Wow, how exciting! Today I couldn't wait to get my hands on the newest issue of That's Life! magazine. In case you didn't know, I feature in the magazine with a Christmas Balloons article, the focus on my dress. I created it especially for the intention of appearing in the magazine.

I wanted to share with you some of the photos, which I have been wanting to do ever since I had the fun of making them! Thanks to the very lovely Corinna, for being my photographer for the day. Pictures were taken at Nightcliff beach.

And the picture that didn't stand a chance of making it! haha The sun was in my eyes!

The ladies at the magazine were all very lovely, and I really enjoyed the opportunity to create a balloon outfit for the occasion.


Everything including the present and the top of the boots is made from balloons! (I bet you guessed that already haha)


The other request for the article was a balloon Christmas tree. Whilst I am happy with the outcome... I know it could be better. We can be our own worst critic.

Here are some more photos, of the tree and the awesome that is Corinna...

.: Do you Facebook? :.

If so, please visit A Rainbow of Balloons on Facebook! I'd love to see you there <3

And finally...

.: Challenge Response! :.

Thanks to the wonderful Prue who suggested a balloon Yoda! He was an interesting challenge, and my favourite part is his mini lightsabre :D

Stay tuned for when the next challenge might be issued!

Birthday Time!

.: Birthday Fun! :.

Today was a happy day as I had the opportunity to help a young girl celebrate her 5th birthday! I arrived at the party with a pre-made balloon for the little girl of honor, Olivia. I had the first opportunity to wear the dress that was created for me through my university course.

It was a fun afternoon with about 15 or so children in attendance. It was a mid-afternoon affair and outdoors, and as a result it was rather warm. Luckily, I was undercover with a fan directly overhead as I was really starting to glow!

I've also included the balloon gift that was created for the guest of honor, and I absolutely love the opportunity to create pretty and girly balloons. Boys things are fun too of course, but they just don't have that pretty edge!

I hopefully from this opportunity have others for me around the corner. I have been approached to do a balloon twisting workshope with a local after school care in the New Year, which will be my first event of 2010! I'm looking forward to it... but possibly 60 kids will be in attendance! Yikes! But we will work it so that they work in smaller groups. But it should be great, I look forward to it.

Which reminds me... I will need to order new balloons soon! I also have some of the latest balloon twisting dvds on my wishlist from some of my most admired balloon artists.

Finally, the countdown is on! Only 2 issues of That's Life! magazine until my national balloon debut! Exciting and scary at the same time...

Speaking of time, see you next time and thanks for visiting!

on a final note...

.: Challenge! :.

Unfortunately no-one took up the challenge of suggesting a balloon form for me to create. Will you be that person? First one to leave a comment can tell me what I should challenge myself to make next!

Business, Bali, and Issue #51!

Again, sorry for the slower updating. Will let you know about what I've been getting up to!

Has been what seems a busy month of doing things, this and that. In the news of ballooning a few exiting things to share!

.: Bali :.

Whilst I was on holiday recently in Indonesia, my mother (a facepainter) and I visited children at Gianyar Orphanage, a home for special needs children. This was our 2nd visit to their home, and we had a lot of fun with the children. There was a lot of fun and smiles all-round! Popular were cincin bunga (flower rings) and princess wands. The children love to play with the balloons themselves and have a blast too. I'm hoping to translate some instructions from English to Bahasa Indonesia to leave with the children so that they may have instructions. We left two bags of balloons, a pump, and a facepainting kit and you can be sure that we'll be there to visit again.
We were lucky enough to see the children have their dance lesson in traditional dance, and we were invited by their dance teacher to visit the dance and drama school the next day. It was a fantastic opportunity to see the children of Bali in activities that you'd not usually see, and their beautiful smiles sure showed how much they loved the face painting! (I was out of balloons sadly at this time!)

Also I finally have a business card! This came about from my holiday in Bali, and I took the opportunity to have some quality ones created. Best of all, it features one of my favourite things... A rainbow! That really made me happy.

.: That's Life! :.

Next, I'd like to tell you about something that has been in the works! I pitched an idea for a magazine article about balloon dresses to an Australian magazine, That's Life! Cram-packed with interesting real-life stories and great competitions. I was inspired to do so by some pictures that someone had submitted to 'The talk' featuring 'bits and pieces from the papers and the net' which featured some amazing creations which I'm sure you've probably seen before.
And so I emailed them about the balloon dresses I'd done, and they emailed back saying they'd like to include me in a Christmas issue if I would be willing to make either a Christmas tree or Christmas themed dress... So of course I said YES! I will be sure to let you all know when it is out! No pictures until after the debut, then I will share them with you.

In other news, I have a couple of ballooning gigs in the works, which includes a birthday party and a balloon twisting workshop for kids. I hope the new year brings new excitement!

Until next time my friends! <3

Busy busy busy! Frog!

Hello All!
It's been a short while since I've posted as things have been a bit hectic lately will the end of my VET course in Fashion design/wearable art is looming!

The photo to the side was taken on the 3rd at little Paris Stephens' 1st Birthday. I made the flower bouquet for the beautiful little lady and at my mum's suggestion took a few balloons into the resteraunt as a result many balloons were made that night!

On Sunday the 4th of October and it was World Animal Day! I went along and twisted balloons for the children (and some adults too!) whilst my mother by my side did facepainting. It was good day, but as usual it was very difficult to end the line... ended up going a half hour later but my reward was lunch at the Casino! A great way to wind down after a very hot day!

Unfortunately I don't have any photos of the event because I was very busy twisting away for the whole time! But popular requests included snakes (the only ones I could go near without cringing on the day!) and girly wands. If you want so see some pictures of them let me know but for now I will save my balloons.

Here are some photos of what I have been doing keeping me busy from updating...

and on a final note.......

.: Challenge! :.

Challenge! That's right, I didn't forget my dear friend Papa Marks' challenge to create a frog. After some time and some false starts, this is the little fellow. In tradition of exotic frogs, I had to do him in pink <3
Now it's your turn to challenge me for a balloon again! First person to reply to the post can request what they'd like to see me make out of balloons! Until next time my friends...

This week in ballooning

The day's Gone to the Cats...

What happened today? I went to the Cat Association's cat show today to make some balloons for young, and young at heart! It was a bit of a slow day, but I still kept myself busy twisting away! Anything donated went back as a donation to the Kitties. Something I did forget to do though was slip, slop, slap... so as a result I'm in a little pain...

.: Challenge Update:.

Thanks so much to Metanoia for challenging me to do a Dragon! I had some fun with the design, and this is how he turned out:

















Keep your eye out for the next challenge if you think you have what it takes! ;) And I will still be doing that frog... Will be working on that one next!

Until next time... Twist on!

What happened at Humpty Doo...

Today I had the pleasure of twisting balloons (not with Humpty Dumpty) at Humpty Doo! The purpose of today was to fundraise for the very worthy Woolworths Fresh Futures raising money for the local hospital children's ward.

Had a fun time twisting for the kids, not to forget some big kids too! Wasn't too busy but did manage to raise a decent amount from people's generosity. My faithful friend Corinna is a non-balloon twister (hey, I'm trying!) but is always there when I need her! She was sweet to accompany me today and help provide some comic relief. She took some photos for me... but still has my camera(!) so there will be pictures coming soon...

Update!

Here are some of the pictures from the day...

Of Balloon Dresses and Pop Culture...

I like balloons. And I like dresses. So how much would I like balloon dresses? How long is a piece of string?
When I think back to what inspired me to make my first balloon dress, what comes to mind is some of the beautiful and awe-inspiring images of this website. And this is the website that helped to open many eyes into the world of balloon fashion.

What prompted me to actually create a dress was a class I am currently studying in VET (fashion design-- with actual fabric!) I'd had the strong urge as this time to try one and this presented a very good opportunity.

Here are images of my first ever balloon dress:

But from here I knew I wanted to try more. My next 'excuse' to create a balloon dress was to wear to a market. Not just any market but Mindil Beach Markets. Here are some images of that dress:

To the left you can see the finished dress which is more like a skirt.

To the right is my beautiful mother modelling the balloon hat.

The final chapter of balloon dresses concludes with the third creation:

Picture credits to Foolish Paul

This final dress was created in Sydney and worn at Supanova Pop Culture Convention 09. I wish the 'Pop' part alluded to balloons, yet more so the Popular culture side of things... Here's hoping to shake it up in 2010!

The next time that I have the chance to wear a dress created of balloons... I have a design inspriation in mind... watch this space!

.... to be continued?

Celebration... and CHALLENGE!

Welcome!

Hi! My name is Sonia, and I'm situated in Darwin, NT, Australia! If you're viewing this page, it is validation that I am successful in finally creating a website of sorts to showcase what I do with balloons. Hopefully it will be an insight for you into the world of balloon twisting, and that there might be something for everyone. Something for you!

For me, ballooning has developed from a fun hobby into something so much more, and I delight in sharing my skills with others. Whether you are looking for a special one-off creation, need a twister for a birthday or a special event; possibly in need of a balloon teacher, please keep an eye on my blog to learn more about how I can help you!

As the content develops, I will share with you many things, including events I have scheduled and new twists I might discover! I've started off by showing you some of my favourite designs which you can see to the side.

As this web log develops, I hope you'll return and help me share in the joys of Balloon Twisting!

And to Celebrate... <3

Have a Challenge Balloon for me? First person to leave a comment can request a design from me and I will give it my best go!*

*disclaimer: The design is for your viewing pleasure and instructions will not be given.