How to Make a Collage With Magazines

A collage is an assemblage of pictures, words, and just about anything else fitted together to make a single composition made of overlapping parts. Making a collage with old magazines is an easy and fun way to decorate everything from notebook covers to placemats.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• A big stack of old magazines
• Scissors
• Glue stick
• Clear contact paper
• Cardboard, particle board or notebook cover.

1. Grab a big stack of magazines and flip through each one. Cut out pictures, words, and anything else that catches your eye. Keep going until you have a decent pile of pieces for your collage.
2. Lay your favorite clippings out and make them the focal points of your collage, and then trim the pictures down as closely as possible so that you can fit them all together.
3. Lay out your collage, fitting the pieces together like a jigsaw puzzle. Overlap pieces and just keep rearranging them until every inch of your surface is covered.
4. Remove each piece starting with background pictures and glue them down. Don't worry of the pictures don't end up exactly where they started. Fill in any gaps with smaller images and words. Trim the edges when you're done gluing to make it look more polished.
5. Cut a piece of clear contact paper that is about 1.5 inches bigger that the surface of the collage.
6. Peel the backing off of the contact paper carefully and slowly lay it over the collage. Start in one corner and work your way across. Be sure to leave excess contact paper around all the edges. Smooth out the contact paper to avoid air bubbles.
7. Fold the extra contact paper edges around the back of the surface like you're wrapping a gift and trim any excess.

Tips & Warnings

• Make it mixed media. Use paint, glitter, stickers and textiles to add interest.