Today I wanted to share something with you – when starting a junk journalling journey, a lot of people panic because they are afraid they have no supplies to make said journal. I am here to say there is no need to panic – when we moved, all my art supplies were in containers – I had nothing at all! All I had was a pair of kitchen scissors, printer paper, a box in which I had received a gift, and a glue stick I purchased from the shop on the corner. Nothing more.
But the box was so beautiful, and I really wanted to do something creative to keep myself and my mind busy, so I decided I was going to turn that box into a journal. You can see in the image below how uneven the cutting is on the back cover, because I didn’t even have a ruler to use – I think I just drew a line in pencil following the edge of a piece of the box and did my best to cut straight with the kitchen scissors.
I was lucky that the box itself was absolutely stunning (it came from Italian company, L’Erbolario), so there was very little for me to do to make the cover. I carefully tried to eyeball the folds, using a butter knife to score the spine and then press down the folds. The pocket on the back you see in the image above was already a part of the box, so I just left it as is and used it as a back pocket.
It was then time to start making some papers, so out came the old standbys of tea, coffee, turmeric , food colouring (purchased with the groceries) and fruit tea (which I know won’t last forever but it is what I had!) The ribbon closure came from another gift box.
Lucky for me, by the time I had my papers and cover ready, our stuff came, so the project was set to the side while I spent a week unpacking, and by the time I got back to it, I had my supplies again, so was able to trim the pages, add some decoration and other papers I had in my stash, as well as sew in the signatures (you can see how I did that in this post here).
So, maybe this journal wasn’t 100% made from junk, but had my stuff not arrived, I would have likely trimmed the pages with those same scissors I used for the cover, and bound it together with sewing thread (which I had borrowed from my mother in law along with some needles!)
So, the whole point of this post is – you do not need fancy stuff to make a journal – just some papers and creativity, and a vision!
Below you will find the full flip through of my journal, which has now found a home, but maybe it can bring you some inspiration!
If you would like to see more of the journals I have for sale, you can visit my Etsy shop, or contact me for a custom commission.