I love to make my own cards and gift bags and I love magazines (I get a ton). When I want to make card for a certain holiday, let say Halloween, I just pull out my latest magazine, (they always arrive a month ahead of time) and look for cute pictures of pumpkins, black cats and other Halloween related pictures. If I can't find what I want, I pull out an older issue of the same month.
To make it even easier, go through each magazine as you get it and cut out any cute or interesting pictures. Save them in a file until you need them. You can use them for scrap booking, crafting, collages and more. If your kid likes a certain cartoon character, you could look for pics of it in your magazines and make a nice collage for them to hang on their wall. Other people might like a neat collage of their favorite things: dogs, cats, airplanes, etc. Almost any nice picture you find in your fav magazine can be framed and given as a gift or even keep it yourself.
By Jennifer from Conyers, GA
This page contains the following solutions.
I made a very pretty bedspread with pictures I saved from magazines a friend gave me. I used iron on paper and muslin cloth cut into 12 inch squares. Hope you can see how I did it, thanks.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I have piles of old glossy magazines and I don't want to just throw them away. Can somebody please help me? I want to make Christmas crafts out of them. Thanks!
Especially with Readers Digest size -- you can fold page toward center evenly forming a triangle, then with the left over bottom of the page fold upward to met that triangle edge. Do every page. When finished staple covers (and extra page if believe necessary). Stand up and it forms a perfect Christmas tree. Spray paint green.
Or you can always recycle them!
I did this as a project when I was younger. That is all I can think to do with read magazines
Merry Christmas!
Mary Litlamb02 AT AOL.com
When I was little, one Christmas season I cut out bits from colored photos in magazines and glued the bits onto good-sized matchboxes. Then my mother gave the matchboxes as gifts and used some in our house too. During the holidays in the States, lots of people like to use candles or light fireplaces during the holiday season and having festive matchboxes on a coffee table or mantel can be nice.
When I visit orphanages in Tijuana, Mexico, nowadays, kids and adults often tell me about how they cut up magazines to create posters and cards.
Certainly I've used lots of photos from magazines when creating flashcards or Bingo cards to use while teaching English or French - to kids and adults.
Here is a website showing how to make beads like I used to make when I was a little girl from old magazines. Chris
small gift card envelopes : open an old gift card envelope to make a pattern & trace how ever many you need onto the magazine page.If you didn't cut exactly along the line you traced simply fold the lines toward the inside.Embelish if you want to with whatever kind of ribbons or lace or other you happen to find to your taste. Paste,glue or use a cute sticker to seal !
My daughter thinned Elmers glue with water and pasted pictures cut from magazines on the flat surface of craft stones (clear). She then trimmed the picture after it had dried and glued a heavy duty magnet to the back, as gifts for her friends.
You can also use some spray adhesive glue and apply pictures to clear vinyl and make purses, makeup bags, etc by sewing the vinyl together, attaching straps, etc... here's a pic of a Rolling Stones/Johnny cash purse someone was selling on ebay! (I have made similar and they are very popular!)
You can make Christmas trees out of them if you want.
Just rip the front and back covers off. Then fold the paper till they are half a square with a flap down the bottom. Bring the side over the the edge of the page. There will be a flap down the bottom so fold the up to the edge of the page.
Does anyone have a pattern for a two or three fold wallet? I would like to use magazine pictures to make it. How many plys of plastic will I have to use and were can I buy it.
I would use either packing tape or clear shelf liner. Use as many layers as you need to get the desired thickness. You could also sandwhich your pic between 8 layers of clear plastic bags melt them between layers of paper sacks. Use your iron on low, and practice first. you can find tutorials for this by searching on reusing plastic bags. Do this with plenty of ventilation. This can be machine stiched.
Does anyone have instructions on how to make magazine purses?
Diannia Texas
Hi Diannia,
Here is a website with the instructions and photos to make the purse:
Hope this helps you and please let us see photos when you are done!
We have lots of magazines and I would love to make something out of them with my granddaughter. Any ideas?
By Angie
This is another idea I came up with to use some of my vintage magazines. I was born in 1957 and all of these magazines are, month by month, from the year I was born. I had to "think out of the frame" to decide what to do with them and since I had a large picture frame, I decided to display them in it.
Decorate a paper bowl with magazine clipping to create a colorful gift basket. Add your items and wrap with cellophane paper and gift.
This is a page about Mr. and Mrs. Santa made from Reader's Digest magazines. Cute decorations can be made by folding the pages of magazines.
