Wednesday, July 28, 2010

T Shirt Butterfly Mobile

I've been doing a lot of things with t-shirts lately, leaving me a nice big ol' bag of these:
T shirt scraps.  They're big enough pieces that I can't bear to throw them away, but too small to use for any of the bags or clothes I've been making lately.

I'm also 37 weeks pregnant, and the doctor says I could go any time...so yes, I am in baby mode.  Big time.  Which led me to make this....
Butterfly Mobile!  (With my two year old Munchkin, of course...who should have still been in bed since it wasn't even 6 am yet!)

I've seen a number of buttefly mobiles lately, most of them made from scrapbook paper.  And I love them all!  But I dont have hardly any scrapbook paper, and even if I did I'd have to go to my mom's to use her Cricut...so I got creative and used what I had on hand.  (Mostly.)

First off, I took this idea from Sew She Sews' polka dot crib mobile tutorial.  (Seriously, click on that link and check out her mobile...if I wasnt so in love with butterflies right now I would have done the polka dots like she did!)  Anyways, I had just found two embroidery hoops at goodwill for $.50 each, and then got home and realized that the screw in one didnt work quite right.  But it would work PERFECT for this mobile!

And, I confess, I did run to the craft store to pick up one little thing that I didnt have on hand...
...miniature clothespins.  This isn't the smallest size they had, I think they are 1 3/4 in.  Then I spray painted them white.

Then there's the T shirt scraps.  Just alone, they would be too floppy to really look like butterflies, so I took one layer of scrap, put some Heat'N'Bond on it, then adhered it to another layer of scrap.

Then I spent what felt like FOR-EV-ER finding a butterfly template I liked (I ended up tweaking a few to make my own) and tracing and cutting out 14 butterflies.

Here they are with the clothespins clipped on:

The most tedious part was tying them on...I just used white thread.  I knotted around the middle of the clothespin, then tied it to the embroidery hoop.  I tried to stagger to create a "random" effect...I'm not so good at random.  But I think it turned out alright.

And this is what the baby will see:

I think I'll be replacing this ribbon with either plain white or light pink ribbon - again, just using what I had on hand.



Well, its a hit with my Munchkin at least!
Sorry, I know enough pics already!  But I just can never get enough of this little blue-eyed wonder (I have brown eyes, so it may be borderline jealousy) and her fascination in anything I make!


UPDATE:  I'm entering this in Iron Crafter Round 7: Clothespins!

And, in case you're wondering...my baby turned out to be a boy.  But he still likes staring at the butterflies!  (I'm thinking of re-doing them but in boy colors.  But we'll see.)










 

 
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17 comments:

  1. What an awesome idea! I love it! Good job Cassi!
    Love your cousin!

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  2. Thanks! Now I just have to hope my instinct is right and this baby really is a girl, right? :)

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  3. right, but I didn't know Jennilyn was a girl until she was born as she wouldn't cooperate during the ultrasound at 26 weeks. ( I know that is late, but that is when the clinic and hospital I was going to with her would do them), but my instinct was that it was a girl and I was right! I am sure you are right too, now lets hope the baby comes soon so you can have a small baby again. :) Good luck and keep us posted!

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  4. That's a really cool idea. I like it!

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  5. Lucky baby! The butterflies are so sweet and whimsical - I love them!

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  6. I love your blog and have nominated you for the versatile blogger award!! :) Check it out! :)

    http://crunchynutmama.blogspot.com/2010/07/yeah-baby-i-am-versatile.html

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  7. aww so cute!!!

    -Jackie
    http://jaclyndesigns.blogspot.com/

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  8. Oh my goodness! That's adorable!! Cute blog and lots of fun ideas!...coming from Sassy Sites. I'm your newest follower!! :)

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  9. Very very sweet! I love the view that the baby will see. So fun and pretty.
    Great job!!

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  10. What a fabulous idea! That is so cute! Thanks for linking up to Hoo's got talent!

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  11. Awwwwww, I just love it! I seriously need to make a mobile soon, even though my babies are grown. I just love them so much! Yours is darling.

    Thanks for linking up at Craftastical!

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  12. Aw, that is so cute!! What a neat idea, it turned out great!

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  13. This is so adorable. i can not believe that they make clips this small.
    Thank you so much for linking up to www.thetshirtdiaries.com. I am having a Stash-Busting September party. Check the blog for details soon...

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  14. This is totally adorable! So does the baby like it???

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  15. Thanks Beth! And he does like it...he's 4 months old now so he keeps trying to reach for them when he's laying in bed!

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  16. featured this adorable mobile on my blog today

    http://www.kimboscrafts.blogspot.com

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