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DIY: Homemade Circle Crib Mobile

No baby yet.  Still waiting… In the meantime though, thank you all for the kind thoughts on the Nursery Nook that I created for our new soon-to-arrive (any minute) bundle!

For the new ‘nook’ I created this adorable easy-to-make and completely homemade crib mobile too…  As promised, I’m happy to show you all the steps.

DIY: Homemade / Handmade Circle Crib Mobile: a beautiful & inexpensive way to crib a focal point for your baby! Check out this easy-to-follow tutorial

This type of circle crib mobile is nothing new.  I’m sure you’ve seen it before in stores and/or created by others (I’ve seen a few here & there and of course on pinterest), but I’ve always adored the look and how much color + height it brings to a room.  Plus most importantly of all, how much it can grab a baby’s attention!  Copy cat, who cares…  I love it, so I made it.

Looking back I often laugh, because for baby #1 (my son) I chose and purchased some of the most neutral pieces.  The crib mobile, specifically, was whites + creams and those are colors newborns don’t see.  Color is what they need.  For baby 3, making her way soon, this mobile will be very entertaining.

DIY: Homemade / Handmade Circle Crib Mobile: a beautiful & inexpensive way to crib a focal point for your baby! Check out this easy-to-follow tutorial

Crib mobiles can often be very costly as well.  Not this handmade creation!  It was super inexpensive and most of the materials I already had on hand.

The supplies I gathered were:

  • Scrapbooking paper
    • At AC Moore I found a 4″ x 4″ book of colorful modern patterned papers.  They were on sale for $5 a book and I snagged 2.
  • Circle Puncher
    • I used a 2″ round circle cutter
  • Wood quilt hoop in 2 sizes
    • I used an 8″ and 12″ diameter hoop
  • Yarn, ribbon, or string (to hang hops from ceiling)
  • Sewing Machine + sewing essentials

1. I started off by using the circle puncher and cut about 200 circles (it sounds like a lot, but it really doesn’t take long.  It’s a good time to catch up on your DVRed shows).

DIY: Homemade / Handmade Circle Crib Mobile: a beautiful & inexpensive way to crib a focal point for your baby! Check out this easy-to-follow tutorial

2. Once the punching out of the circles was done, it was time to attach the circles to each other…  I had never sewn paper before, so I thought it was going to be difficult.  I was wrong.  It was really easy.  Basically I sewed through one circle, continued with a few more stitches and then added another circle.  Because the design was only on one side (other side is white), I would alternate every 2 or 3 circles with the plain white side.  In the end, the circles are always moving (dancing as my daughter calls it), but I didn’t want it to be noticeable that one side had all pattern and the other side was all white.

DIY: Homemade / Handmade Circle Crib Mobile: a beautiful & inexpensive way to crib a focal point for your baby! Check out this easy-to-follow tutorial

For the small wood hoop, I made 10 strands of 11 connected circles and for the larger hoop (which is the lower tier), I made 12 strands of 9 connected circles to each other.  There really is no right or wrong way or specific height that is a must.  Each strand of circles resulted in slightly different lengths, but that’s what makes it interesting + homemade.  FYI:  The room has 8′ ceilings and the mobile resulted about 30″ high.

3. Once the circle strands were complete, I tied them on to the wood hoop.  It’s important to leave about 6″ of extra thread on one side so it can be attached to the hoop. Once tied, trim the thread.

DIY: Homemade / Handmade Circle Crib Mobile: a beautiful & inexpensive way to crib a focal point for your baby! Check out this easy-to-follow tutorial

4. Once the strands of connected circles are attached to the wood hoops, it was time to attached the wood hoops together.  An extra set of hands is best for this quick step, but it can be done on your own.  I used white yarn to connect the hoops and tried to keep the upper (small hoop) tier parallel to the bottom (larger hoop) tier.

DIY: Homemade / Handmade Circle Crib Mobile: a beautiful & inexpensive way to crib a focal point for your baby! Check out this easy-to-follow tutorial

The mobile is so light weight that I attached it to the ceiling with a small white hook.  Voila, it was complete…

DIY: Homemade / Handmade Circle Crib Mobile: a beautiful & inexpensive way to crib a focal point for your baby! Check out this easy-to-follow tutorial

I used white thread for the project and I love how you can see it on the darker colored circles.

DIY: Homemade / Handmade Circle Crib Mobile: a beautiful & inexpensive way to crib a focal point for your baby! Check out this easy-to-follow tutorial

Here’s how the homemade circle crib mobile looks in the new Nursery Nook.

DIY: Homemade / Handmade Circle Crib Mobile: a beautiful & inexpensive way to crib a focal point for your baby! Check out this easy-to-follow tutorial

The paper I used for the mobile is scrapbooking paper which I found at AC Moore.  It came as a 4″ x 4″ book with many colorful designs & patterns – perfect for the space.  I also made these adorable origami butterflies using the same paper…

Nursery Nook: Gallery Wall - New creative wall with a combination of pictures, artwork, quotes, and special keepsakes. Come see the evolution of the 'nook'

I’m thrilled with how this “nook” came out and I’m extra thrilled with the creation of my simple mobile…

DIY: Homemade / Handmade Circle Crib Mobile: a beautiful & inexpensive way to crib a focal point for your baby! Check out this easy-to-follow tutorial

DIY: Homemade / Handmade Circle Crib Mobile: a beautiful & inexpensive way to crib a focal point for your baby! Check out this easy-to-follow tutorial

This crib mobile was what I had my heart set on and even though it’s something done before by many others, I’m happy that I went with what I loved & I know my baby will love just as much.

What attention grabbing mobile do you (or did you) have for your baby?

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