Hi friend! Elizabeth from @thejoyfulsojourn on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, to share how I create a monthly memory keeping page for my toddler!

If you’re a caretaker of a little one, you probably don’t have a lot of time for scrapbooking or memory keeping. But documenting precious moments and milestones leave long-lasting impressions on our hearts when memories fade. 

Before we start, let me encourage you to find the time – 20 minutes at the start or end of the month- to set up these pages. You’ll never regret the mental break taken to do something creative, nor having a place to jot down fleeting moments throughout the month. Those moments will collectively tell the story of your little one’s growth, so I hope you’ll find space for this.

Here’s what you’ll need:

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• Any sized journal you want to allocate specifically for memory keeping for your child. I am using a B6!
• Pens 
• Stamps 
• Stencil or ruler

The first step to creating your monthly memory keeping spread is labeling it!

You can do this anywhere on the page, using whatever mediums you have. Also keep in mind the amount of time you have to create this. If you have 5 minutes while your little one is napping, simply use a few different colors of pens, and write your child’s name with the month/year in the center of the layout. It doesn’t have to be complicated, what matters most is what you add to it through the month.

If you have more time to create (we love a good napper!), consider alpha stickers, stencils, or in this example - stamps! I used calliograph pens to color on the alpha stamps to make a colorful and distressed impression. This technique is great for those new to stamping, who don’t have a variety of ink pad colors. Use the pens already in your collection and you have everything you need!

Draw boxes of various sizes around the page. I like “wonky” boxes, meaning they alternate tilting left and right. You can free-hand doodle the boxes, use a ruler for straight line boxes, or use the shapes within the stencils from Archer & Olive. In this example I used the boxes within the A5 stencil, as well as the medium sized circle*.

*If you have the vintage camera stamp set, the circle word stamps fit perfectly in the medium circle on the A5 stencil!

The next part is up to you, what materials you want to use, what season or month it is, and how much time you have. Simply add some decoration around the boxes. This fills in gaps and gives you a cohesive look that will be aesthetically pleasing to look at for years to come. Since this is memory keeping in the month of February, I went with pretty florals a la Valentines.

I used black ink with the antique floral stamps , and placed sticky notes to “block off” the boxes so the décor would appear to be coming up from behind them.

Since this page will be filled in with a black-inked pen, I felt like it needed to be softened a bit with more color, so I lightly and sporadically colored in the lined florals with the same three colors I used for stamping.

Now I have a spread all set up for the month, where I can write things down as they happen – funny things my toddler says and does, moments I don’t want to forget and can’t wait to tell her about when she’s older.

As a toddler mom I know that time is a luxury many of us don’t have. And taking time to do things creative may seem to some as a frivolous. But it's not, friend. It's essential to our well-being and mental health as caregivers. We need that time!

I hope you can find a little bit of time to create these pages so you can reflect on these precious moments. And if all you have is a moment to print and glue, please do! Below is a printable that you can size to fit your notebook – it has a place for you to add your child’s name, boxes to log moments, and lined florals you can color in if desired (or maybe your little can get in on the fun by coloring them in)!

And to all my caregivers out there, stay the course! You're doing great.

If you’d like to see this come together on video, check out the YouTube video below!

Looking for more tips and inspo? Be sure to follow me over at @thejoyfulsojourn on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok, and if you have additional ideas for memory keeping, be sure to tag me and archer & olive using: @archerandolive @thejoyfulsojourn @archerandolive.community #AOShare #archerandolive