How Long Does It Take To Make A Junk Journal?

How Long Does It Take To Make A Junk Journal?

Making the basic structure of a junk journal can actually be made in as little as half an hour with four simple steps. 1) Decide on how many signatures you want. 2) How many pages you want in each signature. 3) Choose what types of paper you want to make your pages from. 4) Place all the papers for each signature on top of each other and fold them in half.

Now you have all your signatures prepared and ready to embellish, but it is this phase that takes the longest. I have made several junk journals from start to finish in just a few hours, but that was because I had planned the outline of them in advance and had gathered together all the things I planned to use to build my junk journals.

The Top Reasons Why You Might Want To Make A Junk Journal Fast!

• You want to make one for a birthday or anniversary gift, but you don’t know if you can get it finished in time.

• You simply might not want to spend several days or weeks making one junk journal!

• If you want to make a business by selling your junk journals, then it is vital to speed up your process of making them.

How To Make A Junk Journal Fast

I have outlined above how I made a junk journal in just a few hours, but that process can be speeded up even faster and I will explain how;

• If you want a theme for your junk journal, it’s a great place to start, but you don’t have to use a theme. This article might help you choose a theme if you do want one; The Ultimate List Of Junk Journal Theme Ideas: With Prompts
• Decide how many signatures you want in your junk journal, and how many pages in each signature.
• Once you have decided on the above two steps, this next step is what can really help speed up actually making your junk journal… Gather all the papers, ephemera, picture, stamps, fabrics, lace, washi tapes and anything else that you think you will need before you start putting it all together.
• Use printable pages and ephemera; This is a massive time saver, and if you use this method then you really will be able to make a junk journal in just a few hours. Feel free to check out my freebies library for lots of printable pages and ephemera.
• Use the cover from an old book to make a junk journal cover. You can use it as it is if it’s one you like and fits with your overall theme, of you can cover it with fabric, wallpaper or any paper that you prefer. If you think it’s wrong to cut up books, you might find this article interesting; Is It OK To Cut Up Books To Use In Junk Journals?
• Use blank cards for the pages; This is not only a great time saver, but it’s fun to do even when time is not a factor. I use them a lot as they are quite inexpensive and easy to use. I also use the envelope to make them bi-fold pages too.

Making Junk Journals To Sell – How Much Does It Cost?

If you work out the amount of hours it took to make your junk journal and divide those hours by the amount you are selling it for, you will get a general idea of your hourly rate.

But there are a lot of other factors to take into account;

• How much has it cost to the make the junk journal other than your time? Think of all the different components within the journal that you used.
• Did you buy any printables for it? the printing cost, which includes the ink, paper/card, and the cost when actually buying a printer
• The fees to pay on the platform you are selling your junk journal on, such as Etsy, Ebay, Amazon and even your own website.
• If you will be posting your junk journal, you will not only have the postage fees, but also take into account the packaging too.
• Will you be buying or making your own brand stickers or stamp?
• If you plan to sell them at craft fairs, there will not only be the cost of the pitch, but also travelling costs, you may need to buy your own stall to take with you and even your own lights to highlight your junk journals.

As you can see, there are quite a lot of things to consider if you want to make money selling your junk journals, but I’m not trying to put you off doing that, in fact the opposite is true, I just want you to make sure you cover all those hidden costs when deciding how much you should charge for a handmade junk journal.

How To Speed Up Making Junk Journals To Sell

I have mentioned above, how to make a junk journal fast, but if you want to make them purely to sell and make money, then there are even more ways you can speed up the process.

Firstly, I do have to mention, that I am certainly not suggesting that you cut corners or make an inferior product. Always make something that you are proud to put your name or brand on.

Batch Making Ephemera; If you’re going to be making a few junk journals, batch making your ephemera is a massive time saver!

This is something that I enjoy doing, just because I love making ephemera.

It’s far more productive to make a whole bunch of tags, pockets, belly bands or any other junk journal ephemera in one go.

For example, spend an hour or two making just tags, and then another hour making just pockets, and so on.

It speeds up the process a lot because you’re not spending time looking for all the tools, card stock or embellishments every time you want to make a single tag. It also really helps you get in the flow of creating.

Batch Making Blank Junk Journal Pages; In the same way as making ephemera, it’s much quicker and easier to make a big batch of pages… then they are ready to fill in with however you decide to embellish them.

Snippet Roll; making a snippet roll can be be great fun to make, but a little time consuming. Although I have added it to this section because it is a ready supply of, well… snippets!

The beauty of a snippet roll is that you can keep adding to it to make it longer… So whenever you get time, or some scraps, just add another section to the end of the roll.

Then when you’re trying to push through and make a lot of journals, you can just snip a section off and add it to your journal.