Craftiness: Let's make a clock

My sweet friend (and kindergarten teacher) Whitney gave me a copy of Dr. Seuss's ABC book for the nursery as part of my thank you for making her wedding invitations. Since I already had a copy of this book in our library, I decided to use it for something else: a clock.

This was my first attempt at making a clock of any kind, much less from a book, so I'll show you what I did and the outcome, which I think is pretty darn cool.

I purchased a clock making kit from Hobby Lobby, but I wasn't crazy about the short little gold hands that came in it so I also purchased a separate set of clock hands in black that were longer. I also used Mod Podge, a box cutter and my drill. The first thing I did was hollow out the pages in the book. I know what you're thinking - it feels very, very wrong to cut up a book...almost dirty. I promise, no one will keep you from going to Heaven for this. It's okay. There are 2 reasons I did this; one of which I will show you in a moment, but the first reason I did it is because there is a severe lack of Dr. Seuss related scrapbook supplies in the world, so I thought I might could use the pages from the middle of the book for other craft purposes. I already have an idea for them. I used my box cutter for this, and having a brand new blade really helps. Don't cut the pages completely out though - just the middle. You'll need the edges to remain in tact so that the book still looks complete from the outside.The second reason I hollowed out the book is because the clock mechanism is kind of thick, and I didn't want the clock to be wobbly or lean once hung on the wall. Next I traced the part of the back cover of the book that I'll need to cut out. I didn't cut it perfectly the first time around, so I went back and cut more of each side until the clock mechanism fit snugly into the book. Don't cut it too big, otherwise you're going to have to come up with some way to secure the book and mechanism together. Mine fits snugly enough that this isn't an issue.Ta-da! Now take that back out.Next you are going to have to drill a hole on the front cover for the arm of the clock to go through. I lined up my clock body at the top and drew a straight line, then again on the side and drilled the hole where X marked the spot. I didn't have a drill bit quite big enough around, so I had to work the drill around a little to get the hole large enough. Be careful not to drill the hole too large! You don't have much of anything except a washer to cover up any boo-boos on the front should you need to hide that hole. See how nice and compact this is now? It doesn't stick out too far on the back but enough that a nail will hold the whole thing in place. Take the clock mechanism back out for this next part though.Time for the Mod Podge. Don't you just love that stuff?? Glue all of your pages together. I'll be honest, I didn't go page by page. I skipped a few here and there, starting at the back and working my way to the front. I put a generous amount of Mod Podge around the inside of the hollowed-out pages, which helped to seal them all together. Also repeat this along the outside of the book. I was careful not to get any Mod Podge on the front cover of the book because this particular book has a glossy finish and the only Mod Podge I had on hand was matte. Plus there was no reason to Mod Podge the front cover since I wasn't adding anything to it. Just wipe off any glue that you get on the front. If you were putting numbers on your clock, you'd want to go over the front of the whole thing with Mod Podge depending on the type of numbers you used. I opted not to use numbers on my clock.Use some handy binder clips to hold everything in place while your glue dries.Once everything is dry and you are satisfied that you've got a nice enough seal that your pages will stay closed, you can assemble the clock through the book. Follow the directions on the package for this. It was really simple to put together.Voila! A Dr. Seuss ABC book clock. You could do this with two or three books stacked together, or a thicker book if you wanted. Your only limit is the length of the arm on the clock mechanism.