Random Creativity

50 cent clock make over

My sister from Florida came to spend a week with me – yay!  Of course, we had to visit the second hand stores while she was here, and I found four of these Ambien clocks, new in the package with batteries, for 0.50 each.  Cheap clocks are incredibly easy to redo, so I thought I’d share :0)

First, turn over the clock and look for a tab slot – most clock faces are held on by three little tabs.  One tab may be longer than the others, so leave that tab for last.  Flip the clock back over, and slide a flat head screwdriver or knife down between the face and the slot, gently popping the tab out.  After you do two of the three tabs, the clear shell should just lift off.

The hands should just be pressed onto a movement, carefully pull them straight up.  You may need to use a knife or screwdriver to help loosen them – be very careful not to bend the hands.  Set them aside.

Remove the paper clock face, and set it aside.  Now, you have several options.  You can design your own clock face, use a photo, scrapbook paper, old magazine, etc, or paint over the existing clock face.  I found several scrapbook papers that I liked, and printed a clock face onto them.  I cut them out, used my crop-a-dile to punch out the middle hole, and stuck them on the clocks.  Quick, and really cute.

Here is the blank clock face that I designed to fit my clocks (9″ across, I printed on a 12″x12″ paper since it wouldn’t fit on a standard 8.5″x11″ sheet.)   You could open this file in a photo – editing software and insert a photo as the background.  OR, you could design something, or use free clip art, etc as the background.  You could also use plain white paper, like my husband suggested – blah, too plain for my tastes ;0)

Once you have the paper attached, slip the hands back onto the movement, and snap the cover back in place.  You are done!  Here is the finished clock – how cute would that be in a girl’s room?

You can also paint the clock if you don’t like the color – neon pink won’t really do for what I needed these clocks for, so I pulled out a few cans of spray paint.  You could use a brush on paint for plastic as well.

After two coats, my clocks and hands looked good, so I left it at that.  Here are the four clocks that I redid:

So, for $2.00 and some stuff I already had, I have four decent looking clocks.  The green and white is my favorite.  And, as easy as this is to do, you could really change out the paper seasonally if you really wanted to.