If you've been sitting on a pile of old photo album pages wondering what on earth to do with them, this video is for you. I pulled apart a large photo album — one that wasn't going to become the junk journal I'd originally planned — and spent time working out how the individual pockets and sleeves could be used as journal inserts, ephemera holders, and decorative page elements. What came out of that experimenting is a handful of genuinely useful ideas, plus some practical notes on working with plastic.
What we cover
This is mostly an ideas-and-inspiration video, with a handful of demonstrations along the way. I walk through several different ways to use photo album pockets in junk journals — from basic hinged signature pages to layered ephemera clusters to a sliding side-entry pocket — and show examples of finished pieces you can take as a starting point for your own work.
What you'll learn
How to cut and prepare photo album pages for journal use — most album pages have two pockets side by side; cutting through the middle gives you two separate sleeves to work with. Trimming cleanly and leaving a small margin before any sewn edge keeps the plastic from ripping when you handle it later.
How to hinge a photo sleeve as a journal page, including:
- Cutting two pockets and backing them with a scrap piece of paper
- Using a small amount of glue to hold the pieces in place before sewing
- Sewing around the edges to create a finished page that sits inside a signature
How to build an ephemera cluster insert from a single pocket — cut the top edge off a sleeve, sew around the remaining edges, and you have a self-contained pocket insert that can hold a small booklet, tags, paper scraps, playing cards, or anything else you'd tuck into a journal. These can be slipped into a front pocket, clipped onto a page, or sent in happy mail.
How to make a flip-over page insert, including:
- Finding the center fold point so both halves are exactly even
- Gluing the two pieces together and aligning them against your desk edge to keep everything straight
- Sewing around the perimeter after gluing, starting from the open edge so the pieces shift less during sewing
- Adding file-folder tags, book pages, and stamped or stencilled details to the back panels
How to make a sliding side-entry pocket — instead of cutting the top open, you cut the side, leaving the original sealed edges intact. Things slide in from the side rather than the top, which makes filling and emptying the pocket faster and more satisfying to use in practice. I think this one ended up being my favourite of the lot.
How to decorate plastic surfaces using stencils — stencilling onto the pocket before assembling adds a layer of visual interest that shows through when you pull the insert out. Anything with holes works as a stencil; I used a hair-drain cover someone gave me, which turned out to be a surprisingly lovely pattern. The stencilled back panel on the sliding pocket looks beautiful when the insert is lifted out.
Why sewing is the right technique for plastic pockets — glue doesn't grip plastic well, and on a clear sleeve it would be visible through the material. Machine sewing holds cleanly and doesn't show from the other side. If you're not working with a sewing machine, decorative paperclips — the spiral kind, for example — are a good alternative for keeping pockets closed.
Tips & gotchas
Glue really doesn't hold well on plastic. I used a small amount of craft glue to tack pieces in position before sewing, but I wouldn't rely on it as the main fastening. If you try to glue a pocket shut, it'll likely peel, and on a clear sleeve it looks messy. Sewing is the better call. If a sewing machine isn't an option, lean into decorative paperclips — they can actually look lovely on a journal insert.
When you're gluing two pocket pieces together before sewing, line everything up against the edge of your desk. It sounds small, but plastic is slippery and edges wander. That desk edge gives you a straight reference point that's much more reliable than eyeballing it.
Start sewing from the open edge of the pocket — the side that can come apart — rather than from a sealed corner. The pieces stay together better as you feed them through the machine, and you end up with a cleaner result.
Leave a small margin — roughly a quarter inch — at any cut edge before you sew. If you sew right at the very edge of cut plastic, it can tear with use. That little bit of extra material gives the stitching something to grip.
Paper and cardstock blunt sewing machine needles very quickly. If you also use your machine for garments, swap in a fresh needle when you go back to fabric work. If you're using a dedicated paper-and-crafts needle, a blunter edge genuinely doesn't cause problems — the stitch still looks fine through plastic and paper layers.
One practical note on photo albums themselves: not all albums are the same size or layout, so the exact dimensions of your pockets will vary. The approach here is about the technique, not fixed measurements — work with what you have and adjust proportions to suit the journal you're building.
Stencilling before assembly is worth doing even when it doesn't seem necessary. I skipped it on my first version of the sliding pocket and noticed the difference immediately when I made the second one. The stencilled layer shows through beautifully when the insert is pulled out, and it's much easier to apply before the pocket is sewn closed.
Photo albums are genuinely plentiful in secondhand shops right now — far fewer people are printing photos and filling albums than they used to be. If you find a small one, it's worth picking up. A single album gives you enough pocket material for multiple journal projects, in a range of sizes if you're lucky.
These inserts work especially well when you layer different things inside them — a tiny notebook, a tag, a playing card, a small envelope, a strip of newsprint. The pocket itself is simple; what makes it feel rich in a journal is what you tuck into it. Old newspaper pages, decorated tags, folded note paper — anything that would sit loose on a journal page becomes something to discover when it's held inside a pocket.
My first thought was just a basic hinged page. Then I wanted ephemera clusters. Then the flip-over insert. Then the side-entry sliding pocket. Each version suggested the next one — which is usually how it goes with any material you spend real time with.
