What’s Laying Around My House That I Can JunkArt Journal With?
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🏡 What’s Laying Around My House That I Can JunkArt Journal With?
Your house is already a craft store. It just hasn’t been properly introduced to scissors yet.
A JunkArt Journal isn’t built from pristine supplies in shiny packets. It’s a story stitched from the overlooked, the nearly-tossed, the “I might need that someday” pile that’s quietly plotting a creative uprising in your kitchen drawer.
So instead of asking what do I need to buy?
Let’s go treasure hunting through what you already have.
Think of this as a gentle raid on your everyday life. Every room has something to offer if you look at it sideways.
📬 The Paper Trail (a.k.a. your mail pile’s redemption arc)
That stack of mail you’ve been meaning to deal with? It’s basically pre-cut collage material.
- Envelopes (especially the patterned security ones)
- Window envelopes (instant frames!)
- Junk mail with bold colours or fonts
- Catalogues and brochures
- Postcards
- Receipts (hello, texture and typography)
- Old bills and statements
- Flyers and takeaway menus
Try this:
Layer torn pieces into a background, then stitch or glue over the top. Suddenly your electricity bill becomes abstract art. Take that, rising costs.
🍞 The Kitchen (where crumbs meet creativity)
Your kitchen is sneakily full of texture, stain potential, and interesting paper.
- Brown paper bags
- Baking paper / parchment
- Coffee filters
- Twine/Cotton string
- Tea bags (used ones = dreamy vintage dye)
- Food packaging (cereal boxes, pasta windows, labels)
- Egg cartons (texture heaven)
- Paper napkins (perfect for decoupage)
Try this:
Dip paper into tea or coffee and let it dry all crinkly and dramatic. It comes out looking like it’s lived several past lives.
👗 The Wardrobe (fabric with a past life)
Before you throw out worn clothes, pause. They’ve got one last encore.
- Old shirts, dresses, jeans
- Lace trims or hems
- Pockets (already functional!)
- Buttons
- Wrapping paper
- Fabric labels
- Threads pulled from seams
Try this:
Cut out a pocket and stitch or glue it straight into your journal. Instant tuck spot, zero engineering required.
🧵 The Sewing / Craft Stash (the obvious goldmine)
If you already dabble in craft, you’re sitting on a jackpot.
- Fabric scraps
- Thread ends
- Needle & thread
- Ribbon offcuts
- Old patterns
- Broken jewellery
- Beads and buttons
- Bits you’ve been “saving for something special”
Try this:
Layer tiny scraps like a patchwork collage, then stitch over the top in messy lines. It looks wildly intentional.
📚 The Bookshelf (controversial, but powerful)
Not every book needs to stay intact forever. Some are ready for reinvention.
- Damaged books
- Old dictionaries
- Sheet music
- Outdated textbooks
- Magazines
- Newspapers
- Foreign Language Books (you can't read them anyway)
Try this:
Use pages as a base layer, then highlight random words to create accidental poetry. It’s like the book starts whispering new stories.
🧴 The Bathroom & Laundry (unexpected texture lab)
Not glamorous, but surprisingly useful.
- Tissue paper
- Paper packaging
- Toilet rolls
- Tags from clothing
- Cotton textures (for mark making)
Try this:
Use crumpled tissue paper under paint or glue to create subtle raised texture. Soft, wrinkly, and oddly beautiful.
🧰 The Junk Drawer (the chaos cabinet)
Every home has one. It’s basically a mixed media starter kit in disguise.
- Old keys
- Rubber bands
- Paper clips
- Masking tape
- String
- Stapler
- Random tags
- Mystery objects you forgot existed
Try this:
Attach small objects to pages for dimension. A journal that clinks a little when you flip it? That’s personality.
🌿 The Garden (nature’s embellishment bar)
Step outside. Nature doesn’t charge.
- Leaves
- Flowers
- Seed pods
- Bark textures
- Sticks
Try this:
Press them into your journal or use them to stamp shapes with paint. Instant organic magic.
🖍️ The Kids’ Corner (or your inner child’s stash)
Unfiltered creativity lives here.
- Old drawings
- Crayons
- Glue stick
- Stickers
- Scrap paper
- Paints (acrylic, watercolour, cheap)
- Sticky tape
- School projects
Try this:
Cut up old drawings and use them as bold, abstract collage pieces. Kids make the best accidental artists.
🖥️ The Home Office (paperwork, but make it art)
This is where practicality goes to quietly retire and come back as collage.
Use things like:
- Old notebooks
- Printer paper
- Sticky notes
- File folders
- Business cards
- Planners and diaries
- Printed documents
- Envelopes and invoices
- Paperclips and binder clips
- Labels and tabs
- Old calendars
- Graph or lined paper
Try this:
Layer strips of shredded documents into a background, then stitch or glue them down. It turns “important paperwork” into something far more interesting.
✂️ A Different Way to See Your Stuff
Junk journaling isn’t really about “stuff.”
It’s about seeing differently.
A receipt becomes texture.
A torn shirt becomes a page.
An envelope becomes a secret keeper.
You stop asking “is this useful?”
And start asking “what could this become?”
🧵 Start Before You Feel Ready
You don’t need the perfect supplies.
You don’t need a plan.
You just need some pages and something slightly questionable to glue onto it.
Start messy. Start small. Start with whatever’s within arm’s reach.
Your home is already full of stories.
You’re just giving them somewhere new to live 📖✨