Here’s a cute project that will hopefully inspire you to throw your own ‘Fruity’ themed party this summer!

Materials Needed: Three styrofoam 3-1/4″ half spheres, one 4-1/2” half sphere, sharp kitchen knife, sandpaper, acrylic paint (in teal, yellow-green, yellow, coral, cream, deep-red, and light purple), paint brush, pencil, eleven styrofoam 1” balls, long skewers, hot glue gun, green cardstock, scissors, quilting pins, ruler, pencil, string, two 1/2″ x 12” wooden dowels

Step 1: Paint the rounded exterior of the three 3-1/4″ half spheres: one yellow, one coral, and one yellow-green. Paint the rounded exterior of the 4-1/2″ half sphere teal. This may take a few coats to get an even color.

Step 2: Once dry, paint the flat end of the half spheres cream.

Step 3: Using the same color as the rounded exterior, paint a 1/4″ rim around the rim of each half sphere.

Step 4: Now for the details!

Orange:

Step 1: Lightly draw five triangular sections on the flat end of the coral half sphere. The sections should be equal in size, shaped like isosceles triangles with rounded edges.

Step 2: Fill the sections with coral paint. Let dry and repeat until you have an even coat. Orange!

Step 3: Cut a 2” leaf from the cardstock and fold in half. Pin the leaf to the top of the orange with a quilting pin.

Lemon Wedges:

Step 1: Carefully cut the yellow styrofoam 3-1/4″ half sphere in half with a sharp kitchen knife (the sharper the better since you want to get a clean cut!). Sand the cut side of the wedges until smooth.

Step 2: Paint the newly cut end with cream color paint with a 1/4″ yellow rim around the edge.

Step 3: Once the interior paint is dry, lightly draw three sections on each flat end.

Step 4: Fill the sections with yellow paint and let dry. Lemons!

Step 5: Insert a quilting pin along the ridge near the center of the lemon wedge.

Apple:

Step 1: Paint two inwardly pointing edges to the rim of the yellow-green half-sphere.

Step 2: When dry, paint two deep-red teardrop shapes in the center. Apple!

Step 3: Cut a 2” leaf from the green cardstock and fold in half. Pin to the top.

Watermelon:

Step 1: Leaving a rim of teal and cream around the edge, paint a coral circle into the center of the teal sphere’s interior.

Step 2: Paint a few seeds in deep-red around the interior of the watermelon, and push a pin into the top.

Bunch of grapes:

Step 1: Place each mini styrofoam ball on the end of a long skewer.

Step 2: Coat each ball with light purple paint, repeating as necessary until the color is even. Stand the skewers to dry between coats. Remove the skewers once dry.

Step 3: Arrange three grapes into a triangle and apply hot glue to hold in place. Repeat with another set of three grapes.

Step 4: Arrange four grapes into a square and apply hot glue to hold them in place.

Step 5: Affix the square, two triangles, and remaining grape together to form a bunch.

Step 6: Cut a 1” leaf from the cardstock and pin to the top.

Piecing Together the Mobile!

Step 1: Using a ruler, mark the center of both dowels.

Step 2: Using the markings as a guide, hot glue the dowels together into a big “X”.

Step 3: Tie string around the X and knot.

Step 4: Suspend the string from a table (or some other workable height) while you work on the mobile.

Step 5: Tie string around the pin on each fruit, leaving about 18” of string on one end.

Step 6: Starting with one dowel, loosely tie the watermelon on one end of the X, and the apple and grapes on the other.

Step 7: Play with the lengths until you know how you’d like them to hang. Then, tightly double knot the string in place onto the dowel.

Step 8: Now you’re going to work on getting the balance right! It’s a little tricky, but you want both ends to hang evenly. For us, the watermelon was about 2” from the end, the apple 3”, and the grapes 1” when we got it right!

Step 9: On the second dowel, loosely tie the two lemon wedges on one end of the X, and the orange on the other.

Step 10: Repeat steps 7 and 8 on the second dowel. For us, the lemon wedges were 1” and 3” from the end, and the orange 1” on the other.

Step 11: Hang the mobile up and enjoy with a piece of summer fruit!

Crafting by Naomi Julia Satake