Thursday, January 27, 2011

Initial Magnets

When we bought this house, it came with white appliances. While they worked fine, they really don't do anything for my kitchen. So, we're slowly replacing them with stainless steel. When Black Friday rolled around this year, we discovered that Lowe's had a smoking deal on our "dream" fridge - a stainless steel beauty with french doors and a water and ice dispenser in door. *Swoon* (yes, I am that easily excited!). So, my dear, brave husband made his first foray in the world of Black Friday to purchase our new refrigerator. (I was busy braving the likes of Wal-Mart, Kohl's and Target!).

It's so pretty that I didn't want it to get junked up with the endless magnets advertising real estate agents, fast food joints and fix-it guys that seem to multiply like rabbits and whose sole purpose is holding the glorious artwork the girls make on the front of the fridge. My solution? New fridge, new rule: only cute magnets can be placed on the front of my fridge.


Problem is, this new rule required me to actually make the cute magnets! I limited it to two per girl and made them in their initials, so there will be no squabbling over who has more magnets. I'm hoping the limit of two will keep the front of the fridge cute and organized. That's the plan, anyway. I'll let you know how it goes.

I headed to Hobby Lobby and picked up super cute chipboard letters (at a whopping $0.99 each!) and some cute scrapbook paper that matches my decor. The spray paint came from Lowe's, but honestly, I wouldn't recommend this type. I was unimpressed with the quality. The self adhesive magnet sheets came from Wal-Mart. I also used my Modge Podge.


The first thing I did was spray paint the chipboard. You won't really see the front because the paper will cover it, but I wanted to make sure the sides looked nice.


Once the spray paint had dried, I took them inside and put them right side down on the back of my paper. I used a pencil to trace around the letter.



Then, I cut them out and used Modge Podge to stick them to the front of the letter. I also applied Modge Podge to the front to seal them.



I did the same thing with the magnet sheets. I traced the shape on the self-adhesive magnet sheet and cut it out. Then, I peeled off the paper backing and placed the magnet on the back of the letter.



Now, I have cute magnets to display fun artwork on the front of my fridge!





3 comments:

Chelle said...

Love the idea! Thank you for sharing!!! I have slowing been tossing the clutter magnets in the trash one by one so no one would notice and can't wait to get the chance to try my hand at creating these for the fridge! Another favorite of mine is the magnetic photo frames - most likely intended for school lockers ;) but I do love a good 4x6 of my baby smiling back at me when I am debating if I REALLY need that bowl of ice cream after dinner!

Found you on One Pretty thing and look forward to following your blog!!!! :) - when the wee one allows me time to make the magnets I will be sure to link back to you!!!!

Chelle said...

Oh, and my favorite spray paint by far is Krylon! It has an easy spray nozzle and (super bonus...) you can turn the little white tip part so the direction of the spray will be a different angle if it will better suit your project! (be still my heart!!!!) Not to mention variety of colors/textures/etc. lol No, I don't work for them lol I am off my soapbox now though! Hope it helps!!!

Starr said...

So cute! And I think it would be a great "teacher gift" to make in the teachers initials. Thanks for sharing!