What is a junk journal?

A junk journal is a handmade book created from repurposed and collected materials such as old envelopes, packaging, tickets and ephemera. There are no rules about what goes in one or how it should look. The pages are layered with found materials and decorated with stickers, washi tape, drawings and handwriting to create something that is part scrapbook, part diary and part art object.

The word "junk" is the point. The whole practice is built around using materials most people would discard, which means the starting point is usually free and the results are entirely personal. Unlike a traditional journal there is no daily writing practice to maintain, no theme to follow and no expectation of neatness. The pages do not need to make sense to anyone else. The point is the making of it.

Where did junk journaling come from? 

Junk journaling grew out of the scrapbooking community in the 1980s, but where scrapbooking focuses on preserving memories with photographs and captions, junk journaling is looser, more expressive and draws from collage art and mixed media.

It gained momentum on YouTube in the mid-2010s through tutorials and journal flip-throughs, before moving firmly onto TikTok in the early 2020s. Rolling Stone reported in 2025 that it had become one of the most searched craft topics on Google, driven by appetite for analogue, screen-free creative activities. One Reddit user summarised it recently as "a scrapbook for people addicted to TikTok." That is not entirely wrong.

What should I put into a junk journal?

The short answer is whatever you want. But most junk journals contain some combination of the following.

Base materials form the structure. These are the pages, signatures and covers, often made from kraft paper, brown paper bags, watercolour paper, cardstock or old book pages. Many people use a pre-made notebook as their base and work into it, which is the simplest place to start.

Ephemera is the collective term for collected paper materials that get layered and glued in. This includes old postcards, tickets, tags, packaging, tissue paper, book pages, maps and anything with an interesting texture or print. Ephemera can be genuinely found and collected over time, or bought as pre-cut packs designed specifically for junk journaling.

Decorative supplies are used to embellish and finish each spread. Washi tape for junk journaling is one of the most widely used: it adds colour and pattern without permanently committing, and can be layered, torn and overlapped in ways that paint or drawn decoration cannot. Sticker sheets for junk journaling are another staple, used to add illustrated detail, labels and texture. Stamps, inks, pens and paints all play a role depending on the maker's style.

Found objects can also appear in junk journals. Dried flowers, fabric swatches, string and small flat trinkets all work well. Anything that sits between pages without destroying the spine is fair game.

Is junk journaling the same thing as scrapbooking?

There's definitely an overlap and many people who do one also do the other. The main differences are intention and structure. Scrapbooking is typically organised around memories and photographs, with a clear archival purpose. Junk journaling is more process-driven: the making is the point, not the preserving. Junk journals also tend to be more abstract and layered, with less emphasis on legible layouts and more on texture, colour and feeling.

Who is junk journaling for?

Anyone who likes making things by hand. It is particularly popular with people who find blank-page journaling too intimidating: the layered, collaged nature of junk journaling means there is always something to work with and no expectation of coherent writing. It also appeals to people with a magpie instinct for interesting paper, packaging and printed ephemera.

The community skews heavily toward women, is active across all ages, and has a strong presence on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Reddit. There are dedicated subreddits, active Discord servers and a thriving secondary market for handmade ephemera on Etsy.

What is the difference between a junk journal and a bullet journal? 

A bullet journal is a structured productivity system, typically kept in a dotted notebook, used for planning, tracking habits and organising tasks. A junk journal is almost the opposite: unstructured, decorative and process-led rather than outcome-led. The two occasionally overlap when people incorporate junk journal aesthetics into their bullet journal spreads, but as practices they serve entirely different purposes.

Ready to pick up junk journaling?

The good news for beginners is that you need less than you think. A base such as a notebook, a folded piece of cardstock, or a few sheets of kraft paper sewn together is enough to start. From there, the supplies you add are the ones that make the pages feel like yours.

Most people begin with three things: something to stick down (ephemera, paper scraps, old packaging), something to decorate with (washi tape, stickers, stamps), and something to write or draw with. That's it. The rest accumulates over time, which is kind of the point. 

If you're looking for a starting point, our junk journal supplies collection covers washi tape, sticker sheets, and ephemera packs suited to journaling and scrapbooking, all from our independent UK shop.