DIY Elephant Clocks

Another look into my secret baby board:

via

I have this friend named Julie, she is pretty awesome. She cooks for us more than I do, she brought me ketchup flavored Pringles from Germany, she loves Harry Potter, and she is generally really cool. Julie is expecting a baby boy in October and I knew it was time for me to pay it forward. Or I guess pay it back. A while ago she found an adorable elephant lamp that would have matched her nursery perfectly, the down side was that it ran at about $50.00. Right, ok, college students have enough room in their budget to drop that kind of money on a lamp.

After she told me about the lamp I pulled up a picture of this elephant clock, which is adorable and amazing, but also runs at about $50.00. Not in the budget. But as I said above, Julie is amazing and I basically owe her my life, so I knew I needed to make some magic happen.

After thinking about it for a few days I had a plan. My parents own a small scroll saw, I have access to paint and a craft store to buy hands for a clock, I could make this happen. 

This idea came to me about two months ago, so naturally I didn't start working on it until the day before the baby shower. Some things never change. Luckily my parents/husband are awesome and the gave me some serious help. My dad drew out a version of the elephant on some extra wood he had, Spencer did most of the cutting, and various friends/old bosses helped with the paint, vinyl letters, and clock hands. 

I'm super proud of how it all turned out, and by how much money was saved by making it myself! So many times I feel like making things yourself is more work than it's worth, while in reality that has never been true for me. I love making my own things because they are so much more personal. They're usually not perfect, but that's what makes them yours. I'm so grateful to have so many amazing resources! It was one of those times when I realized how lucky I am to have lived in one place so long. I could never call up an old boss or use my parents for help if we lived somewhere else. I totally take that for granted, and I have to keep reminding myself that we won't be here for forever!

Anyway, returning to what we're talking about, here are pictures of the process!

At this point we lose a few steps of documentation because I may or may not have dropped my phone in the toilet . . . whoops! It's ok though, here's what you missed: I surreptitiously asked Julie what color she would want a new baby room decoration to be, then went to Hobby Lobby for paint and the clock parts. I just got enamel craft paint, it worked perfectly. Then I called my old boss and asked if he would be willing to print some vinyl for me. What a blessed resource. I typed up the numbers (font: MFT Toast) and got them in matte white. I didn't actually put the whole thing together until after I gave it to her at her shower. I wanted her to see the color and make sure she liked it before I put the vinyl on. I made my dad/Spencer do the math and use the protractor to figure out where the numbers went. The less math I have to do the better.

:) Happiness. May baby Tennyson love it as much as I do. 

Craftiness.

The Goal:

The time has come for me to move into a new apartment, and with this change in scenes comes new decorations. And you guys, I love me some decorations. Bronwyn and I went to start moving in some things today and, well, we were sad. The apartment is so bare and foreign feeling. The smell of old cleaning supplies lingered in the air and the couches looked neglected. The bedrooms were far too empty and the bathrooms had that scary, dirty, foreign feeling that all college apartment bathrooms have until you get used to it and call them home. However, once we started moving in our old apartment wall hangings and I reminded myself that my beloved roommates would be there with me, things started to brighten up.

So, in the act of making this house feel like a home, I turned to pinterest. Naturally. My boards have been piled high with apartment inspiration, and this past weekend I decided to tackle the painted crates.

Supplies: 

I went on over to Joann's and got me some wooden crates and spray paint. I snagged the last three crates at $8.99 each, which was 25% off the original price. 

As far as spray paint goes I got four cans: a color for each crate and a primer. They cost $7.99/bottle.

Take it from someone whose been there, go with the Rust-oleum, not the Krylon. I don't know much about spray paints, so maybe the Krylon would have worked better if I had the same brand of primer? I have no idea, but what I do know is that, after priming, the green went on beautifully while the purple and blue took up the entire bottle of paint and left me going back for seconds. Even then I was more pleased with the green than the others. 

The Method:

After setting some old packing paper on the grass I went at it with the primer. I coated the boxes with three layers each.

After this step I moved the boxes to different parts of the yard - I didn't want the wind to blow the paint from one box onto another. Turns out this was the best decision I made all day, as the paint was going everywhere. I probably could have let them sit a bit longer, but I just waited until the primer was dry to the touch and went at it with the color. I did one layer just after the primer, then came back about two hours later to do the second layer, and did the third layer after a few more hours. The purple took a few more mini-coats after that, but the blue and green were good to go.

I'm not sure exactly how the crates will be used in the apartment, but I am thinking of stacking them and using them as a form of book case. I'll let you know where they go :)

To see some of our apartment crafty makeovers from last year click here, here, and here.