Lila's mobile

My parents bought a really cute co-sleeper for Lila and I turned a dresser from Jeff's parents into a changing table.  Her corner in our bedroom is almost complete.  I really wanted to have a mobile for her to enjoy but I did not want to just buy something that spun and had some theme that did not match our "no theme"  At this point all of her things are pink, green, and brown.  I am thinking these are nice colors that can grow with her, and when she does move into her own room I will make it a garden theme of some sort.  

So off to Micheal's I went to find some materials and an idea to create some ceiling art!   I picked up two wooden rings of different sizes.  (These are normally used to hold fabric tight for quilting or              cross-stitching)  I also found these awesome Hydrangea flowers in the perfect colors and yarn and of course the ultimate crafting glue (Tacky Glue).  My total was $19... much better then the 40-60 you could spend on a tacky mobile.  

I started by wrapping the yarn around the wooden rings.  I put a thin line of glue on the inside and outside of the ring.  Green on top and brown on the smaller one.   Once those were dry I decided to hang the first hoop so I could make sure it would be balanced.  I criss-crossed two strings securely around the large ring and then tied a longer piece of yarn where they crossed.  I drilled a hole in the ceiling and placed an eye-hook in it.  I tied the yarn around it (leaving an extra couple of feet hanging in the middle of the hoop for a flower later... Then I cut four pieces of yarn and tied them as evenly as possible to the hoop.  Next was the hardest part... (which was still fairly easy) I secured the smaller hoop to the yarn, one at a time leaving some room in the knot so I could adjust the length of the string and make it even to the top hoop.  This took a dozen times stepping back and making sure nothing was too lopsided.  

After I was balanced I popped the green flowers right off the stem and tied a piece of yarn to each of them.  These were the heaviest flowers so I balanced the mobile by adding these flowers to opposite sides. Next I pulled off the individual pieces of the pink hydrangea (this was a larger version of the green ones) and clustered a few of these stems together and secured them with yarn as well.  I tied each cluster as I went to create a balanced look.  I varied the clusters with two or three pieces to make a more interesting shape.  It was looking a bit bare with just flowers hanging from the bottom hoop so I decided to utilize my long string hanging from the middle (the yarn I used to tie the mobile to the hook) and added one last flower.  In total the project took me about an hour and a half and I think it looks so pretty. Our bedroom is wall to wall windows (and Santa Barbara always has "open your window weather") so as the breeze comes through the house the flowers do a little dance.  

I think this mobile will be hanging in Lila's room long after she is out of diapers...