The Journal Keeper Junk Journal
Hey guys– sharing today is Cheryl Carpenter from A Penchant for the Past, one of our awesome Junk Journal Design Team Members. She has created an eclectic book titled The Storyteller Junk Journal. As you know, we are featuring a new Junk Journal each week created by some fabulous junk journal book artisans. Our goal is that you be creatively inspired by this series! Cheryl created a delightsome project with a gorgeous cover. Be sure to check out the video tour at the bottom of the page…you will need to scroll all the way down to see it. Are you ready to be inspired? I will let Cheryl tell you all about her junk journal in her own words…
The Journal Keeper Front Cover
Hello everyone, this is Cheryl from A Penchant for the Past. I hope your new year is off to a great start! Today, I’m going to share with you my TGF Design Team project for January. This one I’ve named “The Journal Keeper.” The reason behind my name choice will become more evident as we take a closer look at the journal.
This time I decided to go with a soft cover. The cover is constructed out of a file folder and card stock. I like using file folders because they already have score lines. All that was needed to create the spine for this journal was to add two more additional score lines, and it was complete. I then covered it with some new heavyweight linen and layered some vintage linens on top. I used the card stock on the inside of the front and back cover to give it more rigidity. For the closure, I used two fasteners with drop down rings, which was a perfect place to add some coffee stained seam binding ribbon. I covered the metal part of the fastener with part of an antique doily to disguise the metal portion.
I always like to add a focal point to my covers. For this one, I made a collage using a lovely lady from The Graphics Fairy’s Premium Membership site and layered some other elements together. Since I didn’t want to add too many layers to the cover I decided to make a print of the collage. By doing so it allowed me to adjust the size as well. I used my sewing machine to do some outlining here and there around the collage, which added some extra detail. I embellished the collage with an antique button, part of a vintage doily, and a rusty safety pin just for some added dimension and texture to an otherwise flat collage.
The Journal Keeper Back Cover
On the back cover above I decided I would leave the center open on the square doily to form a pocket. I must say, I do think it made a great place to store these beautiful journaling tags I found on their membership site. There’s ample room to even store a small folder I made from an antique book, plus even more stuff if necessary.
Inside The Jornal Keeper
As you can see above, this journal has four signatures. However, there’s a little bit of a twist as these signatures are actually pockets. Inside each of the pockets, I’ve tucked away four small junk journals. This project actually began with the four small journals. I discovered that since all the journals varied in size, they really couldn’t be sewn in as signatures because it wouldn’t be pleasing to the eye. It also occurred to me it might be nice to be able to remove them more like a traveler’s notebook.
I’m not a huge fan of sewing, and the thought of constructing pockets didn’t interest me, so I went rummaging through my stash of vintage textiles for some inspiration. I came across a set of linen napkins I originally bought to use on some journal covers; this was definitely the inspiration I was looking for. These were absolutely perfect. All I had to do to these napkins were iron, cut to size, and sew them into the spine.
Signatures
As I mentioned earlier, this project began with the four small journals above and evolved from there. I spotted the antique book covers on the membership site and just fell in love with their old weathered look. They were fairly easy to make as well. I made them by creating a template on PicMonkey.
First, I added one of the book cover graphics to the right side of the page to make the front cover. Then I duplicated the image and rotated it to make the back cover. I butted the two images together slightly, overlapping the images to ensure there wasn’t a white gap. I used a high quality heavyweight matte photo paper. After printing, I rounded the corners and inked the edges. I used a clear chalk paint wax on the front side for added protection since they would be taken in and out of the journal.
On the reverse side of the journal covers I used a variety of script pages, which I found on the Premium Membership site. When making the journal covers I made sure to use a double sided, high quality photo paper. This enables the print quality to be equal on both sides. I inked the edges front and back so the antiquing would be consistent on both sides. Black wax thread was used to sew the journal pages together. I chose black since the spines were either brown or black. This helped disguise the stitching on the spine.
In the center of each of TN (travelers notebook) junk journals, I created pockets to hide the sewing. I used script, music, book covers, and an astrological chart from the membership site. On the inside of the pockets, I printed some of their blank ephemera pages and a green floral print. That way when you look inside it has an antique appearance too.
Above I’ve printed out some of The Graphics Fairy’s images onto vellum and attached them with washi tape. This way you can flip them up and write underneath.
Bundles I Used
I suppose I’ve rambled on enough. But I am sure you want to know the juicy items I used for this junk journal. Here are the bundles I used: Fall Colors, 1700’s Sheet Music, Blank Paper Ephemera, Celestial Images, Script Ephemera, Script Ephemera 2, Book Covers and Tintypes, Masculine Elements, Bohemian Ephemera, Owls and Mushrooms, and the front cover image came from In the Garden Ephemera.
Here are the PDFs I used: Artist Coins, Collage Sheet French Fruit and Veg.
The Journal Keeper Junk Journal Flip Through Video
If you haven’t already done so, go check out the flip through video for a more in-depth look at The Journal Keeper Junk Journal on The Graphics Fairy YouTube channel.
Bye for now my friends!
Cheryl
You can find me here: A Penchant for the Past
