Crafty Stuff: Button Ornaments

I've got my eye on January 4. It's a long time from now, but that's the day that Maren goes back to school after having been out of school for nearly six weeks. She is on a year-round schedule and her last day was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, so she gets the three day Thanksgiving break, three weeks of standard off-track time and the two weeks for Christmas break all stacked together. I love my daughter and I enjoy spending time with her, but six straight weeks of zero Mommy-alone time during the day is enough to make me shed a few tears.

To keep us from going crazy, I'm going to try to have fun activities planned for us to do while Porter is napping. We have a new-to-us Christmas tree this year and it's a biggun'! I'll show it in another post when we get it all ready to go (it needs a new strand of lights) but one thing is for certain--I don't have nearly enough ornaments to fill all 8' of Tree-zilla. Let me be more specific: I don't have nearly enough unbreakable ornaments to fill my tree, so I thought Maren and I could get our craft on and make some fun things together. Ornaments for the tree + fun activities to keep Maren busy=killing two birds with one stone.

I looked through my files and found this cute Martha Stewart project that I'd saved from a while back.

Since I have no shortage of buttons

and plenty of pipe cleaners, I pulled them out while Porter was napping yesterday.

Basically, you fold a pipe cleaner in half and string the buttons on in increasing and decreasing sizes.They really were pretty easy, and Maren needed only minimal help. She loved digging through the bowls of buttons. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree on that count!

We made two Santas, a pair of cute snowmen, a red and white toadstool and a candy cane.

I have a lot of brown buttons so I'd love to make a reindeer but I don't have any brown or black pipe cleaners to use for antlers. I have plenty of white stems, so maybe I can think of a way to dye them. My favorites are definitely the snowmen!

I already have plans for more ornaments for us to make! I'm going to try to only use my existing supplies and not have to buy anything new. Since I could practically outfit a craft store with the contents of my closet and desk, I don't foresee that being too big of a challenge. Next up: sequins and styrofoam. Whee!

DIY Anthro-style butterfly plate

This pretty plate is from Anthropologie. A dinner plate will run you about $16.00.

Here's a similar one I made. I used a yummy antique plate that I found at an estate sale for 25¢ and a package of rub-ons that I received in a swap years ago.

It took all of two minutes to decide where I wanted the images and to rub them on and now I have instant artwork for my wall! The colors are perfect for my front room, and whenever I get around to finally hanging something the wall in there (we've lived here 6.5 years with nothing on the walls in there--I'm obviously afraid of commitment) this will make a nice addition to the gallery wall I've been planning. Not too bad for a measly quarter and two minutes of my time!

Autumn yarn wreath with felt roses

2010 seems to be the Year of the Wreath for me. Even though I'll be pulling out the Christmas tree on Friday, I was determined to get this autumn wreath finished so that I could display it for a few days at least.

I first saw this lovely wreath on the blog take heart back before Halloween. I've seen yarn wreaths all over blogland and I was struck by the gold, deep red and ivory color combination of Danielle's wreath. Yellow is not a color I'm normally drawn to but I just loved the warmth of the gold and the contrast with the beautiful russet color, so I decided to throw originality out the window and just copy Danielle completely! I purchased all of the supplies at JoAnn's while I was buying last-minute Halloween costume stuff, but there was one problem: when I got home, the golden yarn I had chosen looked too bright and along with the red, all I could think of was ketchup and mustard!

I meant to exchange the yarn, but my preparations and subsequent trip to London got in the way. I thought maybe I'd just give up and use the wreath form for another project, but last week on a trip to the thrift to check out the Christmas offerings, I found the perfect color of yarn so I decided to go ahead with the project anyway!

I've made a lot of wreaths so far this year, but this one was definitely the quickest and easiest. I followed Danielle's excellent tutorial so I won't retype it here. If I did this project again, I'm not sure I'd use a straw wreath form. I left the plastic wrapper on but it the wreath form itself was so lumpy! In some places the lumps were so bad I had to slit the plastic and remove the piece of straw underneath to get rid of the bumps. I've been using those extruded foam wreath forms all year and they're nice and smooth, so I would have preferred that look but I just wanted to get this one done so I used the straw.

I made my felt roses just like Danielle's and they were also really quick and easy to make. If you're curious about sizing, I used a circle almost the size of a whole sheet of felt to make the largest flowers. I had some green felt in my stash so I added a few leaves as well. I wrapped a piece of crocheted lace around the top to make a hanger and simply slipped the holes in the flowers over my hook to hang it!

This pattern would lend itself to a really beautiful Christmas wreath! What colors would you use?

House of 3 Halloween banner

I know we're in the final stretch toward Halloween, but I still have things to show you that I've made--this October has been almost unmatched on the level of crafting I've managed to squeeze in. One of my favorite projects was this cute Happy Haunting banner.

The banner pieces are actually a printable purchased from House of 3. The printable pdf file is only $4.00 and you get the images for both the small banner (seen here, the letters are about 2.5" tall) and the large banner (letters a bit larger than a playing card). And the bonus is that you can print as many of them as your little heart desires--use them for gifts, send them in swap packages (that's what I did), so it's really an economical little project.

To make my banner, I printed the letters on white cardstock and cut them out (I think this banner would look really neat printed on fabric too!). The original letters had a bit of brown shading around the edges but I wanted them to be a bit darker, so I used brown craft chalk around each letter. I hauled out my sewing machine and stitched them together along the tops, spacing them evenly. When they were all done I thought it needed a something more, so I sprayed the whole thing with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Pearl. The moisture did make my letters curl a bit but I don't mind and I like how it's a bit blotchy. You can see a bit of the shimmer at the top of the N in this photo; it's subtle, but really pretty. If you wanted more sparkle, you could use glass glitter or Stickles glitter glue to accent each letter.

I punched holes in the end letters and hung them with black seam binding lace on the mirror in my entryway. I like how the colors of the banner match the colors on my antique oyster plates, silhouette coaster plates and the vintage group photo. It was a fun, easy project and this definitely won't be the last printable I purchase from House of 3!

Gummy Candy Kabobs

Dear friends, there are a few things you should know about me.
I love:
1. Candy
2. Festively colored candy that matches the upcoming holiday
3. Gummy candy
4. Food on a stick

So when I opened up the October Better Homes & Gardens magazine and saw this page, I about passed out. (I can't save the photo to show here and my scanner's on the blink, so click the link and go check it our for yourself. I'll wait!)

See what I mean? The gummy candy kabobs checked every box on my list up there, so I knew I had to make some for myself.

The best part for a candy freak like me was shopping for the candy, of course.

Sources: Wal-Mart for the orange slices, caterpillars, and peach rings, Target for all other candy. Blackberries and sour jelly pumpkins from bulk bins in Target candy aisle. Lollies and pretzel bags from Michael's. Not shown: Peeps ghosts, also from Target. (I tried to stay away from black licorice-flavored candies which made finding black treats a lot trickier.)

Some tips:

• If you use the pretzel bags, keep in mind how low you can push the bottom candy and still have it fit in the bag.
• Spray the skewers with non-stick cooking spray first; it helps the candy slide a bit easier
• Gummies with a layer of white marshmallow on the bottom (rings, frogs, caterpillars) are tougher to poke through. The worms were easier.
• The licorice I used was the Australian-style, which comes in all kinds of flavors (and hence, colors)
• For the top gummy, only poke the skewer halfway through so the pointy end doesn't come out the top.
• Peeps ghosts were darling on the skewers but just a smidge too wide for the pretzel bags to fit over easily, so it was a struggle to get them bagged neatly.

Aren't they cute? The bright colors and shapes are so fun and festive. Maren helped me pick out the candy for each skewer but she was a bit too young to make the kabobs herself. I would recommend this project for kids a bit older who a) have stronger hands and b) won't stab themselves accidentally with the skewer. Maren did help in checking the candies for freshness and quality by sampling them liberally.

When I was waiting in the checkout line to buy the pretzel bags at Michael's, I noticed these lollipops with long skinny plastic sticks and thought perhaps I could make candy kabobs on those as well. They were only 39¢ each so I grabbed three to give it a try. They actually worked really well because the candy slid easily over the slick plastic stick, and they already have the cute lollipop at the top. The ends aren't sharp, so for some of the tougher candies I poked a starter hole with a skewer.

Gummy candy kabobs would make a cute centerpiece for a party! For my photos I poked mine into a piece of floral foam in a crock that totally doesn't match--I was in a hurry and it already had the foam inside, so I grabbed it--but if I were doing it for a real party, I'd use a cuter container and hide the top of the floral foam under a layer of something like crinkled shredded paper. The BHG article suggests using a vase with jelly beans to anchor the skewers. The lollipop kabobs didn't work well for this application because after a little while the plastic sticks bent and they splayed out to the sides of the arrangement.

I'm kind of obsessed with this idea now and I want to make gummy candy kabobs for every occasion! Gummy and chewy candies are available in all sorts of colors, flavors and shapes and they make those Peeps for just about every holiday now. I'm having visions of an arrangement of skewers made solely of those great big gumdrops (last year's gumdrop craft) and I'm obsessed with the idea of making rainbow kabobs with a giant marshmallow at the bottom to act as the cloud. I have no occasion to make them for but I just think they'd be so pretty!

What occasion would you make gummy candy kabobs for? What kind of gummy or chewy candy is your favorite? Would it be wrong of me to plan an entire party around my rainbow gummy kabob idea? ;)

Halloween craftiness: Candy Corn Wreath

I don't often pay full price for magazines on principle--I either find a super-cheap subscription or I use a 40% off coupon at JoAnns, but when I saw the cover of the October Woman's Day magazine at the grocery store I threw it in my cart without a second thought and happily paid full price.

image copyright Woman's Day magazine

The cover image is of this great candy corn wreath and I thought it would make a fun project for Maren and I to do together. The step-by-step instructions are here on the Woman's Day website, so I won't go through those in detail.

I used a 16" green foam wreath from JoAnn's--it was $7.99, less my 40% off coupon. I got the kind of wreath form that has rounded edges on the front, but the back is flat. I love my Dollar Tree $1 green wreath forms but for this project I wanted a wreath that had some flat space so the candy corn didn't slide off when I laid it out. The instructions suggest to cover your wreath form in black duct tape but I didn't want to waste my good Gorilla Tape, so instead I covered the wreath form with strips of black fabric like I did for my paperback book wreath.

 I used approximately two 22-ounce bags of Brach's candy corn. It's hard to tell exactly how much I used because I let Maren eat some before I started the wreath, and then you have to pick out the wonky corns as well. I did end up opening a third bag but I was only short by about 20 corns, so I know if we hadn't eaten any beforehand two bags would have been plenty.

I did place out my candy corns before gluing like the instructions suggested, but I only did one ring at a time. I put my hot glue on the candy itself rather than the wreath so that it wouldn't show. It was really quite easy--Maren helped me lay out the corns, then I glued them down.

I had one big issue that makes my wreath look different from the one on the magazine cover. On the WD version, all of the orange middles of the candy line up, giving it a really symmetrical look, kind of like spokes radiating out from the center. The corns aren't necessarily touching head-to-toe; there are some gaps between them so that the orange middles will line up but the gaps are pretty small, which means that all the candy corns were just about the same size.

When I laid out my first ring (and I started from the center out), I put them head-to-toe. When I laid out the second ring, I put them head-to-toe going the other direction, but because of the bigger ring and the variation in the size of the corns, the oranges didn't necessarily line up. By the third ring I realized that my wreath didn't look as neat as the WD version, and I tried to do a better job of lining up the oranges rather than having the corns touch. That worked at first, but after a while it resulted in some pretty big gaps where the black showed through, and that bugged me. So then I went back to doing the head-to-toe again. In some place the oranges line up, and in some places they don't.

I do like how tidy the rows of candy corn on the WD wreath are, but I'm sure WD has editorial assistants who get paid to make sure all 435 candy corn are exactly the same size, and I'm trying to glue on candy corns in between cooking dinner and shoving snacks at my 13-month-old to keep him from screaming. So my wreath is imperfect, and that's just how it's going to have to be.

I hung my wreath with wide black satin ribbon and I think it's pretty darn cute! I like the bright festive colors but the shape itself is very unfussy; from a distance it makes a really cool pattern and almost looks like it is beaded.

On the Woman's Day website there's an additional page of instructions on how to preserve your candy corn so your wreath will last longer and not end up as insect food. Those weren't in the magazine and involve letting your candy corn dry out for several days, then spraying them on both sides with clear preserving spray. Honestly, that sounds like a giant pain in the bum so I'm glad I skipped it! I might give my wreath a coat or two of clear Krylon spray to make it shinier, but that's only if I can find my spray--I'm not going to go out any buy any specifically for this project. I live in a very dry climate so I don't have to worry about my candy becoming sticky and bugs aren't really an issue for us.

There are some other really cute candy corn craft ideas in that magazine that I'd love to try, like a candy corn garland and cool candy corn balls but I'm not sure if I'll get to those this year--they might have to be on the crafting list for Halloween 2011.

Wardrobe refashion: Cardigans

Last week I showed you the tank tops I did in my recent wardrobe refashioning session, and today I'd like to show you the cardigans I worked on as well.

I purchased three cardis at Target back in August when I found them on clearance. They're perfect for early fall in Colorado because they have sleeves that go to just below the elbow so they're warmer than a t-shirt but not as hot as a full sweater. The first that I worked on was the turquoise cardi:

I purchased the pretty peachy rose trim months ago from this etsy shop and I've been wanting to add it to a shirt, but just never got around to buying matching thread so I could sew it on. I loved how it looked with the turquoise sweater and I couldn't figure out how I would sew it on anyway, so I just took the easy way out and adhered it with fabric glue!

The flowers are sewn together on a strip of peachy tulle, so to add a bit more embellishment I went to my bead stash and found some bright orange seed beads and pretty fire-polished glass beads in the same turquoise as the sweater. I sewed the beads on randomly in little groups and although they're a bit hard to see amid the flowers, I think they add just a little bit of extra sparkle and interest.

Since I used fabric glue, I was a little worried about how well the flower trim would hold up in the wash, and I was careful not to let it dry all the way, but it seems to have come out just fine.

The second cardigan was easy too. For inspiration, I used this cute sweater by Jen at Tatertots and Jello. She in turn used a cardi from Anthropologie for her inspiration and when I was looking at her photos, I remembered that I had some very similar ruffled trim in my stash.

I laid it out on the sweater in a zigzag pattern and pinned it to the sweater, making my zigzags all different widths. Then I took a deep breath and gathered my courage and sewed it straight down the middle of the trim. It was easier than I thought and I love how it turned out and that I was able to utilize more ribbon from my stash.

I still have one more cardi to work on. I saw this cute sweater at White House Black Market back during the summer.

I think it retailed for around $90 and I knew that I could make a similar one for a whole lot less, so I bought a white cardigan with that project in mind. I picked out some vintage black glass buttons from my stash and I need to sew those on the next time I'm watching a movie.

The swirls on top were made from different fabrics and trims and those will be trickier to replicate, but I think I have enough stuff in my stash of fabrics and ribbons that I can come up with something similar. Hopefully I can get around to it soon so I can wear it before real sweater season in Colorado sets in!

The paper bag wreath: Halloween version

Back in August I made a paper bag wreath.

Actually, I made two. Once I got gluing those little flowers it was hard to stop! I loved how it turned out so much that I started thinking about what other kinds of paper I could use to make a wreath besides brown paper sacks, and the first thing that came to my mind was book pages.

One trip to the Dollar Store and $2 later, I came out with another wreath form and a paperback book and plans to make a black and white version of the wreath that would be perfect for Halloween!

I used the same technique as on the brown wreath, but I punched my flowers out of pages torn out of a really bad sci-fi book instead. (I read snippets of the book as I was punching out the flowers and trust me, being made into a wreath was a serious improvement. That thing was dreck.) One small difference from the brown wreath was that I covered the wreath form in strips of black fabric so the green foam wouldn't show through. You could also use black tape, but I had the fabric close at hand so that's what I used.

I liked how the black and white looked on its own, but I wanted to use it for Halloween so I drew some bat shapes with a white pencil on the back of some glittery black cardstock from my stash. I hot-glued them to the wreath and then bent and curled the wings with my fingers to give them a bit of dimension. For the second wreath, I found a package of velvety black diecut Halloween shapes at Michael's. I used the bats again but the package also contained spiders, which would be a fun addition to the wreath with a bit of that cottony fake web stuff stretched across it.

I still love this wreath technique and I wouldn't mind making another one without the shapes because I love the graphic look of the white paper and black text. I'm also thinking of other kinds of paper I could use to make this wreath--white kitchen waxed paper crossed my mind, but I think that might not produce nice clean edges on the punched shapes. What other kinds of paper do you think would make a pretty wreath?

(PS--is anyone still having problems with Blogger's 'new' uploader? Why do I have to reload my photos EVERY SINGLE TIME I go to post one? It didn't start out like this.)

Halloween project: Embellished Soda Carton

Today I have a quick and easy project to share with you. This took about an hour on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

This is simply a six-pack of Orange Crush soda. I covered the cardboard holder in cute My Mind's Eye Halloween paper that I received in a swag bag at Spark in September. I measured the sides of the holder and cut corresponding pieces out of patterned paper, then adhered it right to the cardboard itself. You could probably get away with not measuring and just tracing the shape with a pencil, but I'm picky that way. I used Zip Dry adhesive but I think a glue stick or double-sided tape would have been a bit easier.

The ends of the carton are covered with a coordinating striped paper, since one sheet isn't enough to do all four sides of the box. I also measured roughly and cut a strip to go around each bottle, and used the remaining paper from that to cover the top part where the handle is. I used some of the die cut shapes that came in the package to decorate the sides, tied on a few pieces of ribbon and rickrack from my scrap jar, and now I have a cute little treat to give to a friend, all for the cost of the soda!

Image copyright Stampin' Up! 1990-2010

I love this embellished soda carton from the Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini Catalog. They have a great package of patterned papers in greens, black and orange with the raven theme, so they've used the Key Lime Stewart's soda to match. To further embellish the soda bottles, they've applied a skull rub-on to the neck of each bottle and topped the lids with a square of black tissue paper and a bit of twine.

I enjoyed making this treat for our friends, and I think I'll do a few more for the families that The Mister and I Visit and Home Teach. The idea could easily work as a neighbor gift, a birthday treat for a co-worker, or even for a teacher. It's inexpensive but visually impressive and it's a treat because few of us probably buy soda in glass bottles on a regular basis.

Vintage chic Halloween platters

I've had such fun lately making these cool Halloween decor pieces. I used vintage plates and platters, vinyl decals and rub-ons and I LOVE how they turned out! I'm keeping the raven with the chandelier, but all of the others are for sale in my Etsy shop.

I'm still up to my eyeballs in Halloween decorating, but I'm nearing the end. Thank goodness, because trying to keep the baby out of the boxes is nigh unto impossible! I'm having fun putting together new vignettes this year but I'll be relieved when I can put away the boxes and enjoy the decorations without all the mess. What are your plans for the weekend?

Book Page Leaf Wreath

I made it 32 years, one month and 16 days before losing my first grandparent--I think that's a pretty good run, don't you?  My paternal grandfather passed away last Wednesday as we were driving home from our visit to Utah. I'm so lucky that I had 32 years, one month and 16 days of my life to know him. Monday morning we loaded up the car again (didn't even bother to put the suitcases away from the Utah trip) and drove four hours to southern Colorado for the funeral events.

My Papa with a teeny-tiny newborn Maren

His passing was bittersweet for us all: I'm sad at the knowledge that I won't get to see my Papa Morgan again in this life--it will feel strange to go to my grandparent's house and not find him there with a big hug, smile and kind words for me. At the same time, he lived nearly 87 years, has children, grandchildren and even a few great-grandchildren; he lived a long, full life and he deserved to rest. His viewing was Monday evening and the funeral services were Tuesday around mid-day. Every single one of his descendants was there, and I can think of no greater way to honor him than the fact that we had a genuinely good time being together, despite the circumstances.

The Mister had to be back for work on Wednesday morning, so unfortunately our trip was a quick one and we returned home late Tuesday night--there wasn't even time for small-town thrifting at my favorite haunts or a guacamole tostada & tall Dr. Pepper at our favorite little hole-in-the-wall Mexican food joint. Yesterday I ignored the piles of laundry & suitcases and met some friends at the science museum for several hours so the kids could play, which meant today I finally had time to begin to get this house back into some semblance of order. I've still got work to do but I think I can finally think about blogging again now that we have some clean clothes and the kitchen table isn't piled six inches deep with mail and newspapers.

All the long hours in the car recently means that I've gotten to read a lot of magazines. In the October Martha Stewart Living there was an ad for this wreath:

It was created by Emily Morris and is the winning entry in a contest put on by Martha & The UPS Store and honestly, I thought it was the most interesting thing in the whole magazine! (Usually the October MSL is my favorite but this one was a total snooze). There are step-by-step instructions over here on Martha's website, as well as a leaf template so you can make your own. I've already made two different book page wreaths this year and this one might have to be #3! I'm going to be good and make myself wait until the rest of the laundry is done and we have some groceries, though!

Stuff I've made: Quick-change corsage necklace

This is a project I did months ago but I never showed it here. When I saw this Quick Change Corsage Necklace project over on The Polka Dot Chair, I knew it was something I wanted to make! In fact, I invited a few friends to make one with me and we happily crafted for a few hours while our kids played.

I used Melissa's tutorials for making the necklace, so I won't reprint that here. I used chains purchased at Michael's (they had a much better selection than JoAnn's); they're fairly inexpensive but they frequently go on sale or you can always use a 40% off coupon to make them an even better price.

I used a different method from Melissa to make my flowers. I used my Big Shot die cutting machine and this Bigz Flower Foldz die from Stampin' Up! to cut flowers from fabric and stacked them up and stitched through them to make the flower. The big white flower in the photo is actually a silk flower from the craft store--I simply removed the plastic stamen thingy and replaced it with a gorgeous pearly vintage button instead.

I gave my necklaces and flowers away, so now I need to make more for myself. Maybe some fall flowers in wool felt, corduroy, tweed or leather? These make great little gifts! They're easy and affordable and it's fun to be able to change out the flowers to match your outfit. Because the flowers have a pin back, they can also be worn without the necklace as well. Thanks to Melissa for a great tutorial!

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!