- Pond And Washtub Ducklings
- Barn Babies
- Background Papers
- Lined Writing Pages
- Frequently Asked Questions
This baby animals junk journal brings the whole spring barnyard to your desk: lambs in clover, ducklings on the pond, chicks in straw, calves and foals out in the green pasture. The kit gives you 22 full scene pages, 5 seamless background papers and 5 lined writing pages, so you have everything needed to glue, layer and write a finished journal without hunting for extra paper.
Print the whole set on matte cardstock or a heavier printer paper so ink does not bleed through when you add glue or tape. Set your printer to its best or highest quality setting for photos, and trim each sheet down to your journal size once it is dry, leaving a small margin if you like a deckled or torn edge.
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.
Pond And Washtub Ducklings
Three lambs spring across a low pasture while a stone wall runs along the back edge, under a wash of pale spring sky.
Pair this page with the pale yellow puddles background from later in this set: trim its edge into a narrow strip and glue it along the bottom of the pond page as a reflection of sky in the water.
Try a tea-stained edge on this one: dab the border of the dry page with weak tea on a cotton pad before it goes into the journal, so the straw basket looks warmed by morning light.
Newborn calf and mother cow rest together in a sunny meadow, with wildflowers, a fence post and rolling green hills filling the space around them.
This page suits a gift journal made for a grandmother who grew up on a farm, or anyone who still dreams of keeping a horse one day.
Barn Babies
Give the entry under this page a gentle question: which of these piglets would you have named first, and what would you have called it.
Two goat kids balance and climb across a round hay bale in the middle of a busy barnyard scene, with a fence, a feed bucket and loose straw filling the corners around them.
A little girl crouches by a red barn door, bottle feeding a lamb while it leans eagerly toward her.
The usual mistake with a busy page like this is cramming in too many flowers around the chicks; keep the garden simple, just a few tulips and a trowel, so the watering can still reads as the main subject.
Ducklings splash inside a galvanized washtub with a scatter of dandelions floating on the surface, set against a painted patch of garden grass.
Try a small fold-out on this page: cut a flap into the loft’s open window and tuck a tiny photo or sketch of your own barn cat behind it, so the sunbeam seems to fall on something real.
A young calf and a farm puppy meet nose to nose through the rails of a wooden fence, with a stretch of green paddock painted behind each of them.
Grazing goslings move slowly along the bank of a farm pond, with willow branches trailing over the water and reeds rising at the pond’s edge.
Keep this page open for a five minute entry: just the date and one line about something small and good from the day, written right beside the lamb’s flower crown.
A foal lies curled in tall grass dotted with buttercups, resting in a quiet stretch of pasture under a soft afternoon sky.
Several small chicks peek out from under a hen’s wings inside a wooden coop, with straw bedding, a hanging feeder and a small window painted in the background.
Place this page beside the foals and horseshoes background further on in the set, matching one of its soft blush tones to the flowers piled in the cart for a spread that reads as one scene.
Twin lambs curl together inside an old wheelbarrow lined with a gingham blanket, parked in a patch of spring grass near a leaning garden fence.
Several ducklings huddle together inside a hay-lined wooden crate, set just inside a sunny barn doorway with a stretch of yard visible beyond.
Tear the bottom edge of this page by hand before gluing it in, so the muddy puddle seems to run right off the paper toward the next spread.
Two farm children walk down a grassy lane, each carrying a small goat kid in their arms, with hedgerows and wildflowers lining the path on either side.
Several calves gather around a metal feeding pail in a spring paddock dotted with young grass and a few early wildflowers near the fence line.
Background Papers
Use this mint pattern under a favourite lamb photo, as the lining for a small pocket page, or wrapped around a plain cover for the whole journal.
Try this pale yellow paper behind a farm photo, as a pocket lining for ticket stubs from a spring fair, or folded into a simple envelope for pressed petals.
Set this cream pattern behind your chick page for a matching spread, line a small envelope with it, or use it as the inside cover of the finished journal.
This soft blue paper works well behind a meadow photo, as a pocket for a pressed daisy, or as the backing sheet for a foldout list of farm visits.
Use this blush pattern as a cover wrap, a pocket lining for keepsakes from a horse show, or the backing for a small pull-out tag about a favourite foal.
Lined Writing Pages
Write a short gift list for a spring baby shower, a few lines about the first lamb born this season, or a note to tuck behind a pressed clover leaf.
Use the space for a simple pond-side menu, a short letter to next spring’s hatch, or a list of names for the newest ducklings on the farm.
Jot a short recipe passed down in the family, a tally of eggs collected this week, or a quick note about which hen is the best mother this season.
Record a short barn chore list, a few lines about the weather this week, or a letter to whoever keeps this farm running after you.
This page suits a note to a granddaughter who loves horses, a short wish for the new foal, or a simple list of names still being considered.
What to Do Next
Print the set, trim each page to size and start with whichever scene calls to you first, lamb or duckling or foal, then build the rest of the spring farm around it. For more printable pages to grow your journal shelf, have a look at the cottagecore junk journal set, the nature junk journal pages, or the Peter Rabbit junk journal pages for another gentle countryside theme.
Frequently Asked Questions
What paper works best for a baby animals junk journal kit like this one?
Matte cardstock around 110 to 160gsm works best, since it holds ink crisply and takes glue without curling. Plain printer paper is fine for test prints but feels thin once the journal is assembled and handled.
What printer settings give the clearest result?
Set your printer to its best or highest photo quality setting on matte or presentation paper, which keeps the watercolour washes clean. Draft or normal settings often leave the pastel tones looking faint and grainy.
What size should I print these pages at?
Standard US letter or A4 suits most junk journals and binds easily into a cover. Trim each sheet down afterward to match your journal’s exact size, leaving room for a deckled or torn edge if you like that look.
Do I need to colour or paint these pages myself?
No, every page already arrives in full colour and ready to use straight from the printer. You only need scissors or a trimmer, glue, and a pen if you want to add your own handwriting to the lined pages.
How do I turn these pages into a finished journal?
Print, trim and arrange the scene, background and lined pages in whatever order suits your story, then glue or stitch the stack along one edge. Add a cover from one of the background papers to finish it.