Balloon Tutorials!

Alright! So the plan is to come up with some more balloon twisting tutorials. I have a couple in mind and they are:

Snowman Wand

Reindeer Wand

Ladybug

Skeleton

Okay, okay I know what you're thinking! Christmas just passed and here I am talking about making some tutorials only now. Well stop thinking about that fact! haha Any thoughts?

Australia's Got Talent

One fine day whist driving to work, I actually listened to the radio for a change. Whilst I listened and wished I'd left home just a little bit sooner, an add came on. It was announcing that 'Australia's Got Talent' was coming to Darwin for season 5 auditions. Now the first thought that came to mind was not'boy oh boywhat song should I sing?!' but something more appropriate: 'Hmmm... I might make and wear a balloon dress to this thing?'. After all, I'd like a fighting chance at this opportunity! (I'd probably opt to audition with 'Take a Chance on Me' by ABBA, and blow any chance on me!)

With some discussion with my work colleague, we decided it would be infinately cuter if it was not just me, but also a cute little girl in a balloon dress to help amp up the 'Awwww' factor. After some thought, I asked my good friend Stacey if her sweet daughter Shayla would be interested. And so it came to be.

And so, of course I was sick that week. I had just flown home from visiting some great friends in Sydney and managed to catch a cold. This was Monday. On Wednesday, I had a children's Christmas party to twist at, which was two hours of non-stop twisting and then off to my 'real' job. Then Saturday I had a good sleep in, caught up with some friends and started twisiting the balloon dress I would wear the next day. At four in the afternoon. I know, I know... I like to punish myself I guess! And so there I was twisting madly away at my bestie's Christmas Party. The dress took about 6.5 hrs, and then I went home and got to work on Shayla's. I was in bed by 1:30 in the morning.

On the Sunday, off I went to a balloon twisting event for Family Day Care's Christmas Party from 9-1, and boy was I exhausted at the conclusion. I thought I might be able to leave by 11:30, but the solid line prevented that. Apparently I had some people waiting hours in line, which was great for my ego, but I was pretty sore by the end of it! A massive 1000+ attended the event, and there was so much for the children to see and do which was great! A couple of sweet sisters that I made a balloon lady bug and butterfly for came back and gave me some magnets they'd painted and then later a sausage with sauce. They were unbelievably sweet! As I twisted on, I was nervous that I might be late for the auditions, but tried to keep pretty optimistic. After the Christmas party ended, I was even more exhausted but had to keep on going!

I finished some embelishments to Shayla's dress, and off we (Myself, Corinna and Shayla) went to Crown Plaza to which we were rewarded with position 48. I was relieved as we weren't too late with all my effort in vein! Whilst we waited, I fixed some parts of the dress that had deflated overnight and then we got dressed. When we were called to ascend the stairs, there were still many people waiting upstairs. After we went to the registration desk, they very generously told us that we should go on next, as they could see we could not sit down comfortably and there was still a few hour's worth of waiting time. So I was extremely greatful.

After our picture was taken, we waited to go in next. Inside the room there was the Executive Producer and three other people. I was given the opportunity to speak and then made a wand for Shayla's outfit. They seemed pretty positive which was great, and they even remarked that it was something like what Katy Perry or Lady Gaga would wear. Left feeling pretty great, it went even better that I would have hoped. My biggest worry was being told we were too late to audition or the dress not fitting, luckily none of which happened.

No-one will find out how you went until February 4th and will only hear from them if you've been successful to go further. My proposition to them was to put on a balloon fashion show if successful, which would be a huge task but I'm willing to give it a go!

So that was a really long post and I applaud you for reading for so long! Thank you if you did read to the end, I really appreciate it. Don't forget to keep those positive thoughts rolling! ;)

Have you heard the Word?

The bird is the word. Or for me, the buzz-word! At the moment, my most favourite balloon to make is the balloon cockatoo. You have seen it in my posts before, but I want to share with you some more pictures of the feathered friends I have created!

I had placed an order for some Balloon Magic issues, and some balloons at the same time. One of my foremost goals in doing so was to get the issue where Patrick shared with us hisballoon cockatoo. Don't ask me how I forgot to include it in my order! At the time I also ordered a bag of 660Q's for the bird bodies, and they were out of the black bee bodies that I use for the beak. But all is good as I could still make my birdies! haha

Here is the first of the very large birds, accompanied here by Josh. It was his goodbye from Darwin night, and jokes were abound about the choice of balloon. Good, bad and groan-worthy!

Then there is the balloon bird as a delivery piece to my friends Kylie and Kevin for the birth of their son, Jordon. My camera had flat batteries unfortunately so all I could use was my mobile phone for pictures.

The bird has also been used as a delivery piece to my local vet, and it was well-received! It's also fun to experiment with different colours. Suffices to say, I will never get tired of going to the birds :D

Hehe, I love this picture of the balloon bird with my little Minette Valentina (aka Mousecat). No matter if its balloons or sewing, the cats like to get involved, much to my dismay! But oh my gosh they can sure be cute!

A question to my balloon twisting friends.... What is your favourite balloon to twist?

Updates to follow..!

It has been so long since I posted, my apologies. Things have been fairly busy, including weekends for a while now. Not always with balloons, but something there to keep me busy! My regret is that I have yet to do the balloon challenges, although I did attempt to do the Hot Air balloon one. Need to start again!

In an effort not to just bombard you with one post with 1000 different thoughts... I will do some separate posts and hopefully it will be better reading ;)

More to follow!

Amazing Geos and their Uses

I can't get enough of the birds! They are fun to make, and the level of realism in them easily seen.

I've made two like the lil fella on the left there <-- 'chewing' on a branch. He is supported by a Geo balloon that has water in the base for balance. I made the 2nd one to give to my Vetinary Hospital, it was well-received. I've made them a couple of balloons (a cat and Easter Bunny) because they are just that awesome.

Another balloon that I did recently is a little more risque, in the form of a Pole Dancer. I've done two, for my instructors at SheMoves. I didn't have time to get a photo of the first, I was running late for the lesson as it was! Pole dancing is a great way to get fit, definately building my upper body strength.. Just need to work on my core strength more.

Thanks to Ian for my next balloon challenge, which will be a hot air balloon.

In the near future I hope to do some more balloon tutorials. One written on drawing faces, and another YouTube tutorial, either a doll or a frog. Look out for those coming soon! Does anyone have other suggestions on what you'd like to see.

Gone to the Birdies

Birds of a feather... flock together. So what happens when they're balloon birds? haha Sorry but I just had to say it! I'm really digging the balloon works of Patrick Van De Ven, whos balloons I recommend you visit. I gave a go at his Cockatoo without any instructions, ad then had to give a parrot a go. Next I will do is a Galah methinks!

The cockatoo was a gift to my friend Lynette for her 29th birthday (also a necklace I made her... not out of balloons though!)

Next up is a balloon Princess I made for another friend's 29th. I fell in love with the works of Bonnie and again tried her princess body design, using a heart with two raisin twists to attach the puffy sleeves to. The attaching of the head gave me the most grief and I still consider this to be a work in progress. I feel I can do more justice to the design. Will be one I will try another time for sure.

Hmm... Purple is a theme here

Last but not least, thanks again to my friend Magic-Ian who challenged me to create balloon boat. I thought the most fun option would be a pirate ship! I used an internet image of an inflated boat to give me a base to work with (think more bouncy castle style than modelling balloons!) Overall I am happy with how it turned out... But I feel it is too plain and lacks that special something. None-the-less, I like that it puts me outside my comfort zone and gives me the ability to expand my repertiore of balloons.

A'hoy there me mateys!

If you think you have what it takes (and believe me, you do!) Please leave a comment and make a suggestion to a balloon creation you'd like to see me attempt.

That's it for the time being, thanks for visiting and see you next time! :D

Balloon Pretties

Why hello there! Ready to see some of the latest balloons? Hopefully you're reading because you do! First up here is a doll shown in three views. She was given to a young girl at her birthday party. She is quite large, you can see in the picture with myself...

Next is a fruit basket that I made for a friend who I work with, a Produce Specialist. Sadly he's moved away, but I couldn't resist making him this. (Hey, giving fruit baskets are usually the thing to do, isn't it? hehe) It went down well. It was a fun evening, managed a few rounds of pool which I always enjoy. Nearly won too! hehe My favourite item in the basket is the cherries. They have an uniflated 160 tulip twisted into some 160 scraps. Very cute! The other fruits are bananas, a red and green apple and purple grapes. The bananas and grapes are anchored to a pinch twist in the bottom of the basket with uniflated scraps, and that helps the other fruits to stay in place. The basket design comes from a lovely friend of mine, Crystal. A lovely and generous twister in the US of A.

Lastly, here is the latest balloon dress I made. I really like the end result, even though I was waiting on a balloon order that was delayed. I didn't get my balloons on time, but I did finish my dress. This one was made as an entry into the Royal Darwin Show, a wearable garment for $30 or less. This one features a fancy collar and three yellow balloon buttons. I really wanted to wear this dress as I like everything about it! The colour one of my favourite things. It is a new Qualatex colour, Wildberry. Likeable, isn't it? Qualatex is my favourite balloon brand for colours. I love that they have new ones coming out, and love it when they are pink!

The last balloon offering I have for you is a girl with a flower. I was inspired by the beautiful metallic fuschia balloon for Betallatex. It was one of many balloons received recently in my shipment from the US of A. The method of using a balloon geo for the base is from my friend Mark (Papa Balloon).

I'd like fo finish by saying how much I love all my balloon friends. Alas, I may never meet them but they have touched me and made me a better person, both with my balloons and as an individual. Thank you to all of you, I'm very lucky to know you all. Also thanks to new friends! Thanks Magic-Ian for your challenge of a balloon boat! Be sure to see it in my next post... Doesn't that sound like I've already made it?! haha well no, but it will happen!