If you make junk journals and you're always hunting for the right mix of trims, tags, envelopes, charms, and fabric scraps to pull a page together, this walkthrough of my Etsy embellishment kit is worth a look. I put these kits together to give junk journalers a ready supply of the kinds of things I reach for constantly — layered textures, closures, pockets, decorative accents — all in one pack.
What we cover
A full contents walkthrough of the junk journal embellishment kits I stocked in my Etsy shop — every category of item in the kit, how I use each one in my own journals, and a few ideas for pieces you might not think to repurpose at first glance.
What you'll learn
What's included in the embellishment kit — trims and lace
Each kit comes with a variety of decorative trims:
- Four colors of beaded trim (dusty rose, purple, pink, and green) — over two meters total
- A decorative braided trim in white and cream — over two meters
- Black thin lace (two meters), yellow lace (one meter), and beige lace (one meter)
- Eyelash trim and a couple of other hairy/textured trims — just under two meters each — great along the tops of tags
Coffee-dyed cotton tape and how I use it
There's a five-meter roll of cotton tape in each kit. I coffee-dye mine before using it, and it becomes one of the most versatile things in my studio — ruffles, tags, closures, wrapped spines. The undyed tape is just as useful; the coffee treatment is something you can do yourself if you want that aged look.
Beads, seed beads, and blingy trim
Two vials of seed beads plus an approximately 60-gram bag of mixed beads — the exact bead mix varies from pack to pack. There's also a small piece of blingy (rhinestone-style) trim that I use in the centers of flowers and layered embellishments.
Stamps
Ten stamps per kit, all different across the kits. An assortment — good for stamping tags, envelopes, journaling spots, or fabric scraps before tucking them into pages.
Flowers and rosettes
- Five sets of small mixed-color fabric flowers
- Five white flowers with beaded centers
- A few small rosettes
- One decorative floral pick (see Tips below for how I actually use these)
Charms and a found bracelet
One of my favourite things in the kit: a found bracelet loaded with charms. You can pull it apart and use each charm individually in your journal pages, or — and this is worth considering — leave it intact and use the whole bracelet as a journal closure. It works beautifully, and you don't have to do any dismantling at all.
Tassels and belly-dancing coins
Two small tassels (lovely on a spine or as part of a larger tassel cluster) and ten rusted belly-dancing coins. The coins have a naturally aged, worn finish that sits perfectly in boho and vintage-style journals.
Wooden embellishments and paperclips
A small bag of wooden embellishments — hearts, stars, and what I'd call mariner's wheels. There's also a little bag with paperclips, bulk pins, and a beaded safety pin. Small details, but the kind of thing you're always glad to have.
Quilting fabric pieces
About ten pieces of quilting fabric, all different, all genuinely beautiful. I use these as tabs, little folded pockets, fabric snippets peeking out from under layers — anywhere you want a soft textile element. There's also a small doily in the kit.
Envelopes — two kinds
- Five handmade envelopes (some standard, some with a fold-down flap, one embossed) — I made these myself
- Five Tiffany-style sturdy envelopes in different colors and finishes, including a shiny black one and a couple of purple ones
Tags, journaling spots, and adhesive pockets
- About eight tags per kit — small ones, scalloped circle tags, and a couple of other styles; slight variation from pack to pack
- A couple of journaling spot cards
- Two round adhesive memory pockets and one business-card-size adhesive pocket — self-stick, goes straight onto a journal page to create a functional pocket
Gold or bronze twine
A full roll, either gold or bronze depending on the pack. Useful for closures, wrapping signatures, or tying off tags.
Tips & gotchas
Keep an eye on weight for shipping. I kept each kit just under 500 grams, which is the threshold for cheaper shipping rates. If you're ever assembling your own kits to sell, that weight limit is worth planning around from the start — it shapes what you can include.
Don't pull the bracelet apart before you decide how to use it. The whole bracelet can slide onto a journal as a closure without any dismantling. It looks intentional and finished, and it saves you the fiddly work of removing individual charms. If you do want the charms separately, that's there too — but try it as a closure first.
The decorative floral picks are more useful in pieces. What I do is remove the small flowers from the pick rather than using the whole thing. Then I layer a few flowers together, push a brad through the center, and use that layered flower as an embellishment on a tag or a page. It gives you much more control over placement than the full pick, and the results look more integrated with the journal.
These are the kinds of things I reach for when I'm making journals to sell, and having them together in one place means less time hunting and more time actually making.
