Garden Junk Journal - Helmar Creative Team

Since starting my potted veggie garden I have found myself frequently looking up the same information for my plants and I felt I needed a notebook with quick references to this information.  I downloaded various printable Garden Planners but couldn't find one that was just right.  After Jeanette's Easy DIY Two Hour Planting Journal post I found myself really inspired to create a Junk Journal style notebook/garden planner for myself.  So I started collecting various free printables, sorting through my stash to create a Garden kit to play with.

I printed out the printables I liked, some I printed on nice thick paper and other's I printed on standard 80gsm copy paper.  The tags and library cards that I printed on 80gsm paper I decided to back onto a manilla file folder.  I simply ran some Helmar Acid Free Glue onto the back of each tag and Library card, adhered them to the file folder, cut them out once dry and then touched up any gaps in corners or edges with a drop of Helmar Acid Free Glue.

Once they were dry I distress the edges of the printables and the back with a variety of Distress Inks.  While I had the inks out I distress the edges of all the printable pages and the papers I had cut and distressed the backs to if they were blank.

Some printables I didn't want as pages but rather I wanted to glue them onto pages that I had given a Tea Dye look using Distress Inks.  I simply glued them where I needed them with Helmar Acid Free Glue.













I have been really concerned in the Junk Journal groups about the safety of the methods some are using to adhere napkins to paper so I wanted to share how safe and easy it is to use Helmar Acid Free Glue to do this.  Great minds think alike and Jeanne recently did a post Decoupaging Napkins with Helmar Acid Free Glue, our method was very similar but I will share mine too.
I simply squirted some Helmar Acid Free Glue onto my work surface, spritzed some water onto the glue and mixed it with a old brush.  I then brush it on evenly to where I was decoupaging my napkin, placed the napkin down and then gave it a coat over the top with my watered down Helmar Acid Free Glue, set it aside to dry while I worked on something else.  It was very quick and easy to do and much safer than melting cling wrap or ironing plastic backed paper.  Please, please don't melt plastic in your craft room, Helmar Glues are much safer.

When cutting my cover I cut it a fraction too short, so I cut a strip from the left overs and ran some Helmar Acid Free Glue along the strip and used the strip to hold 2 pieces together.  Bonus it gave me a little bit of contrast on the busy paper I had chosen for my cover.   Sorry I didn't get a pic of the process but here is the finished repair.

I decided to use the left over paper from my cover to make a pocket inside the cover.  I ran a bead of Helmar Acid Free Glue around the bottom and 2 sides and adhered it inside the cover, once dry I had a great pocket for my tags, library cards and embellishments I want to have on hand to use when needed.

As I add information into my Garden Junk Journal I will give finished pages a coat of Helmar Crystal Kote Matt to ensure if it gets wet no ink will run.

I want to try protecting my cover using Jeanette's method of upcycling cereal packaging and using Helmar Silicone Sealant to seal it, it is a brilliant idea, check it out.

I am really happy with how my Garden Junk Journal has turned out and I have been using the information I have added regularly to remind myself of when to water which plant, what plants I want to use in companion planting and what fertiliser needs each plant has.  It has been so handy. 
I am looking forward to printing out some photos of my garden and adding them in as a way to document how the garden is progressing and the things I am learning.