Sweet Dreams Mobile

Sometimes I have ideas for baby mobiles that just need to be realized. For a while now, I've had the idea to do an all sweets or ice cream themed mobile would be so much fun for a nursery. So one afternoon I just had to sit down and make it happen. 

 

The fun part about this mobile is that it could totally be customized to your tastes. All ice creams, all cupcakes, etc.  What sweet treats would you put in a mobile? A slice of pie? Cake? The possibilities are endless and so much fun!! 

To contact me about making a custom mobile for your child's nursery, please send me a convo over at my Etsy shop Lavender Paper Hearts!!

Dr. Seuss Themed Mobile

I just finished up this Dr. Seuss themed mobile for someone to give as a gift at a baby shower. The baby's room is going to be Dr. Seuss themed so I came up with this mobile that incorporates different elements from many books, since we weren't sure what the couple's favorite might be. Similarly, I usually design mobiles for specific nursery rooms, but because we weren't sure of the final room would look like I streamlined the design so it incorporated primary colors and was a bit more simple. The finished result is a polished mobile that incorporates great colors and would work in many different settings.

The Cat in the Hat

Green Eggs and Ham

The Lorax

Oh the Places You'll Go

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

Using a new fun app I found for my phone called the Party Party app, I made this little video while working on the mobile ring! 

The Dr. Seuss Mobile can be found in my shop!! 

Custom Baby Mobile: Bruno's Fun Time Adventures

A few months ago I had a VERY enthusiastic mom-to-be contact me through my Etsy Shop and request a custom mobile for her baby's room featuring the much beloved and first baby of the house Bruno the French Bulldog!  The inspiration for this mobile came from the mobile The (Mis)-Adventures of Pheobe and Paige I made at the beginning of the year, but I was sure to incorporate some of the beloved activities of Bruno's parents.

Look at that face!! What a handsome little French Bulldog. His face just is too precious. 

 

 

As I often do, I started this mobile with some common interests this family has. People after my own heart, they love to go camping, and Bruno loves to come along for the fun!  The camping Bruno is ready to go with his trusty headlamp and a roasting stick and marshmallows. (Can you imagine if he actually wore a headlamp? OMG so much cuteness!!) 

 

The next figure needs little explanation. Bruno is obviously super, and thus Super Bruno had to be made. It's difficult to see from the angle of the photo here, but he's got a trusty B on the back of the cape. I like to think he's keeping a helpful eye over baby. 

Bruno's mom loves the story of Alice in Wonderland, so this next piece was inspired by the rabbit from the Alice in Wonderland cartoon. I really love how this one came out. The ruffle was done with my sewing machine and it gives it just the right amount of authentic detail. 

If you've never seen the film Up, what are you doing with your life? It's such a sweet and sentimental film and it's also fun to play with ideas from it. Since the film Up (so cute) is also a family favorite so I was sure to include Bruno having his own Up-inspired adventures. 

Lastly, Bruno's dad is a fierce drummer in his spare time, so in order to make sure dad had his own inspired figure, I came up with this Bruno drumming figure. It's complete with a sweet little heart shaped tattoo (tattoos are also a hobby of Bruno's dad so it was another simple nod to him). 

My little extra figures are always included and Bruno's dad has a love of stars so they were also tied in here. Plus they went perfectly with a number of the figures so it was a no-brainer addition. 

 

Here you can see the figures all together. 

Here is the finished piece. I've heard from Bruno's mom that they'll pass along some photos when the mobile is hung up, which I always look forward to. 

I love the opportunity to create sentimental nursery pieces for families. I hope they're treasured even after baby leaves the crib.  If you have an idea for a custom mobile, I'd love to hear it!! You can contact me through my Etsy shop Lavender Paper Hearts. 

Custom Mobile: For Baby Charlotte

My latest mobile was made for my husband's cousin Emily, who was expecting her second baby, and first baby girl!! Babies are delightful in any gender, but it's fun to have a new girl in the family!!  Emily came up with a really beautiful nursery design and in talking about her vision for the new baby's room. She gave me some of the fabrics used in the room, we talked a bit about a nature theme, and the mobile frame that was used in her son's nursery.   

It's fun to have design freedom, and I spent a lot of time thinking about what would be fun to create for new baby Charlotte.  I came up with what I've been calling a Simple and Sweet design.  Each figure is a bit more simple than the last mobiles I've been designing recently, but I really don't believe that things always need to be complicated to make a bold and beautiful statement.  The colors in the mobile compliment the colors in baby's room, as well as the fabrics I was given to refashion the mobile top.  If anything, I think this mobile also speaks to my love of the spring time as much as it does my needing the winter to be over already. 

Here are the figures I came up with. 

I call it an abstract butterfly, because I didn't do a traditional looking back on the wings of the butterfly. 

I thought this was a fun twist. 

Here are the figures altogether. I think that the mix of flowers, butterfly, and cute cuddly animals all came together nicely. 

Below you can see the finished mobile. The mobile originally had a brown and blue theme and brown and blue fabric on the top part. I took it apart and refashioned it using fabric found in baby Charlotte's nursery. It took a bit of fiddling, because I wasn't happy with how it came out the first time (somehow I measured the flaps wrong and they were longer than I wanted), but I think the finished product is fun and incorporates both the fabrics, and the room colors nicely. 

                  

I made several more gifts for Charlotte including these polka dot felt booties. I saw this fabric at the store and snatched it up IMMEDIATELY. It's so cute, and bright, and fun!! 

We're looking forward to meeting baby Charlotte this weekend!! 

xoxo

To inquire about custom mobiles send me a message at my Etsy shop Lavender Paper Hearts. 

Custom Mobile: Palm Beach Prep

Oh goodness, there is more cuteness in store for you today. I was contacted to make a mobile to match the Palm Beach Prep theme she had going for her new baby's room, and after a few back and forth emails to figure out exactly the details she was looking for, I have to say, I love the way this mobile turned out. This mobile included their two dogs in the fun. Both dogs are Boston Terriers with really amazing coats and markings so it was a fun challenge to mix up the standard Boston's I've been working on in several of my previous designs. 

Check out these cuties. Aren't they beautiful!!  The pup on the left is a brindle, which means she looks just like a regular Boston Terrier, except her coat is kicked up a few notches. Brindles are generally predominantly brown with these amazing soft black sort of stripes that wisp throughout their coat.  The second pup has amazing coloring on the face and a blue AND brown eye!! Talk about some amazingly beautiful and different looking dogs!! 

Here are the pups as felt figures! I was having a hard time with lighting the day I took these so it's a bit dark, but I promise it's brown! :) 

The next piece in the theme were all about Florida and beach fun. I came up with this striped surf board (complete with back rudder which is why it photographs on its side). The colors compliment the raspberry pink and bright greens being used in the baby's room. 

I am in love with this cute little flamingo. She was really fun to make!

A palm tree was one of the other figures that we worked out, as beaches and palm trees are tied together if we're talking about Florida, so I put the little palm tree on an island and added a little crab. 

Here's a close up shot of the crab! I didn't know at the time, but it turns out that that my customer is originally from Maryland, so the crab was a meant-to-be perfect extra touch!! If I'd known, I would have made it blue, but the fascia works well in the baby's room. 

This photo shows you just how tiny the details are on the crab. I thank the trusty "my husband was questioning whether they were wroth $25 or not, but bought them anyway for me for Christmas," scissors! Oh, and a good pair of tweezers, and a lack of sleep/sanity. Those helped too. 

Here are the detailed extras I added to give the mobile some depth. We decided that a sun, a bird silhouette (they always remind me of the beach), and a starfish would be fun extras. As an extra-extra, I also added some clouds to the ring of the mobile (see photo below this one), and it really tied the beach theme together for me. 

Here are all the figures just before being hung on the mobile!

How awesome is this Gif? Somehow my Google Back up turned my photos into this fun thing. I just wish the lighting was better when I took the photos (I edit them later) so it was a bit brighter. 

Lastly, I have new ring styles available for the shop. I've made my last two designs using these flat rings and think that they come out super cute. The nice thing about these rings is that they can be wrapped in yarn OR painted to the color of your choice!!

Overall, this was another really fun piece to make. I love the creative challenge and also the excitement that these mobiles bring to me. The mobile was well received, and I hope to share photos of it hanging in baby's room.

Be sure to check out my other mobiles in my Etsy shop: Lavender Paper Hearts!!  If you have an idea for a custom mobile, please contact me through my Etsy shop, Lavender Paper Hearts! I love working one on one with customers to make the perfect mobile for your nursery.

Check back early next week for a preview of my new Spring 2014 Pet Bow Tie Line. Impatient? You can check out my pet bow ties here.  

The (Mis)Adventures of Phoebe & Paige

The latest custom mobile I finished up is called: The (Mis)Adventures of Phoebe & Paige. This client wanted a mobile that captured the fun and silly personalities of her dogs Phoebe and Paige for her son's nursery and she presented me with some great ideas and information to start off with. Both of these lovely lady dogs seem to have very strong and yet lighthearted personalities. One of the greatests parts of working with this client was to read how playfully and lovingly she described her dogs personalities. It might sound silly, but it's these kinds of details that let me get a sense of perspective on the dogs themselves, but I also learn about the personalities of the client, their owner. 

First we have Paige, a dainty little Min Pin. My client described Paige as "shy and girly. She sits with her front paws crossed like a lady." Paige also sounds like she can get excitable as she spins around in circles a lot, but she also gets a bit nervous and skittish at times. So, I sort of envisioned her as an excitable yet proper Southern Belle who maybe gets the vapors from time to time. 

Here is a baby photo of Phoebe the Boston Terrier. Phoebe was described as, "is basically exactly like Elmyra Duff from Tiny Toons." She adores her owners and anyone who comes to visit. She also loves to take time to smell the roses (except she's too enthusiastic and she ends up sticking her face in the flowers and then sneezing her face off.) 

Just look at these ladies. How cute are they?!!

Here is Lady Paige as the uber-Southern Belle, complete with pearl necklace and lace gloves. 

Here, Paige is showing off her sort of spastic and constant movement in rollerskates. Paige is also partially blind so her sort of clumsy sort of excitable manner is only heightened because of this so I added a blind fold to play up the loving inside joke for her owners.

  

This piece features both ladies in a hot air balloon - but with all balloons. It's a play on a piece of art called Mr. Penguin Balloons Print by Showler & Showler that my client said served as an inspiration for decorating his room.  

Here Phoebe is taking time to smell the roses (and also sneeze because she does it 100%).  I made really small flowers and added some white cotton fabric to her other paw to give her a hanky. 

These flower details are in the early stages of drying. My long tweezers and sharp scissors definitely came in handy for these.  

Phoebe is apparently quite the adventurer. She apparently is so adventurous in fact that she's permanently injured her leg from being so carefree and jumping off of things more often than she should. 

As always, I like to add a few subtle extras to add layers and depth to the mobile.

The finished product is one I'm really proud of, and one I hope their baby boy loves looking at! This client was also a dream to work with. She had some great ideas to get me started in the right direction and she gave me so much fun backstory that I felt like I really got to know not only her, but her personality, and that helps me translate what she's looking for in the perfect mobile for her baby boy. 

xoxoxo

If you have an idea for a custom mobile, I'd love to hear it!! You can contact me through my Etsy shop Lavender Paper Hearts.