my diy baby mobile

Clara's view!

The pretty yellow poms that I hung over Clara's crib are my favorite - I think they look awesome!  Except, I'm not a two month old.  As Clara has grown more aware of the world around her, I've come to realize that she needs a little more visual stimulation over her crib.  She LOVES the hanging toys and pictures above her baby Einstein playmat, and the hanging animals from her little bouncy seat thing...so it became my mission to find her a fun mobile for her crib.

My wish list for a mobile:

1. animals!
2. colorful
3. images that were directed towards her gaze (ie: facing down!) not directed towards the parent's gaze (this was increasingly difficult...most of the mobiles don't seem to be created for baby's benefit as they are for the parent's?  or as simple decoration (like my yellow poms.)
4.  fit within our itty bitty budget (around $20)

Not a big wish list. 

I searched Etsy...scoured it in fact.  SOoooo many adorable mobiles!  And all of my favorites were waaay out of our price range...obviously.  And the mobiles at the baby stores didn't do it for me - at all.  So I made one using the same fabric as one of her crib sheets.

Here's how:

Step 1:  found my fabric..bought 1/2 yard on eBay for like $5 (including shipping!)
Step 2: cut out the animal shapes

 Step 3: Sewed the animal to a piece of muslin (I used my sewing machine and it took less than 1 minute to do this (I just sewed around the very edges of the animal shape...I wasn't a perfectionist about this at all...I figured I could have been a perfectionist and it would take me too long to complete, or I could just DO it and USE it with the tiny imperfections and all)

Step 4:  cut out an additional piece of muslin to "back" the first... I cut them out at the same time to ensure the shape was the same.

Step 5:  I sewed the edges of the muslin together with the image facing the inside.  I was sure to leave a small area "open" so I could flip the image back out and stuff the whole thing like a pillow.

Step 6:  Stuffed it with cotton balls.
Step 7:  Sewed the little opening shut. 

Step 8:  clipped them to one of these silver mobiles - $8 from Amazon (I love this because these are interchangeable so as she grows we can clip different objects and images to it!  I appreciate versatility)

Clara was mesmerized.  Precisely the reaction that I was going for.  Now we just need to hang it from the ceiling - a hook and fishing line are all we need.  The whole project took me about a week to complete...I would only work on it 15 or so minutes a day (just when I would have a few extra moments.)