Hot Air Balloon Mobile

For my future son (due in two months!) I decided to make a hot air balloon mobile for his side of the nursery from the idea here.

I followed her tutorial for the most part but made a few variations of my own. I started with a template for the balloon. I did mine from card stock. Fold it in half and draw half the hot air balloon (like you'd do for Valentine hearts). No template here, just winging it. I drew it big and fat and basically cut it down 10 times using some Google images of real hot air balloons to get the shape right.

There are 6 sides to one balloon and I had enough paper to cut out 66 flat balloon shapes and piece them into 11 balloons.

I mixed and matched with patterned paper so each balloon looks different depending on which angle you are viewing it from. It'd be just as cute to do each balloon in the same pattern/color, I think. I even fancied the idea of making each balloon with only 4 sides because I was getting tired of cutting. I think that'd work, too. But the more dimensions the balloon has, the more visually interesting it is, and I'm glad I went the extra mile to make them all 6-sided. I glued them together with Elmer's glue.

I used an awl to stab a hole near the top.

STAB!

I was going to use blue yarn but the hole wasn't big enough. So I bought some basic twine-like string. Can't remember what it's called. I still had to force the hole bigger to get that through, but it all worked out. I tied a knot at the top of the balloon and tied it at the top of the embroidery hoop. Still working on what to do about all those fringy knot tops. But here's the mostly done mobile:

And future baby boy's view from the crib: 

I'll post it again when it's in place in the finished nursery. Stay tuned for some wall art inspired by hot air balloons, too. 


*Martha