I’m designing a gender-neutral nursery for my baby due in February and it is actually really hard. Lots of baby stuff is pink or blue, or quotes like “she will move mountains.” I became inspired by the Coldplay song lyrics in Yellow “Look at the stars, look how they shine for you and everything you do.” I don’t want the nursery to be super themed but I am excited to add some stars and moon decor to bring it all together.

I got super inspired when I saw this mobile on Amazon, but it’s blue. They have a grey version but it comes with an elephant, not a moon. 🙄 With a $25-$30 price tag, I didn’t want to settle for something That didn’t exactly fit my ideas. So I decided to make my own and it cost me less than $15!

Materials

Square Dowel (<$1)
#216 Screw Eyes ($1.18)
Hemp Cord ($5)
Felt Balls ($3)
Wood beads ($5)
Felt (sand and grey colored, 1 Sheet each, <$1)
White thread
Needle with wide or big eye
Cotton Balls
Wood or Hot Glue

Some of these items I had on hand. Use craft store coupons to get the best deals on the others!!

Make the Stars and Moon

Start by printing a 2″ template for the stars and cut it out. I simply folded my sand colored felt in half and cut out each star. I used five.
I used this template and the same method to cut out a moon in the grey felt, slightly bigger than the stars.
To sew, knot your thread. I pulled the thread between only one layer of the star so the knot would “hide” in the middle of the two fabrics. Simply hand stitch around the edges, but leave about two points of the star open.
Tear apart cotton balls and use to stuff the star. I used small pieces and a pencil to stuff the points and a larger piece for the middle and remaining two points. Then finish sewing and tie off with this knot.
Use the same procedure to sew your moon, making sure to leave enough open to stuff it before sewing it up completely.
Cut your dowel in half, find the center of each and hot glue together (or you can use wood glue but I had hot glue on hand) to hold temporarily.
Use a 1/16th drill bit to pre-drill holes. I went slightly in on all four sides, then directly in the middle on top and bottom. Try to make the end holes in the same spot so the mobile stays balanced. You can add more holes on the centers if you wish, adding more strands like in the inspo pic of the blue mobile.
Hand twist in the eye hooks to each of your holes.
Wrap hemp cord around the center in whatever fashion you choose to more securely hold dowels together.
Tie cord to the top hook of the mobile. I used a thicker hemp string I had on hand, but you can use the hemp cord you have for the project.
Start on your first dangling string, doesn’t matter which one you begin with. Tie a knot on the eye hook. Then one by one thread your design. It may help to lay out your materials so you have a visual of how it will look all together and what kind of spacing you want to use. I basically followed the inspo pic of the grey mobile, replacing the elephant with a moon of course. When I added a bead, I knotted about seven times to hold it in place. I knotted twice for the felt pieces and once for the felt balls. I had to be gentle when threading the felt balls (one fell apart when I pulled too fast). Also, some of the balls were hard to thread through, so I used a gripper pad from my kitchen to pull the needle through haha.
I ended most of my dangling strings with a wood bead, which I tied around and double knotted. Repeat until all eye hooks have decorations hung. It should be noted that you want the mobile to hang balanced, so try to use the same spacing and pattern on opposite sides of the mobile.