Getting my Crafting Mojo into Gear, Finally !
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLLCmC3U_BEFG8ejKLUW7YAxF9XEVlmpnLiHiB_IU08kH4HrmlhZABiwHlvCrDrZWhliUe80Jo6ww6lmc4xL13KPcCjVmZ0xzmMwtt8rJgQRJhjiTDZu5mhFaRmy5uFQj8UUZoO49QI7OS/s200/img030.jpg)
I started this project with an idea of a time theme, plus I wanted to use this Vintage Numbers rubber stamp set which the recipient gave me for my birthday last year. I borrowed the Tim Holtz Gadget Gears from my good friend Lena because they were masculine and were the closest thing I could think of to clock mechanisms. Before long I was turning the gears to represent "turning 60" and had a little swing out mechanism for the sentiment.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYA5_Mt6WnqLhu6Ax_hxd08O0NJf2nIv0NsF6KPF_Wvs1TdU86JJyVYBdATleoLjADZ6NDuKjsZq9uTWdNICI7TeqJaG78huF_AQBmTKwR1LXe1X5hX_uQRnG10DUiWieWO85fKzRAkwww/s320/img032.jpg)
If you want to see how the gear mechanism works, I took some "work in progress" shots as well. The top gear only needs to spin around so it only needs a small hole (ignore the fact that there are 2 small holes the lower was a mistake - the gears were too close together and wouldn't mesh), however the bottom gear needs to move the sentiment out so needed to be a bigger hole so a bigger lug could be used to increase contact between the gear on the top and the sleeve underneath bearing the hidden sentiment.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhug4mXbnMBU-KK1SHJX-hQ0UBYS8WEshe8oGAPZsuw9bIkroODVF5fjcMUYB8sxxnO2PHSwJBhZQGVQaG56Miu8PkXazqGYE05-1IeP04yE_Ly2XkuEy9ABWVyw-Qp5uKG-QNSzcAhyphenhyphenZS6/s200/img021.jpg)
The larger hole in the card top was cut using a spellbinders circle. Because the lug which joined the top gear and the bottom mechanism needed to be cut from a thicker material I searched through all my bigz and original dies to find a circle which would fit and cut this from foam board.
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One other thing - the whole in the gears were too big so I replaced the centre piece in the gear and drilled a smaller hole in this with my Crop-a-Dile.
To facilitate the turning mechanism, I mounted the whole card top onto the card base with mounting tape, being careful to leave a gap for the swing out mechanism.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN2_486JAFkeZUeI0rxfVCwmZg5DY3F6oal3Lg9ume4vDVBV-qwu_iiUTXmgvivjmnsQJWCnWENVEzF4mSPENuViIaQDbD3ou1azhVOg9VrqW0H05-cpKApXQIO2OdxiaAz2ozEiJ-aQIy/s200/img022.jpg)
I was really happy with the background which I created using Red Pepper, Caramel, Butterscotch and Gold Ranger alcohol inks and overstamped with the clocks collage from Non-Sequitur Time and Space, so you can imagine my dismay when I reached for what I thought was the Glossy Accents to glue something down and picked up the alcohol blending solution by mistake. Instead of pouring a small amount of glossy accents onto an embellishment, a flood of alcohol solution came out all over my beautiful background.
Note to self - don't keep the alcohol blending solution out and certainly don't put it next to the glossy accents bottle as they are exactly the same sized and shaped bottles.
Even so I was pleased with my "To Turn 60 is Time to Celebrate" Card and hope my friend will be too !