If you've been making junk journals in Australia and struggling to find seam binding, sari silk, or decoupage napkins that are actually suited to this craft — this unboxing video is for you. I was asked by Carrie from Which Craft Do You Do to take part in a design team project, and she sent me a box of supplies from her shop to work with. What arrived genuinely surprised me, and I wanted to share it properly before I start making things with it all.
What we cover
This is an unboxing of a curated parcel from the Which Craft Do You Do shop — including chipboard embellishments, sari silk and seam binding, decoupage napkins and tissue papers, vintage ephemera packs, bookplates, tags, vellum, stencils, and more. I also talk about why I found this shop in the first place, and why it's become my go-to for supplies that are genuinely hard to source in Australia.
What you'll learn
Why seam binding and sari silk are worth hunting down for journal making — both are endlessly useful for closures, tags, and page embellishment, but they're not always easy to find locally, especially in Australia. This video shows what they actually look like in the hand, in a range of colours, so you know what you're looking for when you go searching.
What decoupage napkins purpose-made for journaling look like — I've worked with napkins before, but I usually pick them up at op shops or bring them back from overseas. Seeing a shop with a dedicated range of napkins designed with this craft in mind was genuinely new to me, and the quality shows.
How chipboard embellishments are packaged and used, including:
- Chipboard page tabs for journals
- Chipboard bookplates and word plates
- Chipboard feathers and butterfly tags
- Laser-engraved word plaques and label sets
What a pack of antique papers actually contains — aged pages in different languages, music paper, piano roll paper, snippets and tags. For anyone who doesn't want to buy whole stacks of old books just to tear them apart, a curated pack like this is a practical alternative.
How layering stamp pads work for creating faux wooden stamp effects — you glue an image onto one part, adhere it to a wooden base, and end up with something that looks like a custom hand-carved stamp. The shop sends a sample to show the finished effect.
What pre-cut ready-made tags look like and why they're worth keeping in stock — these are something I discovered on a previous order, and they've solved a small but real problem: I'm in the middle of making a journal, I want to add a pocket, and suddenly I need a tag now. Having a stack of ready-made tags means I can just pick one up, add a ribbon or a staple, and keep going.
What vellum, tissue paper, and vintage wrapping paper look like from a dedicated craft shop — not just plain vellum, but decorated sheets. Not just tissue paper, but designed decoupage sheets. Vintage wrapping paper in children's and ladies' themes that can be cut up for postcards or used as full journal pages.
Tips & gotchas
If you're in Australia — or anywhere outside the US — and you've been watching journal-making videos wondering where everyone gets their seam binding and sari silk, the answer for a lot of people is online shops that specialise in exactly this. Which Craft Do You Do is the one I found, and it's where I've been buying these supplies for a while now. Worth bookmarking if you haven't already.
Pre-cut tags are one of those things that seem small but make a real difference to workflow. I always had to stop mid-project to make a tag, which breaks the rhythm. A stack of ready-made tags — already cut, already the right shape — means that problem just goes away. Keep them in a little box near your workspace.
Even if you're not planning to buy anything right now, spending twenty minutes browsing a well-stocked craft supply shop is genuinely useful for inspiration. You'll see materials you haven't worked with yet, combinations you hadn't considered, and — especially with embellishments — you'll often find the thing you didn't know you needed until you saw it.
Chipboard embellishments are easy to underestimate until you see them used on a finished journal. One chipboard bookplate, one small laser-engraved word plaque, and a bit of sari silk on the closure can be enough to make a simple fabric journal look completely finished. You don't need many — you just need the right ones.
There's enough here for a boho journal, a mermaid journal, some postcard-style ephemera, and a whole run of pocketed junk journal pages. I'll be sharing those projects as I work through it all.
