If you love junk journals and handmade ephemera but find yourself spending hours hunting down just the right pocket, bookmark, or fabric cluster before you can start a single page, these Treasure Boxes might be exactly what you've been missing. Each box is a curated collection of handmade goodies and ephemera — all made by me — packed and ready to go straight into your journals or to inspire a whole new project. Every box contains the same categories of items, but because everything is handmade, no two boxes look exactly alike.
What we cover
This is a full flip-through of one of seven Treasure Boxes I had listed in my Etsy shop — showing every single item in the box, what it is, how I made it, and how you might use it in your journals. Most items have their own standalone tutorial, all linked in the description.
What you'll learn
What's inside a Treasure Box — the full contents list, including:
- A loaded pocket — layered with a large tag, multiple internal pockets, and ephemera tucked throughout
- A flip-down notepad with tags and a mini notepad section
- A bundle of four envelopes — three embossed (including a dark metallic and a tea-dyed version) and one plain with a paper insert
- A scrappy booklet made from mixed papers with sewing and embellishing
- Three lace flowers (tutorial available separately)
- A pen loop on a paper clip clip — attaches to a cover or sits inside the first page
- A mini matchbox-style journal with pages for quotes and short notes
- A laminated bookmark with a dangling charm
- Two small pots of seed beads and sequins for shaker cards, stitching, or tag embellishment
- A washi tape strip (varies by box)
- A handmade paper flower
- A book-page four-pocket piece
- A small bag of assorted tags (some plain, some lightly embellished)
- A yarn bow in a little plastic bag — works as an embellishment or a bookmark
- A packet of mixed lace lengths
- Two fabric clusters
- A coffee filter pocket with a doily inside
- An origami-style envelope pocket with a tag
- Two danglies with mixed materials, lace, and glittery mesh fabric, each on a bulb pin with seed beads
- A 12×12 scrapbook paper piece that folds into a journal structure with up to five signatures (tutorial available)
- A quote card with gold photo corners — can become a journaling spot or a journal cover focal piece
- A fabric and book-page envelope
- A letter and postcard set from the book Griffin and Sabine
- Three pieces of sheer fabric in different colours
- A cereal bag double pocket with embossing and a decoupaged napkin image
- A brown paper bag of surprise goodies — varies completely from box to box (this one included die-cuts, vintage book pages, a doily, sticky notes, tags, a pocket, and a small notebook)
How a book-page four-pocket piece works — it looks like three pockets, but when you glue it into your journal by the two stitched sides only, the page behind becomes a hidden fourth pocket.
How to use the 12×12 journal structure — the folded sheet creates a spine that can hold up to five signatures, with a middle pocket that opens out and additional journaling space at each turn. I show my own embellished version alongside the unembellished one included in the box.
Ways to use the smaller loose items — seed beads and sequins stitched directly onto tags, sheer fabric used in place of regular fabric for book-page envelopes, danglies attached to a spine as a tassel or clipped to the side of a page with a safety pin.
Tips & gotchas
The pen loop is a paper clip, which means it grips well on most journals — but if your cover is very thick, the clip may not reach. In that case, just attach it to the first page inside instead of the cover. It still keeps your pen exactly where you need it.
For the book-page four-pocket piece: glue only along the two sides where the stitching runs. That's what creates the fourth hidden pocket at the back. Glue all the way around and you lose it entirely — and it's a lovely little extra, so worth keeping in mind before you reach for the glue.
The brown paper bag at the bottom of each box is completely different in every box — don't expect to know what's in there. That's the surprise element, and I pack each one with whatever extra bits and pieces I think will be useful or fun.
Every handmade item in the box has a tutorial you can follow to make your own version. All links are in the video description.
These Treasure Boxes are for the sessions where you just want to make something. The 12×12 journal structure alone can become an entire project in its own right, and the pockets and envelopes are ready to be filled however you like. If any of the individual items catch your eye, every tutorial is there waiting when you want to go deeper.
