I often go to Goodwill to see what treasures I can find. Sometime I find props for my photography business, clothes such as bridal gowns and luxurious gowns. Other times I find fun toys for my grandkids to play with when they come over to my house. This time in particular I quickly spotted a Thomas the Tank Engine toy. To my surprise when I pushed the buttons it actually worked. I know how popular and well loved Thomas the Tank Engine is. My son had a Thomas the Tank Engine train set back in the early 2000's which was quite expensive. We even had to go ride on the live Thomas the Tank Engine Rail Line when they came to Austin Texas!
My son was obsessed with Thomas the Tank engine. So when I spotted this one I simply had to have it. I was extremely happy to see that the price was only $6.00. I know how expensive these toys cost in the stores. I brought it home and quickly got to work improving it since it did needed a seat for my eleven month old grandson to sit and ride on it.
We had some left over particle board just laying in our attic. I went to Joann's fabric to look for some type of vinyl material and padding to cover it. I bought more than I needed just in case we messed up. I bought a yard of the material and a package of padding. I first used cardboard to cut out a template so that my husband would be able to use that to cut the particle board. After he cut the particle board to fit I measured out the padding and the material and cut it to fit the particle board seat. Once we had everything cut we stapled the padding down. We made sure to pull it tight so that the padding wouldn't be bulky. We used a hairdryer to heat up the vinyl to get all of the creases out and to make it where we could stretch it out so that it wouldn't bulge or buckle. Then we stapled the material down tightly. Then, I used super glue to glue the seat on.
My grandson loves it! The toy looks like it was made by the manufacturer. Over all this toy cost me $18.00. Brand new its almost $50. I am very happy with the savings and the overall quality of the finished product. The next time you see something at Goodwill that isn't exactly perfect, imagine what you can do to improve it at a very little cost. Another persons trash is another persons treasures. Think about all of the countless amazing memories that are waiting for you to make.
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