Hi everyone, it’s Carly here! One of my favourite memory keeping projects is my Letters to My Daughters Smash book. This book is where I share all my favourite photos of my girls, special quotes and words of wisdom, and most importantly my personal letters I wrote just for them. My hope is that this book will come in really handy when my girls reach the more challenging teenage years and maybe not so interested in talking. Instead they can just take this book into their rooms, hopefully read it and know that they are, and will always be, very much loved.
(kits used: montage, huntington, meant to be and because)
Although I have plans to start a Letters to Emma and Letters to Abby book, my current Letters to My Daughters book includes both girls which I did intentionally. My girls are twins and a big part of who they are as individuals starts with them as a pair and I thought that a book that combined both of their stories and showed how special they are to be twins, would be a great place to start.
(kits used: from where i stand, meant to be and wishing jar)
The book is not in any chronological order which is what’s so great about Smash books – order is not necessary! I just document what I can, when I can, and because there is no particular order to the book you can start it at anytime, with any story you’d like to tell.
Regardless what age your child is right now I highly recommend starting a Letters to your Son/Daughter book. Think how wonderful it will be for your child and/or children to have a journal to look back on as they get older filled with letters, photographs and notes from you about how much they are loved and how special they are to this world.
(kits used: wishing jar, from where i stand and because)
I hope that my share today might inspire you to start your own Letters to book and if you have any questions about this project or how to get started on your book, please leave me a comment, I’d love to help!
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and thank you so much for following along with me today. You can always visit me at my blog, Facebook, Instagram or over at Pinterest.
-Carly
Thank you soooo much for sharing this project, Carly … you’ve created such a beautiful book and I’m sure your girls will treasure it!
Thank you Sue!!
This is absolutely gorgeous, thanks so much for sharing!
Thanks Linda!
As I told you on Instagram, this is just SO GORGEOUS. So glad to have seen some more pages here. You have really inspired me to start putting things in my empty Smash book. I don’t know how you managed to get such busy pages looking so clean and gorgeous. You’re an inspiration. Can’t wait to see more.
Thank you for all the kind words Caylee! You will love creating with the Smash book! For me they feel so freeing. You can scrap any page, any order, any style, any theme! I guarantee you will love them!
Carly, thank you so much for sharing! My daughter is only four, but already there are times she doesn’t want to talk. I worry about what it’ll be like when she’s a teen. This is such wonderful help.
Thank you Joy-Marie! I really believe, and hope, that it will be a helpful tool as they grow. Our daughters always need to know how much they are loved, even on those days they don’t want to talk to us. 🙂
LOVE this idea, thank you so much for sharing it. I’ll have to see what I can do about making them for each of my children – which includes a set of twin boys. Viva la twins!
Hi Carly!
I adore this idea for both my boys and Natalie. Can you give me a few more details? I’m wondering where you got your books, what type of adhesive you use to glue all the pretty paper pieces, photos, etc. and where you print your photos?
Thanks!
Wendy
Hi Wendy,
Thank you so much for the questions! I bought my Smash books at a local scrapbook store but you can also buy them online in a number of places including Amazon, as well as at your local Michael’s store. Regarding what adhesive I use, I always use a tape adhesive like American Crafts or Scrapbook Adhesive. I have found that using something like white glue can show on the back side of the page. And as for where I print my photos, at home! I have the Canon Selphy 900 and love it!!
Thanks again Wendy for the questions and I hope you have fun creating a letters to your boys book!
Carly
Hi Carly… I am stealing this idea 🙂 My 10 year old needs to know how much I love her because a the moment we do a whole lot of fighting 🙁
What paper do you print your elements on as embellishments?
Thanks !
Mel
Hi Mel, I’m so happy to hear you’re going to create a book for your daughter!! She may not say anything until she’s much older, but I am so sure she will love it!! As for paper, I use a high quality cardstock to print my elements on. I find that higher quality papers do such a better job with colour and because they are made of thicker cardstock it’s easier to glue into your book and just look that much nicer. Good luck with the book!
Hi carley! I love your idea!! I really want to do this for my newborn niece Izzy but to be honest I don’t really know where to start xP Would you be able to give me some advice on where I could start? I have the cutesy folio and the purple pocket, I think I might use the pocket (I’m a photographer so I will be including alot of photos)
But yeah 🙂 thanks so much x
Hi there! My advice on where to start is to just start anywhere! The great thing about this kind of book is that there is no official starting place. However, a good place to launch the book would be a letter from your heart to your niece about why you are doing this book for her. From there just add your favourite photos of her, your hopes and dreams for her, wonderful quotes of inspiration, and so on. Have fun with it, enjoy the process and know what an amazing keepsake it will be for Izzy when she get’s older.