Into My Personal Junk Journal

Ask any ten people what a ‘junk journal’ is and you will likely get ten variations of the same answer. Very loosely, a junk journal is a handmade book made from recycled, repurposed, and secondhand materials like old book pages, envelopes, greeting cards, and grocery bags. It serves as a creative canvas for memory-keeping, art, and emotional expression without strict formatting or rules deriving ideas, styles, or tastes from a broad and diverse range of sources. In other words, it can be whatever you want it to be.

I made mine a couple of years ago. I added to it quite consistently for the first few months then it was set aside as other projects took precedence. I have recently got back to it and have added quite a lot in the last couple of weeks. But what types of things have I been adding, you ask?

The tags from my new slippers, my new business card, stickers from fruit and vegetables I’ve purchased, tags from my new nightgowns, a receipt for breakfast with a friend, and the veterinarians’ business card are a few of the newest inclusions. Any paper that crosses my path and has a story behind it is potential ephemera for my journal.

Some people like to write in their journals, add photos of their adventures, or simply use the pages as a canvas to try out a new techniques and materials. Whatever you choose to do in your personal journal is correct. There is not a ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to use them. Do you have a journal? If so, tell me what fills the pages of yours.

NOTE: If you want to preserve a receipt printed on that thermal paper, photocopy it to put in your journal. Eventually the print fades on thermal paper and you are left with a blank piece of paper.