Thumbtack Mini Clothespins

This week has been an interesting one. I am still recovering from our amazing trip to Georgia for Thanksgiving this year. We had a blast going back to Atlanta to visit with family and friends.

It was nice to relax back home, but to be honest now that we are back in Arizona, I have had trouble getting back into my usual routine. The fact that we have another trip coming up in less than 3 weeks to spend time with my hubby's family for Christmas in Kansas doesn't really help much with the whole routine part anyway....

So this week I have been trying to decide what this week's craft would be. My bulletin board from last week's project is now adding a touch of privacy and color to my desk at work, but I have not yet gotten around to actually pinning anything to it yet. That's probably because I forgot to bring my push pins to work.... so I decided this week's craft should probably be the clothespin thumbtack project I have planned on getting around to for a while now. 

Do you ever have certain pictures or documents that you want to pin up but you don't want to poke holes in? I know I do in case I want to scrapbook those photos later. This is the perfect solution. These custom clothespin thumbtacks are super easy to make and there are a million different things you can do with them. 

I will confess... I hate throwing away scrap paper. I always think, "Oh I am sure I can find a way to use this for a different project," but then that usually doesn't happen. Well, I decided today was the day it should! :) 

For this project, you will need some mini clothespins, thumbtacks, a hot glue gun, hot glue sticks, modge podge, a paintbrush, patterned paper, and scissors. Scrap paper is perfect. I picked some striped paper that would be easy to size to fit on the clothespins initially and also some green polka dotted paper. 

I started by measuring how wide the paper needed to be and cutting off a strip the width of the clothespin. Then I used the modge podge to glue the strip to one side of the clothespin.

I folded the strip at the edge of the clothespin and cut off the excess.

Gotta Love Modge Podge!

 

 I brushed Modge Podge over the top of the paper to seal it and make the pin more durable as well.

 I added a dot of hot glue to the back of the clothespin and then applied the thumbtack.

 A trick here is to try and apply the thumbtack so that the edge is about level with the metal part on the lower part of the clothespin. That way, whatever you decide to hang will cover up the little bit of the thumbtack that may stick out on the sides.

 

I made a few for now and am contemplating making more but covering the side in glitter instead of applying paper or leaving off the thumbtacks and instead stringing some embroidery floss as the "clothesline" to pin things to.

Here's the finished product! I also have to say on a side note that this is one of my favorite pictures of my nieces. This captures their sweet and silly personalities perfectly. What do y'all think? If anyone decides to make these, I would love to see what your projects end up looking like.