How to Make Decorative Ceiling Hangings

Floating Picture Frame

• 1

  Purchase 40 3-inch-by-3-inch Styrofoam blocks.

• 2

  Load copies of 160 of your favorite photos onto your computer. Print 3-inch-square copies of the pictures in black and white.

• 3

  Attach the pictures to the cubes with craft glue.

• 4

  Insert a clear thumb tack into one corner of each block. Press the thumb tack directly into the point on the corner. Lay the blocks to the side.

• 5

  Tie fishing line around the thumbtacks in the picture cubes. Leave 3 inches of line dangling from the first cube; snip off the excess with scissors. Leave an additional 3 inches of line for each consecutive cube.

• 6

  Choose a corner of your room that can easily contain the picture mobile you are making. Draw a 24-inch-diameter circle on the ceiling with chalk.

• 7

  Wrap 1 inch of the fishing line on your shortest piece around the pin of a clear thumbtack. Push the tack into the ceiling at some point on the circle you drew. Continue with the next cube, tacking it on the ceiling circle next to the first one; work from shortest to longest pieces of fishing line. This will leave each cube dangling from line that is 2 inches longer than the one before it, creating a cascading spiral.

String Pendant

• 8

  Purchase a package of 11-inch balloons. Inflate six of the balloons.

• 9

  Wrap the balloons in varying shades of a single color of crochet thread. Wrap the thread around the balloon until only small gaps are left between the pieces of thread, much like a lattice pattern. Use your finger to widen a hole around the tied end of each balloon.

• 10

  Coat the thread with decoupage medium -- found in most craft stores -- using a paint brush. Tie string around the ends of the balloons and hang them from a shower rod or clothes line in a dry area of your home. Dry overnight.

• 11

  Pop the balloons and pull them through the gap made in the thread. Tie ribbon to the opening at the bottom of the string pendant.

• 12

  Hang the string pendants at different heights around your room in a random pattern. Press clear thumb tacks through the ends of the ribbon into the ceiling. Another option is to line them in a zigzag pattern above the head of your bed.