DIY Butterfly Paper Mobile

My cousin is having a baby! That means I’m headed to a baby shower. Now, years ago I shot myself in the foot when I started making hand-made gifts. I made these sweet baby clothes Parfaits for one cousin, This awesome personalized pyrex for a wedding, This neato rustic sign for another wedding, Nail polish for a graduation party, and the list goes on. So now, every family get together, party or event, I feel the need to make something. Why? Because I don’t want anyone to think “Man, she must not like me as much as she likes X. I only got towels instead of personal embroidered towels.

Beautiful and Easy paper butterfly Mobile. | saynotsweetanne.com | #diy #baby #paper

Not that it would happen. But it happens in my head and so I take pains to make a gift. And not just any gift. A heartwarming, kind and thoughtful gift. After getting back from our vacation I haven’t had much time, and things have been crazy at work. I was really starting to stress about creating something for my cousin. Then this paper mobile idea came to me. A lovely white cascade of flutterfing butterflies for baby to enjoy. How sweet!

What You Need:

  • Round Wreath Form (one or two depending on your design)
  • White paint (or any color, for wreath forms)
  • Ribbon (Long enough for all the strings you want)
  • Scroll saw (optional)
  • Large wooden beads
  • Elmer’s glue
  • Sharp knife
  • A bunch of cut butterflies, flowers etc in different colors of paper

How To Make It:

I was shocked at how quickly this all went together. I’m a big fan of working smart and not hard, I think this project is really easy to replicate!

  1. If desired, cut holes and little C shaped channels into your wreath form. Later, these will be used to attach the strings in a way that allows them to be removed in case of tangling/transport.
    Beautiful and Easy paper butterfly Mobile. | saynotsweetanne.com | #diy #baby #paper Beautiful and Easy paper butterfly Mobile. | saynotsweetanne.com | #diy #baby #paper
  2. Paint the wreath forms
  3. Cut your ribbon to the desired length. Each of our circles has 8 strings. I cut 8 long ones and 8 somewhat shorter.
    Beautiful and Easy paper butterfly Mobile. | saynotsweetanne.com | #diy #baby #paper
  4. Begin stringing your butterflies. Be creative! I simply cut two slits in each paper butterfly and fed the ribbon through. I placed the slits in various places, had some butterflies folded etc to create the illusion of a dancing cloud of wings.  This was the most time intense part, as I cut all of my butterflies with my Silhouette Cameo and was very careful to balance different papers, shapes, and positions for the butterflies.Beautiful and Easy paper butterfly Mobile. | saynotsweetanne.com | #diy #baby #paper Beautiful and Easy paper butterfly Mobile. | saynotsweetanne.com | #diy #baby #paper Beautiful and Easy paper butterfly Mobile. | saynotsweetanne.com | #diy #baby #paper
  5. Where the ribbon is strung through each paper butterfly, apply a small dab of white glue. This will keep them from moving on the string.
  6. Secure the bottom end of the ribbon with a knot and a dab of glue.
  7. Secure the top of the ribbon by stringing through the wooden bead. I then filled the inside of the bead with glue to be sure the strings stayed put. Allow all the glue to dry.
    Beautiful and Easy paper butterfly Mobile. | saynotsweetanne.com | #diy #baby #paper
  8. Now its time to hang the circles. For mine I cut 6 identical lengths of ribbon, strung them around the circle and then tied a knot in the center of all the strings. This allows each ring to hang from 3 ribbons, and be at the same height as its companion. We tried a bunch of different methods before landing on this one- which is so simple! (Duh!)
    This is after I hung the butterflies, but it shows the three strands holding up the ring.
    This is after I hung the butterflies, but it shows the three strands holding up the ring.
  9. Now simply guide each butterfly string through the C channel until it reaches the end. The bead should be on top of the ring to keep the string from falling through. The C channel should be curved enough that accidental movement won’t be able to guide the string out. (If you didn’t go the C channel route, simply tie the ribbons onto the wreath and secure with glue.)
  10. Done!! I’m not sure how I’m going to pack this up to give away, but I LOVE how it turned out. It doesn’t even need to be for a baby’s room, it would make a great chandelier or wedding arch prop!
    Beautiful and Easy paper butterfly Mobile. | saynotsweetanne.com | #diy #baby #paper
Check out how pretty it looks in Peyton's room! I can't wait to meet her! ♥︎
Check out how pretty it looks in Peyton’s room! I can’t wait to meet her! ♥︎

 

The following two tabs change content below.

Kayla Domeyer

My name is Kayla and I am a Graphic Designer. That means that I love pretty things, and also that I like to make free printables! I'm so happy that you've stopped by to visit my blog, and I hope you will follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Pinterest or Instagram!! (Yeah, and I'm totally addicted to the internet).

3 thoughts on “DIY Butterfly Paper Mobile

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Please answer the following anti-spam test

What site is this?

  1.    SayNotSweetAnne
  2.    AnneSweetieBee
  3.    SpeakNotSweetie
Just select the correct answers among the proposed

CommentLuv badge

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.