Rain Cloud Mobile Tutorial

Photo by Lisa Diederich Photography

Hello! Happy Spring! It's been a hot minute since I last posted a tutorial so I thought I'd dust off the cob webs here on the blog and share all the details for the rain cloud mobiles I made last spring for Suzanne and Trevor's baby shower. I had received so many compliments on these and recently a request on a tutorial so I am happy to share this with you all!

The mobiles are actually very easy to make with a few supplies but do take a bit of time so make sure you have a good movie and a cocktail ready to entertain yourself while you make a gazillion mini fabric tassels.

SUPPLY LIST FOR ONE MOBILE:

• Cloud Template
• Pen
• Scissors
• White Foam Core (11" X 17" will fit this template size)
• Mat Knife
• Glue Gun
• Approx 2 yards White Muslin Fabric (or any other cotton fabric that tears easily)
• Approx 1 yard Tulle (I used a light blue tinted tulle but you can use white or any other color)
• Wire
• Waxed Linen Cord
• Felt Pom Poms (assorted sizes/colors)
• Ribbon
• Large Eye Embroidery/Tapestry Needle
• (2) Small Eyelet Hooks

DOWNLOAD THE RAIN CLOUD TEMPLATE HERE

I've created a simple cloud shape you can use as your template for the mobile base. Print out the template and with your scissors cut out the cloud shape. You can then trace it onto the foam core. You will need to trace two foam core clouds. With your mat knife, carefully follow the contour lines of the cloud to cut out the shapes. This doesn't need to be perfect as the foam core will be covered with tassels.

Once you cut the two cloud shapes, you will also need to cut a slit halfway down the center of the clouds so that they can stack together in an "X" formation.

HANDY TIP:  Make sure to cut from the top edge down to the halfway point on the first cloud and then from the bottom edge to the halfway point on the second cloud so that they fit perfectly together.

Your slit should be the same thickness as your foam core. The two clouds should fit together pretty snuggly but if they seem a little loose then just add a line of hot glue down each intersection to secure them in place.



Ok, now that the cloud base is assembled, it's time to make the tiny tassels!

Each of the finished tassels are approx 1.5" in length and are made up of two layers of torn muslin strips and one layer of tulle and tied off with wire. You could use thread or bakers twine to tie them off as well but I found the wire to be much quicker. I wrapped the wire around a couple of times and then twisted the loose ends of the wire together to secure in place.

For both the muslin and tulle, you will need to cut or tear them into 1" wide X 3" high strips.

I love working with muslin and I just find the cheapest yard of it at the local fabric shop for projects like this. And it tears so easily into strips so you have a nice frayed edge for added texture! I had snipped the top edge of the muslin every 1" across the width of the material and ripped away. Once I had all my strips torn then I stacked them together and cut them down into 3" lengths.

Same steps for the tulle except you will need to cut the long strips rather than tear them. For my mobile, I used a light blue tulle and it gives the most subtle hint of color to the clouds! You could use regular white tulle or even another subtle color like pink or a soft orange to add a little warmth to your clouds.

To assemble the tassels, layer two pieces of the muslin with one piece of the tulle, fold in half and secure with the wire. It doesn't really matter the order in which you layer the muslin and tulle. I varied mine so that some tassels had the tulle on the outside layer (when folded) and some had the muslin on the outside layer. I really loved the variation in texture as I glued each of these tassels to the cloud base.



Once you are done making tiny tassels it's time to glue them on! I started with the outside edge and worked my way around each half panel keeping consistent in the direction and curves of the cloud. I left about a half inch overhang on the outer row so that it would hide the foam core edge. Continue to overlap the tassels working towards the center axis and then move onto the next panel and continue in the same pattern.



Ok, time for the rain! I purchased my felt pom poms through Benzie Design and they have an assortment of colors and sizes to choose from. I tried making my own and quickly gave up after the first pom pom. After making a gazillion tassels I just didn't have the patience to needle felt wool into little balls plus Benzie's looked WAY better and ten times more compact than mine!

I will say that I did find it helpful to map out the pattern of pom poms before I strung them up but you can also wing it and just let your instinct decide the pattern of rain drops. In the end, I created a total of 5 strands all varying in pattern.

I also used waxed linen cord to string up the pom poms. I read somewhere that the wax helps hold the pom pom in place (which I found it does) but these pom poms are so tightly fused that any string or twine could possibly work just as well. Might be something to experiment with!



Next step is to attach the rain drop strands. I started with the center strand and it attaches to the cloud with one of the little eyelet hooks. With the hot glue gun, add a dab of glue onto the tip of your eyelet hook and push it into the very center bottom edge of the cloud (where the two cloud panels intersect). You can then tie the center rain drop strand to this hook.

For the four remaining strands, use your tapestry (or large eye needle) to puncture through the foam core and string each strand through the four bottom curves of the cloud base. Tie off the strands at the desired length and trim any excess cord.



To hang the mobile, you will use the other small eyelet hook and add a dab of glue onto the tip of it and push it into the very center top edge of the cloud (where the two cloud panels intersect). Loop ribbon through the hook and tie it off and your mobile is ready to hang!

Photo by Lisa Diederich Photography

This is definitely one of my favorite projects and I would love to see any cloud mobiles you all make! If you happen to make one be sure to share a pic with me and I will share your creation on my FB and IG feeds!!

Have a great week!

My AHA Moment >> A Handcrafted Affair's First Blog Feature!

Hi there! I am super excited today as A Handcrafted Affair just received it's first blog feature so I just had to tell you all about it! Little Peanut Magazine is featuring the Whimsical Woodland Tea Party on their blog that I had the pleasure of collaborating with Anissa from House Seven Design and Abby from Maeve Vintage Rentals.

Anissa and I have been friends for about 15 years and she recently introduced me to Abby which was a perfect match for collaborating as we all share a passion for living creatively. It was so great to work with both of them and to be able to include our kiddos in the shoot made it even more special.

I had so much fun creating the headpieces which were made from crepe paper, felted wool and wooden twigs. And if you recall, I like to try my hand at the occasional face painting and these lil' girls were loving it too!

Abby's vintage setting from her "Little Maeve" rental collection was perfect and I loved all of her little touches of detail.

Huge thanks to Anissa for being photographer for the day. It was pouring rain that day but we were determined to stick it out and finally the rain let up for about 30 min which Anissa did a great job of directing and getting in the shots before it down-poured on us again.

It was also pretty comical as the girls were eating all of our props before we had even wrapped the shoot. I don't blame them, the macarons were pretty yummy!

Here's a few behind the scene pics but be sure to head over to Little Peanut's blog for the full feature!

And here's just a little collection of teaser images from my Instagram feed....

Well, the weekend is almost here so thank goodness for that! I'm finishing up some sugar flowers for a wedding cake this weekend so I will be sure to share it with you all soon!

A PINEAPPLE PARTY FOR RILEY'S SECOND BIRTHDAY

Hello! Today I am finally sharing with you the Pineapple party for my sweet lil' Riley's second birthday! Riley has such a fun and (already) wild personality that this pineapple theme was pretty fitting for her. 

I had put together a mood board a few weeks ago so if you missed that you can check it out here. I always find that putting together a mood board or even just collecting images on a Pinterest board is super helpful in staying on point with the overall theme and look of your party. I definitely was going for bright summer colors along with gold accents for this pineapple theme.

Oh, and this cake! I am pretty happy with how it turned out. I had this idea to mimic the pineapple texture on the cake so I simplified it down to a diamond pattern by creating a template with my Cricut Explorer and then pressed sprinkles into the diamond cut-outs to create the pattern. 

For the topper, I had gotten the idea to spray paint the tops from here and thought it would also make the perfect adornment for my pineapple-inspired cake.

The cake itself was a white confetti cake with a pineapple curd swiss meringue buttercream (you know I had to work pineapple in there somewhere!). I will have to do a follow up and post the recipes and the diamond pattern template for you all so keep an eye out for that to come soon!

The paper honeycombs were a perfect accent to this pineapple theme. They came in packs of 12 and I purchased two colors (yellow and dusty rose) in the 8" diameter and two colors (light blue and gold) in the 5" diameter. I tied them in bunches of 3 and 4 honeycombs and accented them with faux tropical leaves. Using fishing line, I strung up the bunches and hung them from the ceiling. For the honeycombs on the wall, I totally used pushpins (it's what I had handy but if you do not want tiny holes in your wall then you could use some super strong tape or even little Command hooks).

I also re-created the pineapple pops from my mood board and you can find the recipe here. Those are treats that I will definitely make again! Super easy and pretty yummy!

For the DIY pineapple flower vases, I created my flower arrangements in ball jars and then cored my pineapple out so that the ball jar could sit inside of it. This is something you want to do either the day before or even the day of the party as it doesn't have a very long shelf life (and starts attracting those pesky little fruit flies!). I spray painted them gold and set the flower jars inside for a quick and easy DIY decoration.

I purchased the pineapple-shaped cups from Party City along with the giant #2 gold mylar balloon. The plates, napkins, forks and paper straws are all from Target and I found the fabric for the table runner at Jo-Ann's Fabric and Craft Store.

Every kiddo's birthday party should have at least one fun party game! So, we played Pin the Pineapple Top which was a pineapple-themed version to the classic Pin the Tail on the Donkey. 

I couldn't find a game that already existed so I covered poster board with pink wrapping paper and used my Cricut Explorer to cut out the letters and the pineapple tops. I printed the pineapple head and glasses on an 11" X 17" sheet of paper and just ended up cutting that out by hand. 

It was just a small party with family and a couple of friends and I know Riley had a blast that day. She's quite the lil' party girl! She's still running around here singing Happy Birthday, haha!

Well, hope you all are enjoying the rest of your summer! My oldest, Mia, starts kindergarten next week so that's our next exciting moment around here. And then we are off to Colorado for a wedding. August is going to be a busy month!