Mobilized

I know in one of the last posts I told you I would share a wedding DIY. I have since changed my mind because I want everyone to wait for the wedding to see the project I worked on! So I promise I will post the tutorial at a later date. For now, I decided to share a fun DIY project that Kyle and I did for a baby shower.

Kyle and I made a baby mobile for the baby shower. And the best part was that we used paint chips! Gail Werner, a fabulous photographer and all-around amazing person is due in October. She is having a sweet baby boy and is currently designing the nursery. She gave me a few ideas for the mobile. Here is my inspiration picture:

Super cute right? The only problem is that it's a cool $68. As a grad student, that's a little out of my budget, so I decided to make one myself.

Since Gail has been planning the nursery already, she had the colors in mind that she wanted me to use for the mobile. She picked out an awesome Marimekko fabric to use as an art piece in the baby's room. Here is the fabric so you can get an idea of what colors I wanted to use:

How cute is that for a boy's room? So, below are the instructions!


What You'll Need

Paint Chips and I mean a lot of paint chips. Pick the colors you want (we printed out the picture of the fabric and brought it with us). You will want a stack about as high as a tin can. If you have more you can just use them for another one or other projects. We went to Wal Mart and Menards. At both places they also had pattern chips, so we got some of those too! You can also use cardstock instead.

A punch for the shape like this one I used. If you end up going to Hobby Lobby don't forget to download their app. They always have great coupons on there. I got my punch for 40% off! You can also just cut circles yourself, but this takes so much more time.

Fishing line

A needle

Scissors

An embroidery hoop

Paint (if you want to paint the embroidery hoop)


Directions
1. Punch out all of the paint chips using your puncher.
2. Paint the embroidery hoop if you wish.
3. Mix up all of the punches so that you get a random colored mobile instead of clusters of colors
4. Thread the fishing line through the need, cut it, and tie a knot at the end
5. Take two paint chips with the colors both facing out and thread the need through them. They should land on the knot you already made.
6. Tie a knot where you want the next paint chips to land.
7. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until you have a full fishing line of paint chips. I liked to vary the length and amount of paint chips I put on each string to give it some depth.
8. When you put the last paint chip on tie a knot and leave some excess fishing line to attach it to the embroidery hoop.
9. Continue that until you have enough strings for your mobile. I think we had 8-10.
10. Take the embroidery hoop apart and just use the inside edge.
11. Tie all of the strings to the inside hoop of the embroidery hoop.
12. Put the larger hoop back on.
13. Tie three strings to the embroidery hoop and have the meet in the middle. Then, tie a knot in them and leave excess string for hanging.

And voila! You have made a mobile. These are great for your own kids or even for a baby shower gift. Since I am young, it is hard for me to decide what to get someone on a baby registry. This is much easier and more fun, I think. And here is our after picture:

If this seems too complicated or time-consuming for you, we will make one for you! You can email us at doubledipofhip@gmail.com or you can check out our Etsy shop! Congrats Gail and Nick on your baby boy, we can't wait to meet him!