If you've been looking for a ready-made collection of purple and silver materials to spark a junk journal project — or to give as a thoughtful gift to a fellow maker — this short video is a good place to start. I put together two themed supply kits and walk through everything that's in them, piece by piece, then show a quick look at the junk journal I made using these very materials as inspiration.
What we cover
A full show-and-through of two purple and silver junk journal supply kits — every paper, fabric, embellishment, and trim that's included — followed by a brief flip-through of the journal I made from them, so you can see how some of the pieces actually come together in a finished project.
What you'll learn
What's inside a purple and silver junk journal kit, including:
- Papers — purple envelopes, coordinating card and envelope sets, handmade-feel purple paper, lilac paper, shiny silver-toned paper, and a large sheet of light wrapping paper
- Fabrics and textiles — a piece of purple leather (useful for covers and bookplates), several small coordinating fabric pieces, yarn, and assorted decorative trims
- Ribbons and lace — multiple ribbons in complementary shades, ruffled ribbon, beaded ribbon trim, lace, and ruffled fabric flowers
- Embellishments — silver buttons, flat mirror piece, small paper flowers in dark purple and lilac, a hair clip piece that works beautifully on a journal cover, and a spine dangle base for hanging beads
- Small-bead bags — a handmade bead, an assortment of loose beads, safety pins, layered fabric flowers (which can be taken apart and used as single petals or kept full), flowers with bead centres, sequins, purple heart pieces, and a small silver decorative piece
How the fabric and trim pieces translate into journal techniques, including:
- Using ruffled fabric as a textured cover treatment
- Sewing sequins onto sheer fabric for signature interiors
- Threading the beaded ribbon trim through signatures as a decorative binding
- Cutting the spine dangle base down and attaching it with buttons
How finished kit pieces look in context — the flip-through at the end shows the cover, spine, and a signature interior made from kit materials, so you can see the purple and silver palette in a finished piece rather than just loose on a table.
Tips & gotchas
The kit came first — the journal came second. I started pulling materials together into these kits, and then made the journal you see at the end using what I had. That means not everything in the journal is in the kit, and not every kit piece ended up in the journal. If you're watching the flip-through trying to reverse-engineer what's included, that connection isn't one-to-one.
Colours can shift under video lighting, and purple in particular is tricky — the dark purple flowers look lighter on screen than they are in person, and the shiny silver papers can read differently depending on how the light hits them. Worth keeping in mind if you're deciding whether the palette suits your project.
The leather piece alone is something I've used across several journals for bookplates and covers, and the beaded trim threaded through a signature is one of those small details that makes a plain binding feel considered. If you have a purple journal in mind — or want to give someone the materials to make one — the flip-through at the end gives a real sense of where all of it can go.
