DIY Nursery Mobile

After searching high and low for just the right mobile to hang above the changing table, I decided to make my own.  I found several really cute hand-made mobiles on Etsy, but none were quite what I was looking for and they cost a pretty penny.  I headed to my local JoAnn Fabrics, with a few ideas from the mobiles I liked, to search for supplies and more inspiration.  After a little digging, I found the perfect chocolate brown ribbon with white edging.  I had a much harder time finding just the right items to embellish the ribbon...  I debated between fabric cut outs, wooden sports shapes, and various other bells and whistles, but just wasn't sold...  That was until I came across a bag of wooden stars in various sizes.  The Star Mobile was born!  All it took was a little elbow grease and about $30 in supplies.

STAR MOBILE

Supplies:

• inner ring of a 9" embroidery hoop: ($1.79)
• ribbon: I used 3 spools of Offray Sidesaddle Brown and White Ribbon (5/8" X 9').  ($3.49/spool)
• paint: I used Apple Barrel acrylic paint in White, English Navy, and Regency Blue.  ($2.49/bottle)  I also used the left-over Stem Green paint from the decorative name letters)
• paint brush
• assorted wooden stars:  I bought 2 bags of the Craftwood Assorted Wood Stars, which came with 5 different sized stars (varying from 1 1/8" to 3 3/8" wide).  ($3.99)
• hot glue gun
• threaded eyelet and anchor: ($.50)
  
• key ring

Directions:

1. paint embroidery hoop and stars (Make sure to allow plenty of time for this step because you can only paint one side at a time and I found that two coats were necessary to obtain the color I wanted.  When leaving them to dry, find a surface that the stars won't stick to...  I learned the hard way that newspaper is not a good choice!)

2. measure and cut ribbon (I used three 64" pieces)
3. quickly run lighter along the cut edges of the ribbon to seal and protect them from unraveling
4. measure 6 equal spaces around the embroidery hoop to place the ribbon (TIP:  if you use a 9" hoop, like I did, your hash marks will be every 4 3/4")
5. thread one piece of ribbon through the key ring
6. line up the ribbon so that 20" hangs below each side the hoop
7. adhere the ribbon to opposite sides of the hoop with hot glue (make sure the ribbon is not twisted); repeat this step with each piece of ribbon

8. apply a thin line of hot glue down the center of a star and adhere to the ribbon in desired pattern (I alternated 5 smaller stars with 3 larger stars)
 

9. hang (I threaded a piece of yarn through the eyelet and the key ring so that the mobile would hang lower)