Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Inspiration

Make your own personalized crib mobile in 4 steps

Sarah Prager
By

Crib mobiles are one of the most personal elements of any nursery. They are often a statement piece where everything else is furniture or functional, and they don’t take up any coveted floor space or even wall space. Your baby will love looking up at the dancing elements of whatever unique baby mobile you come up with.

Creating your own personalized crib mobile is an opportunity to make a completely custom piece that is meaningful within your family. You may want to bring in family photos, a design inspired by the meaning of your baby’s name, or even have baby shower guests help create the mobile. Whatever you choose, this simple tutorial will help you think through all the elements that go into creating the perfect mobile for your little one.

Related Videos
rattiya lamrod/Shutterstock

1. Get your supplies

This shopping list is pretty simple, but the key is in figuring out what your hanging items will be. They should be lightweight, colorful, and personal. Read through step 3 for more on choosing the mobile’s objects. Get these items:

Related
  • Embroidery hoop or wreath ring (a 10-inch one should do)
  • String, twine, fishing line, beading cord, or ribbon (see step 4)
  • Hanging items (see step 3)
  • Spray paint, ribbon, or other ways to decorate the embroidery hoop (see step 2)
  • Small circle ring (see step 4)

2. Decorate your embroidery hoop

An embroidery hoop (pictured above) is usually made of wood, which means you can hand paint it, spray paint it, wrap a decorative ribbon around it, draw on it, or wrap it in felt to transform it. You could even leave it bare if it fits your theme. Choose a color or pattern that fits in with the nursery decor and hanging items, like black with stars for a planets mobile. You can pick one up at any craft store.

3. Create your hanging items

The items hanging from the embroidery hoop are what will make up the spirit of your unique crib mobile. You’ll want five to 15 items.

You might consider using:

  • Polaroids or photo prints cut out into shapes of you and your partner
  • Crocheted animals
  • Origami cranes
  • Planets made out of painted Styrofoam balls
  • Faux flowers
  • Colorful pom-poms
  • Tiny stuffed animals
  • Multicolor paper hearts

The possibilities are truly endless. The best part is bringing in the theme of the nursery. You can hang miniatures of dinosaurs, planets, underwater animals, mermaids, stars, or truly anything at all that fits the theme. Make sure they are lightweight and have a way to be secured to a string.

You can punch a hole in a paper or create a loop in something knitted to tie the string around, but you’ll want to think about how the item will be secured to the string before you start making or buying anything. This is the most important part for safety — you definitely don’t want your mobile to rain small objects down on your sleeping baby’s head!

To personalize the items beyond the theme, think about making a station at the baby shower for guests to paint, fold, or otherwise create items for the mobile.

yelantsevv/Shutterstock

4. String it all together

Now, it’s time to assemble it all together. You can choose any type of string for this as long as it’s sturdy and fits your theme. Clear beading cord or fishing line work well, but if you want a thin colored ribbon that fits in with your decor, go for it.

First, cut four equal pieces of string and tie each one around the embroidery hoop at equally spaced spots apart from each other. Tie the other ends to the small metal or plastic ring to create a conical teepee shape with the hoop at the bottom and the ring at the top. This is the top half of your mobile, and you’ll hang it on a ceiling hook using the ring. The ring can be picked up at a craft store (just search for “round ring” and choose if you want a silver, bronze, white, or another look).

Then, cut additional pieces of string of varying lengths to hang the items from. Tie an item to one end and tie the other end around the embroidery hoop and repeat until all of the items are hanging from the hoop. You can see in the picture above of the unicorn mobile that you can play with varying lengths to make different “layers.”

So, what kind of crib mobile are you dreaming up?

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
7 incredible baby-clothing storage ideas to make your life simpler
Drawer full of baby clothes

Baby clothes may be tiny, but you sure need a lot of them! Between spit-ups, feedings, and diaper blow-outs, not to mention temperature changes, babies need way more outfits than grown-ups. You need a place to store the pajamas, hats, booties, bodysuits, pants, and so on, and you need it all to be easily accessible when you need them.
These baby-clothing storage ideas will help you figure out how to organize baby clothes in a functional and stylish way that saves you precious space.
For those little odds and ends
Inside a top dresser drawer or on top of a changing table caddy, use these organizers for socks, mittens, shoes, headbands, hats, and other accessories. Beyond clothing, these also work for pacifiers, diaper cream, and any other small items that would fill up a messy drawer. Easily access everything you need with this set of 12 organizer fabric boxes.
For out-of-season clothes and the next size up
Store bathing suits in winter and sweaters in summer (as well as all of the older-baby clothing waiting its turn) in under-crib storage. This option has dividers, which you'll want when you've taken the time to sort your 2T hand-me-downs from the 3T and don't want to put them all in together. Simply slide it under the crib and forget it until you need it, then slide it right out with the handle to access it.
For organizing dresser drawers
You can fill a full-size adult dresser with all the clothing your baby needs (especially if you use any leftover drawer space for bedding and other nonclothing items that need storage), but the drawers are so large that the tiny clothing items will only fill up a fraction of the area per clothing type. Use these adjustable drawer dividers to divide the space so that you have separate areas in each drawer for pants, onesies, and shirts that won't bleed together and get mixed up.
For labeling dresser drawers
From the outside, a dresser hides the piles of clothing inside, which can be nice for covering clutter. But since you can't see what's inside, you may end up opening every drawer until you find what you're looking for. With baby clothes, there are types of clothing cycled out often (T-shirts in one season and sweaters in the next), so you may forget where one category belongs, especially with the lack of sleep.

Label the outside of your drawers with these cute chalkboard sticky labels that come with an erasable chalk marker so that you can change your labels from 0-3 to 3-6 as they grow. With drawer dividers, most drawers will be doing double or triple duty, so these labels will help you remember where the newborn-size pants are stored.
For hangables
If you have a closet, hang up as much as you can to use that horizontal space off the floor. Finding what you're looking for among the dozens of hanging items can be tricky, so save your time with these adorable wooden closet dividers that let you know which clothing size is located in what section. With everything separated by size, you'll be able to find the right item much quicker.
For maximizing closet space
All of the vertical space in your nursery's closet is prime space and shouldn't go unused. Use this hanging closet organizer with five drawers, two shelves, and three side pockets to use for clothing as well as diapers, and more. There are dividers within some of the drawers that can be used for socks and other small items. Easily Velcro this to the closet rod, and it will hold up to 30 pounds of baby gear.
For everything in one
If you're looking for a kid-friendly look, this child dresser can be used in several different ways to store clothing, toys, bedding, books, blankets, and more. There is even space to hang up some items, which is perfect if you don't have a built-in closet in your nursery. The cute design will fit right in in a baby's space, and it's practical for you.

Read more
How to properly store your family’s winter wardrobe
Little girl hanging up sweater

At last, the winter's chill has finally left. Now, it's time for warm temperatures, outdoor play, and, of course, tackling the winter wardrobe storage. There are no worries about this chore consuming too much time. You can actually streamline the process by following these tips about organizing, preserving, and even paring down the family's stockpile of winter clothing.

Sort out the outgrown clothing
To begin with, taking on the task of winter wardrobe storage gives you the best opportunity to pare down the contents of your closet. Also, the earlier you start, you’ll have a better chance of remembering which items your little ones have outgrown. Plus, this cuts down on time, space, and the number of items to store. Here are a few tips for this preliminary phase that relates to each age group in the family.
Tweens, teens, and adults
Older family members can determine what stays and what goes by setting a timeline for how often each piece was used. For instance, if an article of clothing hasn’t been worn in three weeks to a month during the winter season, then it’s time to donate it.

Read more
5 nursery hampers under $30 that’ll make your life easier
Mom with young daughter doing laundry

While you might think your new baby will hardly use any laundry at all, think again. Between spit-up, diaper explosions, spills, and just general wear, infants can go through a lot of clothes. A baby laundry basket will give you a convenient spot to toss those soiled items for later washing, without mixing (or losing -- let’s face it, baby socks are small) them among your family’s general laundry.

But you don’t want to choose just any nursery hamper. After all, you want something functional as well as stylish. Here are five nursery hampers under $30 that’ll make your life easier and look great in any room in your home.
MCleanPin Laundry Hamper: Simple, sweet, and functional
If you have a rather minimalistic nursery (think more color and pattern-focused than cartoon characters and animal friends), then you may want a nursery hamper that’s a little more basic. This simple and sweet hamper is a good pick for those who prefer functionality over fashion. 

Read more