It's hard to take a great picture of seersucker fabric (especially on my phone) but it's navy & white.
Originally, my only plan for the wall that the crib is on is the missing artwork. I have a friend who is a great artist and is painting a 3-canvas picture of a whale. *Think cute Vineyard Vines whale, not anatomically correct whale* Now that I think about it, I'm surrounded by some pretty artsy & crafty people and it's really working out to my advantage! Anyway...he is putting the finishing touches on that and I can't wait to get it up and see the whole room come together!
So, the other day I was perusing Pinterest (as I spend most of my days doing) and I came across this adorable DIY Paint Swatch Chandelier from Hey Gorgeous - The Blog. Immediately I fell in love and had the sudden urge to try to make it! The only problem, I couldn't think of anywhere to put it...what does one do with a paper chandelier?? I decided, instead, to make a mobile to hang over Davis' crib! I hadn't originally planned on getting a mobile (mostly because I didn't see one that I loved), so when I saw this I thought "why not?!"
Now, I am way too much of a chicken to "borrow" that many paint swatches from Lowe's or Home Depot. I thought I could use scrapbook cardstock instead. Also, I didn't have a circle-shaped large punch and didn't feel like cutting out hundreds of them by hand. I did, however, have a tag-shaped punch from our wedding, so I decided to give that a whirl.
Here's how I did it:
1) I chose a bunch of cardstock (that I already had) and punched out a whole bunch of tags. Keeping them separated into piles was a huge help when trying to choose which pattern/color would come next in line.
2) Then I took this lamp shade (given to me by my mom) and cut the fabric away from the metal. Now, a little recommendation if anyone gets the urge to try this: make sure your lamp shade has vertical metal "sticks" to connect the top and bottom rings. Mine did not and I had to tie mine together...getting them the same length so it would hang evenly proved quite difficult - in fact, it's still not perfectly even. Oh well.
3) The smaller ring will hang on the bottom, so I decided how long I wanted those strands to be. (I chose 4 tags long - really scientific units of measurement here!) Then I used thread and tape to attach them - leaving a little space in between so they could rotate. I made enough to go around and tied them on to the small ring.
4) This is where I had to attach the small ring to the large ring using string - making sure the smaller ring hung the lowest. I repeated step 3 using 6 tags per strand - these I attached to the large ring using tape because I didn't want there to be a space between the ring and the tag.
5) Once I had gone all the way around the large ring, I tied 3 pieces of string to each "side" and brought them together to join as one in the center. (Again, I had to do this step because my small and large rings weren't originally attached with metal. Otherwise, you could just tie string to where the light bulb would be held in place.)
6) My helpful and super tall husband used a step stool to hang it up over the crib!
*Be sure to check out the Hey Gorgeous tutorial - her ombre chandelier is wonderful and she has a lot of other super cute DIY projects!
very cute! I love it! I was anti-mobile too until I discovered that it was the only way I could put Ansley down long enough to go to the bathroom or eat dinner! ha ha And so then we went out an bought the nearest one which was how we ended up with the Rainforest one that matched nothing ;) ha ha And I am glad you like the cushions - definitely not perfect but made with love!
ReplyDeleteI love the mobile!!! It's perfect for the nursery and I can't wait to see how Mitch's whale art looks over the crib! And Melinda, I think that the cushions are perfect!
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