Sue Bowler: The Balloon Expert

W hen Toñy Moncada, CBA of Globofiesta, in Elche, Alicante, Spain was approached by a client to decorate their three month old son's Baptism, she never would have imagined  the amazing balloon journey she was about to undertake!  I interviewed Toñy last year for the Very Best Balloon Blog,  entitled  Introducing Toñy Moncada . At the time Toñy was teaching at the OnArt Event in Barcelona.Whilst observing her class, I was both inspired and captivated by her style. She was using techniques that I had never seen before, and she has meticulous attention to detail. I  discovered then that  Toñy is very passionate about balloon art and creative dècor, a fact which is obvious to anyone who meets her. She loves to work very closely with and build solid relationships with her customers, and excite them with her creative designs and ideas!  "What made me decide the type of decoration was undoubtedly the venue tha...

W e all have a desire to grow our businesses. We try to do this through gaining knowledge, learning new skills and designs, and working on our social media activity.  Attending training sessions, events, and conventions is a fabulous way to gain confidence, knowledge, and improve our ballooning skills. But having access to additional resources is vitally important for the growth of our balloon businesses! Today, there are many resources available online. These are some of my favourite, and they are all FREE!  March 2019 saw the launch of the first ever free online Balloon Magic ! Until now, Balloon Magic has only been available as a paid subscription, but it's now free and packed with some amazing content!  One of the great benefits of this publication now being available online is that it includes video tutorials.  This gives us the opportunity to watch and follow while an instructor creates one of their wonderful designs. In this first issue, you can...

I nternational Women’s Day in Russia was first marked on March 8, 1913, when women demanded the right to vote via a public demonstration. It became a recognized public holiday in Russia in 1918. In fact, in Russia, this holiday is not called “Women’s Day”. It’s such a big public holiday that it’s just referred to as “the 8th of March”. On this day, Russian men and women bring gifts and flowers to all the important women in their lives and tell them “C vos’mym Marta!” (Happy March 8th!). March 8th, or Women’s Day, is roughly comparable to Mother’s Day in the rest of the world, except that it celebrates all women – mothers, sisters, daughters, grandmothers, and so on. Mother’s Day is not celebrated in Russia, so March 8th functions as a celebration of both mothers and women in general. Women’s achievements in the personal, public and political spheres are widely acknowledged and celebrated  - this excerpt was taken from "A Guide to International Women's Day in Russia...