This post gathers a collection of personalized, meaningful mementos we display around our home. Some are simple DIY projects and others are items we rescued from a closet and put back on display. None are expensive or difficult to create, and each one helps keep small moments and memories alive in our everyday spaces.
One of our favorite pieces is a wedding shadow box that collects fabric from our DIY table runners, place cards, an invitation, a thank-you postcard, a favor envelope, a save-the-date photo strip and a lemon & lime napkin from the reception. It’s a simple way to keep our wedding day on display as a small time capsule of memories.
For a quick and affordable art display, we filled an inexpensive Ikea frame for the dining shelves with three wedding photos—one of the table setting, one featuring fresh fruit we served, and one showing our white wedding cupcakes lined up. Having these images out where we can see them every day makes the memories feel active instead of tucked away in an album.
Photo booth strips from friends and family are another treasured keepsake. We kept them all in a white leather album, but selected a few favorites to photocopy and arrange on white cardstock—three in one frame and four in another—and hung them above our console table. The project was nearly free and brings lots of smiles when guests arrive.
We’ve kept a long-standing tradition of hopping into a photo booth on special occasions—engagements, anniversaries, birthdays, and more. We write the date and note on the back and store the strips in a cup on open dining shelves as a casual, visible scrapbook of moments.
Another ritual is grabbing sushi every New Year’s Eve. We write the date and restaurant on a chopstick we take home and collect them in a pretty vase. It’s an easy way to mark each year’s final night—and remember the meals that started our new years together.
We also held onto RSVP cards and guest sentiment cards from our wedding; instead of a guest book, we asked attendees to leave advice or notes on DIY speech-bubble cards. We enjoy flipping through these stacks and discovering notes from friends and family. Small items like wood block printing letters we found at a flea market add a charming, tactile touch to the display.
When we travel, we send ourselves postcards and jot down highlights—favorite restaurants, activities and memories. Instead of hiding them in a box, we display the postcards in a glass vase on the mantel so they’re easy to browse and keep the trips close at hand.
We also have a simple purchased print with a sweet message and pleasing “thistle” color that complements our living room paint. It’s affordable, graphic and meaningful—an everyday reminder that makes the entryway feel warm and intentional.
Small ceramic initials of our first letters sit on a shelf and feel surprisingly sentimental. Little touches like this—especially when they reflect personal details—help make a home feel lived-in and uniquely ours.
One special gift was a framed vintage map from 1907 mounted on cork. We use simple map pins to track places we’ve visited together, from early road trips to longer drives. Recently we added yellow pins to mark places we visited with our daughter, Clara—like a coastal trip in Delaware—so the map continues to evolve with our family adventures.
Another meaningful DIY is a framed key display showing keys from places we’ve lived since we started dating. I mounted each key in a shadow box and labeled the location and date underneath. It’s a simple project that turned into a favorite keepsake—each key is a tiny artifact of where our life together has taken us.
Above the bed we added three framed personalized initials—“J”, the sign-language symbol for “and”, and “S”—printed and placed in Ikea frames to fill a narrow wall space. It’s a subtle, personal touch that also marks which side of the bed each of us sleeps on.
For the bathroom makeover we made DIY vintage-style signs that reference locations important to us—Grand Central, where we met, and Astoria, where we lived. Because we made them together, the signs hold more meaning than store-bought decor and tie the space back to our shared history.
We created a customized calendar for the year, assigning a favorite quote or inside joke to each month. Some are silly, others are sweet—like the month that commemorates our wedding—and the calendar is a functional, personal piece that changes throughout the year.
We also framed a few favorite New York City Walk cards we received as a gift. After we moved, it felt right to display those walks in simple frames so the routes we wandered together in Central Park and Washington Square Park remain visible reminders of our courtship in the city.
Finally, we use inexpensive canning jars as vacation jars—each jar holds small souvenirs from a trip: shells, sand, a MetroCard, or even a massage stone from our honeymoon. Labeled with the location and date, they become charming little time capsules that spark conversations and bring back memories every time we see them.
These simple, affordable projects help us keep romance and personal touches at the center of our home. They don’t require a big budget—just small pieces of our lives curated and displayed so the memories stay present. What do you display to remember special moments? Family photos, travel keepsakes, or something else? We’d love to hear how you make your space feel personal.
Psst—For more DIY art ideas, check the How To page and look under “Artsy Ideas.”
Pssssst—As cute as we think we are, Burger and Clara are the sweetest pair. See for yourself.