1Make several butterflies.

Make several coffee filter butterflies or cupcake liner butterflies. Make at least three butterflies on each strand on your mobile. My mobile has three strands with three butterflies each for a total of nine butterflies.

2Prepare the top.

Use a ½" or 1" wooden dowel as your mobile's top. Jazz up the dowel by painting it or wrapping it in washi tape or fabric ribbon.

If you have smaller dowels on hand, you can tape two together like I did. Use washi tape or colored masking tape for a funky mobile top.

3Cut strings.

Cut a long piece of string or yarn for each strand on your mobile. All my three strings are about 30 inches long.

4String two beads.

Take one string and make a large knot on one end. String two beads and move them along until they touch the knot. These beads provide the weight that will stabilize each strand.

5Place the first butterfly.

Place one butterfly along the string a few inches above the top bead. Make a knot at the bottom of the butterfly's pipe cleaner body.

6Fix the butterfly in place.

Make another knot near the base of the butterfly's antennae.

7Place the second butterfly.

Position another butterfly several inches above the first one. Make a pair of knots along the butterfly's pipe cleaner body as shown in Steps 5 and 6.

8Position the third butterfly.

Place the third butterfly above the second. The distance between the second and third butterflies should roughly be the same as that between the first and second butterflies.

Secure the third butterfly in place with knots as illustrated in Steps 5 and 6. This completes your mobile's first strand.

9String all the butterflies.

Work on your mobile's second and third strands following the previous steps (Steps 4 to 8). Try to space the butterflies along the string as evenly as you can.

10Tie the strings to the dowel.

Tie the top of each string around the dowel, keeping the strands evenly spaced. Do not tie the strings too tightly—it is better if the strands can still be moved along the dowel.

11Make a handle.

Tie a length of string around the middle of the dowel to make a handle.