Finding quick, easy and sellable designs is always a little challenging, especially when you are building your seasonal offerings! Today, I would like to share this cute and festive gnome design that I recently created and shared with the viewers of BMTV.
Material List
1 x Merry Christmas Gnome #19772
1 x 42" Gnome #20055
4 x 7" Gold Chrome Latex Balloons #85111 8 x 11" Gold Chrome Latex Balloons #58271
1 x 260Q Chrome Gold #58283
1 x 260Q Red #43958
You will also need:
Balloon weight (for the overall design)
Small balloon weight & helium (for the Merry Christmas foil balloon)
Nylon Line and red satin ribbon
Stretchy Balloon Tape
To find out how to make this design please watch the video below!
Balloon inflation sizes as a reminder:
Base and 3rd cluster inflated to 8"
2nd/middle cluster inflated to 3.5"
Additional Tips:
This design is perfect for personalising with someone's name for Christmas.
Add Hi-Float to the 260Q's to help the balloons last longer.
Always ensure that any helium-inflated foil balloons are safely secured to a balloon weight.
This design could be made with alternative latex balloons to create a completely different look for the box/gift base.
Here is another quick, easy, and festive idea! When you create a design that you really love, why not make it into a gift card that you can share with your friends, family and customers!
Here is my 2021 Christmas card, made using CANVA! It is so easy to do and gives you the opportunity to create something very special and unique!
During Christmas 2020, many were obligated to stay at home and avoid spending time with family and friends due to coronavirus restrictions. I know we are all hoping that Christmas 2021 will be a very special celebration as a result of last years lack of celebrations. With that in mind, it is time to get our businesses ready for Christmas if you haven't already started!
And November is the perfect time to start marketing for Christmas:
Decorate your shopfront:
How fabulous is this display by Trish Robertson of Barossa Helium Balloons and Party Supplies in Tanunda, South Australia. Trish was inspired to re-create Luc Bertrand's beautiful QuickLinks Santa Mural which has taken centre-stage in her window!
Decorate your outdoor area with festive window art, banners and decals.
Inside, get shoppers in the Christmas spirit by playing your favourite seasonal tunes and lighting some autumn and winter-scented candles to set the mood.
If your shop is on the smaller side and you’re concerned about capacity (and your ability to enforce social distancing), think about ways to get people shopping without the crowds — like hosting virtual or limited-capacity events or scheduling personal shopping appointments.
Trish said; "I look at my window as real estate, just like shelving in stores is real estate. But the window is the most important real estate because it can decide if someone comes in or not. The other thing I don't do is fill it. I keep it simple so it jumps out.
Trish also leaves her lights on in her store allowing her window displays to keep on working even when the store is closed!
Deck out your website:
Your digital space is just as important as your brick-and-mortar location. So, if you have a website, make sure to decorate your digital "shopfront as well — whether it is through creating a curated gift shop page, adding a Christmas decor-inspired banner to your homepage, or changing your colour scheme to incorporate more festive colours.
When it comes to decorating your website and social media pages, don't forget that Qualatex has some excellent FREE marketing materials, such as this animated Facebook cover (above) and other helpful seasonal social media posts (see below) that can be personalised to suit your business or ready made to simply pop into your campaigns. For a direct link to all the Ready Made Social Media Posts and other marketing materials click HERE
Christmas Decor Ideas:
For me, air-filled and personalised designs are the way forward! Here in the UK, Christmas for the balloon industry really kicks off with the a naughty elf, known by many as 'Elf on the Shelf" arriving in family homes on the 1st of December.
The Christmas elf is fast becoming an annual tradition in many homes. The elf is a special scout that is sent to children's homes from the North Pole to encourage kids to behave themselves. The idea is that Santa's little helper watches the children by day, and each night, it returns to the North Pole to report on whether they were naughty or nice.
This Christmas tradition has just two rules: First, children are not allowed to touch the elf or it will lose its magic.
Second, the elf will not speak or move while the kids are awake. The elf only moves at night when it makes its trip back to the North Pole. Once it returns home, it then assumes a new position in the house.
"Elf on the Shelf" was created by Carol Aebersold and her daughter Chanda Bell in 2005. The concept is heavily protected by copyright laws, and therefore anyone making and selling elf balloon designs should be very careful not to infringe copyright laws.
There are a number of different manufacturers of this cheeky little character, with varying different names - Naughty Elf, Elves Behaving Badly, Elf for Christmas are all protected by copyright rules and laws. My recommendation is to do your research to ensure that you don't infringe on any of them, as it can be a costly mistake!
One of the most appealing ways for the elf to arrive is inside a balloon!
Christmas Elf Balloon by Naomi Spencer of Candy Bubbles in Birmingham, UK.
I’ll be Gnome for Christmas! A fun and whimsical design for the holiday.
Designer name: Eve Antonello, CBA, Pioneer Balloon Company, Wichita, KS, USA
The Gnome tradition came to us from Scandinavia. Unlike the elves of other cultures, which reside at the North Pole, legend has it that gnomes pop out of their forests niches come Christmas Day, and walk through the front doors of homes to hand-deliver presents.
The top ten hashtags for gnomes are #gnomes #gnomesofinstagram #gnome #gnomelife #gnomesweetgnome #gnomestagram #gnomelove #gnomehome #handmade #handmadegnomes
Shine Bright! It’s all things merry and bright with Rudolph!
I absolutely love this design by Cam Woody! Everyone loves the Red Nose Reindeer at Christmas and Cam has created a fabulous air-filled design that would take pride of place in any home. If you are a QBN member, there are step-by-step instructions available to recreate this adorable design. Simply sign in using your QBN number and then you will be able to view and download for future reference!
Well, it's that time already, and I am sure that many of you have bookings for Christmas and New Year's Eve parties. Earlier this week I spent the day preparing mood boards and design ideas for a potential client and thought that I would share how I go about the process.
Mood Boards
Mood boards (sometimes called "inspiration boards") are used by a number of creative businesses, such as interior designers, where fabric swatches and paint colour samples are grouped together to show a homeowner what type of atmosphere the new decor will create. I find that I can use mood boards to collect a range of ideas that can offer both me and my clients inspiration.
When a client asks you to propose ideas for their party, we need to establish what style of decor they are looking for. Christmas, for example, can be traditional, contemporary, or have a wintery look. We should never assume the style of decor our clients are looking for, and therefore, we can use mood boards to help to establish this. Here are three Christmas mood boards that I have created using images that I have downloaded from Qualatex.com and then used PicMonkey Collage to create the boards.
It is so easy to download all the different balloon images from the Qualatex website, and they are in a png format, which means that they have a transparent background making it easy for you to drop it into a document or a design!
PicMonkey makes creative tools for photo editing and graphic design. However, recently they started to charge a small monthly fee. An alternative that I have found that is free is iPiccy.com.
Traditional Christmas Board
Contemporary Christmas Board
Wintery Christmas Board
Each one of these Christmas boards offers a different "look," and although these do not show the full product range available within each theme, it will certainly give a client the opportunity to select the style that most suits their needs.
Sometimes we want to show clients other ideas, maybe a trend, accessory, or a design idea of decor that you have never made. Pinterest is a great resource. our customers use it all the time! Create a Secret Board, add any pins that you want to show your customer, then click on the "+" button that appears in the top right centre. This will allow you to invite people to join your board! Only you and those you have invited can see your board. You can also invite your client to pin ideas that they have seen, giving you both an opportunity to share ideas.
The Design Process Once we have an idea of the style of decor and the balloons that a client likes, we now have to put our creative skills to work! It might be that you only promote or sell designs that you have readily available to show a customer, and once again, that is where the Qualatex website can really help you! Simply visit the Inspiration page where you can explore Balloon Bouquets and Balloon Decor ideas, and don't forget to use the drop-down menus to refine your search. Once you have found a range of designs that you feel will work for your client, download these and drop the design images into your quote to add visual value - a page of words and numbers is very uninspiring whereas a picture is worth a thousand words and we want to sell the magic of the decor. Using visuals will help to create that magic! For me, I like to create my own designs. Rather than pre-make everything with balloons (very timely and expensive) to show my clients, I mock-up my design ideas on my laptop! Here is a design that I created. I have used the wintery theme for this example. I wanted to feature the Qualatex "Snowflakes & Sparkles-A-Round" 3' and 11" balloons and the new 24" "Frosty Snowflakes" Deco Bubbles to create this elegant entrance decor.
I know many of you will say that you do not have the skills to create images like these, but I can assure you that it really is not difficult. I work on a MacBook in PAGES, which is, I believe, much the same as WORD on a PC. I simply use "Shape" to import the shape that I require for my design, in this instance, a sphere. From there I "build" my decor. You will need to learn how to arrange your shapes - that will allow you to group a number of the shapes together, or send a shape to the back or move forward. Here is a screenshot of one of the Columns that I made. The pink sphere is the shape that I dropped into my document. I can then alter the shape or colour to suit my design. I then build the style of Column that I want to show to my customer. The 3' Snowflake & Sparkle-A-Round was imported from Qualatex.com
Here is an example of the same style of Column that I designed for a recent Black & White party. This shows the computer image next to the finished result. I think you would agree that this is the perfect way to show customers what you are planning to make for them.
It might seem like a lot of work, but to be honest, I find it so much quicker to do this rather than spend a number of hours face to face with a client trying to work out what they want, and in most cases, they have no idea and are looking to you for inspiration!
I would love to see how you inspire your customers. Please let me know, and we can feature some of your ideas along with this post!
Built in 1852, Great Ormond Street Hospital had only ten beds when it first opened and was the first hospital in the UK that offered dedicated inpatient care to sick children. In 1858, GOSH survived its first major financial crisis when Charles Dickens spoke at a festive dinner and gave a public reading of A Christmas Carol in aid of the hospital. This raised enough money to purchase the neighbouring house on Great Ormond Street and increase the bed capacity to 75! Today, more than 255,000 patients visit GOSH annually. Not only is GOSH at the forefront of pediatric training in the UK, but it is also a pioneer of medical research to find new and better treatments for childhood illnesses.
Decorating the annual GOSH Children's Christmas party is such a great honour knowing that our industry, with some very dedicated helpers, has done a little to make this very special occasion a little bit more exciting and fun!
The party is a Christmas treat for patients who are currently in the hospital or who have been treated over the last year. More than 2000 children, siblings, parents, and carers attended the four parties that are held over two days!
These magical parties feature fun activities including face painting, arts and crafts, cupcake decorating, and an appearance from one very special guest - Father Christmas - who flies all the way from the North Pole for the occasion.
Decorating this party has its challenges as we are not permitted to use any latex balloons. So each year we get our thinking caps on and create exciting balloon decor without the help of our beloved latex balloons!
Balloon Images OCT/NOV/DEC 2015
After reading the fantastic article, ❝Create Fabulous Foil Arches❞ in Balloon Images Oct/Nov/Dec 2015, I decided that this would be the perfect opportunity for me and my team to recreate one of these amazing arches!
I loved the “Colourful Candy Surprise” arch by Cam Woody, CBA, that was featured in the same article.
Cam created an arch that incorporated all the Qualatex® 18" and 9" Candy Swirl Microfoils attached in a random pattern that spread the colour throughout the design. I felt that these balloons would be perfect for the children; we would add a Christmas twist to the design, too!
Using David Mahoney's recommended ❝H❞ taping technique, we started our preparation. Firstly, we air inflated our selected range of "Candy Swirls" and Christmas balloons. We wanted to emulate the wonderful randomness that Cam had created in her beautiful arch and felt it would be easier if we could select the balloons as we went along!
I would have to say that the new Qualatex Dazzling Snowflakes Holographic Microfoil® balloon has to be one of my favourite winter balloons this year!
Dazzling Snowflakes #20263/ #20260
I'm not sure if it's the 6-Point Star shape, the design, the Holographic effect or all of it, but they are such an elegant balloon that is perfect for all winter events! I am very excited to be decorating a corporate Christmas party this year and the Snowflake balloons will be a huge part of the decor, I will be using them for the centrepieces and a feature arch! I will share the end result after the event, but I am sure that it will look amazing! This balloon shape is also perfect for connecting together, allowing us to create stunning air-filled mobiles, which I think are perfect for venues with higher ceilings and good fixing points. Once positioned they will gently move around, and the Holographic elements will sparkle in the light!
Last month(September 2012) I posted a blog that showed step by step how to create a simple air-filled balloon character using just a few Qualatex balloons. Today, I would like to add a few additional techniques to this simple design showing you 2 new designs!
PINCH TWIST's
&
RAISIN TWIST's
Just by using these 2 simple techniques when creating a design can add so much detail to the end result.
Don't forget to use the QBN (Qualatex Balloon Network) JOB Cost form to work out your selling price, remember, your selling price is unique to you. It is determined by your product costs, labour charges and gross profit margin.
There are many different characters that you can create using this same technique, just take a look at the Qualatex catalogue for all the different Smile Face Microfoil balloons and latex balloons!
I will be adding some more "How To' clips to my Youtube channel SUEBOWLER over the coming months.
I hope that you have enjoyed this How To clip, watch out for more coming soon!
