How to Make a Creative Ideas Junk Journal

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Make a Creative Ideas Junk Journal to capture all your creative ideas!

Over the years one of the things that I’ve learned about being a creative artist and business owner is that if you don’t write things down, they are soon forgotten.

This is particularly true when creative ideas arrive in a flash of inspiration. Because these ideas often arrive at the least convenient time, I always make sure to carry a notebook or journal with me wherever I go. In this way I can capture my ideas when inspiration strikes.

I sometimes use a small notebook that I always carry with me, but I also like to be a little more creative with my notebooks and journals.

For the last several years I’ve been making a style of junk journal that I call my creative ideas junk journal. I use this journal to write, sketch, and capture the thoughts, ideas and things that inspire me.

One of the things that I love about these types of journals is that there are no rules about how they should be made or what should be included in them.

After making this Scrappy Journal Cover, I decided to use the cover for a new creative ideas journal using these printables papers.

If you are looking to make your own creative ideas junk journal, use these ideas as inspiration to get started.

Creative Ideas Junk Journal Resources

Fabric Journal Cover Tutorial
Creative Ideas Printable Writing Journal
Scrappy Garden Printable Junk Journal
Scrappy Garden Printable Quotes Pages

How to Make a Creative Ideas Junk Journal

For this creative ideas junk journal I’m using reusable fabric cover which makes this project really quick and easy to put together.

To make the pages, you can use all sorts of different sizes and types of papers. I like to mix things up and use small pieces and larger pieces with lots of space for writing and sketching.

And I also like to use different types of papers such as my own printable journal papers …

… hand painted papers …

… writing paper …

… scrapbooking paper …

… pages torn from magazines and old calendars …

… even old envelopes.

Because I’m using a reusable cover for the journal, I don’t need to make a special cover for the pages. So I simply stitched two pieces of printed cardstock together around the edges on my sewing machine, which made a thick and stable cover.

Once the cover is made, gather all your papers with the cover on the outside and assemble them into one signature. Use binder clips to hold all the pages in place while you sew the journal together.

The pages are sewn together using a 5-hole pamphlet stitch. To make it easy to sew, use a bookbinding awl to punch 5 holes through all the pages, evenly spaced down the center spine.

Cut a length of strong hand embroidery thread and thread it through an embroidery needle. The length of the thread will vary depending on the size of your journal, so as a rule of thumb I cut a length about 3-4 times the length of the journal pages.

Start sewing on the inside and push the needle through the top hole to the outside. I’m going to add a metal charm to use as a bookmark so I’ve left a good length of thread tail along the inside.

Bring the needle back to the inside through the second hole, and continue sewing in and out down the length of the pages and then back up to the top. Once you’ve finished sewing, tie off the thread in a tight knot.

I’ve left a long thread tail and added a butterfly charm to the end so I can use it as a bookmark.

To finish things, slip the journal covers into the slip pockets on the fabric journal cover. Using this type of cover, when done with the journal, you can make another one and reuse the same cover.

At the front of the journal I inserted an envelope where I can put loose papers or personal things that I don’t want others to see.

I made sure to include lots of different types of writing and sketch papers so I can add writing and sketching.

Making these types of creative journals is always fun and interesting, and there’s no right or wrong way to do it.

I usually make them just large enough to last for a month or so which gives me an excuse to make a new one every month.

These free printables are available for download in the Free Junk Journal Printables Library.