Katie is sharing creative uses for old magazines:
With so many great and inexpensive magazine subscription offers out there, chances are you have a slew of magazines just taking up space in your home. Magazines are so fun to read and full of great stories, recipes, household tips and pictures, it is no wonder it is so hard to get rid of them after you are through reading them. If you have a collection of magazines collecting dust in your home and are looking for a way to repurpose them, you have come to the right place. Below, you will find seven creative ways to reuse old magazines that you may never have thought of before. Believe it or not there are quite a few fun, frugal, and whimsical crafts you too can make using those old magazines. So grab your stack and take a look. You just might be inspired!
7 Creative Ways to Use Old Magazines:
1. Decoupage a picture frame
Dress up a boring and dull picture frame by adding some colorful decoupage. Get a bottle of Mod Podge and cut out the pictures you wish to decorate with. Then just brush on your Mod Podge to secure the pictures to the frame. While you are at it, you can also decoupage a mirror if you wish, any wooden furniture pieces, and really any hard and smooth surface that needs a touch of color and character.
2. Create magazine beads
You can make beads out of the glossy and colorful pages of a magazine. Simply remove the pages you wish to use, then cut them into long, thin triangles. Roll the wider end tightly. At the end of the roll, add a small drop of glue to secure the loose end. Then once the bead is dry, you can string onto a chain of your choice. These are so cool looking as each turns out different and unique. No two are alike.
3. Make children’s placements
Kids will enjoy helping you with this craft. Take a piece of poster and cut it down to placemat size, about 12 by 17 inches works well. Cut pictures, words, and designs out of your magazines and glue them to the poster board. Cover the poster board with contact paper and you have placemats that children will love to eat on!
4. Make your own magnets
Fancy up your fridge or office area with custom magnets you make yourself. Buy a package of small word pieces (Hobby Lobby sells small wood chips in various shapes for around $2.99) and cut out the pictures and words you wish from your magazines. Next, glue or Mod Podge your cuttings to the wood pieces. Glue a small magnet to the back of the wood and presto! You have personalized magnets!
5. Create a children’s alphabet chart
Magazines make wonderful teaching tools. Write the letters of the alphabet on a piece of poster board. Have your child rummage through magazines and look for pictures of things that start with the designated letters. Cut those images out and glue them by the letter they start with. Hang in your child’s room for easy reference.
6. Make silly Picasso people.
Everyone loves a funny face, and this is a super fun project that kids will love doing! Cut out pictures of faces and features such as eyes, chins, noses, mouths, cheeks, eyebrows and hair. Arrange the features on the faces and glue the arrangement onto construction paper. The finished product is a wild and wacky face that will give kids the giggles.
7. Use in place of wrapping paper
Why spend big bucks on wrapping paper when it just gets tossed in the trash anyway? For small gifts, a colorful piece of magazine paper is perfect. Tie up with a pretty bow or piece of yarn and you are all set. Children especially will love wrapping gifts with sheets of magazine pages.
As you can see, there are plenty of ways to put those old magazines to good use! Remember, if none of these ideas appeal to you the paper pages are always good for other household tasks as well.
Household Uses for Old Magazines:
- You can use magazine pages to pack breakables you need to ship.
- You can use pages from old magazines to get your campfire started.
- The pages are great for lining pet cages, catching oil drips in the garage, or for keeping your table top safe during craft time.
Don’t pitch those old magazines. Instead, give some of these ideas a try and give those colorful pages a new life!
Mary Spoore says
Hi, Thankyou for your ideas for old magazines. My daughter has a Fair Trade business and shop. One of the principles of FT is being resourceful with waste. I collect stapled junk mail, paper posters and old magazines. The ones with glued spines are not so good. I take the staples out and make bags with flour and water paste as is done in developing countries. We use them in the shop for when a customer wants their purchases bagged. We often get comments like, what a good idea! These bags are so cool! etc.