DIY Disney Pressed Penny Display – Winnie the Pooh Canvas Artwork

Pressed pennies are a great souvenir at Disney parks. They’re cheap, and the thrill of trying to hunt them down is entertaining for all ages. However, it’s easy to stockpile a stash of them fast with no where to put them. What’s the point of collecting all the pennies if you have nowhere to display them!?

There are tons of options out there for you to display your pressed pennies. Many sellers on Etsy have made creative displays to keep your coins organized. There are also small booklets you can purchase to keep track of all of them off of Amazon. Personally, I like to display mine based on trip – by using my arts and crafts supplies to make a magical keepsake!

Here is a tutorial on how to make this pressed penny themed piece of artwork I used for my last Disney trip. I found this idea on Pinterest, and made it my own with my own creative touch.

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Here is my step by step tutorial on how to make a similar Winnie the Pooh themed display for your pressed pennies!

The Supplies

Here is a list of everything you’ll need to make this display:

• A plain white canvas. It can be as large or as small as you want, depending on how many pennies you are going to display and the image you are going to use. The one I used here is about 11 inches tall.
• Craft paint for your background. Since I made a background of sky and clouds, I used blue, white and black paints. I personally really love Martha Stewart’s paints! They’re high quality and don’t dry up like other brands do if you haven’t used them for a while.
• Paintbrushes in a variety of widths (a larger brush for the background, and a smaller brush for details)
• A print out of the image you’ll be using. In this case, I’m using Winnie the Pooh.
• Mod podge or some kind of sealing top coat. I liked Martha Stewart’s High Gloss Finish!
• A hot glue gun
• The pennies from your trip!
• Optional – letter stickers or other embellishments

Steps

1. First, decide which picture you want to use. The idea behind this Winnie the Pooh concept is that the pennies are balloons, and he is being carried off by a whole bunch of them. I have seen similar ideas using Mickey Mouse balloons, the house from “Up” and more. Once you’ve decided which one to use, simply Google the image and print it off. Make sure it is appropriately sized for the canvas you are working with. I didn’t want to make mine too large since the focal point is going to be the pennies. Need more inspiration? Check out Pinterest!
2. Paint the canvas appropriately. I painted a layer of blue paint, and then added some clouds. The clouds don’t have to be perfect – just like real clouds! I basically just mashed the paint brushes with white paint in various spots on the canvas.

3. Next, decoupage the image on to your canvas. Be sure you do both the back of the image and the front so it stays on! You do not have to use the balloons on your finished product, but you can use the original balloons as guidance if you want, so you have a general idea where to glue your pennies.

4. Using your hot glue gun, start attaching the pennies to your canvas. BE CAREFUL when using your hot glue gun! Pennies are metal and WILL heat up very quickly after you place the glue, so attach it quickly! If you mess up, don’t worry – they’re very easy to take off with a bit of force if you place it on the wrong spot.

If you are using the balloons as guidance, just place the pennies over the image like so. I didn’t use the balloon on my final project, I just eyeballed it!

5. Continue gluing the pennies until you’ve finished. Be sure you stagger them and do some overlapping here and there so it isn’t so uniform.

6. Once you’ve glued all your pennies, add the finishing touches. I painted small black lines as the strings of the balloons in strategic places to make it look like he was holding a bunch of balloons. I also added some stickers commemorating which Disney trip these particular pennies were from!

Add a bit of gloss over the letters so they don’t fall off, and you’re done! Get ready to display your work of art with pride!

The whole project took me about 20 minutes to complete, and honestly most of that was spent trying to arrange the pennies in a way I liked!

What are some of your favorite ways to display your pennies? Let me know in the comments below! And don’t forget to subscribe to my email list so you can get updates when I post new Disney content!