Things to do with old books and magazines

Collage:

Cut out images and words from various books and arrange them into collaged pieces.

Base:

Use book pages as the base for a collage. You could add other materials like fabric, paper, or found objects.

Mosaic:

Tear or cut out small (or not) pieces of pages and use them as tiles to create large-scale mosaics.

Wall art:

Frame individual pages, arrange several pages as a collage, or decoupage them onto a canvas, or find a way to use the pages as actual wallpaper.

Weaving:

Interweave the pages of different books to create colourful tapestries, wall hangings, or collage.

Quilling:

Roll up strips of paper from book pages and shape them into elaborate designs.

Mixed Media Assemblage:

Combine book pages with other materials like paint, ink, fabric, or found objects.

Landscapes:

Cut out landscape features like mountains, trees, or buildings from book pages and reassemble them to create new, fantastical environments.

Marbling:

Dip book pages in water and add ink or paint to create marbled patterns.

Wind Chimes:

Cut out shapes or words from book pages and attach them to a metal ring or string to create musically inclined art pieces.

Mobiles:

Cut out shapes or words from book pages and attach them to a mobile structure, creating a moving, kinetic art piece.

Jewellery:

Transform book pages into wearable art by turning them into pendants, earrings, or bracelets.

Carving:

Carve intricate designs into the pages of a book to create three-dimensional sculptures.

Sculpture:

Roll, fold, or cut book pages to create three-dimensional sculptures.

Decoupage:

Use cut-out images from book pages to decoupage furniture, boxes, or other objects.

Lamps and Lanterns:

Cut out shapes from book pages and use them as lantern shades for unique lighting fixtures. You could even use a combination of cutting, folding, and layering to create intricate designs to attach to existing lampshades, or simply wrap the shade in single layers of pages.

Erasure Art:

Pick a page from the magazine and use either a monochromatic colour of paint to block out everything you don't want showing, or create art that covers up what you don't want showing.

Wall Art:

Create a gallery wall using a variety of magazine images and texts. Frame them or arrange them in a collage on your wall.

Card Making:

Create handmade cards for special occasions by using magazine images and paper.

Journalling Prompts:

Use magazine images and articles as inspiration for journalling ideas.

Boxed Up:

Decorate plain cardboard/shoe boxes for storage, decor, or gift-giving by covering them with magazine pages.

Giveaway:

Use magazine pages for eco-conscious gift wrap.

Cover-up:

Use magazine pages or cut-outs to cover the cover of a scrapbook, journal, or notebook, or to make dust covers for everyday reading books.

Backup:

Make creative backdrops for your photo album pages, to attach your photographs directly into the magazine itself, or as backgrounds for photography projects.

Rear-view Charms:

Combine images, gems, beads, wire, and decorative strings to create charms for people's rear-view mirrors.

Ornaments:

Make ornaments by cutting images/shapes from magazines and decorating them with paint, markers, or ribbons - or not decorating them at all and letting them stand on their own. Attach the cut-outs to chipboard or cardstock to make them more sturdy, and string them on wire, chain, embroidery thread, or twine.

Decals and Clings:

Make removable wall decals or window clings by cutting out images, words, or phrases and adding them to contact paper and sealing the exposed paper side with more contact paper, lamination, or acrylic gel medium.

Garden Markers:

Use magazine pages to make garden markers for your plants.

Jewellery:

Make jewellery pieces like necklaces, bracelets, earrings, or other accessories using page pieces and other materials like beads or wire.

Beads:

Use the pages of magazines to make rolled beads for decor or jewellery. You will need a glue that dries clear, and a skewer to roll the paper around.

Paper Flowers:

Create paper flowers using magazine pages and simple origami or other folding/rolling techniques.

Paper Dolls:

Use images of people and animals to create movable paper dolls by attaching pieces together to create your desired figure or creature, using tape, string, or metal fasteners so the parts can move.

Rainbow:

Choose images from each colour of the rainbow. Cut out shapes, patterns, and photographs from the magazines to create your collage and arrange them in a rainbow pattern on your surface.

Magazine/Newspaper Collage:

Combine old newspapers with magazine cutouts. Create a layered collage with images, headlines, and news articles that relate to a particular theme, story, or idea.

Quotations:

Choose inspirational, motivational, interesting, weird, thought-provoking, or humorous quotations from your stash of magazines. Arrange them in meaningfully on your surface. Consider adding background elements or images to enhance the layout.

World Map:

Choose images of various countries, continents, and other land masses. Use them to create a map design. Add border elements and historical details to enhance the arrangement.

Sunsets:

Choose images of sunsets or sunrises and arrange them in a gradient, or whatever method suits you best.

Mosaic:

Cut out various shapes, patterns, and textures and arrange them in a mosaic design. You can create a single image or multiple panels with a cohesive theme. Add a backing layer of a single colour of paint to make the mosaic pop.

Letters:

Choose enough images from different fonts and letter styles, and arrange them in a keyboard fashion to showcase different texts, fonts, and other lettering.

Calendar:

Create a calendar by selecting pages that interest you. Arrange them in a calendar format, add squares for the dates, month names, and a year label, then add a frame. This is a great way to showcase your favourite topics throughout the year.

Abstract:

Cut shapes, patterns, and textures from your magazines, and use these pieces as your canvas, layering them on your surface to create a unique abstract design.

Subject:

Choose images related to animals, pop culture, fashion, travel, food, or any other subject that suits your fancy, and arrange them in scenes or ideas or randomly in whatever way suits you and your idea best, including arranging smaller images into larger shapes that are in-keeping with your chosen subject.