Dishwasher Magnet
There are multiple people in our house who run the dishwasher (JEALOUS?!?!). This often leads to conversations like this: “Are these clean or dirty?” “I’m not sure, do they look clean?” “I think so. Is that garlic smell coming from you or the dishes?” and on and on. I decided to turn to crafting, as I often do, for a solution.You will need:
A large, free magnet, some scrapbook paper, pencil, scissors, and mod podge. I used punch-out letters, but you could draw, stamp, or paint them on. Shirt paint would be easy to use. This is a good project to use up smaller pieces of scrapbook paper. Lay the magnet down on the paper you’ve chosen, and trace around it, then cut it out. Coat the magnet in mod podge, then stick the paper to it. Make sure the edges are glued down.
Once that’s dry, arrange your letters to make sure they fit, then glue them down also. If you’re using the punch-out letters, make sure you have all the ones you need in the right color before you start punching them out.
Coat everything in mod podge, then let it dry. You could also do a second coat, or even use clear spray paint to make it water-proof. Just stick it to the dishwasher with the correct word facing upward to let everyone in the house know the dishes status. The whole project took about 30 minutes, including drying time.
Fridge Pen Holder
I keep a grocery list on my fridge so that the minute I run out of something, I can just write it down. I have a goldfish brain, so if I don’t write it down I forget immediately. Spending too much time hunting for a pen has the same effect; by the time I’ve found the pen, I’ve forgotten why I needed it, and then I see something shiny and get distracted.
In order to accomodate my growing senility, I wanted to have a pen on the fridge. There are probably simpler ways to do this, but who cares? My way is cooler. This project requires a small container, such as the tic tac box pictured below, a magnet strong enough to hold up said container, glue (I should probably switch to some kind of non-toxic, this maybe the key to my loss in brain function. Oooh! KEYS! So pretty!), and some kind of magazine or other decorative paper.
First, I ate all the tic tacs, then removed the paper label, and the plastic top. At this stage, make sure a pen will actually fit into your container. I pre-measured my paper (you can see the green piece below, already folded to fit the plastic), then slathered glue on the plastic, and stuck the paper to it.
I used more of the same glue to attach the magnet to the back.
Last thing, I glued on this lovely portrait of H.P. Lovecraft. Let me tell you, MANY people are jealous when they see this on my fridge. Pair it up with those 2 cool magnets I made at the same time (that’s David Bowie on the right), and you can bet people are trying to pocket this stuff when I’m not looking. Just because I can’t remember things for more than ten seconds doesn’t mean I won’t notice.
I seem to have a fixation with decorating my fridge. Or with finding excuses to use lots of glue…
Making cool magnets
I’m sure by now you all know that I love free stuff, and I love to personalize stuff. I have a bunch of random, free magnets on the fridge that were boring the crap out of me, so I dug through my “Box of Interesting Paper Bits” to improve them. For this project you will need: magazines you can cut up, glue, clear nail polish, toothpicks, scissors, and some magnets. And you should probably lay down some newspaper to work on.
I selected an image about the right size for this magnet. Lay the magnet over the image and trace around it with pencil.
I (very cleverly) took the pictures of the process of two different magnets, so bear with me. The steps are all here, but the magnets have changed. Once you have your paper cut to the right size, put some glue on the magnet. Spread it with a toothpick. Lay the image on top, and mush it onto the magnet, starting in the middle. Make sure the edges are thoroughly glued down. I used a silicon glue, which should be used in a well ventilated area. Which I found out after I was done. Meh, brain damage. I used a silicon glue, which haha I’m kidding.
Let the glue dry. If needed, you can trim the edges after it’s dry. Then coat the whole thing with clear nail polish. Glossy magazine paper works best for this project, because the ink won’t run when you use the nail polish on it.
Let it dry.
Aw, look at the cuteness! This will totally dress up my (already covered in magnets) fridge!
