I wanted something a little bit different for our nursery mobiles. Pinwheels and dreamcatchers felt like a fun combination.
What you will need:
Scrapbook paper – 2 sheets per pinwheel – unless you want the inside of the mobile to be whatever color is on the back of your scrapbook paper – or you have paper that looks good from both sides then you only need one. Btw – if I were a teacher (which I am not) I would love to see these made out of regular college ruled paper and strung as a pendant for a classroom decoration…
Anyhow…you will need:
Scissors
String
A hoop – mine was a 9″ diameter brass hoop I bought on Amazon for a couple bucks, but you can use anything – bike rim, quilters hoop, you get the idea.
X-acto Knife
Scrapbook paper – I used 16 sheets
Pinhole paper punch – the one that makes small punches
Paper fasteners – I used brass colored ones – 1 per pinwheel
Making the Dreamcatcher
Step 1:
Grab your string and measure out ~25 feet and wrap it up into a small ball. This makes the string easier to handle and as the catcher takes shape the ball will fit through the little loops.
Step 2:
Take your hoop and your string and attach the string to the hoop with a double knot. Then begin winding around your hoop with loose loops. It’s hard to explain so I’ll let the pictures do the work.
I put one of these loops about every 3 inches or so…nothing is exact so don’t get hung up on the measurements. When I got all the way around to the double knot I made my next loop in the center of the hole around the middle of the string. Don’t be afraid to start over if you don’t like it, but trust me, once done it looks great even at first if you are like wtf? Making these goes really fast too. Don’t knot the string as you go. It is just a quick loop around the middle of the string.
Work your way around, looping as you go until you get all the way into the center of your hoop, finish off with a double knot.
Making the Pinwheels
Step 1:
Cut your scrapbook paper into squares. I did this with an X-acto knife and my straight edge. If your paper comes in squares, well lucky you! I made two different sized pinwheels 6.5″ squares and 4.5″ squares. Pick a size the will work with your hoop. Layer the two sheets together when you cut so that they always have the same dimensions. Cut them with wrong sides facing and right sides out. I made four of each size. So, 16 sheets of scrapbook paper total.
Step 2:
Take your two sheets that are cut to the same dimensions, making sure right sides are facing out, and cut, with your scissors from each of the four corners in towards the center. I just eyeball this. Do not cut them apart, you are just making slits.
Step 3:
Take your hole puncher and punch a hole in the right side of each cut corner. And then punch a hole right in the middle of the square. Again, I just eyeballed this.
Step 4:
Grab a paper fastener and insert it from the bottom of one hole upwards and then thread it from bottom upwards through each hole, working clockwise as you go.
It helps to bend the next corner up and push it onto the fastener like this:
Step 5:
When you get all four corners on the fastener it can feel pretty tight just push the fastener down into the hole that you punched in the center of the square. Then open the fastener up and fold the ends in together.
Repeat until you have lots of pinwheels:
Putting it all together
This part is simple. I just wrapped a string around the back fastener on each pinwheel and hung each pinwheel from the hoop. Space them out however you like, that’s what I did! Then I used my hot glue gun to help the string hold the pinwheel in the position I liked best. I tied four string onto the hoop then tied them together and hung them from a simple cup hook I hand screwed into the ceiling above the cribs. I put it right into the drywall since it wasn’t that heavy…if you make something heavier – obviously fasten it into the ceiling better since it’s going to hang right over your baby’s head.
