TIME

If I'm going to live in a house that's not mine, 

at least I can redecorate a little, 

right?

My father-in-law has been a 

real trooper 

about my need to make his house more like mine.  

I haven't gone so far as to ask for pricey changes 

(like repainting or re-carpeting), 

but he's letting me pound 

hundreds a few more holes 

into his walls, 

so I can be happy.

My husband and I have lived with my in laws 

(my mother-in-law passed away a little less than a year ago) 

for just over 2 1/2 years now 

with no realistic plans to move 

in sight.  

When we moved in, 

they "gave us" certain rooms in the house.  

We put up our pictures 

and organized our furniture, 

but I couldn't (at that time) 

put new holes in the walls.  

So things (to me) looked 

a little 

s       p       a       r       s       e.

And couple of months ago
I decided
I couldn't take it anymore.

I needed change

...and fast...

before I went 

crazy.

So I started planning.

Thanks to Pinterest (so awesome. so addictive.) 

I got 

a great idea.

Then I photoshopped my version of the idea.

The quote I chose was from a talk given by
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
during the
October 2010 General Conference
for
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.


I knew I had to do some research

since I knew

nothing

about making clocks.

I found a website

called Klockit

that explains everything

(although I had to read it a few times
before I fully understood).

I was going to purchase 

the high torque (i.e. BIG) balanced hands and high torque movement from them,

but I found something cheaper.

Thanks to Hobby Lobby and their constant 40% off coupons,

I got the movement and hands for less than $16.

PLUS

it made me feel patriotic.

So here's what I needed

1 - High torque clock hands and movement (less than $16 at Hobby Lobby)
2 - Wooden circle cutout 1/8 inch thick (maybe .25 cents?)
3 - Photo paper (from a previous project)
4 - ConTact paper (I got black from Home Depot for $7)
5 - Twelve frames (can you say dollar store?)
6 (7,8,9,10)- I also used paper, pencil, scissors, a see-through ruler, and borrowed my dad's drill

For the frames,
I got eight that were plain black
(for the 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, and 11 positions)
and four that were a little more ornate
(for the 12, 3, 6, and 9 positions).

I'm pretty simple when it comes to math.
I was going to measure the circle and then just...

Okay, so after flipping over the ruler,
I measure the circle and found the center,
8.5 centimeters,
and drew a little tick mark.
I slid the ruler up and down a little
(making sure there was an equal amount of centimeter or millimeters over hanging each side)
and I made a few more tick marks.
I did this three times at different angles to find the exact center.

Then I connected the dots.

I called Klock it to find out the size of the hole I needed.
The back of the package also told me the diameter of the movement shaft.
5/8".
Vvreeeeeechhuuuuuschchcchhckkkkkkkkkburrchiivveeeeeeeeee.
Hole.

I traced a wide circle around my wooden circle.
When I did it, I only left 1/4"
but if I did it again,
I'd leave at least 1/2" to 1".

After cutting the ConTact paper,
I made sure the wood was free of dust and extra wooden pieces
so the finished product would be nice and smooth.

Peeling a little at first,
I stuck one bit of the ConTact paper on the wood
then slowly peeled and pressed down the rest,
making sure there were no bubbles.

The movement shaft can be fragile,
so I pre-poked a hole.

All around the extra lip of ConTact paper,
I made 1/4" straight cuts with scissors
and folded them up.

I had to press extra hard on the edges to make sure they were smooth.

Because mine were so short, I had to tape a few of them.

I used a pencil to try to get those tiny flaps to stick on the inside hole.
It didn't work, but it wasn't a problem in the end.
The only annoying part was getting the movement shaft through the hole
and keeping the little flaps from pushing out the front,
but I eventually got it.

I put the clock together using this image from Klockit.

There are other important instructions on the website
regarding putting together and setting the clock.

Tracing all the frames

and placing them on the area I wanted to use
really helped organize the space.



The pictures I used in the frames are all images of Jesus' life.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
has an online gospel art book that can be used for personal and church use.
There are few that request no copies to be made,
which makes no sense to me on a site like that,
but I made sure to respect those artists
and only used and printed images that were allowed.


Here's my lazy sneaky trick for hanging small pictures:

Push pins.

I used the paper on the wall and lined the frame up with it.
(Obvious: make sure the papers are placed the way you want them to look on the wall.)

Just pushing hard enough to break the paper and punch a
small dent in the wall behind.

Once I removed the frame, there was a cute little hole.
I chose, instead of using nails, to use the push pins for
picture hanging.

Here's the ALMOST finished product.


For the lettering,

I photoshopped a few fonts and played with the word placement.
To get the sizing right,
I measured the frame next to the "L" and made
the L a little smaller in photoshop.
(Can I just say, I love photoshop?)
I did a lot of guess work on the smaller lettering.


Before printing any huge letters,
I wanted to test it all.

I printed a smaller version of the word "love",
taped each letter onto the ConTact paper,
and
snippity-snip.
(Please tell me I'm not the only one with
piles of one-day-I'm going-to get-around-to-doing-this projects?)

My inconspicuous testing area happened to be the back of a closet.

Immediately after sticking the letters on,
I tried to peel them off again.
Looked good,
but I left it for a week or two and checked again.
I found that ConTact paper leaves a little bit of glue residue on the walls,
at least when it's brand new.
Nothing Goo-be-gone or Magic Eraser couldn't take care of
if we miraculously moved next week.
So I trudged ahead.

I printed these on 8.5x11 pieces of paper
 and then cut them out on ConTact paper.
(I used grey to save on ink.)
Tip: Cut each letter out as a square or circle.
Save the detail for after it's all taped to the ConTact paper.


I tried sticking them up myself, but kept making the letters pretty crooked.
Thankfully, my husband came to the rescue and made them straight for me.
Thanks, Hunny.

And after weeks and weeks of preparation and work:

it all finally came together.

Good to have it done.
Merry Christmas to me!