A junk journaling workshop in San Francisco that inspired our Mother’s Day cards

During the Easter break, our mom surprised us with an evening at Sunset Commons, a place in our neighborhood where people come to create.

They were hosting a junk journaling workshop.

Junk journaling, a form of scrapbooking, is a way of creating pages using scraps of paper, stickers, textures, and little pieces layered together to make something unique.
People often use it to capture a moment — a trip, a mood, or a memory — in a very free way.

(If you’re in San Francisco, this is actually our favorite place to find affordable scraps — we shared it here.)

Emily, a local junk journaler who was leading the workshop, said something at the start that stayed with us:

There’s nothing you can do wrong.

Solène smiled at that. She didn’t have to think about doing it “right.” She could just start.

The focus of the workshop was on creating “windows” in the pages. Little openings that reveal another layer.

Solène made a double window page and quickly got pulled into it. Cutting, layering, adding stickers… she stayed completely focused for almost two hours, not even noticing time passing.

Zélia especially liked using transparent sticky paper to create her own windows and seeing how each new layer changed the page.

We were the only kids there, but it didn’t matter. The atmosphere was relaxed and welcoming. People were chatting, sharing materials, and just enjoying a quiet creative moment after their day.

That might even have been our favorite part. No two pages looked the same, which made the sharing especially fun — suddenly, you got to see where everyone’s imagination had gone.

Emily shared a glimpse of the workshop on Instagram — you can see it here.

When we got back home, we didn’t really feel like stopping.

We started making Mother’s Day cards inspired by that same idea — layers, scraps, small details, and little surprises inside. Letting each card become its own piece.

Being around other creative people inspires us to try things we wouldn’t have thought of ourselves.

If you’d like us to craft a one-of-a-kind Mother’s Day card, we’d love to make one just for you.
📩 Just email us at hello.soliaventure@gmail.com or order online.

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