DIY Nursery Mobile-Cloudy with a Chance of Rain

The baby belly is growing, the pants are shrinking, and the DIY in me has come out with full force. I wanted a colorful and whimsical mobile for above the crib for Baby G. However, I didn’t want to pay the price from some fancy store that also sells $54 burp rags.

So, after gathering my trusty hot glue gun, a roll of paper towels, fishing string and colorful felt…I got to work. I spent about $4 to make this mobile. Granted, I had a few of these things on hand. If you have to start from scratch-I estimate about $10-15 to complete this project. Not bad for a pregnant woman. Not bad at all.

Here’s all that you’ll need to make your very own Cloudy with a Chance of Rain Mobile:
Newspaper
Masking Tape
Roll of Paper Towels
Flour
Thick Fishing Line and quilting needle (or a very tough needle)
Pillow Stuffing
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Colorful felt and thread
Ric Rac, Ribbon, or something similar
White swag hooks (from Lowe’s or Home Depot, etc)

First, make “clouds” from balled up newspaper. Make them the appropriate size for the space. I chose to make a large, medium and small cloud. Use masking tape to secure the newspaper together.

Next, use a one part flour to 5 parts water mixture. Heat the water up on the stove and slowly whisk in the flour until it’s the consistency of a thick soup. Let cool.

Dip paper towels that have been cut in half into the soupy mixture and apply to the newspaper clouds, one at a time. Cover the entire cloud with a thin layer of paper towels.

While the newspaper and paper towels are still wet, use the quilting needle to pass a long piece (about 4′ total) of fishing line through the top of your cloud, about 3-4″ down from the top. Allow an equal amount of fishing line on either side (about 2′). If the cloud is larger, I recommend having two places that you pass fishing line through. This will be what the mobile hangs from.

Tie the (2) 2′ pieces of fishing line together and use a coat hanger to suspend the clouds. Let dry overnight.

Once the cloud is dry, cover the entirety of it with the pillow stuffing by using a hot glue gun. Be careful not to burn your fingers as I did, over and over and over….

Next, cut out of the felt: raindrops, umbrellas, lightening bolts, cats and dogs or whatever else your little creative mind comes up with to hang from the bottom of the cloud. I cut out two pieces per item to give it a little more strength and dimension.

Sew the two pieces together around the outside of the object.

After you have sewn all the pieces, arrange them in the order you’d like to see them “drop” from the cloud.

Attach the pieces to one another using a hot glue gun. I chose ric rac, but you can use ribbon or anything else that you fancy.

Part the stuffing at the bottom of the cloud so that you can attach the ric rac with a hot glue gun. I used a wooden skewer to push the ric rac into the bead of hot glue to avoid burning my fingers-again.

Hang each cloud from the ceiling on a swag hook, using the fishing line you sewed through the top to secure it to the hook.

Stand back and enjoy your handiwork. I know that Baby G. is going to love it!

**See what else I’ve made for the nursery: DIY Plaster Animal Heads

Linking up to these Parties:

My Repurposed Life

The Shabby Nest

Just Wingin’ It 

French Country Cottage

My Romantic Home

Bacon Time

Baby & Nursery Preparedness on a Budget

Apparently, there is a lot to do to prepare for the birth of your first. Little did I know the path we were on when we first found out we were with child.

Here are a few things I never saw coming and to be honest, slightly blindsided me:

1. I would have to buy stretchy pants-like really insane, elastic stretchy pants.
2. I would be using cocoa butter religiously (and the smell always makes me want cookies) on my ever increasing belly.
3. People would touch my stomach. These are people I don’t know and people I do know and people I wish I didn’t know.
4. I would develop a strange brown “racing stripe” down the center of my stomach.
5. I would actually find baby clothes with tiny animals on them-cute.

However, these are minor things to adjust to compared to preparing a nursery for this tiny lad/lass. I’ve always thought, “Give the kid a dresser drawer to sleep in, some milk to drink and a clean diaper. Call it done.”

But….

…then I start to imagine what kind of a sweet setup I could give to the wee little one, without spending all of their college tuition on a silly room they’ll never remember. (HAH! Like we’re paying for your college! Get a job! Cut your hair!).

With my imaginings, I lay awake at night and plot my grandiose nursery plan. The next morning, I start creating things out of almost nothings. Here’s the beginning of the wall decor for the nursery. I will share a tutorial on this as soon as it’s finished and I make sure the project is actually doable.

The mobile to hang over the crib came after much deliberation between Biceps and I. We settled on a concept-with which I will share soon. All I needed was some stuffing, some felt, some more paper mache know-how, and a few coat hangers.

PS-Is that felt? Well, it is now!

Something you must know about me-I hate curtains. Number one: the cats love to destroy them. Number two: they are stinking expensive. Number three: there are never any store-bought curtains that Biceps and I can agree on.

However, when the dollar spent is low enough, Biceps will like almost anything. Enter cheap, heavy duty drop cloths and a little Rebekah-whimsy. This too will be a tutorial I will share-as soon as it’s done. Patience, grasshopper.

And lastly, I must introduce some sort of wooden feature into this baby’s room. Why? Because it brings warmth, it reminds one of nature and of God’s creation…and it’s also inexpensive.

So, maybe this kid will get more than a dresser drawer to sleep in-but they aren’t going to be spoiled, that’s for sure. We all have to make sacrifices, kiddo. And, if I have to wear stretchy pants that sag down to my knees by the end of the day, you can pretend to like your room. Deal?