Mother's Day Idea's and Inspiration

Mother's Day comes early for many of us this year! In the UK, the date is linked to Easter, which is different each year as it is determined by the lunar calendar. Many Eastern European countries celebrate Mother's Day on the 8th March, the same day as International Woman's Day! The majority of countries celebrates Mother's Day on the 8th May. 

This was a variation on a design that I created for my Expression of Love on-line webinar, and made a Mother's Day version using exactly the same techniques! 
Click HERE for a link to the class.

Cam Woody and Eve Antonello share balloon idea's, designs, and inspiration on their bi-weekly live show on Tuesdays at 1:00pm CST on Mr Q's Facebook page or over on Instagram at @eveantonellocba! 

Just in case you missed these two fantastic classes with Cam and Eve, I'll share them with you here so that you can catch up! 

Happy Hour with Cam & Eve: Mother's Day Designs (Part 1)

Say "I Love You, Mom!" with these sweet Mother's Day designs that are perfect for any day of the year!

Happy Hour with Cam & Eve: Mother's Day Designs (Part 2)

Say "I Love You, Mom!" with these sweet Mother's Day designs that are perfect foray of the year!

Here are a few more appealing designs perfect for those very special mother's on Mother's Day.

Mother's Day Stylish Stripes  -  Show Mum's how much we love them with this fabulous chic delivery design. Design by Garlis Bolivar, CBA, of La Gloria, Mexico City, Mexico.

To create this stylish, air-filled design, begin by creating a base of four 5" Gold latex and four 6" Rose Hearts, both ties into a 4-balloon cluster.Tie in a White 350Q to the clusters, then add Gold and Rose clusters on the other end of the 350Q to complement the base. Tie the “Love You M(Heart)M Stripes” Microfoil in to the top. Add value by tying on Onyx Black 160Q stripes and finish with Gold and Rose vinyl dots.

Mother's Day Spring Blossom Centrepiece - Make the most of Mother's Day with this centrepiece featuring a "Mother's Day Pink Peonies" Bubble Balloon® from Qualatex®. Designed by Cam Woody, CBA, Pioneer Balloon Company, Wichita, KS, USA

Queen For A Mother's Day - Treat Mom like the queen she is with this beautiful bouquet.

Designed by Brenda Fink, CBA, Party Magic & Gift, Bethalto, IL, USA

Zahraa Jawad, CBA of Forever Balloons Boutique in Beirut, Lebanon always impresses with her amazing designs! Zahraa loves adding eye-catching details, much like I do! Simply adding a beautiful satin ribbon bow can really add value to a design! I also love how Zahraa creates the word MOM using the Northstar 16" letters and the 16" Jelli Balloon Number 0! 

If you would like to learn how to make a Six Petal Balloon Flower, like the flowers used in Zahraa's design above, check out Jackie Ochitwa's video below.

Watch out for my next post when I will be sharing some great marketing ideas for Mother's Day!

Happy Ballooning! 

Sue

www.suebowler.com

Follow me @suebowler 

Goodbye Winter, Hello Spring! Spring is in the Air, and Nature is Saying, 'Let's Party!'

I think I can speak for all of us who live in the Northern Hemisphere when I say, we are more than a bit grateful to see the spring flowers poking through the ground, getting ready to burst into magnificent colour! For me, it has felt like a very long winter, I suppose being predominantly in a state of lock down has not helped! However, it is extremely encouraging to see a few countries around the world who appear to be getting back to some sort of normality - it truly does feel like we are coming towards the end of a very long tunnel!

With Spring in mind, how gorgeous is this organic decor by Chris Adamo, I love the freshness of this beautiful colour palette! 

Fabulous Spring Decor by Chris Adamo of 
The Balloon Crew - Balloons.net.au,  
in Sydney, Australia

With that in mind, I thought it would be fitting to start looking at design ideas that reflect this magical time of year.

I love seeing the arrival of the bee's and butterflies, collecting up nectar from flowers and shrubs as they start to open. What better way to reflect this beautiful season than to create a selection of designs using the NEW Qualatex Bee range of balloons! 

How adorable is this 'Sweet as Honey" design by Eve Antonello, CBA, Pioneer Balloon Company, Wichita, KS, USA.

This new 24"  "Sweet Bees & Daisies" Deco Bubble is adorably appealing, and can be used for many different occasions! 

 #: 15733

Here are some great message inspiration when personalising your Bubble Balloons -remember, your customers need a little help sometimes!  

Just Bee Awesome

Bee led by your Dreams! 

Bee Mine!

Sweet as can Bee...

This "Sweet Bee" is available in two sizes!
38" - #16376/16305
14" "Mini Sweet Bee" - #16212

This NEW 18" - "Mother's Day Bee's & Flowers" Microfoil balloons will be a definite winner this Mother's Day! I know that I am looking forward to working with it for a future post! 

#17539/17537

Compliment your design using these fabulous Spring colours! 

Caribbean Blue
Rose
Goldenrod

"Bee" ready for the 2021 Baby Boom! Have a range of new Mother-to-be, Baby Shower and Baby designs ideas ready to inspire your customers - In keeping with the Bee theme, this "Mother to Bee" - 20" Microfoil balloon will wow any new mummies! 

20" - "Mother to Bee" 
#16436/16434

The Pantone Colour of the Year for 2021 has been named as "Ultimate Gray and Illuminating", a soft grey tone and yellow. This colour combination of Grey and Yellow will be perfect to compliment the Bee range of balloons!

For even more super inspiration for Mother's Day, don't miss out on Federico Onida's upcoming webinar: 

Join Federico Onida, CBA on February 17th 2021 for the Mother's Day Gifts She'll Adore webinar! 💐

For more information and to register visit https://www.eventbrite.com/.../qualatex-online-education or click HERE.

The webinar will be broadcasted LIVE on Wednesday, February 17th for 2 hours (90-minute class followed by a 30-minute Q&A session) at 3pm GMT, check for your location time. It will be recorded, and the link to the on-demand video will be sent to you within 48hours of the live webinar. If you miss anything during the live webinar, you will be able to go back to it on your own time.

I don't know about you but I am always looking for inspiration for my social media posts, and lifestyle photographs are always ideal for attracting attention on a Facebook or Instagram post. Have you checked out the amazing FREE Social Media resources available on the Qualatex website recently? There are lots of exciting new posts and images available. Click HERE for a direct link. The great thing about many of the images is that you can easily add your own caption or message.

Check out the 2021 Qualatex  Spring & Summer Collection, click HERE for a direct link.

Make sure that you check out the 2020 Qualatex Everyday Essentials, it features the Bee range and much more! Click HERE for a direct link.

As you may have gathered, I am really excited that we are heading into this new season, it feels like a whole new energy, and renewed hope is on the horizon. We have many great events over the next few months including Easter and Mother's Day, with many great Qualatex balloons to work with! 

Happy Ballooning! 

Sue

www.suebowler.com

Follow me @suebowler

Balloon Columns, Stacks, Pillar's and Towers... so what is in a Name?

How much does a name matter? It has recently reached my notice that the designs that I would call Balloon Columns are being referred to by other artists as Stacks, Pillars and Towers. So to help me to clarify all the different names a little bit more, I asked members of the QBN Facebook group what they called theirs, and if they felt that the name was important?

Almost all those who responded said that they use the term Columns like I do. This isn't surprising, as they have all completed the QBN program and that is the term that they were taught and used within the program, and also it is the name that has been used forever by the balloon industry. However, some of the response from group members explained that all the different names are often used by their customers, and therefore for marketing and promotional purposes they also use them all to ensure that they do not miss out on any opportunities to promote their designs.

I have looked back through all the different resources that I received as part of the QBN program, and it actually clarifies that a Column is a straight, vertical line of balloon garland which to be fair does not represent the vast types and styles of decor that would come under the heading of a column today! Balloon décor styles have changed considerably over the years, and today there are new trends and styles of décor that were not shown or taught when many of us studied the QBN program. So, I decided to delve a little deeper to see if I can relate a name to a style of decor.

Instagram was the perfect go-to resource to assist me with my research, as I was able to see the types and styles of decor that are posted under each of the hashtags.

#ballooncolumns - 136,087 posts (3rd February 2021)

#ballooncolumn - 37,120 posts

The designs featured under the hashtags "Balloons Columns" and "Balloon Column" on Instagram are a complete mixture of styles and types of balloon structures, ranging from what I would call a traditional column to smaller air-filled arrangements, that I have now discovered are often called Balloon Stacks - see below! 

This was a design that I made for a corporate event, I had a hard time giving it a name, but once I found it, it made total sense - Elegant Sculptured Column

Elegant Sculptured Column by Sue Bowler

#balloontowers - 11,264 posts (3rd February 2021)

#balloontower - 11.4 posts

The definition of the word "tower" is a "structure typically higher than its diameter," - therefore it is much the same as a column.

A lot of the designs featured on Instagram are pretty much the same as Balloon Columns, but with a real mix of styles and types of balloon structures.

Design by Dominic Cassidy and Keith Stirman  - The Boys of Q Corner

Pillars are often known as "a usually ornamental column", and it too has a close relationship to the term "column" and in fact describes the term well.

#balloonpillars - 8,567 (3rd February 2021)

#balloonpillar - 6,271 posts

Bright Bubble Column

Designer name: Tina Giunta, CBA, Shivoo Balloons 

#balloonstack - 5,410 (3rd February 2021)

The term "Balloon Stack" is a style of design that is predominantly an air-filled balloon arrangement that often features a number as topper, or has a focal balloon that is on the base of maybe 2 or 3 clusters of balloons. This is a style of decor that has grown in popularity over the past few years, and I love all the accent details that are often added to the designs!

I love this design by The Luxe Event Company NW Ltd, in Skelmersdale, England. This is a perfect example of a beautiful Balloon Stack!  

Design by 

The Luxe Event Company NW Ltd, in Skelmersdale, England.

From what I've observed, Balloon Columns, Towers and Pillars pretty much describe the same  styles of balloon décor and it would be very easy to see why people would use all three names to relate to this style. The only one that stands out as being a little different are Balloon Stacks, as this name is typically applied to smaller air-filled arrangements that are on a cluster-style base.

Does the name that we use matter? From a marketing point of view, I would contest that all the terms being used are relevant, especially to a client base. When it comes to hashtags, why not use all three?  You might find that customers relate to different names! For me personally, a Balloon Column will always be a column, especially because it's a term that I used when I first started working with balloons and it is a recognised name within the industry! However, I am certainly not opposed to anyone that uses any of the other names, as each of the definitions prove that they are all very relevant! 

A big thank you to all the QBN members who helped me with my original question, it all makes perfect sense now 😄

Happy Ballooning! 

Sue

www.suebowler.com

Follow me @suebowler