-laws this weekend and I wanted to share something with you. Some years back, my Mother-in-love was going through an old trunk and came across my Father-in-love's baby book. He was born in 1923 so this was a priceless treasure. This charming little gem has a handpainted cover, and it is filled with detailed sweet memories that his mother had lovingly written. It is a joy to read, like this page……



This page reads:

Robert first learned to whittle on June 23, 1930 just before he was 7 years old. When he first got up next morning and tried, he couldn’t whittle and he cried, but in a little while he could again. On June 25th, 1930, Robert sawed a little board and made a spool holder to fit my sewing machine drawer for my birthday.

Isn't that sweet? After reading pages like that, I thought how sad it would be to tuck it away in a closet. So, it became a project.



Using an old window as the showcase, each page of the book was affixed, in chronological order, to the window back that I covered in burlap. Of course, you would never want to destroy the book to create a keepsake, so I photocopied each page of the book and printed them on parchment paper. The original book is safely positioned in the center of the frame along with his baby spoon, booties, and bib. We found these in the same trunk, aren’t they precious?



It always makes me smile when I see this on the wall in her home. And, that’s what memories are supposed to do……..make us smile! How many smiles are waiting in your closets?