From Good Vibes to Framed Delights: My Week 1 Junk Journal July Experience
It’s Junk Journal July time, and I’m excited to work my way through this year’s prompts. I’ve been feeling a little uninspired lately, and this challenge is the perfect way for me to get myself back to feeling creative!
If you’re unfamiliar with Junk Journal July, it’s a monthly junk journaling challenge hosted by Meg Journals. She supplies the prompts for the month and you can interpret them in your journal however they inspire you! The month is also filled with a host of artists who each take a day and do a video on how they interpret the prompt (I’m Day 22 – so stay tuned!). You can read more about Junk Journal July in my post here, and even see how I created my journal for the challenge!
Alright – let’s jump into the prompts. I try not to overthink them, just go with what’s in front of me, or what I might have thought would be good materials for the prompt given. I’ll run through what I did for each one below, and I hope this inspires you to create your own pages! If you’d like to see how I created each one, there is a video below.
Day 1: Good Vibes
To kickstart the month, the prompt was “good vibes.” For this one, I decided to repurpose some used deli-paper. After cutting it to size, I added some lines and filled them with lettering from a fun quote from the musical Carousel. I had just watched the movie Temple Grandin and thought it was a great quote to add for some good vibes. I finished the page with some white paint splatters. Overall, I was happy with how my first day turned out!
Day 2: Pop of Colour
I decided to create a pop of LOTS of colors on this page! I started by using some watercolor pens to create a grouping of color on the page in my journal. After I had covered a pretty good area, I lightly drew a mushroom (if you know me, you know how I love those little fungi!) and then used black paint to cover up everything outside the sketch. My mushroom was really popping! To finish the page, I used a white gel pen to add some marks to the black paint – since it was looking a little plain. Seems I always need to add something!
Day 3: Negative Space
Embracing this concept – I found a page in my journal which already had some blank space that I thought I could use for this prompt. I decided to layer some coordinating scrapbook paper cut into strips over the type already on the page. I added the words “Be Positive” vertically in the middle of the page, which I think really set off the negative space on the right side. After looking at the page – I did decide to come back with some circles cut from under paper, and I was much happier with it!
Day 4: Tickets and Tags
Ok – you know how I love bits of ephemera, so this prompt was my jam! 😁 I started with some tags that I had in my stash from my Midnight Stroll digital kit and then searched through my ephemera holder for any tickets I could find. I added sari ribbon to both tags, then I put one tag to the left side of the spread as a flip out, and then the other tag I made a tuck spot on in the middle of the spread. On both sides of the spread, I added the ticket ephemera as background pieces. Since I needed something for the tuck spot, I made a tag from a piece of mixed media I had done months ago, and then just layered up some pieces on top to give it some interest.
And since I needed something to go under my flip tag, I found a large oval label and cut out some words from an old book to create some found word poetry. The words say “And girls in black mantillas Sitting before your easel in the sun, has sent you wisdom from the sea” I love how random phrases can create such curious stories!
Day 5: Fold Out
I didn’t have a lot of time for this day – so I found a patchwork tag in my stash that I had made a while ago and used a torn old book page as the hinge to make it fold out. Then I added some label stickers to the front for fun. I think it worked out great for the short time I had!
Day 6: Layers on Layers
Layers are the best. Mainly because layers help you cover up mistakes. Or accidents. And they can even cover up something you just plain don’t like. And that’s what happened to me today! I had some layers in mind for this spread – so I started with collage. Just gluing papers down in a random pattern on the pages. Then gesso. I love how smeared gesso over collage brings a page together. My next layer was some alcohol ink with water. I liked it at first, but boy was it BRIGHT. After it dried, I added some matte Mod Podge to the top so I could layer on a napkin. The flowers on the napkin kind of matched the ink, but I realized the ink was over powering the rest of the layout.
So, I just added another layer! This time I used my gesso again, but added it just to the areas where my alcohol ink was trying to take over, and wouldn’t you know it – I liked this result! Then I finished with layers of book page and packing paper as frames for some cardboard cutouts of friends. Lots of layers!
Day 7: Framed
On the last day of my first week, the prompt was framed. I decided to stay simple for this one. Using a bird illustration I had, I thought it would be fun to frame it. I used some book plate die cuts I had and cut them down so their decorative sides could be added to the edges of the bird. I thought it might be done at this point, but instead, decided to add a few stamped labels to finish the page off.
Believe it or not, I seem to love the simple spreads the most!
I really enjoyed my first week of Junk Journal July! If you’d like to see a visual overview of how I created each page, you can check out the video below. I hope you’ll grab your journal, scrounge for scrap materials in your stash and join me for more of Junk Journal July!
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