Custom Push Pins

Every Crafter needs an inspiration board in their space. I thought I would customize mine with these push pins.

I made the pins using my new favorite thing, Shrinky Dinks. I don't know why, but I only found out about Shrinky Dinks a month ago. Crazy, right, everyone is telling me they used them in elementary school. Well, not me. I love them because the possibilities are endless and they are so cheap. I bought a package for just a few dollars and have already made a zillion things with that one package.

After drawing and coloring my pictures I baked them, let them cool and super glued them to tacks. You can use plain old thumb tacks. I had tacks with a fat head on them, that made them stand out. I can't remember where they came from, but I'll look into it.

They make me smile. I love using them to hang my pictures, to-do lists and sketches.

Displaying Kids Artwork

With two of my kids just beginning elementary school we have more than plenty of artwork around the house. For the longest time I didn't know what to do with all of it. I hated having it piled up all over the house and the kids would cry if they ever saw me throwing something away. This art gallery has saved me.

I got the idea from SUTTON GRACE. It's made from the DIGNITET curtain wire, from IKEA. Sutton Grace has a cheaper version on her blog. I love this for two reasons. The first, because it solved my artwork problem. The kids are thrilled to have there pictures displayed and don't mind taking one down too make room for the new.

The Second reason is that I had these huge empty walls in our mud room. I had the idea of filling them by framing my kids artwork. But I didn't want to frame just any artwork. I wanted to frame my favorites. It would take years to fill the walls with framed art work. The wire rod System gave me an inexpensive way to fill them fast.

I'll still be framing my favorites, but I can do it at my pace now.

I love these seasonal pieces my son did. I wish you could see the detail.

By-the-way I hung this all by myself. I thought I needed my husbands help, but got sick of waiting for him. It's been two months and hasn't fallen yet.