A little bit of cheer and extra

Had to get some chicken feed yesterday for our new chicks and went to my favourite farmers' provider, Farmcraft, at Acacia Ridge.

Made them this sunshine rainbow centrepiece to add some cheer to the gloomy rainy day. I double stuffed the base balloons using black in white to make it look greyish.

They then mentioned a opening celebration today and asked if I could make a few more. I said I could, but ended up making them something different.

This cow bouquet of heart wands came out instead. Thought that they could hand some out to children if they like.

And I had to play around with the editing software on my phone and liked this one very much. :)

Slow day at the Saturday market

Went to my usual farmers market on Saturday for some balloon twisting and it was another slow day. But it wasn't too bad, as I was in a better spot and had more interaction with people passing by.

The first balloon I made that day was for a baby. Probably about 3-4 months old. She's such a gorgeous little one! Her parents had set up an iced tea stall diagonally opposite where I was and she was being held by another stallholder who knew them. They asked for a balloon for the little one and I made her this happy little bracelet. Mum came over later that morning with a cup of iced tea and thanked me for the balloon saying that her daughter would not go to sleep with the balloon on he wrist! She did fall asleep eventually when mum took the balloon away. :)

Then there was this mum who came to ask for a balloon car for her 2.5y.o. son. She had bags of groceries in her hands and balancing two plates of food. I suggested that she rest her arms and leave her groceries on the ground while she waits. She did, but left to buy more stuff! I was nearly finished when she came back and offered to hold on to her balloon while she puts stuff into her car. She gave me a totally unexpected answer, "I can do this, I work at Ikea!" Now, what kind of training do they give at Ikea that transforms one into an octopus? I thought that was hilarious that she associated her ability to hold things to her working at Ikea.

Being a slow day, I thought I'll try my hands at something bigger and one that I've not tried before. Looked up the internet for other balloon pictures and here it is, a balloon bicycle with ideas from many balloon twisters!

Made up a quick superman while having nothing to do. 2 balloons and a scrap for the head. The bottom one had changes made to the head, changing it to a 5" round. I think I need to steer away from the red and blue superhero. Spiderman is red and blue and so is Superman....

Hopefully traffic will be better next time. :)

Birthday favours for friends

Had the pleasure of making 29 frog bracelets for a 5y.o.'s birthday for his friends and teachers. It was supposed to be 25 of them, but I always make a few extras just in case of popping or new friends, or well, someone's little sibling wanted one too. The teachers had rainbow headbands instead of frogs.

I had much fun with this lot of gifts. Took me about 4 hours and was aching all over, but I had a lot of fun. Not many people will think churning out the same sculpture as fun, but I made it so, timing myself with each sculpture. The first hour was the longest, with each frog taking 8-10 mins to complete. By the 2nd hour, I could make each one within 7mins. The third hour was the toughest, feeling like a failure because of the lengthy time it takes to make one. But by the fourth hour, I was churning them out at 5-6 mins flat! Woo-hoo!

I think that's where the fun part comes about - knowing that the first two hours of ploughing along is worth it.

It's the same with all other techniques and skills. It takes practice. And, this is what I tell fascinated folks who ask me how I am able to do what I do. Practice. Lots of it.

These 25 frogs made my day. I was proud of myself and proud of them.

Delivered them and was very glad to see the birthday boy's face light up at the big bag of balloons for his friends!

So, anytime you want something different for your birthday favours, drop me an email at balloonaholic@gmail.com and we'll work something out. :)

Frog bracelets. Took a sample photo. Just imagine that there were 29 of them. Slight modification from ChiTwist's frog tutorial on youtube.

Rainbow headbands for the teachers.

Captain Barnacles and a happy balloon boy

A good friend of ours invited us to celebrate her son's 5th birthday and I made these two balloons for him.

Did Captain Barnacles first, because I really wanted to make one for him. Had to educate myself on what he looks like. I've never watched the show before and had no clue what it was about, other than it involves astronaut-looking things.

Anyway, he was a challenge. Will probably be easier if I had a large white round balloon for his head. But, I didn't have it. Surprisingly, the whole twisting of the character wasn't difficult. The challenge was resting the head and the body nicely against each other. I made them separately. Took 3 tries to get the head to sit upright and not tilt itself off the collar.

The other birthday buddy was made on impulse. I woke up thinking that I want to make another balloon and decided to make this birthday boy. Thanks to Bonnie, the Balloon Lady for the thunder thighs inspiration!

We had a lovely time at the party, enjoying pizzas and fish and chips and just catching up with one another. :)