Quick and Easy Crafts: Blue's Clues Mobile

My youngest is turning three soon, and her favorite character is Blue, from the popular show Blue's Clues. Her birthday theme will be this adorable character including the cake. (I still have the metal cake pan from when her brother was into Blue's Clues.)

Instead of buying the decorations for her celebration, I decided to make them. This particular mobile came to mind when I watched my favorite wind chime swing around in the wind. This project is great for any skill level and if your child can use scissors safely, then they can make this, too.

The supplies I used are from around my house and pictures printed from the computer:

1 family sized cereal box (empty)

Clear packing tape

Glue stick

Scissors

White printer paper or cardstock

Crayons/markers (light blue, dark blue and pink)

Variegated blue embroidery floss

Ruler

Single hole punch

Round key ring

Making the Top Ring

The top band/ring is 3 ½ inches wide. To achieve this, from the large cereal box you will cut a strip 7 inches wide for the length of the box. Leave the top and bottom 'flaps' on the strip because they will tuck into each other when we tape it together. Take your strip and fold it in half, lengthwise to achieve the 3 ½ inches we need for the band/ring. Make a good crease so it will lie as flat as possible. It is best to fold it 'design side in' and leave the brown on the outside. That way the spots we will create will not have pictures of Fruit Loops or Lucky Charms showing through.

Take your packing tape and using strips about 1 ½ to 2 inches long, secure the fold a few times to make sure it stays in place for now. No need to tape it all up now as we will be doing that once the decoration is applied to the band/ring. Bend the strip into a circle and tuck the ends into each other and tape into place.

Next, using Paint, I created the blue spotted band. It was fun and there is no set way. Just get creative but make sure when you print it; it will fit around your band/ring. Cut out the strip and, leaving an extra inch or so on the long sides, line it up with the ring and fold over the extra white paper to secure it. I printed two copies to ensure I had enough coverage. Tape the flaps in place, then using the packing tape, tape over the picture to secure it further and give it that nice 'shiny' look.

Making the Characters

To make the characters for this hanging centerpiece, I went to the NickJr website and clicked on 'printables' to choose my favorite Blue's Clues characters. I used a large printable of Blue for the center, and small versions of Joe, Shovel and Pail, Mailbox and a smaller Blue. You will need more of the thin cardboard from the cereal box, or any other box in your pantry. Print and cut them out. The large "Blue" in the middle was a coloring page that I colored myself. You can choose to print them in color or fill them in. You can also have your child color them to make this more personal to them. Print out two sets of each picture you use. Print one normal, and the other using 'mirror' on your printer settings. This way when you cut them out and glue them to the cardboard, it will be the same picture and shape as the character spins in the breeze. Glue one picture to the cardboard, cut it out and then try to align the shape to the other side. It is hard, and mine are not perfect, but it looks nice as it spins above. No one will notice if the shapes are a bit off.

Putting It All Together

Take your single hole punch and carefully punch holes in the top of each picture. Eyeball it and make sure it will be balanced where you place the hole. Take your floss and cut eight pieces 12" long, and one 20" long. Take four of those pieces and, one at a time, using the heavy tape, place and tape them evenly apart on the inside of the ring. Take the ends of the strands, and the end of the 20" strand, and tie them in a knot around the round key ring. Next, take the other four pieces and do the same, but on the other end of the inside of the ring, between the first ones you taped. (It sounds confusing, but is easy to do.)

Take your characters and, one at a time; carefully tie each of them to a string, using the new hole you created. You can choose how long you want your strings to me. Mine were roughly 4-5 inches down from the ring. Take the 20" string and have it hang through the center of the ring. Take the end and, depending on how low you want your large picture to hang, tie it. I had mine hang about 1-2 inches lower than the longest character. That way they did not bump at all.

There you have it. Your new Blue's Clues inspired mobile is ready to be hung up as a hanging centerpiece at a birthday party or as a mobile above a toddler's bed. If you do the latter of the two, make sure it is high enough that they cannot jump to reach it. When my daughter saw hers, she looked up at it and said, "Wow!" That is good enough for me.

Sources:

www.Nickjr.com

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