a stick and wool mobile

It rained when we visited my mum in Wellington recently. I knew T would enjoy this craft as it involved wrapping sticks with lots of different coloured wool- it really is as simple as that. Once they're all done, tie them together, hang a rock or other type of weight on the end and find somewhere to hang it. We've hung ours at the front door. I like how it spins in the breeze and adds a bit of colour. Things are looking a bit dreary in the front garden right now- Winter is coming.

You can see on our mobile that it's unraveling a bit- we probably should've glued the wool ends down when we made it ( we just knotted it instead). I will fix it one day.

a cloud mobile for baby

There's a new baby coming into our family early next year. My brother and sister in law's third child. I wanted to include my future nephew or niece in my Christmas pressie giving so made a mobile from what I had at home. I thought I'd try and wrote a how to in case you also wanted to make one.

You'll need:

- red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple ribbon cut in the following lengths: red 45cm, orange 40cm, yellow 35cm, green 30cm, blue 25cm and purple 20cm.
- white fabric and cotton
- stuffing
- fishing line string
- 2 buttons with matching embroidery thread
- red or pink embroidery thread
-an embroidery needle
-pins
-a sewing machine ( but you could easily hand sew it)

1. With right sides together- draw a cloud shape on the fabric allowing for a 1.5cm hem.
2. Cut the cloud shape out
3. On the right side of one piece sew on the button eyes and stitch a mouth

4. Pin right sides facing each other
 

5. Along the bottom of the cloud remove a pin at at time and insert the ribbons so that they're inside the cut out cloud pieces ( see the picture). Start on the left with red and finish on the right with purple.

I've moved the fabric a bit so you can see that the ribbon is inside

6. Sew around the cloud leaving a gap at the top of the cloud for putting the stuffing in
7. Remove the pins and turn the cloud inside out so that the right side is out.
8. Stuff it
9. Sew the opening shut
10. Use a needle to thread a piece of fishing wire at the top of the cloud towards the left of the centre point,  and carry this thread over to the right side of the cloud- thread through and knot.
11. Find the centre balance point on this string and tie a second longer piece of fishing wire in the middle point- experiement a bit to find where it hangs best.

Whew! Tutorials are not very easy to write!

The fabric I used was an off white piece of crushed silk my best friend gave me- it was left over from making her wedding dress : ) I like the bumpiness of it - I think white felt would also look good.

Here's the finished product- I hope baby T likes it.

Joining in with Sunshine x3's show & Tell http://3xsunshine.blogspot.co.nz/2012/12/show-tell-post-christmas.html

melted bead mobiles

I saw this idea on here: www.artfulparent.com

We've inherited some mobiles from the grandparent's tree that they had to cut down. Having these new additions hanging in our trees has sparked the children's interest in mobiles. To make these I used an old muffin tray, we filled the spaces with plastic beads and put it the oven for 10 minutes ( 180c). We had to open all the windows and doors as it got quite smelly for a bit but it went away quickly. We liked how they came out but decided not to do it again until Summer when we can melt them outside on the BBQ. I think I'll use a bigger pan too.

 

please excuse the ugly blue water pipe running through our garden... sigh

rainbow mobile

Later today we're going for a play date at a little friend's place. He likes colourful things too so we thought we'd make him a gift. I wanted to make something out of materials we already had at home and then share it for the colour me there colour me happy july challenge.

A few weeks ago I bought a packet of ice block sticks to make the cd pom pom maker so used some of those, some wooden beads, fishing string, a toggle off an old top of T's and a metal ring as the hanger.

After drilling a small hole through the ice block sticks we just threaded the beads on in order.

It's such a simple wee mobile but I think that's we I like it. It also only took 10 minutes to make and was simple enough for the children to put together themselves. We think our little friend will like it.