Junk journalling ~ a beginning

Hi everyone! So I have been watching tons of YT videos and visiting blogs (thanks to Pinterest) on creating junk journals. Not the kind of junk journal where I would create my art journal pages with layers and layers of mixed media goodness. These journals are constructed from a combination of old and new papers, vintage and digital ephemera, and leave lots of space for writing or sketching. I love the engineering that occurs on each page with the tuck spots and hidden spaces as well as the opportunity to create tags and smaller art. I also love that there is opportunity to include fabrics, textures, and sewing. The final bonus...it gives me a creative way to use things in my stash that have been waiting their turn for absolutely ages.

There are many different styles of bindings and formats. At first, I was all set to sew signatures into a vintage book cover but I became totally bogged down with choosing the "right" papers and order, etc. because once it's sewn together, it's permanent. My perfectionism, which at this point normally takes a backseat in my art process, reared its ugly little head and I was stuck. That's when I decided to create loose pages and bind them with rings...flexible and no need to commit...LOL Or is that, be committed :) I have long had this art journal kit thingy in my stash. I bought it ages ago on clearance. It has a hard cover with printed canvas on it and uses a heavy duty shoelace to fasten in the tons of kraft paper pages. The pages themselves are 5.75 x 8.75 inches which is a size I am very comfortable with. I decided to use some of the kraft pages and mix in coffee dyed papers as well as glassine envelopes and whatever else I felt like including. This felt like a good fit for me and all of a sudden, my mojo returned...go me!

I chose not to have a theme...other than black, cream, and kraft as well as vintage items. This book is all about playing and learning. Themes can come later when I have a few more under my belt. Anyway, I have made a few pages filled with fun little details...you know I love that...and am content to carry on until this book is full. It's a different kind of creating than I usually do (although I have thrown in some stencilling and stamping and a few doodled borders...I'm looking to incorporate my own style into these so I will experiment.

The first page I made has a pocket along the side to tuck things into. After inking the edges with Coffee Archival Ink, I stamped with the French text from Bo Bunny It is written stamp and stencilled through TCW Chicken Wire Reversed template. A line was scored 2 inches from the right side and that was folded in and then the card was stitched on 3 sides.

To decorate the pocket, I created a cluster with wide cream cotton ribbon, a folded and stitched length of music paper, and a length of striped fabric which I folded in half. I added crocheted lace and burlap trim along the inside edge and two butterflies punched, tapped with gesso, and inked with Coffee Archival ink. Twine was wrapped and glued to decorate their bodies and make antennae. A small tag was stamped using another of the Bo Bunny stamps from the same set and an Idea-ology rub-on (admit one) was layered over that. Before adhering the tag to the cluster, a frayed edge of cream fabric was hand stitched to the bottom with brown thread...more texture and interest. Once the tag was glued to the bottom of the ribbon, leaving the lower part of the tag unglued, another tuck spot was formed. The bottom of a merchandise tag was inked and tucked into that spot. Threaded buttons were added to the striped fabric loop and also to the small tag.

Two pieces of digital ephemera were printed onto white cardstock and stitched around. They were then inked with Coffee Archival and matted onto black cardstock to give them strength and a pop of black detail. Reinforcements were made for the holes by punching a .25 inch hole and then using a .5 inch punch to cut the circle around it. I don't want the holes to tear with use.

Torn pieces of coffee dyed copy paper were adhered to the backs of the two cards  and stamping was added to each. These will become writing spots for future use...I'm thinking possibly a gratitude journal.

Side two of the same page already had the stitching and inking, as well as the reinforcements, done. Another cluster to form a tuck spot for a tag and ephemera piece was created from book paper folded, glued, and inked. A length of crocheted lace with a narrow lace on top was stitched across the overlapped fishtail flags. A small flower was created by layering two coffee dyed mulberry flowers with three circles of tulle all fastened together with a black brad. This was adhered on the right end of the lace. In the true spirit of junk journalling, a merchandise tag from something I bought was inked and added to the cluster.

Only the top and left side of the larger tag were adhered to the page to allow other things to tuck in there. The prescription paper came from an ephemera pack from Art-C, like the ones Joggles is carrying now. The coffee dyed manila tag was stamped with a map stamp on one side and lace was looped through the hole and tied with hemp.

Both of the reverse sides of the tag and ephemera allow space for writing. The tag was stamped with a line stamp and a tiny TH butterfly sticker embellished the corner.

I'm going to leave off here although I have more pages completed. I'll save them for another post when we're all fresher...LOL. Thanks for popping by today. I'm very excited about this new (to me) creative avenue and will fit it in when time and DT duties permit. It's something I am doing just for me...just 'cuz.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie