Hi everyone, you might have seen some parts of my customized junk journal in the past months but I also wanted to give you a complete overview of what the completed junk journal looked like, so that’s is what this post is about!
Step 1:
I first had to figure out what I wanted my junk journal to look like, what size should it be and how should it be bound. I like to work on A4 sized pages and I also like to be able to take my pages out of the journal to work on them and when my project is finished I can put them back in. So I choose an old ring binder as my base and worked from there.
You can read all about how I covered the ring binder with denim fabric and decorated the inside HERE. In short I adhered the denim fabric to the cover with gel medium and then decorated the inside with scrapbook paper.
Step 2:
In the same post that I linked above you can read about how I decorated the outside of the junk journal, using some gorgeous stencils and acrylic paint.
Step 3:
In that same post I also explain how I created the bookplate for the cover of the junk journal.
Step 4:
I also wanted to create another decorative part for the spine of the journal. As my base I used a large pin (it’s originally used for holding a scarf closed). Onto the pin I adhered some green ribbon. I also looked for some other metal parts that I liked in my stash. I knotted them together using the same green ribbon as well as some brown twine.
Step 5:
Than it was time to think about what I wanted to have inside my junk journal. Next to junk journal pages I also wanted my customized junk journal to have completely empty pages.
My completely empty pages are there to be worked on on a later date, like a normal art journal: I used my favourite paper for coloured pencil, watercolour paper, coloured card stock but I also created pages out of denim and canvas fabric, as well as nice scrapbook paper.
I also created some pages using stencils, they are not finished yet, you can read more about these last ones HERE.
My junk pages are created using stuff that I saved for the past years: cute little bags from the market (when we bought bread when I remember correctly), a craft coloured bag from the chocolate store, nice envelopes, some tea packaging, you know, all the stuff that you save and that you think you will use SOME time! But also pages from an old (French) book, some rib card stock, the left over pieces from the scrapbook paper that I used to cover the inside of the ring binder.
You can use anything that you have laying around and that you saved because it looked nice!
I tried to stick to a blue/green/brown/white/creme theme.
Step 6:
Now that my junk journal is full with all kinds of fun papers and fabrics I started to decorate the junk journal part more: first I adhered some lace pieces that I had in my stash to the scrapbook paper and card stock inserts of my junk journal. I pushed holes in the paper using a sharp tool and then sew on the lace using needle and thread.
Step 7:
I used some punches to create nice edges on some of the paper inserts. Then I coffee dyed some tags and added them to the journal pages using paperclips.
Step 8:
Here and there I added some decorative cotter pins some buttons and small wooden cloth pins. Frankly you can add anything you like until you feel it’s full enough! I’m a very neat and tidy crafter so my junk journal looks neat as well, yours will represent your personality!
Step 9:
And for my final embellishments you can go to THIS post to read how I created them.
They are my finishing decorative touches to an awesome project.
Though the journal is not close to finished, there are still lots of empty pages to work on, I really love how my junk journal is turning out!
