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I am in the process of re-purposing my craft room into a writing space. I have nearly 100 stamping/card making magazines--some going back to 2004 when I started the hobby--and I'm not sure what to do with them. Does anybody have a creative solution? Thankfully our community has a recycle program, but it seems like such a waste to throw them in the bin.
__________________ "As a matter of fact, I am a mad scientist!
I agree with Metalcharm. My hubby saves lots and lots of magazines, but never, ever looks at them again, although he thinks in his heart of hearts that he will.
I let them pile up for so long, and then to the recycle bin they go. I leave a few, so he doesn't notice, lol.
__________________ Bugga in OK
"Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible." Dalai Lama
Donate to your local charity. They will get a couple bucks each for them and you can get a tax receipt.
Or the art teacher at school or at a community center...
Or sell them at a garage sale.
They are not cheap-dont just throw them out! A cute design 10 years ago, is still cute today. I was shocked when I saw how expensive they are to be honest.
Periodically I go through, pull out ideas I like and put in a notebook, which I refer to when I want to start a new project.
Magazines that I don't tear up go to a thrift shop.
I offered them to friends and what they didn't take I tossed them. Most of the ideas where outdated. I even tossed all my binders of ideas because I never looked at them and I never stayed current on filing. Now when I finish reading a mag I offer it to friends and if they don't want them they get recycled.
The only mags I keep is the last year of Rubber Stamper. I keep them for memory sake and once I year a get them out an look at them because I still miss that magazine. Nothing compares to the articles and interviews they had.
yeah I have a lot of those too, something nice about paper... looking through an actual magazine as opposed to a computer screen. And I have kept them because, like you, what if I want to look through them again. Fortunately storage isn't really an issue for me but even still. I just know that if I part with them, I will want them the very next week! Murphy and his law... we go a long way back:rolleyes:
Periodically I go through, pull out ideas I like and put in a notebook, which I refer to when I want to start a new project.
Magazines that I don't tear up go to a thrift shop.
Perfect way to do it, I think
__________________ Stop paint chip abuse. Act now!!
Won't somebody think of the paint chips?
I gave mine away to Boys/Girls Clubs of America. I used to pull articles and save them, but I never referred back to them, so they got recycled. I find that all of the inspiration, explanation and "how to" I could ever want/need is available online - here, YouTube, blogs, Pinterest... The only "paper" I keep around is the most recent couple of catalogs for a few stamp companies. I still prefer hard copy for catalogs over online - easier (and more fun!) to see everything, make wish lists, etc.
I don't like online 'magazines'. So I've been hoarding them now and have my own little library going. I have many that were RAK'd to me and some I got on a free shelf at a thrift shop. I started using pinterest but I still find it annoying when I want to work on something and need the visual inspiration. I'd MUCH rather have it on paper!
I am in the process of redecorating my spare room and it is my craft room and library. I had about 4 linear feet of magazines, catalogs, and minis. I got rid of everything except the holiday issues of the magazines (some from the early 2000s) and the rest are in my garage waiting. I look through them and remember the fun I had reading them, but I never use them for inspiration, so they will go in the recycle bin.
I would donate them to a hospice or assisted living facility. A lot of people donate unwanted/unused supplies to these places so why not give them a little inspiration to use those donated supplies.
I am in the process of re-purposing my craft room into a writing space. I have nearly 100 stamping/card making magazines--some going back to 2004 when I started the hobby--and I'm not sure what to do with them. Does anybody have a creative solution? Thankfully our community has a recycle program, but it seems like such a waste to throw them in the bin.
Wish I lived closer, I would buy them all from you at a reasonable price.
They are a great inspiration for the card makers that are just starting out.
Just don't throw them away. Find an organization in your area and see if you can donate them or sell them at a garage sale, etc.
I take a pic of any designs I particularly like and keep them in files in my digital photo program. Periodically I delete any that become too outdated. I am 57, my husband is 62- lately I have been looking at all my stuff, wondering how exactly do you "downsize."
We don't keep magazines (DH - Hi-fi, Music and computing, Me - Papercrafts) so, when the next issue comes out, we pass the last one to friends (who pass them on to other friends). The only one that isn't of any interest to people we know is a serious hi-fi magazine, which a local charity store is happy to have and make a couple of pounds on. The computing magazine is passed to the local barber: she reads it, then puts it out for customers to read while they're waiting - they also have the weekly cricket newspaper when we're finished with it. Although we're committed to recycling, we hate to recycle a magazine if it will still make a good read for someone else.
I ran across the same problem with all the old magazine issues I had been hoarding. I finally kept only the ones I was published in and the rest I gave to the local library for their annual sale to raise funds. I also stipulated that if any did not sell that they give them to the thrift shop. So they said they would do that. I did remove my address label from each of them first though. I think that is a good idea if you are donating or recycling even.
You've inspired me to go do a little purging myself. I don't have much, but what I have doesn't get used. I will keep my old catalogs because I like to be able to look up old sets, but nothing else gets looked at. I did the same thing with cookbooks before my last move. I need to go through those again because I almost always get recipes online now. I do print out the ones I use and keep them in a binder. The ones that turn into favorites get copied onto note cards and go in my recipe box.
I used to subscribe to all the stamping magazines when there were a good number of them. I didn't keep them then, nor would I now that I only subscribe to one. I go through them and tear our the technique instructions that I want and any card ideas I like (harder than "favoriting" here, but much the same). I keep them in a large file box by theme and use them as I go along. Can't tell you how many of my best cards were made that way. If you have used all you want and they are in somewhat decent shape, pass them along to someone else---we do that at our stamp club and they go around and around as people take them home, glean what they want, and return them for someone else to enjoy.
Before Pinterest I tried to index many of my magazines. Pink tabs were techniques to try, yellow ideas to CASE etc. as I added kids to my family, this organization started to falter. I keep some magazines and always will. Like somerset magazines. But I also wonder if my papercrafts from 2007 is still relavent.
If you do end up going through them, I hope to go through starting with the most recent first, you could photograph the pages to keep and pin them. Many people don't realize they can pin their own photos. Or at least you can on an apple device using the app. I expect you can from a desktop or laptop too. Then you can save it! You could also scan or photograph them and save in a file on your computer but I just LOVE the ease of use of Pinterest. If you can concerned about copyright issues, just make it a private board.
I had hundreds of old magazines...it took a few weeks, but whenever we took a car trip, I brought a pile, and slowly went through and tore out articles, and pictures of cards and ideas...I put them in a binder, actually 2 binders, and whenever I need a starting point, I just pull a binder out and always find something that tickles my crafting bones!!
I am needing to purge the stack of craft magazines dating way back. The magazines in good shape will I'll try to sell at yard sale. The others with torn pages, worn covers will go to recycle center.
Here in phoenix we have a group called VENSA that have a huge, and I mean huge book sale every Feb. they take magazines and craft books and really any kind of book. Donation bins are all around town. They got all my decorative painting books and some of my stamping magazines. I need to start parting with my creative keepsakes which I have from the very first issue until a few years ago when I got bored with scrap booking and canceled my subscription. The sale is a great place to buy books too. My family has walked out with 4 full paper grocery bags of books for $50. I like the idea of photographing the pages and storing them on a private Pinterest or Evernote board. Now I need ideas on how to use old scrap booking paper and stickers and what to do with those why did I ever buy this supplies!
Also try your local library. The library by me has an annual book/magazine sale. That's how they can stay open in the evenings and Sunday.
My library has a place for give/take of magazines. So if you're done with them you can put them here for someone else to take if they want. They do purge it now and again so the unwanteds don't pile up.
Like someone else, I enjoy taking my old magazines when I'm riding in a car. I am always surprised at articles and techniques that I saw years ago and forgot about or perhaps wasn't at that level to be able to understand. So I'm one of the few that allow them to pile up and enjoy!
If they had any use for them and the owner was delighted to have me bring them in and put on one of their bookcases in a "free" pile. They do a lot of different classes and they didn't last long.
I have every issue of The Rubber Stamper from January/February 1999 through December, 2005; I only have 2 issues from 2006 & 1 from 2007. I LOVED this magazine and although I'm doing a major purge, I'm not ready to let these go. They are full of techniques I've tried and forgotten, and I refer back to them often. However, there was one technique that in today's terminology would be called a "Major Fail,": don't ever put sweetened condensed milk on your card and heat it with a heat gun. But if you absolutely have to try this, mail it to someone as fast as you can. Otherwise, the ants coming marching in one by one...
I have one Take Ten (only because it's the one I'm published in) and I have a few of the Papercraft special issues. When I have time, I will go through the Papercraft issues and probably get rid of most of those. A couple are timeless and I love the Christmas card issues.
__________________ Linda E
Caution: You are entering an artistic zone. This is not clutter - this is creating. These are not pajamas - it's my work uniform.
Just going to drop my thoughts into the pool of ideas..
Hospitals..my local one now loves me because my neighbors drop bags at my back door and I plunk them into my trunk. When I'm near one, I swing in. Seriously..10 year old or new of anything like cooking, Oprah, Martha Stewart, Real Simple, and yes even the stamping/crafting ones they WILL use. (I did ask - older People, Vogue, etc, they didn't want) but car magazines etc for the men were on their list). Folks may want a recipe or an idea they find in a magazine - and yes people walk off with them BUT... A few years back I practically lived for over 4 months 24/7 at Stanford Hospital while my sister was in there. I can tell you at 2am in MARCH I was tickled pink to find a 1996 Good Housekeeping December issue to look through, and found lots of recipes and ideas. It sure beat having either ZIP to read, or some OLD New Yorker that I had already read cover to cover twice (there was NOTHING else to read after that many days/nights). So, please consider your local hospitals, and if need be let the volunteers (if your hospital has those) that collect them know that these are ones that folks will flip through no matter what year. I can assure you I would have been SO HAPPY to have had even ONE of those, no matter how old, to look through and read throughout that very long time there.
Just another thought...plus medical facilities, emergency rooms - they want and love them too! You never know who's day or night you might enhance by your older magazine. : )
__________________ Barbara God gave us memories so we might have roses in December. James M. Barrie
Old Stamping Magazines
