People often ask me where they can find fun and interesting books and magazines to make collages with. We have all seen the same old collages made from fashion mags that are covered in bright skin, lipstick ads, and luxury cars. I don’t find those interesting, but maybe you do.

In this post, I am going to tell you how and where to find some awesome materials to collage with, but first I have a question for you:

Do you have paper ephemera in your home that you have been saving for certain reasons? If you do, why are you saving it? Could those items be more enjoyable if you turned them into art for your wall?

Most likely you have some old books, souvenirs, and photographs sitting in a box somewhere. Its likely that those things could be taken out of storage and turned into some really cool wall art. Now, I am not telling you to cut up your passport, but I’m sure you have some cool family photos or baseball catalogs you could cut and reassemble into something cool and unique. All it takes to turn your old treasures into art is a little guts and some know-how.

This is my first piece of advice for you: Change your mindset about what needs to be “saved”, but also, change your mindset about what you think is “garbage”.

In my opinion, at the very least college materials should be inexpensive. At its very best, collage art is the epitome of upcycling: making treasure out of trash.

Okay, let’s say you don’t have anything at home and you want to go out and buy collage making source materials. I will share with you the handful of places that I like to look, and where you can get the most out of your money.

Before you go shopping let me give you some tips: