The little moments worth keeping

Last week I was clearing out a cupboard and found a Valentine's card one of my sons made for his baby brother. He was nine, and his little brother was only a few weeks old, too tiny to even open his eyes properly, let alone read it. He made it anyway.

He is 13 now. His little brother is four. And I know without asking that he's never going to make him a card like that again.

That's the thing nobody warns you about. Sometimes you know a moment is special, and you tuck it away somewhere safe. What you don't know is that it's the last time. He'll never be nine again, and his brother will never be that small again. You don't get a warning, you just find the card years later in a cupboard.

Then I went looking through my phone and found a photo of him giving it to his brother. They were lying on the bed together, and he was leaning right over him, holding the card up close like he was reading it to him. I'd forgotten that photo even existed.

That's why I started making these magnets. Not as clutter or another thing on the fridge, but as a small way to pull a moment out of the phone and put it somewhere you'll actually see it. It might be a first swim, or a dog who isn't with us anymore. It might be your mum laughing at something you can't even remember now.

Every magnet I make is printed and finished by hand here in Melbourne, one order at a time. I think about the people behind every photo that comes through, whether someone's ordering for themselves or for someone they love. Some of them come in at 1am, and I think I understand why.

If there's a photo you keep scrolling back to, maybe it's time it lived somewhere other than your phone.

Explore photo magnets and puzzle magnets, handmade in Melbourne, with flat $9.95 shipping Australia-wide.