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I’ve been an avid badge collector, for as long as I can remember. Over the years, I’ve accumulated more pins than I have room for in my jewelry box! If they’re not scattered around the floor or taking up space on my desk, they’re likely hidden away somewhere in a shoebox, which is no fun at all. I put together this DIY with all of my fellow badge-lovers in mind—especially the ones who’ve always wanted something cute yet functional to stash their collection in. This nifty little display frame has you covered in both departments!

What you’ll need:

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• A picture frame. I found mine at a thrift store for $1.
• Mod Podge, which is available here (optional).
• A piece of cotton fabric at least as big as your picture frame.
• A pencil.
• Batting or fleece fabric to act as padding—you won’t see this when you’re finished, so any pattern will do.
• Scissors.
• A hot glue gun.
• Optional: Sandpaper, a rag/cloth, acrylic paints in white and whatever colors you like, a regular paintbrush, and a stenciling sponge.

How to do it:

Step One:

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If you’re lucky enough to find a pretty picture frame to use for this, then by all means, skip to Step Six! I was only able to find this boring plain one, so I’m going to spruce it up with a bit of paint. Rub down the surface of the frame with sandpaper to help the paint stick better.

Step Two:

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Wipe down the frame with a damp cloth to remove excess dust.

Step Three:

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Apply two coats of white paint to the frame with either of your brushes to make a nice base for your other paint colors.

Step Four:

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Go all out with the paints you chose! I opted for a nice rainbow gradient, which is easy to do with a sponge brush.

Step Five:

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Once the paint dries, apply two or three coats of Mod Podge to the frame with your regular paintbrush, allowing each coat to dry before adding the next. This will smooth out any bumps or blemishes and give the painted area a polished finish.

Step Six: Place your frame right-side down on top of your cotton fabric or batting and trace the shape with a pencil.

Step Seven:

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Cut around the lines you traced on your fabric.

Step Eight: Using your cotton fabric as a size guide, cut a piece of fleece (or batting) into frame-sized quarters and place the glass insert from your frame on top.

Step Nine:

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Trace around the glass with a pencil, then cut out that shape. You should be left with four glass-sized pieces of fleece.

Step Ten:

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Hot-glue the edges on each sheet of fleece.

Step Eleven:

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Press them all together to form a sandwich of fabric.

Step Twelve:

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Apply hot glue all over one side of the glass.

Step Thirteen:

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Press the glass down onto one side of your fleece fabric layers.

Step Fourteen:

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Place your piece of cotton fabric right-side down on the frame.

Step Fifteen:

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Press the glass insert, fleece-side forward, into the frame on top of the cotton.

Step Sixteen:

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Pull all the edges of the lining fabric as taut as you can around the glass insert, then glue them in place.

Step Seventeen:

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Reattach the backing of the frame as you usually would, and you’re done! Ta-da:

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Now, you can stick your favorite pins to the cushiony middle of the frame and put them on display for all to see! ♦