5 Autumn Colour Palettes for Your Junk Journal

Autumn is the season junk journals were made for. The papers go warm and golden, the ephemera turns to acorns, apples and candlelight, and every page starts to feel like a cup of tea on a cold evening.

If you are not sure where to start, choose a colour palette first. A palette pulls a spread together, makes it easy to pick papers from your stash, and stops a busy collage from looking messy. Here are five autumn palettes I made for you, each with ideas for how to use it.

1. Harvest Moon

Colours: midnight blue, harvest gold, parchment, walnut and terracotta.

This is the palette for late evenings and moonlit walks. Use midnight blue as your background, then let a big golden moon or a moon-phase strip be the star of the page.

• Tear the edges of your parchment papers so the blue peeks through
• Add stars, moon phases and a line of handwritten script
• Walnut ink or a coffee wash deepens the edges beautifully

2. Faded Wildflowers

Colours: heather, dusty rose, linen, dried grass and ochre.

Summer does not end all at once. This soft palette is for the in-between weeks, when the meadow flowers are drying and everything turns a little faded and golden.

• Layer botanical sketches over patterned papers
• Pressed or dried flowers look perfect tucked into a pocket
• Keep the page light, with plenty of linen showing through

If you love this look, my free Wildflower Meadow kit is made for it. You get all 103 pages when you join Little Paper Stories.

3. Apple Cider

Colours: cider red, pumpkin spice, honey, cream and bark brown.

Cozy, warm and a little bit nostalgic. Think orchard days, apple baskets and old sheet music.

• Use cream as the base and let the reds and oranges do the talking
• Sheet music and recipe cards make lovely background layers
• Apple blossom stickers add a softer touch

Premium members can find my 154-page Apple Orchard kit in the community, and it fits this palette perfectly.

4. Forest Walk

Colours: moss, sage, acorn, oat and mulberry.

For quiet woodland pages full of ferns, acorns and oak leaves. Mulberry is the surprise here: use a small touch of it to make the greens glow.

• Vintage postcards and script papers make a lovely base
• Use a large fern or oak leaf as your focal point
• Keep mulberry for small details such as a tag, a ribbon or a stamp

5. Candlelight & Tea

Colours: espresso, cinnamon, caramel, milk and thyme.

The coziest palette of the set, for rainy afternoons, a good book and a warm drink.

• Build around a teacup, a teapot or a candle
• Lace, book pages and small florals add softness
• Thyme green balances all the warm browns, so use it in small amounts

How to use a palette in your journal

• Pick three main colours and keep the other two as accents
• Pull papers from your stash that match, even if they are from different kits
• Repeat one colour in at least three places on a spread to tie it together
• Save the palette as a phone photo so you have it with you when you shop or print

Come and journal with us

Little Paper Stories is a cozy community for junk journalers, scrapbookers and memory keepers. Join for free and get the full 103-page Wildflower Meadow kit straight away, plus a new mini freebie every week. I have lots of seasonal kits on the way, so come inside and tell me which palette you would love to see as a full kit next.