The Front Porch Stamper: Junk Journal

Today's post is a little bit of a different project. I wanted to showcase the versatility of Stampin' Up products. I was recently inspired by Sheryl from Sheryl Schnmidt Artistry and dove in head first to her junk journal tutorial. Now I don't like the look of distressed and old stuff on my cards so I kept my junk journal very clean and crisp looking.

I followed her tutorial for the binding method, so I am not going to talk you through that. You can find her tutorial here.

I started off by making a document in Word with notebook lines. You can use publisher or any other program like that. Now I printed my journal pages on regular paper but I recommend printing on 32lb printer paper or even Stampin' Up Basic White cardstock depending on what you are planning on doing. I followed Sheryl's tutorial so I scored and folded all my paper and let in rest while I figured out my cover.

I didn't have any old legal sized file folders nor did I want to spend money on that so I went hunting in my house and found some 11"x13" yellow manila envelopes and thought that it would be the perfect cover. I did think it was going to be a little flimsy so I did slip a piece of cardstock in the envelope. If you are going to use this idea make sure you put the cardstock in the envelope before you punch the holes.

As you can see I cover the cover in kraft cardstock but I did that after I had the journal all assembled. It doesn't really matter at which stage you do this. I then layer a piece of Fresh Freesia cardstock on top of that.

I spent about an hour and a half stamping and die cutting flowers and hummingbirds to use on the cover and throughout the journal. You can stamp directly onto the pages if you want but if you go that route you will want cardstock so that the ink doesn't bleed through.

I was worried that the edge of the craft cardstock would get wrecked and it was at this point in the design process that I truly chose a purpose for this journal and I dug out my box of Bible Journaling supplies from when I was in college. I will use this a prayer/scripture journal during my devotional time. I used some wahsi tape from Illustrated Faith to just protect the edges.

A good portion of my bible jouranling supplies were in a black and white design which allowed me to incorporate my favourite colours - Fresh Freesia, Pale Papaya and Soft Succulent.

I stamped on some banner and index cards and just used washi tape to tape them into my journal. For the die cuts I just glued them in. You can use whatever adhesive you want.

I put the opening of the envelope as the back cover of my jouranl and when the journal was all bound it ended up being a pocket that had a divider in it because of the cardstock I slid into the cover!

Here is a look at some of my favourite pages: