Hang in There! 9 Unique Wind Chime and Mobile Ideas

Mobiles and wind chimes can brighten up your garden, patio, or a bare corner of your living room. And you probably have the stuff to make one right now!

Here are some unexpected objects you can use to make your own.

1. Wooden Discs

Emily Neuburger’s Simple Color Mobile could work inside or outside. I like the simplicity of the rainbow-colored circles, but you could also add a wooden initial or other shape.

(Side note: You know the wood-stuff-for-painting aisle in the craft store? I always have to browse through it, and, even though I don’t usually do wood craft projects, I always kind of want to buy everything in there.)

2. Souvenirs

Justina Blakeney made this Boho Mobile from an old lamp shade frame and small decorative items her in-laws brought back from India. If you have a lot of little knick knacks from trips taking up shelf space, this would be another way to display them. Like an oversized charm bracelet.

3. Paint Swatches

Love this minimal Paint Swatch Mobile from Natalme! You can mix up the colors like she did or use a gradient of shades for an ombre or rainbow effect, which would look especially rad spinning around.

4. Embroidery Hoops

Another Natalme inspiration: turn embroidery hoops into a place to hold photos (or holiday cards or kids’ artwork)!

5. Clay and Copper Pipes

Decorative ceramic bells made from Sculpey by A Beautiful Mess. Apparently, these are purely decorative, since they don’t actually ring. I’m wondering whether you could change that with some metal inside the clay. Or what if you hung more than one copper pipe from each bell, making every bell into kind of a mini-wind-chime?

6. Sea Glass

Crafts Unleashed has a turorial for displaying your beach-combing finds as sea glass wind chimes!

7. House Keys

You can also make a wind chime from old keys, like this one from Inner Child Fun.

FYI I found this on a list by The Garden Glove (with about a dozen more DIY ideas).

8. Bottle Caps

Trina Lyn (of Trina Is Artsy Fartsy) shared this tutorial of how to make a bottle cap wind chime, as frequently seen – but not always explained – on Pinterest.

9. Random Junk

Trina also combined a variety of found objects, including a smashed vintage beer can, into The Junk Windchime. It brings together a lot of the materials in the other projects above, like bottle caps, glass, beads, and a key.

What materials would you use for a mobile creation? Chime in!

For Your Inspiration

A few more shareworthy (and shoppable) mobiles and wind chimes:

Metal and 3D-printed art mobiles by Hidden in the Hills artist Kevin Caron.
Wooden Songbirds Mobile.
Recycled glass bottle wind chimes on Etsy.
Ceramic Moon Wind Chimes on Etsy.
Gold mobile (above), which looks great against Happy Mundane’s teal wall.

Photos via their respective sites.

October 10, 2016October 10, 2016

San Diego Souvenir Mug

Phillip has been on this much-appreciated fixing-things-with-superglue kick.

He’s currently putting back together the mug my grandma got me as a souvenir of our 2003 trip to San Diego.

She had vacation time, wanted to go to San Diego, but didn’t feel she could make the drive alone, so I got to go along.

I drove and we worked as a team to figure out how to navigate San Diego – exploring the Gaslamp Quarter, peeking in at the inner workings of the Balboa Park pipe organ, accidentally visiting the zoo on (super crowded!) free day, shopping in Seaport Village, spontaneously deciding to take a Duck tour (laughing as the amphibious vehicle splashed into the bay), and wandering through the colorful Old Town Market that’s commemorated on my mug. We would walk from our hotel to the beach or to this Italian restaurant that had a second story with a view of the ocean.

She would actually be turning 86 today if it hadn’t been for pancreatic cancer in 2007.

I wish there was a word for the opposite of regret, to describe things that, even in hindsight, you are 100% glad you did.

I’m so grateful for that trip to San Diego with Grandma.

February 9, 2015August 24, 2015

Flavor souvenirs

“When I travel, I often try to mark the trip with a certain ingredient or smell. Usually it’s more than one, as I’m incredibly inspired when I travel. By setting these tastes and smells in my head, I can travel to these places once again…”

In an interview with VSCO’s Journal, Not Without Salt blogger Ashley Rodriguez goes on to cite Moroccan preserved lemons, Italy’s sweet and grassy olive oil, and “chocolate sprinkles over buttered raisin bread” from the Netherlands as flavors that stayed with her after she was home again, like sensory souvenirs.

Elsewhere, I’ve read that research has shown that our sense of smell is the best at bringing back memories, so this is a brilliant strategy.

sangria-tucson

While I’ve done this a bit, unintentionally (with sangria, for example), her perspective inspires me to make it a conscious practice.

What tastes and smells transport you back to another place? Have you ever tried to capture them or re-create them when you returned home?

Microblog_Mondays

It’s microblog Monday! Read more tasty little morsels over at Stirrup Queens.