Pin-eing For Answers!

[rwrocksme]

Ok, I'm a long time pin trader looking for answers to a few questions. Here goes!

1) How do you display your pins? I tried a tackboard and some of the pin backs got bent, so I'm looking for more ideas.

2) How do you take your pins to Disney? The lanyard is getting to be impractical--I have two full already plus more. Also, I am concerned about damage. At home, I keep them (temporarily-see #1) in a lined wooden box, but the box won't stay closed when I travel.

3) How can I remember to actually TAKE my pins? I always forget!

Thanks for your help. I'm open to ANY ideas!

 

[Luv2Roam]

Well.... I have several framed. I have bought some display frames from Michael's and Hobby Lobby. Those are nice, but only if you don't want to change pins out very often.
And I have a library of binders, with many binders including just one theme, or even binders with one theme .
I also have some corkboards that I bought at Walmart. Those are really the best for me in some ways just for ease. Esp the pin sets that come with a backing card to poke the pins in.
I am having issues with my boxed pin sets. I went through mine the other day. If I was just not in love with them, I put them up for trade. But that still left a lot of jumbo and boxed sets just buried away that I REALLY like and RARELY see. I am trying to come up with an idea to start displaying those, at least on a rotating basis.
My (CM) park traders I carry in either a small shoulder pin bag, or in a small Disney cloth bag. They are just big enough for pins and my ID, money, etc. I like to travel light in the parks.
Long ago I use to wear a lanyard. Then two just for ease. But CMs seemed to automatically equate me to shark when I wore lanyards. (To some, Adult = Shark Although I am sure they have seen and heard it all. And I often traded just to prove them wrong. )
Now I just carry the trader pins in a bag, and I don't have to worry about them falling off or it being too hot to wear a lanyard around my neck.

 

[pezpam]

My keepers are all in binders.

My (well, mostly DDs) traders I transport in a ziploc. Yup, that's it. We've taken hundreds of pins back and forth that way and never had any damage. I normally keep them in my carry-on, but have had them in soft-sided checked luggage in a pinch. In the parks, DD wears her lanyard and one of us keeps a small ziploc with a bunch of extra traders in our backpacks.

I remember them this way - the traders are all in one easily-grabbable bag and when I make up my packing list, I include everything from park tickets to trading pins. Some people keep a Disney Box of things they take each trip, but I haven't gotten that far yet since most of what we take, we also use back home.......

 

[pindecisive]

Do you have a container store where you are?
containerstore.com

There have these clear boxes that are perfect for storing pins and a lanyard.

You can see them so you don't forget them, and you can store them so they don't get damaged.

I just keep mine in the boxes on a shelf, I don't really display them.

I only take a select few with me to trade, the ones I buy off ebay and 5-7 from the last trip that I've grown tired of. No sense in dragging them all along.

 

[Mrs Potato Head]

I carry a lot of pins with me to trade, and a couple different lanyards for display or trading. I have two light up lanyards for night time, one lanyard that lights up without any pins on it, and one lanyard wth light up pins on it. Since very little trading happens at night, those come out after dark only. During the day, I usually have one pin full of pins I will trade with one or two keepers that are "locked" on. I made a box from a scrapbook store, covered it in Disney paper and mod podge and keep my extra traders and new pins I buy in there so they stay ok in my luggage.

I keep a handful of extra traders with me all day, in a mini back pack I bought from the doll section of Michaels. It clips to my bag with a metal hiking clip and is easy to get to for replenishing a trader on my lanyard. If I trade for a keeper, the keeper goes somewhere else in my bag so I can keep track of it in a small software program my DH wrote for me and so I won't re-trade it out.

For me, the dilemma is how many traders to put in the carry on bags so I have enough to get going as soon as I get to WDW as I fly and use Magical Express. I won't get access to my luggage for hours, and usually get to a park before the bags come. So I have to have lanyards and traders in my carry on bag too.

And then, my PAL Mickey also has a mini lanyard and mini pins that I trade off his lanyard for too.

It gets a little tricky, but doesn't have to be overwhelming.

I still don't own a pin book. I keep my keeper pins in memory boxes from Home Goods on foam sheets. I have three full boxes, and one box with pins from last year's Sept Event that I'd like to put in a shadow box frame. I have put completed lanyard sets in those shadow box frames from Michaels so I can see them all the time. For me, I have to find the perfect place to display those frames. For now they are in my office, but I'm out of space in there now.

Just find a way to enjoy the whole thing, and not make them just collect dust in a box where you can't enjoy them.

Have fun!

 

[Cap’n Jack’s Hat]

Go to your craft store and buy a canvas, you attach pretty fabric if you want. Mine is black with mickey border. just attach your pins to it like you would a lanyard.
For carrying into the parks you should buy a Pin Trading Bag it's like a binder/messanger bag and if you can't wait until your next trip you can order a Pin Trading Bag online and they'll even personalize it for you.

^_^