If you’ve seen any of my previous posts (like this wreath or this fun palm tree decor), you know I enjoy turning old magazines into fun, creative works of art! I decided to spend this super hot summer day indoors, working on an upcycled magazine wall art piece with my favorite four. 🙂
So summer is in full swing for this homeschooling family! Even thought I don’t formally homeschool during the summer, we still do lots of learning activities together. Today was arts and crafts day! My little girl wanted to make a wreath for her room, so we decided on this colorful upcycled magazine wall art. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a wreath although it does use a round form. Either way, it was fun to make and beautiful to watch it all come together!
Best of all, this is a craft that your kids of all ages will enjoy, especially your teenagers! And it takes just long enough to give them something indoors to do besides watching TV on those summer days when it’s just a little too miserable to enjoy the outdoors.
Materials
For this upcycled magazine project, you will need:
- A circular form or shape, about 10 inches in diameter. I used a paper plate, but I’m sure a piece of cut cardboard or cake boards would work better (I just didn’t have any on hand).
- Lots of old magazines
- Glue stick and white school glue
- Pencil
- Scissors or a paper cutter
- Ruler
- Hot glue gun and glue sticks
- Small piece of string for hanging (about 10 inches)
Preparing Your Pieces
Start by looking through your magazine for pages that are very colorful on both the front and the back. When you find one, cut 5″ and/or 3″ squares out of it. For my wall art, I used 24 squares of each size.
Now, you will need to fold the squares as follows. Fold the tip from one edge to the opposite tip and crease the middle. Open the middle. Fold one edge to the crease in the middle, and fold the opposite edge to the crease in the middle. Your paper should look like a kite.
Fold each of the same edges to the middle again, just to make a crease. Now unfold the last fold. Apply some glue (with your glue stick) on one edge of your “kite” and bring both flaps together. Press the sides down and let the glue dry for just a bit before opening it and pushing out the creases.
Now repeat until all your pieces are prepared! This sounds like a long process, but it goes rather quickly.
Preparing Your Form
I used a paper plate for my form. To help the plate lay flat, I cut four slits (about 3″ long) at the 12 o’clock, 3 o’clock, 6 o’clock, and 9 o’clock position. Then I folded my plate horizontally and again vertically. The point at where the creases meet is the center of the wall art and where the piece will rotate about.
If you have a piece of cardboard or cake round, you can simply draw these lines using a ruler.
Designing Your Wall Art
Glue your 5″ pieces first using your white glue (school or Elmer’s glue). I started by gluing them along the vertical and horizontal creases of my paper plate (or the lines that you drew if you used a piece or cardboard or a cake round). This helped me ensure the art was symmetrical.
If you are particular about colors or patterns, you may want to lay your pieces out before you glue them. I was able to get two 5″ squares from each magazine page, so I chose to place them opposite from each other on the circle.
Continue placing your pieces around the center of your form until all the space of your form is covered. As I said previously, this was 24 5″ pieces for me (or 12 magazine pages).
Next Layer of Wall Art
The next step in your upcycled magazine wall art is to lay your 3″ pieces in the spaces created by your 5″ layer. Once again, you may want to lay your pattern out if you are particular about your colors. You will use the same number of 3″ pieces as you did 5″ pieces.
The best way to glue these pieces down is the apply school glue to the sides of the 5″ pieces that the 3″ piece will lay on. Then, simply place the 3″ piece in the crevice and kinda wiggle it in place (yes, that’s the actual method) to get it to stick well!
Although all your pieces are theoretically the same 2 sizes, your wall art may not be uniform around the edges. I didn’t bother trying to line it up perfectly for 2 reasons. First, my four kids won’t give me that kind of time to devote to a craft. And second, I rather like the non-uniform look of this piece!
Center Piece of Upcycled Magazine Wall Art
This piece of wall art is rather rigid with harsh lines. Therefore, in order to provide a nice contrast to the piece, I chose to do something with more organic soft lines for the center. I made 6 upcycled magazine flowers and used hot glue to glue them in the middle. I included basic pictures below, but you can also read more about how to make these flowers if you need to.
Final Touches
After adding your flowers, you may need to fluff them out a bit. The last step is to attach your string to your form. Since I used a paper plate, I punched a hole in it and ran my string through it. If you are using a piece of cardboard or a cake round, you could hot glue your string to the back of it. Alternatively, you could use a picture hanger or Command hook if you want to avoid a string altogether. If you want, you could also spray your piece with spray acrylic for an added layer of durability and shine.
And there you have it! A beautiful piece of upcycled magazine wall art! Now aren’t you glad you didn’t throw all those magazines away? Old magazines are an excellent medium for fun upcycled crafts, and making this piece of wall art was no exception! I hope you find some uses for yours, especially during those hot (or rainy) summer days.