6 Amazingly Crafty Ideas For Recycling Your Old Magazines
Thu, Jul 10, 2008
It seems as though you are new here. Welcome! If you'd like to stay up to date on the latest Go Green Lifestyle articles, tips, and easy ways to go green, subscribe to the RSS feed or via email if you prefer. Thanks for visiting!
I’m about to make a public confession. I’m a magazine junkie. There, I said it. I have drawers full of poker magazines, music magazines, design magazines and even a few impulse magazines. You know the ones? You’re in line at the grocery store and see the captivating headline; “Britney Goes Green And Recycles The Same Music Again This Year!“. You just have to read it!
Anyway, the point is, there’s got to be something we can do with our stacks and stacks of old magazines. Maybe instead of simply recycling them, we can reuse them in a funky way? Well, that’s exactly what these creative folks have done after they decided to go green with their old magazines and turn them into amazing recycling craft ideas.
WRAPPING PAPER:

What a superb idea and this will cut you costs during the holiday season! If you don’t already have some yourslef, ask your friends for themed holiday magazines that they have just hanging around. Daily Danny actually had an took the idea further by recycling maps, brochures, and other paper products that are just causing clutter in the house. One more tip from Danny, as you can see in the pic, is to cut the ribbons (also made from the mags, etc.) really long to encourage the receiver to reuse them again!
GARBAGE CAN:

Yes, it is a tad ironic that you are essentially recycling garbage into something that will hold garbage, but isn’t that what’s cool about it? I guess it really doesn’t even have to be a garbage can. It could hold a number of different things, like even a stack of old magazines until you recycle them into wrapping paper. This one looks like it would take a long time, but could be a fun project.
ROUND STORAGE BOXES:

These round storage boxes comes with a tutorial found on Flickr. So, open up your recycling craft drawer and pull out your glue, scissors and, of course, your old magazines! This one would be pretty nifty as a hat box, using fashion ads. One word of caution: it looks like there is a certain level of patience and relaxing background music involved.
TINY ENVELOPES:

Another awesome flickr find on a great idea for how to reuse your old magazines! Eeven if you didn’t want to attempt to make these from your own magazines, you can support the idea by picking up a few from this gal’s Etsy shop. They’d go well with the wrapping paper idea!
MOBILES:

This is taking recycling to a whole other level. Heather Frazier created a small business, Frazier And Wing, by designing handmade mobiles that are created from old magazines! These are simply beautiful, and not only are they kind to the environment, but would add a delightful conversation piece to any room in your house.
A CHANDELIER!?

Designer Wary Meyers created an amazing recycled masterpiece out of old magazines. Oh, you thought it was just a novelty piece meant to look like a chandelier? Nope! This baby has bulbs and works! You can read a feature at Time Out New York that outlines the 9 steps on how it was made.
Do you have any other ideas on recycling old magazines into funky cool stuff?
Tags: recycling, recycling crafts






July 10th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
That is some really cool stuff. I am not sure if I am artistic enough for that. I like to use mine for things like stubbing my toe, leveling out my furniture, and adding to the clutter of my townhouse.
July 11th, 2008 at 2:04 am
Hey Coach,
lol @ leveling out your furniture. That’s still reusing! way to go!
I was thinking of using all my poker magazines to create a chandelier for above the poker table, but I think it’d be safer for the family if I don’t attempt that.
July 22nd, 2008 at 1:42 am
these are crafty and fun ideas..but some of them seem really difficult and time consuming to make. I like saving old magazines for making collages.