Discover the Art of Visual Storytelling: Crafting a Family Pets Junk Journal
Greetings, fellow creators and vintage enthusiasts! We are thrilled to introduce a truly heartwarming and inspiring project this week: a magnificent Family Pets Ephemera Junk Journal, meticulously crafted by Julie Rohrer of August Birdsong. As one of our exceptionally talented new Junk Journal Design Team Members, Julie has poured her passion and unique artistic vision into this creation, offering a captivating journey through cherished memories and creative techniques.
Every week, we proudly showcase a fresh Junk Journal project from one of our imaginative artists. Our Design Team Members delve into the treasure trove of hundreds of Vintage Image Bundles available on our Premium Membership Site. Their mission is to demonstrate innovative and beautiful ways to integrate these timeless graphics into your own artistic endeavors. Prepare to be utterly captivated and deeply inspired by this ongoing series!
Before we dive into the intricate details and visual feast, we highly recommend you watch the comprehensive video tour located at the very bottom of this page. Scroll down to experience the journal firsthand and gather even more inspiration. Are you ready to embark on this creative adventure? Let’s step aside and allow Julie to share her personal story and introduce her exquisite project.
Meet the Artist: Julie Rohrer of August Birdsong
Hello everyone! I’m Julie Rohrer, known in the creative community as August Birdsong on Instagram and YouTube. It brings me immense joy to present my inaugural design team project for The Graphics Fairy. For this special piece, I chose to create a visual journal dedicated to pets, a theme deeply rooted in my life-long love and companionship with many wonderful animals.
My Artistic Journey: From English Teacher to Visual Storyteller
My background isn’t in formal art training; rather, I spent years as a middle school English teacher. My introduction to art journaling happened about seven years ago, but it was only about three years ago that I truly began to explore and create visual journals. For me, art journals serve as a vibrant playground where I experiment with various mediums like paints, inks, and stenciling, pushing the boundaries of artistic expression. Visual journals, on the other hand, tend to be theme-based mini-canvas collections, meticulously crafted to tell a cohesive visual narrative.
The theme of pets resonated profoundly with me for this project. Throughout my life, my home has been a haven for animals, mostly stray cats and rescued dogs, but also rehomed companions like a cockatiel, a rabbit, and even a bearded dragon. Each one has left an indelible paw print on my heart, making this journal a tribute to their unconditional love and unique personalities.
My journaling philosophy prioritizes visual elements and evocative imagery over extensive written passages. You’ll notice that I approach each page as a miniature canvas, carefully composing elements to capture the essence of my subject matter. To balance the visual storytelling, I’ve integrated journaling cards into most pages. These are often tucked into discreet pockets, usually on the reverse side of vintage photographs, providing space for personal reflections or detailed anecdotes without disrupting the visual flow.
A remarkable aspect of this journal is that virtually every element you see – from the foundational images to the intricate embellishments – was sourced from The Graphics Fairy Premium Membership website. It’s a comprehensive resource, offering everything you could possibly need to create your own unique journal or any other imaginative craft project.
Now, let’s explore more of these delightful pages, and then we’ll delve into the step-by-step instructions on how to construct your very own visual journal like this.
A Page-by-Page Journey Through Pet Memories
These two captivating pages beautifully celebrate the timeless bond between children and dogs. The vintage photograph on the left, acquired years ago from a thrift store, depicts a boy named Louis with his loyal dog in the early 1900s. Its charm instantly reminded me of my own husband as a child, accompanied by his beloved collie, making it a deeply personal inclusion.
Continuing the theme of companionship, these adjacent pages once again evoke the pure joy found in the presence of “man’s best friend.” On the right, a charming springer spaniel picture is a heartfelt homage to my own cherished dog, Napoleon. The vintage photograph on the right portrays my great-grandfather, Emil Kuester, alongside his dog in the 1880s, offering a glimpse into family history and enduring canine devotion.
I was particularly delighted by the serendipitous resemblance between the dog in the vintage photo on the right and the graphic image I incorporated into the ephemera. Both elements, sourced from The Graphics Fairy, blended seamlessly to create a cohesive and visually striking composition.
This heartwarming copy of a vintage photograph features my grandmother, Lillian Scholl, with her dog around 1910. Notice how I cleverly integrated journaling postcards on the backs of these photos, providing an intimate space for personal narratives or descriptions that enrich the visual experience. These pages also demonstrate the creation of practical pockets with tuck spots, ideal for holding small journals or additional mementos.
Having shared my life with several cats and parakeets, the image of “kitties at school” sparked a humorous thought about cats’ perpetual strategizing to get close to birds, mirroring the birds depicted above the vintage photo. As a playful nod to this dynamic, I added delicate feathers floating downwards. The adjacent bunny page is lovingly dedicated to my rabbit, Bun-Bun, a dear companion I adopted many years ago, symbolizing the gentle joy these creatures bring to our lives.
The turtle-themed page serves as a heartfelt tribute to my older brother’s desert tortoise, Peggy, an incredibly long-lived companion who has been a part of my life for over 80 years. This page also subtly references two separate instances where I’ve had the opportunity to rescue turtles crossing the street – a story you can explore further on my Instagram page. These varied animal encounters underscore the rich tapestry of experiences that inspired this pet-themed journal.
Now, let’s move beyond the visual tour and delve into the fascinating construction details. All the “how-to” guidance for creating a visual journal like this will follow right after the video walkthrough!
FAMILY PETS JUNK JOURNAL SHOW & TELL VIDEO TOUR
Join us for a captivating tour of the entire journal:
Construction Details: How to Create Your Own Visual Journal
Selecting Your Foundation: The Vintage Binder
For this style of journal, I particularly enjoy repurposing old vintage binders. My preferred sources are Better Homes and Gardens Cook Books and Garden Books, which can often be found at thrift stores and online used bookstores for under $5.00. The charm of these old binders adds an instant layer of character and history to any project. I carefully remove the original pages, saving them for future collage work or other paper crafts. The sturdy vintage dividers, typically ten in number for a journal of this size, then become the foundational pages for my visual storytelling.
Crafting Engaging Background Pages
Once the initial collage and background layers are securely glued and dry, I add a decorative and functional touch by stitching around the edges of each page. This step not only enhances the journal’s durability but also introduces a lovely textural detail. With the backgrounds complete, the exciting process of decorating each page begins, incorporating captivating images, as well as creating ingenious pockets to hold vintage photographs and personalized journaling cards.
Thoughtful Embellishments and Layering Techniques
When printing embellishments for decoration and pocket creation, I opt for sturdier cardstock to ensure they hold up beautifully. Some decorative elements are directly sourced from the Printables section of The Graphics Fairy website, offering instant vintage charm. Other images, such as animals, flowers, and various ephemera, are carefully selected from different bundles, then copied and pasted into a Google document. This allows me to easily resize them to perfection, creating my own custom embellishments for fussy cutting and layering. When navigating the extensive Bundles, I utilize filters to efficiently pinpoint themes like “animals,” “pets,” “flowers,” and “vintage photos,” helping me to focus precisely on my pet-themed project.
After meticulously cutting out each image, I use distress ink in a soft brown hue along the cut edges. This subtle technique helps to soften the starkness of the cuts, enabling the images to blend more harmoniously into the vintage aesthetic of the journal pages. Observe how seamlessly the various images integrate within the layered compositions. Some pieces of ephemera, like the apple and nuts, are strategically raised using adhesive squares. This simple yet effective trick adds depth and dimension, making the elements appear to pop off the page. To further enrich the texture, small pieces of cheesecloth are tucked around these adhesive squares, and remnants of sari silk are also incorporated, introducing vibrant color and tactile interest to the pages.
Consider the charming detail of the little dog peeking out from behind the image of the boy with puppies on the right-hand page. I elevated the boy using adhesive squares, deliberately creating a small tuck spot behind him where the dog card can be playfully inserted. Similarly, the sleeping boy on the left is actually a cleverly constructed pocket, fashioned from an ephemera image found on the website. Adding hinges behind ephemera to transform them into functional pockets or tuck spots is a surprisingly easy technique that adds interactive elements to your journal.
Step-by-Step: Creating a Pocket or Tuck Spot
To begin creating a pocket, I first score a piece of cardstock that will be mounted underneath your chosen ephemera. If you’re crafting a corner tuck spot, I typically score two or three sides at a half-inch mark. This scoring creates neat flaps that can be easily folded and tucked under when you glue the pocket onto your page, ensuring a clean finish. For a traditional horizontal pocket, you would score three sides of the paper. Next, carefully cut these scored areas at a slight angle. This small but crucial step prevents the scored tabs from poking out at the edges once the pocket is assembled, maintaining a polished look.
With your scored and cut cardstock ready, you can now affix your chosen ephemera to the front of this base, forming the pocket. Use a strong adhesive to ensure it is securely in place. The beauty of creating these hinged pockets by scoring the sides is that they offer greater depth, allowing them to hold multiple journaling cards, photographs, or even a small, folded journal, adding layers of discoverable content to your pages.
Altering Ephemera for Enhanced Dimension and Storytelling
Notice the birds positioned behind the journaling card on the left and the log nestled by the bunny on the right. In both instances, I creatively altered these images to inject more dimension and narrative depth into the pages.
For the birds, I carefully cut them out and glued them onto the page. Then, I detached the leaves from a separate rose image and strategically glued them beneath the birds, creating the illusion that they were perched on a leafy branch. A few subtle dark pencil lines further defined the branch, completing this naturalistic scene.
In the case of the tree stump, I vertically cut it in half to transform it into individual logs. I then placed adhesive squares beneath the log adjacent to the rabbit, making it appear as though the bunny was slightly tucked behind it. This technique masterfully creates depth and even a subtle sense of movement on the page, drawing the viewer’s eye into the scene.
With the turtle page, my aim was to evoke the serene feeling of turtles basking by a pond. To achieve this, I angled the logs and strategically placed leaves on adhesive squares, cleverly disguising the “floating” logs. Remember, the goal is to create an illusion for the viewer, triggering a memory or connection, rather than adhering to strict logical placement. It’s about crafting an evocative experience.
My final alteration technique involves using an X-Acto knife or sharp scissors to cut a thin slit, allowing ephemera to be inserted. If you observe the suitcase on the left, you’ll notice a carefully cut slit, making it appear as though the animals are playfully popping out. I first prepped the suitcase, glued the two dogs and cat inside, and then layered other images behind it, mounting them before securing the suitcase to the page with adhesive squares. As an added whimsical touch, I even cut the little hat off the kitten and glued it onto the bigger cat’s head, infusing the page with extra charm.
Decorating the Vintage Binder: Creating an Inviting Exterior
When preparing to cover the old binder, my initial step was to glue down a layer of soft flannel. This provides a subtle padding, adding a luxurious feel, though it’s an optional step in the overall process. Next, I meticulously covered both the inside and outside of the binder with a beautiful brocade fabric I had on hand, lending it an air of vintage elegance. Delicate lace was then strategically added to further enhance its ornate appeal.
The Inner Sanctum: Inside the Cover
Within the inner covers, I carefully glued in two functional pockets. The back cover is adorned with thoughtfully decorated envelopes, filled with cherished photographs of many of my beloved pets, creating a personal archive. Note that I also added a strip of lace along the bottom edge of the binder, not only to disguise the raw edge but also to add a touch of refinement, complemented by a rust-colored trim for a cohesive aesthetic.
The Outer Canvas: The Front and Back Cover
For both the front and back covers, I incorporated additional lace and trim, alongside a lovely green ribbon chosen for tying the binder closed, adding both beauty and practicality. The image gracing the back cover was ingeniously created using a bookmark element sourced from The Graphics Fairy site. The front cover, serving as the journal’s focal point, was built upon a sturdy die-cut base, embellished with artfully layered papers and various textiles, creating a rich, multi-dimensional composition.
Crafting the Cover’s Central Focal Point
To create the captivating focal point on the cover, I utilized the kraft-colored sides of two die-cut cereal boxes. I measured and taped them together to perfectly frame the chosen vintage photo, after which I distressed them with ink to give them an aged, harmonious look. The final touch involved layering the image with remnants of sari silk, adding texture and visual interest, before securely gluing this stunning focal piece to the binder. The result is a truly unique and inviting cover that hints at the treasures within.
And there you have it! Remember that any of the creative techniques I’ve shared with you can be seamlessly adapted for a myriad of other craft projects, from making unique cards and soft-covered journals to intricate canvases. Perhaps it’s my background as a former teacher that makes the vintage binder such a beloved foundation for my creations. But regardless of the project you choose to embark upon, the most important thing is to have fun playing with the incredible papers and versatile embellishments you can effortlessly discover at The Graphics Fairy.
Essential Elements from The Graphics Fairy Kits:
This project utilized a rich selection of resources, including elements from the following Graphics Fairy Premium Membership kits:
- Antique Sheet Music 1 & 2
- Beautiful Birds
- Birds and Nests
- Blissful Blossoms
- Botanical Fruit
- Cabinet of Curiosities
- Cardinals and Canaries
- Delicate Endpapers
- Dog and Cat Antique Scraps
- Fall Colors Ephemera
- Forget Me Not
- Holiday Fruit and Flowers
- Instant Ancestors
- Le Champignons
- Le Chien
- Marsh Song
- Masculine Elements
- Peacock Hues
- Rich Marbled Endpapers
- Romantic Roses
- Snow Birds
- Spring Meadow Endpapers
- Take Flight
- Victorian Scrap Roses
- Winter Birds
- 1700’s Sheet Music
Be sure to connect with Julie for more creative inspiration!
Julie’s Instagram
Julie’s YouTube Channel
Happy crafting, and may your creative journey be filled with joy!
Julie
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