Digital junk journal: tickets, scraps and voice on one page
A digital junk journal is a junk journal kept as images: scans of real scraps, bought printables and your own writing, laid out on pages you can print, share or keep adding to.
Start with 40 pages free. No card needed.
The search covers two things: printables you download, print and glue, and pages made on a screen. This page is about the second, built from paper you already have.
A scan keeps the creases, stains and handwriting that make a junk journal. Layering replaces glue, and a tuck spot becomes a tag laid half under a pocket.
See also: what a junk journal is, how to sew a junk journal by hand, how to scan scrapbook pages, digital scrapbook paper, Open the online scrapbook maker.
Make a digital scrapbook
Add your photos and keepsakes in tbf scrapbook, then arrange them on the pages. Make a digital junk journal online.
| Piece | On paper | In a digital journal |
|---|---|---|
| Ticket or receipt | Glued down; thermal print fades | Photographed flat, cut out, kept at full colour |
| Book page background | Torn from an old book once | Scanned once and used behind as many pages as you like |
| Tuck spot or pocket | A slit or envelope holding a tag | A tag image placed half behind a pocket image |
| Tea bag or napkin patch | Dried, pressed and glued | Scanned on a dark sheet so the thin edges show |
| Handwriting | Written straight on the page | A photographed note, or a line typed beside the scraps |
| Sound | None | A voice note or a short clip that plays on the page |
Scan the scraps once, use them many times
Lay ten flat pieces on a dark table by a window and photograph each one from straight above. A ticket, a stamp and a torn map corner give a page more texture than a bought kit.
In tbf scrapbook, Photograph a keepsake straightens the picture and cuts the object out from the table, so a ticket sits on the page as a ticket rather than a rectangle.
Printables, bought or free
Printable kits are image files of papers and ephemera. Print them for a paper journal, or place the PNG files straight on a digital page. Check the seller's licence before sharing the pages.
Back to paper when you want it
A digital journal can still end as paper. Export the pages as a PDF, print them on heavier copy paper, then fold and stitch them into signatures like any junk journal.
tbf scrapbook also prints A4 portrait, A4 landscape and 21 cm square books after you check a print proof.
Steps
Photograph ten scraps
Flat, from above, in daylight, on a plain dark surface.
Make one background
Scan a stained book page or a brown paper bag and use it at full size.
Build the first page
One background, three cut-out scraps and one line of writing. Leave a gap to fill next week.
Decide the ending
A PDF to print and bind, a book read on a phone, or both.
Questions
Is there a free digital junk journal app?
tbf scrapbook is free for one book of 40 pages in a browser, with the full editor. Downloading a PDF needs a paid plan.
Can I use a digital junk journal kit on a tablet?
Kits are usually PNG or PDF files, which most note and drawing apps can import as images. Check the file type in the listing before you buy.
Can I print a digital junk journal?
Yes. Print the pages, fold them into signatures and sew them by hand, or order a bound book printed from the file.