Sky Mobiles

Recently I made these mobiles as an attempt to add some much-needed color and whimsy to the building for my friend’s wedding reception.  I was heavily inspired by the lovely example HERE.  But I needed to do something on a much larger scale and with a different color scheme. 😉  And thus, my project was born.

The original example uses all vellum paper I believe and I did put some of that in there, but in retrospect, I’m not sure I would do that again.  It probably depends on how soon you are going to use the mobiles after making them.  But I wasn’t going to be using these for at least a week after I made them…and most of that time they were already hung from the ceiling of the building.  Instead, I bought a number of packs of card stock in the scrapbooking aisles of a craft store.  I opted to go with premixed colors of blue simply for budget reasons. 😉  I chopped them up in different widths and mixed in some white vellum and white cardstock.

The original directions recommended a small weight at the bottom of the strands of paper.  However, I think because I used the cardstock I didn’t need anything.  But that is what I purchased that sparkly beads for.  I still think that they would have looked lovely twinkling from the ends of the paper mobiles, but I had to let that go.  The beads found a happy home in the fishbowls, adding a little sparkle to the fishes’ lives.  (Oh and for those of you worried about the fate of the fish, don’t be.  They have a very happy home in my mom’s pond!)

I found these fabulous predrilled rings at Michael’s craft stores made from Hardy board.  I was able to use cording to create a way to hang the rings.  And then I tied the ends of the strings of paper evenly around the ring.  I ended up using three strands per ring…four was too many with the width of the paper.  I also found that I liked the smaller cut paper (I cut widths between 2.5″ – 4″).  The larger pieces just did not “dance” as well.  I needed lengths of paper strands about 6′ long for my particular project.

For easy transport, I bundled up each strand and wrapped them with some vellum paper.  That way I could transport them from my house to the building to the ceiling!  I also chose to wrap the rings with tulle for that extra bridal effect and to disguise the color of the original ring and blend in with the ceiling.  I had a very helpful little girl hanging out with me while I had the supplies out.  Let’s just say that she is all girl.

I swear I didn’t pose her for this picture.  She did it all on her own.  lol.  She’ll be a beautiful bride someday if she chooses.  I’ll be saving this picture until then. 😉

The bride was thrilled with the blue decorations and a lot of people loved how graphic and simple they were but with high impact.  I would definitely recommend this as a way to decorate for any of you.  If you have a sewing machine, you can definitely do this!  Just make sure to have a long stitch length so you don’t over-perforate the paper and change your needle afterward…all that paper will dull it.  But go for it!