DIY Photo Mobile

Editor’s Note: We’re excited to share this DIY featuring lovely card stock and a circle paper punch from our friends at Paper Source (a.k.a. our favorite paper store on the planet!). If you’re joining us at our Craftcation: Business & Makers Conference next spring in Ventura, California, you’ll get to know Paper Source better AND meet our bestie Rebecca who creates amazing content for Paper Source. -Nicole S.

Living in this digital age, it’s so easy to snap a million photos and forget about them or just let them sit on your phone or computer. I recently realized that the only printed photos my husband and I have in the house are from us from around pre 2010! I wanted to change that and display some of our photos in a fun and creative way so I came up with this cute photo mobile! Let me show you what I did. 

-Nik V.

WHAT TO GET:

-Embroidery hoop like this, I used a size 8
–Pretty card stock paper from Paper Source 
–Circle paper punch from Paper Source 
-Photos I printed at home on the Paper Source card stock
-Embroidery floss (check out this bulk budget pack!)
-Hot glue gun and hot glue gun sticks

WHAT TO DO:

1. Since the paper punch I’m using is about two inches, my photos needed to be small enough to fit inside of that space. Also since I was pulling the photos from my phone, I decided to use the Layout App by Instagram to make a collage of the photos I wanted to use. I then transferred the final image to my computer and printed it onto a sheet of card stock in the color ‘blush’. Then, just punch your photos out! You could just cut them into whatever shape you like but the punch makes this process so much quicker and more consistent. Then punch out a bunch of circles (or whatever shape your punch is) in the various shades of card stock you’re using. 

2. To decide how long I wanted the little strips to hang, I tied a piece of embroidery floss to the hoop to measure it, I eye balled everything here, the length is completely up to your liking. To attach the paper/photos, I started at the bottom and sandwiched the embroidery floss between two cut outs with a little bit of hot glue and pressed it together to smooth it out. 

3. Once I was happy with my first strip I moved on without tying the floss to the hoop first. I used various lengths of floss and added the cut outs in different places and varied how many I used on each strip. After gluing them to the floss, I tied them to the hoop and held it up to see how it was looking as I went, and then I filled in the gaps as I saw fit. This will all be up to your aesthetic, I wanted mine to be varied, with the photos as little pops, mixed in with the colors. You could choose to put a photo on each one, back to back photos or just all paper! 

4. For the hanger at the top, I just tied more embroidery floss on each side of the hoop, in a total of four places so that it would hang evenly. You could also use a thicker string or ribbon here. And, you’re done! This would make a super easy and cute gift, you could pick a theme, babies, pets, friendships, anniversaries, weddings… the possibilities are endless!

ABOUT NIK:

Nik is a maker, day dreamer & potty mouth who loves cats, coffee and craft beer. She is a self taught hand embroiderer and will DIY pretty much anything she can get her hands on. You can see her work on Instagram  @wastingthyme & @nikvphotography. She lives in Long Beach with her husband and her three awesome cats (that she can’t shut up about).