Filling a Junk Journal: My 'Summertime 2014' album *Part 5*. Ways to store ephemera in your album

 

Hello you.

 

Thank you for all the positive words you've been leaving regarding these Summertime Junk Journal posts. The fact that several of you have said you've felt inspired to make your own has been music to my ears ... after all that's why I share the ideas in the first place!  [Well, that, and the fact I like to offer up inspiration as well as promoting products; it's a necessary balance I think!].

 

So, if you want to view, catch-up with or reconnect with any of the posts so far then they're all here:

Part 1: An introduction to the project focusing on the kinds of pages you might find to use

Part 2: A quick tutorial showing how to add a decorative edge to make it easier to bind thinner pages

Part 3: A simple method of adding a greeting card to a journal bound with book rings

Part 4: Demonstrating how a Junk Journal can act as a regular photo-scrapbook too.

Plus there's a full step-by-step tutorial here all about how to add a spine feature to a junk journal / mini-album as I did to mine.

Now for today's dip into the journal we're going to be looking into ...

Ways to store ephemera, bits, bobs and thingymajigs inside your journal:

To coincide with today's focus on papery storage options I've launched a new range of kits ... and if you're a show-tunes fan [aw, come on now, show tunes rule!] then you might be able to guess the name I've given them when I say: "Large amounts don't grow on trees ..." got it??

"... you've got a pack-of-pockets or twoooooo":



Got it now? [OK, I accept, you might not want it ...]. But yes, I did name them a 'Pack-of-Pockets' partly because:

• I wanted to make a bad pun on Fagin's orders to his boys in Oliver!
• But also partly because they are indeed a pack of pockets. And pouches, and envelopes, and there's a paper bag in there too, and a glassine one, oh and pockets handmade from old book pages too. They're a mix of a dozen or so different places to store tickets, photos, journaling, ephemera in your paper crafting projects, they're colour-themed, they're just £3 and they're here!

Now let's look at the kinds of things you might want to do with a pocket. 

 

Or two.

Hide your journaling:

Here I've typed out the itinerary from our holiday complete with the number of steps we racked-up on the pedometer. Which, as rip-roaring reads go, is not exactly a page turner!

But, it is a useful guide to help me remember the things we did, so it was worth noting. It's just not necessary to have it on display, so I folded it up and popped it into a pocket I made from a vintage book page folded upwards and the edges taped/stapled closed. 

 

It's also a useful technique if you want to write out something more personal where storing it in a pocket / envelope etc allows you to keep it alongside the other memories / photos but keeps it on restricted view!

 

Also, being able to store larger pieces of writing in this way is also useful if you've been used to scrapbooking on a larger scale [eg. 12x12]. You can still document all those memories of the moment ... then just fold them and tuck them away.

 

Storing ephemera [receipts, leaflets, tickets etc]in pockets & envelopes: 

This summer I took part in the 'Pile of Postcards Exchange' hosted by Sian of From High in the Sky and, after receiving my postcards form participants form across the globe I stored them all in a pocket in the back of my journal which I made from a vintage map: 

Similarly I've been using envelopes to house the papery 'extras' that have come along with the events and experiences I've had this summer. Such as the leaflet from the huge antiques centre we visited and the scone recipe from the windmill:

 

... and the business cards and leaflets from the Women and the Great War presentation:

Note the giant paperclip above - great for sliding onto a full envelope to keep everything from tipping out when you move the journal!

These photos here show another set of leaflets being stored in a regular brown envelope:

But here you can see how, before filling it, I glued a sheet of patterned paper inside the flap to stiffen it and keep it permanently open:

It's just a fun way to make a larger pouch and add some colour.

Using ephemera to store ephemera! 
As well as envelopes and handmade pockets I've also been storing my ephemera inside some of the paper bags I received when buying something this summer; making them also the ephemera of the season too!

This spotty one I used as a base page, for a photo and journaling block, then I tucked the booklet - relating to the event in the photo - inside the bag behind it:

And here's another paper bag, which was the packaging to some little bird earrings James bought me on holiday, which I've bound into the journal using the strengthening technique I talk about in this post.

And finally ... I made a bag of my own  ...

... using the deli-paper wrap from a block of [nearly] personalised cheese I picked up on holiday from The Cheese Society shop!

I want to tell you that yes, of course I washed it first, but ...

... I can't honestly remember if I did!! Well, at least it will add a true flavour of the holiday to the journal!

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So, I hope those examples have whetted your appetite for using pockets in your journal.

Or for Lancashire cheese. Whichever.

But if it's pockets you want to see more of then there's

• more ways I've used envelopes and interactive pages in a different junk journal here
• and don't forget to have a browse around a 'Pack-of-Pockets' or two. Those - I can assure you - have never been in close contact with cheese! 

Thanks for pausing to read here today.

Julie :-)