There's a journal in this video that I'm not entirely sure I should have made — and I mean that as the highest possible compliment. This is a full flip-through of a lavish, heavily embellished shabby chic junk journal: fabric-covered hard cover, three signatures, crocheted doilies bound into pages, Easter egg dyed paper and lace, acetate pages with rub-on transfers, a pearl choker as a closure, and more interactive elements — pockets, tuck spots, booklets, envelopes, belly bands, fold-outs — than I can count without losing my place. If you're looking for ideas to fill a journal with texture, interactivity, and that particular kind of Victorian-adjacent abundance, this one is for you.
What we cover
This is a page-by-page flip-through of a chunky shabby chic junk journal, pausing on the techniques, materials, and embellishments as we go. Along the way I demonstrate a few quick techniques in real time — including how to fold a large doily into a corner pocket and how the spray-bottle tea dyeing method compares to a full dip — and pull out the removable elements so you can see what the journal looks like both in its extravagant, fully-loaded state and stripped back to its more elegant bones.
What you'll learn
How to approach a journal that's built for both drama and practicality — most of the chunky elements in this journal are removable, which means the same structure works as an art object on a shelf and as an actual journal you can write in. Seeing both versions side by side helps clarify which embellishments to glue and which to leave free.
How to use a pearl choker necklace (or any piece of jewellery) as a journal closure, attached and removed via claw clips and ribbon end crimps so it can go on and off without damaging the journal.
How to fold a large doily into a corner pocket, including:
- Fold the doily in half, then in half again
- Place in the corner of a page and glue down two sides
- Leave the second fold loose to create a second pocket, or ink the edge to make it more visible
Why applying rub-on transfers to acetate is easier than applying them to paper — on acetate they go down with far less pressure and peel cleanly, where paper rubons can require repeated rubbing with no guarantee they'll transfer evenly.
How to use Easter egg dyes on paper and fabric — including white lace turned pink with red Easter egg dye, fabric dyed blue, and paper dyed in yellows and purples. The results are soft and organic in a way that suits a shabby chic palette even when the colours aren't an exact match.
The spray-bottle tea dyeing method for quick results — when you need a tea-dyed page fast, black tea in a spray bottle gives a lighter, more uneven effect than a full dip, which has its own charm and dries much faster.
How to bind a crocheted doily into a signature as a page, including gluing a strip of book page behind it to give it enough structure to sew through cleanly without the whole thing going skewed.
How to create a decorative dot effect with contrasting machine thread — by keeping a different colour (here, brown) in the bottom bobbin while sewing with white on top, the bottom thread peeps through at each stitch point and creates a subtle dotted pattern on the page surface.
How to use a writing board inside a chunky journal — a laminated piece slipped under the current page to create a flat writing surface when thick embellishments underneath would otherwise make writing impossible.
How to build a tuck spot from a long paper strip — wrapping a strip around a page and gluing it top and bottom creates two tuck spots on opposite sides of the same page, without any complicated folding.
How to make a quick circular booklet — folding circular pages in half and sewing straight through the fold creates a small, unusual journaling insert that adds visual interest and real writing space at the same time.
Using an upside-down envelope to create a multi-pocket element — cutting the sides off an envelope, creating side pockets and a waterfall booklet from the remaining flap, and using the whole thing as a compact interactive spread.
Why building a pre-made embellishment stash makes journal-filling so much faster — throughout this journal, I pull from tags, notepads, folded booklets, little bags, and paper clips with charms that were all made in advance. Having those ready means filling a spread is a matter of choosing and placing rather than making from scratch every time.
Tips & gotchas
When binding a doily into a signature, glue a piece of book page to the back before you sew. Without it, the doily has no real structure, and even with it, getting it to sit completely straight is genuinely hard — I have one in this journal that's slightly off-angle and I notice it every single time I look at it. The paper backing is essential; perfectly straight is aspirational.
Leave some elements unglued, especially in a journal you might sell or give away. The new owner — or future you — should get to decide where a paper fan or a folded booklet actually lives. Some of the best decisions in this journal happened because I didn't commit too early.
For the spray-bottle tea method: use black tea, and don't overthink it. Spray lightly, let dry (ideally under weight to prevent warping), and the result is naturally uneven in a way that reads as intentional. The full dip process gives deeper, more uniform colour; the spray gives something airier and faster.
Applying rub-ons to paper is genuinely difficult — more difficult than it looks in tutorials, and I say this after years of it. If you want the effect of a rub-on transfer on an acetate page, start there. The transfer releases much more readily onto a smooth, non-absorbent surface, and the image reads beautifully from both sides.
When you're using the bottom-thread dot technique on your sewing machine, the contrast matters. White thread on top with brown in the bobbin reads as a vintage dot on the page surface. If both threads are the same colour, you lose the effect entirely — it's the mismatch that makes it work.
The writing board is genuinely useful, not just a clever flourish. If you make a chunky journal and wonder how anyone could actually write in it, a laminated board slipped under the current page solves the problem immediately. I laminated mine with a little painted book page on top so it's also a small piece of art on its own.
Tips for the stash-builder
One thing this journal showed me clearly: the journals I enjoy making most are the ones where I can reach into a box and pull out a pre-made tag, a folded booklet, a little bag, a beaded bookmark — and just place it. The making-in-advance doesn't feel like preparation while you're doing it, but when you sit down to fill a journal, it's the difference between a creative afternoon and a frantic one.
It's loud and extravagant and it knows it. And somewhere in that, there's something genuinely useful to understand about the whole practice — that you're allowed to make something just because the little version of you that always wanted all the pretty things in one place finally has the skills to do it. The techniques here — doily pockets, acetate pages, Easter egg dyeing, belly bands, waterfall booklets — all travel into quieter journals too. But making one utterly lavish one first teaches you a lot about how these elements behave, which ones need structure, which ones want to stay loose, and how much is just enough.
