How to scrapbook knitting magazines

With gorgeous pictures and offers of free gifts, knitting magazines are a tempting supermarket and corner-store staple. But, with their ever increasing prices, are they really worth it? Well if you intend to just read the magazine and not much else probably not. You’ll likely find the same information online and can choose higher quality notions and patterns individually.

So why do I have a subscription to my favourite magazine?

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Obviously by the title I am scrap-booking and am here to tell you how. Here, I must admit that I developed this method through trial and error and whilst this works very well for me, you’ll probably tweak it a bit to make it work for yourself.

1 Acquire a magazine, as mentioned I get mine via a subscription option. This is great because I never miss an issue, save a little bit of money and have the magazines delivered straight to my door. However, there are some months the magazine has less of what I am looking for and I can't just put it back on the shelf, which is a bit annoying. You can also look online for current and back issues of your favourite publications. I’ve also seen of bundles of magazines for sale on second-hand websites such as eBay and Facebook market place. If you are new to scrap-booking I would recommend looking for stapled spine magazines rather than glued spine magazines but either will work.

2 Next you’ll need some tools. Now, there are options, it can be easy to get carried away buying every shiny tool available and honestly go for it! They can be a lot fun and open up more options. However, you can also start very basic and do very well. Basic essentials a blank notebook or sketch book, a glue stick and scissors. You may also want but do not necessarily need a paper-cutter/guillotine and staple remover.

3 I usually start by reading through the magazine, after all, a whole team of people have spent a considerable effort putting together the magazine exactly how it is and this should be appreciated. It's also a good opportunity to read articles that are relevant to your hobby, catching up with news, events and adverts for new products that may interest you. You can also read articles by others in the hobby offering their perspective on related topics. Of course this is also an opportunity to make a mental note of where images and articles of interest are in the magazine as well as any patterns you may wish to keep for later.

4 Lets Start at the very . . Centre? Yes, find the middle of the magazine the centre fold and carefully open up and remove the staples. This separates all the pages for ease of, well everything that comes next. If you have a glue spine magazine you may wish to use a craft knife to cut the spine off or you may wish to keep the spine in tact and cut out only the patterns and images you want. It's a double edged sword, staple spine magazines are much easier to work with but glue spine magazines tend to have more patterns and an overall a more serious tone.

5 lets continue as if you have a staple spine magazine, simply lift each sheet and check both side before making any cuts. Due to the way magazines are constructed you may also need to check if the pattern you are going to save continues on to the next page. If does collect all pages containing the pattern before cutting out smaller items.

6 Continue going through the magazine from centre to cover page at a time. Remember we are collecting, patterns, pictures, articles, adverts; anything that we connect with, enjoy, are inspired by or made curious by. You can always make rough cuts at first and tidy them up later if need be.

7 At this point things are going to get messy. both physically your space will be covered in off cuts, pieces you want, pieces you don't want, and pieces you have not yet made a decision about - Trust The Process. Things will also get messy decision time, there will be pages that have items on both sides that you want and you will need to choose. You could of course purchase two of each magazine but I'd avoid this if you can. Deciding is tough but it really makes you practice decision making. I've noticed that some of the adverts I like come up repeatedly and that some of the patterns I see can be found online or similar versions can be found by alternative designers. Once I learnt to lean into it, I started to really enjoy making and sticking to my decision.

So, you've got your pieces now what? You're on your own from here. You could just stick what you have into your book as is. I like to sort and group and get creative. I have a page that is just pictures of sheep, I have a page for socks I have pages by colours, seasons, vibes. I have tutorial storyboards and a few pages where I dipped into embroidery magazines. Add stickers, textures, embellishments, draw and write. Essentially, now you make art, you cut and stick and make art. We've had adult colouring books, why not adult cutting and sticking.

Why I Scrap-book Knitting Magazines