How to Make a Junk Journal
Hello there, creative friends! Today we will learn how to make a Junk Journal from beginning to end! This three-part series is simple to follow and a great way to learn how to make your own journal! This is a free mini-course to get you started with your first journal. It’s ideal for beginners, but even if you’ve been making your own junk journals for a while, you should find plenty of inspiration.
In its most basic form, a junk journal is a handcrafted journal made from an eclectic mix of various papers and ephemera. Pockets, tuck spots, and scraps of this and that are usually clipped to the pages. It’s the ideal place to scribble your thoughts, tuck photos, or fill with whatever makes you happy!
To begin, we will put together the cover. Let’s start, this is how to make junk journals for begginers.
How To Make Junk Journals | How to Make a Junk Journal Supplies for Cover:
Colored Kraft Cardstock (I am using 65lb)
Scissors
Images on Paper (see links at bottom of post)
Striped Fabric
Instructions:
The first step is to cut your cardstock to the appropriate size. I’ll give you my measurements for this journal, but you can make it any size you want.
To make the cover’s base, use a ruler to measure and cut a piece of kraft colored cardboard to 9″ horizontal x 7″ vertical. Tearing the cardstock’s edges instead of cutting with scissors creates a more organic look. Once you’ve cut out your base… To give it a nice crisp edge, fold it in half and crease with the back of your scissors.
Next, we’ll add these two lovely vintage music pages from the Graphics Fairy, as well as the little bird image, to the front cover.
I gave the images a worn-out, crooked look by rubbing some distress ink along the edges of the images and also crinkling the paper’s edges with my fingers. On my printer, I printed these at a size of 5″ x 7″. For our journal, they are the ideal size.
The music pages will then be adhered to the front and back covers, followed by the front collage of the small bird image. The pink flowers look so lovely next to the music sheet. Fabri-tac glue is what I’m using. It sticks incredibly well and dries quickly.
The music pages will then be adhered to the front and back covers, followed by the front collage of the small bird image. How I adore
Now, using adhesive, we will attach a thin fabric strip to the central crease, which will serve as the journal’s spine. This is merely to add some texture and design to the cover; when the diary is closed, it will beautifully cover the spine.
The cover is now finished! It really is very easy to get your notebook started, and it looks so lovely! I didn’t really have a theme in mind for this notebook, but if you wanted to, you could certainly make themed Junk Journals.
The type of papers to include inside must then be considered. Any kind of paper is available for your selection. Some of my favorites include tea- and avocado-dyed papers, sheet music, drawings with the tiny torn pieces still attached, book pages, old envelopes, paper scraps, vintage greeting cards, printed French documents, and really anything else you like. I enjoy combining various hues, paper types, and textures to create a completed piece that has a very lovely weathered appearance.
For the required page sizes, a template will be made. In order for the papers to fit inside the journal cover, I folded a sheet of paper to the inside of the cover, leaving just a tiny space on each edge. This paper should be 8 34″ x 6 34″ in size to fit inside the journal.
I will then begin folding papers, some smaller and some larger. Because it provides for an intriguing look while flipping through your journal if all the papers are not the same size, I like to change the sizes of my interior papers. To create a layered effect when you open your journal, I like to start with a few of the smaller first papers and work my way up to a larger sheet. This old, worn-out paper from the Graphics Fairy image up there was a lovely addition to my papers that I had coloured with tea. Printing was done on both sides.
I keep adding different sheets, some of which I printed and some of which I dyed with avocado or tea. For some extra intrigue, I also included a paper doily that had been coloured with tea. This procedure is known as signature creation.
This page will be the main one. I created a pocket by folding the bottom of the paper up; we’ll bind it together later. I used ten different folded sheets of paper in total, all different sizes and shapes. We will have a 40 page journal as a result.
Images used in How to Make a Junk Journal Tutorial:
Visit One of My Old Junk Journals in a Video Tour:
I’m hoping you’ll follow along with this guide on creating a rubbish journal. We’ll then bind everything together to make our journal! Journal Binding Part 2 is available HERE
Happy Imagining!
More of my artwork is available at Ruby & Pearl, Heather. xo
Message from Karen and Emily For a number of years, Heather Naggy served as one of our educators on the Premium Membership Site. On our Membership site, she has provided dozens of fantastic tutorials via instructional video. If you enjoyed this information, you might want to think about becoming a member of our to gain access to thousands of premade Printables for those journals, along with a ton more Junk Journal tutorial videos and tutorials! High-end website HERE
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