Clock DIY Make-Over

Last week, I saw a post online where someone repurposed an old clock by taking off the face and painting it. I tried looking around, but I couldn't find that post again. I've been wanting to add a clock to LE's room, but I really didn't want to spend more than $10 bucks on one. 

I casually looked around for a little while. It wasn't until I had to go to Walmart to buy spraypaint (the cheapest place I've found it) that I walked by their clock aisle. Their basic Mainstays brand 8.75 inch wall clock comes in a few colors, and it costs under $4. Add a little scrapbook paper for less than $1. Bingo! A new clock that comes in under 5 bucks.

If you have an old clock that needs new life, or if you're like me and need to revamp a new clock, follow along for the step by step. I'll explain how to do this using thick scrapbook paper as the face of the clock, but with small adjustments to the tutorial, you could use fabric or paint instead. I was able to get this very easy DIY done from start to finish during LE's nap. 

Take a mental note of how the clock hands are placed before you take your clock apart. Flip your clock over and remove the screws that are keeping the face to the back.  Snap out the battery pack, which will remove your clock hands.

Flip the clock back over to the front. Measure the width of the inside. The Mainstays clock face is 7.75in. If the clock face isn't glued in (mine was), remove and discard it.

If you have a Silhouette craft cutter, your job will be super easy (skip to instructions). If not, it will just be mildly more difficult. Print a circle the size of the clock's face (use Microsoft Word or other software that allows you to specify the exact size of shapes) onto the back side of your scrapbook paper. Use scissors to cut out the circle. You should probably buy die cut numbers for the clock unless you are really good with cutting. 

For the Silhouette users:

• Open Silhouette and draw a circle to fit your clock's face. (7.75in for the Mainstays clock)
• Pick a font that you like for the numbers. I used Skia.
• Adjust the size of your numbers until you like it. The 12 in my clock was 2.5in, measuring from the top to the bottom of the 1. 

• Once you get everything to the size that you like, move all of the numbers and extras to the outside of the circle.

• If you're using the same paper for everything, send your paper through the Silhouette on a mat. For thick cardstock, use the pink blade at 2 speed and 33 thickness. I didn't find double-cutting necessary.
• If you're using different paper for the numbers, just make sure you tell the Silhouette which items to cut (e.g. just the circle or all of the numbers/dots)
• Use Mod-Podge, spray glue, or your choice of non-wrinkling adhesive to adhere the paper circle to clock's face. Before adhering, take note of where the 12 is on your original clock. You'll need to be sure that's the top of your new clock's design since that aligns with the hanging mechanism on the back of the clock.
• Paint your cut out numbers, if needed. Apply glue dots or your choice of adhesive to the back of the numbers. Adhere the 12, 9, 6, & 3 (not the dots yet); that will allow you to get them straight. If your clock is like the Mainstays one, there are visible screw holes to help guide you. 
• Poke a small hole in the paper and then push the battery pack through from the front to the back. This will make your paper bend towards the back. Carefully remove the battery pack and reattach it to the clock the correct way.
• Attach the hands the same way that they were originally. For the Mainstays clock, the hour hand goes first shiny side up. Then, the minute hand goes matte side up, and then the second hand snaps in on top. 
• Rotate the hands so that all of them line up at 12. Using the dial on the back of the clock, turn it to 1. Place a dot. Then use the dial to turn it to 2. Place a dot. Continue for the rest of the dots. This ensures that you are placing them in the correct places.
• Place the glass and cover back on the clock. Screw everything back in place. Admire your new clock!

I haven't decided where in LE's room to place the clock yet. For now, it will live with the sock monkey.

Getting ready for Christmas. Wait, what?

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine commented on Facebook that she was shocked to come across Halloween supplies in a store that she went to. Halloween was almost 3 months away at that point.

Sadly, I could trump her and say that I had already spotted Christmas supplies in Michaels Craft Store. In early August. Seriously.

Since then, many craft blogs, including the blog that many of you love-- Tatertots and Jello-- have mentioned working on Halloween projects already. Noooo! I'm still making s'mores for goodness sake. Please keep summer around!

I kept quiet and mostly to myself until now. We received the Pottery Barn Kids catalog in the mail a few days ago, and I could not help but laugh. Maybe you saw it, too.

Moving past the fact that this is a Halloween decoration coming to me in August, in and of itself, this is not funny. In fact, I kind of like it. They are simple, understated, and not too scary. The description reads something like, "Styrofoam balls draped in cotton..." Time out. What? Did you say styrofoam? Do you want to guess how much these styrofoam balls cost? $70. That is funny.

DIY:

• Styrofoam balls from craft store (probably even the Dollar Store?); or, to take up less room in storage, use inflatable beach balls. Surely those are on sale right about now. 
• Muslin ripped at the ends. Or, use old white pillowcases or sheets. 
• Sharpie the eyes.
• Use fishing line to hang.

I've officially been duped into posting about Halloween two months prior to the "big" day. Help.

And what got painted were... (drumroll)

Bookshelves!

LE and I tagged along with John to Chicago a few weeks back just so I could go to Ikea to buy their $4 wooden spice racks that have popped up around cute kids' rooms across the blogosphere. Like this photo that was posted on Ohdeedoh:

Even before LE was born, I knew I wanted forward-facing bookshelves. Supposedly, they foster more of a desire for reading than traditional bookshelves since kids can actually see the book covers. I can't vouch for the truth in that. What I can say is that I imagine everyone has a space in their home that could make room for a narrow bookshelf (spots behind doors come to mind). 

About 1 1/2 years ago, I started keeping my eye out for forward-facing shelves. Garage sale hunts came up empty, and to my dismay, the shelves that I found in stores were way too expensive for me to rationalize.  

I bookmarked a few different great ideas for DIY: a fabric sling {tutorial}, rain gutter bookshelves {tutorial}, and build my own {tutorial}. These are all ideas that I'd love to do, but they'd end up just sitting in my bookmark list forever and never get done... just like they did for a full year.

After considering different options, the Ikea spice racks for $4/ea were just the right fit for us. I love that they come in unfinished wood so that we could paint them in the darker gray accent color for LE's room.

Here's how ours turned out:

Everyone knows that there's going to be a difference in quality between Ikea and Pottery Barn. I was willing to live with the little imperfections for the cost (I  mean $4 vs $40-60. No brainer.), especially since they're sturdy. 

The pieces of wood just don't line up perfectly, but the one who matters-- LE-- will never care.

I have to tell you, these shelves are the easiest shelves to put together and hang. We've done a lot of floating shelves, including ones from Pottery Barn that are supposedly super simple, but none were this simple.

What I did:

For these shelves, it took a quick coat of regular primer and two coats of paint that I got for free from Benjamin Moore. Since the paint was matte, I sprayed a light coat of polyurethane to give it a slight sheen but not make it shiny. It took about 5 minutes per shelf to assemble using the dinky allen wrench that comes with them. Then, it took about a half an hour to install in the wall using drywall anchors when I wasn't hitting a stud.

I love how the shelves turned out and fill that wall space! LE seems to love pulling books off of them, too.

One of two completed... Thanksgiving Crafts

I finished up the little pilgrim hats that I said I was going to do for this year. These were inspired by this post at Jellybean Junkyard.

Here's the inspiration shot:

And here's how mine turned out:

These were cheap, easy, and not time consuming! 

Here are the supplies for my version (I bought everything from Michaels):

• One small clay pot for each person
• One 8.5x11 sheet of yellow felt (I used the stiff type and less than half the sheet for all 7)
• One 8.5x11 sheet of gray felt cut into strips across the short side
• Black cardstock or paper
• White pen (mine was a paint pen that I already had)
• Paintbrush
• Hotglue gun and glue
• Scissors 

As you can (kind of) see with Kate's place card, I made them so that the names could be removed for different guests in the future. I went ahead and wrote out some other family members' names on cardstock so that I can keep them all together in a Ziploc.

You can follow Jellybean Junkyard's tutorial for most of it, or you can wing it like I did. It's that simple. One thing I do recommend is keeping a little part of the price tag sticker to put on top of the hole at the bottom of the pot. Then paint over it when you paint the rest of the pot. Good luck and have fun!

Now onto the more elaborate one that I may or may not get to this year since the paper mache part takes a few days.... the cornucopia.

Thanksgiving Decoration Ideas -- cheap!

This year is our first time to be in a house of our own {no moving in sight!}, which means I am allowed to start thinking about holiday decorations. John may have other thoughts on that, but as he said to me last week about some other decorating-related item... it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission. (note: we really don't live by this rule.)

I try to subscribe to Simple Mom's way of thinking when it comes to what is in the house: only keep what is useful or beautiful. It has to be one of the two. In addition to that, for holiday or seasonal decorations, I would really love to only add items that were handmade, whenever it's possible. Stores sell items so overpriced, and there are so many great craft ideas out there that can turn spaces into awesome places. Seriously, the amount of creativity floating out there in cyberspace is overwhelming! 

I'll post photos of the ones I do. Here are two that I think I'll be doing this year (images are not mine; credited in the caption)

Love the cornucopia idea, and I'd put dried corn husks, small pumpkins, wheat, and squash in there.
This is from i am an aspiring artist.

I'm doing my version of this for sure-- already started it! Mine will be less expensive, though, since I'll be using craft paint instead of spray paint, no chalk paint, and all felt for the belt. The names will be in the middle of the buckle.
How cute are these? Found at Jellybean Junkyard

Are there any fun crafts that you'll be doing or wish you had time to do for the holidays?