Makeover Monday: Wood “Cookie” Clock

If I’m being honest with myself, one of my favorite aspects of a celebration is the gift-giving. I love giving gifts. I love receiving gifts. It all turns me into a that giddy second-grader who can’t wait for the next birthday party. One has to be coming up, right?

While I love myself a good afternoon of shopping for gifts, I challenged myself to go homemade with a lot of gifts last Christmas. (We’re still in “Celebration” season, so I feel little-to-no shame about sharing the Christmas presents I made this year. Maybe I should leave that at moderate-to-little shame…I recognize that I’m a month or two behind!)

One of my favorite projects from this season was this wood clock. I got the inspiration from Fresh Style Magazine’s 2012 Holiday issue. The real magic, however, came from the idea my mother-in-law had: why not make the clock as a gift for the newlyweds in our family, who used tree cookies to adorn tables at their summer wedding? Why not use one of those tree cookies that was at the wedding? The proposition was so smart and so sweet that I had to go for it!

The project seemed simple, but actually took a bit of work. My first challenge was that the tree slice was too thick for the clock mechanism I bought. To remedy this, I (okay…mostly my father) used a router to create a notch for the mechanism to rest in on the back-side of the wood cookie, and a drill to make a hole at the center of the face. That way, all the important motor parts could stick through and the hands could keep time without any obstacles. After a good deal of sanding the wood face, I hand painted on numbers. Measuring out the spacing was important, but I tried to keep a hand-painted look to the digits to maximize charm. Lastly, I realized that it needed a hook so it could actually hang on a wall. I gently tapped finishing nails through a mounting hook so the wood wouldn’t split. Despite having to think through a couple of unexpected factors, the clock came out wonderfully!