DIY Fun, Fall Inspired Mobile

Hola! Hello my fellow beautiful, hard working, crazy mommas! It's Friday so I have another fun DIY to try with the kids over the weekend. Today's project is a Fall inspired mobile! I always try using household items to keep it as simple as possible. Today you'll be needing your hot glue gun (of course), extra glue sticks, scissors, wire cutters, faux flowers OR the fall template print out I provide for you lovely crafting familias (families) here! --> Fall Leaves Mobile Printable Cut-outs The sheet with the Fall leaves and acorns below in the "supplies needed" photo is the printable cut outs I am speaking of. If you chose not to use faux flowers, you can just print out a couple of these sheets, add some glitter for PIZAZZ and use them in place of the flowers with much less instruction. Pretty much glue and go! :)  Anyway, you will be needing the following items to re-create the Fall inspired mobile I made. Our supplies list includes:  

1. Faux Flowers

2. Hot Glue Gun (ONLY with adult supervision.)

3. Scissors

4. Wire Cutters

5. Extra glue stick

6. A crepe streamer roll

7. Thin string or Wax Cord

8. Roll of decorative ribbon

9. A hanger (not shown)

10. Your incredible creating hands

11. Some good music playing in the background

12. A glass of coffee, wine, or other form of hydration :)

SUPPLIES NEEDED (Wire Hanger is not shown.)

First, carefully cut the hook part of the wire hanger off with the wire cutters and reform the hanger into a nice circle. Twist the edges of the hanger to intertwine into each other to close your circle. Grab your Crepe paper streamer roll and add a bit of hot glue to the area of the hanger where you will begin to roll the crepe paper to secure your starting point. Slowly, roll the crepe paper onto the hanger so that no part of the wire hanger is visible. I found it to be helpful to do so at an angle to make sure the crepe paper is being rolled on tightly without causing it to rip. When you are done, secure the end of the crepe paper with another tiny bit of hot glue. At this time you can once again adjust your wire hanger into a circle to be the base of your mobile.

Roll the crepe paper on at an angle.

Add a little bit of hot glue in between rolling to secure the crepe paper.

 

Once your done shaping your hanger, cut 4 equal strips of your decorative ribbon of choice. Each strip of ribbon should be about 8 inches in length. You can make these strips as long or short as you'd like, but I used 8 inches. Utilizing your hot glue gun, glue one end of each ribbon onto your circular base, positioning them in 4 opposite sides of each other a shown in the picture on the bottom right. Next, glue the 4 remaining ribbon ends together at the center to create the center of your mobile. This will also serve as the focal point where you will be hanging up your Fall mobile for display, so ensure the 4 ends creating this center point are secure.

Your Fall mobile should look like the picture on the right after attaching the 4 strips of ribbon onto your circular base. You can set this aside to dry and grab your faux flowers and the wire cutters to begin trimming the flowers off of the fake stems. You will want to cut some of the flowers with about 4 inches of wire stem. You need 7 faux flowers with 5 inch stems still attached. If the faux flowers you chose are bigger or smaller of course then this will vary.  Set the 3 largest leaves aside as well so that we can use them later.

The remainder of your flowers should be completely removed from their wire stem. You can now get your thin string or wax cord and place it thru the flower as shown in the picture, pull it out thru the top of the flower where the petals are and tie a small knot at the end as shown so the flower can hang freely at the end of the string as shown in the picture on the right. Most faux flowers are constructed the same which allows you to hang your flowers in this fashion from your cord or string. But, if by chance your faux flowers are constructed differently and don't allow you to hang them this way, feel free to reach out for that handy dandy hot glue gun and glue the bottom ends of your flower to the end of the string.

 I used this method for the 3 leaves we will be hanging in the center of the mobile since you cannot string the cord thru the leaf like you can with the flowers. I placed a tiny bit of hot glue at the bottom end of the leaf (at the tip) and inserted the cord. Allow the glue to dry with the cord in place to secure the leaf. Once your done, set these leaves aside to be glued to the center later.

We can now create the pretty flower center to our hanging center point so it doesn't look so boring! Cut a piece of wax cord or string about 10 inches in length. Fold the cord in half and guide it through the flower center and secure the loose ends into a knot as shown. Make it as long or short as you'd like. This will be where you hang your mobile from. If you make it shorter, just tie the loose ends at a higher point and trim off the excess cord. Glue the bottom end of the flower (the knotted end) onto the center point of your decorative ribbon so it looks as shown in the top right photo.

Next, it's time to work on our circular wire base we constructed earlier. You can begin to wrap the wire stemmed flowers you set aside onto the circular base by using the wire stem to wrap around the circle as shown. You can secure this with some hot glue as well if you feel it is not going to remain on. When you are done securing your flowers onto the circle it should look like the picture on the right, resembling a flower crown.

Once your flowers are secure on the circular base, you can grab your stringed flowers we created earlier and begin tying them all onto the circle, spacing them equally apart. I recommend using a double knot to ensure the flowers will not come off with time due to a lose knot. Once your done, I recommend wrapping your circular base with the crepe paper using the same method as earlier once again in order to make your mobile look much neater and covering up the string and wire stems of the flowers we used to wrap around the circle base.

Lastly, take your 3 stringed leaves we created earlier and glue them to the bottom center of the flower at the top hanging point.

YOU'RE ALL DONE!!

Hang your mobile up and enjoy her in all her glory! :) 

I can't wait to see your mobiles, so don't forget to tag me on Instagram @LoveAlumni #LoveAlumniCrafts

Bottom view of the Fall mobile.

My Fall inspired mobile.

Till next time,

HAPPY CRAFTING!!