The Best Junk Journaling Supplies and Where to Find Them

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Junk journaling has fast become a favorite hobby of mine and if you’re like me you want to dive in head first. Supplies are a fun place to start! I created a full list of the best junk journaling supplies and where to find them just for you!

I’d love to send you the download list full of my top 25 favorite supplies and where I get them! Here is the form to have the list instantly, with links for you to grab the items when you need them:

Let’s talk about the amazing supplies you can use to start junk journaling or delve deeper into the creative art. One of my FAVORITE things about junk journaling is there are no limits or rules. It’s the ultimate mixed media mash up and the sky is the limit! What does this have to do with junk journaling supplies? Everything. There is nothing off-limits! While some supplies will come in super handy and get used on repeat, part of the fun is figuring out how to use what you already have on hand. That may not sound helpful, but I am going to give you some great ideas to get you started!!!

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We are gonna talk about what you have on hand that you can use RIGHT NOW! And don’t worry, you can still have my craft supply list emailed to you so you have it handy. That list has all the store-bought items that I love to use like Gesso, my favorite letter stamps, the best glues to have on hand, and other favorite mediums to mix in. The items on that list are what I use over and over and the things I truly love, so be sure to grab it, but I thought it would be fun to think outside the box and help you look at what you already have on hand that holds potential!

Have you shopped your craft room lately? What about your kitchen? pantry? junk drawer?

Here are some great things to pull out and use in your next paper or journal project:

• Forgotten Treasures – Find the craft room stuff you collected but haven’t used yet – paints, transfer mediums, glitters, pencils, markers, crayons, whatever it may be. All of us crafters and artists have a stash of items we bought to use for this or that but never got around to. Maybe you don’t know how to use a certain item. Now is the time!!!
• Old Magazines – Don’t save them all, keep the ones with great fonts, a color palette that speaks to you, and some of the high-quality paper mags you may have on hand.
• Thrifted Books – From children’s books to dictionaries, Reader’s Digest and hymnals. Old books are a wealth of material. You may have them on hand or start grabbing them at garage sales and thrift stores. They are usually cheap, sometimes free, and oh-so-perfect for your junk journaling adventures.
• Scraps – Little fabric pieces, stands of lace, twine, yarn, ribbon, ripped-up clothing, and notions. Anything you can’t bear to part with but may be too small to use otherwise.
• Think Flat – As you move through your day, house, and travels keep anything that interests you that is flat! Postcards, newspaper clippings, interesting packaging, letters, cards, labels, receipts, tickets, notes, pictures, and the musings of your day can easily be worked into fabulous ephemera to tell your stories.
• Natural Dyes – You can naturally dye tons of materials to bring them into your color palette and incorporate them into your journaling books. Coffee, Tea, Vegetables, Flowers, and more can all be used to bring beauty to fabrics and papers. This is perfect to give an upgrade to old items, or to make new items look old!
• Take A Walk – Your own yard is a fabulous resource! Pick up interesting leaves, branches, seed pods, flower petals, and nature items you come across. I often find feathers on my walks! These items can be used to draw with for fun textures, traced for shapes, stamped for patterns, and glued down for their beauty.
• The Kid’s Closet – If you are like me the kids are getting older, or may even be out of the house. We all have spaces full of old games and toys that don’t get used anymore. Grab some of those goodies filled with memories! Puzzle pieces, card games, board game money, coloring book pages, stickers, stamps, and trading cards.
• Basic – There is a point when you get what you pay for on art supplies, but using what you have on hand is a great place to start and sometimes leads to great results! Use the basics like crayons, old school supplies, watercolors, and markers. Things don’t have to be high-end, complicated, or expensive to use. Don’t overcomplicate the supply list! Just use your kid’s school supplies or odds and ends you already have. Learn what you like before you upgrade.
• The Bathroom  – I’d be willing to bet the farm you’ve got some fingernail polish in a cabinet somewhere that you don’t use. What about old makeup? Paint with that polish, shade with some powder blush, smear around some lipstick, and then seal it with Mod Podge. The colors are already what you love, so they are perfect for your artwork!
• The Kitchen – Straws are great for blowing around paint in specific directions, aluminum foil can be a fun texture to use, wax paper is a fun element, parchment paper is great for all sorts of crafts and tracing, paper napkins can be used for decoupage, I used a paper towel as art in the journal! Toothpicks and be paintbrushes, Ice picks punch great holes, and a grater is perfect for making flakes of wax from candles and crayons. Sponges and vegetables make amazing stamps. Baking Soda can make paint textured.
• Junk Drawer – What kind of random tape, pens, and pencils do you have hanging out? Electrical tape, stamps, duct tape, masking tape, markers, pens, and notepads are staples in my junk drawers. 🤣 Close pens, clips, clamps, paper clips, and safety pins can all be used to help hold open your books while you work, gather pages, or as interesting ephemera.

Hopefully, these ideas are enough to get your creativity flowing and your eyes looking at the ordinary differently. Now go gather your very favorite goods and get to work! If you need help getting started you can check out my courses and creativity community here! We have an amazing group of women all at different points in their creative walks waiting to welcome you to the fold!