The Inspired Home "Junk" Journal ~ Romantic Homemaking Series

 “I feel as if I had opened a book and found roses of yesterday sweet and fragrant, between its leaves.” 

~ L.M. Montgomery, Anne of the Island

I think that constant inspiration is needed in order to fulfill our desire for a romantic home life, the goals of making our home a lifestyle of beauty. To begin this Romantic Homemaking Series, I'd like to start with just that -- inspiration. Here is a little project that can be hand-tailored to your specific circumstances. We are all in different stages in our lives. Some with many little children, some right there in the middle and some in the "golden" years of life. These little "junk" journals (as they are called) are meant to take a few minutes in your week (or even longer if you choose) to create beautiful homemaking encouragement in one scrapbook-style volume. 

To begin, you will want to have a nice, old book that you don't mind altering. I chose something with a red hardcover to give it a romantic and timeless appeal. Removing dust-jackets from old books you are no longer interested in may also reveal a red cover if you desire one. I found my book at a thrift store but you can use anything, even a composition book or 3-ring notebook. Please choose something according to your taste or practicality.

Next, you will want to decorate the cover and spine. Here is the first PRINTABLE in the series with clip art to cut and paste images to make it easy for you. You can also glue in swatches of fabric, lace, scrapbook paper or pretty magazine pictures. The idea is to make this book lovely and inspiring to look at. When you feel like you are losing your spark, this book is designed to bring it back!

As the series go, I will have printables to paste into the journal. It may be inspiring quotes, recipes, lists, etc. Basically it will be anything that will encourage you to love and do in the homemaking world. And as you live your life, you can add whatever else you come across that will inspire you in your homemaking journey! Obviously you don't have to use the printable, you can always decorate with your own supplies and hand-write in your own entries. These are just to make it easier as the printable will contain information derived from the series.

The first printable in the series includes:

-- cover page clip art

-- clip art to decorate spine of book

-- clip art to decorate inside cover of book and/or pages in book

-- inspired homemaking quote (shown above) (shared from first post in series)

-- favorite homemaking book list (concept shared from second post in series)

-- favorite homemaking book wish list (concept shared from second post in series)

You don't have to include what doesn't interest you (for instance I did the book "wish list" but I didn't do the "favorite" homemaking book list since I already typed it here).

Also, in order to make this book functional, you will want to remove every other page in the book (simply remove a page every time you work on it). This way, the book doesn't get too thick with all your homemaking entries. I am saving my old pages for making "pockets" to hold some labels that will be coming up, to embellish gift tags, to make into shapes useful for decorations and for wrapping small parcels.

I have prepared the first part of the book very simply and timed it. It took 10 minutes of my time (and I prepared the cover, spine, inside of book, the homemaking book wish list, cut and pasted in some clip art and embellished with one piece of lace). I definitely could have done more (I haven't even brought out my  pretty scraps -- but oh dear -- when I have time!)! I just want to give you an idea of the basic version and the time it would take.

Perhaps you'd like to make one and pass it down to your daughter one day. Or a grandmother can prepare one to give to a granddaughter in the future. Maybe this is something you can work on with your daughters at tea time together. Whatever the case, I've tried to make it as easy as possible so that it can actually be done. I do hope you enjoy making your own "Inspired Homemaking" journal!

P.S. I am a bit behind on the scheduling of these posts so you may be land-blasted with a few posts in a row for a few days (so sorry!)... The reason for this is that I am going to post this series up to spring...

Happily homemaking,

♡ JES

Romantic Homemaking Series:

Romantic Homemaking Series Introduction

My List of My Beloved and Beautiful Homemaking Books