We have a winner in the contest for the Instant Chalkboard from PYP and Appliance Art (Retail value $29.99). Congrats to Laura Loar, email address loar9843@(domainhidden).com. Laura, contact us at admin@pinchingyourpennies.com from the winning email address within 7 days to claim your prize.

If you didn’t win but really want one of these cool chalkboards, Appliance Art has given us an exclusive coupon code! Use coupon code PYP30 for 30% off – valid from Nov 7th-14th.

Group C added some new printable coupons this morning, like this Maybelline Face Product $2/1 coupon.  Group C coupons tend to disappear fast, so print quickly if you want them!  Remember, you can print each coupon twice.

I’ve been working on two gallery walls in my home recently and I thought I’d share some of my favorite tricks and see if others had some that they would like to share.
I know that Command Strips are all the rage these days and I do like them for some things. But for the most part, I do my picture hanging old school style. With nails. *gasp!* I know! But the holes!!! It’s okay. If I can’t touch them up later, I’ll have the perfect excuse to paint the whole room a new color. Hubby just LOVES that! 😉
First of all, I buy almost all my frames at thrift stores. The only time I buy new is if I get impatient and can’t find the right one at the thrift store fast enough. Or if I need it to be very specific.
Have you ever had to put a sawtooth hanger on a frame so you can hang it?

Do they make nails smaller than the ones that come with those?!?! Ugh! I used to hammer my fingers every time.
Now I use a couple of pieces of duct tape to hold the metal piece in place.

Then I just poke the tiny nails into the tape and they stay there all by themselves till I give them a tap with the hammer.

Then nail them in and peel away the tape.


Easy peasy! No smashed fingertips.
This is my best friend for making sure that the pictures I hang on the wall STAY straight.

You can find it in most craft or home improvement stores. Usually near the other adhesives.
Just a tiny ball of it on each bottom corner of the frame does the trick.

Hang the picture, use a small bubble level to get it level and then gently press those bottom corners to the wall.

When you take the picture down, you just remove the putty and you can even reuse it!
Keeping the pictures level is especially important on gallery walls. Once a couple of the frames goes crooked, it just looks a mess.
Speaking of gallery walls, if you get all your frames collected and hung and then find that you don’t have exactly the right pictures to put in them yet, try using scrapbook paper that coordinates with the colors in the room or with the theme of the gallery. It’s a great way to hold the place until you collect just the right pictures.

Also notice that an empty frame is a nice way to camouflage a thermostat or some other nuisance that a builder may have put smack in the middle of the wall that was clearly meant to be your gallery wall!
Since I buy my frames from thrift stores, I’m not picky about the colors. I just do a lot of spray painting. I have found that a couple of wooden skewers placed under the frames when I spray paint them, prevents them from sticking to the surface I’m painting them on.

So, what are your handy picture hanging tricks?

Starting tomorrow (11/6) Walgreens has their Ester-C products Buy 1 Get 1 FREE.  The Ester-C Gummies 500 mg 60 ct is priced daily at $6.99.  This is how the deal works.  Buy 2 Ester-C Gummies for $6.99 and use (2) Ester-C $2/1 printable coupons.  This takes your total to $2.99 for 2, only $1.50 each!  Watch Group C coupons tomorrow morning for an additional $2/1 coupon.  As always, Walgreens allows you to use 1 coupon on each item on a Buy 1 Get 1 FREE sale.  Remember, you can print each coupon twice.