Junk Journals - A Fun Way To Use Textures and Backgrounds

Oh my gosh, I have just discovered the world of "junk journaling"!  I've been hearing about it for a while, but never paid much attention to what this is all about.  Until I went to an antique mall last week and actually SAW ONE.  WHOA!  How cool are these things? :)  I had to buy it, and I've been obsessed with it ever since I brought it home!

I know many of my customers do other things with the textures and backgrounds I offer, like choosing to use the textures and backgrounds for creating and printing unique scrapbook pages, junk journal pages, journal tags, journal pockets, epherema for altered books, greeting card and envelope creation, word art backgrounds, invitation backgrounds, and so much more!   I just haven't experienced the passion in all those things, but after I saw that journal in person last week, I GET IT NOW.   You know I thrive on being unique and different with the things I do, and something like this -- HANDMADE in a world full of mass produced stuff - is one sure fire way to be unique and different AND to do some different things with my photo art, as well as the textures and backgrounds alone, that I've never even considered.

I did a bit of research and watched several videos on Youtube on the topic of junk journals.  And I decided I wanted to alter an old book to start with, and make my first journal out of that.  Check out some photos and more about my theme below.

Although I'd hardly call my art "junk".... :)

I decided since I spent 7 wonderful years photographing Hiram and Julia, the wonderful pair of eagles in Shiloh, TN -- and since they appear in almost 500 pieces of art I've created -- that EAGLES would be a wonderful theme for my journal.  Maybe this will be something handmade and memorable I can leave behind for my family.  They know how passionate I was about this pair!

Above you'll see the cover, which features my art "Warrior Queen", featuring Julia.  I added a piece of eagle art I cut out from a vintage book as well.  And there's a pretty chiffon ribbon to tie the journal closed, too.  I'll probably add more to the cover later, but this is as far as I've gotten.

​I printed some more of my art pieces, as well as some Daily Texture backgrounds, to start my journal.  I added lines to some of the textures and backgrounds to create pages to write on in my journal.  I printed this on my printer as a full page spread, and I then cut them to fit the pages in the book I'm working in.

Here's inside the front cover, where I have glued in a piece of art featuring both Hiram and Julia.  These journals get very big and bulky, so you have to really tear some pages out to thin it down so you have enough room to add the things you want.  I save those torn out pages and make them into elements I can add to existing pages.  Think of these books as an altered book on steroids. :) Lots of bits and pieces can go into these -- the only limit is the imagination!

So the second page here is a printout of one of the Memoryscapes Cloud backgrounds with lines added to it.  That was glued to a torn out page from the book, and then I tore the edges and glued this piece down there, so I can write a short introduction about my journal.

I added the BALD EAGLE words from the vintage book I cut that other eagle art out of.  On the second page, I added another work of my eagle art I printed and added the trim pieces I tore off of the lined piece around it to somewhat frame it in an interesting manner.  {Note:  Save everything!  Save every little piece of scrap paper!}

On this page, I added the newest art featuring Hiram -- he was blended with one of the Almighty Sea backgrounds.  All of these are drying a bit now.

I have plenty of pages I've already made with the textures/backgrounds I printed this week, both with lines and without, to help fill the journal pages.  I also have some old scrapbook pattern papers in the studio I might use as well.  And I may even paint on some of the pages since I have a ton of paint supplies in the studio.  I have some fabric bits I can add here and there, but I need to get the right kind of glue for that, so I haven't added any fabric pieces yet.

My plan for this journal is to print a large variety of my completed art featuring this wonderful eagle pair, and then to write memories and stories as I recall them on the pages with lines.  I also have a collection of quotes, and I write poetry and short essays from time to time as well, so I may write some of those things in my journal as time goes on.
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I'm so glad I discovered this fun hobby!  I've been looking for some way I can use ALL of my supplies and my textures and backgrounds together...this looks like it!  Another thing I've decided to do this year is make all of my Christmas cards by hand in this same method, but obviously not a whole book size as that would take forever.  But I can definitely decorate a card with my finished holiday art and some pretty background/words on the inside and maybe even add a pocket to slip a gift card or some cash inside. :)