DIY Mobile for Baby's Nursery

We were one of those odd couples that didn't want to know the gender of our baby.  We thought that this was one of life's true surprises and we wanted to be surprised.We didn't do a gender reveal, we didn't even accidentally find out what we were having. {I only found out when my doctor accidentally told me at my 37 week appointment. Then he tried to cover it up. I didn't tell my husband.}

When our daughter was born, I decided I didn't want the gender neutral nursery that I had originally designed. She is a girl! I wanted to make it a "girly" space. We had moved her into her crib at 3 months old. Yes - I cried for a couple nights that she was in the very.next.room and not next to me. Anyway...we were looking around her nursery and found that it was not very colorful, not very appealing. We wanted to give her something fun and colorful to look at while she was laying in her crib. So I started scouring Pinterest and Etsy and find a mobile that I loved. I did! But I did not love the price tag. So, I decided to take matters into my own hands.

Here is the inspiration piece:

via

My husband loved the look of this too, but wanted it to be more colorful and fuller. I agreed. So out to the store I went to buy colored paper, some embroidery hoops and yarn.

My Vision: This mobile with many more colors {randomly placed on purpose} and add 2 more layers to go inside of the mobile to make it fuller and longer.

Now I was to get to work.

I gathered the materials I would need first:

• colored paper
• 2 inch circle punch
• a sewing pin
• fishing line
• embroidery hoops
• clear tape

I started by punching 2 inch circles with my punch. It was easier to fold the ends of the paper in toward the center so I got 2 circles with every punch. I started with these colors. 

I took each one and poked a small hole with a sewing pin. {If you look closely, you can see I did that in the circles above.} I did not poke the hole directly in the center, I wanted some of them to look off-balance to help with the overall look of the mobile.

Then I cut each fishing line about 24". I strung each circle onto the fishing line.  I tied a knot that the bottom and put the circle on, tied another knot a bit farther up, then dropped another circle. I did go in some sort of pattern, note above the randomly on purpose. I made sure that none of the lines had the same bottom or top color. I did this during nap time while watching TV. It became quite relaxing. 

When I got a few strands I started to map out my plan to attach them to the embroidery hoops.

I placed 1 strand per inch on the embroidery hoop. The 12 inch hoop had 12 strands, the 8 inch hoop had 8 strands and the 4 inch hoop had 4 strands. I tied the fishing line around the inner hoop and then added a bit of clear tape to reinforce it. When all strands were tied on and I was happy with it, I tied

4 - 12" strands of fishing line to the inner hoop{this will be used to hang it up}. Again, reinforcing them with tape. Then, I put the outer layer of the hoop on and tightened as much as I could. I did this for all 3 hoops.

After all of the hoops were stranded, I got the last materials I would need.

• yarn
• hot glue gun

I started by layering my hoops. I had some holes, which I fully intended on filling. I used my doorway and taped the first 12" hoop up so it was as straight as I could get it. Then I held up the 8" hoop inside and moved it so I could see each strand of circles on the 8" hoop in between the strands on the 12" hoop. Then I tied the 8" hoop in place with the 4 - 12" strands of fishing line to the inner hoop. I did the same thing with the 4" hoop.

I then used my hot glue gun to wrap the grey yarn around the top. I put a dab of glue on one side of the hoop closure {where you tightened it} and secured the yarn. Then I started wrapping. I wrapped all the way to the other side, being sure to wrap my fishing line in there {it helped with reinforcing it even more than with just tape}. I added another dab of hot glue and secured the other end. I did this for all of the hoops.

Then, we hung it in her room. You could easily use a 3M Command Hook to hang this, but my husband wanted to make sure it didn't fall on her {the mobile is not heavy}. We had this hook laying around so he secured it to the ceiling.  {You will also see that I decided to use yarn to attach it to the ceiling. That was a last minute decision :) You could definitely use the fishing line.}

Just for fun...a view from where Seraphina views it.

Full disclosure: I made this when Seraphina was about 3 months old {March}. I didn't have a blog at the time but I am excited to share this with you now :)

This is one of the first things she has to say "hello" to when she gets up in the morning or from naps. She is always trying to reach for it and loves to push it to make it move.

Did you make a mobile for your baby? If not, what did you DIY for your baby?