One of my favourite Christmas presents this year was this book: Everything Oz, The Wizard Book Of Makes & Bakes. Ever eager to have a reason to try out new craft projects (though sometimes no reason is needed!) I chose the paper balloon mobile to make as a gift for my friend, who’s just had a baby boy. Armed with some adorable but subtle blue pram-printed paper from good old Paperchase, I set to work.
I’ve decided that I’m not going to post a full tutorial on here, because I really think that if you like crafts then you’ll love this book- it’s a great investment. However, I’ve done little pictures of my progress, so you can get a good idea of how these are made.
So. Here goes. Basket first:
The base is a circle with tabs round the outside, which are attached to a long rectangular strip of paper (nice surface on the outside!).
Next, I made the swags to go around the edge of the basket:
I did 4 of these, evenly spaced. Ish.
Then on to the balloon! Using a variety of papers works well. I used blue printed, sometimes inside out, plus some plain silver.
I adapted the balloon bit slightly, using the method from the paper beads I make.
All that was left to do then was to attach the basket to the balloon:
Ta da! I’ve added a few embellishments, a silver paper bow to cover up a gap in the swags, where the string was glued on and also some teeny triangles for bunting:
2 replies on “Paper balloon mobile – handmade gift idea”
I love it! The bunting is a genius touch. How long did it take to make the whole thing?
Thanks! But I can’t really take credit for the bunting, it was was suggested in the book. It took about a morning to make?! An hour or two I guess, nothing that tricky but lots of waiting for glue to dry! Was super fun to make.