IMPORTANT - Update on Balloons in the Environment

There has never been a more important time in our industry than now to educate and inform our customers and our fellow balloon artists of best balloon practices in regards to the environment.

In the last year, there has been increased press coverage of balloons and their effect on the environment. Only last week balloons made headline news in the UK; but it was unfortunately for all the wrong reasons. I know that the same is happening in many countries around the world!

It is important that everyone within our industry is proactive in helping to educate consumers on best balloon practices - particularly ahead of the publication of the Single Use Plastic Directive.

Pioneer Europe, in conjunction with the European Balloon and Party Council (EBPC), has developed a collection of environmental marketing materials that we can use freely within our businesses to educate consumers to enjoy balloons responsibly, promoting the message: "Don't let go."

We need to share this message with fellow balloon professionals to ensure that, as an industry, we become a united front that shows and demonstrates that we care about the environment and that we are a responsible profession. 

This means, no more balloon releases, and that includes the release of latex balloons too. Check out more details on this at my blog post - Why We Should Ban Balloon Releases.

So how can you help?

Start spreading the word! There are five downloadable flyers that you can use:

• Posters
• Leaflets
• Carecards
• Weight Labels

These are available in 24 different languages. Click on the appropriate language and it will take you directly to the link.

Bulgarian
Croatian
Czech
Danish
Dutch
English
Estonian
Finnish
Flemish
French
Gaelic
​​​​​​​German
Greek
Hungarian
Italian
Latvian
Lithuanian
Maltese
Polish
Portuguese
Slovakian
Slovenian
Spanish
Swedish

We ask that you to download and share the materials with your customers and fellow balloon professionals immediately. 

Posters can be displayed in your shops and stores.

Care Cards can be handed out with every balloon order and delivery. 

Weight Labels can be stuck to the base of weights.

When creating decor for a client, make sure that you supply them with  Balloons and the Environment  - A helpful Guide leaflet.

Any of these could be used in your social media campaigns.

These materials are also available to purchase in printed format in English only. If you would like to know more click HERE.

Please help us to spread the word. Be sure to always ask customers not to release balloons and to always dispose of their balloons responsibly after they have finished with them. Please help us to educate fellow balloon professionals who may not understand why this is such an important issue.

Thank you for reading!

Happy and responsible ballooning!

Sue

www.suebowler.com

#suebowler

#donutparty

Donut theme parties continue to be a hot trend for 2019. This theme fun and colourful, meaning it will work for any kind of  party!

I had great fun designing and creating this theme table-scape! The best part is, although it all looks yummy and edible, with exception of the milk, everything is made from balloons or a prop! 

If you have a vinyl cutter, such as the Silhouette Cameo or Cricut, you can easily transform plain balloons into sprinkle covered balloons! I used this technique for the Geo Donut column and the 18" White Microfoil design on the table. 

Making these donuts was so much fun!
To create these, I used 16" Geo Donut balloons, and added just a puff of air to fill the balloon without stretching the latex. Once knotted, I removed all the excess neck and trimmed back to the knot.

To turn these into donuts, I used acrylic paint to make the icing. Once the paint dried, I used a latex based glue (Elmer's Rubber Cement) to adhere the sugar sprinkles. And yes, they are real sugar sprinkles! 

This column was designed by Cam Woody, CBA, Pioneer Balloon Company, Wichita, KS, USA, and was the inspiration for the column that I made for the photo-shoot above.















Here are two more wonderful donut design ideas by Cam!

Here is another painted Geo Donut balloon, but this time it has been inflated! This design works well with the "Birthday Sprinkles" 18" Microfoil - and it's available in 9" too! 

I found the instructions on how to create these fabulous painted Geo Donuts on Imaginarium! Just click on the link to read the full instructions.

How divine is this arrangement that includes the NEW "Fantastical Fun Birthday" 18' Microfoil - a fun-filled foodie treat, that features unicorns, rainbows, ice-creams, pineapples, donuts and burgers! 



Did you spot the NEW 9" air-filled donut balloon in the base!?

"Birthday Sprinkles" - 9" Air-Filled #58439
18" Microfoil #57263
18" Microfoil #57265 (pkgd.)

"Donut" - 9" Air-Filled #58455

I love this Donut Table - by Pretty Chic Details, California, USA.

I think that this is such a fun theme to work with. Instagram and Pinterest show that this theme is often used for Baby Showers, First Birthday parties, summer parties, Bat Mitzvah's and Sweet Sixteen parties just to name just a few.

Here's a date for your diary! June 7th is National Donut Day －make a note and be sure to include it in your social media campaigns! 

I thinks it's time for a donut!

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

A Few Elegant Design Ideas for Milestone Birthday's!

2019 is set to be a big year for milestone birthdays, as it will see all of the ‘last babies of each decade,’ all celebrating significant ages that now end with ‘0’.

A milestone birthday is a great excuse for a big celebration, and the perfect opportunity for you to show off some of your amazing ballooning skills!

Here are a few designs that I recently made. I am really enjoying working with the Northstar balloon collection, especially the 16" Numbers. They look especially fantastic when paired up with some of the NEW Qualatex Birthday balloons, such as the "Birthday Metallic Dots," as featured in the 30th design above. Note: I added the number 30 in vinyl to the balloon to create a 30th balloon to match the number 30 at the base. 

I am also loving the new milestone additions to the "Pink and Gold Dots" range. I anticipate that these will be very popular!

Both of the above designs are a little different from the usual balloon bouquet style and are perfect for deliveries, table arrangements, and even window displays!


I made something similar for one of my Spring Fair displays at the NEC, Birmingham, which took place earlier this year. The great thing about these displays (below) is that they are all air-filled - which makes them long lasting! To create this effect, I simply used very fine monofilament line to give the illusion of floating balloons. All of the latex was either double stuffed or treated with Hi-Float.

Here's a fabulous design that I spotted recently in the inspiration section on the Qualatex website.

Born to Stand Out! - A birthday wish that is "FLAMAZING!"

Designer name: Genesis Nieves, CBA and Iravid Nieves, CBA, 

Decoracionesglobos™, Miami, FL, USA

How fun is this new style of balloon bouquet? It's packed with so many exciting visual elements. This type of design opens up the opportunity to create something exciting and unique. I am sure that the recipient would be very happy to receive this!

It's time to get creative and show your customers how you can make their event even more special and memorable! 

Happy Ballooning!

Sue

www.suebowler.com

#suebowler

Toñy Moncada: Creating Magnificent & One of a Kind Balloon Decor!

When Toñy Moncada, CBA of Globofiesta, in Elche, Alicante, Spain was approached by a client to decorate their three month old son's Baptism, she never would have imagined  the amazing balloon journey she was about to undertake! 

I interviewed Toñy last year for the Very Best Balloon Blog,  entitled Introducing Toñy Moncada. At the time Toñy was teaching at the OnArt Event in Barcelona.Whilst observing her class, I was both inspired and captivated by her style. She was using techniques that I had never seen before, and she has meticulous attention to detail. I discovered then that Toñy is very passionate about balloon art and creative dècor, a fact which is obvious to anyone who meets her. She loves to work very closely with and build solid relationships with her customers, and excite them with her creative designs and ideas! 

"What made me decide the type of decoration was undoubtedly the venue that had been chosen for the event - a room with large ceilings, which we had to transform completely! It was clear that it should be organic decoration."

Toñy at work, preparing the many 1000's of balloons that she would need for this installation.

As with all jobs, there were a few challenges. The first of these challenges was colour choice, as the invitations and posters had already been designed and it was important that the decor coordinated with it.


The combination of colours were: 

•  White with Dark Blue inside
•  White with Sapphire Blue inside 
•  Grey 
•  Gold chrome

In total, Toñy used around 10,000 Qualatex balloons, from 5" to 3'!

Toñy created this fabulous backdrop, which was so much more than the balloons: check out the curtain! 

"I wanted to create a curtain with different fabric textures and colours, so it was like an organic style curtain. After a little experimenting, the idea was born!  It fitted with the theme perfectly: nothing else would have worked as well. The venue needed the walls covered in order to create the effect we were looking for - and we got it!"

With added lighting, this backdrop proved to be the perfect photo opportunity for the family and guests.

Often a photograph does not do justice the full scale and size of the decor, so I included this photo of Toñy to show you how big the organic curtain and frame was.

"The height of the room also proved to be another challenge, but I have found that the greatest challenge of all is to make sure that the client is satisfied and happy."

As someone who loves to design centrepieces, I wanted to know more about Toñy's brilliant idea, which I thought worked perfectly with the decor.




She explains her idea here:

"The idea of ​​the centerpiece was born for several reasons. Balloons were a significant part of the dècor, and therefore it was important that they should also be included on the tables. One of the latest trends is to work with acrylic and also with gold accent details. We used acrylic to make the welcome poster, and other decorative details. It was an idea that had been in my head for some time and this was the opportunity to make it come true."

Simple, but very. elegant centrepiece design by Toñy Moncada

I asked Toñy how long did take her to create all this fabulous decor?

"It took approximately 20 hours to have everything ready. Before going to the venue we had already pre double-stuffed all the balloons, and the wires were cut in 5m lengths which made it easier to move for placement.  We also pre-made the bases for the helium balloons for the children's table, and the crepe paper ribbon tails were ready."

"I would like to comment that it is true that working with double-stuffed balloons is harder: the air inflator inflates slower, tying is more difficult. But it has other very positive things: the balloons duration is very long and in perfect condition, they take longer to oxidise, which allows you to work several days in advance."

This is what Toñy's customer said:

"I would like thank you Toñy for your work, it was all spectacular! When you work with professionals like (Toñy), you can see the difference between the people who love their work and the rest. Many thanks for your involvement and for making that day even more special."

This is Toñy's biggest job to date, and she obviously really enjoyed every aspect of it, from conception through to the absolutely stunning end result! Did she worry that she hadn't ordered enough balloons? Of course she was - I would be too! But like a true professional, she did the math and worked it out (and checked with a few ballooning friends too).

I often hear decorators saying that they don't get the big jobs, but I say, never say never! Toñy's customer did not know what they wanted in terms of decor, but they did want something special and unique. Toñy waved her creative wand and sold them the dream - stunning, memorable decor that no other medium could have achieved! 

Congratulations Toñy and thank you for sharing your beautiful photographs and experience with the Very Best Balloon Blog! 

Happy Ballooning!

Sue

www.suebowler.com

#suebowler

Terrific Free Ballooning Tools

We all have a desire to grow our businesses. We try to do this through gaining knowledge, learning new skills and designs, and working on our social media activity. 

Attending training sessions, events, and conventions is a fabulous way to gain confidence, knowledge, and improve our ballooning skills. But having access to additional resources is vitally important for the growth of our balloon businesses!

Today, there are many resources available online. These are some of my favourite, and they are all FREE! 

March 2019 saw the launch of the first ever free online Balloon Magic! Until now, Balloon Magic has only been available as a paid subscription, but it's now free and packed with some amazing content! 

One of the great benefits of this publication now being available online is that it includes video tutorials.  This gives us the opportunity to watch and follow while an instructor creates one of their wonderful designs. In this first issue, you can see both Vadim Shushkanov, CBA and Nicole Greg, CBA demonstrate two amazing and very sellable designs - I know I will definitely have a go at making them both! 

To learn how to make this fabulous little balloon sculpture - click HERE 

To learn how to make this adorable Toucan click HERE

In addition to the how-to-video's, there are also some great step-by-step design recipes from Pippity Pop, Matt Falloon and Takehiro Kai - all of whom are incredible artists! 

If you are new to the world of entertaining, there is an outstanding article by guest writer Todd Neufeld of the Twisted Balloon Company, New York, USA. Todd shares the Top Ten Components of an Entertainment Contract!

Even if you are not a twister, you can really learn some great skills from Balloon Magic and maybe even incorporate some more twisted designs into your everyday designs and decor!

Balloon Images also went digital earlier this year, and is now available online. Like Balloon Magic, it has the benefit of featuring how-to-videos, which are a great way to learn new ideas and skills.

Design inspiration is something we are all looking for constantly. Lucky for us, Balloon Images is packed with ideas, tutorials and amazing high quality stock photographs that you can use for marketing and to show your clients.





Where else would you be able to find a great how-to video tutorial, like how to make a fabulous on-trend hot air balloon? Plus some great downloadable high resolution images that you can use for your marketing campaigns! If you are a QBN member, by simply logging in, you have access to even more free materials! 

Check out this great how-to video, simply click HERE

Downloading images is easy, just click on the arrow that appears on the left hand side of the image and choose the size of the file that you want to download! 

Another excellent resource is Q Corner - a twice weekly live-streaming talk show that is aired on YouTube and hosted by Dominic Cassidy, CBA, and Keith Stirman, CBA. Known for their lighthearted banter and entertaining style, Keith and Dom show features a wide variety of topics including: Business Tips, Design Inspiration, Industry News and Announcements, New Product Features and much more. 

Below is one of their earlier episodes where they show Confetti Balloons & Gumballs.

The great thing about Q Corner is if you miss an episode, you can always go back and watch it at a later date! We recommend that you subscribe to the channel, that way you will always get a notification when a show is about to air.

For Russian speaking balloon artists, there is now a Russian Qualatex TV channel. This new channel is hosted by Alexander Solomatin, CBA. Each episode covers a variety of topics and includes some great how-to videos. The show airs weekly, and you can subscribe to ensure that you get notification when a new show airs.

In addition to these excellent resources, there is of course the Very Best Balloon Blog - which of course you must know about, as you are reading this blog post! I wrote my first post in June 2011, and to date I have written 390 different posts covering a wide range of topics! It is very interesting to see which of the posts are most often read - can you guess? Whilst you would think it is a design related post, it's actually - How much should I charge for that... how to price your work! This post has been viewed over 45,000 times! Pricing is one of the hardest things to do, especially if you have never run a business before. Learning how to price to ensure that you make a profit is not always easy. I hope that my pricing related posts (I have written a few) help those who are struggling. 

I am always keen to hear what topics you would like me to write about. There may be a subject or something that you would like to know more about. My posts are often inspired by questions that I see on Facebook groups, such as how to write a Risk Assessment or Method Statement, or how to use a heat sealer. 

If you need to search for a specific blog post, just type in key words to the search bar, and you will see all the posts that relate to those words.

Each one of these amazing free resources is sponsored by Qualatex, and I truly don't believe that there is any other balloon manufacturer who gives so much support to the balloon industry! Thank you Qualatex and all those who work so hard to bring us such high quality support and freely accessible materials.

Happy Ballooning!


Sue
www.suebowler.com
#suebowler