Instagram — Are You Using It To Grow Your Balloon Business?

Instagram is one of the social media groups that I have not really got to grips with. Since I set up my Instagram account, I have used it mainly to post personal photographs, rather than balloons or business related items. It was only when Shannon Kilford of Born to Party in Sydney, Australia, made a really interesting comment regarding Instagram on a recent blog post, I decided that I should really find out more about this social media platform. 

"I am also a passionate Instagram user! This social media platform has literally changed my life and my business! 90% of our customers use it and come to us with pictures off our Instagram account requesting a particular design. I also find it useful for instant messaging and sending images back and forth to my clients. Not many days go by when I'm not using direct messages to communicate with my clients this way! As our account grows, so does our business. It's definitely not a coincidence. You are welcome to check out our Instagram here; www.instagram.com/borntopartyshop

We also use Facebook, and in the beginning it was a great tool for growing our business. But since Facebook made changes to its reach for business pages, it is not nearly as good as it used to be so we don't focus on it as much as we used to."

To read Shannon's full article on "Modern Balloon Styling," click on the link below;
Giant Balloons, Confetti Balloons, Tassels, and Organic Decor — Modern Balloon Styling by Shannon Kilford, Born to Party, Sydney, Australia.

Medium Sculpture Competition BACI 2017

I have just returned from BACI — Balloon Arts Convention Italy, held in Florence, Italy, from the 24th to the 26th April 2017. Once again, we were wowed by some truly inspiring and talented balloon artists who took part in this year's Medium Sculpture Competition. This year's theme was "Once Upon A Time," and all the entries interpreted the theme in very exciting and different ways.

The balloon sculptures had to be built within twelve hours, with a maximum of seven people in each team. The space allocated for each sculpture was 2 x 2 x 3m high.

This year's winners were the Russian team headed up by team captain Vadim Shushkanov, CBA. 

• Title: "The Eye of Sauron"
• Description: Captain: Vadim Shushkanov
• Copyright: © Silvia Ingrid Cotellessa ©TheDarkroom

Photo by EVGENY BAGRETSOV ©Darkroom

To experience a little of the fun and excitement from this competition, check out the video below!

Here are all the other amazing entries.

Giant Balloons, Confetti Balloons, Tassels, and Organic Decor — Modern Balloon Styling by Shannon Kilford, Born to Party, Sydney, Australia.

We are all becoming a little organic crazy!  And it would appear that in Australia, they are pretty good at it!  

Shannon Kilford's ballooning career started when she applied for a job to manage a little party shop called Born To Party, in Sydney, Australia. Little did she realise that on her first day that she was going to be learning how to make balloon Topiary Balls and that one day the shop would be hers!  

I recently met Shannon through working on one of my blogs, A Look At Colour Trends for Spring 2017. Whilst doing my research, I discovered some of Shannon's fabulous designs on Instagram, and I was very inspired by her style.

"My very first organic design was to decorate a stand at one of Sydney's largest makers markets that happens twice a year. I inflated way too many balloons, so I took them back to the shop and made them into Garlands for our table and to float off a giant balloon. This was two years ago. It took off from there!" 

"For this Garland, we were approached to create a super glamorous embellished Garland in navy, white and silver for a client's 40th birthday. We used a combination of Pearl White, White, Silver, Pearl Midnight Blue, and we double stuffed Onyx Black into Jewel Sapphire to create the shiny navy balloons. We then embellished the Garlands with honeycomb balls, silver tassels, silver fringing, and 16" silver confetti balloons! Originally our party girl only wanted one Garland but because of the layout of the room, we had to go for two gorgeous Garlands for symmetry. We finished the room off with giant silver confetti balloons decorated with mini organic style collars and our handmade tassel garlands. I love walking back into the room when we are finished packing up. If I am in love, I know our client will be too!" 

Shannon Kilford

"Eighteen fabulous years ago I first started working with balloons. I did the beginners workshop through Qualatex^® Balloon Company in Australia and got to attend my first Australian Balloon Convention in the first year of being employed at Born To Party. Once I knew the basics and a few advanced techniques, I was able to figure out a lot of the designs for myself and I grew from there by experimenting and taking time to 'play' with balloons. I always try out new designs and ideas and use them in our shop window displays. There is so much education happening this year in Australia. It's super exciting! After so long in the industry, it's exciting to be still learning and enjoying all the new trends in balloon world!"

I asked Shannon to tell me a little about her business.

"Born to Party is a brick and mortar store that has been open for twenty eight years this year! The shop specialises in boutique partyware and modern balloon styling. We still do classic decor, but we have chosen to focus on the modern goodies for now. I am the shop's fifth owner and have now owned it for nearly twelve of those twenty eight years. I have five employees. One is my newbie and is full-time. The other four are permanent part-time, and all have been with Born To Party for the long haul. We are a family-run store and our staff are like family, too. My dear Mum works with me, as well as helping in the shop, helping look after my little ones. She also does the admin side of things for me as it is not one of my hidden talents. She is my godsend! I couldn't do this without her or my other staff members for that matter, either." 

What do you believe has worked well for you to grow your business?

"We worked hard at getting the word out that we specialise in the more modern type of balloon decor that is sending Pinterest and Instagram crazy! We do expos, work on collaborations with some of Sydney's most loved stylists on styled shoots, and got involved with an influencer/blogger. We are currently working on a complete makeover. We've just launched our new logo. We are also having all of our stationary re-designed and our new sparkly website is currently under construction. I want our new website to take us to the next level, so watch this space! 

Alberto Falcone, CBA. Is On The Road For The Qualatex World Tour!

I love this display. Alberto created this for an exhibition trade stand for a baby clothing company. The use of his fabulous flowers is pure art and
injects so much colour and vibrancy to the display. 

Who cannot love the fabulous work of the very talented artist, Alberto Falcone, CBA? Alberto's balloon career started 20 years ago after attending an event organised by Balloon Express in Florence, Italy. For the first few years, like so many of us, Alberto's balloon career started out as a hobby. But after many requests for event decor, Alberto felt it was time to take his hobby more seriously!

Alberto loves to work with all Qualatex^® balloons, but at this time he favours Quick Link Balloons™. When I asked him why, he told me that he has so much to discover, each time he uses them it is a surprise for him.

The Qualatex® World Tour Has Started - Enter the Mystery Box Competition to win a free registration to WBC 2018!

The Qualatex^® World Tour—#QualatexWorldTour17—has officially started! With sixty-six stops scheduled across the globe, this is going to be one amazing worldwide Qualatex event! 

Tina Giunta, CBA and Chris Adamo, CBA kick off the Q-Tour in Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Australia and New Zealand opened up this amazing tour with classes being held in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, Perth and Adelaide, Australia plus Auckland, New Zealand.  In Europe, the tour kicked off in Belgium, closely followed by Greece! The U.S. tour starts in Miami on the 30th of March! To find out all the stops and class details click HERE for the U.S. and HERE for the rest of the world.

Free Online Balloon Industry Design and Calculator Tool from Chris Adamo, CBA.

I am so excited to be able to share with you a fabulous new FREE Online Balloon Industry Design and Calculator from the fabulous Chris Adamo, CBA, of Balloons Online, in Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Chris Adamo, CBA

Chris is one of those guys who loves to find an easier solution. Last year he designed a fabulous tool - the confetti applicator. As we all know getting confetti to distribute evenly and not clump up inside a balloon is not an easy task. However, Chris solved this problem by designing a tool that is easy to make and gives perfect results every time! If you missed this post, click HERE. Chris is always keen to share a great tip or technique, and once again he is sharing another fabulous tool!

The Balloon Design and Calculator Tool is a project that Chris has been working on for some time. And after many months of work, he is ready to share this tool with the balloon industry!

There are four tools to work with: the Quick Link Designer, a Balloon Column Calculator, a Balloon Arch Calculator and a Ceiling Fill Calculator.

A Look at Colour Trends for Spring 2017

Design by Shannon Kilford of Born to Party, Mosman, NSW, Australia.
www.borntoparty.com.au

The Pantone® Colour of the Year 2017 is "Greenery." It is described by Pantone as "A refreshing and revitalising shade, Greenery is symbolic of new beginnings. Greenery is a fresh and zesty yellow-green shade that evokes the first days of spring when nature's greens revive, restore and renew."