Valentine’s Day Stationery: Memory Books & Journals

The second part to the Valentine’s Day Stationery Series is a little bit more time consuming or creative than the first but the results are so worth it.  You don’t have to create a beautiful scrapbook, like the photograph below.  Honestly, it doesn’t need to be a work of art and I will list some easier ways to achieve the same effect but it gives you the option to be as creative as you’d like with this!

Instead of scrapbooking, let’s focus on memory books or journalling.  I really love these sorts of books.  One of the best presents I got from my friends was back in school.  They all got together to create a book for me, writing messages and adding photos in it.  Everytime I look through it, I recall all of the amazing moments and memories with them from school – some of them are things that had happened when we first met and I had forgotten all about them by this point!

For example, one friend wrote about a time that we were messing around and she was trying to push me into a spider web so I was resisting (as I hated spiders and it was also just gross!).  However, her purse fell on the ground whilst we were wrestling and a boy tried to run off with it.  I immediately stopped wrestling her and stopped the kid.  It was a natural reaction – one that I didn’t think anything of.  But she wrote that it was that moment that she knew I was a good friend – one that would defend her friends and fight for them, even if they were trying to do something, by her own admission, kind of mean (like push me into a web).  That moment impacted her in a way I never knew about until I read what she wrote on this book, years after the event.  Sometimes, you never realise who you’ve impacted or how you’ve had affected them – and sometimes the ones that have left lasting marks on you will never realise either, unless you tell them.

Make a journal or memory book for them

Having a journal of your relationship is a great way to remember all of the small things you love about each other or day to day memories that make you smile, things that you might forget a few years down the line.  It’s a lovely way to help you to recall milestones and the feelings you feel right now when you’re looking back at it.  You could make one for them that captures moments that are important to your relationship – be sure to include photos and write down what you did together that you enjoyed!  I think it’s also really important to remember the small memories of things that made you happy – because years down the line, these little things may be things you take for granted or you forget about when you’re thinking about the big picture.  And sometimes, those little moments can mean a whole lot more than the bigger ones.

What do you need?

Grab a spare notebook you have lying around the house and you’re good to go!  You’ll also need some photos (if you have a printer, you could just print some off yourself), a pen, some tape and any other memorabilia that you have.  Stick stick stick, write write write and you’re done!  Okay, it’s probably not that simple so here’s a few prompts to get you started…

Why don’t you recall and write down:

• The first time you met
• The moment you first knew you were in love
• The moment you started dating
• A memory of you two together that makes you happy
• Your favourite date
• A funny moment that still makes you laugh
• An embarrassing story
• A time when you were sad or angry and they made you feel better
• The first time you did something together – like cooked together or put together an ikea cupboard
• The first house you moved in to together, if you’re living together
• Something you now love because of them – like a new hobby they introduced you to or something they encouraged you to do

You could list:

• The qualities you love about them
• What you most admire about them
• Any nicknames you have for each other and how they came about
• Your top few favourite dates
• Food they introduced you to that you now love
• Things they do on a daily/weekly/regular basis that make you happy
• The reasons you love them
• The movies you’ve enjoyed watching with them
• Games you like to play with them
• Things you’d love to do with them in the future

If you have children, get them involved too!  You could:

• Ask them to write a message too
• Recall the moment you both found out that you’re going to be parents
• Recall your favourite memories of all of you together – this would be a great one for the children to also do
• Get them to draw a picture of your partner or all of you together

You could probably think of things that I haven’t added to the list too!  Use this list as a starting point if you need some inspiration about what to include.

If you need a notebook, pop over to your local stationery shop and you’ll find tons of them.  I’d recommend something A5 size or bigger, giving you plenty of space to add photos and caption them if you wanted to.  If you’re planning to just write things then a smaller size would probably be fine!  You could also give them a scrapbook style book, which gives you more space to stick down large photos and add some words next to it.  Honestly, you don’t have to make it insanely beautiful but rather, capture how you feel.

If you’re looking for something special, the Valentine’s range at Paperchase has some very cute products – that just so happen to be on sale, right now too!  I love the tree design with the little birds, which features as a hand stitched notebook and as a scrapbook – giving you the choice of style you choose for this project – and also the A5 notebook with gorgeous heart balloons print, which is a classic look that I’m always a fan of.  If you have a plain covered notebook, you could probably also draw a simple design with a few hearts, maybe add your names or initials or a date to it?

Rather not do it yourself?  Pick up a memory book or journal to help you out!

If you’re still a bit stuck and don’t want to start from scratch then why not pick up a book that does the hardwork for you?  There’s tons of memory books for couples, full of guides and space to write.  The “Met You” memory book from Kikki.K, for example, encourages you to fill out the book using their prompts and by adding your own photos to gift it to your loved one.  It’s currently out of stock online but call up your local store and see if they can reserve one for you if that’s what you want.  There are also other options, for example the “Why I Love You: A Journal of Us” from Amazon or the huge number of novelty books from Paperchase.  Have a look inside a few to see what would best suit you.  The novelty books are more like 1 or 2 liners that are easy to fill and not too time consuming whilst the others give you more space to go into depth with things, so it’s all about what your preference.

Alternatively, why not do it with your partner?

It could also be a great activity to do together.  A few companies sell ones that you could fill out and gift to your partner, like the one from Kikki K.  You could both get one, do it and then swap?  Or sit down together and go through one with prompts.  You could use different colour pens, write your own responses in your own handwriting or initial it so you can remember who said it when you’re looking back at it years down the line.

The “Someone Special” journal from Paperchase encourages you to fill it out together, which could be a great activity if you’re planning a night in this Valentine’s Day – or something you can do together on another night in, really.  You could go through old photos whilst filling out these prompts, letting you recall all of your memories together all night long!  Just imagine it…  You could cook dinner together, open up a bottle of wine, find embarrassing photos of each other or talk about memories that make you happy…  This could turn out to be quite a nice night in – or at least, it sounds pretty lovely to me because I really like nights in!  It might give you something a bit different to do, making it slightly unique compared to previous nights in that you have shared together.

But what if it’s not for a partner?

Don’t worry, the publishing industry has got you covered on that front too.  There are a few alternative gifts that you might like.  The From You to Me range that’s available at the Book People has several options that might be more suited to you.  There’s books for grandparents, parents, children and even more.  The full range also has other options, such as siblings or friends, so it’s worth having a little look around if you’re looking for one of those options instead.  Some of these books would be great to do together, others might be worth filling in yourself for your grandchild or children whilst others could be gifted to your parents to get them to fill it in for you.  That might be a fun activity for them to do!  If you have children, why don’t you and your partner get together to fill out the “Our Story, for my Daughter/Son” journal?  That could be something you both do together, which will help you to relive some memories of your story with each other and produce an amazing keepsake for your children to read when they are old enough to.

Create a beautiful keepsake today

And you’ll be able to look back on it in the future and recall all of the lovely memories you’ve shared together or how much fun you had creating the book together.  If you’re artsy, you could totally do a full on scrapbook version instead.  I love the memory books and journals as they make it a lot easier to do – and it’s something everyone can do!  They don’t take too long to fill out yet you can treasure it for ages.

What else can you do?

If this isn’t right for you then be sure to check out the rest of the series.  You can head back to the main page here, which contains a list of the other pages in the series.  If you have any other ideas or stationery that you love, be sure to comment and let me know!  I’d love to find some more goodies to get my hands on.

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Note: All of the photos and images featured in this post belong to the respective stores (Paperchase, Kikki K, Amazon & The Book People).  The cover photo is from Paperchase. I’m not sponsored by any of these to share these products.  I’m sure there are other companies who’ve also got some great memory books or journals out there but these are the ones I’ve come across recently.

You can read the rest of the series here.