Making a mobile - by Theo

It was Friday, so I wasn't working, and I decided to make my daughter a mobile. I think we'd read somewhere that brightly colored mobiles are excellent for helping young babies to develop, so I figured it was worthwhile. I didn't really have a plan, so I just gathered together a load of stuff I thought would be useful.
Coat hangers, picture wire, scissors, ribbon, toothpicks, old cards, wrapping paper, present labels, cardboard, Christmas decorations, sellotape and glue - anything that could be reused. By this point I had got the idea of crossing two coat hangers to use as the main support. Then, after finding some nice gold cardboard that had come with a present for Rosie, I decided to use bits of that to hang further things. It also gave me the idea of trying to use - as much as possible - bits from the packaging of presents Rosie had received. That way the mobile really would be Rosie's.

Cards were cut up, wrapping paper raided, and cardboard shapes glued together. A snowman joined a rocking horse, a butterfly, a bunch of roses and an elephant dangling from bits of wrapping ribbon. After an interruption for dinner, the finished article was finally, delicately bound together and the resulting contraption hung above Rosie's occasionally-occupied sleeping spot.

Sure, it's not going to win any design awards but I'm pleased with it, not least because of the amount of re-using (as opposed to recycling) that went into its creation.

Naturally, I don't think Rosie has noticed it yet.