There is something that happens when I sit down with a pile of paper.
I go into a kind of quiet. The stack of vintage magazine pages, the pressed flowers, the typewritten slips... I love playing with all of the fragmented elements until something begins to click into place. Without attachment, I move things around and soon something within me also settles. That feeling is exactly what I wanted to bottle up when I created my collage kits.
My affirmation collage kits are curated collections of over 100 unique mixed media pieces, sourced by hand and assembled with intention. They exist because I wanted to share that feeling — that quiet, creative pull — with you.
Why I Make These (And Why They're Different)
The Affirmations Came First
Before the collage kits, before the shop — there were the affirmations.
They started as words I scribbled into my journal during hard seasons. Words that shifted over time from 'I will' to 'I am' — because that's how it actually works, isn't it? You work with them. You live with them. They evolve from something you're reaching for into something you've actually become.
My brother-in-law gave me a typewriter. I started typing them out — slow, deliberate, one word at a time. I taped them to mirrors in different apartments as I moved from Boulder to Denver. I tucked them into my laptop. I drew one each morning and taped it into my journal. They became part of my daily architecture.
I started making affirmation packs for friends going through it — a breakup, a hard season, a period of unraveling. They would ask for them. Then strangers started asking.
Then, after a stretch of real burnout — full-time job, several high-volume wedding photography years — I turned to art to return to myself. I got back into collage. And almost immediately, the affirmations found their way onto the page. I started cutting them up, integrating them into spreads. It became something meditative. A way of sorting through my thoughts and moods, my emotional landscape. A new form of documentation.
The collage kit is what happened when those two things — the affirmations and the collage — fully merged.
The words in these kits aren't generic positivity. They're words I've lived with, worked with, and returned to across years of my own healing.
The Sourcing Obsession
I have what I can only describe as a sourcing addiction.
Facebook Marketplace at midnight. Estate sales on Saturday mornings. Thrift stores any time I'm near one. I am always looking for the magazine with the perfect color palette, for the piece of vintage ephemera that has a story in it, for the texture that makes a spread come alive.
Each collage kit is the result of that obsession. I pour through hundreds of magazines and collections of memorabilia to find the pieces that have a quality to them — a vibe. Then I curate them into collections where everything feels like it belongs together. Statement pieces, textured backgrounds, typographic moments, nature and botanical cuttings. Every kit has a throughline.
The thing I love most about making these is that you benefit from all of that labor without having to do it yourself. You get my eye, my aesthetic, my hours of sourcing — and still, you get to make it completely your own.
What's Inside Each Collage Kit
Every collage kit contains 100+ unique mixed media pieces. No two kits are exactly alike. That's intentional. But here's what you can expect in every one:
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Vintage paper cuttings — magazine pages, vintage books, and printed ephemera featuring nature, magic, and visual storytelling
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Typewritten affirmation slips — a handful of affirmations from my Affirmation Packs, typewritten and ready to incorporate into your journal or collage
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Blank postcards — perfect for journal inserts, sending to a friend, or as a collage base
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Stickers and statement pieces — a variety of pieces for added whimsy and texture
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Wax seals — statement pieces that add a distinctive, handcrafted touch (run a lighter under them briefly and stick to your page!)
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My exclusive Affirmation Washi Tape — custom-designed with the affirmation 'I am creating the life of my dreams' — my favorite, and one I use in almost every spread
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Two additional washi tapes — coordinating colors that work with the kit's palette
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Stickers, string, stamps & confetti — assorted delightful finishing pieces, cohesive with everything else in the kit
Each kit is curated as a cohesive collection — meaning everything inside is designed to work together, and to complement your own existing materials too.
Designed With Junk Journaling in Mind
These kits are intentionally made for junk journaling. The pages are cut to fit A5 notebook spreads — the size I use in my own journals, like my go-to LEUCHTTURM1917 dotted notebooks. I've even found the kits to make junk journaling perfectly accessible while traveling!
My approach to junk journaling is a little different than what you might picture. It's not about random scraps and receipts, although I do love and incorporate that spirit. Mine is more intentional than that. Each spread I create is a kind of documentation of where I am emotionally, spiritually, creatively. The collage becomes a visual record of my inner world. Marked with personal easter eggs only I know about. Layers that tell a story even if no one else can read it.
I came to junk journaling as a lifelong traditional journaler, and remembering an old love for scrapbooking. I'd had affirmations taped to my mirrors for years as I navigated heavy healing and found joy again through film photography, writing and collage. When I found junk journaling, it just clicked. Here was a way to keep documenting, but through the visual design lens that actually feels most natural to me. The affirmations went right in. The aesthetic went right in. It became mine immediately.
New to junk journaling? Start here: A Creative Guide to Junk Journaling.
How to Get Started With Your Collage Kit
You don't need a plan. But if you'd like a starting point, here's how I usually approach a new spread:
1. Set up your space
Find somewhere you can spread out and not rush. I like to have everything out in front of me — not organized, just visible. The arrangement will come.
2. Lay pieces out before you commit
Play around. Move things. Let pieces overlap. I almost never glue anything down until I've lived with the arrangement for a minute.
3. Start with your statement piece
Every kit has pieces that feel like anchors — the piece with the most visual weight, the affirmation that hits you hardest, the image that pulls your eye immediately. Start there and build around it.
4. Layer in texture
Graph paper behind something organic. Washi tape to bridge two pieces. A wax seal as a finishing touch on a corner. Texture is what makes a spread feel rich rather than flat.
5. Add your own materials
The kits are made to mix. Add your own photos, receipts, pressed flowers, handwriting. The vintage pieces I've curated are a foundation — your materials make it personal.
6. Let it be imperfect
This is the one I always come back to. There are no mistakes here. A crooked edge or an unexpected combination is almost always better than what I planned. 🖤
What Pairs Well With Your Collage Kit
The kits are complete as-is, but here's what I reach for when I'm building a spread:
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150+ Affirmation Pack — Each collage kit comes with about 15 affirmation slips. If you want more to choose from (and you will), the full affirmation pack gives you the complete collection.
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Stickers & Sticker Sheets — I design stickers that are made to work with the same aesthetic as the collage kits. Great for adding quick pops of detail.
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'I am creating the life of my dreams' Washi Tape — This tape comes in your kit. If you love it and go through it (you will), you can grab additional rolls in two more colorways.
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LEUCHTTURM1917 Dotted Notebooks — My go-to journal. A5 size, dotted pages. The collage kit pieces are sized to fit.
My Full Collage Supply List
Want to build out your full collage and junk journaling setup? I've put together a complete guide to the supplies I use and love — see my collage supply list here. (Full blog guide coming soon — I'll link it here once it's live.)
Made With My Hands. Made For Yours.
I want to be honest about what these kits are: they are a piece of my process, packaged up and handed to you.
Every piece I put in a kit was something I got excited about when I found it. The sourcing is genuine. I'm at the estate sale at 8am, I'm flipping through a 1970s interior design magazine at a thrift store, I'm saying yes to a Facebook Marketplace lot of ephemera I absolutely must make room for!
I do all of that so that when you open the kit, the work is done. You get to share in my discovery and delight. You get the inspiration and the aesthetic. You get to skip straight to the part where you sit down and create!
That's the gift I wanted to give.
I can't wait to see what you make. Share your spreads with me @StephanieMikuls on Instagram! Seeing your work in the wild is genuinely one of my favorite things. 🖤
— Stephanie
