10 Junk Journal Themes Inspired by Victorian Art
Victorian art was filled with beauty, sentiment, and storytelling—making it the perfect inspiration for themed junk journals. If you’re looking to infuse your journal practice with historical elegance, here are 10 creative theme ideas to get you started.
Botanical Collage, bird, flora, and decorative embellishment.
Romantic Botanicals
Use vintage floral scraps, botanical illustrations, and pressed flower motifs to create a soft, nature-inspired journal full of romance and color.
Examples of Garnier porcelain patterns used for inspiration of floral elements.
Ladies of the Parlour
Build pages around Victorian fashion plates, tea etiquette, and calling cards. Lace paper, cameo silhouettes, and portraits add refinement and charm. See examples of porcelain patterns and how they can be used in paper collage art.
Mourning & Melancholy
Create a moody journal using black lace, mourning cards, and quotes on loss or memory. Incorporate Gothic script and deep jewel tones. This journal could laso be used as a way to work out your dark feelings constructively. Or you can always add this Prosperity Guide book to help as well.
Travel by Rail & Steam
Capture the thrill of 19th-century exploration with maps, ticket stubs, postcards, and engravings of hot-air balloons or steamships.
From pastel and peach colors to lace and leather textures, these paper essentials can keep your project pretty, lightweight, and thin. A Victorian garden journal can incorporate all sorts of different flower motifs from Roses to classic inspired porcelain patterns.
Garden Dreams
Design a Victorian garden journal filled with bird illustrations, garden plans, and seed packets. Add watercolor floral accents and bee imagery, bird cages, and other Orangerie related plants.
Check out the Big Book of Crafting Graphics for lots of art packed into one book.
The Secret Drawer
Imagine a lady’s keepsake box: locks of hair, love letters, pressed violets, trinkets, and secrets. Perfect for a hidden pocket-filled junk journal.
Children & Curiosity
Victorian paper dolls, fairy tale book pages, and ABC primer images create a playful, nostalgic journal theme.
Art Nouveau Musings
Blend late-Victorian imagery with Art Nouveau elegance—flowing lines, Mucha-style women, and decorative borders.
Spiritualism & the Occult
The Victorians loved séances, astrology, and the mystical. Use palmistry charts, moon phases, and vintage spirit board ephemera.
Don’t be afraid to mix genres and styles of art into your collage, junk journals, and scrapbooks.
Epistolary Love
Build your journal around old-fashioned correspondence: letters, stamps, wax seals, envelopes, and poetry snippets.
Let’s talk Roses, & more Printed paper Books
Vintage Château Roses Decorative Paper Book For Decoupage, Scrapbooks, Papercraft
Large 8.5x11 printed paper book on thin paper. Gives a nice french, victorian, or old fashioned vibe- ready for tearing.
Antique Roses Decorative Paper: For Decoupage, Scrapbooks, Crafts, Collage, & Mixed Media
Antique inspired and already printed paper book. Just cut off the spine and use in your projects.
Vintage Roses Decorative Paper: Scrapbook, Papercrafts, and Mixed Media
Sweet collage papers with a vintage vibe. Could use more destruction, tearing, and glueing for added effects.
Duotone Roses Decorative Paper: 50 Double-sided Sheets For Decoupage, Scrapbooks, Crafts, Collage
Sometimes just a little color is all you need. These duotone roses are elegant and pop at the same time.
Start with this hardcover printed themed book for junk journaling. Just start glueing, taping, tearing, destroying.
