DIY Woodland Nursery Mobile

October 20, 2016

DIY Woodland Nursery Mobile

I have been searching for the perfect mobile for my son's woodland theme nursery and have not found one that I like. So I'm going to make one instead! I'm excited to share it with you and make my very first Dear Doris craft blog! Here we go...

I wanted a very simple mobile, because the wall behind his crib already has his name on it (I'll reveal his complete nursery look in another post). I also wanted the mobile to look like it was very natural with items that look like they were gathered from a forest. So I scrounged around my house for some artificial leaves and acorns from some of my fall flower arrangements. I figured a few flowers, leaves and acorns from here and there won't be missed! I gathered up all my little forest finds and loved the look that was already coming together. I didn't use all the items, but maybe I'll think of another use for them. Here's what I found...

The items you'll need:
yarn, fishing line, wire, ribbon, glue, tape, scissors, wire cutters, small woodland items

I love these little acorns I snagged from a fall flower arrangement (you should be able to find some at Michael's in the floral arranging section).

These feathers were from a pair of earrings I no longer wear. (Bonus: they had the little metal ring on the end to make stringing on fishing line a lot easier). Have a look for some feather earrings in a store or buy feathers and you'll just have to tie the fishing rod around the end of them.

Step 1:

Wind your wire into about a 9-10" circle. I have soft, pliable wire so I did about 3-4 loops to make sure it was a sturdy enough circle. (it doesn't have to be perfect - remember its nature!)

Step 2:

Tape the yarn end of the yarn to your wire hoop.

Step 3:

Unravel a good amount of yarn from the spool, cut it off and start wrapping it tightly around your wire hoop. The closer together its wrapped, the better.

Step 4:

Once you've wrapped your wire hoop in yarn, cut the excess yarn off leaving a little piece to glue down.

Step 5:

Glue the yarn down with craft glue or a hot glue gun (you may have to tape it down until the glue dries)

Step 6:

Take your ribbon and glue it to one side of the yarn hoop. Measure your ribbon beforehand based on high/low you want it to hang above your crib (just make sure its not in reach of baby - these are all small choking hazards) Since my mobile hangs quite low, I'll remove it when my boy starts sitting up)

Step 7:

Glue down the ribbon to the direct opposite side of the hoop

Step 8:

Find a spot to hang the mobile so you can start stringing on your items with the fishing line. Choose two of the heaviest pieces (the acorns for me) and hang them on each side of the hoop to balance it out. Tie one end of fishing line to the hoop and...

...the other end to your item. Repeat on the opposite side of the hoop. Be sure to tie a few knots in the fishing line to make sure its secure.

Step 9:

Make sure your items hang at different lengths to add dimension. Continue stringing items onto the hoop at different lengths and balance it out with whatever item you put on the opposite side of the hoop.

Step 10:

For the flowers, I cut the stems off to about 1" from the bloom and twisted it into a little loop. The flowers will hang directly down so baby can look at them.

Step 11:

Keep adding your items at random, but make sure they are balanced out on the other side of the hoop. You can add more than one items onto one fishing line by attaching it with a small piece of fishing line, like I did here:

Step 12:

Poke a small hole in the leaf with leftover wire from your acorns (or use thin floral wire). String a small piece of fishing line through the wire and add leaves wherever there are large gaps.