A Little Last Minute Inspiration for Christmas and Holiday Decor!

With Christmas and the holiday season only a matter of a few weeks away, I thought that I would take this opportunity to rekindle some of the seasonal designs that I and other fellow balloon artists have made over the years. Many of these designs have been documented in earlier blogs, so to make it a little easier for you to find, I will add a direct link with each of the designs that are featured. In most instances, there is a step-by-step recipe included within the blog!

I love this festive balloon wall! We created this using 40" Emerald Green Starpoints and 27" Lime Green Taper Microfoil^® Balloons. We were unable to use any latex at this event, so we used 9" Ruby Red solid-colour round Microfoil Balloons at each of the centre points to make it look like holly leaves.  Filled with air,  this design can easily be suspended.

These Christmas presents were great fun to make too!

Thinking about attending the World Balloon Convention in New Orleans 2016? Here are some great reasons why you should!

The excitement and anticipation for the 2016 World Balloon Convention (WBC) is growing by the day! I suppose if you have never been to WBC, it is hard to understand exactly what all the fuss is about?







I have often mentioned in my blogs how attending my first convention, which was the European Balloon Symposium in Paris in 1996, a Qualatex^® event, helped me to turn my business around and set me on the road to success!

So why are so many people so passionate about spending a week with fellow balloon professionals from all over the world?

Joette Giardina, CBA and Garlis Bolivar, CBA "jamming."
Photograph courtesy of Jani Blocker.

Networking: One of the overriding reasons that many people attend WBC is for the camaraderie. I can honestly say that so many of us have made life-long friends and buddies from around the world. People who share the same passion for balloons and balloon art. New friends that we can communicate with long after the convention is over. Building a network of friends gives us the help and support when we need it. 

I love when I return to WBC, it is like one fantastic family reunion! I love seeing all the friends that I have met over the years. I also love to meet and make lots of new friends too! You will never feel lonely or left out at this event!

Edward Muñoz, CBA.
Photograph courtesy of Jani Blocker

Fun, friends and excellent workshops at this year's Balloon Jam Hamburg!

Last month I was invited to teach at the Balloon Jam Hamburg, Germany. I previously attended this event some years ago, but then it was known as The Euro Jam.
The Euro Jam was founded in 1998, after Rüdiger & Cordula Paulsen, along with mutual friend Happu Krenz, attended a Qualatex® Event in Prague.

Enjoying the camaraderie and excitement of sharing ideas and skills with other twisters from around Europe, they decided to establish a twisting event of their own in Germany. Over the next seventeen years they ran 15 very successful Euro Jams. In 2013, Andreas Zier and his wife Meike, with the help of Sandra Brandt, took over the event and re-named it Balloon Jam Hamburg.

This year's event saw 155 participants, coming from 14 different countries, including Germany, USA, Israel, Hong Kong, Spain, Ireland, Poland, Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia, The Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, and UK.

Have you started your New Year's Eve preparations yet?

It's that time of the year when there is so much going on! We have just celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas is looming, and New Year's Eve will be here before we know it... and of course Valentine's Day has a habit of sneaking up on us very quickly! 

With so many key seasonal decorating opportunities over the next few weeks and months, I thought that it would be a great opportunity to look at some of these holidays and celebrations, and offer some advice and inspiration!

New Year's Eve is one seasonal event that you can be sure there will be many decorating opportunities. hotels, restaurants, public halls, and night clubs to name just a few, will be packed with party goers looking for an amazing evening of fun and celebrations! 

In recent years, I had the opportunity to decorate a beautiful London hotel. My brief was to decorate two key areas in the hotel: the very elegant ballroom and the main entrance foyer.

Ballroom Decor
Qualatex® Starpoint balloons proved to be the perfect choice for my decor in this extremely elegant room (see photograph below). We had eight small alcoves to position our decor, four on each side of the room. With the room being filled to capacity with tables and diners, it was important that we kept our decor within the allocated space and not encroaching into the main floor space.

Hotel Ballroom without balloons.

Tip: Ensure that you fully understand what areas of the room are to be decorated. What are your constraints, for example - access points or service tables? 

Adding those little finishing touches to wedding decor!

I recently had the honour of decorating a wedding where the charisma and personalities of the bride & groom oozed from every corner of the room. Their love of traveling was reflected on each table showing a different photograph of their travels to faraway places, as was their enjoyment of fun and games  through the "guest book" written on wooden Jenga pieces! Every part of the wedding had their personalities stamped all over it, and for me it showed that a great deal of thought and love had gone into planning their very special day!

Finishing touches can really make a difference, they add the personal touches to a wedding and we can do the same when we create our decor!

Here are a few ideas that you can use to add that little extra touch when decorating weddings and other elegant events!

One of my first tips would be to find out what flowers will be featured at the wedding. Even though the wedding reception may be predominantly balloon decor, there will still be some flowers such as the bridal bouquet. I love to use silk flower heads to add that little finishing touch to wedding decor.


For me, balloons at a traditional wedding should be elegant and soft and not bold and over-bearing. If a colour is to be used, then it should be added carefully into the decor to ensure that decor remains elegant and graceful.

Balloon Jams! Guest Blogger Cam Woody shares her first experience at OzJam 2015!

So what is a Balloon Jam? A Balloon Jam is where balloon entertainers, beginner, intermediate, and advanced balloon entertainers - and "twisters"- get together to share ideas, techniques and designs. In more recent years, events such as the Millennium Jam, Balloon Jam Hamburg, and OZJam have opened their doors to balloon decor, giving both twisters and decorators the opportunity to combine skills and knowledge!

Over the next few weeks I will be reporting back on the above mentioned Jams with a little help from guest bloggers Cam Woody, CBA, who attended OZJam earlier this year and Steven De Maesschalck, CBA, who is currently attending the Millennium Jam! 

Cam Woody CBA

"This year I had the wonderful opportunity to be a part of OzJam 2015 in Sydney, Australia. OzJam started out as an event where twisters could get together and jam and learn. Each year the event has grown and now combines twisting AND decor. There’s something at OzJam for everyone!

Entrance to Oz by David Taylor & Brendan Ord.

Sunday, OzJam began with a group theme build coordinated by Ray Stewart. Various instructors were asked to build a section of the decor to create the Land of Oz in the hotel. The scene was complete with all the characters from the Wizard of Oz, the Yellow Brick Road, a rainbow, corn fields, & the Emerald City gate.

Step-By-Step GEO Blossom® Flower People.

Since writing my blog, The GEO™ Balloon celebrates 25 years! I promised that I would create a step-by-step recipe on how to make these adorable Flower People.

GEO Flower People by Sue Bowler CBA

They are extremely simple to make, and would make a great addition to a balloon arrangement that would certainly put a smile on anyone's face!

This short video clip will give you all the information that you need to make one of these little characters. All you need to do is add your own little bit of personality to each of your characters. For my designs, I used a selection of facial stickers that are part of a set that Lily Tan CBA has produced; these worked perfectly for me. You could make your own stickers if you have a vinyl cutting machine or you could simply draw on a face using markers pens such as Sharpies or edding marker pens. I have written two blogs,'Drawing a face on a balloon' and 'Drawing on Balloons and bring your designs to life'. Both these blogs are a great help for those of you who are new to drawing on to balloons!