Customize an Infant Mobile

So when one of your best friends and his girlfriend are expecting on having a baby,  a present is expected. But it can't be normal friends presents like clothes or diapers or etc... We are ALL into Volkswagens and I am sure it is going to be passed on to the next generation, the childs generation. So where does that leave me? With having to CREATE that gift, and in short time.. I am a procrastinator big time. Gets me into some seriously rough situations at times. But this time I had plenty of time 1 night!!!!

So I ran to the store, found a perfectly good toy to modify..  Dug through some of my VW stuff.. Grabbed some tools and a camera, and here it is..

Step 1:

Doin this exact build again would be nearly impossible trying to find these exact pieces so I will just show you what I did and you can go from there.
Select the mobile.. Had to have the right tune, the right colors, and be easily customizable... FOUND IT!!
Find the VW gear for customization.. Some soft stuffed keychains, some promotional soft balls, a frisbee with a vw wheel, and an emblem from an engine cover...
Grabbed a few tools and a items from scrap area..

Step 2:

So first I had to toss the original boring hanging objects. Since I didnt have any ribbon laying around I had to remove them from the toys.
here A quick swipe from a razorblade took care of that..
Then I had an issue, how to attach them to foam balls and stuffed toys..  So what does a redneck engineer use? Not duct tape this time.. Super glue of course..
I used that same razorblade to poke a SMALL hole in each toy and slipped the end of ribbon and a dab of superglue into the hole..
Surprisingly enough after letting it harden the super glue held onto the foam, stuffing and outter material on the toys.. And held on pretty well..

Step 3:

Now for the musical base.. Pulling down on that cute little blue elephant makes the mobile sing lil tikes to sleep..
But VW and elephants don't go together so it had to go..
I was going to grind it smooth with a dremel wheel but I found out that wasnt going to be possible.. While grinding all of a sudden I ground all the way through in some spots and found out how it really was connected.. Two plastic mounts were left after I took away that blue elephant one flying hot piece of plastic at a time..
So now how to mount it... hmmm... ahhh, scrap plexiglass and a couple screws.. So more hot flying plastic and I had a round mounting base, but the emblem was concave. Super glue doesnt fill holes that well, but "Right Stuff" gasket maker does.. filled in the whole backside of the emblem and slapped it on..

Step 4:

Lastly the main body.. As an infant looking straight up I think I would be bored at this greenish, blehness...
A spinning wheel straight above would entrance me much more..
I removed a strange little centerpiece to find a very oddly shaped mounting area.. Easy enough, I already had the gasket maker out and it worked great in attaching and filling up space before lets try it here...
Assemble the whole thing and test it... Works great and much more fun than boring elephants and crazy looking animals..
And off the baby shower it went..
When I get some video of it in action and hopefully a good reaction from the baby girl I will post the video..

Well, you might not go with the exact content, maybe it will give you a fun idea to create your own idea!!