What exactly is Junk Journalling?

What is junk journalling?

What supplies do I need for Junk Journalling?

How is Junk journalling different to scrapbooking?

I was having a conversation with a friend the other day talking about junk journaling after I have been posting so much online about tips and techniques that you could use in your own junk journal that it got us thinking to or even reminiscing about what we used to do which was scrapbooking…

We were reflecting on the differences between scrapbooking and junk journaling so first of all what exactly is junk journaling.

Junk Journaling is exactly as it sounds taking the junk that you have around either scrap paper receipts cardboard boxes packaging leaflets and creating something beautiful out of it. Now in the most traditional sense you would make your Journal yourself this has been done through taking an old cardboard box making a mock book or journal cover out of it and filling the pages either with more cardboard boxes or other scrap or waste paper material think all those leaflets that you get through the door and you don't know what to do with suddenly they become the pages inside your junk journal.

Now I would say you need to buy a few things or have a few things bought already such as scissors glue if you're going to bind your own book then probably a needle and thread as well I've never actually done a book binding junk journal from scratch but maybe that is something that I could look into doing in future.

In the strictest traditional sense though the only thing that you should buy for your junk journal is the tools in which to make it all of the contents should be exactly what it says junk.

Now do I junk journal in this way no. I don't I buy my journal from dingbats I think that has been the best journal set out for me but it has taken me a few years to land on dingbat and now I don't really want to buy anything else I am a little bit worried about working my way through the whole entire collection of colours but I'm hoping that as I go through that they will release more colours so I never have to have the same colour journal although that wouldn't be too bad I could set it up like a rainbow on my shelf at the moment they are set up like a rainbow on my shelf and most of them being dingbats as of the late years but earlier years all sorts of different journals.

Now what I love about dingbats could be a whole other blog post in itself but the main criteria I have is an elasticated clothes a space to store your pen umm little ribbons inside as bookmarks must be dotted paper not lined definitely that's in my in my opinion the worst not lined not square although square I would do maybe plain I would also do maybe I used to be a plain drunk journalist and now I have seen the light of boxes or bullet journaling is it sometimes it's referred to.

Secondly most of the material I'd put in my junk journal is in fact junk it is things that either I'm upcycling like old books or magazines or leaflets or tickets I love a paper ticket just so I can put it in my junk journal but I also buy some things I buy stickers and washi tape and I get some photos printed which isn't the strict definition of junk journaling but I still consider what I do junk journaling rather than scrapbooking or aesthetic journal.

I really believe that junk journaling can be whatever you want to make it whether you buy all your supplies and make pretty aesthetic displays that capture your memories that way or if you collect things like a little trash pan that as I do along the way anything you want could be a drunk journal don't let people tell you what how to create and what to create the most important thing is that you are doing something that you enjoy that you like looking at that makes life feel a little bit lighter in these uncertain times so yeah comment below if you would like to share your journal with me I would love to see it I absolutely love running my junk journal workshops in London where people from everywhere kind of come and we can spend an hour or two creating together discussing and also sharing I love seeing other people's journals if you feel comfortable to share and there are certain pages that I do feel comfortable for my own personal journal and some that I don't and that's perfectly fine so come along to the drunk journal workshop it's in leadenhall market this September tickets are available on Eventbrite

Junk Journal Supply from Junk Journal Workshop in London hosted by @the.craft.therapist