"You're going to have to do something, Mum. That pile is bigger than you are and it's going to end in tears.."
He was talking about my magazine collection. It's true I have a lot. I love them. Always have done. Right back to the days of Twinkle (with its cut-out paper dolls); to Bunty (did it have paper dolls too or am I imagining that?); and then Jackie. After that it has been craft magazines or interiors or fashion, depending on how domesticated I am feeling.
Every so often, when the floorboards start to creak, or the stack beside the bed threatens to topple in the night, I do try to rationalize my collection. But I usually pull out so many pages to keep that all I end up getting rid of is staples.
I think I got worse after I found these boxes in IKEA
I think I got worse after I found these boxes in IKEA
They have such a lovely library look. I bought as many as I could. Which turned out to be A Good Thing, because they have been discontinued. Maybe they were trying to tell me something? Maybe I should take the hint. I'm kind of tempted to have a clearout - I found this fantastic article on Pinterest. Have a look! 100 uses for old magazines? What's not to love?
38 comments:
laughed at the 'it will end in tears' - at least there are no pointy edges to 'have someones eye out'.
I read the same trio as you growing up - with Beano thrown in too.
I was reading my old Simple Scrapbook magazines at the weekend - still miss it
I'm a magazine addict as well...and it's even worse at this time of year....with all the christmas covers proving irresistible!!!
Oh I can so relate Sian. Love the list of uses for old magazines. My collection was so bad that I finally bit the bullet and last week put 84 knitting magazines from as far back as 1979 into the recycle bins and I've got more waiting to go out next week. Mind you I did tear out some articles & patterns. :)
I get looks every now and then when my magazine pile threatens to topple over. I did bite the bullet recently and had a cull, the recycling bin was very heavy that week.
My love started with Twinkle too, do you remember Look In? I think that was what it was called? And of course Jackie too.
I'm not much of a magazine person, but show me a beautifully styled cook book and I'm right there with you!
A real waft of nostalgia ... I remember all of those (though Jackie had to be purloined from friends and read under the bedclothes as my Mum though it wasn't a 'nice' magazine (ie too much about boys and love stories. I also remember Judy, along with Bunty. What superb magazine display - I've always wanted a wall of those too! Love the photo of you ... :). (Is that a smart Boden pinafore I spy?)
I cut out and save the things I'm interested in from magazines, but even though they're well-organized in notebooks, I tend to use the internet more than my notebooks for inspiration. I'm not sure what to do with all the clippings.
Alexa, yes I can remember my Mum vetting Jackie before she finally allowed me to buy it! And yes that is a new Boden pinafore, thank you :)
I too started my obsession with Twinkle, but I think I'm past any help now, but hey I'm happy with all my magazines around me
Oh, yes, Bunty had a doll and clothes to cut out! I also then moved onto Jackie (and Smash Hits). I love that I know exactly where you are standing because of the (just seen) poster.
Very nice outfit; yours truly is smartening up her appearance, given that DS is expected to appear in school correctly suited and booted. Can't let the side down, now can I?
Repeat after me - my name is Siân and I am a magaholic!!
I no longer buy any magazines ... other than the Radio Times and Private Eye ... but will happily borrow other people's crapping mags :D
Hmmm. . . JimJam has interesting taste in magazines to borrow!
I allow myself one shelf or basket of magazines. If I want to save a new one, I have to toss an old one.
Somerset Studio are my downfall. . . sign.
Rinda
What a terrific picture! That is a lot of magazines! I am trying not to purchase magazines as of late. I too was a sucker for scrappy, cross stitch and home decor mags. I'm okay with letting them go. I only keep what can fit in my magazine rack and then a few of my favourite discontinued cross stitch mags. Good luck trying to part with them.
It's npt going to help, then, that I sent you 3 French mags today!
Oh yes, Bunty certainly did have a doll on the back. Hours of fun! I have a confession to make. I don't buy magazines. I know, now you are in a state of shock aren't you? The only ones I get are the ones that are free in Waitrose or if I am at an airport and need something to read on the plane. I'm sure there is a support group for me out there somewhere. If only you lived closer, I could borrow some of yours!
Love the picture Sian, and the trip down memory lane. I used to get Bunty and Jacky too. Wish I'd saved a couple of them for posterity. All I seem to have is a plastic Ermentrude(?) from Magic Roundabout that was probably free with cereal! I have kept one copy of Simple Scrapbooks and Scrapbook Inspirations for posterity tho!
Oh, magazines! Not sure why I love them so much but I can't let them go LOL How did I miss those boxes from IKEA?? Thanks for sharing the article, it will be great to find some good use for my piles
Luckily for me, I'm over my mag obsession! I had Bunty and Jackie and Smash Hits and The Face *sigh* those were the days! Then I moved onto Company, Cosmo and Vogue along with any foreign fashion mag I could get my hands on! Over the years, I have collected hundreds and hundreds of them and when I have to start lugging those boxes from place to place and country to country it gets a bit ridiculous! So I got rid of LOADS! (though I held onto a few!) These days, I have my collection of Nat Geog., my Creating Keepsakes, my old Simple Scrapbooks and The Scrapbook Magazine. I don't read any real mags any more so I just. stopped. buying. them! It was a real aha moment! I'm pretty much over them! (although I do admit to loving a guilty sneak at the gossip mags at the hairdressers or even my mum's!) Looks like we are all the same - he he!
That is a very tall and potentially topply pile! I started with Twinkle too, moving on to Misty and Look in, before Smash Hits and NME. I bought the first issue of Prima when I was 17 and there began my addiction to sewing/crafty mags!
Oh no!
but will happily borrow other people's crapping mags :D
my *dirty* little secret is out of the bag!!!
;o)
Mandy, Bunty, Twinkle, Jackie... yep. My sister was the Beano, Dandy and Look-in horder :P I prefferred the annuals that had hand drawn comic strips stories so I could copy them, didn't like the photo ones :P
I'm not as bad since the massive decluttering in the move but still have a pile beside the bed ;)
I'm glad it's not only me that has a magazine 'thing'. I love them and they threaten to take over the house frequently and I keep geeting told off for buying them. I tend to buy craft ones these days, I bought on my way home from work tonight.
I used to love the cutout dolls in Bunty.
i can feel some crafty projects coming on!!
Jackie and smash hits for me.....nowadays i do have the odd splurge but normally think about what else i can spend the fiver on!!
I have to say "MMMMY" that is a huge pile xx
I no longer purchase magazines... my goodness I used to purchase every fashion mag I could find... then i switched to all things scrapbooking related.... I have purchased a couple somerset mags but typically i peruse the internet more so than read magazines :)
Magazines are too expensive to buy in Spain, so I'm always pleased when visitors arrive with the ones they read on the plane!...and I LOVED the cut out doll and her oh-so-trendy wardrobe on the back of the Bunty!
Alison xx
I love magazines too. I have a really big pile of scrapbook inspirations, and other odd crafting mags. My mum got me a sub to Mollie makes for my bday so now they're piling up too. I don't want to cut them up, they're too pretty!
Oh I've always been the same too- I've always found a lot of comfort from buying magazines - like you I started early, 'Popswap' Jackie' Musicstar' Bunty,Mandy - then on to the others you've mentioned ! Himself is always asking me to clear out my Hello and Ok mags !!
You are so leading me astray, another pin I need to follow. AND I need to come back and look at your Ikea boxes (I'm on wind up internet at the mo) I presume the photo shoot went well though.
What a great link - so many ideas/ways to use old magazines! Thanks for sharing.
Well, I have some great crafting magazines... it would seem a crime to throw them away!
I did manage to "rationalise" my card-making mags a while back... but the scrapbooking and other crafts? Well, there are just too many "useful" pages in them.
At least it's a (relatively) harmless addiction...
Love those Ikea boxes - it's perhaps as well for me that they were discontinued... though I have just got hold of their new catalogue... drools
Wallpaper! make paper bricks and build an extension? Mush down the magazines and make your own paper? Paper clothing? make a paper christmas tree?!
OR... sit down for a few weeks, force the family to supply you with tea and biscuits, and read every one from cover to cover and remember... all thse times when you were a child and loved every page back then.
Or, you could strap down the family and force them to read the magazines you read :)
How wonderful is that pile? throw a cloth over it and call it a tall table. I am making paper beads with old mags at the moment. It's very therapeutic. I only have 2 mag subscriptions now after years of many. I had to thin out after the removal man said. "didn't we move this pile of magazines INTO this house?"
Sian, I was definitely NOT going to follow that link, now I have and I have retrieved the pile of mags that I put out for my friend! aaargh!!!!!!!!!
I feel your pain....but when you have a good sort out of your mags it's always nice to rediscover projects and articales and then spend the afternoon reading them again.
I don't feel quite so bad about my piles of mags now. Off to read what I can do with them now. (or is that after I've finished th ehop and after I've checked Google Reader - it is so easy to get sidetracked on this 'ere t'internet thingy!
I used to hoard magazines...then when we moved I had a ruthless clearout & gave tons to the hospital, Drs, dentist etc etc!! the only ones I have now are my Creative Keepsakes & Scrapbook Inspirations back issues & they're allowed!!!
Those Ikea storage units are awesome...shame they're discontinued!!
That is a great photo of you BTW!!
I used to keep 'em all but then realized if I kept them all I'd have no reason to go buy new ones. SO keep bits I'm interested in and give the rest away...
I liked those from IKEA and they discontinued them before I bought any :pout:
I've been better in recent years in terms of not having as many subscriptions in the first place and discarding most of what I do get fairly promptly. That said, I haven't been able to part with my stash of Digital Scrapbooking magazines. They might be years old but they are just as fun and informative now as they were when they were new.
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