A Clock to Match My Desk

Over the last few days, I've been pondering crafting a clock for my desk/crafting area. My original thought was to use the Silhouette SD to cut numbers from the ivory vinyl I have. Then I was going to adhere the numbers directly to the wall, with the clock mechanism in the middle. The challenge was making the clock mechanism match and stay on the wall.

When I arrived at home last night, I completely changed my plan. I remembered that I had an oval picture frame that no longer had glass in it. My wheels started spinning from there.

Materials Used:

• old clock I had in my closet
  
• picture frame that had a mat
  
• fabric
  
• flathead screwdriver
  
• spray adhesive (just about anything would have worked)
  
• number stickers from a scrapbook set I had (optional, because markers would have worked just as well)

Yes, the clock is an advertisement for a prescription. I got it from my gynecologist's office (is it OK for me to say gynecologist on the internet? uh oh, now I've said it twice. Oh, well. I'm leaving it, because that's where I obtained the clock.)

I started by removing the plastic cover from the clock. This was much easier than I anticipated! I simply wedged the flathead screwdriver between the plastic cover and the main part of the clock, and the cover popped out pretty easily. In fact, I put the cover back on so I could take a picture, and it was harder to remove the second time!

The clock mechanism in the back was easy to remove as well (I did learn that the hands should come off first, so do these steps in reverse order of how I did them). Again, I just wedged in the flathead screwdriver and popped it out. (Where I have the black arrow pointing is where I wedged the screwdriver.) Then the hands were really tight on the front of the clock. All I had to do was pop them off.

Once I had the parts of the clock removed, I cut a piece of fabric the size and shape of the back of the frame. After it was cut, I used spray adhesive to hold the fabric in place.

With the fabric in place, I found the center of the frame backing. That was where I needed to make a small hole for the clock mechanism. I was all ready to use a power drill to make the hole (it seemed like a lot of fun!), but I couldn't figure out the power drill (I've never used it before), and Joseph wasn't home. My workaround: I turned the drill bit by hand and made the hole! HA!

The trickiest part was that the hands of the clock were a little finicky. I could hear the clock ticking, but the hands weren't always moving. They're working now, and I honestly don't know what is different.

For the numbers on the clock, I used number stickers that I had in a scrapbook kit. I didn't plan enough, so I ran out of ones before I made it to 11. I solved that problem by using 2 exclamation points. It added a little extra whimsy to the clock, so I'm totally fine with how that worked out.

Because there isn't any glass in the frame, the back doesn't fit as snuggly in the frame as it normally would. To help with that a little, I slipped a couple of washers into the gap and taped them so they wouldn't move. I also taped the clock mechanism so it would stay in place. No one sees the back of the clock, so tape seemed like a good solution.

Overall, I'm really pleased with how it turned out! I love the extra splash of color on the wall, and now I'll know how much time I've spent crafting!