Alternative Baby Mobile Hanger DIY

Nursery preparation is one of the most fun things during pregnancy . It can be a little stressful if you are constrained with time but, if you happen to have the time and the energy, it can be really enjoyable. I had a relatively easy pregnancy with almost no vomiting, little sleep issues and moderate feet swelling. So, I got to do some handmade projects for my daughter's nursery including a dresser change over, putting a wall paper, and a making a mobile hanger. When I think about those days now, I recognize that all my creative juices were flowing with the pregnancy hormones. It is funny how the women body works...

When I first started looking at the baby mobiles, I was overwhelmed like all the other baby products, there is a ton to choose from. While shopping at a mall, I finally found a beautiful musical sheep mobile at Pottery Barn baby store on the sale section that I absolutely loved and bought. I then needed something to hang the mobile from. I  searched online and found mobile hangers that attaches to the crib. I thought that these were not safe and the colors were also not a good match for my daughter's gray colored crib. They usually come in white or brown. So, I came up with an alternative colorful solution to this by hanging the mobile from the ceiling. I bought some pastel felt balls to match the wall paper and crib colors from  Craftywoolfelt on Etsy. This store has lots of color options to choose from. I used the string that came with my order and a transparent fishing line to line the felt balls to make it sturdy enough to carry the weight of the mobile. I spaced the balls half an inch apart from each other .

You can even make these felt balls yourself which I have done before for a necklace (tutorial is here). However, I decided to buy this time to save money and time.

I used a metal hook to hang it from the ceiling and tied the string to a strong knot. The one suggestion I have for you is to keep the height not too long. When my daughter started to stand up to pull, I had to adjust the length so she wasn't able to pull it. This crib mobile turned out to be one of the favorites of my daughter while she was little and she loved watching the sheep turn and play for a long time before she fell asleep.

Baby Girl First Birthday Party

Although I celebrated my daughter's first birthday couple months ago, I wanted to share some of the photos from the birthday party with you.

Few events in life are as precious and well treasured as your first born's first birthday. It is such a big milestone! I have started planning my daughter's birthday about 2 months before the day. Even though she is a fall baby, I wanted to go with a spring theme which is one of my favorite seasons. I also thought it will be fun to use some bright colors. I and my husband hosted the party at our home so all the decorations were made for the space and for an indoor party. We have actually celebrated not only my daughter's but also her friend's birthday together whom we are very close with as a family.

Being a crafty and a busy working mom, I tried to find easy handmade decoration ideas. I however wanted to make it personalized and special so, I tried to find kits that I can put together and customize. For the backdrop, I used giant issue flowers for my flower wall display. The Martha Stewart pom pom kit worked perfect for this. The kit came with 5 flowers in salmon pink, fuchsia and sunny yellow. I assembled all the flowers one night after my daughter went to bed. You can watch a video on how to make these flowers form this link.

 

Next, I made a happy birthday manner. For the banner, I got really lucky and found a very cute colorful kit in a craft store. I glued letters onto pre-cut flags and assembled a banner using a white ribbon. The colors worked out perfect! I should advise you to look at Etsy for banners if you are planning a party, where you can find so many creative banners in any color you want at a very reasonable price...

 

When I hung the banner, I made two rows in order to fill the large wall. I have also used some birds and butterflies on the decors to make it lively. I found these cute bugs in the dollar store...

 

 Another center piece I prepared was a photo display with photos of my daughter from her birth to her first birthday. This took me the most time to prepare just because I have so many beautiful photos of her and it was really hard to choose which ones to use. I recycled a hard poster board that had styrofoam back for this project. Using a razor, I cut a number one and then glued photos to the board. Here is an example where I was inspired from. I accented the photo display wit a pink pineapple polka dot tassel garland I bought from Studio Mucci at Etsy.

Now comes the baby accessorizing... I made two baby cone hats using scrapbook paper, felt, wool ball, and a fun flower ribbon. I simply made a funnel cone from paper and decorated it. I loved how the hats turned out. 

Of course, sparkles are a must in any party or "thing" I do or make. So, I bought a giant gold foil balloon from Urban outfitters. I used the inflated balloon as a fun space filler in a corner of the room. This matched really nicely with the tassel garland and also the birthday hats.

 

 

The spring party was in full bloom, fun and cheerful. Most importantly, it was very memorable for us. The party started at 2pm. We served mostly finger food (cupcakes, fruit salad, vegetables with dip and also had a croissant sandwich bar).  The one tier birthday cake was delicious and just enough for everyone. As party favors, I had an assortment of small turkish hand towels. Those were also a big hit!  

Definitely one of the best parties I have hosted and got prepared for! Hope you enjoyed my post...

Thank You Card for Baby Shower DYI

Hello! I am back, after a long break to share a new handmade baby thank you card project with you. I apologize for not writing for such a long time my dear followers. My husband and I have recently welcomed a new member to our family, a sweet baby girl called Daphne Mina. She is almost two months old now. I have been enjoying my maternity leave while I watch her grow and get cuter every single day. I have lots and lots of new and original projects to share with you that is mostly mother oriented including Daphne's nursery. To begin with, here is the handmade thank you card I made for my baby shower. 

Thank you card for bay shower

The baby bump silhouette shaped card in pink tones is perfect for a baby girl shower but you can also modify with a blue background for a baby boy. I started with cutting the pregnant mom figure using a template I drew. You can use one large and one small circle sized objects to create a bump silhouette as shown in the picture above. Then, I cut pink rectangle shaped cardstock paper to fit into A4 size envelopes. I decorated the bump with a tiny crystal heart shaped sticker to symbolize the baby and red ribbon which I glued to the left side of the card. On the right top corner of the card, I used a "thanks so much" stamp to finish off this handmade baby shower card. I used a black ink.

I really believe that handmade cards makes saying thank you's so much more fun and special. I am glad I was able to send a special thank you note to all my friends who were able to shower with me. This handmade cards were also a great project to spend my time as I was anxiously waiting for the little one to born. Hope you like this idea and will use it in the future.

Custom Number Sting Art Tutorial

I try to learn new, different techniques once in a while and this is my recent project that I am so excited to share with you. If you search "sting art" on Pinterest (Click here) you will be amazed what people have created using this simple technique. It is impressive what one can do with nails and string.

I made this fun string art for my hubby for the Valentine's Day. It is the number 6. The number six is related to the research he does in his laboratory at University of Washington. So, it has a lot of meaning for him.  It will be a great addition to his office. You can also try to use number string art to make house numbers. It will certainly get lots of attention. Have fun and make sure to watch your fingers while putting those nails in!

Gold Birthstone Necklace

I have made this gold birthstone necklace for a customer in Canada and shipped it today. It is going to be a birthday gift for a special mother. The customized birthstones are sapphire blue, garnet red, and ruby red. I had to go to couple bead stores to find the perfect size and colored pearls but, I finally succeeded...The multicolored freshwater pearls sits beautifully inside the gold birds nest. It is a unique combination of colors I have not put together before so, I thought I would share this handmade beauty with you. Doesn't it look so elegant?

Gold birthstone necklace

To inquire about or set up a custom order please email acupofsparkle@gmail.com.

Handmade Race Bib and Medal Holder Tutorial

One of my new year resolutions is to exercise and get back to my running this year. In order to motivate myself and to get a bit organized, I made a handmade race bib and medal holder for myself. Today I would like to share with you how to make this simple holder.

Materials: A wooden plaque, acrylic paint color of your choice (I used violet and gold glitter), foam brush, sharpie, c-shaped hooks, pencil

Step 1: Paint the wood plaque (I got mine from Joann's) with your choice of paint. I repeated this step 3 times.

Step 2: Decide on what you would like to write on your plaque and print the words on a paper using the font you like. My plaque says "My Races". Some other sayings I thought about doing was Melike's Races, Run like a Girl, Finisher, Ready-Set-Go or just Races. Use your imagination!!!

Step 3: To transfer the printed words onto the board, I used the old pencil method. Just shade the back of the printed letters with a pencil, place the word down on the wood and trace around/inside the imprinted letters with my pencil. Then, fill in the word using a sharpie as shown below. I also painted the letters with the sparkle paint to make it shiny.

Step 4: Now it is time to place your c-shaped hooks. The bibs come in two different sizes usually so, I used 4 hooks to hang both the narrow and wide sized bibs. I simply placed the bibs on the wood board and screw them in following the holes instead of measuring it with a tape.
























Step 5: For the medals, I have used the same sized hooks. Although you can put the hooks directly to the wood, I used stars to make it more shiny and special. First I got some star shaped buttons from the store and painted them with the sparkle paint. Once the buttons are dried, I screwed in the hooks from one hole of the button to the wood. I didn't need to glue the stars onto the wood since the hooks kept them stable. I hided the second hole of the button by filling it in with the sparkle paint.

Step 6: Using a sharpie, paint a border around the wood board. This is optional. I did this step to put an extra dimension.

Step 7: VOILA!! Now, you can hand your race bibs and race bling. I have 11 bibs and 5 medals including my medal from the Vancouver Marathon hanging right now and cannot wait to add more to my collection in 2014...

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all of you, my dear A Cup of Sparkle readers. I wish you a wonderful, a better year with lots of love and happiness....