FAN-tastic Balloon Decor - Perfect for New Year's Celebrations and Elegant Black-Tie Affairs!

I don't know about you, but I am a little bit in love with gorgeous decorative paper fans! They easily add an incredible visual texture and a touch of elegance to your balloon decor.






With New Year's Eve not too far away, you might be looking for a little "FANcifal" inspiration! So, I have selected a few design ideas that you could present to your clients.

Balloon walls are always an exciting addition to any party. They make a fabulous dramatic backdrop that can be used as entrance, stage decor, or as a superb photo opportunity! 

The balloon wall above was created with Onyx Black Qualatex^® 12" QuickLink™️ balloons inflated to 9" using the Grid technique. The gaps are filled with a selection of  7" & 11" Chrome balloons, 11" plain & prints and Microfoil^® balloons as shown below. The addition of the stars and the Happy New Year foils to the wall adds another level of depth and dimension.

18" "New Year Black & Gold Fans" Microfoil Balloon
20" "Glittergraphic" Silver & Gold Stars
11" "Star Patterns" Onyx Black & White with Gold print
11" Chrome Gold & Chrome Silver

Below is another balloon wall that I recently made for a client's "Great Gatsby" theme party. Using the same Grid technique, this time I used just Chrome Gold and Chrome Silver 7" & 11" balloons to fill the spaces. The end result was perfect, it looked perfectly elegant and classy! Despite the Roaring 20's vibe, this wall would work perfectly well for a New Year's Eve party!

Centrepiece design ideas can always be a little tricky. Here's one that I made recently that would work perfectly for this style of decor! 

This elegant organic style design was made using a Plexipoles base and pole. I added two beautiful paper fans that complemented the "New Year Black & Gold Fan" Microfoil balloon perfectly! 

I recently designed a new style of balloon column that I named the "Artistic Sculptured Column". Only a few days after making this design for a client I was teaching at the Qualatex Event Mexico 2019 and decided to show my design to the delegates with a few small tweaks and changes from the original design. And the extra additions of the fan's paid off, as they worked perfectly with this design! 

To give you some idea of the scale of this column, I added a photograph with me standing next to it. 

All the designs shown above are air-filled, which is beneficial during this uncertain time of helium availability!

Don't forget - you can find more inspiring ideas by visiting the Qualatex website - click on INSPIRATION and then BALLOON DECOR, use the OCCASIONS tab to select New Year.

Happy Ballooning!

Sue
www.suebowler.com
#suebowler

The Seven Wonders of the 7" Chrome Balloon

Artistic Gold Sculptured Column design by Sue Bowler, CBA.

What isn't there not to love about the mighty 7" balloons! I have absolutely loved working with them! They inflate to a beautifully rounded shape, which is perfect for the popular organic trend! With size options ranging from 3.5" to 7", you get an exquisitely shaped balloon every time.


Now that we have had a few months to play with these remarkable balloons, I thought that it would be a good time to share some of the reasons why we love these balloons so much! 

When Jackie Ochitwa, CBA, of With A Twist Balloon Creations, Alberta, Canada made her beautiful Princess design using Qualatex® Chrome™️ 260Qs and the Chrome 7", she was completely blown away by the transformation of her original design. She knew instantly that these extra-special princesses would be a hit with her clients! 







"The versatility of the 7” chrome is amazing. It’s one of those balloons that I wonder how I got by without it.  It’s the perfect accent to any decor piece. They add the perfect amount of sparkle and shine and I love that you can get so many different sizes from one little balloon."




If you have had the opportunity to play with Chrome balloons, you know that they are much softer than regular latex, which makes them easier to manipulate. Check out the video below in which Jackie demonstrates how to make a beautiful distorted balloon heart using a 7" Purple Chrome balloon.

Rainbow Design by Sue Bowler CBA

I recently used these fabulous balloons to make this beautiful rainbow, or as I have renamed it - the #Chromebow Arch 

Everything rainbow will continue to be a hot trend for 2020 - which makes this elegant, yet joyful decor perfect for a birthday party or other special occasions!













As someone who absolutely adores colour, I love that we have the ability to create unique custom colours when we place a 7" Chrome balloon inside a 5" balloon. Although the fit is not perfect, it still works well!

70th Birthday Surprise Arrangement by Sue Bowler

Chrome balloons inside Jewel Tones is probably one of my favourite custom combinations. However, I have recently been using Chrome inside Pastel Pearls and that effect is striking too!  


The design on the left is an arrangement that I made for my brother-in-laws 70th birthday. I covered a round base with a Jewel Ombre Microfoil™️ balloon. I added a box, filled the box with lots of chocolate treats, then attached an assortment of Jewel-Chrome (another made up name) balloons, that spilled over from the box onto the base! To complete the design, I added Jelli balloons to make the number 70 and a few tiny gold bubbles!



If you would like to learn how to cover a base-board, check out my recent blog post: 

Fabulous NEW Jelli Balloons Design Inspiration - With Step-By-Step Design Instructions

Zoe Adam-Jones, CBA, of Jazz Training, Queensland, Australia, has really enjoyed developing designs and techniques with the new 7" Chrome size.

"I really like the versatility of 7” chrome. 

The introduction of this size is what inspired me to try the lace trim technique around foil balloons. I have always loved to pre-stretch 11” chrome and twist into organic bubbles, however the 7” size allowed me to create perfectly round bubbles to achieve a new level of detail on the trim. 

I also use this size inside Deco Bubbles. Chrome adds elements of class and sophistication to designs and the 7” size works really well in Bubbles."

Here are a few of Zoe's fabulous Bubble designs:

Happy Birthday Bubble Gold and Black by Zoe Adam-Jones

Father's Day Gift Hot Air Balloon Design by Zoe Adam-Jones

Alex Ventura, CBA, & Elle Ventura, CBA of Pacha Balloon Creations, Ontario, Canada are also passionate about the 7" Chrome balloons! 

"We love the wonderful 7" Chrome. It is just the perfect in-between size to make the impact required for the trends our industry currently creates. They are perfect for sculptures, classic decor, and organic style decor, they truly add that wow factor, and finishing touch to all of our designs!"

Here are some of Alex and Ellie's designs using their favourite balloons:  

The 7" Chrome balloon is proving to be the must-have balloon to accessories your designs! The more I work with them, the more excited I get! They truly transform my designs to a whole new level. If you have yet to use them I recommend that you give yourself time to play soon, especially as Christmas and New Year's Eve events are the next big ballooning events! 

A huge thank you to Jackie, Zoe, Alex and Ellie for sharing their ideas and beautiful creativity! 

Happy Ballooning! 

Sue
www.suebowler.com
#suebowler

Inspiration for Under the Sea Theme Parties

Perfect for all ages, the "Under the Sea" theme remains one of the top design ideas for party decor.

Fabulous "Under the Sea" Decor created by Cenário Balões of São Paulo, Brazil.

For me, this is one of those themes that you can really let your creativity run wild. 

When I look for inspiration for theme parties, I often look at children books, one of my favourite being  "The Rainbow Fish".

"The Rainbow Fish written by Marcus Pfister was orgiginally published in German, but then later translated into English by J. Alison James. This book tells a story of a fish who, though he does not have rainbow scales, has still very colourful ones. He has very special scales — one that are silver and shiny."

Not only is this book incredibly charming, it is also beautifully illustrated with a fabulous palette of colours and lots of sparkle － which is also perfect for confetti-filled balloons! As soon as I saw the beautiful backdrop created by Luiz Carlos da Costa Silva of Cenário Balões, it immediately took me back the fabulous Rainbow Fish stories - remember, our job is not to just create decor but to also create the wonderful memories that it makes!

Beautiful entrance decor by Cenário Balões

Qualatex^® Chrome™️ Balloons, are perfect for this theme, featuring that stunning metallic shine. And that Chrome balloon mermaid tail is perfect in every way!




Did you know that we can take Chrome balloons to another level? Check out the Custom Colour chart to find out how to make some of these fabulous new colours using Chrome, Jewel Tone and Pastel Pearls that are rich, radiant and reflective - perfect for under the water theme decor. If you would like to download this chart, click on the link.

TIP: It's very easy to custom colour using 7" Chrome balloons with 5" Jewel Tones - although the 7" balloon is slightly bigger it will easily fit inside a 5" balloon.

This Quick Link^® base was designed for a window display that I designed for a Mermaid theme. I used a mix of under-sized Chrome and "Jewel Chrome", double-stuffed balloons as the fillers.










How cute is the "Party Narwhal" balloon (below) - I have to be honest, until I saw this balloon, I had never heard of Narwhals before!

Often dubbed the unicorns of the sea (and considered to be the closest that we will ever see to a living unicorn), narwhals are strange and beautiful creatures with long tusks protruding from their heads, like a unicorn.

Once again, the lovely Jackie Ochitwa waved her magic  wand and designed this adorable and extremely sellable 2nd birthday design - look at the fishtail on the number two balloon.The use of a 13" Crescent Moon balloon as a tail is so clever!











Mermaids are still really popular, and with a remake of Disney's Little Mermaid in the works, it will soon be the number one must have party decor for girls! Last year, Jackie very kindly shared her Mermaid balloon sculpture design with Balloon Magic, so just in case you missed it, I've included in this blogpost- thank you Jackie! 

Here are some of our special shape Microfoil^® Balloons that are perfect for this theme:

40" Party Narwhal
38" Enchanting Mermaid
35" Amazing Octopus
43" Fashionable Fish
30" Super Sea Star

To complete this inspirational blog post, I would like to share more remarkable under the sea installations. The incredible Cenário Balões team from Brazil was able to craft these outstanding octopuses.

Decor created by Cenário Balões of São Paulo, Brazil.

Decor created by Cenário Balões of São Paulo, Brazil.

Decor created by Cenário Balões of São Paulo, Brazil.

This is a theme that will always be popular! If you have a shop or store window, why not you let your creativity flow and give yourself the chance to see the reaction from your customers, and use your designs to inspire your online customers too! 

A huge thank you Luiz Carlos and his fabulous team for sharing some of their amazing work and to Jackie for her fabulous Mermaid video tutorial! 

Happy Ballooning!


Sue
www.suebowler.com
#suebowler

New Product Announcement - The Mighty Big Little Balloon

If you missed the big announcement yesterday, let me be the first to tell you! As the saying goes "all good things come to those that wait" and oh boy, was this worth the wait!

After the hugely successful launch of both the 11" and 260Q Chrome balloons last year, Qualatex has announced the latest edition to this fabulous range: the 7" Chrome balloon!

7" Chrome Organic Style Arrangement with the 18" "Birthday Pedestal Ombre & Stars"

"Why a 7" balloon" you say? I say, why not?! There is nothing that a 5" balloon can do that a 7" can't. In fact, it can do even more! 

Elegant Tropical Gold Arrangement by Sue Bowler

I had the opportunity to work with this mighty big little balloon － and if you hadn't already guessed, I adore working with it! They inflate to a beautifully round shape when inflated to all sizes － which is perfect for the increasingly popular organic trend! With size options ranging from 3.5" to over 7", you get a beautiful shape every time.

Perfect for air-filled decor, this balloon will work well for centrepieces, arrangements, and those lovely little accent details in larger decor － what's not to love!

I hope that you are as excited with this news as I am! I am looking forward to further exploring their uses with my decor and centrepiece designs!

Happy Ballooning!

Sue
www.suebowler.com
#suebowler