- The Potting Shed Itself
- Bench And Tool Pages
- Storage And Shelves
- Gardener’s Things
- Workbench Corner
- Background Papers
- Lined Writing Pages
- Frequently Asked Questions
A potting shed junk journal gives you a whole spring garden without a single muddy knee. This kit holds twenty scene pages full of clay pots, old tools and a cat guarding the doorway, four seamless background papers for covers and pockets, and four lined writing pages for the notes that belong next to all that greenery.
Print every sheet on matte cardstock heavy enough to take glue without buckling, run your printer on its best photo or fine art setting, and trim close to the edge so the color runs right to the border. Once the set is printed you can start gluing straight away: no extra cutting templates, no guesswork about sizes.
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.
The Potting Shed Itself
Climbing roses tangle up a weathered blue door on a little wooden shed, the whole scene set against a soft spring sky and a patch of mossy ground.
Pair this one with the stacked clay pots background later in the set and let the trowel on the bench tie the two pages together across a spread.
Glue the background behind this scene on the facing page so the pots on the sheet seem to spill onto the paper beside them. A dab of glue along one edge only keeps both pages turning freely.
Tuck a torn seed packet or an old gardening receipt behind this page, since the row of hanging cans leaves a natural gap for a small pocket.
A tabby cat sits square in the shed doorway, flanked by pots of pansies, watching over the garden like it owns the place.
Beginners can keep the cat simple, just a sitting silhouette with a few whisker lines, while a more confident painter can add the tabby stripes and a bit of shading under the chin. Either way the pansies do a lot of the charm here.
Bench And Tool Pages
Write the names of this year’s seed varieties along the edge of this page, since the scoop and seedlings leave just enough quiet space for a short list.
A fork, a rake and a spade lean together against an ivy-covered shed wall, their handles worn pale with years of use.
The usual mistake here is crowding in too many extra tools and losing the three main shapes. Keep the fork, rake and spade clean and let the ivy do the filling in around the edges instead.
Geraniums crowd a small shed window while a pair of gardening gloves rests on the sill below, sun-faded and shaped like well used hands.
A wooden wheelbarrow sits parked by the open shed door, heaped with primroses in every shade from butter yellow to deep plum.
Storage And Shelves
This is the page for a mother or grandmother who loves a garden more than anything, since the wicker baskets of bulbs hold that same quiet, hopeful spring feeling.
A robin perches on the handle of an upright spade beside freshly turned soil, head tilted as if it is waiting for the next worm to surface.
If you enjoy pairing scenes with a bit of writing, this page suits a short prompt: what in the garden surprised you this week. Leave a line or two of space under the trowel marks for the answer.
Glass jars of saved seeds line a shed shelf alongside coiled string and a small brass bell, each one labeled in careful faded handwriting.
A larger shed with a lean-to roof holds hanging baskets of petunias along its eaves, the whole structure tucked into a corner of the garden.
Gardener’s Things
Give this page a five-minute version: trace the apron and boots shapes quickly, wash in one flat color each, and let the hat’s straw texture stay suggested rather than painted stitch by stitch.
A small flock of chickens pecks around the potting shed in the spring yard, scattering among the pots and the first green shoots of the season.
Rooting in old tin cans along the potting bench, herb cuttings lean toward the light, their labels scrawled in pencil on torn paper strips.
A tiny shed painted pale pink stands almost hidden among tall delphiniums and lupins, their spires reaching well past the roofline.
If you want more structure to the writing you add here, pair this scene with the ticking stripe background from this set: a strip glued along the bottom edge looks like a painted garden fence under the flowers.
Workbench Corner
A hand drill, a stack of garden sieves and a row of clay pots cover this workbench, tools of a gardener who mends as much as she plants.
Tea-stain just the bottom edge of this page before gluing it in, since a rain barrel and a stack of pots in a shed corner already look weathered by years of water.
Sweet pea seedlings climb a simple twig trellis outside the shed, their first curling tendrils reaching for the crossed sticks above them.
Bunches of herbs hang drying from a shed rafter beside a small lantern, filling the quiet corner with the kind of calm an entry about a slow Sunday deserves.
Background Papers
Use this cream pattern of tiny terracotta pots and trowels behind a photo of your own garden, as a pocket lining for seed packets, or folded into a simple journal cover.
Small rakes, forks and spades scatter across sage green in this all-over pattern, good under a tool-themed photo, inside a pocket, or as a plain divider page between sections.
Little watering cans and seedling sprigs repeat across soft blue here, a steady pattern for a cover wrap, a pocket lining, or the paper behind a pressed flower photo.
Narrow ticking stripes carry tiny clay pots along their length, a pattern suited to a journal spine, a pocket edge, or the backing behind a garden-themed title page.
Lined Writing Pages
A corner spray of climbing roses frames the lines here, room enough for a seed-starting log, a list of this year’s rose varieties, or a letter to next spring’s self.
Garden tools hang along a band across the top of this page, perfect for a repair list, a tool inventory, or notes on what still needs sharpening before planting season.
A tidy column of stacked clay pots runs down one side of this page, leaving room beside it for a planting schedule, a pricing note from the garden center, or a quick sketch log.
Across the bottom edge sits a potting bench crowded with seedlings, good for a sowing diary, a wish list of next year’s vegetables, or a few lines on how the garden looked today.
What to Do Next
Print the set, trim the edges and start with the shed scene page first, then let the tools, pots and lined pages fill in around it however your own garden journal wants to grow. For more spring garden pages to mix in, see the garden junk journal ideas and the spring junk journal pages.
Frequently Asked Questions
What paper works best for a potting shed junk journal?
Matte cardstock around 90 to 110 lb holds the watercolor look best and takes glue without buckling. Thinner paper works for tucked extras like pockets, but the main scene pages need that sturdier weight to survive handling.
What printer settings give the best results?
Choose the best or photo quality setting on your printer along with matte or plain paper mode, never the glossy setting. This keeps the fine ink lines crisp and stops the pastel colors from looking washed out or patchy.
What size should I print these pages?
Standard US letter or A4 suits most journals and fits common printer trays without scaling. Trim close to the printed edge so the color runs right to the border once the page is glued into the journal.
Do I need to color anything in myself?
No, every page prints fully colored and ready to use straight from the printer. You only add your own writing on the lined pages and any extras you glue or tuck onto the scene pages.
What glue works best for assembling the pages?
A simple glue stick works well for flat gluing and avoids the wrinkling that liquid glue can cause on thinner paper. Save a small dot of liquid glue only for attaching heavier tucked items like ribbon or pressed flowers.