Homemade Pins

For the Blue and Gold Banquet for Cub Scouts this year, we wanted to celebrate the boys as individuals. Originally, I was asked to get ribbons for each of the boys to present to them at Pack night. As much as I like ribbons (actually, I don't like them at all), I decided it might be fun to do something the boys would want to keep and related to scouts. I got the idea for homemade pins from our graphic designer at work (thanks J.B.!).

This was actually a very simple project. All you need is some pins (can find in the bead section at Robert's or any other craft store), some paper, mod podge (not shown), and some Glossy clear dimensional embellishment (it's like epoxy - sort of).

First print out the design you want onto cardstock and cut it out.
Next, apply the glossy coating to the top of the cut outs. It will be bubbly, like those epoxy stickers. (It was sooo hard to show in the pictures how it turned out. You really can't see the epoxy at all!) Let dry over night.
Apply mod podge to the back of the paper and let dry. Then, use your epoxy stuff and use it to "glue" the pins onto the back of the paper. Once again, let dry overnight if possible.
Like I said, not easy to show how it turned out. Above is a very bad picture, but I think you get the gist.
Here's how it looks on my little guy. I wanted them to be small like the other pins the cub scouts get when they earn rank or sports and academic pins. Now, each of the cub scouts has his own pin to put on his uniform and look mighty nice.

Does J.J. always makes goofy faces in pictures? Well, he is my son after all.

Here is the template I used to help you get started if you want to do a cut scout pin. But really, the sky's the limit here! You could make awesome pins for a little kid's birthday or for any celebration, or just for fun!

Cub Scout Pins - Word doc