Springtime Romance Junk Journal by Gina Testa

Springtime Romance Junk Journal

Hey, everyone! Gina Testa of Gina Makes It, one of our amazing Junk Journal Design Team Members, created a fabulous Springtime Romance 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 Gina tell you all about her incredible project…

It’s still winter in Northern Illinois. In fact, tomorrow marks midwinter – the midway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. But don’t let that fool you—the temperatures will stay far below freezing for the next few weeks.

Nevertheless, March is on the horizon and with only three weeks left in February, I knew I needed to create a new journal to see me through the next month. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I find March to be a very romantic month. I don’t really know why, but I always find myself gravitating to delicate laces, faded French papers, and airy, pinky florals. My nose is always buried deep in A Secret Garden, anticipating the approach of Spring.

So, when I started thinking about what sort of journal I wanted for March, I knew romance was key. I leaned heavily on floral wallpaper, sheet music, and scripty letters found within the Graphics Fairy Premium Membership site. I used many collections, including Favorite French Things, French Attic, French Newspapers, French Paperie, as well as the Pastel Wallpapers bundle.

Because this journal was intended solely for March, I made only one signature and used two delicate ivory vintage floral medallions to create an open spine, leaving quite a bit of room for growth as I work in it. I secured the signature to the open spine using a creamy beige sari silk. I printed all of the papers and images I downloaded using a cotton linen paper blend. The texture lends a soft, feminine feel, perfect for my journal aesthetic.

I combined these images with avocado and coffee-dyed papers and vintage magazine pages buried deep in my craft room drawers and I weaved in multiple pages of embossed flowers I designed using texture paste and dyes.

I utilized a lot of the extras found in the bundles, creating envelopes and pockets from the predesigned images. I also printed and trimmed florals as delicate adornments to a few pages.

I created a belly band using scraps from Pastel Wallpapers collection and also created pockets using some of the laces in the bundles. I’m not quite sure what I will end up doing with all of these pages in my journal. I usually take one day at a time as I am journaling and I do tend to journal chronologically, so we shall see how each page unfolds, week after week.

I noticed some of the unused printed pages featured gorgeous bouquets, so I decided to trim them and create a floral focal point by attaching them to some pages using distressed masking tape.

Finally, I created a pocket out of some vintage lace and a dyed paper doily for the back. If you watch my Journal With me videos, you know I don’t like a heavily decorated journal to start with. And this journal, I feel, presents the perfect mix.

 SPRINGTIME ROMANCE JUNK JOURNAL SHOW & TELL VIDEO TOUR

Let’s take a tour of it together:

Here is a list of the bundles I used:

Favorite French Things

French Attic

French Newspapers

French Paperie

Pastel Wallpapers

Find me on YouTube, Etsy and Instagram

Gina 

Check out the Graphics Fairy Premium Membership Site HERE!