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Magazine Collage Picture Frames

December 4, 2011 by Anna Ranson

The wonderful Tinkerlab is hosting another creative challenge today! Over 20 creative bloggers are taking part and there was just one, simple instruction…. “make something using old magazines”…that’s it!

This was such a wonderful challenge to set as it involves recycling old materials which are abundant at this time of year, with all of the Christmas catalogues dropping through the postbox each morning!

Our real challenge was narrowing this down to just one idea, and in the end we made a couple of different things! The other idea will be up later on in the week. For this challenge we decided to make some beautiful picture frames using a large magazine collage as the base. I LOVE collage and think it’s one of the most simple and stunning art forms there is! All ages and abilities can participate and it’s very open-ended.
We found a gorgeous Cath Kidston catalogue (who can resist those patterns?!) and started by tearing the pages with plenty of colour and pattern into long strips.
Then the girls started to paste them onto a piece of a cardboard box, spreading PVA (runny) glue all over it with paintbrushes. 

 They laid down the pieces as close to each other as possible and my only intervention was to suggest that they try and hide the cardboard completely, which became a fun challenge!

 Once it was completely covered and any small areas were patched up with little scraps, they spread more PVA glue over the entire piece, to seal it and make it dry with a shiny finish.

 The finished magazine collage was beautiful in its own right and we nearly left it at that! Here’s a close up of just one little section, lovely!

The next day I drew a couple of simple frame shapes on the back of the (now) hardened, magazine collage cut them out with scissors.

 Et voila! Beautiful, colourful, patterned and bright picture frames ready to stick over the top of a piece of art work or a favourite photo! These would make a lovely gift for a family member with a photo of your gorgeous children in this Christmas.

I stuck some pieces of thin, magnetic tape onto the back of one of the frames and put it on the fridge. It would make an easily changed instant frame for the daily colouring or painting produced by your little one!

I have to say though, while I was cutting out the frames, Cakie was busy asking me for sticky tape and attaching strips of the leftover cardboard collage together. What she ended up creating, all by herself, was far more creative and exciting to me than the frames! “This is a bridge Mummy, for my fingers to walk across the river!” Ahhhh, wonderful, independent creative construction work! It’s the first time she has ever produced something like this and I’m very excited for the next few months of creativity ahead!

To check out all of the other amazing ideas that have come from this one simple task, check out the list of blogs below!

Child Central Station , kids in the studio, Teach Mama, The Imagination Tree,Childhood101, Teach Preschool, hands on as we grow, Artful Parent, Paint Cut Paste, A Mom With A Lesson Plan, Toddler Approved, Kiwi Crate, Art 4 Little Hands,  Red Ted Art, The Chocolate Muffin Tree,  Imagination Soup,Michelles Charm World, Messy Preschoolers, Tinker Lab, Mommy Labs, Putti Prapancha, Sun Hats and Wellie Boots

With thanks to Rachelle from Tinkerlab for always inspiring us to think outside the box and get creative with our children!
Tinkerlab Creative Challenge

Check back to see what else we made for our Christmas tree from our magazine collage, later this week!

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Filed Under: Art and Craft, Christmas, Collage, Magazines, Recycled Crafts

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Comments

  1. maggy, red ted art says

    December 5, 2011 at 12:15 pm

    Ooooh a great idea to make picture frames! Lovely!!!

  2. Naomi says

    December 5, 2011 at 12:25 pm

    I love these! They look beautiful AND are recycled! It was a good idea to cut the frames afterwards to make it less fiddly for their little hands.

  3. maria says

    December 5, 2011 at 12:45 pm

    Hi, I came via TinkerLab and I just wanted to say how wonderful all these recycled crafts are! Magazines are my favourite crafting material and these frames are lovely:)

  4. Esther says

    December 5, 2011 at 2:26 pm

    That is a perfect way of recycling magazine! love your magazine frames!

  5. amy @ kids in the studio says

    December 5, 2011 at 2:26 pm

    What a good idea, to cut the frames out after the collage-ing!

  6. Rashmie @ MommyLabs says

    December 5, 2011 at 3:25 pm

    Such a creative idea and so doable for kids! Love these….

  7. Laura @Art For Little Hands says

    December 5, 2011 at 5:39 pm

    What a cute idea. I have to say I absolutely loved the bridge too. That would be thrilling for me!

  8. Melissa Taylor says

    December 5, 2011 at 7:13 pm

    this turned out great –

  9. Michelle says

    December 5, 2011 at 8:31 pm

    How incredibly clever!!

  10. catherine @ sunhats & wellieboots says

    December 5, 2011 at 9:12 pm

    So beautiful! And I just love that bridge!

  11. jen at paintcutpaste.com says

    December 5, 2011 at 11:26 pm

    i adore these!!! great idea!

  12. Evamarie Ulibarri says

    December 6, 2011 at 12:26 am

    great idea, did you use a exacto knife? the cut looks so clean! Also, I knew I should have kept all those xmas magazines! I will try idea with our old wrapping paper, wish me luck.

  13. Melissa @ The Chocolate Muffin Tree says

    December 6, 2011 at 4:37 am

    This is such a fab idea Anna! THese would make excellent gifts! I love the discovery you made at the end with your daughter (these are the best moments!)

  14. Christie - Childhood 101 says

    December 6, 2011 at 12:27 pm

    I love your magnetic frames, what a fabulous idea!

  15. rachelle | tinkerlab says

    December 8, 2011 at 6:57 am

    I love how you conceptualized this, Anna. It’s beautiful, child-centered, and the finger walking bridge is fab. Look forward to reading your other recycling post!

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About The Imagination Tree Hello and welcome! I'm Anna, Mama of 4, early years teacher and play enthusiast from the UK! Click here to read more about me.

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