When we were getting things ready for Will's arrival one thing I thought about a decent amount was a mobile. What kind did we want, do I want to make it or buy it, etc. I had read somewhere that a lot of the mobiles that we put on babies' cribs really seem more like they are for the adults than the kiddos since the baby is not looking at the mobile from the side, but from underneath. Why is this not something we have realized?! What baby wants to lie there looking up at the bottom of some boring animal's feet? They want something interesting from underneath, not from the side/top. So I started looking for ideas on Etsy. There are tons of great mobiles on there, but I came across some pinwheel ones that I really liked (like this), and the best part is, the pinwheel hangs down where the baby gets the best view. So I decided that was what we should go with, but at that price, I thought I would have a go at making one myself.
The first thing I did was find some scrapbook paper that went with the colors we were doing in the room (navy, lime green and orange). I found a few that I liked and got to work. I went with some higher contrast patterns too since babies see contrast better than subtle colors especially at first, please disregard the tan tablecloth in the background, it was poor planning on my part when it came to picture taking.
As you can see, I also got an embroidery hoop and some brads. Next I looked up a few tutorials on how to diy pinwheels online and found several helpful ones, like this, I couldn't find the actual tutorial I used, but if you just google around a bit you will find plenty of tutorials. The next step was gluing the paper together. If you can find two sided scrapbook paper that has the colors you want you can skip this step, but I had no luck in that department so we just glued the patterned papers to the solid blue ones. I decided to go with 6x6 for the size of the pinwheel squares, so I was able to get four pinwheels out of each piece of scrapbook paper.
After cutting the paper to size you just make your pinwheels and attach with the brads. We did find it was easier to poke a small hole with a straight pin before putting the brads through.
Then simply tie a string to the back of the brads and then to the embroidery hoop at the height you want the pinwheel to hang.
I got these cute little letter brads and decided to spell out Will's name with them, and since you generally want to have odd numbers in any decorating set up it worked out nicely that "William" is seven letters long. Yay for happy accidents. Even though it's not something that anyone will really ever see or notice on their own, I kind of love having that little personal touch on there.
I really love the finished product. We put the "W" in the middle hanging down the farthest and then just spiraled up around the embroidery hoop spelling out the rest of the name. Here's a picture of it hanging in Will's room just a week before he was born. We simply put a hook in the ceiling and used the same thread as what we had used on the pinwheels to hang it.
I think Will's nursery is what I miss most about the old house. It was just so sweet and exactly how I wanted it, I know things at this new house will get going and start to feel more like "us" sometime, but for now I miss the grey walls, the awesome built in bookcase, and the panel doors. Although I also look forward to us really putting our mark on this house through the years. Slow and steady...
The first thing I did was find some scrapbook paper that went with the colors we were doing in the room (navy, lime green and orange). I found a few that I liked and got to work. I went with some higher contrast patterns too since babies see contrast better than subtle colors especially at first, please disregard the tan tablecloth in the background, it was poor planning on my part when it came to picture taking.
As you can see, I also got an embroidery hoop and some brads. Next I looked up a few tutorials on how to diy pinwheels online and found several helpful ones, like this, I couldn't find the actual tutorial I used, but if you just google around a bit you will find plenty of tutorials. The next step was gluing the paper together. If you can find two sided scrapbook paper that has the colors you want you can skip this step, but I had no luck in that department so we just glued the patterned papers to the solid blue ones. I decided to go with 6x6 for the size of the pinwheel squares, so I was able to get four pinwheels out of each piece of scrapbook paper.
After cutting the paper to size you just make your pinwheels and attach with the brads. We did find it was easier to poke a small hole with a straight pin before putting the brads through.
Then simply tie a string to the back of the brads and then to the embroidery hoop at the height you want the pinwheel to hang.
I got these cute little letter brads and decided to spell out Will's name with them, and since you generally want to have odd numbers in any decorating set up it worked out nicely that "William" is seven letters long. Yay for happy accidents. Even though it's not something that anyone will really ever see or notice on their own, I kind of love having that little personal touch on there.
I really love the finished product. We put the "W" in the middle hanging down the farthest and then just spiraled up around the embroidery hoop spelling out the rest of the name. Here's a picture of it hanging in Will's room just a week before he was born. We simply put a hook in the ceiling and used the same thread as what we had used on the pinwheels to hang it.
I think Will's nursery is what I miss most about the old house. It was just so sweet and exactly how I wanted it, I know things at this new house will get going and start to feel more like "us" sometime, but for now I miss the grey walls, the awesome built in bookcase, and the panel doors. Although I also look forward to us really putting our mark on this house through the years. Slow and steady...
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