Tutorial: Happy Raincloud Mobile

A few weeks ago I got a really exciting email.

I had been selected to participate in the Scribble Shop challenge. It's kind of like 'Iron Chef' for crafty bloggers, except I did it in my living room, and there were sadly no dramatic sound effects. They sent me a box filled with assorted craft supplies with one instruction: make something.

When my box arrived I eagerly ripped it open to discover:

- Mod Podge

- pretty glass gems

- a stencil

- stick-on felt shapes

- a metallic stamp pad

- raffia

- popsicle sticks

- colored pencils

- glitter embellishments

I really liked the glass marbles because they looked like little dewdrops.

I'm a sucker for greenish hued glass anyway so I knew I wanted to use those. So I decided to make a lil raindrop mobile.

And the little dewdrops were going to be the sparkly raindrops.

I know people usually complain when it rains but personally I love the rain, it makes me feel calm and peaceful and happy inside. So it was going to be a happy raincloud mobile. Closeup of happy:

From the above list I used Mod Podge, the glass marbles, the stick-on felt, and popsicle sticks. From my own stash I added these items, they can all also be found at Scribble Shop:

- gray felt

- gold metallic crochet thread [silver would be pretty too]

- a 4" embroidery hoop

- white embroidery floss

- polyfill

And here's what I did!

First I crocheted all the little gold raindrop nets.

[NOTE: If you don't know how to crochet, don't fret! You can skip this part, and instead just try knotting the end of a piece of crochet thread and gluing the knot to a drop with very strong industrial glue like E-6000.]

Using a size D hook, chain 4 and join to form a ring.

Then chain 3, and dc 5 times in the center ring.

Slip stitch through the third original chain stitch to join. You should now have a little bowl shape.

Clip the tail to about 1 cm and turn the bowl shape inside out. Stick one glass drop inside the bowl.

Trim the working yarn to a 15" tail and tie off, making sure everything is snug.

Now thread the tail through every other stitch on the previous row, so 3 total.

Pull tight.

That's one raindrop! Repeat 12 more times for a total of 13 drops.

Pop out the inner circle on your embroidery hoop. Using a tape measure, mark a hash mark every inch. You should end up with 13. [Be aware that I am using the Scribble Shop colored pencils for this. I don't think that really counts though...]

Now tie a raindrop on at every hash mark, varying the length of each. Snip off the extra. Brush mod podge over the hoop to seal all the strings in place. Let dry.

Using scissors [not nice scissors!], trim two popsicle sticks to 4.25".

Once the inside hoop is dry, put it back inside the outer hoop. With a hot glue gun, glue the popsicle sticks onto the bottom of the ring in an 'x' shape. It's ok if they don't make a perfect even 'x' because of where the raindrops are tied. Let the whole thing dry.

Now use a drill, awl or other punching tool to make a small hole in the middle of each 'x' prong. So four holes total.

Now let's make the happy raincloud! Using a marker, trace a cloud shape onto gray felt. Fold the felt so it's doubled over and cut out the cloud, inside the marker lines.

Use white embroidery floss and a basic running stitch and sew almost all the way around the outside of the cloud, joining the two layers.

Just before the end, stuff the cloud with some polyfill, then sew shut and tie off.

Cut a 'u' shape from a pink sticky felt shape. Repeat with two black ones.

Stick them on the front of the cloud for the two eyes and mouth.

Ok now it's time to put it all together. Using a needle and a 15" piece of floss, sew down through one popsicle stick hole, and up through the other hole on the same stick, so the ends are sticking out towards the top. [So the floss piece should be making a 'U' shape.] Repeat with another piece of floss and the second popsicle stick.

Now, grabbing all four ends of the floss, hold the embroidery hoop out so that all the raindrops are hanging freely. Adjust the lengths of the four flosses until the hoop hangs evenly. Tie the four floss ends together in that exact spot [one basic overhand knot with all four strands will work].

Thread two strands of the knot tail through a large needle, and sew it into the bottom center front of the cloud so that the two strands come out the back. [This picture is looking at the back of the cloud.]

Tie a knot with the other two floss strands. Cut the tails.

Add another floss hoop at the top of the cloud, then admire your new Happy Raincloud Mobile! Hang it near a window where the raindrops can glitter and sparkle in the sun.

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