Junk journal recycling efforts for Earth Day

This Earth Day, April 22, I decided to turn the week’s recycling into something worth keeping. Making junk journals lets me do “creative recycling,” support sustainability, and practice my hand bookmaking skills—coptic binding, in particular. I’m also getting a jump on future journal projects, like Junk Journal July.

Two new junk journals made from recycled papers.

Using found materials 

The paper recycling box provides great fodder for my junk journals. What looks like a hot disheveled mess of cardboard, scrap papers, grocery bags, and old mailers, became colorful, handmade journals—full of character—by way of a little cutting, folding, waxed linen thread, and coptic binding. 

And, they didn’t cost me—or the planet—anything extra. 

A recycled paper bin that is geared toward junk journals.

Sifting through the boxes of recycled paper materials, I pull the sturdier boards for journal covers. The inside pages are a mix of papers—old catalogs, packaging, envelopes, etc. The cacophony of papers brings patterns, character, and a quirky imperfection to a journal that store-bought notebooks rarely match. Each journal is totally unique! 

Sorting various papers for book signatures.

The random marks, colors, torn edges and misprints serve as a start to a new story, or the first layer in a mixed media composition. Instead of facing a blank page, these pages have a little piece of rescued history—or a spark of inspiration—that a blank page doesn’t offer.  

Prepping a stack of folded signatures for book binding.

On the flip side, I also like to incorporate a sheet or two of conventional artist papers—drawing, mixed media, watercolor—for techniques and mediums that require a better surface to work on for a successful outcome. With this wide variety, the pages of my junk journals provide opportunity for any technique I’m inspired to try.

I incorporate a sheet or two of drawing paper, mixed media paper, or watercolor paper in my junk journals.

Making junk journals this way is a reminder that supporting sustainability doesn’t have to be complicated or require new materials. Sometimes it’s just about seeing potential in what otherwise is discarded. From sorting and choosing papers to the binding, these two journals took me about 3 days to complete. I like to attach a coordinating fabric closure to the journals. An added finishing detail.

These journals are about sustainability, individuality, embracing imperfection, and a lot about creativity. Creating something meaningful… one page at a time. 

Handmade, coptic bound journals.

Happy Earth Day!

#EarthDay #SustainableLiving #Upcycling #DIY #JunkJournal #Upcycle #CreativeReuse

 

Celebrate National Handmade Day: make something with your hands

Did you know the first Saturday in April has be designated as National Handmade Day?

Make something! Reverse collage using recycled papers, catalogs, and acrylic paint.

There’s something quietly powerful about making something with your own hands. In a world driven by automation, speed, and convenience, National Handmade Day invites us to slow down, tap into our imagination, and reconnect with the simple joy of making.

A little history behind National Handmade Day 

Observed on the first Saturday of April each year, National Handmade Day was initiated and registered by Amy Bierstadt of From Scratch Farm in 2017. It was adopted as a national holiday in the US in 2018. 

The day was created to honor and celebrate artisans, crafters, and makers of all kinds—whether they knit scarves, piece quilts, carve wood, paint canvases, throw clay, or bake from scratch. The day also shines a spotlight on the importance of supporting small businesses and independent makers who dedicate their time and skills to produce unique, handcrafted goods.

From: the National Today website 

The focus on the work of artisans and craftspeople stems from one of the first “advocates of the handmade,” William Morris, who spurred the Arts and Crafts movement in the 1860s because of his concerns about the effects the Industrial Revolution had on craftspeople and their direct connection to the creation process of manufactured goods. 

In recent years, the rise of handmade goods is also closely tied to a growing focus on sustainability, individuality, and quality over mass production. Platforms that support independent sellers have fueled a renewed interest in handmade items, turning what was once considered a hobby into an expanding and prosperous global movement.

How to celebrate? Make something!

You don’t need to be an expert to take part in National Handmade Day. The beauty of this celebration lies in process, not perfection. Here are a few simple ideas to get started:

Creating collages with recycled papers in a junk journal.

Try a new craft
Always wanted to learn how to knit, crochet, paint, or bake bread? Today is the perfect excuse to begin! Start with something small. Pick up a kit at a local quilt shop, sewing center, yarn store, craft store, or from online makers. Or take a class—in person or online. Let yourself enjoy the learning process.

I’m experimenting with knitting mittens and finding the knitting patterns I like.

Upcycle or mend 


Turn something you already have into something functional. Sew fabric scraps together to make a mug rug. Give new life to a pair of jeans or work shirt with embroidery. Make fabric rope for baskets or placemats. I use my fabric scraps to make charity quilts. And I recycle papers and cardboard to make junk journals.

Fabric twine made with fabric scraps and trimmings from quiltmaking.

Scrappy kitty quilts for the Cat Clinic.

Making art journals or junk journals with recycled paper and card board.

Cook or bake from scratch


Handmade doesn’t just apply to crafts. Making a meal or baking cookies from scratch is a deeply satisfying way to celebrate. Every year, we drag out the 94 box of crayons to color Easter eggs.

Coloring Easter eggs.

Create a gift

Instead of buying something, make a gift for a friend or loved one… a hand-lettered card, a decorated frame for a photo, a hand-painted postcard. I love to make pillow cases. I personalize them with fabric in the recipient’s favorite colors or with motifs they like—cats, dogs, flowers, fishing, etc. These items can be personalized and carry a unique touch that a store-bought item can’t replicate.

Watercolor postcard.

Support local makers

Purchase items at craft markets or small online businesses that focus on handmade products. Every purchase helps sustain creativity and craftsmanship and supports an independent artist.

Share your work

Show off your own handmade creations and inspire others to join the fun and creativity on social media using #NationalHandmadeDay. Also tag the small business where you purchased the kit, supplies, and materials.

A page from this year’s 100 Day Stitch Book.

Why It Matters

Taking the time to create something by hand is more than just a hobby—it’s a way to be present in your own life. It encourages mindfulness, reduces stress, and fosters a sense of accomplishment. I try to do something with my hands every day and use a Create Daily Tracker to document my progress.

Create Daily Tracker for 2026.

Handmade items also have a special meaning to the maker and the recipient. These items carry stories, connections, and memories that mass-produced goods simply don’t have.

National Handmade Day reminds us that not everything has to be instant or perfect to be valuable. Sometimes, the most meaningful things are the ones we take the time to create ourselves.

Stan Leigh, one of our outside cats, has to check out my crafting supplies.

So today—or ANY DAY—grab some fabrics, needles, thread, yarn, paint, paper or any material of choice, clear a space, and make something—anything. 

Craft with a kid, craft with a group, or enlist a “fuzzy friend supervisor” to keep you company. You just might discover that the act of making is the most rewarding part of all.

My 5th Junk Journal: the recurring joy of collage, layering, and hand lettering

This July marked my fifth time participating in a Junk Journal Challenge. My first Junk Journal was January of 2023, followed by Junk Journal January 2024, Junk Journal July 2024, Junk Journal January 2025 and now July 2025. Each journal feels just as exciting and fresh as the first. 

Opening page of my Junk Journal for July 2025.

What started as a fun, creative, month-long experiment in 2023 seems to have become an annual ritual—one that inspires me, challenges me, and reminds me to slow down and enjoy the process of art making. The challenge sets the stage to create freely in a handmade or altered journal, using what I have—scraps, ephemera, paint, found objects from daily life—to tell a story on each page or page spread. The daily prompts are only a guide, and can be foregone if a new path or detour presents itself. 

A few favorite pages

Each journal becomes a visual diary of daily thoughts or prompts. Pages are layered with color, paper, images, stamped motifs, paint, and quite often text. To practice my hand lettering, I search for a quote, poem, or prose that somehow relates to the daily prompt. A different, unexpected composition often emerges when I focus on the quote or poem rather than a literal translation of the prompt.

Two page spread. Prompt: Opening, with quote from Walt Disney (left page).
Prompt: Thankful, features the poem, “Thanks to Flowers.”

Prompt: Vintage.
Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 was the inspiration.

Two-page spread. Prompt: Favorite Place.

Prompt: Favorite Place.
“Where I Belong” poem appears when two hinged flaps are opened.

Prompt: Sunrise/Sunset and a quote from John Lennon.

Prompts: Torn and Keepsake, paired with “More than just a Teapot.”

Why I keep coming back to junk journaling

This year, a few of my art friends joined me for Junk Journal July. It was so wonderful to see their creations and responses to the prompts. I hope they had fun and will consider doing it with me again in the future. Looking at my own journals over the years, I can remember where I was or what was going on in the world when various pages were created. 

Repetition creates reflection. Coming back to this challenge year after year shows me how my techniques have changed, how I’ve improved, and which tools and mediums are favorites that I return to often.

Prompt: Ribbon. Paired with a watercolor painting and
the first stanza of “The Highwayman,” a ballad by Alfred Noyes.

What 5 Junk Journals have taught me 

When I participate in the Junk Journal Challenges, the aim is not for perfection—the aim is to make art a practice. I let my pages be messy, layered, and real. Some pages are simple, others (when more time is available) are more complex, nuanced, and layered. Junk Journal July is a creative pause, a way to mark time, make art, and capture memories in layers of paper, paint and heart.

The junk journaling process has taught me:

• There are no rules! Some days I draw, paint, or write a lot; other days, it’s a visual collage. 
• Scraps are treasures. That hotel key envelope, a postage stamp, a marketing brochure, or scribbled grocery list? They create memories. They tell a story. 
• Nothing ventured, nothing gained. The Junk Journal is a safe place to try new things—a new tool, a new art supply, a new technique. I don’t have to show the page to anyone if I choose not to. 

What’s Next?

An empty page spread awaits more color and layers.

A pocket filled with collage fodder.

Although Junk Journal July 2025 has wrapped up, I have more pages in my July 2025 junk journal that can be worked and filled. There are two pocket pages filled with collage fodder and other bits of ephemera. The open pages can be filled with slow drawing, collaging, and hand lettering various quotes and other text… adding to my ever-growing collection of messy, layered, artful pages.

My Junk Journal for July 2025.

A coptic bound journal for Junk Journal July 2025

Gather up your colorful paper scraps, bookmaking rejects, surface design samples, workshop uglies, old calendars, and trash can rescues. Hit the recycle bin and get prepped for Junk Journal July!

A collection of printed, decorative, and recycled papers for a junk journal.

Inspired by an annual artists retreat, a group of my “art camp buddies” and I are jumping into Junk Journal July 2025 in effort to continue with our art practices—which was a topic of discussion at several meals.

Junk Journal July is an easy and forgiving, low-stress Challenge, with minimal expectations—except to work at our art practice for the entire month of July. We’ll be supporting and cheering each other on next month for 31 days! 

Using the coptic binding method 

I’ve participated in the Junk Journal Challenge four times. For my last two journals—Junk Journal July 2024 and Junk Journal January 2025—I’ve made accordion style no-sew journals. After a recent demonstration on the coptic binding, however, I decided to get more practice with this book binding method and use it for this year’s Junk Journal July.

Coptic bound junk journal.

The coptic bound book has specific characteristics that are very conducive to junk journaling:

• the book opens flat, making it easy to work in.
• the spine of the book is exposed and can accommodate any number of signatures.
• coptic binding can accommodate a soft cover, so you are able to use recycled materials for the cover in addition to the inside pages.

Making my junk journal

My junk journal is 8” square. (I like the square format for Instagram posts.) It has 5 signatures, plus front and back covers—86 full pages and a few short or partial pages. I like to use recycled papers to construct my junk journals, but any journal is absolutely OK to use! The important part is that you work in it!

Junk journal front and back covers.

Because various weights and types of paper were used for the pages in my journal—text papers, magazine pages, mixed media paper, mailing envelopes, cover weight papers, packaging from from a bag of sugar, and a sheet of watercolor paper—in order to (somewhat) maintain the same thickness, the signatures for my journal contained between 4 - 6 folios each.

Journal covers and various papers for the inside pages.

When making a junk journal, remember that’s what it is—a JUNK journal. It’s made of recycled materials and not meant to be perfect. And it will definitely get thicker, bulkier, and more interesting (and fun) when the various items get pasted into it. 

My thoughts for creating a “perfectly imperfect” junk journal are:

• Use what you have! I recycle saddle stitched catalogs and sales booklets for my journals. Get out the staple remover and then trim the pages to your desired folio size. The fold is already set and you’ll know the paper’s grain is correct—parallel to the spine of the book.

Removing staples from a saddle stitched catalog.

• Short pages are welcome. When making folios, if the sheet of paper is not the needed size (16” long is the folio size for my journal), it was folded to accommodate one (8”) page and the other page was short.
• if you don’t want a short page, paste something onto it to make it longer.

Example of a short page in the journal.

• use paint and/or collage to cover up distracting or unwanted text and images on the pages.
• if a page seems too “wimpy” to work on, glue two lightweight pages together to make them stronger/thicker.
• I include at least one folio of a watercolor paper (for painting) and a few uncoated, blank pages for ink drawings, sketches, and hand lettering.
• I like to add envelopes or pockets into the journal to store ephemera and extra paper bits.

A recycled envelope serves as a pocket for small paper bits.

• I paste the daily prompt list at the front of the journal for reference. The printable, provided by Creativity and Coffee, is in a Google drive here.

Daily prompts for Junk Journal July 2025.

Here is my junk journal for Junk Journal July 2025.

Junk journal for Junk Journal July 2025. Size is 8” x 8” x .75”.

Pre-work and collage fodder gathering

Before July 1, when Junk Journal July begins, here are a few activities that get me prepared for a month of journal art making.

• research quotes or poems related to the prompts. This can provide a direction in which to respond to a prompt and a source for hand lettering. 
• pull out the acrylic paints and paint backgrounds on pages. An interesting/colorful page is more approachable than the intimidating blank white page.  
• gather paper scraps and ephemera to tuck into envelopes for collage fodder.
• fussy-cut images from calendars, junk mail, catalogs, etc. for collage fodder.
• replenish my supply of glue sticks.

But first, I need to clean up the work table from making my journal…

The work table needs tidying up!

 

The 2024-25 Winter of Care and Repair concludes

Participating in the Winter of Care and Repair Challenge, held from the Winter Solstice to the Spring Equinox, makes me mindful of taking time to extend the life of textiles, home goods, garments, and other useful items. It also makes me keenly aware of upcycling and recycling efforts, keeping things out of landfills, and minimizing unnecessary waste.

The toe of one sock mended with a wool mending thread.

How I fared with the Challenge 

This Challenge started last December and ended this month on March 20, the Spring Equinox. My pledge for the 2024 - 2025 included textile mends and repairs, upcycling and repurposing, organizing my fabric stash, using scraps (rather than tossing them), and office tidying.

The zipper seam in a pillowcase

Mended zipper seam.

Textile mending

This winter, I did manage to mend a few garments and household textiles:

• mending a hole in a pair of socks,
• repairing the zipper seam of a pillowcase,
• reinforcing seams in pants and shorts,
• mending several worn or torn patches in a vintage quilt.

Holes and shredded areas of a vintage quilt.

Appliquéd patches over the worn areas.

Upcycling/recycling

I upcycled/recycled old paper sales materials and paper catalogs into two Junk Journals. I gifted one to my cousin and used the other in this year’s Junk Journal January Challenge. I continue to use my junk journal for slow drawing, watercolor play, and hand lettering.

Junk Journal made with recycled papers.

Here is a flip-through of one of the junk journals.

Fabric scraps

I didn’t get much fabric stash organizing done, but did complete 4 scrappy kitty quilts in December and donated an additional 16 kitty quilts to two local animal hospitals at the end of February. The quilts were made of orphan quilt blocks [a repurposing effort], discontinued fabric samples, fabric scraps, and the bindings were pieced and scrappy as well.

Scrappy quilt tops for charity quilts.

Two additional kitty quilts went to our gang of outside tuxedo kitties—to care for the fuzzy ones at our house.

Scrappy quilt bindings.

I’m also using fabric bits and scraps from various improv quilting projects in this year’s 100 Day Project, the 2025 Stitch Book with Ann Wood. Here is one of the pages.

A page from my 2025 Stitch Book using fabric scraps.

Office tidying

The response to this goal wasn’t as prolific as I had hoped for the home office, but I did do a a clean-up of my “mobile office” (my car). The vacuuming efforts in the back where my sample suitcases go, and the carpets in the front seats were welcome sights!

Care and Repair take-aways

Jeanna, from The People’s Mending [@thepeoplesmending], is the creator of the Winter of Care and Repair challenge. She wrote a synopsis of her 5-year experience and posted a list of take-aways. The ones I resonate most with are:

• It’s going to take less time than you think.
• It’s going to take more time than you think.
• If it’s worth repairing, it’s worth repairing right… even if you have to redo it.
• Repairing is caring.
• To speed up, slow down. Or, “the hurried-er I go, the behind-er I get.”
• Practice makes better: the more you do, the more you learn, the better you get.
• You can do anything, but not everything, and that’s OK.

I try to remember to give myself the grace to do what I can. Because all the small acts do add up.

Junk Journal January: first Make Nine finish for 2025

Junk Journal January is a wrap! I’m counting it as my first Make Nine 2025 finish to fulfill the “Online Challenge” prompt.

Make Nine 2025 tracker. Online Challenge prompt

Journal format and page spreads

For JJJ 2025 [Junk Journal January 2025], I made a square format, no-sew journal. 

No-sew junk journal.

After getting into the daily process of answering the prompts, I found myself creating compositions in 2-page spreads. Sometimes the composition was in response to a single prompt…

Day 30 prompt: fabric

… sometimes it combined multiple prompts.

Days 24 and 25 prompts: line and modern.

I liked working in a larger, 2-page space. Paint, color, and collage were used to unify the background. Similar marks were made across both pages, and often the spreads incorporated text, quotes, or poems relating to the prompt(s), that were hand lettered on the pages.

Days 26, 27, 28 and 29 prompts: movement, crumpled, sealed, and reveal.

Materials and techniques

For this year’s junk journal, I used techniques that I used in the past: acrylic and watercolor painting, collage, hand lettering, and drawing, and an occasional use of a rubber stamp. I did experiment with solar paste and stencils this time—on Day 18 with the “bright” prompt. Solar paste is a fun art supply and is very effective on a black background.

Solar paste medallions made with paste and stencils.

Starting with Junk Journal January in 2023, and followed by Junk Journal January and Junk Journal July in 2024, Junk Journal January 2025 is the fourth journal in my collection.

Junk Journals from 2023, 2024, and 2025.