Have old magazines and some glue? Today I’m sharing a fun Magazine craft that makes easy decorative letters. This is a super simple fun craft to do with your kids during summer!
I love crafts that involve upcycling and you can find many more recycled craft ideas on my blog that are inexpensive to make. previous crafts from magazine pages here-
Rolled Magazine Craft video:
Watch the video tutorial here: https://youtu.be/cE1zNnxyJfI
SUPPLIES YOU WILL NEED:
- Old magazines
- White glue
- Scissors- I’m using Fiskars Amplify
- A pencil
- Print out of your template of choice
- A surface to work on- this will get messy
- I would recommend a coat of varnish or sealer as a protective layer.
easy magazine craft tutorial:
We’ll be making paper straws in this magazine craft and then you can use these straws in many different ways to create unique pieces of art!
Apply glue to the top edge of the page: Tear out one single page from the magazine. I like using the whole entire page to create ONE paper straw. This makes it easy to create paper straws that are all similar in size and shape.
Using a wide applicator add a thin layer or glue or adhesive to the top of the magazine page.
ALSO READ: Tombow Adhesives: What Glue to Use When?
Roll the magazine page into a tight straw: Starting at the bottom of the page, start rolling the page into a straw. The first roll will determine how neat your straw is. I like using a pencil as my starting guide, place the pencil in place, and roll the paper tightly around it. Roll till the top, where the glue will hold the rolled paper shut.
Carefully pull out your pencil after rolling is done.
For thinner paper straws- try using a chopstick, a knitting needle, or bamboo skewer as your guide instead of a pencil.
Tear, glue, roll and repeat: Repeat the first two steps until you create a bunch of paper straws. My kids enjoyed the process, and some of their straws turned out wonky in the beginning but they quickly got the hang of it.
We decided (ahem- I influenced the decision 🙂 that we should use all straws with white paper and type only with just a few pops of color.
Trim those paper straws to size: Using your printed template as a guide, start trimming the paper straws down to size. I trimmed each straw to be slightly larger than my template.
I chose not to adhere to my paper straws to any backing. You can draw your template (here my A) onto cardboard or felt and then glue all the straws to this. But I chose to glue all the straws to each other for a sleeker finishing.
Glue the straws together using the template as a guide: Apply a thin bead of glue to the side of each straw and adhere to the previous straw. I’ll be honest, I wish I used hot glue for this step! Hot glue would have dried instantly. Instead, I had to wait for about 30 mins for my glue to dry and set here.
Trim the outline of the letter out: Using a sharp pair of scissors, trim out your template outline. I adhered the inside of the letter to align with the template- but for the outside, I wanted a nice clean trimmed line.
Place the template on top and trim: Place the template on top, adhere temporarily if needed, flip over and trim off the excess hangover.
Let dry and adhere onto a display board:
And our Magazine craft is done!
Blog Hop:
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All done!
I had been planning on buying some Paper Mache letters to make this “read” sign for a while now but I was inspired make this recycled Magazine Craft instead.
I love it when you can upcycle something to create something you were going to spend money to buy! These letters turned out pretty neat, and my kids LOVE looking up from their desks to see these.
Instead of magazines, you can easily use newspaper, colored in pages, printer paper, thin cardstock, or patterned papers too!
Our letters are not perfect, and I never meant for them to be. We used ALL the rolled up straws we made and enjoyed the making process. In our house when the glue and scissors are pulled out- some of the best times are had 🙂
Thank you so much for participating! Your project is so amazing!