Sunday, February 20, 2011

too many magazines!

do you excitedly anticipate the arrival of your favourite homey magazines every month? either through a subscription or off the shelf when finishing up the grocery shopping?

i have 2 subscriptions and usually buy another each month, and now i have an overload of magazines. and it's time to do something about it!

i throw out the odd one here and there, but i've never had a major cull like i have this last couple of days. when it comes down to it, there are often only a few pages i really pour over in each mag.

so, why not collate all my favourite pages into one folder?!

this pile was just the start!

a do have one pile that i will hold onto forever. 10 years ago, Mike bought me a magazine and wrote a birthday message inside the cover. he stated "why buy a card when you can get a magazine for the same price? and you get so much more enjoyment from it"
wise man :)

here are a couple of examples. i love going back and rereading all the gorgeous messages. i get magazines instead of cards for my birthday and Mother's Day.


for this project, you need 2 or 3 white folders- depending on how many magazines you go through. you can get them for $5 each from K-Mart, but i found 3 for a total of 50 cents from a local op shop. they have a plastic outer sleeve and you can slide in paper to jazz them up. My friend Julia came up with the idea of sliding in patterned pieces of scrapbooking paper.
i have decided to do something different which will also keep the cost down.

you will also need to purchase a couple of boxes of plastic sleeves to slide all your fav pages into. i found mine at Coles for $4.72 for a box of 100.
grab a ruler, scissors and pen to measure out your pieces of paper.
i chose some pages i liked out of the magazines i was throwing out, and used them to pretty up the spine of each folder.


and for the front, i used the covers of magazines.

once you have ripped and torn till your heart's content, sort into categories eg, bedroom, living, bathroom, study, garden, craft ideas, Christmas etc.

this is a great exercise, as it really does help cement your decorating ideas and show you what colours you are most drawn to.

if you have a guillotine, trim off the rough edges.
otherwise use your scissors.

i flicked through a total of 72 magazines over 2 evenings an half of yesterday.
this pile has now been reduced to 3 folders full.

another idea- cover a scrapbook with pretty paper and glue in your favourite things.

i did this one up a couple of years ago.
Emily has also had fun doing the same thing.

i do rather the folders though. much easier to sort and change around if you need to.
here are some pages i chose for my folders.



bookshelf before......

after!

this post is linked up over here at Thrifty Decor Chick
and House of Grace! go and take a look at all the wonderful ideas people have when it comes to organizing your home!

Pin It

8 comments:

  1. Hi Kate, what a wonderful idea to receive a mag instead of a card, that is sheer genius!

    The country style spring cover is one of my favourites, I bought the magazine just for that.

    I have been doing the same, but sticking them into an old ledger book, and like you, have been putting them into categories.

    They do pile up don't they! Enjoy your Saturday, Tamara

    ReplyDelete
  2. Just signed up so I can post on here :) Already posted on Facebook why i love this so much but forgot to say how much i love the mags as cards idea - how perfect and practical for most women! And men too i guess - Top Gear mag anyone?? My fave ideas pages are mostly beauty products, great online shopping sources and present ideas. I won't be separating my pages into categories though, as I like having to leaf through all my pages to find what i want - it reminds me of all the ideas i'd forgotten about! Although when my collection builds up, i might regret that :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. That's a great idea but I really love what your husband started, getting you a magazine instead of a card. I'm going to suggest that to my hubby!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I do something very similar to this with my magazines. Every now and then I have a clean out, save my favourite pictures and pop them into a folder. Sometimes I even go through my folders and get rid of images I'm not in love with anymore. It's amazing how my tastes have changed over the years. Thanks for sharing this idea.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love this idea and using a magazine as a card is genius!

    I cannot part with my magazines....it hurts too bad! LOL! Maybe someday when they have taken over the house!

    hugs
    Sissie

    ReplyDelete
  6. It's a great idea to collate a record of your ideas, and I've never heard of a magazine for a card, but what a great idea.
    My Mum made me a 'Favourite Recipes' folder using the same white style you've used and filled with clear sleeves to put in recipes you can tear out of magazines. It also has things she makes that I like, and is divided into poultry, meat, vegetarian, desserts etc. It's really great as you can pull out the one sleeve to make your recipe, and if any thing is splattered on the recipe you can wipe it off. Genius!
    Great looking bookshelf Kate.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is such an awesome idea, I too have too many magazines that I have collected over the years and find it hard to throw them away, I believe you just solved my dilemma. Wow thank's so much for this idea.
    Donna xx

    ReplyDelete
  8. This is a great way to keep your magazines!

    ReplyDelete