Searching “baby mobiles” on pinterest is a very dangerous activity for those easily overtaken by baby cuteness. My heart melts for this sweet horse one.
One of my favorite blogs, Oh Happy Day, is a party planning website with so many clever, handmade ideas for event decor. This paper party DIY inspired me for an affordable baby mobile and reminded me of the faux capiz chandelier I made a couple years ago. The method is very similar; here, I sewed together strips of cardstock rather than wax paper.
The trickiest part was choosing my colors. I feared the nursery was beginning to skew way more boy than girl, so I erred on the slightly more feminine side for the mobile. Also, I’m just super picky about shades of color, so even the wall of cardstock at Michael’s felt like not enough choices. I ended up with mustard, red-orange, mint, and lavender. The first three have been in our color scheme from the start, but I’ve added lavender in small quantities to girl-it-up some more.
The method is quite simple.
- Slice cardstock into strips. I made mine 6 inches wide and varying widths for a not-too-“perfect” look.
- Feed paper through sewing machine, leaving a long tail at one end (for hanging). I stopped to do a lot of testing on length so it would fill the space, but not be too close to a standing baby or that we’d always brush into them. My longest segment was about 28 strips.
- Hang strands at varying lengths. We taped them up with masking tape to get our locations just right. Then, we tied the strings around nails and tapped them into the ceiling.
This was the room before we installed the mobile. Since getting the crib, I’ve begun accumulating storage for the shelves.
And below is after with the mobile and the addition of the mattress and some bedding. It’s getting a lot more cozy and newborn-friendly in here.
Major to-do’s that remain are: buying a rug, adding a store table, sewing a crib skirt, and finding a few more art pieces. Also, birthing the baby. To see everything about this place we call home, take a tour of our apartment.
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