Magazine Magic

If you're anything like me, you may have quite a few editions of your favorite magazines around the house. As much as I love reading books, magazines have always been my guilty pleasure. They're generally cheaper to buy than a book, easier to skim through, and I don't feel nearly as bad about giving them away after reading through them only once (whereas I often feel like I can just check a book out of the library instead of paying so much cash for it!) 

Last week I promised you a few ideas on how to de-stash your magazines -- how to turn your Magazine Mayday into Magazine Magic, if you will. 

First things first... if you're done with your magazines and they're still in one piece, pass them on! Ask at local hospitals and doctors' offices if they would like your magazines. I often pass them onto friends or even thrift stores. 

Schools and summer camps may also be on the lookout for magazines for craft projects. Be sure yours are age appropriate (no nudity or even Cosmo, please...) 

Often times though, my magazines are not intact... especially if they have numerous knitting patterns or recipes or great articles I want to read again. In this case, I tear out the stuff I want to keep, make a new book or folder out of the compiled pages, and throw the magazines into a separate pile for recycling. (In some cases, places that want the magazines for crafts, may still want these ripped apart magazines!) 

Other ideas for excess magazines, especially if you've already torn out a bunch of stuff: 

A flower garland (there is a link at the bottom of her post for the actual instructions.)

Envelopes! 

As a teenager and in college, I crafted numerous letters and envelopes to friends from my old Glamour magazines. My envelopes weren't fancy... I would just tear out the page and fold and tape the thing into a rectangular envelope. 

Then I'd put a sticky label on the envelope for the address. If the outside of the envelope has enough white space though, you can always just write the address in it! If you want something similar but slightly more precise (let's be real, I didn't even cut a line down the one side. I just ripped the page...) then you can see a more detailed how-to here.

Wreathes

More wreathes

Christmas trees

You can also reuse neat photo pages from magazines as gift-wrapping for small items, or to use as packing paper when mailing fragile things.  

If a photo or design strikes my fancy, I tend to put it in my paper stash for later use on a handmade card or scrapbook page.

Finally, give your excess magazines to your kids! To this day I have an affinity for the Burpee Gardening Seed Catalog because my mom let me have her old ones to destroy for crafty things. I can't tell you how many paper 'gardens' I created out of those catalogs, but I know simply cutting out flowers and vegetables and then pasting them onto plain paper kept me occupied for hours! 

What other ideas do you have for recycling and reusing your magazines? 

Basket Case

The Sailor and I decided that we have been busier than usual these past few weeks. We're not really sure how that happened, because we're normally pretty laid back people. We don't like to fill our calendar so full that there's no time to relax. 

However, gorgeous weather has beckoned us outdoors for multiple hiking trips and gardening afternoons. And of course we've slowly been getting ready for the Peanut's imminent arrival in just a few short months! (Secretly, I think we're simply trying to cram a bunch of last minute things into our life before we get to meet the bundle of energy currently bouncing around inside of me.)

Last night, during a rare moment of sitting still, I finished my knit basket. 

The pattern is from a British magazine, Simply Knitting September 2013, and came as an extra insert -- the needles shown were also part of the package. I mentioned before that I'm a sucker for magazines... don't even get me started on the ones that offer free gifts inside the plastic wrap! 

Late last week, I promised you some methods on dealing with your own magazine mayday and mayhem. I haven't forgotten! It's coming soon... probably as soon as we get a rainy day around here. In the meantime, knit yourself an even bigger basket than this and stash those extra magazines in there.

Weekend WIPs

I seriously can't remember the last time I actually bought yarn (!) That doesn't mean I haven't been crocheting or knitting though. I'm just really trying to use up my stash before I purchase more -- and I'm trying to be more purposeful about buying yarn for a specific project, rather than stocking up willy-nilly just because some yarn is on sale.

A few days ago, Lion Brand posted this article about yarn organization on their blog. The headline started out with something about 'Too Much Yarn...' When they posted the story on Facebook, I read through the multitude of comments it elicited -- most of which said you can never have too much yarn. 

While I can jokingly agree (I mean, I'd hate to see the day that I have NO project to work on because I'm completely out of yarn...) I also believe that stashing the stuff can be to your detriment on occasion. 

For instance, this weekend, I found three nearly complete skeins of Bernat Cottontots -- all in different colors -- in my stash. I had purchased the yarn at a clearance sale and then made this blanket. I also used up some of the pink and green for this Princess and the Pea dress.

I scrambled through patterns and looked on Ravelry for ideas on using up the remainder of the skeins, thinking that I would just go and buy some more and make a striped blanket or something. Then I discovered that this yarn is now discontinued. 

Just great. I made that blanket three years ago. Had I really been hording those leftover balls of yarn for that long?!

I'm also pretty sure I have some yarn in the basket that I've been storing since I re-learned how to crochet nearly 5 years ago. It's definitely time to do something with those leftovers. 

So I'm still making dishcloths and washcloths and even baby cloths. Even if I don't use these myself, I'm going to keep a stash of them as gifts for people. Just the other week, the Sailor and I had a BBQ with some new friends and when I next saw them, I gave them a thank you note for their hospitality and two dishcloths tied with ribbon. The lady was thrilled!

 

I've also been using up a bunch of other cotton yarn to make some teethers for the Peanut. Something tells me the next three months are going to fly by... and then this baby will start teething before I know it. These would also make great last minute baby shower gifts or even just a token gift with a card for a new mom-to-be. Pattern available here. 

Finally, I purchased way too much yarn for this bulky blanket. (Remember, it started out as  shrug #1 then shrug #2...)  So this weekend, I started making a basket. You know, to store more yarn. Or those teethers. Or maybe these little squishies I'll eventually make for the Peanut as well. 

All in all, it's been a good weekend for stash busting with the current Works-in-Progress. When the stash is under control, I have some scrumptious sock yarn that I plan to use for a gorgeous two-toned shawl, as a reward for my efforts, if you will. But first, I have more dishcloths to make. 

Magazine Mayday

It's May 1st, and by now many of us have spring cleaning on the to do list. After all, summer is just around the corner. 

Spring cleaning or even spring sorting a constant thing around here. It seems like every week I find something that I don't use or wear regularly, and it either gets re-purposed, or it makes its way out the door to the nearest thrift store as a donation. 

Today, I discovered that I had a
magazine mayday on my hands. 

I do have a healthy magazine obsession. Ever since I was a teenager, I've been perusing the magazine rack at all manner of stores that carry them. Whenever I travel I purchase one or two magazines that I normally wouldn't buy on a regular basis. The Sailor brings my favorite one back from South Africa whenever he flies through there. And I do tend to leave several laying around the apartment because they're easier to pick up and skim through than a book on most days. 

Buying a magazine or getting one in the mail as part of a subscription is still one of life's little treats for me. And as much as I love technology, there is something so calming about sitting in a comfy chair and paging through an actual magazine.

I have this rule though that if the magazines don't fit in the holders on the shelf, and if the magazine rack is overflowing, then I need to clear a few out. 

(Surprise surprise... the magazines no longer fit in the holders, and the magazine rack is about to burst.)

Something needs to be done. 

I'll be posting some ideas on what to do with that stash of magazines you may also have multiplying around your own home. In the meantime, I'm going to grab a snack and flip through the latest issues that I haven't gotten around to reading yet! 

Happy Handwriting

The Sailor has been joking with me lately about the mail. Whenever he's home, he tends to walk to the boxes and pick up the post. Usually by late afternoon I've asked him if he got the mail already. If he didn't, I volunteer to go. Last week he joked with me that I couldn't even wait one day to see what we got in the mail.

It's not that we get that much interesting stuff -- or even bills (hooray for online payments!) We do get the occasional card from friends and family, a magazine we've subscribed to, or something we ordered online. It's just that ever since I was a child, I've looked forward to getting the mail. 

Like many children of my generation I had a pen-pal -- several in fact. Daily, I anxiously awaited a letter from one of them. I always associated Sundays with that day to not bother looking in the mailbox. Sundays always disappointed me a little. 

Later, my forays to get the mail turned into awaiting letters from friends I made at summer camp, or cards and packages from home when I was at college. 

Overseas, I anticipated letters from family and friends and I got a thrill going to foreign post offices to mail cards with greetings in other languages. 

Recently, I noted that I only had a few stamps left. I realized my most recent book of stamps had lasted me way too long. I also realized that I couldn't recognize all of my friends' handwriting if I tried. It used to be that I could look at the address on a card and know exactly who mailed it to me without peeking at the return label. (There are still some friends for whom this is true!) Nowadays though, I have people in my life I've only ever texted or emailed. 

I have no idea what their handwriting looks like. 

Last week I put my stash of greeting cards nearer to the working part of my desk and I shopped for a bunch of new ones. I'm determined to bring back snail mail in my life. And even if I don't know my friends' handwriting, they could at least be somewhat familiar with mine.

Because you know, if I'm this excited about getting handwritten letters and cards in the mail -- maybe other people are too. 

But first, I need to buy some more stamps.