#Junk Journalling

One of the things I really enjoy is watching videos about junk journals—where people show off the spreads they’ve created and compile them in books of all shapes and sizes.

There are so many styles to choose from, and I became a little mesmerised trying to find one that suited me.

Junk journals can be just about anything, but at the most basic level, it’s about collecting “junk” and presenting it creatively. You’d be surprised at what you throw out.

Some people prefer to use stickers, photos, and journal entries about their lives. They doodle on the page and stick on random wording. It’s a great way to keep a diary!

Whichever path the junk journalist chooses, when I watch a video, it is all entertaining.

Some creators are incredibly inventive. The art they make is visually stunning, and the ideas they come up with are phenomenal.

I found it difficult to begin—overwhelmed by so many ideas, I didn’t know where to start. I also felt I lacked the creativity others seemed to have. It stalled me for a long time. But I’ve learned a lot since then.

Here are some tips:

• Don’t overthink it.
• Do what makes you happy.
• Don’t compare yourself to others.
• It doesn’t have to be aesthetic, themed, or colour-matched.
• It can be whatever you want.
• Use what you have. You don’t have to buy lots of accessories.

I made my cover and genuinely like how it turned out.

By the time I turned to my first page I had no clue what I was doing, I had decided to use whatever I had in my stash, whether it went together or not. I’d been collecting things for a while. Mostly items I had finished with and would end up the bin.

The floral burst was a box of perfume, the pale blue card on the left came as the backing for some stickers, On the right of the page the black and red paper came through the door as a flyer from a local company. The other things I cut out from a a magazine page. Including the lettering.

The pink and white is waxed paper that came from a local bread maker. On the bottom right is the label of an orange squash bottle and the rest are cut out from magazines.

Again, random cut outs from a magazine with two items on the left that open out to reveal something underneath.

This is my first themed page. The book stickers are from Amazon, and the cut-outs are from a magazine. I have loads of stickers and originally intended to create a sticker page to start using them up. After all, there’s no point hoarding them in a drawer. In fact, that goes for everything—don’t hoard things to never use them, or you’ll just end up being a collector!

There are plenty more pages for me to use and I’ll be sharing them with you when I get the urge to become creative.