Monday, December 31, 2012

Encouraging Myself to Do the Laundry the First Day...

I have the curse of having a laundry room that is slightly out of the way (it used to be part of the garage), and I don't always hear the beepers when they go off signalling the laundry's done. Oh, yeah, and also I hate doing laundry. So there's that. In any case, it's impossible for me to do one load of laundry in a day, let alone the 3 or 4 or 5 that need to be done. So I made myself something pretty to try to encourage me to do the laundry when it's supposed to get done, as opposed to pulling clean clothes out of the dryer as we need them. :)
I bought myself a little wooden sign from Hobby Lobby and this very cute blue-washed wood-looking paper to decoupage onto the sign. The only problem was when I put the barn wood paper on top of the brand new wooden sign, the visuals didn't quite line up. So then I had to attempt to age the wooden sign. In one night. It's actually not that hard. :) Google has some pretty amazing information hidden away. It's like magic or something. I bought some steel wool and soaked it in about a half cup of white vinegar overnight. Then I brushed it on the wooden sign the next day, and, after 3 coats, voila! Instant aging. :) Maagiccccc...
It took a couple days to air out, but I was really happy with the result. After the decoupage with the barn wood paper, it actually looks like it was a barn wood sign. I added a cute 'launderette' sign, some ribbon and some stamps (I used Staz-On ink as it will literally stamp a permanent image onto anything), and I was mostly good to go. But I wanted something that I could see from the other side of the house that would tell me if I still had clothes in the dryer and I had to get my butt off the couch and go fold them. Enter the miner's coins.
I'm pretty sure we've all seen October Sky (as old as it is for a movie these days), and I've always loved the idea of those miner's coins that indicate which miners went underground for the day. I had some metal tag rings lying around so I found some icons for washer and dryer to hang in the middle of the rings. That way, I'll know if there are clothes in the washer or dryer (or both), and I can see these rings from across the house. You'd be amazed at how quickly I forget things. I need to remind myself of these things occasionally. :) So I just hang the washer coin on the sign when I put clothes in the washer and so on and so forth. I also made a little quickie pocket for the backside of the sign so I can store the coins there and they won't get lost when they're not in use.
I know it's not the prettiest thing you've ever seen, but it's the back of the sign, for Pete's sake. I also did some stamp testing there. No one's going to see it. :) So now I have this cute little sign that will tell me when to do the laundry. At least I'm pretty sure my husband's hoping his days of pulling clean clothes out of the dryer are over. :) Happy New Year!