Traveler’s Notebook Junk Journal

Hey guys – sharing today is Cheryl Carpenter from A Penchant for the Past, one of our talented Junk Journal Design Team Members. She has created a captivating book titled My Task. 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 wonderful traveler’s notebook project with a soft 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…

My Task Traveler’s Notebook Front Cover

Hello everyone, this is Cheryl with A Penchant for the Past back to share another Design Team project with you. For February’s Design Team project, I went with a style of junk journal I’m personally fond of, and find more useful to keep track of day to day tasks. I’m sure I’m not alone. I think everyone who loves junk journals probably has one or two of these handy. They are a great place to jot down ideas and make journal entries when you are out and about. Yes, you know it, I’m talking about a traveler’s notebook with all the details you usually find in a regular size junk journal.

Let’s dive in and take a look at what I’ve created. This time I decided to go with a softcover. It is constructed out of some beautiful crewel style fabric, which is actually a fabric sample book page. While making this journal I discovered that fabric samples are the perfect size for making traveler’s notebooks. All I had to do was slightly trim the edges. To make the cover more rigid I added some decorative designer cardstock to the inside of the cover and stitched around the edges. I collaged some textiles around the journal title, “My Task.”

The title came from some antique sheet music I have in my own collection. I just thought it was a perfect title for a traveler’s notebook journal. I added an antique button and a vintage rusty heart pendant dangling down from a new rusty safety pin. If you’ve been following along for the past 6 months you know I love buttons and rusty safety pins. Not to mention, watchmaker vials and antique optical lenses, which are added embellishments to this TN junk journal.

Inside My Task Traveler’s Notebook Junk Journal

As we venture inside the journal you will see two lace pockets. I’ve tucked in a vintage bird trading card in one and a reprint of an antique cabinet card of a beautiful young lady tucked next to a piece of 1800’s ephemera. Both were acquired from The Graphics Fairy’s Premium Membership site.

Junk Journal Tips and Tricks

I absolutely love all the printables The Graphics Fairy designs, especially for their members. I sometimes like to come up with other ways to use them as opposed to their intended purpose. For example, turning these Dancer Bookmarks into a booklet style journaling card.I thought the original was a little too light in color for my project, so I printed one of The Graphics Fairy’s blank antique ephemera pages over the top. In the picture above you can see the difference in color. I just find this to be a great technique for aging images when you are in a hurry or you don’t want to use tea/coffee dyed paper.

There are a couple other things I would like to point out about the project. In the center of the journal I created a pocket with one of their wrapper printables. After printing the floral wrappers out I discovered that I liked how the page looked. I really didn’t want to cut them out and use them individually since it looked so pretty as is. However, I did feel the page needed to look more unified because of the white spaces in between.

I was able to achieve this by using the same aging technique I mentioned above. The antique blank endpaper on the inside of the pocket was also printed. I find by turning the center page of the journal into a pocket it hides and protects the stitching. It also makes a great place for storage. There was ample room in the pocket for me to tuck away these two little notebooks. I created these from one of their journaling card printables. Instead of cutting them out individually I just folded two together to form a book and I added some lined paper.

As you can see I did use an eclectic mix of ephemera in this project. I’ve pulled these wonderful ephemera pieces from numerous places on the Premium Membership site using their bundles, printables, and journaling sections. On all the ephemera I’ve aged the fronts and backs, along with inking the edges. It does take a bit more time, but I feel it really completes the antique look. Additionally, I’ve used a variety of different paper types that were coffee stained. I believe that even though there is a mix of styles, it somehow all works together.

Bundles I Used

I suppose I’ve rambled on enough. But I am sure you want to know the amazing images I used for this junk journal. Here are the bundles and PDFs I used: Indian Goddesses, 1700’s Music, Blank Papers & Parchments, French Ephemera, and European Maps.

PDFs and Images I Used:  Dancer Bookmarks, Abstract Winter Acrylics Journal Pocket, Bookmarks Title Pages, Color Cherub Frame, Fall Planner Ephemera Stickers and a Handwritten Receipt.

The Journal Keeper Junk Journal Flip Through Video

Well, I better leave some details for the flip through video. If you haven’t already done so, go check out the flip through video for a more in-depth look at My Task Traveler’s Notebook Junk Journal on my YouTube channel. 

Finally, I really can’t believe we are already at the end of February, and this is my last Design Team project in the Junk Journal Series (so sad)! Wow, six months flew by! I have enjoyed creating these junk journals and sharing them with you. I hope you were able to take away something useful from each of my projects. Please, if you have any questions you can reach me through the link below. You can also use this link if you just want to drop in and say hello.

Bye for now my friends!

Cheryl

You can find me here: A Penchant for the Past