Upcycled fridge magnet notepad!

A few years ago a friend bought me a fridge magnet notepad.  At the time I didn't really get why I needed a notepad on my fridge.  I wasn't a mum of two young boys then though and I totally get it now. My house gets turned upside down daily by little hands and they like to hide things in the strangest places.  They tend to leave the fridge alone though, so now I think it is a great invention - a notepad that I can always find!

Sadly that notepad is no longer with us - page by page it went to recycling bin heaven :).  The magnets that came at the back of the notepad are still with us though and the fridge magnet notepad lives on in spirit!

Inspired by A Thrifty Mrs' idea for reusing envelopes I made a notepad out of envelopes, junk mail, paper bags and any bit of unwanted paper I could get my hands on with a blank side.  I then stuck the magnets to the back of the pad with sticky tape.  This didn't work that well though as the pad kept falling off the fridge, leaving the magnets behind.

After a couple of weeks I came up with the idea of cutting open a toilet roll tube and sticking the magnets to that with superglue (full credit to my husband who did the superglue part - it was a team effort!). It was a good size for a notepad and so far is working well. I punched holes in the top of the toilet roll card and all the pieces of paper. I then threaded a ribbon through and tied it at the front. It can be topped up on an ongoing basis as new envelopes etc arrive!

I love my new fridge magnet notepad and although it might not be quite as attractive as my old one, it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside. It is a very useful way to reuse paper, I made it, it is free, it's recyclable - what more could you want! It is so easy to make - you just need a toilet roll tube, some flat magnets, some superglue, some scissors and some junk paper with blank sides, so why not have a go yourself!

Have you got any tips for using up junk paper?  I'd love to hear about them! 

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This post has been shared at Season Celebration Wednesday

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Posted in: arts and crafts,eco,Frugal,Green,magnets,notepad,reuse,thrifty,upcycling