I had a piece of my hand-painted cardstock that was ok but not the best that I'd made. Rather than throw it away, I decided to use it for the cover. I planned to add collage. The size of this scrap did not matter but the journal ended up being about 5 x 4.5".
I glued a piece of red paper onto the back of the scrap cardstock and trimmed. I folded it in half and I had my journal cover. I gathered together various other scrap papers and those that were too large, I trimmed. This was going to be a journal with even pages rather than ragged and raw. I stacked the scraps on top of each other and folded them in half. Some pages were a little short and I left them that way.
The front of the journal is collaged and textured. The moon is a circle of paper with a script design. The cottage is one of my odd sketches on a piece of cardstock. I drew in the roof tiles and the eaves after gluing it to the cover. I doodled on the lines and dots on the cover background.
The two black trees are scratched in with a dying ink pen. The white trees and the stars are scratched on with a dying bottle of correction fluid that I wanted to toss. It made a very bumpy texture reminiscent of tree branches and bark. The tree trunks are scribbled on in black. More trees and bushes are pieces of salvaged book paper and my hand-painted paper cut with spikes across the tops and collaged down.
The title is hastily scribbled words from when I first got the idea for the theme of this little journal. I was looking at the circle of script paper and my sketched cottage as I sorted scraps. I saw a big moon shining through trees onto bushes and a cottage in the woods.
Notwithstanding the secluded eeriness of it, I thought how quiet and serene it would be to be writing there. I scribbled the words just to see a possible title. I was going to type and print them but decided that using my writing could add character and atmosphere to the design.
I did most of the collaging after I assembled the book. On the inside front cover I glued an image of red flowers that I tore from something, probably gift wrap, then scribbled black curlicues over it. On the first page I stamped a forest in black, with my hand-carved eraser stamp, until the ink faded. I glued a piece of scrap image and handwriting at the bottom.
Any pages with grid lines are patterns from the back of an embroidery book. I was going to toss them but decided to toss them into this mish-mash journal design.
I painted, drew lines, stamped and glued clip art on various pages. Then, I cut the corner off of an envelope and painted both sides with markers to make a corner bookmark, keeping with the night theme.
The pages are fairly pristine compared to an embellished journal that I would create today. I wanted to provide as much space as possible in this one for writing down thoughts.
The pages I chose for this one-signature journal were scraps that I liked and scraps that I did not like very much. I was not concerned with the colors or themes of the papers. I knew that I would add collage and other embellishments to some of them that would reflect the journal theme, Along In The Woods.
I cut another moon, sketched another cottage and wrote out my title again for the back cover. I chose embroidery thread for sewing the book together. I punched holes in the spine at intervals, pushing through all pages and the cover. There are many types of authentic book binding sewing techniques. I usually like to just sew what I feel. Something unique, odd and eclectic.
For this journal I did learn the most basic stitch, the saddle stitch. After punching the holes, I used a needle and the embroidery thread. Instead of tying off the thread in the inside middle of the journal, I made a tail at the top and attached a decorative shell coin charm.
My favorite zipper pouch sewing demonstrator, Jan Howell, has made an excellent tutorial on binding with the easy saddle stitch:
Have you wondered what is the purpose of a junk journal other than a creation to look at? Here is a good overview, by Megan at Compass & Ink, of how they can be used. I like the suggestion of using one as a gratitude or spiritual journal. They can also be used as dream journals.
Junk Journal Ideas & How To Make Them
Junk Journal Ideas & How To Make Them
Create tags and envelopes to add to your handmade journal using instant download printables.
