Magazine storage binder tutorial.

Hi all :)

In the past week, i must have read at least a dozen requests for advice with magazine storage on various sites. This is always going to be an issue as long as the publishers keep bring out great crafty mags!

In the past I've mentioned wooden storage racks that I've made, but these aren't quite so easy to knock up in your craft room in 20 minutes. This however....is!

I thought of all the ways I'd seen magazines stored before, and when i was 12 years old, i subscribed to a magazine which i bought the binders for. I've modelled this crafty version on that storage idea.

All you need is an A4 ring binder, some pliers, some ribbon lengths and an eyelet setter.
Ok, here we go....first take your standard A4 ring binder.....

Now we want to get rid of the metal ringcontraption in the middle. This is going to be the hardest part of this project. It is only held in with two eyelets, but they are tough little fellas, so i got some pliers and sort of pinched the edge of the eyelets together until you could shove it back through the hole in the binder.

Take it off back and front, eyelets too. You should be left with holes like this.

These can be easily covered up with a strip of card/paper.

The outside bit gets covered up the same, however you can fancy this up a bit more, even write a label so you can see what is stored inside. You may even want to have a folder for each brand of magazine, in which case you could be ultra organisational and include the name of the mag.

Now to work on what holds the magazines in the binder. Using a Crop-A-Dile, punch a hole at either end of the binder. Ensure you leave a few millimeters so you can slide a magazine in.
Secure the eyelet, nice side on the outside of the binder.....looks prettier that way!

Now you want a few lengths of ribbon, thin ribbon is fine. Make sure they are a couple of inches longer than the binder as you will need the extra length for tieing a knot. Tie your first ribbon at one end, just tie any old secure knot, pull it tight..but not overly tight that you can't fit a mag under it.....then tie it off at the other end.

You should now have this....

You will need a separate ribbon for each magazine, so just add them all either at the start when you make the binder, or add then as you buy each magazine.
Here I'll just do two for the tutorial.

As you can see, if you do them singularly, you end up with a knot for each ribbon. I've just checked and i can fit ten bits of thin ribbon through an eyelet. If you find this tricky, there is nothing to stop you adding a couple another couple of eyelets either side of this one.

Now open your magazine to the centre pages, and slide it under the ribbon.



Close the first magazine, and you can see below that you have the next ribbon waiting to take the next mag.



Insert your next magazine exactly as you did the first.....



Hey presto.....here you have a quick, easy and affordable way of keeping your magazines safe and in good condition.



Hope this helps.....it's also featured on my blog here, thanks for looking. :)