Return of the Birds Junk Journal

Hey, everyone! Susan Miller of Miller’s Laboratory, one of our amazing Junk Journal Design Team Members, created a fabulous Return of the Birds 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 tell you all about her incredible project…

Hello, Friends! If you are longing for Spring and the songs of the birds, as I am, then I hope you will enjoy my project this month! I used the tab binding method to put together an eclectic
selection of envelopes to form a journal full of beautiful birds.

The journal measures 9” X 4-½” X 3-¼”. The front and back covers are made from trifolded 9×12” envelopes that I covered with pieces of a vintage pillowcase. I added some vintage fabrics and trims in the corner, and I used strips of blue ticking fabric for the binding and to tie the book closed. There’s a great tutorial video on the Graphics Fairy Membership site that shows how to do this binding technique!

With the front cover partially opened up, you can see a slot pocket on the left with a tag inside. On the right is an open envelope and the little booklet it holds. A Catharine Klein bird image, from the bundle of the same name, is the star of the show in the center. I fell in love with these adorable birds the moment I saw them, and there are many throughout the journal.

I constructed a lot of envelopes for this journal! For some, as on the right, I used paper printed with Graphics Fairy images. For others, I used a variety of different papers. The envelope on the left was made from a page in an art book. As luck would have it, the lady’s hands were positioned so that birds I cut from another book could be perched perfectly on them.

A window envelope provides an opportunity to use two different pretty bird images, one on the tag slipped into it, and another on the inside of the envelope which is revealed when the tag is removed. The folded swallow card on the right is a Graphics Fairy printable – I just added a couple of collage elements to it.

I just adore the colors of this sweet pair of birds. I put them onto a bird diagram from the Central Park Bird Watcher’s Club bundle, and added a label from Weathered Lace Papers to finish off this journal card.

Sometimes I find the most amazing things in antique stores! This old V-mail envelope was for sending photos to GIs during WW2, and I was able to buy a whole package of them. I added the bird image on the front, which is translucent because I printed it onto vellum, and the whole inside of it is available for journaling.

The page on the left is actually made up of three small envelopes joined together with washi tape. This gave me a place to tuck some smaller journal cards. The made the envelope on the right out of a page from an old yearbook.

I found these three birthday postcards with the bluebirds on the Graphics Fairy free site. I printed them and backed them, added tabs, and joined them at the corner with a flower-shaped paper fastener.

There are so many beautiful documents available to print, it was difficult to choose! The envelope on the left was made from an image printed onto light blue resume paper. On the right, I made an envelope out of printed vellum, which allows you to get a sneak peek of the journal card inside. The image of the blue birds that I added to the outside is one of my favorites.

1The base of this journal card is an image of a book cover called, “How to Make Friends with the Birds”. It’s another one from the Central Park Bird Watcher’s Club bundle. The Graphics Fairy actually has many bundles devoted to the subject of birds! The cute postage stamp you see in the upper left is from the Catharina Klein Birds bundle.

I joined two envelopes together to make the page on the left, one aqua and one lavender. The journal card is made out of a library card catalog card. And I couldn’t resist tying the sweet little tag onto the flap of the envelope on the right. 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, and hurry up, Spring!

RETURN OF THE BIRDS JUNK JOURNAL SHOW & TELL VIDEO TOUR

Premium Membership Bundles used in this project:

1700s Sheet Music
Antique Ephemera
Antique Sheet Music
Barn Swallows and Birthdays
Birds on Branches
Blue Jay’s Winter
Catharina Klein Birds
Central Park Bird Watcher’s Club
Cherry Blossom Lane
Cherry Blossoms
Easter Blessings
Forget Me Not
French Bleu Signs
French Floral Motifs
Marsh Song
Medieval Spring Musings
Romantic French Frames
Spring Blossoms and Bluebirds
Spring Endpapers
Spring Florals
Spring Has Sprung
Spring Meadows Endpapers
The Lacemaker
The Ornithologist
Weathered Lace Papers