About me
Welcome to Artistic Abode Designs (Formerly The Consigner Designer)! I'm Jen, a 30 something Interior Designer living in Arizona...
Gallery
FOLLOW BY EMAIL
Search This Blog
POPULAR POSTS
THE ARCHIVES
BABY MOBILE BAUBLE
/
31 Comments
Browsing
and buying in craft and thrift shops
Beautiful
decor used as backdrops
The
smell of rain coming down in the spring
These
are a few of my favorite things!
I hope everyone enjoyed their
Holiday with their families and loved ones. Today I wanted to share with
you one of my other favorite things; A unique baby mobile I made for my son
before he was born. This project was a true labor of love. I seem to take on
these projects where I think to myself, "I'm not going to buy that! I am
going to make it!" Then I begin making it and realize why people buy it!
Ha
I
took my inspiration from pomanders that I have seen used in weddings. I thought
they would look really cool on a large scale and hanging over a crib as a baby
mobile. So that is just what I did! My son loves them. Every morning when he
wakes up. He points to them and starts to babble! I am pretty sure its good
babble :) I love, love, love the way they turned out! The things you do
in the name of love!
The supply list is pretty simple, it's
the amount of labor that goes into them that is so intensive. (Good thing I had
9 months to complete them!)
The items that you will need are:
- 3 paper lanterns of varying sizes. I used 10",12", and 16"
- Your choice of colored/printed/embossed felt
- A glue gun and glue
- A circle rotary cutter
- Self healing cutting mat (not pictured)
- Picture wire hanger (not pictured)
- Hooks and anchors to hang from the ceiling (not pictured)
You begin by cutting felt circles.
You are going to need a lot of these, so get ready. Determine your color scheme
for your lanterns and then cut your circles in relation to the size of your
lantern. Just to put things in perspective, the 16" lantern took about 400
or so 4" felt circles! Yep, that's what I said! And...I started out
by tracing a 4" diameter circle and cutting them out by hand, talk about
carpel tunnel. By the time I got to my last lantern I wised up and bought a
rotary, saved my hand! So, using your rotary, determine the size of circle you
want to cut (larger is easier). Set your rotary, pick a location on your felt
and begin to cut.
I
used 9" x 12" size pieces of felt. I was able to cut about 3-4
4" circles per piece. As you can imagine, it took quite a bit of felt.
To make the flowers, you start by
putting a dot of hot glue in the middle of the circle and fold the circle in
half. Be careful, the hot glue is HOT!
Next, you put another dot of hot
glue in the middle of the half circle and fold it again.
You should end up with
something that looks like this.
After all that prep work, begins
the fun part! Now you begin gluing them onto your lanterns. Once you have
assembled your lanterns, add a dot of hot glue to the bottom tip of the flower,
press and apply gently yet firm, you don't want to punch a hole in the
lanterns. Continue this process until your entire lantern is covered. I started
at the top of the lantern and worked my way around and down the lantern. I also
alternated the direction of the flowers as well to add more visual interest.
This also helped to achieve more coverage. Once I got to the bottom, I took the
lantern, turned it over and sat it in a bowl to hold it steady. Don't worry if
you smash the flowers you have already glued, once you are done, you are going
to go around and fluff the entire thing. If you notice any empty spaces, begin
your process of flowers and fill them in. You can also hang the lanterns on a
wire hanger and hang them up somewhere while you are gluing as well.
Once you are done, have a drink
and celebrate, or get a hand massage, that was a lot of work!
But don't they look marvelous! The
sheer size of them is remarkable!
Hanging them is a two person job.
I attached strong picture wire hanger to each of them in varying lengths. The
wire usually comes rolled up, I put on leather gloves and used my hands to help
stretch the wire out straight. The weight of the pomanders will help to
straighten the wire out over time as well. I used anchors and hooks from the
hardware store that can hold up to 50lbs. (I can't remember the name of them,
but the salesperson at your local hardware store should be able to direct you.)
This is step is especially important when you are hanging something above your
first born child's head! I then had my lovely assistant (my husband) hold them
up and mark the ceiling where I told him I wanted them hung.
Once that is done, stand back and
marvel!!
HAPPY
NEW YEAR!!
THIS POST HAS BEEN FEATURED:
About Post Author
