NOTE: Since “Making It Count Tuesday” is no longer, I have a Pinterest Party instead every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month. Join me and link your post! 🙂

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Today is Making It Count Tuesday over at AmongstLovelyThings.com. As Sarah explains:

Start with any one of those fabulous ideas you’ve found online. Then, do it. Make it. Cook it. Create it. Take it from the screen, give it life and let it bless your world. Making it count!

Anyone who knows me well, also knows that I have been in love with journals since I was a little kid. Even today, if I see a really cute or pretty journal I have to buy it. I envision myself at home looking out at the mountains behind us as I scribble away or sitting at the beach filling it with prose. In reality, I have a collection of blank journal sitting on my bookshelf as I chase the kids around but should inspiration hit, I am well prepared!

When I was pregnant with Bella (and all the kids, actually) I kept a pregnancy journal that I planned to give her one day when she is older. So when I saw this simple project for a “Mama and Me” journal on Pinterest, I could not resist it!

I went over to Jenn’s blog MamaJennBlogs.com and she wrote:

What exactly is a “Mama & Me” journal? Well, it is basically a journal for my daughter and I to share. We write letters back and forth to each other…kind of like being pen pals (without the envelopes & stamps). My hope is that these seemingly simple letters to one another will become a book of memories to treasure for a lifetime!

She gave easy directions and a link where you can download the label for free. (There is one for a daughter journal and another for a son journal.) She actually got the idea from another blogger who got it from another blogger so the different versions continue to multiply.

In my version, I already had a blank journal I got on clearance at Target. It was a little too “pink” for me but I thought Bella might like it. (See, I told you those extra journals would come in handy!) The cover had a felt design so I used a Martha Stewart label to make a simple label on the front.

I then went through my binder of stickers and scrap book paper I had collected over the years and decorated the inside cover.

Here is the first page inscription.

For the introductory letter to Bella, I used the same basic letter that Jenn used.

Dear (child’s name),
Would you like to be my pen pal? Instead of mailing letters to each other, we can keep them here in this notebook. Does that sound like fun?
I will write to you and then leave the notebook on your bed. Then, when you want to write me back you can begin writing on the next page and leave the notebook on my bed when you are done.
You can write about anything! It can be funny or serious! Just write about whatever is on your mind! 🙂
I am so excited and I hope that you are excited too!
Love,
Mom
P.S. Write back soon! 🙂

I just changed the words slightly.

I love it, and more importantly, Bella loves it. (She has inherited my journal madness.) We’ve already exchanged a few short letters and this morning she asked me if I answered her last letter yet. I haven’t so as soon as I finish posting this, I will. 🙂