I have two wonderful parents that took me and my two sisters on some pretty amazing vacations. At last count, I've been to 35 of the 50 states, and a part of Canada and Mexico....all before I was 17, and never flew in an airplane until I was 17. My parents (or me when I finally had money) bought a t-shirt for me as a souvenier and to help remember the visit. You saw what I did with some of the t-shirts in a previous post.
As I grew up, I realized I had way too many t-shirts and wanted something else to bring home to help me remember the visit or experience. Then one day while hiking in the grand canyon, I saw a hiker wearing a hat that contained pins from all of the different places he had been. I saw another hiker with a back-pack with embroidered patches from each place he had been. At the time, I didn't know how to sew and never thought I'd ever sew...so I decided to go with the pins. My first pin was purchased at the Seguaro National Park in Arizona. Ever since, I have purchased a pin to commemorate each place I have travelled. (I'm doing some ebay searching to even find pins from the places I went to when I was younger.) After my uncle passed away I was given some of his pins, some random, but some from his days at the Moose Lodge!What was I going to do with all these pins (my treasures)?! Like the hiker in Arizona, I tried putting the pins on a hat, but realized I would probably never wear the hat and was afraid I'd lose one of the pins. I thought about a backpack....same problem. I bought a lanyard at Disney...but that wasnt what I was looking for. Slowly my collection has grown (exponentially after my visit to Disney two years ago....they have whole groups dedicated to pin trading....), and pins have found there way into a box on my dresser. I wanted to display the pins, but didn't want it to look childish (if you know what I mean).
I did some searches on google, flickr, blogs, and the Disney pin trader discussion board for ideas. I didn't like the display case idea...too generic for me. I finally went to a couple of craft shops for ideas. I didn't get an idea until I happened to go into the Crate and Barrel outlet (yes, they do exist!) by my house. They had a 17" square bulletin board for $12 in the college section, and some fabric in the clearance bin. I also had leftover fabric at home. Perfect! I covered the board with the fabric I bought, and left over fabric from when I had made pillows for my couch and added the pins. I left room to add additional pins, and maybe some photos from the trips. I am really happy with the end result.....now I just need wall space to hang it....
Do you have a collection? Did you inherit a collection? How do you display your collection?
