- Polar Bears And Ice
- Owls And Tundra Birds
- Seals And Shoreline
- Villages And Cabins
- Background Papers
- Lined Writing Pages
- Frequently Asked Questions
This arctic junk journal kit gathers twenty eight pages built around polar bear cubs on ice floes, seals on sun warmed rocks, snowy owls and the kind of colorful village rooftops that look best under a pale pink sky. Twenty scene pages carry the wildlife and the villages, four seamless background papers give you patterned paper for pockets and covers, and four lined writing pages leave room for your own words among small painted borders.
Print the whole set on matte paper heavy enough to take glue without curling (24 to 32 lb works well), and set your printer to its best photo or highest quality setting so the pale pinks and icy blues stay clean. Trim close to the edge if your printer leaves a white margin, then the pages butt right up against each other once they are glued into a journal.
Using these images: free for personal projects such as printing, coloring, cards, journals and gifts. Handmade items that include them may be sold up to 30 pieces per design. More than that is commercial use and is not permitted, and neither is selling or sharing the images themselves or passing them off as your own. Please ask before any other use.
Polar Bears And Ice
Settle a polar bear mother and her cub on a drifting ice floe under a sky washed in pale pink, with small chunks of ice bobbing around them and a faint shoreline far behind.
Pair this page with the ice blue background paper from this set, tucking a strip of it behind the corner of the sheet or using it to line a small pocket glued beside the cubs so the two pages read as a matched spread.
Give a walrus family a wide ice shelf to lounge on beside a calm blue sea, with a few gulls overhead and small ice chips scattered near their tusks. Leave the water smooth and pale so the walruses stay the clear center of the page, and let the sky fade gently from soft blue to the faintest pink at the horizon.
This one works well glued opposite a quieter page, since the wide flat ice shelf gives the eye somewhere restful to land after a busier spread.
The usual mistake with a whale page is leaving the water too dark, which swallows the pale belugas; keep the bay a light, sunny blue so their pale bodies stand out clearly against it.
Let a few small floating ice pieces and a soft shoreline sit behind them, with the sky kept bright and clear rather than stormy.
Narwhals surface between scattered ice floes under a pastel sky that drifts from lilac into soft pink, with a scatter of small stars or a pale moon if you want a quiet evening feel.
Owls And Tundra Birds
This page suits a quiet five minute version: glue it in as is, add one line about the day’s weather underneath, and leave the wide tundra field around the owl as the restful background it is meant to be.
Try tea staining just the lower edge of this page before gluing it in, so the icy reeds along the shoreline look gently aged next to the crisp white lake and the owl gliding low over it.
A ptarmigan in full white winter feathers tucks neatly among snowy willow shrubs and low drifts, nearly matching the snow around it so the page rewards a slow second look.
Add a berry branch or two poking through the snow nearby for a small splash of color against all that white, and keep the sky behind soft and pale rather than stark.
Write a short note on this page about a coastal walk you would like to take, real or imagined, right beside the seal stretched out on the rocks in the sun.
Seals And Shoreline
A harp seal pup rests on smooth ice right beside a pool of blue meltwater, its pale fur catching the light against the clear ice all around.
This spread pairs well with the one before it: place the seal’s cool blue ice on the left page and let the musk oxen’s warmer, earthy tundra sit on the right, so the two subjects balance each other across the fold.
A reindeer herd crosses a snowy valley in soft morning light, their shapes catching long pale shadows against the drifts while the hills behind fade into a gentle haze.
The usual mistake with icebergs is painting them pure white, which flattens them against the sky; shade their undersides a soft turquoise to match the bay, and float a small fishing boat near the base for scale.
Glue this one in with a question for the entry beneath it: what would you bring along on a quiet day of ice fishing, and who would you want there with you.
Villages And Cabins
Colorful wooden houses climb a snowy hillside in this village scene, their painted walls standing out warmly against the white slopes and the pale sky above.
This page is a natural one for a list: jot down the names of places in the far north you would like to visit one day, or simply describe which little house in the row you would choose to live in.
A reindeer pulls a loaded sled past a stand of bare birch trees on the edge of a northern village, rooftops and smoke just visible in the distance.
This page suits a gift journal made for someone who dreams of a quiet cabin winter: a friend who loves hot cocoa and early snow, or anyone who would rather curl up by a fire than brave the cold outside.
A husky team curls up together in fresh snow beside their wooden sled and a pile of folded furs, resting after a long run across the tundra.
Tuck a small folded note, a pressed sprig or a ticket stub under the mittens on this cabin bench before you glue the page in, so the still life holds a real keepsake and not just a painted one.
A polar bear wanders close to a snowy pier stacked with wooden crates and fishing nets, curious about the quiet village just beyond. If your journal leans toward gentle humor, this is a good page for a light caption imagining what the bear might be thinking, or a short list of everything left out on the pier for it to investigate.
Background Papers
Small polar bears and falling snowflakes repeat edge to edge across an ice blue ground, ready to line the inside of a pocket, back a tucked in photo, or wrap a plain journal cover.
Soft owl feathers drift across a pale grey ground in this all over pattern, useful behind a wildlife photo, as a pocket lining, or folded into a simple envelope for keepsakes.
Small icebergs and resting seals repeat across a soft aqua ground here, a good choice under a coastline photo, inside a tucked pocket, or wrapped around the journal’s front cover.
Nordic style snowflakes and small reindeer alternate across a cream ground, a steady choice for lining a slim pocket, backing a village photo, or wrapping a gift tucked inside the journal.
Lined Writing Pages
A small polar bear rests on an ice floe along the bottom border of this page, leaving the ruled lines above free for a gift list, a short letter to next year, or notes from a winter walk.
A snowy owl perches quietly in one corner of this page, its branch curling along the edge while the ruled lines sit open for a favorite winter recipe, a packing list, or a few lines about the day.
Small village rooftops line the top border of this page in soft color, with the ruled lines below left open for a travel wish list, a holiday menu, or a letter to a friend far away.
Small icebergs and a resting seal frame the edges of this page all the way around, leaving the center ruled and open for a gift list, a short poem, or notes about a winter spent close to home.
What to Do Next
Print the set, trim the edges close, and start gluing the scene pages in first so the village and wildlife pages carry the journal, then add the backgrounds and lined pages wherever a pocket, cover or quiet entry calls for one. For more cold weather pages to mix in, the winter junk journal set and the Christmas junk journal ideas both pair well with this one.
Frequently Asked Questions
What paper works best for an arctic junk journal kit like this one?
Matte cardstock around 24 to 32 lb works best, since it holds glue without curling or buckling. Thinner paper is fine for a first try, but it wrinkles more easily once glue and tucked keepsakes are added.
What printer settings keep the pale pinks and blues looking right?
Set your printer to its highest quality or photo setting on matte paper, which keeps the pale pinks and icy blues from printing dull or patchy. A quick test print on plain paper first helps you check the color before using good cardstock.
What size should I print these arctic pages at?
Standard US letter or A4 suits most home printers and most journal covers without any extra trimming. If your journal is smaller, scale the pages down in your printer settings before printing the full set.
Do I need to color or paint these pages myself?
No, every page in this kit already prints in full color, ready to cut, fold and glue straight into a journal. You can still add a pen line, a stamped date or a small sticker if you want a more personal touch.
What glue is safe for gluing in keepsakes like tickets or pressed flowers?
An acid free glue stick is the safest choice, since it will not yellow or soak through the thin printed paper over time. For heavier items like thick tickets or small fabric scraps, a thin line of craft glue holds better than a glue stick alone.