Baby Boy Mobile

 I like to challenge my self with new projects and decided that making a mobile for my soon-to-be-born nephew would be a very fun challange.  My brother and sister-in-law are decoration the nursery with jungle animals.  Using the Cricut cartridge Animal Kingdom I cut an elephant, a lion, a Kangaroo (my brother's name is Joey so I couldn't resist), a giraffe, a hippo and a tiger.

The animals were cut at 2 3/4 (except the giraffe, he was cut at 4), and I used the flip option to get a mirror image.  By giving yourself a mirror image you get clean lines when you adhere your animals back-to-back.  I traced over the score lines with a black pen so they would stand out. 

The frame for the mobile is the inner circle from a 10' embroidery hoop that I covered with green polka-dot ribbon.  I used clear thread to attach the animals to the hoop (I then glued a piece of ribbon along the inside to hide any glue).  To help the thread stay between the animals I placed a piece of Sookwang tape (a VERY strong double sided tape) on one piece and used regular glue.  I also went over each pair with a brayer a few times to make sure the  glue was going to stay put.

I alternated the lengths each animals hangs at, and added two faceted beads to the longer lengths and one to the shorter ones.  When I first started I tried to measure out the distance between each animal but in the end I eye-balled them.  They are about 4 inches apart, but it will depend on the size hoop you use.