Nursery D I Y - bird mobile

Ok, this isn't exactly a D I Y. This is a look-what-we-can-make-when-we-combine-things-bought-off-the-internet. But that is not really a thing, so we will just call it a D I Y even though it's cheating a little.

I have a problem with getting an idea in my head of a really specific item I want, and then spending 5 million hours searching for it on the internet, only to come to the conclusion that it doesn't exist. Is there a name for this? Well, this is what I did when I was hunting for a nursery mobile. I wanted a floaty, oversized tidbit of "forest" (the nursery theme would be enchanted forest, a combination of fairy tale and woodland theme) with pretty decorated birds attached. Almost as much a sculpture as mobile, in the ole mind's eye. I was depressed after dozens of etsy searches that turned up nothing close except for some beautiful $500 stained glass leaf mobiles that were a bit out of my price range.

Then I saw these beauties on sale at Land of Nod and knew I had to do something with them, even if I didn't know what yet:

I decided I would make some pretty leafy branches to hang them from, when my maternity leave started. A month passed and I happened upon this at BHLDN:

Eek! It was exactly what I imagined when I was picturing an overly complicated something that I would attempt to make. The branches have a wire center so you can bend any way you like. I did mine in a circular fashion over the crib, attached the birds, hung from the ceiling, and voila:

 

In person the mobile is the first thing you see when you walk in the nursery and it's quite eye catching! As an added bonus since the birds are cardboard and the leaves are paper, the mobile has a great floaty movement that will keep McClain (and adults) entranced for long stretches of time. Whenever I need to steal away and start a load of laundry or change clothes real quick, I can leave M watching this and he's entertained longer than just about anything else we have. Win!