Children's Achievement and Life Scrapbooks

It took us until our third child to realise this but, over the course of a child's early life, they (and you) will bring home quite a bit of paperwork in the way of certificates, pictures, programmes, awards, reports, art, Stuff!. Initially these might be pinned to a wall or a fridge, however no sooner than the surface area of either gets full (or the award falls off) then it is either consigned to a drawer or guiltily, you put it the trash bin.

This action is not normally one of malice, it's just there is only so much space available on a wall, in a room, in a home! We feel we have the solution to this though, which was very much created out of necessity and furthermore it is aimed at busy parents who have precious little time available and have a keen desire for order!

The solution is a folder or scrapbook that’s sole raison d'tre is to be a home for all these significant milestones; Once the award, certificate, photo, artwork has been on display (in the early years, that's very important) all you have to do is file it in the acid free plastic pockets of the folder, that's it. If you feel the the need, you can go to 'scrapbook town' on the pages with lots of accessories and embellishments, or, just put them in the pocket and that’s it. Being screw-post, with extensions the folder can expand and expand (you can go up to nearly 3" in thickness). Once it can get no fuller though, you start another - entitle it 'The Teenage Years'.

The thing is, these achievement folders or scrapbooks serve two purposes. The first is an easy way of filing 'stuff' that really shouldn't be thrown away. It will help make you a guilt free parent and just as importantly, it will create order in your home. If you need to find a music, sporting or academic certificate, well, you’ll know where to find it - In the achievement file. Also when Grandparents or elderly relatives call, they have something to be shown as there will always be something new in there.

The second will come many years later, when the child, now an adult has something to look back on, maybe with their own children (and then, wont you be the clever parent for saving it all!) However, taking it one step further again, the Scrapbook will eventually become an archive of that persons life. It will be part of their life book and the wider family history.

So where does it start? Well life books, or scrapbooks or achievement folders make superb presents for christenings or baptisms.

Our scrapbook albums are individually handmade. They have an inner and outer cover, which adds strength and longevity to the album. It also gives the opportunity to add an accent colour and pocket to the inside of the folder as well. They are made using acid free boards and materials (so no harm will come to the contents) and we use the the Chicago screw post mechanism. These are ideal album fixings as the can be easily extended as and when the contents increase!

To give it that extra personal touch, each folder can have either plaque on the front which can be used to put the name on or we can emboss directly onto the cover.