Nursery Sneak Peek: The Mobile Project

So we're still waiting on that rocking chair slipcover to arrive! Which kills me because I'm just dying to show you our nursery...have I mentioned how proud I am of this one?! {wink} But I'm holding firm and am going to wait to show you our finished room until I have that slipcover! I want everything to be just perfect before we showcase. :o) Bear with me and my silly perfectionist tendencies when it comes to these things!

So in the meantime, I thought I'd go ahead and show you the mobile I made for my newest little love. I'd been wanting something fun and colorful to hang over the crib, and while tissue paper poms in our colors {red, turquoise & khaki} or japanese lanterns were viable {inexpensive!} options, I opted to pull out my crafty skills and make something really original.

So here's the step-by-step. I purchased three cardboard "E's" from JoAnn Fabrics. They were such a steal! {Sorry, forgot to photograph before painting, but just picture plain cardboard letters and you get the idea. I'm sure most of you have seen these around in craft stores...}

I spray painted one in a turquoise paint, another one black {I'll get to how it turned "zinc" in a moment}, and the edges of the largest "E" red. All were colors that I already had in the garage.

For the largest "E", I traced the letter on two pieces of striped scrapbooking paper I found at Hobby Lobby and then decoupaged the pieces onto both sides of the letter. {the rusty look was already part of the paper, I didn't do anything there.}

For the "zinc" one {which totally rivals the zinc letters you'll pay anywhere from $18 to $98 for at Anthropologie, even up close!}, I took my "E" that had been sprayed black, and with a dry paintbrush applied Folk Art's Enamels Metallic Silver Sterling acrylic paint. I could rave about this product! In a very random fashion I applied the paint, occasionally wiping my brush dry again. I made sure to let the black show through a bit in some areas. In no time I had a lightweight {cheap! cheap!} "zinc" letter. {And yes, I'm totally planning to exploit this technique on many future projects, I was so pleased with the results.}

Next I used my 1-3/4" round paper punch to cut circles out of more scrapbook paper I snagged at Hobby Lobby.

I then suspended my "E's" from twine I already had, and began to add my circles down the length of the twine with hot glue {I used two matching circle pieces, and sandwiched the twine in-between}.

Toward the end of each of the three lines I had going, I added mini chalkboards I'd found at JoAnn's the same day I bought my letters. I used a white paint pen to write "peace", "joy" and "love" on them, and for the three lines I used 6 chalkboards total {using the same hot glue sandwich technique as I did for the circles}. So "peace" x 2, "joy" x 2, etc. so that the boards would read the same on both sides. Hopefully that makes sense...I'm not so good at articulating the process.

Finally, to get the vespa scooter medallions that echo our crib bedding and pull the vespa theme in, I took an extra piece of our fabric to Kinko's and color copied it onto paper. I then traced the cardboard ornaments {less than a dollar each from the Christmas section at Hobby Lobby} onto the paper, cut out my scooter circles, and applied them to both sides of each cardboard piece with spray adhesive. I could have decoupaged them on, but since I didn't have any fixative around to protect the ink on the color copies, I opted just to glue instead and they are holding up nicely.

Here's the finished product again...

I love the way this turned out, and it was sooooo easy! It took hardly any time at all, and my materials for the whole thing came in under $20. Can't beat that for a truly unique mobile that our precious baby will marvel at while he's logging time in his crib!

I wish I were a more talented photographer and that the photos could serve appropriate justice to this project. Hopefully when I'm able to show you the whole nursery, you'll get a better idea of how great this really looks {if I may say so}! ;o)

Have a fabulous Labor Day weekend!