Decorate with what makes you happy.

Throughout my life, there have been things I have kept, significant things and, to others what might seem, insignificant things. Some of these things I have on display and others tucked away in a box. Looking at these things, I realize, they were kept throughout the years to evoke a memory, make me smile or because they simply had meaning to me, so why are some of these things stored in a box or haphazardly set some place and not proudly displayed?

Two days ago, had you looked at my cookbook stand, you may or may not have noticed what would have seemed like a normal recipe.

Maybe you would have thought it was a recipe I had recently made. Perhaps you would have overlooked it altogether. To you, it may have seemed an insignificant thing. To me, it brings back memories of this feisty lady...

My grandma.

Just before my grandma had passed away, I asked her to teach me to bake '2 Quick Cheesecake', a staple dessert she made for every family gathering. While perched on a kitchen stool, she happily ordered me around her kitchen, directing me through every step of the recipe. The confidence she had in her kitchen, confidence that comes from raising a family of 7, is the confidence I try to muster every day when cooking for my family of 3.

As we baked together, she wrote that recipe down and a few others she loved to make. That night, I took home the '2 Quick Cheesecake' we made together, 3 handwritten recipes she had written out and, of course, a priceless memory.

Throughout the years, I moved and stuck those recipes in a cookbook. I thought about them occasionally and when I would stumble upon them, I would smile. I finally put them on my recipe stand but really wanted to pay tribute to these recipes and the memories they held for me by displaying them in a way that even a casual observer could tell that it was a significant item I had saved.

I found a $1.99 frame from Goodwill that had an ornate design, giving it a vintage feel.

With a can of black gloss spray paint {I wish I had used semi gloss or matte}, I gave my Goodwill frame 2 coats of paint.

I found some black checkered fabric that I wrapped and then taped to the cardboard insert. The fabric covered cardboard then acted as a mat to place my recipe on.

Then, I centered my grandma's recipe on the fabric mat and inserted it into the frame.

Now, it has a place of honor, proudly displayed in my kitchen cabinet. For me, it allowed me to not only frame and display my grandma's recipe but also to frame a special memory as well.

If you have a collection of things you have saved, things that have special meaning to you, take a new look at them and see if you can give life to the memories they contain by displaying them in a significant way.