The Fan Mobile

I am in love with these pretty paper fans. I saw them at (where else?) Anthropologie some time last semester, and promptly went home and made this mobile for my our living room! This mobile is from a pack of stationary paper at Target. I think it cost me $7.

This semester, I was inspired enough to make a mobile for my room, which has been in dire need of some decorating attention.

I started off with some wallpaper sample books I got FOR FREE from a wallpaper store back home. Seriously. Just ask them what they do with their old sample books, and they will offer one to you. Beautiful, free paper.

Cut the pages into various size rectangles.

Fold them into fans accordion-style.

Push a yarn needle through the middle.

Put some hot glue on the inside bottom.

Press together, and you have a fan.

Once you've made about a gazillion, string them all together. I thread my yarn needle with twine--every time I added another fan, I made a knot about 4 inches up from the last fan.

Find a stick from the backyard. Seriously. Glue your strands of fans onto it.

You can do a single stick, like the one above, or several sticks strategically twined together for a more 3D effect mobile, like this.

Hang it up! I used command hooks from Walmart in my room, looping the twine around them. It worked perfectly.

A Future Project

Here is a fabulous old desk I recently bought at Goodwill for $15! I am a writer, as in, I am getting my Bachelors of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, so a desk like this is definitely something I will use. Unfortunately I can't take it back to school with me, so here it shall sit at my parent's house until I have a real place to live.

But then. Oh, then. I have great plans for this desk.

It's a roll-top, which I love, but which makes it difficult to paint or re-finish. I'm afraid if I painted it, I would dry the slats shut. Here is a tutorial I found today from the blog Classic Campbell, whom I've never read, but I like the look of this project! She mod podges strips of wrapping paper onto the slats of a breadbox. The end result is incredible, but I doubt even I have the patience to do that with a whole desk.

Who am I kidding. I would do something crazy like that.

I've also thought about distressing it, sanding the finish down, especially around the edges... I like that weathered, I-found-it-on-the-side-of-the-road-by-the-sea-in-New-England look.

Then, I would mod podge wallpaper or fabric inside on the back wall, and inside the letter boxes, and on the front of the drawers. Maybe a pretty green pattern.

The hardware on this baby is also rather old and dingy--needs a pick-me-up!

I'm thinking these pulls and knobs from Anthropologie. I think pink would be lovely paired with a green paper/fabric.