If you love flipping through handmade journals and seeing exactly how salvaged materials become something you'd actually want to write in, this flip-through is for you. I'm showing three journals I just finished for my Etsy shop — one made from an envelope-and-paper writing set, one transformed from an old book with a reinforced spine, and one built inside a repurposed leather-look notebook cover. Each one uses a different combination of tea-dyed pages, transparency film pockets, sewing, and hinged pages, and I walk through every spread so you can see how the pieces fit together.
What we cover
Three complete junk journals shown spread by spread, with commentary on the construction decisions behind each one — closures, sewing details, hinged pages, acetate pockets, and how removable elements are arranged so they're actually useful to the person who ends up with the journal. All three are built primarily from upcycled and repurposed materials, and each one is listed in my Etsy shop.
What you'll learn
How an envelope-and-paper writing set becomes a complete journal — the original envelope becomes a pocket at the back, the decorative paper becomes pages, and the set's own flap becomes the cover closure. Nothing is wasted; the whole set transforms.
Why I sew pages rather than fold them in half — when a decorative or tea-dyed page has a pattern running horizontally, folding it the standard way means the design ends up sideways or upside down. Sewing or hinging two shorter pages together keeps the orientation right and gives you a full-length page without the awkward fold.
How hinged pages support the structure of a larger journal — in a journal this size, if most of the pages are short, the cover eventually starts to bow inward because there's nothing holding it open. Running longer hinged pages through the signatures gives the spine the support it needs to stay flat on a shelf.
How to use transparency film and acetate as pockets — a clear pocket made from transparency paper shows what's inside without opening anything. I use these for lace samples, loose ephemera, and decorative elements the journaler can take out and use however they like.
Working with onion skin paper and baking paper as journal pages — both feel impossibly thin and look like they'd disintegrate under a pen, but they take writing well. Tea-dyed baking paper in particular comes out with a beautiful depth of colour, especially when different batches dye to different shades.
How I build an altered book journal from an existing hardcover, including:
- Keeping the book's original first page as a decorative element and turning it into a pocket
- Reinforcing the spine before adding new signatures
- Using the original cover as-is when the binding already has the right look
Constructing a flip-down envelope notepad and placing it inside the journal — I have a full tutorial on making these (linked in the video), but here you can see how one sits inside a pocket and functions as a removable writing surface within the journal.
Building a cohesive colour palette across mismatched materials — the third journal uses a running teal accent to tie together tea-dyed paper, acetate, stenciled envelopes, specialty paper, and die-cuts that all come from different sources. The colour does the work of making it feel intentional rather than random.
Using wrapping paper, wallpaper, and vintage book pages as journal pages — good-quality wrapping paper is often heavier than standard copy paper and takes ink well. Wallpaper brings texture nothing else replicates. A page from a book dated August 1920 or March 1907 brings in a layer of history that bought paper simply can't.
How I finish the inside back cover — a small "handmade by Natasa from Treasure Books" label, glued and sewn down, gives the journal a finished professional feel and a place to note the maker.
Tips & gotchas
Long pages are structural, not just decorative. If a journal fills up with too many short pages, the cover starts to cave inward — there's simply nothing holding the spine open. Whenever I can, I hinge shorter pieces together so the page runs all the way to the spine, which keeps everything upright and supported. This matters most in larger journals.
Hinge pages when folding would flip the design. It sounds obvious once you've done it, but the first few times you'll reach for the fold out of habit. If a page has a horizontal design, a vertical image, or writing that only reads one way, sew or hinge it to a neighbour rather than folding it in half and ending up with half a page going the wrong direction.
Leave removable elements slightly proud of their pockets. If you push a tag, envelope, or notepad all the way down into a pocket until it disappears, you — and the person who receives the journal — will forget it's there. A small bit hanging out is a gentle reminder that there's something to find. It sounds minor, but it changes how the journal gets used.
Newspaper pages carry the news they were printed with. I included a page from August 1920 and one from March 1907, and they're genuinely interesting historical reads — but newspapers report what was happening, and what was happening was often grim. If you're including old newspaper pages, it's worth a quick scan of the content before the journal goes to someone else.
Transparency film and acetate pockets are interchangeable in practice. I use both terms for the same idea: a clear pocket that shows its contents. The material can come from overhead projector sheets, packaging, or specialty film — what matters is that it's stiff enough to hold its shape and clear enough to see through.
If you've got an old hardcover sitting in a pile, a stack of nice wrapping paper you can't bring yourself to use on presents, or a collection of envelopes from a beautiful stationery set, you'll likely come away from this with a clearer sense of how those pieces could become something you'd actually want to write in. Future videos will go deeper into the process of transforming found objects into journals — including how I think through the structure before I start — so if that's something you'd find useful, it's coming.
