10+ free materials for junk journaling & a tour of my journal

I’ve been quietly trying to figure out my groove with junk journaling since 2023 and I’ve finally hit a groove that works for me so I thought I’d share what that looks like! As AI infiltrates every aspect of online life in 20262, I find the pull to make physical evidence of my own memories even stronger. If you’re curious about the idea or have never seen a version of journaling that felt right to try, maybe this will do the trick! (As an aside, I much prefer the term ‘everyday artifact journal’ that I saw on instagram from @motherspeak, but will keep saying junk journaling because I think that’s what someone would search to find this post).

This is my third year attempting to do some type of regular, junk/memento gathering type of journaling! The term ‘junk journal’ has gotten really popular over the past few years and for a long time I pictured them only like this. Which is beautiful! But not to my taste. Sometime in late 2023, I got sent down a modern junk journaling rabbit hole on social media and was hooked. I ordered the Hobonichi weeks for 2024 (same for the 2025 journal, 2026 is Typo brand), some tabs, some washi tape, and created a master plan.

This is how I set up my weekly pages – some decoration, some notes about the days, some attractive documentation on the right.

If you like this post, check these out while you’re here!

In addition to the monthly/weekly calendar parts, I made tabs for documenting projects I’d made, books I’d read, things I found that were funny, things I thought were beautiful, TV/movies I’d watched, and nice things people said to me. It was organized and for maybe 4 weeks I kept up with updating it all and making it pretty. Quickly, it felt overwhelming! If I didn’t have time to log *everything* from that week, I didn’t do anything at all. Quickly it devolved to just scribbled notes in the weekly spot, no stickers or tape even. We then were hit by Hurricane Helene in September 2024, which absolutely rocked our lives, displaced us from our home for weeks, and generally caused chaos.

Despite all that, I optimistically (read: stupidly) bought another Hobonichi… and maybe wrote 4 whole sentences in it for the year. I totally gave up. While perhaps I needed to spend time journaling in the aftermath, it didn’t happen.

Fast forward to the end of 2025, we were lucky enough to be exploring New Zealand and came across multiple stationery stores. The idea of buying a third journal and trying once more felt a little absurd, but turns out that third time was the charm! I started with literally just this – a stamp a day that might have something to do with the days’ activities or it might not. Super easy, super quick, very accessible. After a month of doing this, it felt like a true new habit. I’d experimented with the idea of bringing a postage stamp punch as a travel journal on the trip, and they ended up being the perfect size to fit in the monthly calendar. At the end of this post I have a list of different things I’ve punched for my postage stamps on this calendar!

I didn’t take a picture of the early months as I built up to daily notes & weekly scrapkeeping, but you can picture one or two random things glued to the right. As the habit solidified, I found more space and actually enjoyed adding more bits and pieces and bringing some tape and stickers back into the mix. The photo above is the first week I started trying to lay it out in an attractive way.

Here’s an example of a travel week! While I love the idea of an exclusive travel journal each trip, so far all I’ve done is collect the ‘junk’ and never actually write the journal. This trip, I decided to just integrate it into my journal – record keeping what we did each day and adding some bits and bobs. Another recurring theme has been just saving things I find joy in but don’t have a good spot to keep – like my daughter’s discarded blockprints or sketches (the crow)!

Here’s another mix of things we did that week along with things I saw and really wanted to remember, with a beautiful mural. I printed out a little excerpt from an email that brought me joy (my dad emailing to share a turtle in their yard – aren’t I lucky?). All the things I had separated out (books, projects, things that made me laugh) can be lumped together as I find them or find time to document them, instead of feeling the pressure to put each one in the right spot and make it all pretty in 8 different tabs.

This week has a receipt, some cut out packaging, stickers, fruit stickers, and a business card.

Another view with a mix of my daughter’ art, paper ephemera from our week, and some random art I didn’t want to get rid of but didn’t want to put on display. This is the perfect home – I can see it once in a while!

I try to be thoughtful about paper I’m picking up to take home; I want the bulk of my memory keeping to be my actual memories and storing little gems from life.

Another example of how my junk journal has functioned as a beautiful dumping ground – I had so much fun making this acrostic poem with my kids a while ago but it’s not like I’m going to stick it on the fridge. Here it lives, where I can unfold it and smile once in a while. This was of journaling has worked really well for me, I actually enjoy it, and I hope it inspires you to be a little simpler even if you don’t want to sketch, draw, and make elaborate spread with gorgeous backgrounds and doodles! Maybe some day I will get there, but for now this really works for me.

Don’t forget that creative reuse centers are PERFECT for this type of journaling! Use my creative reuse center map & list to see if there’s one near you and get cool maps, stickers, etc.

Supplies I’ve used:

Postage stamp paper punch
Tombow dual-sided markers [Amazon – Blick art]
Zebra midliner markerts [Amazon – Blick art]
HP Sprocket printer [Amazon – Target]
Glue stick & glue roller
Scissors
Washi tape- here are a few indie designed rolls I’ve bought! Beetles – art supplies – rainbow quilt block
Stickers! Several of these are from different artists’ snail mail clubs as well as store bought.

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10+ free materials for junk journaling

Leave a comment if I missed something you think would work well or you’ve used!

Coupons & catalogs

Here is an advertisement packet for other board games and a coupon/flyer that came with an Etsy order, both had really pretty graphics that were perfect for the stamp punch.

Calendars & newspapers/magazines

I don't think I'll ever get up a paper calendar (actually two, a monthly on the wall and a daily rip-off) and the paper is perfect for cutting up. Also, newspapers or store flyers! They aren't as common as they used to be but here is a stained glass newspaper that was at the stained glass store. Magazines are an obvious one, not pictured but used often, check your local library for a magazine swap bin or ask if they have any back issues to clear out!

Score cards

If you play board or card games that have paper pads to keep score, draw, or write on - keep them! Lots of fun graphics to cut out. These are from two of my favorite games in the 'roll & write' cateogry - Welcome To Your Perfect Home and Dungeons, Dice, & Danger.

Programs

These aren't as common as they used to be, but if you get a pamphlet at an exhibit, a play, etc. - perfect for memory keeping & cutting up!

Packaging

Anytime you buy something, look at the paper that comes with it and inside! Here is an ad for some of the miniverse art masterpiece paintings and then the tissue paper that our bamboo toilet paper comes wrapped in, they're such fun bright colors.

Bags

I try to use reusable shopping bags but sometimes things require a smaller bag (or I forget mine). Here is a cute brown paper bag from Marquee in Asheville that protected my new rings and a piece of a bag that held our takeout.

Mail

Especially JUNK mail. The backs of security envelopes have interesting patterns!

Fruit stickers

Sometimes I put them on my week-long recaps, but here I stuck it on to clean paper and clipped around.

Maps

Maps are so easy to find secondhand or cheap if you don't go anywhere with a paper one, and they have such great graphics.

Stickers

Get creative - these don't have to be pretty stickers you buy from the store. Peel stickers off your meals, after voting, even peel labels off food that you've enjoyed.

Flyers & ads

Turn the random stuff slipped into your life into art! This is a brochure about an exhibit at the library and a flyer we got in our hotel while traveling. Business cards are another easy one to punch out.