When I found out that my friends Nicole and Loki were expecting their first bundle of joy, I decided to get my DIY on and craft a baby mobile for them. I purposefully decided to forgo the cute baby animals route and wanted to do something a little different and dare I say cool? I thought that a Pac-Man inspired baby mobile would be perfect. Who does not love the iconic 1980 Japanese arcade game? And I am sure it is a game that today's babies will still be playing in the future. So to begin I hit up my local Michael's and bought all the different colored felt I would need.

I cut out paper templates for Pac-Man and his ghost enemies and lightly traced them on the appropriately colored felts. You will need to cut two pieces for each character, one for the front, another for the back.

Once all the pieces were cut out, I glued white string to the tops of each. I used embroidery string I had left over from a previous project. Just to be safe, measure out a few extra inches of string so you have the flexibility on how low each hangs.

Did you know that each ghost has a name and distinct behavior in the game? Pac-Man's inventor Toru Iwatani stated in the 2011 Game Developers Conference that the red ghost (Blinky) chases Pac-Man, the pink (Pinky) and blue (Inky) ghosts position themselves in front of Pac-Man and orange ghost (Clyde) is random in its movements. I will be sure to be more observant the next time I play.

I carefully stitched the whites of the eyes to the ghosts' bodies, while gluing down the blue irises. Hope you noticed that each ghost's eyes point in different directions. It is all in the details!

“I’m watching you.”

I secured the front and back for Pac-Man and each of his ghosts using a blanket stitch. Try using an embroidery thread that is a few shades darker than the felts so that there is some nice contrast and dimensionality to their overall look. Next, each got a good serving of stuffing.

“Stitching everyone closed.”

For the mobile hanger, I wanted something that was simplistic and modern. I found exactly that from DIY With Wool Felt, an Etsy seller from the Netherlands. It is something you can definitely try making on your own but I cheated a little. *smiles*

Painting the ball ends of the mobile hanger to match the ivory wool felt balls that I planned to add to each string.

In addition to the felt balls I wanted to incorporate some hanging fruits. After all, how can a Pac-Man game be complete without some fruit that can be munch on?

Yatta! (All Done!)

I really hope Nicole and Loki like this baby mobile as much as I had fun making it. Does it make me a baby that I catch myself mindlessly staring at Pac-Man and his ghosts as they gently turn with the tiniest movements of the room? And so what if it does?! Anyways, I hope Baby Ivy, as our friends dubbed her or Baby Ivan if it is a boy will enjoying looking up at it as s/he falls asleep. Can't wait to meet you lil' one! ♥