The Anatomy of a Junk Journal - How many pages do I need? 

Can you please continue with this beginner series. This has been quite helpful to me. Thanks Nik

That was helpful. I think the "not knowing this" is what was keeping me from starting. Haha, your video was made in Winter and you said you were "so through with Winter". I'm watching this in early September and it has been so hot for so long here in Minnesota, and I am "so through with the HEAT." Thanks for the video.

Oh Nik! You crack me up!! Love your tutorials. Enjoy your holiday TC ❤️🥰🇨🇦❤️

Thank you so much for making this video! The first altered book I made was to thick after I added everything I wanted inside it and I was heart broken. I stopped making the books after because I didn't know where I went wrong. This was many years ago. Now that I have access to You-Tube I'm trying to learn how to make another Empherma Journal Book. You explain things so thoroughly and I love that. Please keep the videos coming because I'm hanging on to every word!!! 💖💖💖🦋🌸🌷

I learned how to make junk journals from watching Nik the Booksmith and Johanna Clough. I truly appreciate all the little lessons which I can rewatch easily here on RU-vid if I am confused. I used to be so very frustrated with my journals because I love to add so many tuck ins and add ins. Often the journals I purchased would look odd and I would use perhaps 1/4th of the book since it just became hard to handle from being so fluffy. Now that I can slim down my pages per signature leaving lots of room I am so very happy. The first time I made a journal and finished filling it from front to back I couldn't be happier. Since I build the whole book I can design my color scheme of what I want. I can use whatever feels right. I make many of my journals from items that draw my interest. Thank you so very much Nik. I do have one question. In making my journals, usually from cardboard such as you show above, I keep having the spine tear. I cover my spine with tyvek to strengthen it and then with scrapbook paper. I let it dry and then cracks down the spine. I have gotten creative with covering this minor disaster with ribbon but is there a way to avoid it that I may be missing?

This is the best detailed junk journal tutorial I have heard. You answered several questions I have had ..... so thank you for doing such an outstanding job.

Nik, thank you! The weather is crazy! Have fun during your week off. Charms and paper ...I can’t wait to see the bundles. Teaser on the new book! I am making journals for about 2 years now and consider myself a newbie! I watch everything I can on the subject along with all the other items that go into making a jj. Yes, unfortunately we only have 2 seasons.now. Great talking with you! 😍

I agree on the weather. Have a great trip!!

Thanks so much for this. I’ve been watching you since the beginning, so it’s nice to hear so many great tips and suggestions for those of us who haven’t actually launched into major bookmaking yet. I bought several old hardcover books yesterday at an antique/thrift shop and have been gathering all sorts of goodies and paper for months. Just have to get started! Thank you for passing on your knowledge. Much appreciated!

Hi Nik! You are so right about the weather. Here in southwest Michigan it has been so cold and wet. I haven't even started my garden yet. Have a wonderful trip and be safe.

Thx for the tutorial. And the specimen journal cover is absolutely gorgeous! I can’t wait to see the rest!

Nik, thank you so much for doing this video, it helped me a LOT! I’m constantly amazed and inspired by your incredible journals and creative flair 💕

I have watched many wonderful junk journal videos on various channels, yet still felt confused by signatures. This video has helped me so much to understand the different things I need to know about how to do signatures of my own! I am so grateful!! You are an absolutely wonderful teacher!!Thank you so much!!

I love the beginners series! THANK YOU! The really help build a foundation.

I wish I could take some of your snow away! In the high 90's here in Florida.... Can't wait to see more of your new journal!

I just discovered these bookbinding videos. I am collecting pretty paper for sooo long now and never knew what to do with it (threw also a lot away because... reasons) and now I finally know what to do with it. I just recently saved some book covers and now these videos come along. Perfect! I am ordering a book binding kit now. 😘👍❤

What a fabulous video! Thanks so very much! I have a lot of ideas, but didn't know where to start. But now I do!

Thanks for tip about the signatures, Nik. I've noticed with the first journal I've made that I could put in another. It's going to be my one stop recipe book, so I've only put pockets on the inner covers. And your right about the change in seasons, they have blended and have shifted to arrive much later than usual.

I've watched a ton of videos on spines and signatures. Thanks for a "simple explanation" as I dive into my third Journal. ❤️

Thankyou for this nik. have a wonderful holiday! I cannot thankyou enuf for your last video, telling us to lighten up and explained copyright. hugs!

I think your idea is great! Can't wait to see your new pages! I sp agree with breaking up with Winter. I'm in MO and we aren't getting snow but we're about to float away. I keep waiting to see Noah floating by. I also miss Spring and Fall! Have a great trip! Be safe and have fun!

Thank you, Nik! Hope you have fun in Seattle!

Your a bloody genious, love ya stuff. You started me on the journal making life & I love it. Thankyou thankyou thankyou 💜

Glad your starting to feel better 🤗,

Great video Nik! My daughter lives in Colorado and she said the same, "go away already"! Thank you for sharing your thoughts!!

I was watching videos by Pam at the Paper Outpost and even though she is super helpful, her baby talk really started to bother me. I am so glad I found this channel!!!!! Same awesome information in a adult format! Also - The seasons are running behind at least a month.

This is FANTASTIC! I've been looking for something like this! 😍

Great video even for those of us who think we know what we are doing!! I would love some more of your great videos!! Thank you.

Snow?! And we’re in the high 80’s!! It’s crazy! You’re right - no more Fall and Spring. Really sad! Have a great trip!!!! 💜💕💜💕💜

Just found this video and I love it. Thank you so much for sharing.

Oh, Nik, I’d totally scream if I saw you.😁 Thank you for this video. It was very informative and helpful. And I get it about history and museums. I should go alone to museums because no one ever wants to stay as long a I do. Love them!

We are having a heatwave (+27C) in Finland, and you are having snow!!!!! Glad you are feeling better, have a nice trip to Seattle.

You have great information here on your channel. Thank you. I am loving your ETSY ephemera. Next year in July and August I am taking your classes. You are so neat and so generous to share this great info with us for free. I hope I can afford one of your hand made books or lap books next year.

Nik!!!! (she said with great excitement) ... I love this video❣ It is very informative and just in time for a journal that I am working on. I've made a few small ones but this will be the first one where I will be using a book cover 😀 So glad you are feeling better! Have a wonderful trip!!!

That's exactly what I needed to know, thank you for taking the time to make this tutorial!

Nik, thank you for the beginner series i absolutely love watching you create your journals and i am watching so I can learn to make my first. i watch you and many others who knows mine might be a collaboration of many influencers.

I was making Mother's Day cards, I used old book pages on the covers. Then I noticed that the pages were from a book titled, "Call House Madam"....OMG!! I had to cover that up!!!

Thanks as always for sharing your talent!

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. Makes so much sense

Thank you for sharing your valuable information and experience. Thus was very important for me as a beginner to journal making

LOVE that sneak peek of the specimen cover!!! Summer here is the big, hairy football player breathing down my neck since March. I think we had 2 days of Spring and we'll have 2 days of Autumn and then our Winter Bro will be back for a few weeks. Hehhhh . . . . :-) Have a FAB trip!

I've been making junk journals for a little while my world in OKC got me started and my old age is fun

Im binging your vids so I can start before the new year. I want to do this so much I dream about it. Thank you so much.

I really love this series for beginners. You have taught me so much! I am also from Colorado. I live on the Western Slope of the State

looking forward to seeing the new journal

Thanks! Super appreciate your helpful and funny videos

I love these beginner process videos!! I agree about the weather-we’re so sick of rain here in my part of Pennsylvania-everything is so green and lush, it feels like a jungle! Aww, don’t get me started on gummy bears!! I started on them while we lived in Germany-I’ve kind of taken a break since I’m diabetic now. 😂 Stay safe in Seattle 😘

Thank you so much for this video. I wish I’d seen it before I made my first journal. Hopefully the next one will look better.

New subbie here, love your videos, you are so easy to listen to. I have just come home to Australia from Colorado Springs. Loved the winters, kids loved the snow the first year and then they were done. I'm originally from Scotland so I new snow! but have to say we are all glad to be back in the warmth even though it is now our winter, its only cold at night. Looking forward to binge watching your videos :)

Your nitty gritty type of junk journaling is my favorite and you are the only one I have shopped etsy! Shhhhh...... 🤫don't tell anyone!

Nik the Booksmith connoisseur of Gummies... catchy name. Love you Nik. Have a great time out of the office.

I'm so sure your sick of winter. My best best friend of all also lives in Colorado and she likes the cold, but she's sick of the winter when it's not supposed to be anymore. I hope you have a safe and wonderful trip. Take care and God bless. Sincerely Becky B from Arkansas

TFS! I have been making junk journals for a while now and each size I make, has a different amount of pages and/or signatures. Enjoy your holiday. Here in Northern Alberta, Canada, weather is cool but so dry and windy, that forest fires have started.

With you on the black licorice gummies!!! Great videos thank you for those☺️

Thank you for this video Nic! It came at the perfect time just as I’m making my first junk journal ever and I got stuck. It’s an A5 sized journal to document my daughters year 1-2. I compiled 6 signatures (1 signature for every couple months) of ~6 sheets of paper / card. I also made a fancy fabric covered cover out of a cereal box that took me a long time but I’m afraid to see my signatures in because when I place the paper inside the cover I just cannot imagine it will have space for all the photos and ephemera. Mathematically I think my journal would at least double in thickness and there wouldn’t be space for it. I’m considering making a new thicker cover and try to think of another use for the cover I already made. The destash kits are a great idea for someone like me. I love crafting (paper craft, quilting, printmaking, etc) but I really don’t like how “stuff” just accumulates with them. All the leftover material just stresses me out as I don’t have plans to use them and they take up space. I always try to buy just what I need for a project so I don’t end up with extra but my cabinets are still filling up. So “kits” of all kind make a lot of sense for me because I end up with a lot less extra stuff. I love the idea of charms on journals but I wouldn’t even go there because I would need to buy full size boxes of supplies that I know I would never use up. I’m very much looking forward to see your kits, brilliant idea! Best wishes from the UK x

Real black liquorice is Awsome!! TFS this toturial!! Stay crafty.❤xo💜xo💙xo💛xo💖xo💚

Thank you for finding a fair way for us all to have a chance at your items. Just watch you will have the charity and de-stash sale when I am in Mexico. lol I hope you enjoy Seattle and have a great visit! This video was very helpful too me.... I am not a gummy bear fan, but if they had the real black licorice gummy bears I'd buy them for sure!!

Love listening to your videos 💖

Thank you so much, Nik. Looks like I need to do more signatures with less pages in each to get rid of the gaps in between my signatures. This was super helpful!

Yes to keeping track of what you made. I have found photos on my phone the easiest way for me.

I’ve been saying the same thing about spring and fall thing here in Canada. The other day we had 24 c and the next morning it was 2c

Again, this is perfect for me. Thank you so very much. Take care and God bless. Sincerely Becky B from Arkansas

This is valuable info; although I have made journals for awhile, I can always learn something. The one thing I have been doing is simply making them too full =) I kind of like that, but it is most likely very wearing on the spine You are an amazing booksmith and I know I can learn a lot from you. Thank you for sharing so generously.

I loved this 17:36 I thought it was hilarious. Yes, winter is too darn long and spring and autumn not long enough

Thank you so much Nik, that’s really really helpful and useful. I really really love 💕 watching and listening to you. Your so very very Cool 😎 xxx Mags

Those are great tips. Thanks for sharing.

🤗your So Awesome Nik ❣️ thanks for clearing the “buddy mumble “/ “muddy bumble “😁 aw hope you had a good sale❣️

Love this beginners tutorial. I'm with you on museums and nature and giving knowledge wherever. I'm like a sponge. Lol I also love love black licorice. I once had black licorice ice cream at Baskin Robbins ice cream store. It was soooooooo delicious. It was real funny, too, because my lips and tongue turned really black. I got a lot of strange looks from passersby. Lol 😁 Oh, and I wasn't a child at the time.

This was the best amount of info for pages i have heard. Im going to start one next week....its Christmas so i must give to that. I cant wait to begin however. My libray is having a $3 a bag book sale...woooo hooo. Im there tomorrow or maybe after Christmas

Love this really helps🥰 love your rambling your gorgeous xx

It is sad that spring and fall have gotten less and less with each passing year. Seattle, my old home "town" go on the ferris wheel on the waterfront, and record it 🎡🎡🎡that would be awesome for us to watch.. I hope it's not cloudy and raining so you can see Mt Rainier, hop a ferry and go to one of the islands...oh so many things , great food, coffee, sushi..... the pike street market, they throw huge fish around...I hope you have a great time nik!!!

Excellent video! Thank you!

Its over 95 here we went to an amusement park this weekend and Im sunburned. Not gloating at all. I hate it LOL. It was so hot and crowded one guy passed out in the line. He was a young guy too. Not enough water and a heavy breakfast. Thanks for another awesome video.

Specimen Journal!!!! Awesomeness!

Soooooo cute (the new book cover)

Great tips Nik! I have been focusing on avoiding the alligator mouth in my journal creations : )

I've started my first "commonplace" junk journal. I was overwhelmed by all of the options and unsure of the style, so I decided to use an old postbound book from the 1920s as my book base. I figure I can try different things out, and remove things if I'm unsatisfied. When it's full, I can always bind the pages into another book later.

This was perfectly helpful. Thank you so much!!

Sounds like a plan Stan! Cool book!

Thanks for this, Nik! Knowing where to start is frustrating.

Thank you. That was helpful.

18:35 Sinus infections are brutal! Glad you’re feeling better. (Yeah, this comment is 4 years late, but might as well have been this year for me… 😂)

Thank you, very helpful!

My daughter lives in Highlands Ranch and kids will start summer vacation later this week...thinking maybe a skiing trip is in order. Love your videos! 💕

Have a great trip, Nik! And you're right about the two seasons. It was 94 degrees in Charleston today. So much for spring!

I’ve been making journals for quite some time now. Nik, I find you entertaining so I would watch you cut paper into strips. In PA we go from heat to AC. Ugh! I feel your pain.

Great info, as always! Love the look of your new book!! I have to be a smart alec and say, with almost 44,000 subbies.. I don't think ANYONE would have enough stuff for everyone to participate! lol! Sorry, just had to do it! :p Hope you have a wonderfull and safe trip! Glad you are feeling better! Also, no thank you to the black gummies! lol again. Lack of sleep makes me sarcastic I guess... :) big hugs and we love you too!! ty!!

Thanks that was very helpful. We are going from summer to Autumn. Usually wet, wet but we are having warm days and no rain, does not bode well for our water tanks and dam! Fingers x we get a lot of winter rain.

Yes two seasons. Mother Nature is having a hot cold flash.

Thank You!

Very good video really good even though I have made some junk journals this was really good. OH I have to just have to send you some Icelandic black liquors yes I have to do that one day. Have a great time in Seattle and I´m looking forward to see you back. Oh and yes even Iceland is warmer now then your place LOL LOL

Yes, I had to go to get clothes from the basement. Not sure why I thought it was safe to turn over the closet. Hey, have a good time in Seattle. Grab some Moscow Mule gummies. Fun, fun, fun!

Excellent information for a beginner

This is a wonderful lesson. Would be great if you can continue with "beginner" lessons. This is perfect!! Thank you.

Thanks Nik, this was very helpful. Oh girl I'll take your snow and you can keep your black licorice. Doesn't matter who makes it, I really don't like that flavor. Lol. Have a great time in Seattle. Hugs 😘

Always good information...looking forward to destash trinkets...it’s all good. “I’m not ur mom”....always love that.

Really these junk journal tips are so important for me. Life important! I have been stacking up pages and not being able to decide if it is going to end up actually as a journal or in the garbage. By the way lets exchange, you can have the Greek summer of 40 plus degrees Celcium please some snow and cold.Really...the heat is too much for me in the city. It seems like the paper I am holding sticks on me like a post-it note due to me sweating all the time. At least in the winter you can dress up! Thanks for another important how-to-info junk journal video!🙏🏻🙏🏻📓🖊✂📏💚💚💚

On the east coast, autumn is around October and it’s beautiful when leaves turn color. I am in California now I miss rain and colorful autumn

Here to we want to have summer but at least it's not snowing. Yikes.... thought we had it bad in Montreal lol

If I’d found this a year ago, it would’ve saved me a lot of searching on YT. Very informative I think. I think you’ll make more money if you do eBay, but it’ll be more “fair” on Etsy. It is your show.. so you get to do what you want. We’re not your mom. 😜 thanks for sharing all you do Nik. 👍🏻😁💜 we get 2 weeks of spring & 2 weeks of fall. I agree. It makes me angry. Try Green Forest gummies if you see them while you’re in Seattle. Enjoy the northwest!!