Dial-A-Prayer : A Timely Upcycle Project

I know not all The Idea Attic readers are religous, so don’t let the title of this post deter you from a great upcycling project. You can use this idea for a whole bunch of stuff…I promise to give you a list at the end.

Last week I wrote about how much of a struggle it is to get my kids ready in the morning. I think I’ve blogged about how hard it is for them to get to bed at night. And if my husband was posting, he would talk about how hard it is for him to get them to do their homework in the afternoon.

But I don’t want you thinking my kids are horrible. Much of the time, they are little angels. And what do little angels like to do besides make mommy A BUNCH of artwork to take to her office? They like to give kisses, laugh a lot and argue about whose turn it is to pray. Isn’t it ironic…don’t you think?

Now, each one of them has their own “argument.” The baby always wants to pray. Her sister always wants to pray. Their brother never wants to say the prayer. And no one wants Mommy or Daddy to pray because "it takes too long."

So, enter our Prayer Dial. And easy way to remember whose turn it is to pray.

You can use an old clock (one that is getting slow, or one you really want to replace). If you don't have a spare clock...Target has cheap ones for $3.99 right now.

First, take the plastic face off. This clock it was easy to slip something in between the plastics to pop it out. Others may be a challenge...just don't hurt yourself.

When you get the plastic off, the hands of the clock should pull right off (maybe some gentle tugging is required).

Then measure your clock diameter and cut out a circle from some pretty paper. Find the exact middle and make an "X" with an exacto knife.

I have a vinyl cutter, so I typed my phrase "Time for Family Prayer" and our names and cut them out. And then I applied it to the paper! You can also use a compass (think school supplies) to draw pencil circles and write whatever you want to write with a sharpie.

After that, you put your hands back on the clock. You need to put all the hands back on in order to keep it stable...so I just cut off the hand part and left the ring snug around the center of the clock.

And there's our Whose-Turn-Is-It-To-Pray Dial. It's working great!

You can also use pictures instead of names for families with non-readers.

So as promised, I'm going to list a couple of other things you can use this for...
- Chores. You can have different clocks for different rooms and different chores.
- Spotlight. You can take turns being extra kind to the Spotlight person in your home.
- Who's Birthday is next.
- Paint the face with chalkboard paint and use the clock for whatever you want like a "what's-for-dinner-dial
- A clean or dirty dial for the dishwasher.
- Feel free to add anymore ideas if you'd like.

As I write this my kids are running around screaming and tying each other up with rope (dad just gave son a lesson on knots for boy scouts). There's a mixture of laughter and tears and more screaming. Looks like Mommy needs a prayer dial with only her name on it!