Rolled Magazine Leaves

Use recycled magazines to make beautiful wall art!

Have you ever made art using recycled magazine? This time of the year I am receiving non-stop magazines, flyers and catalogs and I am always looking for new recycled art projects to do with my classes. I feel incredibly guilty about all of the wasted paper so I came up with this perfect Fall project.

This recycled rolled magazine art project requires patience so if you have it…then this is the craft for you! This recycled magazine project is not an easy one but is great for older kids and adults. I did it this year with my third and fourth grade classes and they did a beautiful job. I would recommend making a handful of extra magazine rolls for those who don’t have enough. It is also not a quick one, but one that you can work on over time – my class did it in about two hours. Originally I posted the rolled magazine starburst mirror project – and the feedback was that it took forever but that the end result was beautiful. So try this one instead – it is a smaller, more manageable version of that project.

WHAT DO I NEED?

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MAGAZINES
CRAFT GLUE
PENCIL
SKEWER
GLUE STICK
HOT GLUE GUN (This is my absolute favorite glue gun)
LEAF TEMPLATE OR STENCIL

HOW DO I MAKE THEM?

I’ve laid out the step by step instructions for making beautiful magazine leaves. This should take about two hours from start to finish depending on your patience and how fast your hands can roll paper!

Cut or rip all of your magazine pages in half and then fold and cut in half again. You are cutting the paper into quarters.

Roll the magazines starting from the corner around a pencil or a skewer. I always advise kids to place the paper colorful side down because that is what is revealed once you do the rolling.
Once you have begun rolling your magazine around a pencil, use the glue stick as you go to keep the magazine from unraveling. Be sure to add a bit of extra glue to the corners.
make about 15 of these magazine rolls – depending on how big you want your leaf to be.
On a blank sheet of paper, draw the shape of a leaf and cut it out. Alternatively, you can trace an actual leaf. I created my leaf on my Cricut, but you do not need a Cricut to complete this project.
Take on full page of a magazine and roll it using a long skewer. This will create a long piece of rolled paper that can act as the vein of the leaf.
Glue the long piece down the middle of the leaf.
Next, begin cutting your remaining rolled magazine papers in half and gluing them on a diagonal on either side of the vein. You can use either hot glue or craft glue- both work great!
Keep going until the entire leaf template is covered.
Once the glue is dry, flip it over and cut off the rolled magazines that hang over the edge.
Glue the finished piece onto a canvas or glue to the back of a frame. Instant rolled magazine art!