Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Honey, I Shrunk The Hearts

Guess what I made today?

Shrinky Dink pins!!

Shrinky Dink pins

I have been wanting to do this ever since I saw the tutorial on Wee Wonderfuls some time ago.

And now, I want to make MORE!

Last night I couldn't sleep and I knew I was running out of time to stitch an embroidery for the Make It Pink Challenge at Craft Styish so I decided to make something else. A heart-shaped bottom of a Sweetart container and a few pink felt scraps were my inspiration for a pincushion, which gave me a great excuse to also make some Shrinky Dink pins.

Pincushion with pins

I'm not at all happy with my sloppy blanket stitching or that weird seam at the bottom of the heart (um, hello?) but it was so fun to make the Shrinky Dinks, I don't care how the pincushion turned out.

I have two kinds of shrinkable plastic: the original Shrinky Dinks for an ink jet printer (I just colored mine with Sharpies and some cheapie no-name markers that I got a few years ago at Pic n Save, aka Big Lots) and some called Alene's Shrink-It, which I will try next time.

Hillary's instructions for making the pins are perfect. I took her suggestion and made my pre-shrinkage hearts about 3/4" wide. The directions on the package said to put the Shrinky Dinks in the oven for 3-5 minutes, but I swear, after just twenty seconds, mine shrunk right up. I was watching through the oven door and it was so cool to see them get so small in just seconds. Did they work this quickly when I was a kid? I really don't remember them shrinking so fast.

You might be wondering why one heart pin is black. Well, look what I found in my container of markers.

Shrinky Dinks pen

Yep, that's the pen that came with Shrinky Dinks back in the late 1970's. Would you believe it still works?!

12 comments:

SmilingSally said...

No wonder you're excited; they're so darling. And I cannot believe that pen still works. Amazing!

Jane said...

Love the pins

Coloradolady said...

Mercy, these are adorable. How cute....and you had kept a pen from the
1970's. Amazing.

Diane said...

Aahhh! I can't believe you still have that...even more unbelievable that it still works!

Cute cute pins. Shrinkies are very addictive.

~Niki~ said...

You've been boo'd! come over and visit me for your graphic!

Kellie said...

AW MAN! I wanna shrinky dink! I haven't shrinky dunked(?) since I was a kid! Adorable, Patty!

Anonymous said...

I must make shrinky dinks now!

Brook said...

cute!

Twyla and Lindsey said...

Your pins are so cute and I LOVE the pincushion! I think you did a great job. Twyla

Cheryl said...

OMW those pins are so darn cute!!! So nice to find your blog and I off to check out the tutorial. Great job on the pincushions and pins!!!!!!!!

Threeundertwo said...

Those are so cute! I have to make some. We even have a shrinky-dink oven, but I don't think the pins will fit, so I'll use the regular oven.

Finished for Friday" is up at my blog! You could link to this if you want!

Anonymous said...

Now I must get some Shrinky Dink to make pins..and maybe yet another pincushion to hold them..:).
I just love these you made...