Want Junk Journal Ideas? Here are some of my favorite You Tube Videos....Enjoy!

Here are a couple of You Tube videos that are, in my opinion....FABULOUS in junk journal creation!

I watch these often! Hope you enjoy them too!

Geocaching Junk Journal

Chunky Junk Journal

Making Your First Junk Journal



Thanks for stopping by and...keep on sewing those memories!

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Cute Little Envelopes to make yourself

I love looking through You Tube to see the flip throughs crafters post of their junk journals. It is a great way to get inspired and also get ideas!  I love little things...so these little envelopes I see often, have been something I have been wanting to make. I finally found an little envelope and carefully, tore it apart and used it as a pattern. Last night.. I made all these little guys in about 15 minutes! I used vellum for two for that crackle sound that makes it fun to open it! I can't wait to use them!
Size is about 2inches by 3 inches. And what a great way to use up scrap paper... and I think I am going to use that green ledger paper and make one with that and see how it looks - just to be different!

You could do this with any envelope you find that is unusual and you like for whatever reason. Even a library book pocket..(remember those... on the inside cover of each book with the "return" card in the pocket!!!) Just open one up and use it as a pattern. See a neat envey in your junk mail but don't like all the printing on it? Tear it open and use it as a pattern!  Always be on the look out for things to use in a different way in your junk journals!

Thanks for stopping by and...keep on sewing those memories!

Want to read more at Fabric and Memories? CLICK HERE
This post is linked to the Linky Party for the day. Click on the "Daily Linky Parties" tab at the top of my page and join us!

Junk Journal page...with junk paper!

 Here is a great way to use junk paper to get started on your junk journals!  This page was quick, and easy and literally used junk paper. Took me like 5 minutes to make but it has the memory of my favorite french fries in the whole world.. memories of taking my grand daughters to McDonalds when they were little and having the best time with them and the memories of them and how much they loved the fries too and our time spent together. It is going in my journal!!

The page is an 8.5x11 folded in half and is from a ream of 32lb paper I got at the office supply store. $8 I think it was for 400 sheets and then I coffee stained the paper and used an ink pad (cheapest one at the craft store) to "antique" it on the edges and a few smears on the paper.

I go  to McDonalds for my bi monthly treat of fries.The are the best in the world, but...can't afford to many calories so..they are a special treat for me...instead of Starbucks or some candy! I kept the little paper pockets they put the fries in. I used double sided tape on the bottom side of the pocket and the opening side of the pocket..thus leaving the top open for the journaling tag to slide in!  Then I had a pack of tags from the Dollar Store and tied some ribbon from my sewing stash and slide that into the opening of the pocket itself. I made a journaling "tag"..really just a piece of paper I cut to size to slide in the opening and put a little flower sticker thingy on top for something to pull it out with...inked the sides and slide it in the opening behind the fries pocket. The words are from a page I had that had the words on it as a title, so I cut them individually so they would fit on the page without covering anything, and there you go! Plus..the words..."you make me happy" are perfect in this case because McDonalds is famous for their "Happy Meals" that make people happy, but...the fries DO make me happy!

Here is a view of the page with the tags pulled out so you can see them in full. See... space to write on each of the tags...front and back. Space to write on the page itself!  Lots of memories and all in just 5 minutes! Don't get better than that! And you can turn the pocket so it opens at the top, or fix it so it is a mini page on its own.

Just goes to show what you can do with junk paper! So start keeping those paper things you find/get whether at the fast foods or other places. You might not have an idea right at that moment to use them, but put them in your stash and the right idea will come to you...sooner or later and then you will be prepared to  create!
        Thanks for stopping by and...keep on sewing and saving those memories!

Want to read more at Fabric and Memories? CLICK HERE

A Junk Journal - A New Way to Keep the Memories Alive!

A JUNK JOURNAL - 
A NEW WAY TO KEEP THE MEMORIES ALIVE!

This is the "junk journal" I won in a giveaway last month.  It is made of literally just "junk" papers, cards, tags, labels, odd pieces of paper, etc...all very pretty, cute or otherwise unique. I hadn't a clue as to what it was or what I would do with it but hey.... I won something and.....I sure liked it!

Here are some pictures of some of the pages in the book...all shapes, sizes, themes, colors! Note cards, strips of cards, parts of stationary, tags, labels...kind of like, you name it, there was a "page" of it in there!









But still...what do I do with it? I am not busy enough to make it a planner. I don't have anything to say to journal about. Well, my daughter recently got married and for a very terrible reason, I was not able to get to her wedding. Sad doesn't start to cover how I felt. 1:00pm was the ceremony and at 1:00 I stopped what I was doing and thought about her and then said a little something to her in my mind. I then thought that  I wanted to write that down....but where. Then I thought of this junk journal. It was just a few sentences that I said and a small little prayer, so I needed just a little bit of page...it would be perfect! So I got the book out and looked through for a complimentary page...and found this one of a bride. How perfect.Then I just flipped the card and wrote what I was thinking.

It suddenly hit me...journaling doesn't always have to be about what I do or have done...it can be about others and my special thoughts of them. Well, as they say, one thing lead to another... and thinking this was a good idea...my grand daughter just turned 9 the week before...and I thought I'd do the same for her...so I chose this card-page. She loves "old time-y" clothes so this was perfect for her. On the back I "talked" to/about her.

 

And then my most recent little grand daughter was born, I wrote welcome to the world note to her and this oval "page" of the little girl was a perfect match for her!

Well, nothing to happen for awhile now...but something occured to me on St Patricks day last week. It made me remember the past St Patrick's Days. For years, my oldest grand daughter loved the leprechauns and all that went with them. I would get green sequin shamrocks and secretly sprinkle them around and she'd think they were from the leprechauns and the trail to the pot of gold or to where they lived.  She'd even make leprechaun traps! I would pick her up at school and as I walked to the meeting place, I'd drop the shamrocks as I walked, so when we walked back....she'd see this trail of the little green shamrocks and think she was chasing the leprechauns! The rest of the day she was with me, I'd secretly drop them around and some green plastic coins and It was such a fun time for us! It was great for many years, but now she is a freshman in high school so of course, it is just a wonderful memory for both of us that we like to recall every St. Paddy's Day.  I chose a green "page" in the junk journal and I glued some of the little shamrocks (yes, I have kept them all this time!) to the front of the page, and on the back..just a little note about our fun St Patrick's Day "tradition". So I intend to write a little something about someone on every holiday or time/event that I had in the past with someone and just write like I am talking to them and recall the memory we made together.

More thinking about bringing past memories into present....I  thought about the little notes that this same grand daughter (she will be 15 next week) wrote to me over the years past. I have many of them taped to the mirror in my bathroom so I see/read/remember them every day. What a perfect addition to the book! This one says "I had fun spending the nite at your house and thanks for letting me bend the rules. I had fun". So I just glued the note to a "page" of its size. I don't remember what rules I let her bend but I apparently let her bend the best ones!

 So, I have decided to use  this junk journal to  bring  past memories,  into my present. When finished, not only will i have a nice book of my favorite memories but....anyone can read it and "walk" through my life and enjoy my memories! Since it is not in chronological order, it will kind of be like a time travel thing! (And I enjoy reading books about time travel!)  One page  might be dated currently and the next page could be dated 3 years later, next page 6 months earlier and the next..a year later and the next 8 months prior and so on. It reminds me of that book "Time Travelers' Wife"...where the  guy popped in and out of time during his girl friend/wifes life.  I liked the point of the story but it sure was a hard book to read and keep track of what was going on! The movie stunk! But my time travel journal.. will be awesome and enjoyable and bring lot of smiles to lots of faces!

I am working on a "prolog" for it and since I have always loved Robert Browning's..."Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be..." quote, I think I shall include that some how.  If this world tarries another 50 years, my great and great great grand children will have a little bit of Nanny in their lives..without ever having met me! Plus, memories about when their mothers and grand mothers were little! A journal through time...in a junk journal!

I am also making fabric lace memory books... you can read about that journey HERE on my blog. More memories to preserve and fun to be had while making them! Here's a few pics to show you what a fabric lace memory book is. I am working on making one for each of my 5 grand daughters.

 

So..this is my start into the world of "junk journals". I love them! They are so cool, neat, groovy, and just really, really amazing...both in how they look and what they are for. And what a great way to use/recycle/upcycle...junk! Granted..."junk" journals are made of literally that...junk...junk mail, junk pieces of paper (see the one page up there...old notebook paper page!) And in this book are pieces of the green ledger paper, graph paper, and things like that. Junk mail days in the mail box are a good place to find junk paper! So I intend to keep looking around and finding things...due to the "no size" limit...anything is possible! I just have to figure how to bind mine. I think like this can be done at Staples and I know there is a kit for sale to do it your self, but I probably won't invest in one of those.  I have since discovered how to make "junk journals" out of my stash of scrapbook papers and embellishments. Different in looks and structure than this style, but still really nice. I have started one and see it is more of a "scrapbook journal" as it looks like double page layouts that I used to do, but hey....it works and looks great!

And there is a style to use junky stuff like this...and include it in a junk journal with binding..which is the way I intend on going. So...I am excited and anxious to make these.. and hopefully.... preserve more of my memories. I will be posting more about the scrapbook journal next week.. have a few pages done..so if you want to follow along...join to follow my blog up there on the left side at the top pf this page. I have joined a few Facebook groups that have just the best ladies chatting about their journals and the how-to's and what to do's and things like that. I love sharing, learning and helping other with this amazing craft! Come on and follow along with me! In the mean time... do as I plan to do.. and collect some junk!

And when all is said and done...... since dementia "runs" in my family... when I am old, I think that I will be living the happiest times of my life..since my memories are where my happiest times were!

Thanks for stopping by and...keep on sewing those memories!

Want to read more at Fabric and Memories? CLICK HERE
This post is linked to the Linky Party for the day. Click on the "Daily Linky Parties" tab at the top of my page and join us!