The Secret Life of Paper

A Four-Week Junk Journal Adventure

Old books. Scraps of paper. Hidden pockets. Unexpected treasures. A whole lot of imagination.

What happens when you take a pile of ordinary, forgotten, and wonderfully random materials and turn them into something extraordinary?

Welcome to The Secret Life of Paper, a four-week creative adventure where we'll transform old papers, fabric scraps, magazine clippings, and other curious finds into one-of-a-kind handmade junk journals!

What's a junk journal? Think part art journal, part handmade book, part secret treasure chest. It's a place for collecting ideas, experimenting with art, telling stories, and making beautiful (or wonderfully weird!) things.

Each week, we'll explore new creative techniques—from simple bookbinding and paper folding to collage, layering, stamping, and mixed-media art. Then it's over to you! Follow your curiosity, experiment with materials, and make something that's entirely your own.

No two journals will look alike. And that's exactly the point.

Our Four-Week Adventure

Week 1: Begin with a Book
Create your journal using an eclectic collection of papers. Learn a simple binding technique, experiment with cover designs, and start bringing your book to life.

Week 2: Hidden Things
Discover the art of secret pockets, tiny envelopes, foldouts, flaps, and unexpected surprises. What might be hiding inside your pages?

Week 3: The Art of Layers
Explore collage, paint, stamps, stencils, textures, and playful combinations of images and words. Learn how to turn an ordinary page into something fascinating.

Week 4: Follow Your Curiosity
Put your new skills to work! Experiment, embellish, invent, and add your own personality to every page. We'll finish with an optional journal gallery to celebrate everyone's creations.

What Makes This Different?

This isn't a follow-the-instructions craft class. We'll learn exciting techniques together, but every artist gets to make their own creative decisions. Bold and colorful? Mysterious and moody? Vintage and whimsical? Completely bizarre? It's your book, your imagination, your rules.

All art materials are included, but artists are welcome to bring a few personal treasures—old photographs, interesting papers, ticket stubs, magazine clippings, or anything flat that might find a new life inside their journal.

Registration is for the full four-week series. Space is limited to keep the experience personal, creative, and full of possibility.

Facilitated by Andrea Matteson, founder of Dragonfly Studios.

The Secret Life of Paper: A Four-Week Junk Journal Adventure, Girls Ages 11-13