In my humble flat I have stacks of old magazines begging to be thrown in the bin. However, I never could seem to part with them because of this article or that one. Eventually, I just started keeping them all for reference. I did this even long after I got a nearly lifetime subscription to Science because I prefer to read printed materials rather than digital — it’s just easier on my eyes and a welcome break from the computer. However, despite the fact that I have 6 floor to ceiling bookshelves and three half sized ones, even I have my limits of how much I will keep on hand and in my home. After giving some away, I still have several large stacks like this one left.

One of 5 stacks of science magazines. Each one consists of Science, GSA Today (geology), Science News, and Archaeology

So, in my desperation to clean up my tiny flat, I decided to do something with them. Giving them to Insanitek would have been superfluous since they already have access to it and the library doesn’t accept old magazines.  My next option, then, is to join the upcycling craze again, but this time armed with a sense of humour and science [images].

Thus, it began with flipping through and deciding what images I could use first. Obviously, some ideas come sooner than others. I found the DNA images awesome. After some thought, I came up with the idea of pairing it with “Thanks for the DNA!” on the outside, and on the inside having “Happy Mother’s Day” or “Happy Father’s Day”.

First of 7 Mother’s/Father’s Day cards.

Well, I came across a problem with the first few I did. I couldn’t decide which ones should be mother and which should be father. My solution: Don’t decide. Instead, I’m scanning them into my computer, clearing up the image a little, and then typing the text on them. I can change the inside upon the customer’s wishes, print out new cards, put them in envelopes, and mail them off. Easy, right?

Well, no. You see, these images don’t belong to me. They belong to the people who ran the adverts that I cut them out of. So, in the descriptions of the cards, I’ll have to put down who I got the image from. It’d be better if I could track down the correct person to ask for their permission, but I couldn’t find who is the correct person to ask permission from. Alas, this is the best I can do. Let’s hope it doesn’t anger someone to the point where they try to sue me for my stack of cards.

These cards will be available in the Insanitek store soon!