I’m Gracie (@graciecreates) from the Archer and Olive ambassador team! As the new year begins, you might be looking for a new hobby. My all-time favorite suggestion: junk journaling! It’s an outlet that allows you to be creative but in a no-stakes way. There’s no pressure to be perfect, no expensive supplies you’ve got to have. It’s also a low barrier to entry hobby: no experience or tutorials necessary! If you’re starting a junk journal, but don’t know where to start, take a look at my ideas for 10 different spreads you can try.
My biggest note to friends when starting a junk journal is that you do not have to buy any fancy supplies if you don’t want to! All you need to start is the notebook, some glue or tape, and scissors. Plenty of people junk journal solely using junk – and those can be some of the coolest journal spreads out there! It really allows you to think creatively and practice showcasing each of those scraps that might not be perfect. For others, like me, who are stationery addicts, we enjoy adding store-bought supplies to supplement the junk: think decorative tape, stickers, and collage paper. Either way is a perfectly good way to junk journal!
Supplies you’ll need:
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Your junk! (trash, scraps, receipts, tickets, any ephemera you have laying around. Bonus tip: grab things while you’re out & throw them in your purse to use later!)
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Glue/tape
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Scissors
Additional supplies (optional):
When shopping for supplies at A+O, you can use my code graciecreates for a discount!
Video
Check out this video to see my junk journal spread ideas & to see the pages up close!
Printable Link
The first page can always be stressful. Need a push to start? Download & print this page, fill it out, and glue it into your first page as an “About You” spread. For the main box, print or doodle a picture of yourself!
My Junk Journal Spread Ideas
#1: Welcome To My Journal Spread
The first page is always the toughest page to start. But my favorite thing to do is to leave this page as an “About Me” spread. Especially once you finish this notebook and move onto the next one, it can be cool to look back at a little profile page to see what you were like or what your interests were when you filled that notebook. Adding little insights like a photo of you, your current age, the dates during which you worked on this journal, and anything else you’re interested in right now are a great way to tackle the opening page.
#2: Trip Documentation
Go on a trip recently? My favorite way to commemorate my travels is by creating dedicated junk journal spreads with bits from the trip. Printed boarding passes, maps from the destination, photos, or the wrapping from souvenirs. Your junk journal is a great place for all of those little things that you might have otherwise thrown away, and they add so much context to your memories.
#3: Home for Stickers
One of my favorite ways to use my junk journal is as a home for all of my stickers. I’m an avid sticker collector - whether that be grabbing freebie ones from restaurants and stores, buying them as merch at my favorite musicians’ concerts, or browsing at a stationery shop. But as someone who used to have “sticker anxiety” (the inability to actually use your stickers because you don’t want to waste them), my junk journal has been the perfect solution. Sure, I still leave stickers to put on my water bottle or laptop case, but the rest of the stickers that I used to just hoard in binders finally have a place to live.
#4: Draw a Cartoon Character
I use my junk journal as an outlet for many of my creative interests: scrapbooking (photos and memories from travels and events), actual junk curation (just creative collage practice) and as a sketchbook! I love drawing and love to use my junk journal as a place to practice. Because of the low stakes of my junk journal as a hobby, I feel free to experiment with new styles. A spread idea I always return to is to recreate a frame from one of my favorite cartoons! I’ve always felt drawing cartoon characters has helped me so much as an artist and illustrator, just by practicing breaking complex drawings down into simple shapes. Try it out!
#5: Commemorate a Concert
Love live music? Me too! I am always making spreads in my junk journal to commemorate the concerts that I go to. If I got a physical ticket, I’ll glue that in, or print out a picture of my digital ticket. Another way to add some tangible concert memories is by picking up confetti from the floor of the venue & gluing that into the page. Or swing by the merch stand and grab a sticker to add to your journal!
#6: Takeout Menu Collage
One of the reasons why I wanted to get into junk journaling in the first place was to have a dedicated space to practice collage. It’s an art form I’d always wanted to try but having my junk journal has allowed me to actually practice it on a consistent basis. The hardest part about collaging is actually having things to collage with! I’ve combated this over the years by grabbing the most random things to cut up. My current favorite? Takeout menus! Most restaurants have takeout or catering menus sitting around. Grab one, cut out the pictures of food, highlight your favorite items on the menu, and have fun experimenting with a free collage.
#7: Product Packaging Collage
As I mentioned in #6, I love to practice collaging with free ephemera. In addition to takeout menus, I’ve loved cutting up the packaging from random products I buy, especially if they have pictures on them! Archer & Olive has great packaging which works as a perfect addition to any spread.
#8: Recent Purchases
Whether you’re a shopaholic or not, we all end up with random packaging in our trash from shopping purchases. Whether that be tags from clothes, boxes from makeup or skincare, or even bags and boxes from food containers, these are all great junk to glue into your journal! Commemorate shopping in a specific place, and add your receipts in with the date & store locations.
#9: Pen Swatches
Are you a pen/marker collector? A great way to fill your junk journal pages is by making an index of all of the markers and pens you own. I have the spreads below in my junk journal to document all of the markers I have from Archer & Olive. Not only is it a great way to remember what you own, but the swatches also act as a reference for what the ink really looks like on paper (not all cap colors are created equal)!
#10: Cut Out Window Frame
This spread idea is easy to recreate but has maximum impact. Have a picture that you really love & want to highlight? Glue it into a blank page but make sure to leave the page before blank, too. Once your photo is in, cut out a shape into the previous page as a little frame for your picture. In the example below, I cut out a heart shape & decorated it with stickers to really highlight the cute photo below.
Still intimidated by that first blank page? Check out this blog post from ambassador team member Valerie on how to get over the anxiety of starting a new journal!
You can find more creative goings-on in my corner of the internet, @graciecreates on Instagram and YouTube, and @groovygraciecreates on TikTok. If you do this project, share with the A&O team on socials! Tag us @archerandolive and use the hashtags #AOShare and #archerandolive
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