Do you know all those pressed penny machines that people get suckered in to using while they are visiting a tourist attraction? They are everywhere...Disney, Universal, zoos, aquariums, skyscrapers, some gas stations. You know? The ones that you had so much fun as a kid making and your parent couldn't say no because it was the one souvenir that was actually affordable. Fifty-one cents. Two quarters and a penny. Hopefully you had a shiny penny.
Well, I have a lot of pennies from when I was younger and I really enjoy the memories for each one. During the first few years of my marriage we were on an extremely tight budget. If we ever visited a tourist location the trinket that we knew we could afford (and too avoid bringing home excessive junk) were the pressed pennies. As silly as they were we are delighted to look back at them.
At home and in the workplace I love having everything exactly in its place. I do not like junk everywhere but junk itself can be okay if setup tastefully. I have never had a nice way to store the pressed pennies and I never liked anyone's suggestions. Even the little penny books sold in the tourist retail stores were out of the question for me. So for a long time they sat in a photo box on our bookshelf. Well, eureka! I happened to come across some heavyweight page protectors that were made for slides and they measured at 2"x2" and were three-hole-punched. The accessibility to use binders for keepsakes are very important for me. All of my albums have been transferred to cloth D-ring binders by American Crafts.
Materials:
- Scrapbook Paper
- Small Labels
- Acid-Free Marker or Pen
- Glue Dots, the larger size
- 2"x 2" Slide-style Sheet Protectors, sized for 3-ring binders
- Scissors or Fiskers Photo Cutter
- 3-Ring Photo Album or Binder
Instructions:
Measure the paper down to the size of the protected pocket and cut into the 2"x 2" squares. Write a description on the label and attach it to the cut paper. Then secure the penny to the cut paper by using a glue dot. Super easy and very quick.
This is also a great craft project for kids who collect their pennies!
Angela O'