100+ Junk Journal Themes To Spark Some Fresh Ideas

Are you feeling stuck on which theme to use for your next junk journal? If you are, I totally get it.

With so many themes to choose from, it can be overwhelming and easy to fall into the same go-to styles again and again.

But here’s the thing: your junk journal can be anything you want it to be.

Whether you’re drawn to calming nature vibes, whimsical stories, or even something totally unexpected (pirate princess journal, anyone?), the possibilities are truly endless.

And sometimes, all it takes is one spark of inspiration to set a whole project in motion.

So, to get your creative wheels turning, I’m sharing a whopping 109 junk journal themes with you today.

Some of them are based on the many journals and folios I’ve made over the years (I’ve probably passed the 100+ mark by now!), while others come from my own “to-make list” or straight out of my curious, daydreamy imagination.

Ready to see my ideas? Use the links below to jump to a section or simply scroll through the list and see what catches your eye.

• Botanical
• Other Nature & Wildlife Themes
• Seasonal
• Culture & Heritage
• Travel & Adventure
• Food & Drink
• Personal Growth & Reflection
• Literary-Inspired
• Fantastical & Mythological
• All Other Themes

Botanical Themes

• Botanical Field Notes: Let your botanical images take on a slightly “sciency” vibe to suit someone learning about botany and documenting their findings.
• Secret Garden: Capture the magic of hidden, overgrown gardens with soft colours, florals and secret gates.
• Wildflower Meadow: Pages filled with pressed flowers, sketches and floral ephemera. You can even focus your theme on a particular flower, plant or tree (like my favourite – the Magnolia tree). 
• Herb Garden: Featuring illustrations, information and recipes related to herbs.
• Vintage Botanicals: Be inspired by vintage botanical prints and illustrations.
• Tropical Paradise: Use bright colours, exotic plant images and tropical motifs like palm leaves, hibiscus flowers and hummingbirds.
• Succulent Garden: Showcase succulent photos, care tips and watercolour illustrations.
• Floral Fantasy: Combine whimsical images of flowers with fantasy elements like fairies or unicorns.
• Flower Pressing: Create pages and ephemera using pressed flowers and other plants.
• Botanical Boho: Mix all the rich colours associated with boho journals with brightly-coloured flowers.
• Edith Holden: Make a project inspired by Edith Holden’s beautiful artwork.

Other Nature & Wildlife Themes

• Through The Seasons: Capture nature’s transformation through spring, summer, autumn and winter.
• Nature Notes: Document wildlife sightings, facts about nature and other observations.
• Woodland Wonders: Feature forest animals like foxes, deer, and rabbits with illustrations and facts about nature. You could even include leaves, bark and twigs.
• Forest: Combine green trees, forest animals, mushrooms and ferns to recreate forest scenes.
• The Birdwatcher’s Diary: Dedicate pages to bird species, birdwatching tips and bird-themed artwork.
• Under the Sea: Make a project inspired by sea creatures, seashells and ocean-inspired colours.
• Garden Journal: Keep notes of your garden tasks and seasonal gardening tips. Pair these with wooden elements (fences, gates, etc), birds, hedgehogs and other garden visitors.
• Butterfly Garden: Showcase butterfly species, their lifecycles and butterfly-themed artwork.
• Honey Bee: Celebrate the joyous bee with honeycomb patterns, bee and honey illustrations and warm yellows.
• The Menagerie: This one’s all about the animals… as many as you can think of!
• Nature’s Colours: Explore the colours of nature with photographs and illustrations inspired by sunsets, foliage and landscapes.
• The Wilderness: Feature hiking and camping images mixed with forests, woodlands and other nature-inspired elements.
• Beachcomber’s Diary: Collect shells, sand and memories from your beach trips and use these in your projects.
• Driftwood Dreams: Make a project inspired by the natural elements associated with beaches like distressed wood, driftwood, misty skies and dramatic waves.

Seasonal Junk Journal Themes

• The Magic of Spring: Welcome spring with blooming flowers, chirping birds and pastel colours.
• Summer Escapes: Capture the essence of summer with colourful bunting, beach days, ice cream cones and sun-kissed adventures.
• Autumn Harvest: Celebrate the fall season with pumpkin patches, apple orchards, cosy sweaters and warm tones.
• Fall Field Notes: Track the changes in nature during autumn with notes and illustrations.
• Spring in…: Be inspired by the spring months in a certain place e.g. Spring in Paris.
• Summer in…: Be inspired by the summer months in a certain place e.g. Mediterranean Summer.
• Autumn in…: Be inspired by the autumn/fall months in a certain place e.g. Fall in New York.
• Winter in…: Be inspired by the winter months in a certain place e.g. Winter in Finland.
• Winter Wonderland: Embrace the magic of winter with snowflakes, snowcapped mountains, hot chocolate, reindeer and arctic foxes.
• Winter Woods: Explore the peacefulness of forests and woodlands in winter by using winter animals and snowy trees.
• Winter Botanicals: Focus on winter plants like holly, mistletoe and evergreen trees.
• Festive Cheer: Create pages dedicated to various holidays like Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year’s Eve.
• Easter Joy: Use spring colours and Easter imagery like eggs, bunnies and flowers.
• Equinox and Solstice: Explore the significance of equinoxes and solstices with rituals, traditions and folklore from around the world.
• Romance & Weddings: Create a romantic journal someone can use before, during or after their wedding. You may even want to focus on Valentine’s Day and red love hearts.

Culture & Heritage-Inspired Themes

• Lady’s Journal: Imagine a vintage lady has kept a journal by using vintage ephemera, lace and other vintage-inspired images.
• Vintage Ladies: Focus on retro fashion, glamour and lifestyle from past eras.
• Gentleman’s Journal: Imagine a vintage man has kept a journal by using industrial images (trains, penny-farthing bicycles and old-fashioned cars) alongside vintage ephemera and documents.
• Vintage Gentlemen: Focus on vintage men’s fashion, hobbies and classic gentleman culture.
• Retro Kitchen: Incorporate vintage recipes, retro adverts and illustrations of old kitchenware.
• Childhood Memories: Reflect on your childhood with old photos, report cards and quotes from your favourite books or movies growing up.
• Fashion Through The Ages: Explore fashion from different decades with fabric swatches and magazine clippings.
• Classic Literature: Create pages inspired by classic novels, featuring quotes and images of your favourite characters.
• Antique Treasures: Showcase your favourite antique finds.
• Timeless Romance: Feature romantic love letters, lace trims and sweet sentiments.
• Retro Technology: Document the evolution of technology with vintage ads and product diagrams.
• Victorian Elegance: Use lace, cameo motifs and Victorian-era ephemera alongside sepia tones.
• Ancestral Memories: Use genealogy charts and family stories to explore your roots.
• Cultural Traditions: Capture cultural traditions, rituals wisdom passed down through the generations.
• Food & Heritage: Showcase traditional recipes and your family’s favourite kitchen secrets.
• Legendary Folklore: Explore folklore and mythology through stories and illustrations.
• Renaissance Revival: Document the Renaissance period with art, architecture and historical facts.
• Industrial Revolution: Capture the spirit of innovation and social changes from this era.
• Space Exploration: Chart humanity’s space journey with images, milestones and discoveries.
• Ancient Civilisations: Showcase Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Mesopotamian artefacts, myths and legends.
• Zen Garden: Make a project inspired by the Orient with white sand and pebbles, bamboo and quiet spaces.
• Jazz Age: Showcase the “Roaring Twenties” using jazz music, flapper fashion and Art Deco designs.

Travel & Adventure Themes

• The Wanderlust Journal: Document your adventures with maps, tickets and photos from around the world.
• Road Trip Memories: Capture the essence of road trips with vintage maps, gas station receipts and diner menus.
• Urban Exploration: Explore cityscapes with photographs, graffiti art and subway maps.
• Mountain Retreat: Document hiking trails, mountain vistas and wildlife encounters.
• Postcards From Around The World: Create pages featuring vintage postcards from various destinations.
• Passport to Adventure: Mimic a passport layout and fill it with stamps, visas and travel anecdotes or quotes.
• Camping Chronicles: Document camping trips with sketches, campfire recipes and observations in nature.
• She Wanders: Imagine a woman who loves to hike. What would she see and experience on the trails?
• Inspired By…: Make a project inspired by a particular country, city or culture e.g. blue tiles and lemons for Greece, oranges and terracotta for Spain.

Food & Drink Related Themes

• Family Recipes: Keep your heirloom recipes alive through journaling and scrapbooking!
• Culinary Adventures: Document recipes and your favourite foodie experiences.
• Time For Tea: Celebrate your favourite drink (tea!) with tea leaf readings, images of afternoon tea and fun quotes.
• Coffee Culture: Celebrate your favourite drink (coffee!) with illustrations and your favourite brewing methods.
• Sweet Treats: Indulge in desserts with recipes, photos and illustrations of cakes, cookies and chocolate.
• Farmers’ Market: Use fun market images and showcase recipes using ingredients you can get from a farmers’ market.

Themes For Personal Growth & Reflection

• Journey of Healing: Document your healing journey with affirmations, rituals and personal notes.
• Strength & Resilience: Celebrate resilience and personal growth with empowering stories.
• Life Lessons: Reflect on valuable lessons learned from your life experiences.
• Embracing Change: Explore the theme of change with quotes, art and personal stories.
• Inner Child Exploration: Reconnect with your inner child with playful activities and doodles.
• Moments of Joy: Capture happy memories with photos, illustrations and keepsakes, or write about things that bring you joy or that you’re grateful for.

Literary-Inspired Themes

• Book Club Chronicles: Create pages dedicated to book club discussions, reading lists and literary analysis.
• Poetry Paradise: Collect your favourite poems and create a project inspired by them.
• Writer’s Retreat: Use this theme for writing prompts, author quotes and personal musings.
• Literary Characters: Explore beloved characters through quotes, images and fan art.
• Keys to the Library: Celebrate the magic of libraries with library card replicas, book borrowing logs and bookish quotes.
• A Detective’s Story: Make a project inspired by famous detectives, such as Sherlock Holmes.

Fantastical & Mythological Themes

• Enchanted Woodland: Create a magical forest or woodland with mushrooms, fairies, gnomes and other mythical creatures.
• Flowers & Fairies: Make a project inspired by Cecily Mary Barker’s beautiful Flower Fairy books.
• Mythical Creatures: Fill your project with legendary beings, such as dragons, unicorns and mermaids. You could even focus on just one of these for each project.
• Celestial Dreams: Capture the beauty of the night sky with stars, constellations and astrology.
• Fairytale Dreams: Create pages inspired by classic fairy tales with illustrations and modern retellings.
• Fantasy Adventure: Map out imaginary lands and the creatures that live there, and invent stories of their adventures.
• Witches & Wizards: Celebrate the world of magic with spells, potions and magical illustrations.
• Legendary Lands: Explore mythical lands like Atlantis, El Dorado and Shangri-La with maps, legends and related images.
• Mythical Mashup: Combine elements from different myths to create your own fantastical world.
• Astrology Journal: Track your zodiac sign, star alignments and astrological insights.
• Mythical Realms: Invent your own mythical realm with maps, creatures and lore inspired by your imagination.
• Tales of Time Travel: Explore the concept of time travel with historical references, fictional quotes and stories from your imagination.
• Parallel Universe: Imagine alternate realities and parallel universes with creative storytelling, artwork and speculative theories.

More Junk Journal Themes To Consider

• The Artist’s Way: Make a project inspired by your favourite artwork.
• Sewing Journal: Make a project inspired by fabric swatches, sewing patterns and other items from your craft room.
• Classic Cinema: Pay homage to classic films with movie posters, quotes and images.
• Broadway Dreams: Dedicate pages to your favourite musicals.
• Traditional Steampunk: Mix industrial images like cogs, hot air balloons, old bicycles and cars with rusty hues and metal accents.
• Romantic Steampunk: Put a shabby, romantic spin on the traditional steampunk theme by pairing traditional industrial images with flowers, lace and soft colours.
• All Things Eclectic: Forget all about themes for a minute and just make whatever comes to mind each day. You may just end up with something eclectic that you really love.