Found Objects Junk Journal

Hey, everyone! , Norma Thomas, one of our amazing new Junk Journal Design Team Members, created a beautiful Found Objects Junk Journal for us this week. As you know, we feature one new Junk Journal project each week created by one of our creative team of artists. Our Design Team Members select from the 100’s of Vintage Image Bundles on our Premium Membership Site, for their creations, in order to show you beautiful ways to use those images. We hope you will be totally inspired by this series!

Therefore, please make sure you check out the video tour at the bottom of the page…please scroll all the way down to see it. Are you ready to be inspired? I will step out of the way and let Norma tell you all about her incredible project…

Hi everyone I’m Norma of Crafted by Norma & Craft with Norma (YouTube) I would love you to share with me my second design team project for The Graphics Fairy. I became involved in Mixed Media Art and paper Crafts when I retired back in 2015.

My inspiration for this journal is from a French Mixed Media Artist called Jerome Cavailles whose unique work is little known but I can relate to. I wanted the journal to have a story of being used and read, then left on a shelf and forgotten. Over a period of time, it had clutter piled on top of it and left for years abandoned to dust and debris. So eventually the book was found with all its secrets intact and the old items now glued in place with the dust and damp of the room in which it was found. So, my first thought was to imagine what might have been the items inside the book and see what the Premier Site could offer. I was not disappointed and started to find images and ephemera so the story could unfold, the journal began to narrate its history and unfold its New Beginnings as the Journal that it is today. The journal its self was made from an altered Library Book headed for landfill. The size is 9.5inch x 7inch

I started by distressing both the front and back covers to age the book using my own stain, inks and lemon juice. I then strengthened and aged the spine of the book using handmade teabag paper. I found the Front Elevation paper was the ideal image to have on the cover as if this was something the family were thinking of using for their home. I then added the vintage items to the cover that I found in my own shed and garage some belonging to my parents. Old paint brushes, pencil, book cover which was very distressed, old 1907 English penny, Victorian scissors in a
handmade leather case, old wooden rule, vintage tin, leather strap and old fob watch.

Inside the cover I have used kraft card to make a folder and have added photos from the Instant Ancestors and Antique Portrait bundles. Inside the folder there are folds and flips to hide journals areas and pockets and here I have made my own labels using the Vintage Black Labels and altered/ printed onto them. The tickets used throughout the journal Train and Travel Tickets from various bundles. I made a fixed note book again using the teabag paper as the cover. Inside the money envelope I have added a faux £1 note.

On this next section is the first of the three signatures. This signature is made up of assorted papers for journalling and to give it a tattered look some of the pages have been ripped and then faux tape to make it look aged. Added to the pages are images from the French Attic Ephemera to give extra interest. If the paper has a pocket, I have made a journal bundle of envelope, photo and letter to give the impression of a forgotten memory. I one of the pockets I have included a genuine Christmas and New Year card from 1931. This signature has 22 writing pages of coffee
stained, music, ledger book and vintage papers.

This next signature is made into a folder which has hidden pockets and flips holding an array of ephemera from the Seed Catalogue, Vintage Office Supplies and Instant Ancestors Bundles. As well as some ephemera from my own stash. I wanted this section to be as if the owner had collected bits in readiness for their garden. I made a tobacco pouch from the teabags paper and again added some vintage money and used the original library ticket holder to keep it in and also a vintage English postage stamp. A small note book is also an addition made from the Front Elevation paper used on the front cover.

The final signature is again made up of section of papers only the pockets this time have a folder with vintage stamps in a glassine bag with note pad and the other has again with a journalling bundle only this time with a wedding invitation

The inside back cover I have added a pocket with a tab folder which holds 2 photo cabinet cards which I have made from the Antique Portraits printed onto Linen Card stock. I made a document envelope and note book with a vintage key embellishment for interest, which completes my journal.

Take a tour of the journal:

FOUND OBJECTS JUNK JOURNAL VIDEO TOUR

Source of bundles used: –

Front Elevation Paper
French Attic Ephemera
Travel Tickets
Vintage Black Labels
Seed Catalogue Bundle
Instant Ancestors Bundle
Antique Portrait Bundle
Vintage Office Supplies Bundle

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Thanks,

Norma

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