Paint Chip Mobile

I had a hard time decide what kind of mobile to make for the nursery.  I didn’t really want a theme for the nursery, opting instead for non-traditional nursery colors with geometric prints.  Not saying I have anything against a theme, but there wasn’t anything that jumped out to me.  Most mobiles I’d seen online went with the theme of the nursery: clouds and raindrops, giraffes, owls, birds, airplanes, etc. However, I have constantly been drawn to the simple mobiles made out of colorful cardstock.  I wasn’t fully satisfied with anything I saw, so I decided to incorporate parts of a few different styles.

The first mobile (found on etsy) I really liked because of how full it looked.  With three different layers of colors, it wasn't as sparse as some other mobiles I'd seen.

The second mobile (also from etsy) I liked because each strand gradually switches colors, instead of all being the same.

Since I live in a town without a hobby shop of any kind, my only option for cardstock is Walmart.  So basically I have no options for cardstock.  Instead I decided to use paint chips, as I would be able to get the colors I wanted in a variety of shades.  So yes, I lingered around the paint chip aisle and took a sizeable stash.  But no, I feel no guilt.  This is my first paint chip project, and we’ve spent hundreds of dollars in the paint section at Walmart while fixing up our foreclosure.  Then I spent a good chunk of time cutting out circles.  I wish I had a circle stamp to quickly cut circles, but at least I had taken my mom’s scrapbooking supplies hostage, so I had a circle tool I could use to make perfect circles.  After cutting TONS of circles (I cut the turquoise ones in 1 ½”, 1”, and ½” sizes, and the yellow ones in 1” and ½” sizes), I was still left with circles with color only on one side.  So I got out my Elmer’s spray adhesive and glued all of the circles together so that I’d have color on both sides.  Not gonna lie, this part took forever.  But finally I was ready to actually assemble the mobile!

I don't have any photos of this process, so hopefully I'll get better about remember to take more pictures as I work on projects!

I had a lampshade in a closet that I’d bought at Salvation Army for $.50 but hadn’t used yet, so I took it apart and used the metal rings for the form of the mobile.  I figured out how many strands of circles I’d need and laid out the circles in a gradient pattern, beginning with the dark turquoise to light turquoise, then the darker yellows and finishing with the light yellow circles.  I got out some yellow thread and a sharp but thin needle and strung the dots together, with about an inch or so between circles (tying knots before putting on each circle so they’d stay spaced apart).  Then I tied the string around the metal ring, spacing each strand out evenly.  After finishing with all of the strands I was getting excited about how it looked, but felt like it needed to be a little fuller.  I used an old metal hanger to make a smaller circle to go inside the larger ring, and used up all of the leftover circles.

In retrospect I wish that I had painted the metal circle, but I can always go back and cover it with some paper or ribbon so that it blends in more with the turquoise and yellow.

Even though it took forever, I’m so happy with it!

To fill in that space to the left of the mobile I have an empty white frame and plan on putting a birth announcement in it.  I already made the birth announcement, but of course had to wait to actually have the baby so I had her information to put in...even though it already happened, I never had a chance to get it on the wall.