I Made My First Real JUNK Journal, Completely From Trash!

When Junk journals first got their start, they were called Junk Journals because they were made from junk, or trash. I'm going back to the beginning and making my very first trashy junk journal! This is a talk-through of my process, and a flip through of the finished Junk Journal at the end.
Background Music:
Land on the Golden Gate by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: chriszabriskie.com/stuntisland/
Artist: chriszabriskie.com/

[@martiobrien4037]

Hi...Thanks, I enjoyed and learned how to bind !

[@JenniferDurdleArt]

That’s awesome! Be warned, once you bind one journal, you’ll want to make SO many more!

[@radiogirl85]

I love true junk journals like this. Thank you for such a concise and easy to follow tutorial!

[@JenniferDurdleArt]

Thank you for your kind words, I’m glad you found the video helpful. I have to say, I love working in this journal, and can’t wait to make more completely out of trash. It’s so satisfying making art out of something that was destined for a landfill.

[@makingsweetsoundsasmr]

I love to junk journal! Calming to me

[@JenniferDurdleArt]

Me too, it’s such great therapy! ♥️♥️

[@sheilacurtis3428]

Really like , working while talking videos‼️‼️This is a watch over n over for sure!✌🏻 May be my second comment, anyway it's worth it❤️✌🏻

[@JenniferDurdleArt]

Thank you so much Sheila! I think they’re my favourite type of videos to watch too. Something I can put on while I’m working to listen to/half watch. I don’t mean I watch my own videos, other crafters/journalers. I’m weird, but not that weird 😂

[@07klatu]

Love the butterflies.

[@JenniferDurdleArt]

Thank you!

[@barbarawhite3031]

Really love the inside of cover

[@JenniferDurdleArt]

Thank you! Being a padded envelope it also feels really neat.

[@BonnyAndClive]

So cute. I love true junk journals! 🙂💚

[@JenniferDurdleArt]

Thank you! Me too, there’s just something so satisfying about making art out of garbage.

[@martiobrien4037]

I just love your style of journaling.

[@JenniferDurdleArt]

Awww thanks so much Marti!

[@kippytx]

I really loved this so much.

[@JenniferDurdleArt]

Thank you! I can’t wait to make another.

[@markkaraweiershauser7649]

Beautiful cover!

[@JenniferDurdleArt]

Thank you so much!! I was skeptical about making it out of an Amazon padded envelope, but it turned out way better than I had expected it to.

[@martiobrien4037]

Yup...I just finished my first one...and on to number two...Such fun !

[@zapot66]

Very inspirational and beautiful images.

[@JenniferDurdleArt]

Thank you so much for watching and for your kind words Annette! If you want to see more journals made from trash, I suggest checking out Possum Patty; she’s made many trashy junk journals and she works in them often! It’s what inspired me to make this one.

[@thebudgetbee9694]

I like it! I made one out of fast food bags once and it was so much fun - very freeing. I'm laughing that the postmark on one of your pieces of junk was 2017 - I'm glad I'm not the only one who hangs on to trash for years. LOL 😁

[@JenniferDurdleArt]

LOL guilty as charged. I moved last year and totally packed my box of actual trash (journal fodder) and paid to store it. Sure, I went through it beforehand and threw a lot of it out, the plain generic stuff or stuff I can easily get again like cereal boxes, but there were just some things in there that were too good to toss, you know? A friend, @Dlicreations was over and she saw the box marked TRASH and panicked because she thought it meant all those goodies were destined for the trash bin. 😂 Pretty sure if they had been she would have rescued them. It’s bad enough when you hoard your own trash, but it’s really bad when you start bringing other people’s trash home (which I had of course also done) 😂 This journal is almost full, so I’m going to make another soon. I may make a few sizes, as this has proven to be one of my absolute favourite journals to work in. I’ve found I love using different sizes and materials for the pages, it really fuels my imagination.

[@KelleysQuiltsandCruises]

I just found your channel and subscribed. Greetings from BC! I’m new to journaling,as I was never a diary sort of person. I have been scrapbooks for over 20 years though. I’ve only made 3 journals and have given them away as gifts. I’ve been a quilter since 2015, and the journal I’m making for myself ( work in progress) is to document my somewhat recent projects.

[@JenniferDurdleArt]

Welcome Kelley, and thanks for subbing! Making a journal to document your quilting projects is a great idea. I want to do a fabric swatch journal, with fabric pages and little snippets of all favourite fabrics stitched in!

[@KelleysQuiltsandCruises]

@@JenniferDurdleArt that sounds great!

[@rikadehombreux4573]

Love this 💗

[@JenniferDurdleArt]

Thank you! It has become one of my favourite journals to work in!

[@jjournaldiva]

I love this journal! Wow the work you put into the cover! Beautiful

[@JenniferDurdleArt]

Thank you so much!

[@chatterboxmum9873]

Fantastic video. Love it.

[@JenniferDurdleArt]

Thank you very much!

[@Mia-sp8jc]

WOW! Love your journal. Best instructions ever😍

[@JenniferDurdleArt]

Thank you for watching, and for your kind words!

[@Mia-sp8jc]

@@JenniferDurdleArt 📃📃📃

[@debbiev.1311]

SO FUN!! Lovin' the cover...you know me & butterflies!! 😉🦋💕

[@JenniferDurdleArt]

Thank you Debbie! 🦋 ❤️

[@GwynWalker]

Love. Love. Love that you used REAL trash. So cool. Beautiful cover!

[@JenniferDurdleArt]

Thank you Gwyn. It’s so satisfying to use something destined for the landfill in art instead!

[@Vonnies1929]

Nice!!!!!❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@JenniferDurdleArt]

Thank you!

[@sassafrasandscraps]

This is awesome! Of course my favorite part is the beautiful cover! 😍 Also, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a wavy paper cutter before! Where did you get it?

[@JenniferDurdleArt]

Thank you for your kind words. I hadn’t seen a wavy paper cutter either until a few weeks ago when I bought a big lot of junk journaling/scrapbooking supplies from Facebook Marketplace. The cutter was among those things.

[@JenniferDurdleArt]

FYI if you wanted to look for one, the brand on this one is Creative Memories. :)

[@craftersalleybyheatherc]

I absolutely love your butterfly cover! It’s so pretty 😍 New Subbie here!

[@JenniferDurdleArt]

Thank you so much for your kind words Heather, and for subbing!

[@Bellacraft]

I love what you’ve created Jen 😊 the cover looks like it was a lot of fun to make, and would be so satisfying to use up those paints. Well done!

[@JenniferDurdleArt]

TYFW Emily! It was very satisfying to finally get to throw out some of those old bottles of almost empty paint that have been kicking around forever!

[@craftingcat536]

Yay for trash. I work mostly with trash. I admit I am not a digital fan as I prefer to use things that would otherwise be tossed.

[@JenniferDurdleArt]

There’s just something satisfying about making art out of something that was destined for the landfill.

[@AoifeRoisin75]

I’d like to see how you used it. Did you do artwork or what inside?

[@JenniferDurdleArt]

Hi! Yes, I have made many collage/mixed media art pages in it. It’s actually almost full now, so I’ve soon got to make another! If you look at my last 2 videos I posted, the rap one and hello world, I did both of them in this journal.

[@choosystuff177]

It’s gorgeous…. But now what do you do with it 🤷‍♀️. I’m obsessed with watching your Chanel but I don’t understand why folks make junk journals …. Please please explain

[@JenniferDurdleArt]

Thank you! So, you can do a wide array of things with junk journals. Some people make them to use like a regular traditional journal, just to write in (they’d use much more plain paper for the inside pages than I have). Some people use them like a scrapbook, to put pictures in and/or document memories. (Themed journals work well for this; like filling a journal with everything from a trip you’ve been on, or one about your garden, etc). Some people put personal ephemera/memorabilia in them, like concert tickets, brochures of places they’ve visited, postcards, etc. like just a catch-all, somewhere to stick things in as opposed to actually decorating each page). This was what my first junk journal was like; movie ticket stubs all stapled on one page, newspaper clipping and ticket from a concert I went to, etc). And some people use them like an art journal, creating on each page. This is what I’m mostly doing in this particular journal, because many of the pages are very busy, they work well to be covered/painted/collaged on. There may be more uses I haven’t thought of, there are a ton of great ideas out there. None of these descriptions I gave are set in stone, they’re more loose suggestions. If you want to use your journal for a combination of things like I listed above, (which is what I do with my journals usually), then do whatever makes you happy! In my opinions that’s the most important part; that it gives me joy to work in it and to look through it at the pages I’ve done.

[@JenniferDurdleArt]

Thar’s the best place to start before making your journal, figure out how you want to use it, and if you want a theme.

[@chrismatheson4376]

What is that weird music in the background please?

[@JenniferDurdleArt]

Just some ambient music.

[@Monika-iv3gy]

3 minutes of this „music“ is already too much for my ears! Sorry