junk journal

Sharing today a junk journal I created in 2022 during the month of December. I keep my journal very small (this one is about 4x5.5 inches) so that the commitment is low. I also don't really put a lot memory wise in it. It's mostly an excuse for me to play with pretty Christmas supplies. I'll include a few notes from my advent reading, and this year I included more photos since I have a Selphy printer and can print photos at home now. In the past, I didn't have a photo printer and so I didn't include photos.

Sharing the flip through of another finished junk journal. I really love the process of making these journals. It's so easy to open up the notebook and finish a page, since the journal is created with interesting papers and layers. You have to go with what you've got, so there's no space to sit around and wonder what you should do. Also, calling something junk just takes away a lot of pressure. Do things need to match, not when it's junk. Can I put this element here, of course I can, it's junk!

I have another finished junk journal to share with you today. I'm currently keeping two active junk journals: one for Magnus and one for Iona. This is the ninth one I've finished for Magnus. It's definitely a hobby I enjoy. Here are a few of my favorite spreads from this notebook:

Sharing another finished junk journal today. You can read all about my process here. Although in a new twist I did have to take this journal apart and restitch it into three signatures. It got too bulky to work with, but the fix worked with everything I had, I just needed some more string. I'll probably be updating all my future journals so that I have fewer pages in a signature, making it easier to work with.

I made this junk journal two years ago during December and forgot to share about it. Unlike a traditional December Daily project, I didn't really focus here on what we were doing for the season, but used it instead as a place to reflect on my advent readings from the month of December. At the time we were traveling for Christmas, and I didn't have a photo printer, so it was a small project that I could do easily on the go. I really loved the process of making and filling this junk journal, and I'm looking forward to filling another one this year.

I cannot believe it's already the middle of November. It totally snuck up on me and suddenly it was like, "we must make all the Christmas plans!" Since we aren't traveling this year and will be doing most of what we're doing at home it seems like a great year to really go all in on the December Daily project. I've dabbled in the past, but I'm usually trying to do it while we travel, without photos. Plus Magnus will be three this year and it seems like he's really arrived at the being able to do stuff stage. So we're going all in on the Christmas activities.

I recently spent some time making my junk journals for the year (!) and I thought I'd take the opportunity to document what I include when I'm making them. I find it easier to batch make these because the process of making the piles of junk is a bit time consuming, and as long as I'm making one I might as well make a bunch. Then they're all ready to go when I need a new one.

I was recently asked to be a guest designer for Cocoa Daisy, and finally achieved a life-long dream of someone sending me free craft supplies. They reached out to me because they thought their August kit would particularly match my style, and they weren't wrong! It was such a delight to work with the products, and the change from my usual stash helped me to generate some new ideas, including this pocket page junk journal.