Baby Onesies: The Maverick!

In early June of this year I officially added Bow Tie Onesies to my Etsy shop.  I also added a onesie inspired by the film Top Gun called "The Maverick" which was inspired by Tom Cruise's character's name in the film.

I've been thinking about some version of this onesie for, geez, at least 2 1/2 years now but never had it come to life until recently. I had originally envisioned a simple stencil of some aviators but when my hand went ever so slightly wackadoodle while painting and of course, I got the teensiest spot of black paint on the collar of the onesie. Most people probably would NEVER have noticed but it bothered me for 3 days straight until I came up with a solution!! I'd recently begun experimenting with making my own quilt binding so I thought I'd pick up some grey fabric and I could sew a binding or sorts around the top collars of the onesie giving it an ever so slight nod to the Navy flight suits they wear in the film.

The onesie ended up looking even better than I imagined so I added them to the shop. I've already sold a few of these!!

 Click here to buy The Maverick

With the new styles in the onesie section of my shop you can bundle up quite the shower gift!! These two onesies were sent out to a customer in Washington.

To purchase onesies and check out other items in my shop, visit: Lavender Paper Hearts Handmade

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: Little Bugs

I think one of my favorite things that I make in my shop Lavender Paper Hearts is baby mobiles. I love working with customers to come up with a design that ends up being exactly what they're looking for. Plus, my customers have AMAZING ideas that are often times things I never would have thought of.  Plus, working together to help make something that will help their baby's drift off to sleep is an extremely rewarding feeling.

Recently I had the pleasure of making a custom mobile for some dear friends of mine. When we started talking about what they were looking for for their baby's room, Jen and Jeff sent me some photos of concert posters they were having framed to use in Baby Bowie's room. The concert posters, as you can see below, were really cute retro-inspired brightly colored cartoons with bugs of all sorts. The bugs served as the jumping off point for the mobile. Jen and Jeff gave me a lot of flexibility to go in any buggy inspired direction I wanted. I tried my best to mimic at least a few of the bugs in the posters below as well as added a few bugs I thought would be a cute addition to the overall aesthetic of the final design.

I was also asked to incorporate the lightning bolt from David Bowie's Aladdin Sane album as a nod to Baby Bowie's in-utero nickname and now actual middle name! 

Here's what I came up with: 

I'm not gonna lie, I love how the wings turned out here. They added a nice extra layer of complexity to the mobile, and they were flying bugs, so, duh, they were necessary too!!

In addition to the rainbow featured above with the bee in the photo above, here are two other little extras I added to the mobile. I like to add what I call extras as a way to add further depth to the mobile. They give baby even more thing to dream about.  Below are the David Bowie lightning bolt and cloud.

I could not be more elated for Jen and Jeff. They will experience the true definition of overwhelming joy as they welcome little rainbow Lena Bowie in to the world, and I can't think of two people who deserve as much in this moment. I cannot wait to snuggle this little one in January when I head to California for baby-palooza.

XOXOXOXO

If you have an idea for a custom mobile, I'd love to hear it.  You can contact me through my shop Lavender Paper Hearts over on Etsy.  I have another custom mobile in my shop work queue that I can't wait to share with you once it's done in January. This one is puppy adventure inspired and is going to be so much fun!!

Custom Baby Mobile: Family Fun

In July I was commissioned to make a super-duper custom mobile for a special little baby.  Baby's aunt asked me to make a mobile that reflected mom and dad, and their three dogs!

The specifics: Auntie requested that baby's parents be dressed in jerseys from their favorite college football teams - Oklahoma University and Louisiana State University. I was told mom loves to wear black eye liner and fierce eye lashes so I was sure to do them up, and I was told that dad loves to rock a goatee and has bright blue eyes!

*I usually throw in a toothpick to give a sense of the mobile figure's size. 

Look at this teeny tiny jersey!

This gives you a sense of how I built their faces. It takes a lot of layering to get the features just right. 

Here is a photo of two of the puppies in progress. I worked hard to make them as three dimensional as possible.

Here are the photos of the dogs that my buyer sent me: 

 

Bear is a Newfoundland and is a big boy at 200 lbs. 

Drake, a Clumber Spaniel, is actually the smallest at 65 lbs. 

Nancy Reagan is a Great Pyrenees and weighs 130 lbs. 

I did my best to incorporate each puppies specific spots, coat textures, and other details.  

I ended up adding a shopping bag above mom since she loves to shop, and a football above dad.  Did you know footballs have 8 laces? Google told me.  

I included some of my homemade dog treats to the package for the dogs and shipped it off. It's being given to the new parents at their family baby debut party and I hope they love it!! 

You can check out my other baby mobiles in my shop: HERE. Do you have a custom mobile idea you'd like to see come to life? Contact me on Etsy at Lavender Paper Hearts or you can drop me an email at LavenderPaperHearts at gmail dot com.