Dishwasher Tags

Hello, Friends! It's Gloria with you today. This is my last project post as part of the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts team. It is hard to say good-bye! I want to thank Gina for the opportunity to design with her amazing chippies over the past few years! I have enjoyed it immensely!

My project for today is one that I have been dreaming of making for quite some time. A few years ago one of my scrappy pals made a set of clean/dirty tags for her dishwasher. I have long admired them and wanted to make a set of my own. (For more information on the original design, see the post on my personal blog.)

For the base of my tags, I used two of the large tags from the Tags in a Box Extra Tag Set. These tags are nice and big, approximately 8" tall and 4" wide. I created two tags, one to place on the dishwasher to let your family know that the dishes are CLEAN (and in need of being put away), and one to indicate that the dishes inside are DIRTY (which means they can feel free to load their own dishes).

I used the vintage homemaker themed paper by Graphic 45 called Home Sweet Home. This is an older collection, but I have been saving some of it for this project!

Let's make some tags!

Use a black pen, ink, or paint to color the edges of two large tags from the Tags in a Box Extra Tag Set and two small (3 1/4" x 1 5/8") tags from the Small Tag Set. I found that if I first painted the edges of the tags with white gesso, that the black pen "stuck" to the tag better.

Select two frames from the Waterworks Shape Set. I had two sets, so selected two of the square frames. Trim one of the faucets from an extra frame. Then choose a propeller (fan shape) from the Propellers Set. Sponge all the elements with silver or other metallic ink. Allow to dry.

Trim decorative paper for the front and back of all the tags. Attach the paper with a gel medium. Brush another layer of medium over the surface of the paper to seal it. Allow to dry.

Use sticker letters (or chipboard letters, if you wish) to spell out "CLEAN" on one of the small tags, and "DIRTY" on the other. I used some old sticker letters that I found in my stash. Brush another layer of gel medium over the top of the letters to seal them. Allow to dry.

Assemble the first tag by gluing the waterworks frame to the top of the tag. Trim out a decorative sign from the paper and glue inside the frame. (You can see that I fussy cut some elements from the paper as well.)

Glue the "CLEAN" tag to the bottom of the larger tag, as shown. Fussy cut an image from the paper and attach it to the right side of the waterworks element.

Add a decorative brad to the fan shape and glue it to the upper left corner of the small tag. Tuck some postage images, cut from the paper, under the fan. Add a decorative strip to the bottom of the large tag.

Glue a few paper flowers to the tag, as well as some twine. Coat the entire project with more gel medium to seal it and protect it from getting wet.

You may add more or less decoration to your tag, as you desire. Match your tag to your kitchen decor.

We will repeat the process with the other tag.  Glue the waterworks frame to the bottom of the tag. Trim out a decorative sign from the paper and glue inside the frame.

Glue the "DIRTY" tag to the top of the larger tag, as shown. Glue the extra faucet to the top of the tag, making it look like the word "dirty" is dripping out of the faucet. Fussy cut an image from the paper and attach it to the right side of the waterworks element.  Add a few postage stamp images to the lower right of the waterworks frame.

Glue a paper flower to the tag, as well as some twine. Coat the entire project with more gel medium to seal it and protect it from getting wet.

You could make one tag double-sided, with "clean" on one side, and "dirty" on the other, but I chose to make two tags so that each tag had one flat surface.

If your dishwasher has a magnetic surface, glue magnets to the back of each tag. My dishwasher has a decorative wood front, so I added some hook and loop tape to the back of a large clothespin. I can attach the appropriate tag to the clothespin as needed.

Thanks for looking!

~ Gloria Stengel: Scraps of Life

Supplies Used:

Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts:

Tags in a Box Extra Tag Set

Small Tag Set
Waterworks Shape Set
Propellers Set

Other:
decorative paper, paper flowers, ivory and natural twine, sticker letters, large clothespin,  black ink or paint, silver ink or paint, gel medium or decoupage medium, white glue, foam tape, hot glue