The best Scrapbooking books: Reddit reviews

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

I started a pregnancy journal with my first, but never finished it because I was just writing, “Ugh, I’m so sick today. Again. Just like yesterday,” over and over. The journal even has writing prompts, but it seemed like my answers were always something about feeling sick.

Now I just have an agenda book that I use as a daily journal because it has just enough room for 3-4 sentences about my day, which is about more than just pregnancy. And I keep my Dr appointments in my phone’s calendar app.

Once baby comes, I really liked having a baby memory journal to keep track of milestones (although it got depressing with Covid because all my answers about what we did for baby’s first holidays were the same: dressed up in a cute holiday outfit and sat at home).

I got “Growing You: Keepsake Pregnancy Journal and Memory Book for Mom and Baby” from amazon. It’s beautiful. There is a few places to add pictures and there is really good writing prompts but not too many. It also has an envelope in the back to add any pictures you don’t glue in. Growing You: Keepsake Pregnancy Journal and Memory Book for Mom and Baby

Early on in the process, my older (married) sister told me to keep a journal of everything I (bride-to-be) was feeling so I could look back on it later. I found this book on Amazon, and it’s been amazing so far:

The Bride-to-Be Book: A Journal of Memories From the Proposal to "I Do" https://www.amazon.com/dp/0307887987/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_0.4UCbCW7Q4M1

There is space for photos, a few places for random thoughts, and a lot of directed prompts (things like “Details of Your First Date” that I might forget in 50 years).

On a kind of similar note, my fiancé was given this book by a married friend of his:

The Groom's Guide: For Men on the Verge of Marriage https://www.amazon.com/dp/0998739995/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_Fe5UCbN20XSS8

We’ve chosen to spend a couple of evenings with him reading the book out loud and sharing the tips, ideas, and things to ponder, and it’s been great bonding time!

Not the book i was looking for but i had one,like this that helped get me out of my funk a while back

destroy this journal

For things alone: get the book "How to Be an Explorer of the World" or "This is Not A Book" (both by Keri Smith) :) You will be entertained for at least several days. For starters, you can read some of the activities on amazon http://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Explorer-World-Portable/dp/0399534601

My general suggestion is to explore and write down what you see, collect things, and make cool art out of it. Go to a park and people watch (or play on the playground... shh) or go for a bike ride. Maybe you could learn how to longboard or rollerskate. In general, I also like to draw, read, write, and take pictures outside! Sometimes I'll just put a blanket down and stare at the clouds.

Have fun! I need to go outside more myself! :_)

I found it very difficult to find something that worked for the size variety I had. So I just got normal photo album pages and have pasted tickets/wristbands into them in chronologic order.

But then someone gifted me something similar to this: https://www.amazon.com/Just-Ticket-Stub-Organizer/dp/1441303502/. And I am planning to put sporting event tickets into it. If I were starting from scratch, I might have bought that for concert stuff too.

My grimoire is a blank unlined leather journal. I started off with adding symbols and different types of herbs and their uses as a basic reminder. Then what types of teas I make. It's not meant to be for anyone other than me.

I found that writing with a different style of penmanship helps. I usually use a very Greek style script but for my Grimoire I chose to copy a totally different font based on p22 grosvenor font and it makes it work for me. I also use one specific quill pen. I added stickers from a botany book to it because I am terrible at drawing plants. https://www.amazon.com/Botanists-Sticker-Anthology-DK/dp/0744036720

I add poems that I like and don't have a specific rule.

My husband got me a gift card to a spa that offers prenatal massage and it was the best! Very nice to relax and take care of myself, especially when I was feeling so exhausted at the beginning of pregnancy.

A pregnancy/baby book if she doesn’t already have one. I got this one and LOVE it. It has room for updates until baby is 5.

I will also second the other suggestion about taking lots of pictures!

I haven’t gotten this, so I can’t personally attest, but the reviews say you can customize it by excluding pages. A lot of people say it’s great for different family situations like adoption, etc. so I imagine this could be flexible for what you are looking for! https://www.amazon.com/As-You-Grow-Modern-Memory/dp/194451547X

We got this book, it’s not really scrapbooking, but a lot of writing. We think it’s pretty cool. As You Grow: A Modern Memory Book for Baby https://www.amazon.com/dp/194451547X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_TSTDBBBHQBEQEDSJWRVC

We have one called “As You Grow”. It’s got some USA holidays in which we tore out (it’s spiral bound so easy to do) but I really like it. There are sections to before and during pregnancy, the birth, then monthly updates and special events. After 1y, I think there are annual updates until the age of 5. There are photo spaces, pockets. I quite like it- the only thing is remembering to write in it!

As You Grow: A Modern Memory Book for Baby https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/194451547X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Y1CGZHPZE2X73N4086WZ

Oops that's because I can't figure out how to link! Here it is: Growing You: Keepsake Pregnancy Journal and Memory Book for Mom and Baby https://www.amazon.com/dp/1944515976/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_CB912WTCYKM4H6HWSW7V

Not a huge diary/journal person either but I had the same desire to record this time - especially in a physical notebook. I definitely want to remember the ups and downs of this crazy time and I get teary every time I think about my future kid wanting to page through it 🥲

I looked at a few different journal options and ended up with this one. I felt like a lot of journals were too flowery/girly for me personally and this one is pretty straightforward with simple but thoughtful writing prompts, plus places to stick ultrasound photos! I also like that the binding allows for easy flip thru/writing and it's easy to take out pages Im not going to use (i.e. at the beginning there was a page to tally who in your life thinks you're have a boy or a girl). I'm happy with it so far!

I bought a really beautiful one off Amazon Canada called As You Grow. The link is too long to place as a link but here it is:

As You Grow: A Modern Memory Book for Baby https://www.amazon.ca/dp/194451547X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_BZZ608PESJWAV6CBQST8

It has really nice illustrations and is gender neutral and is super high quality. Been using it for my April baby and I love it.

When I was pregnant I got a pregnancy journal. Now I just have a regular journal I keep for her, so she can know about things like which teeth came in first, etc., but also how deeply loved she is and was

I have this one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/194451547X/ref=cm_sw_r_oth_api_glt_fabc_MK9CZM777HA06JWRQAG7?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

I am so disappointed in myself though because I haven’t been using it much. I probably spent more time picking it out. I journal almost every day so at some point I’ll be able to go back and fill in the missing pieces.

I’m not sure if you want something “girly” or not, but I’m going with this book and you can read some of how the pages are filled out in the reviews. It’s really sweet ❤️

I have this baby book. It starts with prompts to fill out for your pregnancy and goes until 5 years old. We took monthly photos to put on the monthly pages for the first year. After the first year it goes to just once a year.

I kinda had to train myself, and I'm convinced it's a skill rather than just something you're born with. I'm fascinated with MacGuyver (1984), Rube Goldberg machines, r/redneckengineering, and books like this one: https://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Explorer-World-Portable/dp/0399534601 Get curious, play with ridiculous possibilities, take things apart. Be okay with creating something useless, be okay with creating 1000 useless things. Use things for more than their intended purpose. And do accept input, but don't take anything but absolutely zero discouraging nonsense.

Product Link (Gift ideas catalog - Android app - Shopping Saga)

I have a U shape pillow and it also just didn’t do it for me. The arms ended up spreading out and taking over the whole bed or falling off the bed and it didn’t help me stay on my side (I was not a side sleeper previously). I ended up buying the boppy side sleeper pregnancy pillow which has really helped me stay on my side comfortably. However, that might be a personal preference based on how they sleep and I know a lot of people love the u shaped pillows.

A non-pillow gift I received that I absolutely love is this book: https://www.amazon.com/Petit-Baby-Book-Claire-Laude/dp/1452152004

I got this one. I like that it’s easy to remove pages that you don’t want or don’t apply to you, it’s simple, gender neutral, and not cartoonish

As You Grow: A Modern Memory Book for Baby https://www.amazon.com/dp/194451547X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_9CE.FbT53HWCP

A baby memory book

I got this pregnancy journal from Amazon and I LOVE it. It has prompts for each month and space at the end to journal/write to your baby. The quality is great too. Growing You: Keepsake Pregnancy Journal and Memory Book for Mom and Baby https://www.amazon.com/dp/1944515976/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fabc_nkjTFbF08WAM5

Thank you! A lot of stuff I got from Michael's craft store and I recently found this from someone on this sub and it's full of beautiful stickers!

My partner and I collect our concert tickets, we have an album where we keep them all, write down who went and who were the support etc. We filled up one and halfway through the second, though we haven't updated it in a while so we have quite a few around the house that we need to sort.

I also for some reason have kept basically all of my train tickets (the ones the gates don't keep at the end) since I moved to the UK and they're just sitting in a drawer somewhere...

I’ve loved this one! High quality paper and overall presentation.

Le Petit Baby Book (Baby Memory Book, Baby Journal, Baby Milestone Book) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1452152004/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_z1qpFbVKQKG8S

https://www.amazon.com/Growing-You-Keepsake-Pregnancy-Journal/dp/1944515976/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=growing+you&qid=1600898057&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyNU9IQzc3U1lZNUkmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTA4NjE3Nzc2RDRFQ1NDME5RTkkmZW5jcnlwdGVkQWRJZD1BMDkxMjEzNDFYSEozWDBUVDlXRjUmd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl

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I got this one off amazon! I'm ten weeks and it lets you fill in each month yourself with some guided questions.

My sister got me this really cute journal for brides to be - it’s a sort of scrapbook of the whole engagement / wedding planning process.

Amazon link to the journal

A friend also did a basket for us with mini bottles of alcohol tagged for milestones in planning: little wine bottles for getting engaged, booking a venue, and booking our honeymoon, mini Prosecco for saying yes to the dress, and nips of gin for a “rough day”

We registered for this one: https://www.amazon.com/Petit-Baby-Book-Claire-Laude/dp/1452152004

I've also seen the moms one line a day book for random notes/milestones. https://www.amazon.com/Moms-One-Line-Day-Five-Year/dp/0811874907