If you've been wondering what actually happens when someone sits down to work in a junk journal — no plan, just a few scraps and a direction — this is that video. I pick up a black catalog page, some gold yarn, a strip of patterned paper from the bottom of a 12×12 sheet, and a handful of odds and ends, and I work through a full page from blank to finished, making decisions in real time.
What we cover
This is a process video as much as it is a tutorial. I'm working through one complete junk journal spread — punching holes, threading tassels, adding paper ruffles, cutting slits into the page for paper clips, layering scraps, and tying it all into a cohesive color palette. The whole thing unfolds from a single starting idea and grows from there.
What you'll learn
How to make thread tassels along the edge of a journal page, including:
- Threading each loop individually by hand for a looser, more organic look
- Using a needle to weave through punched holes as an alternative
- Trimming the tassels to length and leaving sides at different lengths for a boho feel
Why inking the edges of paper scraps pulls a page together — even pieces that feel slightly off on their own read as intentional once their edges are inked and laid against the background.
How to cut slits into a page to thread paper clips through — a small structural trick that turns an ordinary paper clip into a page element rather than just a fastener. I cut two parallel slits and thread the clip through so it sits flush and looks deliberate.
How to add a paper ruffle as a soft layer — a simple snip-and-gather that adds dimension without bulk, useful when a corner or edge of the page feels unfinished.
How to use leftover sticker backing, catalog pages, and scrap-paper strips as page material — nothing needs to be purpose-bought. The black page I work on here came from a catalog. The ruffle came from the trimmed edge of a 12×12 sheet.
How to build a cohesive color palette from whatever scraps are in front of you — I didn't plan this page's color story in advance. What I did do was keep pausing to notice what was pulling the page together and lean into it. By the end, the black thread, the black background page, and the black stitching on the layered pieces were all talking to each other in a way I hadn't anticipated.
How stitching adds weight and presence to layered paper pieces — a few hand stitches through a glued-down paper element makes it look like it belongs rather than just sits there.
How to work through a page when you don't know what goes where — I hold things up, move them around, second-guess myself, cover something up with something else, and end up somewhere I couldn't have planned. That's not a mistake in the process; it is the process.
Tips & gotchas
Double-gluing is worth the extra step. I go back over things I've already glued down with a second pass — not because the first application didn't hold in the moment, but because I've had pages where things started lifting six months later. A little extra glue pressed flat and dried under weight saves frustration later.
Start with one concrete idea and let it lead. My starting point here was the hairy thread edges — I just wanted to punch holes and thread those tassels. Everything else followed from that. If you sit down trying to design a whole page at once, it's easy to freeze. If you pick one small thing to do first, the next idea usually appears once your hands are moving.
Try things before committing them. I held up scraps, moved the ruffle around, considered whether the paper clip trick would work, and only glued things down when they felt right. The page gives you some latitude if you don't reach for the glue immediately. Trial and error isn't a sign something's going wrong — it's how the page gets good.
If something feels flat or out of place, try inking its edges before you decide to pull it. I almost set aside one of the paper pieces because it wasn't reading well against the background. After inking the edges it looked like it had always been meant to be there.
That's the thing I love most about junk journaling: the page doesn't just hold papers and thread; it ends up holding memories and thoughts that wouldn't have surfaced any other way. You start with a hairy edge and end up remembering a friend's kitchen and a joke about winning lottery tickets falling from the sky. Once you've made a few pages like this, you'll understand why people find it hard to stop.
