Sue Bowler: The Balloon Expert

40" ‟Pirate Ship”  # 11813 #16439 (pkgd) D esigning decor for children's parties can be so much fun! Creating magical memories that you know will last for many years is one of the best things about our job! All little boys love pirates and pirate parties. The ‟Pirate Ship” Microfoil ®  is a fantastic balloon. It works really well for decor and centrepiece design, too! I love this ‟Arrrgh, A Birthday Buccaneer!” centrepiece deign that is featured in the  Qualatex ®  Balloon ideas section on www.Qualatex.com .

W hen I first saw the new 37" ‟Enchanted Tree in Bloom” Microfoil ®  balloon, I was very excited to see all the wonderful, different elements featured on this balloon. When I was asked to create a window display around this theme, I found it pretty easy! People often ask me how I find my inspiration In many instances it's really easy; just look at the balloons you are working with and draw from them. This balloon has so many exciting features; a tree, flowers, butterflies,  a snail, a caterpillar and a toadstool. Window display by Sue Bowler,  CBA. Starting with the tree and looking at the proportions, the tree's trunk it quite thick.  I decided to use 6-balloon clusters, working with under-inflated 11" and 5" Chocolate Brown latex balloons, which I think worked really well. To make the top part of the tree, I added 11" and 5" Lime Green 4-balloon clusters to give the tree the correct height, and then added in 3-balloon clusters of Lime Green la...

18" ‟Birthday Party Fox 37" ‟Enchanted Tree in Bloom”  Microfoil ®    balloon. 18" ‟Birthday Banner Garden” balloon. H ave you seen the new Woodland trend? It is adorable! And there are a lot of new balloons in the Qualatex 2016 catalogue to work on this theme. It is great for birthdays or baby showers. And just in time to welcome spring! I think we will have so much fun with this lovely new theme. I am looking forward to seeing so many great designs using them! "Fabulous Fox" balloon available  in both 14" and 33". Here are some other fabulous new balloons that will work well for this theme. 11" ‟Garden & Butterflies” Festive Assortment. 18" ‟Welcome Baby Banner Garden.” 18" ‟Welcome Little Fox & Friend.” 11" ‟Woodland Foliage-A-Round.” Please note that not all balloons are available in all countries. Please check wi...

Eggs and chicks, like rabbits and hares, are synonymous with Easter. This dates back to Pagan times when eggs were considered a sign of fertility and new life. The early Christians adopted this symbolism because it helped them remember the Resurrection and having new life through Jesus. As a small child, I remember decorating and painting hard boiled eggs, then rolling them down a hill on Easter Sunday; the first egg to reach the bottom without breaking was the winner! Today, we still enjoy Easter traditions as a family, including an Easter egg hunt (chocolate eggs, of course) and everyone really enjoys the excitement of hunting for eggs. In the past I have made a few different designs that would work well for Easter. I love the Easter colour palettes, especially Yellow, Spring Lilac, Rose, and Lime Green as it is a great reminder that spring is on its way! 11" "Easter Bunnies & Daisies" I made this cute rabbit in 2010! The body was made...

M any of us decorate award ceremonies or themed events (e.g., “Hollywood Nights”). I recently decorated an awards ceremony in London.  My brief was to create decor that offered big impact and strictly air-filled. It needed to be elegant and use the colours Gold & Black. Stars, of course are the perfect choice for an event such as this!  I also needed to use bases and poles to give me a height for my air-filled decor, but I did not want to build a traditional style column.  I like to start my designing process on my computer first.This allows me to play around with ideas, and once I have a design (or designs) that I am happy with, I can use these images to send to my client for their approval.  Designing on your computer is pretty easy, and in most cases, it does not require special software if it as simple as my designs. I wrote a blog " As a Balloon Artist, how can we find our inspiration? ". - in this post it gives a brief introduction on how you c...