Table of Contents
A shakespeare junk journal turns every great play into something you can hold: a balcony in Verona, a midsummer wood, a stage waiting for the curtain to rise. This kit gives you 23 scene pages full of plays and places, 5 seamless background papers for linings and covers, and 5 lined writing pages for your own lines and letters.
Print on medium weight paper so the colour sits well without bleeding through, choose your printer’s best photo or high quality setting, and trim each sheet to your journal’s size before you glue or stitch it in.
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.
Theatre and Stage Pages
Round thatched roof, timber galleries and a flag snapping above it all set the scene for every page that follows, with the Thames and a scatter of wherries painted soft behind it.
Tuck a torn ticket stub or a line from your favourite play along the bottom edge once it is printed, right where the thatch meets the painted sky.
Pair this one with the stage curtain frame lined page later in the set: glue the stage opposite the lined sheet so a spread feels like sitting in a theatre seat with a programme open on your lap.
Propped on a stage chair beside a scattered script and a dropped ribbon, with a painted backdrop of dim wings behind it, this one brings a wink of comedy into the quieter pages around it.
Fold this one in half like an old programme before gluing just one edge down, so the rose and lettering stay hidden until a reader opens it themselves.
Three points, each tipped with a small bell, rest on a velvet cushion with a scatter of ribbon and a stray playing card nearby, all set against a soft curtained background.
The usual mistake is making the bells too bright and flat: a faint pencil line under loose gold washes keeps them soft and believable.
Gardens and Great Houses
Climbing roses frame a stone balcony with open shutters and a single lit candle inside, perfect for the reader who wants one quiet romantic page near the front of her journal.
Thatched roof, leaning chimney and a cottage garden thick with hollyhocks and lavender make a gentle resting point in the kit, with a painted hedgerow and soft sky behind the whole scene.
Glue a pressed flower or a scrap of garden twine along the fence line once it is printed, then write the date you started your journal just beneath it.
Keep a small folded page of pressed herbs tucked behind this one if you can, since rosemary and rue both appear in the plays and both press well between two sheets of paper.
A sprig of rosemary tied with faded ribbon lies beside a few open pansies and a folded note, set on a weathered table with nothing else to crowd it, the whole scene painted soft and still.
Forest and Fairy Pages
Small lanterns glow low among the trees of a midsummer wood, with moths, mushrooms and a scatter of fallen petals around the roots, and a deep painted canopy filling the rest of the sheet.
If you enjoy woodland scenes beyond this kit, the fantasy junk journal set has more enchanted forest pages to mix in.
Loose hair and a pale gown drift among scattered blossoms on the surface of a slow stream, with willow branches trailing down and reeds along the bank painted soft behind her.
The five minute version of this page just needs one tree trunk, one pinned scrap of paper and a few loose leaves scattered at its base, with a soft green wash filling in everything behind it.
A flower bower curtains a sleeping fairy queen in soft petals, with moths, a dropped crown of blooms and a few sleeping attendants tucked among the leaves around her.
Pair this page with the ivy and fairy band lined page from later in the set so the two sit together as a quiet woodland spread.
Writers and Letters
A worn quill rests across a stack of handwritten manuscript pages, lit by a single candle with wax pooling at its base and an inkwell close by.
Writers who keep a line-a-day page can use this one as their opening sheet, since the candlelight sets a quiet tone for whatever follows.
Write the recipient’s name across the front before you glue this one flat, or fold it shut over a pressed flower so the seal has to be broken to read what is inside.
Costume and Court
A sword and a rapier lie crossed on a wooden table beside a dropped glove and a coiled length of cord, with a painted stone wall and faint banner behind them.
A velvet cushion holds a single crown at its centre, with a ring, a scroll and a dropped ribbon arranged around it, and a painted throne room wall filling the space behind.
This page suits the reader buying a gift journal for a friend who loves the history plays above all the others.
Ask yourself before you glue this one in: whose face would you give a mask to tonight, and what would they never say out loud without one.
A gondola glides along a narrow canal between tall painted houses, with a string of washing overhead and a small bridge arching behind it, the whole scene softened by water reflections.
Islands and Storms
Broken mast and scattered cargo wash up on a magical island shore, with strange shells, a curl of mist and distant palms painted soft behind the wreck.
Tear the edge of this page gently before gluing it in, so the torn line echoes the broken timber of the ship itself.
A small boat tips on dark swelling waves under a tempest sky heavy with cloud, lightning cracking far off and a single lantern still burning at the stern.
A castle sits on a misty cliff above a grey sea, with a single lit window, a circling gull and bare trees painted along the clifftop around it.
If castles and mist appeal to you beyond this set, the fantasy junk journal pages have more in the same quiet key.
A distant castle sits low on a misty Scottish heath, with three weathered stones, dry heather and a thin trail of smoke painted rising somewhere beyond the hill.
Background Papers
Use this one as a journal cover lining, a pocket backing behind a letter page, or cut into strips for a spine wrap, all in the same dusty rose and antique gold palette as the rest of the kit.
Slide this behind the manuscript or letter pages as a pocket lining, or use a full sheet as a journal cover, since the small roses and quills repeat quietly without pulling attention from your writing.
Good under a theatre ticket or programme kept as a keepsake, as a cover for the whole journal, or torn into strips for a tab along the page edges in matching tones.
Use this one behind the stage and curtain scene pages for a matching spread, as a pocket lining for keepsakes, or as a rich cover for the whole journal.
Try this one as a lining behind the court and masquerade pages, a small pocket for ribbon or trinkets, or a wrap for a gift copy of your favourite play.
Lined Writing Pages
Roses and quills trail along the border while faint lines wait in the middle for a line from a sonnet, a list of favourite plays, or a letter to the reader you were last year.
Painted curtains frame the writing space like a little proscenium, ready for a review of a play you loved, a quote you want to remember, or notes before opening night.
A band of ivy and tiny fairies runs along the top edge, leaving the ruled centre open for a dream you remember, a wish for midsummer, or a note to a friend.
A small crown sits in one corner while the rest of the border stays bare, leaving room for a royal title you have given yourself, a court you have imagined, or a line of verse.
A spray of rosemary and pansies runs down one side of the page, well suited to a letter to someone you miss, a memory you want to keep, or words for remembrance.
What to Do Next
Download the set, print the pages on paper you trust, and start with whichever scene pulls you in first, the Globe, the balcony, or the fairy wood at midsummer.
Frequently Asked Questions
What paper works best for a shakespeare junk journal?
Medium weight printer paper around 24 to 32 lb holds the washes well without bleeding through. Cardstock works too for cover pages, but keep lighter paper for pages you plan to fold or tear.
What printer settings give the best colour?
Choose your printer’s best or photo quality setting for richer, truer colour on every page. Draft or normal settings often wash out the muted tones that give this set its soft, aged look.
What size should I print these pages at?
Print at full letter or A4 size and trim down to your journal’s dimensions afterward. Trimming after printing gives you more flexibility than resizing files to an odd page size beforehand.
Do I need to colour or decorate these pages myself?
No, every page prints in full colour and is ready to use as is. You can still add pressed flowers, ribbon, washi tape or your own handwriting on top once it is glued in.
What glue works best for gluing these pages into a journal?
A acid free glue stick gives clean, flat results without wrinkling the paper. Liquid glue works for edges and pockets but use it sparingly so the page does not warp as it dries.
Have any thoughts?
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