The last (but by no means least) of our birthday triple bill…
And this one is an extra special treat for you, a guest post by the lovely hubby…!
It has been some years since we have exchanged Birthday and Christmas gifts with my brothers. We initiated a present amnesty when it we realised that we were essentially just swapping money by giving vouchers…But as this year it was my (much) older brothers 50th birthday I thought it would be nice to Make Do and Mend him something.
After trawling the interweb for some inspiration I came up with a record clock and a pair of cufflinks.
Cufflinks
We had some cufflinks backs (left over from making scrabble cufflinks to sell a while back) and I had been left a pouch of sixpences by my grandfather. Not a great leap from those two components, but a nice touch was being able to find two 1963 (the year of his birth, for those of you who struggle with the maths….!) coins to mount date side outwards. I used two part epoxy glue and then when this was dry, I moulded Sugru around the edge of the glued surface for neatness and extra strength. Hey presto!
Apologies, this a RUBBISH photo. But you get the idea…
Vinyl Single Clock
I hit upon this idea as I was looking for something I could make for big bro from something dating from around his birthday. I did a spot of Googling, and found out that Gerry and The Pace Makers “How do you do it?” was number one on April 21st 1963 (Big Bro’s actual birthday). Two minutes later I had bought the vinyl single from a wellknown auction site. I got an old clock from a charity shop and having dismantled it, sprayed the hands white to contrast with the record.
It was then just a case of putting it all together. The hole in the middle of the record is ready made to take a clock mechanism. I managed to use the hanging bracket from the dismantled clock also super glued to the back, to hang it up with. I then printed a label to stick on the back to explain that it was number one on big bro’s birthday.
In total this took me less than an hour to make and he loved it. And I enjoyed making something that was totally unique and the clock especially looked like a bought gift.
How cool is that?!
A totally personalised, VERY cool, yet practical and useful birthday present. For less than a fiver!
Huurah! Thankyou Lovely Hubby 🙂
My Make Do and Mend Year 
Fab clock and love the idea of the cuff links.
Can’t wait for tomorrow when we find out what you got for the Queen 😉 aka birthday no 4!!!
Ah, I may have mis-led you there..!! We did invite her round for cake though-can’t believe she didn’t come…
How rude!!!
What inspired and brilliant presents, and they will mean so much more because you spent time and thought on making something so special.
Thankyou so much (on behalf of hubby!)
Cool and awesome… and luckily we have 3 fiftieth birthdays within about 18 months!!! Thank you for a brill idea!
No problem. Let me know how you get on 🙂
What unique gifts. They are great and I am sure they were really appreciated.
Thankyou!
Fab:) I’ve been meaning to make a record clock but hadn’t though of buying a second had clock for the parts.. brilliant idea:)
Thanks Vicky. I am sure it is one of those crazy things where it is probably cheaper to buy a new mechanism off E-bay/Amazon, but as it’s not an option, I haven’t looked into it.
Cool and excellent. Well done ‘the lovely hubby’!
Thankyou! I’ll pass it on 🙂
Love love love the cufflinks! What a good idea! Will try that one for the hubby! I write a blog myself and have also set myself a challenge: to only buy fairtrade, second-hand and vintage for a year to reduce waste and make my small contribution to a more ethical fashion world. Have also had a stab at some mending and making do… http://www.fairenoughblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/make-do-and-mend-how-to-revamp-your-old.html
Hi Sarah. Good luck with your year-sounds fab-I’ll check it out 🙂
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