Junk journal ideas from paper you already have
Fill a junk journal from the recycling: envelopes become pockets, dried tea bags become patches, receipts become a week on one page. Give each signature a theme so its papers belong together.
Collect for two or three weeks before you glue anything. Choosing pages from a pile is quicker than hunting for one piece of paper at a time.
Sort the pile by job: background, pocket, tag or something to write on.
Make a digital scrapbook
Add your photos and keepsakes in tbf scrapbook, then arrange them on the pages.
Junk journal materials and page ideas
From the kitchen
- Used tea bags, dried and emptied
- Coffee filters
- Paper napkin top layer
- Cereal box card for tags
- Brown paper bags
- Baking parchment for see-through layers
- Fruit stickers
From the post and the shops
- Envelopes as pockets
- Window envelopes
- Security-printed envelope linings
- Stamps and postmarks
- Price tags and swing labels
- Paper carrier bag handles and logos
- Catalogue pages
Page ideas with a blank to fill
- Everything ____ that came into the house this week
- A week of receipts, Monday to Sunday
- The post in ____ (month)
- One walk: from ____ to ____
- Tea of the day, with its tag
- Things I nearly threw away in ____
Raid the kitchen and the post
Dry a used tea bag fully, slit it, tip out the leaves and press it flat. The thin, stained paper makes a patch or a background strip.
Cut the flap off an envelope and it is already a pocket. A window envelope shows what is inside; a security-printed lining makes a patterned backing.
- Split a brown paper bag along its seam for a full-page background.
- Peel the printed top layer off a paper napkin and glue it flat.
- Cut tags from the plain inside of a cereal or tea box.
- Keep coffee filters for soft, translucent layers over writing.
Receipts, tickets and photos need a decision
Till receipts printed on thermal paper often fade or darken. Photocopy or photograph any receipt whose words you want to read in five years, and glue the copy.
If an original photograph goes in, the National Archives lists white glue, hot glue and pressure-sensitive tape among materials to avoid. Glue a printed copy instead.
Pages that open, tuck or fold
A journal feels full when its pages do more than lie flat. Each of these uses one piece of scrap.
- Tuck spot: cut a slit across a page and slide a tag into it.
- Belly band: wrap a strip of wallpaper round a page to hold a loose card.
- Tip-in: glue a narrow strip of a postcard to the page edge so it flips out.
- Short page: trim a page so the one behind shows down its side.
- Fold-out: cut a map to page height and fold it in to fit.
Give each signature a theme
A theme decides what you keep. A signature for one month takes that month's post and tickets; one for a colour takes anything green that comes through the house.
Write the theme on the first page of the signature in pencil. It stops the last pages filling with whatever happened to be on the table.
Steps
A week of receipts
Glue seven receipt copies down the left page in day order. Use the right page to write what each one was for and who you were with.
The tea bag strip
Stitch or glue five flattened tea bags in a row across a stained book page. Write the tea and the day on each tag.
A letter that arrived
Glue the envelope in as a pocket with the letter folded inside. Cut the stamp and postmark out of a second envelope and add it beside.
One walk on a map
Cut a road map to page height, fold it to fit, and mark the route in pen. Tuck a leaf photo or a car park ticket into the fold.
Questions
What should I put in a junk journal?
Paper that would otherwise go in the bin: envelopes, packaging, book pages, tickets, napkins and receipts, plus your own writing and copies of photos.
What are good junk journal prompts?
Ask a question of the paper in front of you. Where was this receipt from, who sent this envelope, what was on the radio when you drank this tea.
Can I use tea bags in a junk journal?
Yes, once they are bone dry and emptied. Damp leaves left inside can go mouldy and stain the pages around them.