Marcy Takes Us into Her Wondrous World of Junk Journals

Posted on May 3, 2021 by Creative Fabrica

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Today’s interview is with Marcy Coate, an American living in Italy who designs digitals and printables for paper crafts such as junk journals, scrapbooks, planners, printable cards, gift boxes, and more. Read on to be inspired by her stunning creations and crafting journey!

How would you describe your design or crafting style?

I like to work with a mix of vintage and modern styles, depending on the project. In particular I like to use watercolors and florals.

How did your crafting journey begin? How did it turn into your passion?

My mother and grandmother loved to sew, so I learned that at a young age, along with embroidery, counted cross stitch, and quilting. Over the years I have done so many crafts, like wreath making, decoupage, and others, mainly as gifts and for decorating my home. More recently, with the advent of the mania for scrapbooking, I became interested in digital scrapbooking, and from there I found out about making junk journals. I have gone really crazy with this craft form, making journals for myself, family and friends, and since I already had the skills for making digitals for scrapbooking, I simply turned those designs into kits, papers and ephemera for journals.

Could you please describe your creative process?

I start with an idea, usually a theme or color palette. Often it is a customer or member of my Creative Team who suggests the colors or theme to me. I gather image resources (commercial use clipart/textures/templates, vintage public domain images, etc.) Then I typically start by creating the background pages, and then the tags, cards & other ephemera to coordinate with the pages.

What was your most recent favorite creation you made?

It’s hard to choose a favorite, but I really do love purple, so I guess it would be my Lilacs Journal. It was created using the Lilacs Junk Journal kit that I made.

What do you love most about making journals or scrapbooks?

What I like most about making journals is that there are so many different things that can be added to decorate them. It’s not just paper, but bits of lace and fabric, charms, and so many other different decorative elements that you can use. I love making each journal unique and different, whether it is one I’m making for myself, or as a gift. The ones I make to give as gifts are especially fun because I like to choose a theme and colors that I know the person really likes. I always get thanked so profusely, too, because most people have never received a gift like this, and it’s really special to them.

You create beautiful journals and scrapbooks. What’s your advice for those who want to begin journaling?

YouTube is very helpful for showing you how to create the basic journal or scrapbook or photo album, and there are thousands of beautiful example photos on Pinterest.

If you want to write in your journal but aren’t sure where to start, think about collecting some quotations, poetry, inspirational stories, or Scripture verses to write on your pages, with decorative elements that you add, either with paper or your own artwork.