I love junk journals. I was introduced to them through the 30 Days of Lists Challenge and Monika from   I love it all shop. While I am tempted to buy everything in her shop, I especially love to use her $10 variety junk journals because they are the perfect size and length for a week long vacation. Add an embellishment kit or two and I have all I need to do a little crafting and memory keeping while I am away from home.  Monika has the best stuff! Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Get your own here or here.

USE WHAT YOU HAVE

While I am not new to creating from my stash, this year it’s MANDATORY!

For 2018, I made a goal to #usewhatihave and pull from my own stash for any creative project I wanted to make. This is a way to practice contentment, save money and use the crafty goodness I have collected over the years, and there is plenty. Here is my first project following the #usewhatihave concept. I piggy backed on the junk journals I love from Monika’s shop and made these chunky junk journals. The first was pretty spontaneous in its conception and all of them were so fun to make.

With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, I knew I wanted to make something special to celebrate a new friendship because, well, GAL-entine’s day of course! I had been collecting calendar pages  and sorting them by topic.

The wheels always start spinning when I’m trying to sleep, so naturally, I had to get up and do something about it. That first night, I decided a junk journal would be perfect and worked on it, assembled the pages choosing patterns and textures and trimming pages to size. A chunky journal is eclectic and random and full of variety so the process, from beginning to end, is new, moment by moment. I love that! There was no plan at this point other than just making a junk journal with the calendar pages.

PERSONALIZED PAGES

Over the next several days, a thematic order took shape as to what I wanted to include in it based on our friendship. I looked forward to working on it daily as I added details, and worked with what I had in my stash, adding embellishments and personalizing it wherever I could.

There is a page that tells how we became friends.

Friendship quotes and bible verses throughout, we share our faith so this was perfect to include. There’s one tucked into that envelope pocket on the right.

Flip open that quote page above and she can write a list about those million little things that friendship means to her, see below.

One of my favorite pages is the last one with the map.

INTERACTIVE PAGES

Since we have never met in person, there is a page to record the dates of our first meeting,

our first selfie,

or writing out a little prayer.

FILL IN THE BLANK PAGES

Other pages are waiting for her pen to do the filling. Maybe some journaling, stories, or reflections she may want to jot down. A meal, a conversation, a summary or retelling of our time together, a ticketed event we attend together, the possibilities are endless!

 

 

HOW TO MAKE IT CHUNKY

Feel free to add embellishments to different parts of the page to even out the bulk. Don’t be afraid to tie ribbons or charms to the rings, it adds interest.

The more embellishments you add the chunkier it gets,

And you know what they say. “The chunkier the better!”

BUT WAIT THERE IS MORE

After this one, I worked on two more junk journals a bit smaller in scale. One for another friend adding personalized details for her about her great mothering, love for chocolate and the beach.

I also had the pleasure of making one for my daughter which included love notes, advice, fashion, make-up and ice cream. I can see how this can get addicting…

This project can take anywhere between 2-10 hours. It all depends how much time and effort you invest adding personal details, embellishments and layering. The best part is that it’s something unique to the receiver, they can go back over time to look it over and add to it, if desired. Since the books are bound with rings, it will be easy to add pages. So fun!

Are you a junk journal junkie?