No More Boring Pushpins!

Why have plain pushpins when you can dress them up a little? A while back, on impulse, I bought a package of large clear pushpins at Target. I thought I could do something with them to make them a little more fun. I found that one of my punches was just the right size to cover the top almost completely. (Yet another great use for those scraps of paper I love to keep!) I also pulled out some buttons from my stash (mostly garage sale finds). I glued the punched paper and buttons to the tops. Sadly, when I went back to Target, with visions of gift sets of pushpins, they were no longer carrying them.



I thought I'd try the same thing with regular sized clear pushpins. I didn't have any buttons on hand that worked, but a hole punch was a good size for the top. For these, I also cut strips of paper and wrapped the shank of the pin. These were way more putzy, and not quite as much fun, but I'm still glad to have them decorating my bulletin board.



I also had some pushpins with much larger heads and a shorter pin. They were pastel, with flowers on top, and didn't really work for me anymore. Of course, being the pack rat that I am, I'd kept them. I found that a couple of punches were close in size to the tops, but not quite big enough. Then it occurred to me to go over the edges with Stazon ink. The pin way at the top is in the process. I've inked the edge and part of the top in black. Then when I glue the paper over it, it should look more like the red one at the lower left of the picture.



The next photo is of some magnets I did. I don't know where I'd gotten them, but I had some plain round magnets that were pretty strong. So again, out came my buttons and I glued some old, beat-up ones to the top. The metal one is not a button; I don't know what it is. For these, I used E6000, which is a strong adhesive.



The last photo shows my bulletin board. I enjoy looking at and using my new variety of pins.



Happy creating,

Immi