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| This beautiful personalised Deco Bubble is by Jacqui Pettitt, of Tiffiny's Balloons in Chelsmford, U.K. |
The ability to professionally personalise balloons has revolutionised the balloon industry. The simplest approach to personalising balloons is to use glue pens and glitter, or a marker pen. But unless you have perfect handwriting and the ability to write on a curved surface, neither of these beat using a die-cutter machine like a Silhouette Cameo or Cricut - there are many other brands available, but these are the two brands that appear to be the most popular in the balloon industry.
Personalised gifts are currently the "in thing" as far as the giving and receiving of gifts is concerned. The ability to be able to offer your customers the option to write a special message or add a name or special age to the balloon is an absolute winner!
If you are thinking about buying a die-cutter such as the two listed, there are some fabulous tutorials to help you on your way!
If, like me, you're not great at reading instructions and want to get started immediately, I recommend that you watch this helpful tutorial by Dominic Cassidy, CBA of Q Corner first. He talks you through the setup of your work area in the software for the Silhouette Cameo & Portrait, Silhouette Studio - and it is probably one of the best 16 minutes you will spend before actually trying to use your machine!
The next tutorial below covers how to use the TEXT TOOL - I truly wish that I had watched this video sooner! In this video Dominic shows how to use the text tool, and also shows some great tricks to make the text follow a curved line or any other shape!
The unicorn face was made from a number of different resources. First, I used a 24" Deco Bubble with a 16" White latex balloon inside to make a solid white balloon rather than a clear Deco Bubble. I found the unicorn eye lashes and ears by Googling UNICORN FACE clipart - be careful as some clipart images are free, whilst others are licensed and require payment. I was initially unsure how to make the horn but I found a great horn shape that worked perfectly. The flower shape was already available in the cameo library and the cheeks are simply circles.
Here is another beautiful example of a personalised balloon by Jacqui Pettitt. I love Jacqui's attention to detail as well as the way that she composes her balloon designs for her social media marketing.
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| Personalised Crescent Moon Design by Jacqui Pettitt. |
If personalising balloons is something that you have been thinking about doing for a while, or maybe you have already bought your machine but have not found the time, then this is the time to get started!
If you are in need a little inspiration, check out #personalisedballoons on Instagram - with over 160K posts, it's packed with some truly outstanding design ideas.
A huge thank you to Dominic Cassidy and Q Corner for allowing me to share these great video tutorials, and to Jacqui Pettitt for sharing some of her beautiful designs!
Happy Ballooning!
Sue
www.suebowler.com
#suebowler