Coolest Clock E-VER!

So, one of my besties had a birthday back at the beginning of December.  We both love making stuff, so I thought to myself, "Self, why not give her something we can make together.  Hmmm. . ."  I had to think of something we could make.  Ok, her bedroom is black, white, and pink.  (Love that color scheme!)  Her favorite things in the world are her four animals.  She could use a great big clock b/c she's always late.  (Heh. . . heh!  Don't hit me, Sam!  It hurts!)  And the idea was born. . .

I designed the clock, and bought all the necessary parts.  Except for the most important piece: the wood.  My favorite daddy in the whole wide world gave me a piece.  And cut it for me.  Twice.  But we won't go there right now.  Here it is all finished.  What do you think?

(Honestly, I don't care what you think.  I love it!)  ;)

I decided to make each corner of the clock a corner for each of the animals.  I put their names and a whole bunch of words describing each pet into Microsoft word, and played around with the fonts and text sizes.  It only took 4 days!  The girls are in opposite corners on two different pink papers, and the boys are in the other two corners on black and white papers.  I printed the boys' names and descriptive words on pink card stock so it would stand out against the black and white paper.  The girls' names and descriptive words were printed on white card stock.  (I thought the pink would get lost on the pink paper.  I would have liked to have done white font on black paper, but I wasn't sure how to do that.)

Here goes:

First, I asked my dad oh-so-sweetly to cut a piece of wood for me.  He has a stash of 3/4 in. plywood that worked quite nicely for our purposes.  He also drilled a hole for me.  He's the best.  He did it twice for me.  I won't say why b/c it was my fault.

We primed the wooden letters (that we found at Hobby Lobby quite by accident), the board, and four wooden cabinet knobs that we used as feet on the back b/c the clock mechanism stands away from the board.  We spray painted all the wooden parts a glossy black.

We spray painted the clock hands the Raspberry color.  I'm not sure they stand out enough, so we might have to repaint them a glossy black, too.

Then we modpodged the four papers to the board.  We used wood glue to glue the wooden letters in their places so we could get the words placed correctly around them.  We modpodged the words after that.

 Glue is still wet.

Just trying to get an idea for the placement.  These words go on the top squares.

We sealed all the words with a final coat of modpodge.  After that was all done, all that was left was the feather boa and the clock hands and mechanism.  We used Fabritac to adhere the feather boa around the clock. Lemme tell ya!  Gluing a feather boa to something ain't easy!  Sheesh.  I hope I never have to do that again!  We also used a staple gun on in.  The clock hands and mechanism were easy.  We used wood glue for the cabinet knobs/feet thingies (of which I do not have a picture).

It's pretty big.  The board is 18" x 18", and the boa adds a few inches to either side.  I think it's adorable, though!

I'm going to make myself one using the first board my dad cut for me.  But much different.  And without the boa.

Give Thanks unto the Lord

While we should be thankful every day of our lives, Thanksgiving Day is a special time set aside to remind us to be thankful for our many blessings.  For the last several weeks our church has been splitting up the men and women in our Wednesday night service for the Bible study time.  The ladies spent a few weeks on Love, so this particular topic has been on my mind for a while now.

As I sit here contemplating what I'm thankful for, I keep thinking about our Bible studies.  I am so thankful for all the love in my life.  Not just that which is directed at me, but for all the examples of love that God has allowed me to witness.  There are so many people in the world today that feel blessed to have just one person that shows them love, and I have an abundance of examples.

I have two wonderful parents that have been married for over 30 years that love each other immensely.  Those in my church family love each other.  Now I consider that amazing--you get any number of random people together in a room, and eventually they will begin to clash.  Our church is diverse, and even though we are each different, we still love each other, and we love to fellowship.  My boss has been married to his wife for over 60 years, and every time he mentions his wife to me, he just absolutely gushes with pride and love.  

My whole family loves to be around each other, we love to laugh, and we love each other.  I have some amazing friends that love me, and some that I haven't spoken to nearly often enough over the years that I know would be there for me in an emergency.  My church family loves me.  My animals love me (and nothing you can say will convince me that animals don't love)!!

I really could go on and on about all the examples of love in my life, but I will leave you with this:

Colossians 1:3-4  We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the LOVE which ye have to all the saints.

Thank You, Lord, for showing me LOVE!  You were the ultimate example of love when You died on the cross to pay the price for my sin and offer me the opportunity of redemption.  Thank You for every iota of love You have put in my life.  You truly are an amazing and wonderful God!