Mini Junk Journal

 I joined the "Buy Nothing Junk Journal/Supplies Group" on Facebook the other day. It's a group that uses junk mail/ephemera, etc to make inexpensive journals. You can make the covers from junk you have laying around too. I have saved a LOT of paper bits and bobs over the years and this is a great way to use them. It can be any kind of journal you want to make it, themed, or not. Also, they exchange supplies, papers, etc. for free, just postage, and they have swaps. It's a wonderful sharing group with lots of inspiration and ideas!

Anyway, I have made several handmade journals, but I didn't think I'd ever made a "junk journal". I have been seeing them online for a long time though. I was about to start one from scratch, but in looking though some stuff I found this little journal that I made as a quick example for one of the many online classes I've taken over the years. 

So, I'm thinking I may just work on some pages in it. It's approximately 4"x5" outside. Pages are a bit smaller. Made entirely of junk papers, except the beads!

Covers are cut from a used postal box. The spine is made with duck tape, and the red is washi tape. I stenciled the rabbit on the front and the cat on the back with black ink. A beaded raffia strip is tied through the middle and on the outside to hold the pages in.

I just used random junk papers folded in two to make the one signature. The marbled ones are book pages that I used shaving cream and paint to make, some are tissue paper that was in a gift, I think. Pages can be taken out or more pages added. Of course, you can have more signatures with a wider spine. As I said, this was just a sample to remind me of a simple way to make one.

I am going to add some acid free paper to the inside of the covers to help protect the pages also. I wish I could find a glue stick that works, for the quickness of it, but no luck so far. Guess I'll stick with matte gel medium for now, if it hasn't dried up. 

This is also a good way to clean off my desk/work area, as I tend to stack up things on it!

Now to lay out some things to add to the pages, and I'll post pictures when they're done. Let the fun begin! 

Still frigid with a lot of snow/ice here, so I'm going to try to stay warm and play a bit! Y'all take care!