7 Journaling Ideas For Moms
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7 Journaling Ideas For Moms
I wasn’t always a keeper of a diary or journal but at the tail end of my pregnancy, I had an urge to start documenting my pregnancy and motherhood journey. It was my first child and I started to feel like I needed to leave something behind for her for when she got older. From there I went from not journaling to journaling a lot.
I started to include photos, birthday cards, anything related I could get my hands on. And let me tell you that the process itself of creating these journals felt amazing and I felt even better knowing that my child would one day cherish reading the thoughts of her mother and seeing the photos and ephemera from this era.
Below I write about the different types of journaling that I have tried not including the mother-daughter journaling which I will start once she is older.
Baby/kids memory journaling
Vacation journaling
Event or daily Journaling
Collage journaling
Altered book journaling
Junk journaling
Art journaling
Baby and Kids Journaling or Memory Book
Baby and kids journaling is a good way to start your journaling adventure. It’s pretty easy to get started and you basically have material every day. There is a range of topics you can write about and it doesn’t have to be completed in writing, you can add photos too.
I started off writing a page long of writing but after a couple of days, I started to add photos. Turned out that writing pages and pages were just too daunting. So I decided to keep it to a couple of sentences but added some of my favorite pictures of my daughter and family. The photos were small photos, about 2x3 (inches), and are printed with a sticky back. I use the HP Sprocket which uses the Bluetooth on your phone to connect and print the photos on your phone. This makes it super easy to print those photos from your phone that sometimes will never be seen again.
What things to write about? It doesn’t have to be an essay. You can keep it under 10 sentences if you want.
Ideas and prompt:
Funny things your baby or child did or said today
Best moment of the day
You made me laugh when
What we did today
Something new we did today
The possibilities are endless.
Notebooks and Journals I’ve used:
Standard Size Notebooks (my Etsy shop)
Junk journal Notebooks (my Etsy shop)
Vacation Journaling
Vacation journaling is a fun way to keep all your memories together in one place. Often after I return from vacation I will forget details about our fun family vacation. I tend to forget quickly all the places we visited and special moments so writing it all down daily at the end of the helps a lot. Keeping a journal about where we went and what we did helps keep these memories sorted out. I use the Page A Day Travel Journal pictured below to keep my thoughts and memories straight.
I also keep a standard size travelers notebook on my vacations with notes, photos, receipts, stickers, postcards, and anything else I get from a particular vacation. I even include the coloring pages that my daughter gets and colors while in a resturant. (see third photo below) A 10 to 15-page travelers notebook insert is usually enough for our 6 to 8-day vacation but you can use notebooks with more pages.
The example below includes three different years and three different locations, Washington (Seattle, Olympic National Park), Gatlinburg Tennessee, and Yosemite and The Grand Tetons (during the Eclipse).
Mine include the mini 2x3 sticker photos from the HP Sprocket which is so convenient. You can even take it on vacation with you and print your photos daily so it won’t be such a hassle printing so many photos at the end of your vacation.
Event or Daily Journaling
You also have the option of creating a journal during a holiday or month such as December and Christmas. Here I used one of my Christmas standard size traveler’s notebooks from my shop. I journal for the entire month of December in one journal and add photos, scrapbook papers, stickers, envelopes, and ink stamps. Some monthly journal ideas include: Halloween, Valentine’s Day, Easter and any holiday event you can think of.
Another idea for event journaling is journaling during a news event such as Covid-19 period, hurricane season (if you live in the path), summer heat wave, nationwide protest, election period and any other event that you might find interesting and want to document.
I started a documentary notebook around mid March of 2020 when I started working completely at home versus going into the office three days a week. That is when schools and alot of business closed due to COVID-19. So far I have two standard size travelers notebooks filled with daily writings on COVID-19 stats, anything interesting we did, or just thoughts. And the bottom half of the page is a collage of new and old pieces of paper, book pages, stamps, ink stamped, washi tape and more. See examples below.
Collage Journaling
Recently, I started watching YouTube videos on collaging and got hooked on it. I wanted to give it a try especially since I have so many magazines that I could get clippings from and family photos. I haven’t been doing the typical traveler’s notebook insert with family photos but a daily journal entry with COVID-19 stats and a small ephemera collection on the bottom of the page. (See the above section for photos)
I also bought some collaging books to get me inspired.
Below is the first collage journal I created this summer. I used a larger size notebook since a lot of my magazine clippings were from larger magazines. Some of my favorite magazines are:
Arabella which is out of print but you can find some older ones on eBay
You can find most of things in your local Barnes and Noble or Books A Million. Also, they can be found on Amazon.
I also, print out family photos on Epson Ultra Premium Presentation Paper in matte. I love this paper because it’s great for photos and it isn’t glossy. You can easily write on it, glue on top of it, or paint on it.
Check out my first collage journal flip through below. Hit the “Like” button if you like and subscribe. :-)
Altered Book Journaling
Altered books was another concept of journaling that I wasn’t aware until of course I saw some YouTube videos and gave it a try. I had a French kids book that I thought looked cute. I love the cover of this vintage book. I tore out every other page to lessen the bulk but as you can see from my video below it was still bulky after I finished it.
This basically the same as a junk journal. It has writings, photos, souvenirs, washi tape, postcards and much more. This was really fun to do especially around the holidays (Oct-Dec).
Watch the video below.
Junk Journaling
After creating my first baby journal I moved on to junk journaling. For a whole year I filled up a whole standard size traveler’s notebook for each month plus a whole notebook for our yearly vacation.
Below are a couple of examples. I mostly used the 3x2 photos that the HP Sprocket can print out and on occassion I used larger ones printed on my Canon printer on glossy paper.
I included washi tape, postcards, photos, receipts, basically anything I wanted.
There is no right way to do it. You can fill up the page or go the minimalist route.
I have over 18 of these and I’m sure one day when my daughter is older she will cherish them, I hope.
Art Journaling
Art journaling is a visual and art-filled journal or diary. It’s basically record-keeping of anything you want but with your art. The art can be watercolors, paint, drawing, sketches, collages. Really anything you want with some of the thoughts and writings. The best book for inspiration and ideas to get started on your art journal is A World of Artist Journal Pages. Hands down the best book. It has examples from 230 artists and over 1000 art journaling pages of examples.
More Reources and Supplies for Journaling
Creativity Books - Collaging, journaling
Travelers Notebook Inserts - Vintage style
Travelers Notebook Inserts - Contemporary style
Here is a video of what I pack to take on a short vacation so I can still journal.
