Louise’s Trunk Junk Journal

Hey, everyone! Susan Miller of Miller’s Laboratory, one of our amazing new Junk Journal Design Team Members, created a fabulous Louise’s Trunk 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 Susan introduce herself and tell you all about her incredible project…

Hello, Friends! For this project I imagined stumbling upon a beautiful old trunk that when opened, revealed a wide array of old albums, papers, and linens that had been lovingly stored
away a century ago. My journal is that trunk in the form of a book! I am calling it “Louise’s Trunk” and I hope you like it.

The journal measures 5” X 3-½” and started out as a small edition of Macbeth. I reused the pretty embossed green cover, which is partially covered with a piece of an old embroidered linen. I stitched in the five signatures so that the ends of the strings came out the top, and I tied old buttons to them to dangle down like a fringe. This very fat little book is cinched down and tied closed with a cream colored velvet ribbon.

To create this page, I selected an image of an old photo album page. I cut out the opening, backed it with acetate, and made it a pocket. I fashioned a tag to go inside, using an image of an old document and other pretty papers from the Graphics Fairy Premium Membership site. The lady’s photo was positioned so that it would show through the window.

I gathered together papers from many antique books to use throughout this journal. On the left is a soft green flyleaf page and on the right, a page in French. Over the edge of the page, I clipped a little foldout journal spot made with two calling card images and a strip of old paper.

For the flip-out page on the left, I printed a pretty green endpaper image and added a piece of an old cookbook page. I made a side tuck and filled it with a floral tag topped with some old lace. The image of the woman on the right came from another old book.

I really enjoyed using several pieces of old linens in this book as pages. They are great for pinning on little charms or keepsakes. You also see another photo album frame with the tag tucked inside. The circle-punch tab at the top of it has a vintage button stitched onto it.

This is another flip-out, this time made with a small brown bag. By folding the top down before attaching it to the page, I was able to create two up-tucks in addition to the bag pocket. The original ephemera booklet I have tucked inside has “Louise” written on the back, and that’s where this journal got her name.

Here’s another photo album page – there are ten of them altogether in this journal. I added a little pink paper flower to the tab at the top of this tag. I love the image of this woman, she is so pretty and confident.

This old French book page flips out to reveal a pocket with three uniquely shaped tags AND a pop-up butterfly. I placed several of these throughout the book and I used thread stiffened with glue to form their antennae.

To add interest to this page, I folded an old darkened paper and a pretty printed vellum over the top. They are held in place by a photo charm that I stitched on through all the paper layers.

The vintage doily you see on the left was stitched in as a page. On the right, I folded the music page to create a corner tuck. The two tags that go inside are made from old book pages, embossed paper, a scrap of fabric from the book cover, and more butterflies!

I hope you will watch my YouTube video to see the entire flip-through of this journal. And if you are interested, it is for sale in my Etsy shop. Thank you so much for watching!

LOUISE’S TRUNK JUNK JOURNAL SHOW  & TELL VIDEO TOUR

Premium Membership Bundles used in this project:

1840’s Floral Pairings
Antique Ephemera
Antique Album Pages
Antique Portraits 1 & 2
Antique Title Pages
Aubergine and Green
Autumn Hues Botanicals
Blank Paper Ephemera
Bright and Bold Butterflies
Butterflies and Blooms
Butterfly Garden
Cherry Blossom Lane
Delicate Butterflies
Delicate Endpapers
Easter Gathering
Family Tree Genealogy
Floral Album Pages
Gorgeous Butterflies
Instant Ancestors 1 & 2
My Favorite Things 2
On the Farm
Pink and Red Ephemera
Blue, Pink, and Red Flowers
Printemps
Sage Meadows
Script Ephemera 2
Spring Album Frames
Spring Endpapers
Spring Florals
Spring Meadows Endpapers
Tattered Paper Treasures 1 & 2

I hope you will visit me here:

Susan’s Instagram

Susan’s YouTube

Susan’s Etsy

Susan

Check out the Graphics Fairy Premium Membership Site HERE!