Starting and keeping up with a Stamp junk journal is easy, stress-relieving, and a low-maintenance hobby. The best thing about junk journaling is that you can take it any direction you want, whether you want to be neat, chaotic, or anything in between. It is a form of self-expression, and better yet, you don’t need to spend more money than you already are to repurpose some junk into a little journal. This stamp junk journal guide will help kick-start your journey into the wonderful world of junk journaling.
The Overall Idea
A stamp junk journal consists of taking a (preferably) paper memorabilia, punching a stamp shape, and gluing it to your journal. This is a great way to keep memories of where you’ve been and what you’ve consumed along the way in a cutesy journal.
The shape can be anything you’d like. I used the stamp paper puncher because it is uniform and easy to arrange in my journal. If you find a circle, oval, or other shapes that you prefer, the world is your oyster, and you can do whatever you want.
The overall idea is to repurpose something you would have received anyway. This means, if you’re traveling, don’t go out of your way to buy a postcard to punch into your journal. If the store gives you a postcard for free when you buy something else (without intending to junk journal it), that is fine. Or, you can do whatever you’d like! I like calling this my last-chance upcycling.
You can define the rules however you’d like. I’m okay with not adding new things to my stamp junk journal daily, or with not finding junk to add when I’m out. One thing I do like is being as aligned as possible when I stick the stamps to my journal. Sometimes, I get my estimated measurements wrong, and that’s okay!
Imperfections are your friend. This is why it is called a junk journal. It is okay to be a bit chaotic here.
You may recognize a couple of these from my everyday life, like Barry’s Bootcamp!
Starting a Stamp Junk Journal
The best thing about a stamp junk journal is that you only need a few items to start. If you want to add complexity with washi tapes, pop-outs, and other cool tricks, do what reduces your stress!
- Paper Puncher: I ended up picking the 0.8″ x 1″ stamp puncher. This was less than $10 on Amazon, and it is pretty durable against thicker paper.
- Journal: I would say pick your journal based on the size of your paper puncher. What are you envisioning? Two stamps per page? Then a tiny notebook is fine. You don’t want to commit to 200 pages? Find one with 50 pages or less. You want to repurpose an old notebook, journal, or even a magazine? That’s okay too! I have the 5″ x 5″ 80-sheet 100gsm journal. The pages are thicker, and it is easy to make this a 5×4 (5 per row, 4 columns) layout with spacing in between. You can always do the math or ask AI to calculate how much spacing you need if you want to keep your entries even. Whether you want a ring notebook or a bound journal is totally up to you, too.
- Scissors: You definitely need scissors to cut the starting point for the paper puncher.
- Glue/Tape: I ended up getting glue tape, which is an amazing mess-free alternative.
Once you have everything, my best advice is to paper-punch a “guide” so you know where to cut for perfect paper-punching placement. This helps me envision how the punched stamp would look.
I usually end up deconstructing a paper cup if it is cute enough.
Happy stamp junk journaling!