This narrow, fairy-and-dragonfly-themed junk journal is one of those finished pieces where the details accumulate quietly until you realise how much is packed into a small format. If you love watching a completed handmade journal get paged through slowly — pockets, flip-outs, dyed papers and all — this short flip-through gives you an unhurried look at a journal I made for my Etsy shop, including a little bag of coordinating goodies that comes with it.
What we cover
A full flip-through of a finished 4¼ × 8 inch junk journal with a dragonfly cover and fairy theme throughout — three signatures, 120 pages, ribbon closure, and a goody bag of extras. The video shows every pocket, flip-out, journaling spot, and detail of construction, including the dyed papers and spine reinforcement.
What you'll learn
Why I used flip-out and extended pages in a narrow journal — the journal is on the narrower side, and instead of leaving it at that, I added lots of pages that fold out or extend beyond the edge. It gives the person who journals in it far more writing and doodling space than the spine width would suggest.
How I use avocado dyed paper, easter egg dyed paper, and tea dyed paper together — each dyeing method produces a slightly different warmth and texture, and seeing them side by side in the same journal shows how well they layer. The tea-dyed pages in particular have a look I really love — a soft, aged quality that pairs beautifully with the fussy-cut fairy images.
How pockets, tags, and journaling spots are distributed through the signatures, including:
- Tags tucked inside pockets, left loose so they can be moved
- Flip-out pages that can double as pockets if the owner chooses
- Journaling spots made from fairy images with the journaling area on the back
- A mushroom-tag style journaling spot in one of the later pockets
How I approach embellishment without overdoing it — I wanted the journal to feel inspiring without being so decorated that there's nowhere to write. The stamping is light, the butterfly embellishment is clipped in rather than glued down, and the images are cutouts from old books rather than anything busy or commercial-looking.
Why I clip embellishments in rather than fixing them permanently — clipping means whoever buys the journal (or whoever makes one like this) can move things around, reposition them, or take them out entirely. It keeps the journal flexible and personal.
How spine reinforcement contributes to longevity — the spine on this journal is visibly sturdy, and I show how I've reinforced it so it holds up to regular use. Combined with the gold corner protectors, it's a journal built to last.
What a coordinating goody bag looks like for a sellable journal — alongside the journal itself, I put together a small bag of extras: stickers, papers, envelopes, tags, a fussy-cut fairy image on reflective paper, and two small items you could turn into mini journals or cut up and use creatively. Seeing what goes into a goody bag is useful if you're making journals to sell and want to think about the full package.
How sewing adds texture and structure to the pages — there's quite a bit of sewing throughout this journal, including a wiggly stitch along some of the pages that I particularly like. It adds a handmade quality that stamping and punching alone don't quite achieve.
Tips & gotchas
Extended and flip-out pages are a genuinely good solution for a narrow journal. The proportions here — 4¼ inches wide — would feel limiting if every page stopped at the edge, but with fold-outs built into each signature the journal opens up considerably. It's worth planning these in from the start rather than trying to add them after binding.
Clip your loose embellishments rather than gluing them down whenever you can. A clipped butterfly or tag stays put while the journal is closed but can be repositioned once someone starts using it. For a journal you're selling, this matters — the person receiving it should be able to make it their own.
Reinforce the spine before you consider the journal finished, especially with three signatures and extended pages. Those fold-outs add a small amount of stress to the binding every time they're used, and a reinforced spine is the difference between a journal that holds together for years and one that starts to pull apart after a few months of use.
One small thing worth noting on the dyed papers: avocado, easter egg dye, and tea dyeing each behave differently on different paper weights. If you're mixing them in the same journal, test on scraps first — the variation in tone is part of the charm, but extreme mismatches can feel unintentional rather than curated.
The flip-outs and pockets aren't just decorative — they're an invitation. Whoever writes in it has space to doodle on the extended pages, tuck notes into the pockets, move the loose pieces around, and make the whole thing theirs over time. If you're thinking about making junk journals to sell, there's something here about how the little details — a clipped embellishment, a goody bag, a reinforced spine — communicate care before a single word gets written on the pages.
