Creating An (almost) All Yellow Junk Journal

Jan 29

I thought it would be fun to create a yellow journal because it is January and even though I am a big fan of long winter nights, snow storms and cozy nights on the couch, a little bit of cheery yellow paper would be a welcomed sight :)

Handmade Yellow Monochromatic junk journal loaded with tons of yellow ephemera and vintage goodies

My original intent was to create a yellow monochromatic junk journal that had only yellow and shades of yellow papers, ephemera and fabric trims. I started out by gathering yellow papers and looked around my studio for yellow ephemera of all kinds. It soon became apparent that sticking to strictly yellow was going to be a challenge and one I wasn’t sure I could adhere to.

Yellow Monochromatic handmade junk journal loaded with tons of yellow ephemera

As I compiled and arranged my papers I realized that I actually enjoyed putting together the various hues and tones of yellows, golds and some oranges with whites, creams and for obvious reasons, greens.

As per usual, what I thought I wanted in theory did not match what I wanted in reality once I got started LOL!

This journal took about a week to complete and as I went through the process of creating it, it was fun to challenge my original monochromatic idea and spend time considering what colour combinations I enjoyed with the various yellow hues and tones.

If you would like to watch a YouTube video of me putting this journal together and a flip thru of the finished pages click the button below.

Flip Thru Video Here

I decided that one way I could create and included interesting yellow pages was to paint and stamp over vintage book pages. This worked like a charm and was better than using up a ton of printer ink printing out a bunch of yellow digitals. I used yellow acrylic paint and my ink blending tool/dabber to create large polka dots on these old dictionary pages. Fast, simple and very effective. In my quest to use more of what I already have in my studio, this was an added bonus because I wasn’t tempted to order or buy more paper.

(well, I was but this solution meant I didn’t buy any hahah!)

For me, it isn’t a finished journal without a photo of some pasta or potatoes lOL!

The more I worked in this journal, the more enjoyed the idea of working with a limited palette and seeing what kinds of layering I could create that was interesting and not repetitive in nature.

This is one of my favourite journals to date and I have to admit that working with these yellows pages really did give my mood a lift during these very cold January days that were -20 degrees C!! Brrr!!!

This journal ended up to be WAY more chunky and bulky then I had originally wanted but like almost every other journal i make, I have no self control adn just keep shoving ephemera in LOL!