I take digital pictures of everything I make with fabric, and a picture of the label if it has one. They are printed and placed in a photo album. The digital pictures are stored in files on the computer by date completed. I do not save fabric swatches, but do save the patterns I drafted in case I ever have the need to make them again. The kids wouldn't care about the patterns and if they were found together they probably wouldn't notice the pictures and the whole thing would get tossed. I figure the photo album is like a diary of my life. : )