While I am getting used to having a newborn around some wonderful bloggers has stepped in to help out with some fabulous guest posts! Don't worry I will be popping in here and there to give updates and of course do the Show Off Your Stuff Party! We have a great line up for you all!
Hi there!
Welcome!
I am Sarah from
Life with Leahy!
I have been blogging for about three and half years. I started blogging to document my daughters life... and my blog has slowly become a way to feature fun crafts we do together, projects I do around the house and yummy recipes we try! I hope you will come back for many visits in the future!
Today I am so excited to get the opportunity to share my Floating Paper Mobile with you!
I created this project last spring for my daughter's nursery. I was looking for something to fill the corner of her room and had stumbled upon similar pieces on Etsy. Not wanting to spend over $40, I set out to find tutorials on how to make one myself. I didn't like a lot of the tutorials out there, so I just started winging it from the different ones I read!
And here is what I came up with....
Her nursery is a mix of lavender, grey and white, so the mobile encompasses on three of those colors. I am going to run through a tutorial of what I did to create this piece.
This tutorial is pretty long, but please bear with me! I wanted to be pretty detailed, so there's no confusion!
MATERIALS
12x12 card stock in colors of your choice
(You will need at least 5 pieces of card stock, more if you choose to do multiple colors. I chose card stock that was a bit textured on one side to give off different light as it moves)
2 inch circle punch
White wood circle
(I found one that had eight small circles in the top which was PERFECT when it came time to hang. I found it in the floral department. I was originally going to use an embroidery hoop. You could really use anything similar.)
Needle and Thread
Paint & Brush
Fishing Line
Hot Glue Gun
Small Clear 3M picture hanging hook (see picture at the end)
As you can see a lot of this project involves materials you probably already have... and the rest of them are easy to find and cheap! This project is really about time. I created this over a couple of weeks. Don't be in a rush!
TUTORIAL
The shorter pieces of my mobile are all purple. I used 72 purple circles (8 strands of 9)
The longer strands are grey and white. I have 2 strands of white and 2 strands of grey.
I used 24 white circles (2 strands of 12) and 24 grey circles (2 strands of 12).
I have a total of 120 circles in this mobile. You will need to decide which color combinations you would like for yours and adjust accordingly. You really can decide to do any combination!
STEP 1: Decide on your color combinations and punch out your circles!!!
I found it helpful to store my punched out circles in plastic containers!
STEP 2: We are going to create the strands of paper circles. I started with purple.
Thread your needle. You are going to start by threading through the bottom of your circle
Your knot will be at the back of the circle once you pull your thread.
Next you will "sew" through the top of the next circle.
Next you have to loop the thread around and back through the SAME hole. This secures the circle in place, so it does not slide down the thread.
After you have looped around, you will sew through the bottom of this circle.
To clarify, Circle #1 should only have thread coming out the bottom. Circle #2 should have thread at the top and bottom.
Now we repeat... over and over again!
You are securing each circle in place so that it will not slide up and down on the
thread once it is hanging.
Now you will add the next circle. After adding Circle #3, you will want to loop around again through the SAME hole to secure in place.
Keep adding circles, repeating the looping process.
I suggest getting comfy on the couch at this point, with your choice of beverage!
It's easy, but time consuming!
Once you add Circle #9 to your strand (of purple) or Circle #12 to your strand of white/grey, you will want to stop at the top hole. You will knot off your thread and add a little dab of hot glue to the end to secure it in place. This also ensures that your circles won't slide off the end! Go back and add hot glue to the top knot of your strand of circles, as well.
STEP #3 - Repeat this process of creating these "circle strands". You will need to have 8 strands of with 9 circles on them (purple ones for me). You will need 4 longer strands of 12 circles (grey and white ones for me).
After you have created all 12 of your circle strands we will be assembling the mobile!
That was the hard part!!
STEP #4 - Paint the wooden circle your choice of color. I chose white!
Once paint is dry, we will start assembling. You will need your hot glue gun ready for this part!
STEP #5 - ASSEMBLY -We will be hot gluing each strand to the painted, wooden circle. I chose to group my strands in 4 sets of 3. Two short strands with a long strand in the middle. I hot glued the two shorter (purple) strands on the outside and then glued the longer strand on the inside of the circle. This creates some dimension to the mobile and makes it appear fuller.
FIRST, glue the longer strands into the middle of the circle. You want them to be across from one another. NEXT glue the shorter strands on the outside of the circle, on either side of the longer strand.
In the picture below you can see what I mean by gluing across from one another... there is a grey one behind the word HERE... directly across from the grey one featured.
STEP #6 - HANGING - Not going to lie... Hanging this project up proved to be the most challenging part. You may come up with an easier idea to do this... but this is what worked for me.
My circle had these eight little holes in it... I used fishing line tied through these holes in order to hang it.
I created a loop of fishing line through each hole and tied the ends together. So, basically each hole had a giant circle of line tied through it.
I gathered each circle together and tied another piece of line through them all to create the long string at the top.
You will need a bit of assistance here just to make sure it gets level. Have someone hold it for you, while you adjust the lengths of the circles and re-tie, if necessary to get a balanced mobile.
Okay... I hope you survived that part! Just takes some patience....
Last step!
Stick your little 3M hook to the ceiling.... give it an hour or so... and then loop your fishing line through!
Tada!!! It's DONE!
Now sit back and stare at the beautiful project you have created!!! That wasn't that bad, was it?!
Thanks for visiting and reading through this tutorial!
Please stop by for a visit! We have lots of other fun (and EASY) projects featured!!!
