I apologize that the blog has pretty much been taken over by my nesting projects - and probably will be for a few more posts - but it helps motivate me to finish my little projects when I know I can share them with those who take the time to look at our blog.
So, I was looking around for cute mobile ideas and found this butterfly one that kind of made me pause, it was so pretty. But it is also unavailable (and would've been way out of my budget, anyway). Luckily, I did a little web-surfing and came across this little tutorial, which made my project a home-made, hand-made bit of fun on a Friday afternoon (okay, and late LATE into the evening!)
I modified the diy tutorial a bit to my liking, and at 2am (yes, TWO AM! That is LATE for me these days!) I finally finished my little butterfly mobile for baby Hazel. I didn't want to buy a butterfly punch, so I ended up finding a free font and making my own templates (that way I could vary the species and also the size to my liking) It took me days to find the perfect paper - I keep being drawn to peachy pinks (think peaches and cream or kind of the shade of ballet slippers) and so I finally found one at a scrapbooking store. It was pearlescent as well, which only added to it's beauty! I also used the inside of an embroidery hoop to give the mounting part a bit more strength and shape.
It looked so easy to make...and really, it was. The hard parts for me were that tracing and then cutting out all of those butterflies ended up killing my fingers (haven't used petite metal scissors for a while but definitely needed them for the small details on the butterflies). It took a LONG time to cut out all of the butterflies - luckily I had two little helpers for some of them (ahem, very helpful they were!) Actually, Sawyer and Aspen were thrilled that I was making butterflies so they joined me and we had a cutting party at the table most of the afternoon - they cut all the remnants into teeny tiny pieces that floated to the floor, and begged me in between butterflies for some butterflies of their own to play with - so of course ended up making twice as many butterflies and we now have butterflies all over the house, which is actually kind of nice - very Spring like). I also ended up sewing and attaching the butterflies by hand - it just didn't seem right after cutting them all out by hand to just take a machine to them - so I daintily took my time by hand.
Jacob thinks I was rather crazy to stay up so late for the project - but once I got going I just didn't want to stop until it was done. I hung it over the dining room table when I finally finished so when everyone woke up they had a fun surprise in the morning - butterflies!
I mounted it to our ceiling above Hazel's crib this afternoon - and I couldn't stop staring at it! The pearl paper gives the most beautiful effect when the butterflies dance with the light! It makes the butterflies shine and look like they are different shades, even though they are all the very same paper.
I know, I'm kind of silly. But I just LOVE this kind of stuff! I love that our new baby will have something pretty to look up at - and I can look right across the room at, too!
In conclusion, it was a really fun project and anyone who wants to give it a try - should! It cost me about $5 for supplies - the biggest investment was patience and time. Happy Spring!
No comments:
Post a Comment