Peacock Journal

I was given a challenge when the lovely Andrea sent me some happy mail. She included two coasters for me to use creatively.

At first I had no idea what to do with them because they weren’t my colours or style. But then I turned them over and was inspired by the blank surface and stuck a pretty napkin to them.

The peacock one then inspired me to make a peacock journal.

Loved upcycling and creating something beautiful and giving new life to an ordinary object.

I included all of the peacock items I was hoarding, and I love the peacock feather in the back.

A lady bought this one straight away and will be using this as a gratitude journal.

I’m inspired to make a butterfly journal with the other coaster. Thank you Cathy for the beautiful napkin.

Here’s a flip through of the peacock journal:

Etsy launch for Willowbound Journals

I’m so excited to officially launch Willowbound Journals on Etsy.

I’ve been overwhelmed that my journals have been selling. Just this past week, ten journals sold.

I’ve been happy with my trial on Etsy, and now is the time to make the move to Etsy.

To celebrate and thank all the ladies who have supported and encouraged me, I’m having an Etsy sale with $5-15 off journals and other items.

I’m also having a week of giveaways. All info is in this video, along with a bit of my journey to Etsy:

Pride and Prejudice Journal

I got this amazing illustrated version of Pride an Prejudice in an op-shop and fell in love with the cover.

Then I was inspired by the beautiful dresses in one of the images and it gave me the theme and colours for this journal with all the lace and ruffles on the side.

I was going to leave the inside of the covers with the plain blue that was already there, but the title pages were so beautiful and I put them on the covers.

I love how they look:

I included some pages and images from the book throughout and really hope I did justice to Pride and Prejudice and honoured the story.

Here’s the image that inspired the book:

It’s available in my shop Willowbound Journals and my Etsy.

Here’s a flip through:

Daphne’s Diary Journals

I had so much fun making these journals out of my favourite magazine Daphne’s Diary.

They were inspired by traveller’s notebook inserts and I didn’t embellish them because I wanted the magazine to be the star of the show. The pages are so beautiful and I didn’t want anything to overshadow them.

You can’t sell anything that has Daphne’s Diary as part of it, so I was saving these as thank-you gifts. If anyone has their heart set on one and you’re willing to pay postage, if you donate to my Traveller’s Notebook Fund, I can send you one as a thank you gift. Just let me know which journal you’d like, and it’s first in best dressed.

Donations can be made via Paypal, or you can pay via direct deposit if you’re in Australia. Email me at willowboundjournals@gmail.com if you want to chat.

Postage is $10 Australia-wide which includes tracking. To most places overseas, it should be $17.50 overseas without tracking or $25 with tracking.

Here are the journals, noting that they aren’t made for traveller’s notebooks as inserts, just inspired by them. So, sizing is a very loose approximation as the journals are made to standalone. They may fit a traveller’s notebook, but that would just be by chance.

Number 1 (Reserved):

Approximate size: Passport

Number 2:

Approximate size: Pocket

Number 3:

Approximate size: Personal/Field notes

Number 4 (Reserved):

Approximate size: Personal/Field notes

Number 5 (Reserved):

Approximate size: Personal/Field notes

Number 6:

Approximate size: Standard

Number 7:

Approximate size: Standard

Number 8 (reserved):

Approximate size: Standard

Here’s a flip through of all of them:

Making a junk journal from start to finish

I made this journal using one of my junk journal kits and I filmed the entire process. It took me three days and ten videos – phew!

My heart behind doing this was to show people what making a junk journal looks like. I especially hoped this was helpful for beginners.

I go through the stages of preparing pages, making a signature, making a cover, handbinding the pages into the cover, and embellishing the journal.

Here are some of the pages I used:

Here is the signature:

And here is the journal all handbound with the pages attached to the cover:

Amazingly, one of my YouTube watchers emailed me and asked if I was selling the journal. And before I even published the final flip through video, she bought it – wow!

I won’t share all of the videos in this post, but since some people have asked about how to sew pages into the cover, here is the handbinding video:

If you’d like to see the whole process or any of my other creations, you can visit my channel Willowbound Journals.

And just to give bit of an update, I haven’t posted as much lately because my YouTube channel and Etsy is taking most of my time. I never expected this as I never even thought I’d have a channel or an Etsy shop, but now that it’s taking off, more of my time has been going into it.

I’ll try to keep posting here, though, and sharing my creations.

Thank you so much to those who follow my blog and have joined me on this junk journal journey. I so appreciate you and want to keep you in the loop.

Memory Journal

I had so much fun making this journal with one of my junk journal kits that I tailored for me.

I had all the same items but I chose pages and ephemera that spoke to me. So, there’s a lot of blue and pictures and words that mean something to me.

It was a challenge to only use items from the kit but it got me trying new things and I love how it turned out.

I’m going to use the pages and ephemera as prompts to write down memories. So excited!

I used one of my background printables for the cover:

Here’s a look at some of the pages that so inspired me:

Junk journal kits

I had so much fun making six of these kits with the beginner junk journaler in mind.

People have been asking me where I get my supplies, what I use, and how to make a junk journal, so I thought this might be helpful.

It includes all of my favourite go-to supplies, the supplies I love and always use. Some of them are quite special to me because they tell a bit of my story and have a piece of my heart.

Originally I was going to make a sampler kit but then I decided to put together a kit where you could make your own junk journal.

My heart was for the beginner junk journaler who hasn’t got many supplies (or any) to have a kit that they could use without going out and buying twenty books, coffee-dyeing their own paper, and buying things in bulk.

It can take a while to build up a stash and it can be expensive to get things in bulk, so I gave more than enough items to make an embellished paper bag journal.

I’ve also taken up the challenge to make my own journal from this kit, so I made another two kits for me to play around with. I’ll share tutorials and process videos of how to use these kits to make your own journal.

Of course, anyone can use the kit if you just like the supplies. And you can use them to make other journals or in other craft projects too.

Five kits are for sale in my Etsy for $15: Willowbound Journals

Or check out my shop for other payment options: Willowbound Journals Shop

I’m also doing a giveaway for one of the kits, so if you’re interested, you just have to be a subscriber to my YouTube channel and comment on the video why you’d like the kit.

Here’s the video:

Two more botanical journals

I was so inspired by the first botanical journal I made, that I made two smaller versions.

These two journals are pretty much the same; just slightly different pictures, but pretty much the same layout.

Here’s a bit of a look at both of them.

Here’s the first one:

Here’s the second one:

Amazingly, the original big version sold and I sent it out today, plus a lovely lady is buying the first journal in this post. Only one left – eek!

It’s available for sale through my shop if you’re interested: Willowbound Journals

Bird, butterfly & botanical journal

So excited to share this journal that it’s a bit different to what I’ve done so far.

I used lots of lace and love how the cover looks. I think I’m getting ready for my sewing machine with all the lace. Hopefully I’ll be able to sew it all instead of glue it.

Love the charms, the trims, and the embellishments too. It’s my chunkiest one by far and one of my favourites.

These are actual dried petals and leaves I did. So cool that I could include them in the journal:

I especially love how it looks from the side:

Here’s a flip through:

It’s available in my shop or Etsy: Willowbound Journals

‘A very wonderful place’ journal

Finally got round to sharing this journal that I made.

It’s blue themed and in the vintage style with lots of embellishments. Love how it turned out.

The stickers on the collage on the front are all chosen to reflect what a journal means to me. It’s a very wonderful place.

Here’s a flip through if you’d like to see all the pages:

It’s available in my shop or Etsy: Willowbound Journals