Yesterday was the last day of our vacation, and much of the day was spent taking down the Christmas decorations, making piles of stuff to donate and just generally de-cluttering. Among the clutter were piles of drawings, paintings and writings done by J+J (mostly Jenna, of course) over the holidays. Since the walls in Jenna’s room are already pretty well covered with her artwork, I started to move the new art into the storage bins in the garage. But in the course of cleaning up around the house, I happened upon a package of wooden dowels and decided I would make a mobile out of some of Jenna’s recent art. Definitely a better way to spend the day than cleaning up … and, more importantly, I ended up with a pretty cool way to display children’s art.
Here’s how I made it:
I started with a stack of art, some silver crochet thread and a batch of 12 inch wooden dowels. I ended up only using 4 of the dowels, but I would have liked to make a taller mobile by using more dowels.
I used a 3 inch hole punch to cut the art into circles.
I glued 2 circles together (art facing outward) and then applied decoupage glue to each outer side (to make the circles sturdier).
While the circles were drying, I started to string together the dowels by tying knots along the center of each dowel (using a single strand of the thread).
I tied 4 dowels together, spacing them about 4-5 inches apart so that the circles could fit between them. (You could add more dowels to make a taller mobile)
Next, I used a hole punch to cut tiny circles out of the larger circles and then tied a small piece of thread to each one. At this point, I noticed that the circles were starting to curl up along the edges, so I placed them between a few books for several hours.
Later, I attached the circles to the wooden dowels, one on each end.
Once all of the circles were attached, I hung the mobile to the chandelier in our kitchen to balance it – basically just adjusting where the center knot falls and where each of the large circles are positioned.
Our mobile is still hanging in the kitchen, but today I hope to hang it up in Jenna’s room. I might try to add another dowel or two to make a taller mobile since she has high ceilings. We’ll see how it looks …
Don’t forget the handy step of placing the dried circles under some heavy books as the decoupage causes them to curl slightly.
Thanks – I wrote the post before they started to curl up later in the evening. I’ll update the post.
Neat idea! This would be cool with some pressed flowers glued to cardstock too
So cute! <3 I totally wanna do this with my little sister! I'll let you know how it turns out
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Such a cute idea. Thanks for sharing : )
What a fabulous way to join the kiddos in a fun art project — love this!
I’m already thinking of ways to adapt this to Easter … making the circles into eggs instead. Thank you for the inspiration.
♥
Awesome idea – would love to see it when you’re done.
Beautiful work! Clean and fun for all ages!
Thank you so much!
Wow what a great idea!
This is exactly why I need to borrow someone’s kids! I love the artwork they come up with.
Lovely post, what a nice way to use your child’s artwork. I always feel a pang of guilt when doing a clean up of my children’s paintings. Will put this idea to use for sure
That’s exactly how I came up with this idea. We have way so much art and I can’t keep everything, but, like you, I can’t stand throwing anything away.
So cute!
Reblogged this on WordPress Trends.
Congrats on being Freshly Pressed!
Thank you!!
Great idea for repurposing kids’ art!
What a GREAT idea. My nephew would love to recycle his art and do something like this. We’ll have to do it on Friday when I get him.
Beautiful craft idea.
Great..my kids are always joining me in my studio..wonderful idea!
I love this kind of stuff. Very clever and simple. Makes me feel very uncreative. Thank you for sharing.
Reblogged this on hippiechicjewelz and commented:
What a very cool and creative craft to do with your children! I love this idea!
Awesome! Thank you so much!
=D Anytime! I am always looking for awesome posts to share with my readers! Have a beautiful day!
Beautiful!!!! Lo hare con mis sobrinos!!! Gracias!!!
Great!
Nice….
Great idea – I teach art to rural Caribbean school children. I could see myself doing this using leaves and sticks to incorporate the use of our natural resources. Thanks for the inspiration!
Reblogged this on brandonlaptosh.
Super cute! I’ll have to do this with my neices and nephews! Thank you for sharing.
It looks very beautiful
wow! Beautifully crafted!
Greetings from the Philippines!
Reblogged this on snowflakes9 and commented:
Such sweet works of pure innocence and beauty
Lovely idea for use of photos, art or leaves gathered on walks. Thanks for reminding us to enjoy our children’s art rather than storing it away. Congrats on FP!
I’m running out of storage space so I have to get creative
Thanks for visiting!!
Superb idea and pretty pics !!
cool
That is sweet and nice! I’ll take a note in order to turn it into practice with my little cousin
Thanks,
Nina
xx
Love this idea! What a great use for children’s art work! I often use it to make thank you cards and can certainly see myself making some mobiles in the future!
Reblogged this on Joanne's Web and commented:
Some creative ideas for the little ones.
This is cool! I like your color scheme.
Also WOOOOOO FRESH PRESSED
That’s cute, I need to try it!
Very cute idea and good to do with most ages of kids…
Une très belle idée ce mobile!