Math Lover's Clock

It took Sherry and Katie's Pinterest challenge to get me off my rear and finally post a new project! A friend of mine who is a math teacher showed me this adorable clock she got for her classroom. As soon as I saw it, I knew it was a great DIY project and pinned an image I found online. This project is actually very timely for this time of year - great for teacher gifts, graduation or simply any math lover that you know. I actually plan to give this to my dad for father's day so Dad, if you're reading this, now would be a good time to stop!

These are the supplies I bought for the project - 10" wooden circle, clock mechanism, black craft paint and a white paint marker. (FYI, the wooden circle is sold right below the clock mechanism in Michael's and it's perfect because there's already a circle drilled through the center.)

First thing is to paint the wooden circle. I used a 1" foam craft brush and did two coats.

While I painted the back and the edges, I stuck a pencil through the center hole to hold it up. You need to paint the back because the clock mechanism (where the battery goes) sticks out a little which prevents the clock from sitting flush against the wall.

The next step was the most time consuming and that was recreating the math problems in Illustrator. If anyone is interested in a pdf of the file, please feel free to drop me an email. I printed it out exactly to size and then then taped the papers together.

Before I taped it to the clock, I shaded the back of it over the areas I would want to transfer - think old school transfer paper!

Then I just traced over each number and it appeared lightly on the clock face.

I used the white paint marker to pretty much color in the lines and then followed the directions on the clock mechanism to put it all together.

I love that it has a chalkboard feel to it! This is also perfect for a home-school classroom.

Are there any math lovers in your life?

Linking up:
Young House Love | Bower Power |  Red Bird Blue |  Sparkle Meets Pop | Craftionary | DIY Showoff | Serenity Now | House on the Way | Twelve O Eight | Home Stories A to Z | Today's Creative Blog |

Felt Flower Centerpiece

Although it's hard to feel it with temperatures still in the 30s some days, Spring is right around the corner. And with that comes the holiday of Passover (and Easter) - time to gather with family and celebrate. We are once again hosting a nice size crowd for the seder and I wanted to do something different from last year's centerpieces. I saw some tutorials of how to make a felt flower centerpiece (here and here) and decided to give them my own little spin.

Here's what you'll need (the sizes and amount will depend on how big and how many you want to make, I listed what I used): 2 4" clay flower pots, 2 4" foam balls, 12 pieces of 9x12" felt (6 per flower pot), pearl-head pins, and tacky glue (you could also use hot glue)

Start by tracing circles onto your felt (I got four circles per sheet). You can use the flower pot or any other small bowl or plate. After you cut them out, cut the circles into a sprial shape. They don't have to be perfect (as you can see), and in fact, the irregularities are what make each flower a little different so I didn't even try for perfection.

Starting from the inside of the spiral, twirl the felt around the center until you get to the end, keeping the flower fairly flat on the bottom. This is what it should look like:

Use just a small line of glue to seal it closed.

Make sure you're watching something good on TV while you're doing this, because it might get a little tedious after the first two 10. Repeat and repeat until you've created flowers out of all of your felt circles.

Next, take your pearl-head pins and push them through the center of each flower.

Place your foam ball in the flower pot and you can now start pinning the flowers right into it. No need for glue since the pins are long enough to keep the flowers in place.

Just put them in any random order. I tried to make sure no two of the same color were touching, but the truth is that it doesn't really matter if they are.

And now you've got two beautiful spring centerpieces. The great thing is that since you didn't glue anything together (besides the flowers), you can reuse the flower pots and foam balls for another project in the future!

Happy Passover or Happy Easter to you and yours. See you after spring break is over!

Linking up:
Home Stories A to Z |  Today's Creative Blog |  twelveOeight | Not Just a Housewife | House on the Way | House of Hepworths | Serenity Now |

Stenciled Coffee Table

I belong to a Facebook group of moms in my neighborhood where people post anything from suggestions for plumbers to advice on child raising. Not too long ago, someone asked if anyone was interested in redoing a coffee table for her. Of course I jumped at the chance! We don't know each other (though we have a few mutual friends) so I was surprised that she took me up on my offer.

Here's a sneak peek at the final product (I photoshopped the background out since I don't have a picture of it in its final spot, only in my junked up basement work area).

The coffee table was in pretty bad shape to start with. I'm not sure how much of it was original to the piece and how much was added on after the fact.

You can see from some of these close-ups that I had my work cut out for me!

I spent a loooong time sanding it down. It was not easy! The woman gave me a belt sander (which I have never used before) and man, are those things heavy! But it got the job done, that's for sure.

The next step was two coats of gray primer. Since she wanted black as the base coat, I figured that a tinted primer would make the job easier.  I used a sample size of black paint (because it's a small surface) and did two coats of that also.

The woman bought this Indian Inlay stencil (from Cutting Edge Stencils) that she wanted me to use on the surface. Now, when she originally told me that she wanted it stenciled, I thought it was one of those sheets that you just use a roller across. You know what they say when you assume... This particular stencil comes with five separate pieces! Please don't believe it when it says that this is a beginner level stencil. Each strip has to be measured and centered so you don't end up with half a design when you get to a corner and want them to meet up.

Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed working on this project, but it took many, many hours.

Here's a close up where you can see some of the imperfections (that naturally go along with stenciling). I used the same foam stencil brushes that I used on my book crate, with different size brushes depending on the size of the stencil. As a final step, I put a few layers of a satin polycrylic to protect all my hard work.

And here it is in its finished state:

I think it came out great, even though not everything is perfect or exactly centered.

And my new facebook friend loved it so much, she asked me to do another project with her dining room table! Woohoo! Do you have any favorite stencil tips or tricks? Please share!

Linking up:
Home Stories A to Z |  House on the Way | Craftionary | Miss Mustard Seed | Beneath My Heart | Serenity Now | House of Hepworths |

Easiest DIY Hair Clip

Okay guys, this is hands down the easiest hair clip you will ever make. You don't need to cut, sew, heck you don't even need glue!

Check out these organza beauties that I got at Michael's for less than $2.50 (with the 40% off coupon)! The only other thing you'll need is some plain clips. I got these at Michael's also, a while back, so I don't remember exactly how much they cost, but it wasn't more than a few dollars.

When you remove the backing from them, you'll see they are attached with a twist-tie that goes through two small slits in the felt.

Simply slide the clip through those same slits and you're done!

Find a cute girl to model them :-)

It doesn't get any easier than that, does it??

Linking up:
Home Stories A to Z | A Bowl Full of Lemons | House on the Way | Not Just a Housewife | House of Hepworths | At the Picket Fence | Craftionary | Remodelaholic | Serenity Now | DIY Showoff | Creative Jewish Mom |

Autumn Garland

Here's another great DIY project for fall that can really be adapted to any season or decor. I actually got the idea for this from my daughter's Highlights magazine. Go figure!

I adapted it somewhat and this is what I and my daughter created. Start out with these supplies that you probably have already.

Supplies: one piece of craft foam in color of your choice • tissue paper in a variety of colors • yarn, sisal, jute or any type of string of your choice (not shown) • craft glue (not shown)

Start by tracing circles across the entire piece of foam and cutting them out. I used (the inner circle) a roll of masking tape for mine.

Then cut your tissue paper into 1 inch squares.

Crinkle up the tissue paper as small as you can.

And glue them on to your circles in any shape you want. Since we were planning on hanging this in honor of Sukkot, we made fruits and vegetables on each circle.

You can use any other type of embellishments to enhance each circle.

We used pipe cleaners for the stems on many of ours.

After you've created the designs on each of the circles, use a hole-puncher to make a hole at the top of each one. Then string the sisal (or whatever you chose) and tie a knot after each circle so they stay in place.

Then hang it up wherever you'd like! Here it is hanging over our mantel-less fireplace.

And outside in our sukkah:

All in all, a great, easy project that even a seven-year-old can do did it!

Happy Fall!

p.s. See you after Sukkot!

Linking up:
A Bowl Full of Lemons | House on the Way | DIY Showoff | House of Hepworths |