Stuff I've Made: Vintage Book Clock Mini-Tutorial

Last week I attended a graduation party for my cousin, who was celebrating finishing nursing school. I was trying to think of a gift I could make for her when I remembered that I'd bought a cute vintage Cherry Ames book at a library sale recently, and then I knew exactly what I wanted to make!

I took a quick trip to the thrift store to pick up a clock I could tear apart. You can also purchase new clock movements at the craft store for around $8, but I'm cheap and I'll never pass up the opportunity for a trip to the thrift! :D I easily found a clock (and some other goodies I'll show you another time) that was priced at $1.99. (Now, if I'd thought better, I would have taken a AA battery with me so that I could test the clock and be sure that it worked. I got lucky but it's not a bad idea).

I've torn apart a thrift store clock to get to the innards before, so I knew exactly what to do: pop off the plastic dome with a butter knife, unscrew the hands and pull out the clock mechanism. Easy! To prepare the book, I figured out approximately where I wanted the center of the clock to be, taking into account both the length of the clock hands and the photo on the cover; I didn't want the hands sprouting from the middle of Nurse Cherry Ames' face.  I opened up the front cover and placed the black clock mechanism box on the first page and traced it with a pencil. I drew a square slightly larger than the lines I traced, then I cut through all the pages with a very sharp utility knife, creating a hole where the black box would sit.

If you're making a clock like this, it's important to make sure that the thickness of your book is equal to or greater than the thickness of the black box, so that your book will close completely. My book was just barely deep enough, but I had to go all the way down to the back cover to reach the required depth. A thicker book might not require you to cut through all of the pages.

Next, I glued all the pages shut. I simply swiped a glue stick along the outside edge and pressed the pages flat, then glued the last page to the inside of the back cover as well.

I don't have a picture of this next step, as my hands were full, but you need to drill a hole in the front cover of the book for the stem of the mechanism. To find out where I needed to drill, I placed the black box into its new hole in the pages, then closed the cover of the book tightly. The end of the stem made a tiny indentation on the inside cover that showed me where to make my hole. I selected a drill bit that seemed approximately the size of the stem, and drilled a hole. The first hole I made was too small for the stem, so I selected the next size of drill bit and re-drilled the hole. The edges of the hole were a bit chewed up from the drill (even though I tried hard to be gentle) so I carefully smoothed them with the tip of my utility knife.

From here, it's easy! Poke the stem through the hole and reattach the hands in the correct order. Insert a battery to be sure it all works. I decided to add numbers to the clock face, because I've never been good with those watches where you have to approximate the time because there are no numerals. You can purchase self-adhesive clock numbers and I actually had some in my stash (my pack-rattery knows no bounds) but they were shiny gold plastic and looked exceedingly cheesy against the vintage book. Instead, I used some metal numbers for scrapbooking. I cut the loops off the tops with a wire cutter and glued them on using a clear-drying adhesive.

And there you have it! The clock turned out really cute and I think the recipient liked it. Think of all the neat vintage books out there that you could use to make a cute clock. In fact, this might be a fun Father's Day gift, if you used a book with an author or a subject that your Dad likes. I think the book cost $1.50 and the clockworks were $1.99, but I know I've seen these clocks in catalogs and boutiques and they're far more expensive than that. What a fun way to give new life to something old!

Estate sale goodies!

What a lovely weekend I've had! My dear Dad came to visit for a few days, we attended a pair of graduation parties where I got to visit with my extended families, the weather was finally WARM (albeit super-windy), there was outlet mall shopping, a kid-free getaway night at a nice downtown hotel for FREE, a late dinner at a fancy restaurant, pretty shoes, an unexpected estate sale, and the LOST finale. Whew! I don't know that we could have packed in any more goodness if we'd tried.

I haven't even unpacked the goodies from Saturday's surprise estate sale, but I wanted to show you what I found last week. Even though I had the kiddos with me, I was able to hit a few estate sales and came away with treasures, such as:

vintage Christmas goodies including two neat corsages (LOVE the pink & purple one!), a strand of glass beads and neat shaped ornies

vintage candles (the altar boys are Gurley, don't know about the angels & snowman--Standard Oil, maybe?)

Vintage Christmas seals, twisty foil, garland, and a Christmas card file box that contained a card that made me laugh out loud (click to enlarge so you can read it)

More vintage Christmas, including a couple of tree toppers for my collection

Vintage earrings for crafting, pipe cleaners (etsy-bound) and gold glitter

A cute aqua blue tablecloth (probably headed to etsy

 A picnic or beach towel with bright happy toadstools (headed to etsy)

And this darling bag made of a vintage tablecloth and a chenille bedspread

So if that's the loot I found with two kids in tow, can you imagine what I could have scored if I'd been solo? I actually would have bought more boxes of vintage Shiny Brites, because the price she quoted me when I got to the checkout was even cheaper than they were marked--but my arms were full of Octo-Baby Porter and trying to carry boxes of fragile glass ornaments likely wouldn't have ended well. Oh well, I found lots of good stuff, we found a fun new park for Maren, and we all got out of the house, so I'm not going to worry about the what ifs! Plus when I've just had such a good weekend, it seems more than a bit ungrateful to complain! 

Did you find any *good junk* this weekend? What did you think about the LOST finale?

What $150 will buy you: Craigslist edition

I've been in the market for a new kitchen table and chairs for more than half a year, and this week my patience finally paid off! I wanted to buy used (since I have little kids who are hard on furniture) and I didn't want to pay more than $300 for a table with a leaf and six chairs, so I knew it would take some searching.

My old dining set was just sad. It was a (FREE!) hand-me-down from some friends, who took it all over the world in their military travels. We've had it for more than eight years, and I have no idea when it was originally purchased. All I know is that it was quite literally falling apart. Maren stained every single one of the fabric chair cushions, and the caning on the backs of the seats is breaking. It's gotten so bad that I've just let Maren paint and color on the table without covering it, and I've used my Xacto knife on it without bothering to find a cutting mat. It's TOAST. So bad, in fact, that I don't think we'll even be able to donate the thing to charity. I think we're going to have to take it apart and put it out with the trash each week, piece by piece.

My search on Craigslist has been fairly casual. I've been looking off and on but have mostly found tables and chairs that were just as ugly and dated as mine, only the owners wanted $300 for them. Crazy! I did find a listing for a gorgeous Ethan Allen French Country style dining set for $275. It was lovely and a screaming deal, and by the time I called the seller it was long gone.

Monday night I decided to check the listings just for fun, and found one that interested me: a table and 6 chairs for $150. The shape of the chairs was cute, the blue was iffy but looked paintable, so I called to ask if I could go have a look. When I walked into the seller's home on Tuesday morning, I knew it was promising because she had her home decorated with cool antiques & vintage decor. I fell in love with the table immediately and handed her my money before she wised up and realized she could have easily asked for (and likely gotten) double.

I borrowed a truck and we were able to bring the table home Tuesday night. I LOVE it! It turned out that there were actually seven chairs--the seller had an extra that she threw in for no charge. The pieces are all in fabulous condition, they're the perfect size for my kitchen, and the blue looks absolutely perfect with all my vintage kitchen decor and the navy blue walls in the adjoining family room.

See how nicely it matches the blue in my vintage tablecloth? It also matches my $5 garage sale curtain valances from last summer.

Even The Mister likes the table. When I told him I found a table for $150, he was worried I'd be bringing home some rickety old mess (who, me? I've never done that before ;) But when he saw the table his fears were allayed and he likes it too. Best $150 I've spent in a long, long time!

Porter at 8 months

(No, this post hasn't been stuck in Sideways world on LOST..I'm backdating this post a bit because I didn't get around to posting it on the actual day)

Today, Porter is 8 months old.

First time in a swing at the park (loved it!) 5/14

Here are some things about Porter at 8 months:

*Porter LOVES to eat. He can feed himself Cheerios, cheesy poofs, scrambled eggs, and pancakes. He loves to eat and in one sitting can easily put away two large containers of baby food (mixed with baby cereal) and a small container of yogurt. BEEFCAKE!

*Porter is super-mobile. He can easily and quickly climb all 14 of our stairs and sits at the top, grinning and looking proud of himself. He likes to go hang out in Maren's room and eat all of the tiny Pony accouterments that are usually lying on the floor in there. He crawls fast, pulls himself up on everything and is just generally very physical.

This was taken 4/19 when he could go up to the second stair. He went up all of the stairs on 4/30. Quick learner!

*Porter is strong. Trying to hold him when he clearly doesn't want to be contained (approximately 95% of the time) is hard. And exhausting. It's going to be 10 long months until he can go into the nursery at our church.

*Porter still adores Maren. He loves to when she plays with him and watches her with a big smile on his face! He thinks she is awesome.

Nice big goose egg on his forehead from falling into a closed door

*Porter has developed a bit of a temper! I never knew a baby this young could do that but if we do something that he doesn't like (take a toy away, not feed him fast enough, hold him down so we can change a diaper, etc) he growls and screeches and lets you know unmistakably that he is MAD. If he's like this already, I fear for the Terrible Twos.

*Porter loves to take baths and showers. He learned how to climb into the bathtub so we have to either lock him out of the room or just take him into the shower with us. When he hears the bathtub faucet turn on, he stops what he's doing and immediately goes in there like Pavlov's dog. One day I knew he had gone upstairs and I could hear him yelling--I went upstairs and found him inside my (dry) bathtub, behind the curtain. He'd gotten himself in but didn't realize he could get out the same way, and was yelling because he was stuck!

*Porter likes to play in the dog's water dish and the toilets, so both have to be kept out of reach/closed. Yuck.

*Porter's hair is curly when he gets out of the bath. I put gel into it to keep the curls, but they're usually gone after he naps and rubs his head around on the mattress.

*Porter learned to stand up in his crib on 4/19 so we had to lower it all the way because with the way he climbs into the bathtub, I'm afraid he'll fall out!

Porter seems much older than just 8 months old, because he's so mobile and so aggressive. I forget that he's still such a little baby, because his behaviors seem more like those of a young toddler. We love him and love to watch him explore the world! I can't wait for our pool to open because I think he's going to LOVE it, based on how much he seems to enjoy playing in water.

Five Favorites for Friday

1. This clever idea for an anti-layer tube top from Cheri at I Am Momma. Smart! Is it me, or are shirts so low-cut these days? Seems like I need to wear a tank top under my shirt half the time, but this is a super idea for the summer when I don't want to wear another layer. And it's so easy--it's the bottom part of a t-shirt, so no hemming is required! That's my kind of sewing project.

2. I adore this DIY Yardstick Coat Rack from Mandi at Save it For A Rainy Day.

Isn't it awesome? And it looks easy to make--Mandi's tutorial is great. I posted a tabletop made of yardsticks last year but this project is great because it only takes five yardsticks to make. And again has me seriously regretting my decision to pass by a bunch of great painted sticks at an antique show last year. Ugh.

3. The only good thing about LOST ending is that now I won't have to choose between LOST and Glee on Tuesday nights! I've mentioned before how much I love the vintage style the costumer chooses for the character of Emma Pillsbury, and I'm not alone--check out What Would Emma Pillsbury Wear?

On the blog, the author identifies the fashions Emma wears and where they (or similar items) are available, and runs inspiration contests that people enter by making Polyvore collections. If you're looking to copy Emma's style, it's a great resource and lots of fun eye candy!

4.This very cool button lampshade from a scrapbook store called Making Memories Unforgettable in Tucson, AZ, as seen on the One Lucky Day blog.

Wouldn't this be a neat thing to do with an old lampshade that has torn or soiled fabric? If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can see that the buttons are simply strung on wire and then the ends are wrapped around the metal shade form. I LOVE this! It looks like the store actually teaches a class on how to make the shade, for anyone lucky enough to live nearby.

5. My new zipper flower headband from Target.

I saw this a few weeks ago but didn't buy it because I knew I could make it for cheaper (the crafter's mantra, right?). Only problem is finding the old zippers with metal teeth, and then actually finding the time to add yet another project to my sky-high pile. So I took the easy route, forked over $10 and bought the sucker. (I'm not giving up hope of making my own if I can ever find the zippers). If you want a zipper flower headband of your own, there are a ton of cute versions on etsy!

Japanese Eraser love

Have you seen these cutie pie Japanese erasers that are popular right now?

We've found them at places like Hallmark, JoAnns, Justice, Claire's, and Robert's crafts in Utah, though I'm sure they're also available at other places where tween girls might like to shop. They come in a zillion different themes (sports, transportation, toys, groceries, some weird like Japanese foods and sushi), they come apart, and they're usually priced between $1-$2. I first saw them before Christmas at Hallmark, and was instantly taken back to my childhood! My inner 8-year-old *squealed* and I bought several for Maren right away. Since then we've collected a few more, all in a dessert theme. Maren loves to use them to throw parties for her My Little Ponies. They've been a fun thing for us to look for and collect, and I'm not sure which one of us likes them more!