LILLY HIGGINS INSPIRES US TO GET CRAFTING FOR OICHE NOLLAIG NA MBAN IN HER BOOK, THE HOMEMADE YEAR. A JUNK JOURNAL IS THE PERFECT PERSONAL PROJECT FOR THE NEW YEAR and uses up all that leftover christmas paper!
Featured Image; From Lilly Higgins’ The Homemade Year
Lilly Higgins’ book The Homemade Year, Things to Make, Do and Eat at Home to Welcome Every Season is brimming with great ideas for homemade crafts, baked goods, slow living, self-care and the entire book contains a fun focus on sustainability. There’s no better way to start the New Year than exploring our creative sides, getting organised and working on our sustainability. Higgins’ Junk Journal stands out as the perfect personal New Year project for you to make your own!
A junk journal is a bound book created with scrap paper and things that otherwise might end up in the recycling bin. What a fantastic way to avoid paper waste. You can add little pieces throughout the year, receipts, fabric, restaurant cards and photos that mean something to you. Higgins accompanies her directions for the junk journal with the wonderful suggestion of making them on January 6, a day known as Nollaig na mBan or Women’s Christmas. With this in mind, Higgins suggests that on this day aunties, female friends, sisters, mothers should come together, make junk journals and enjoy a lovely ‘crafternoon’ to quote Higgins, we love it!
“The new year is the perfect time for a fresh start, setting out intentions for the coming months. Manifesting and making plans happen. It’s a time of hope and I have some lovely projects to make that happen, from making your own kombucha to ensure good health to making your own gorgeous calendar and journals. Winter is a magical time when we see out the old year and welcome in the new, with plenty of enjoyable projects in between.”
Excerpt from the Introduction to the November, December, January chapter.
JUNK JOURNAL
What You’ll Need:
– Scrapbook paper, tea-dyed papers (see tip below) wrapping paper, homemade paper, old book or magazine pages
– Cardboard or cereal box card for the cover
– Scissors
– Glue
– Bulldog clips to hold the paper in place
– Needle
– Embroidery thread
Method:
1. Fold all your pages in half. Tear the pages to size, measuring them by eye as you go. The more organic and relaxed the style is, the better. Cut any pages that don’t suit being torn. Compile them into signatures: collections of 4 folded sheets. Sit the pages of each signature all into one another. Make 10 of these signatures.
2. Measure the card to make the cover; it should be slightly larger than the signatures. Glue an extra strip of card or paper to the spine to make it stronger.
3. Find the centre page of each signature. Make sure the pages are all evenly placed and lined up. Clip one side with the bulldog clip. Mark where you want to place 3 holes evenly down the centre crease of the pages – one in the centre and one either side. Then poke holes with the needle. Poke corresponding holes in the spine.
4. Thread the needle through the middle hole in the first signature, then place the signature into the cover and thread through. Thread through the holes either side, and finally thread through the middle hole again and tie the thread ends together tightly. The signature is now sewn into the cover. Repeat with the remaining signature.
Lilly’s tips
– Dye your paper by spattering it with string tea, or paint over the pages with a think brush. Leave to dry, then iron with a piece of fabric over it or flatten by placing a heavy book on top.
– Add little pockets and sleeves in which to stash photos or mementos.
– Look in charity shops for old books that have interesting pages that you can use.
The Homemade Year by Lilly Higgins is published by Gill Books and available now at www.dubraybooks.ie.