Flower hat / centerpiece

A very special happy (surprise) birthday to a most caring and wise friend; this flower hat fits her perfectly! 🙂

It can be worn as a hat or sit on a table as a centerpiece.

This is the first hat like this that I have made. The base is similar to what I’d make for the cake hat, except the top is twisted a bit differently so that there are more connection points to add flowers. I added flowers all around. Next time, I need to get a 360 video of it! My hubby didn’t think I could finish it in time, but I did!

Birthday bouquet

A birthday bouquet for one of the loveliest! Happy birthday, Joanne!

A bouquet of five flower balloons in glass jar
Flower bouquet

I made a couple new flowers that I hadn’t made before. The weaving pattern is fun to try. Check out Sergey’s rose balloon tutorial. I reused a glass jar to hold the flowers – it’s solid and weighted, so won’t fall over. I like to save glass jars (pickles, applesauce, etc) for this purpose.

[ Sergey’s tutorial video ]

Birthday cake hat

Happy birthday, Angie!
Here’s yet another birthday cake hat! They are (usually) fun for the birthday person to wear. 🙂 (And always fun to model balloons on my stuffed animals.)

Birthday cake hat

I injured my thumb earlier this fall and needed surgery. This is the first balloon I’ve twisted since my injury! I needed to use my left hand more as I just don’t have the strength in my right thumb quite yet and it was feeling a bit sore. But glad to be able to twist again!

Dragonflies

two dragonflies twisted from balloons
Dragonflies

I’ve made dragonflies before, but I wanted to try them with the new Qualatex Chrome colors… and I really like them!

Some kids know what a dragonfly is, but not all kids have been exposed to them. But they are winged and fun in any case!

To make this balloon, check out Sergey’s tutorial video. You’ll need one 260 balloon for the body, two 160s for the wings, and one small round for the eyes. Leave about 2.5″ uninflated for the 260.

[ Sergey’s tutorial video ]

2021 in review

Happy 2022!
Here’s a look back at 2021 in some balloons. I was especially thankful for all the times I could hang out and celebrate with friends and family.
Hoping this next year will bring you more of what you need. Wishing you all the best.

Polka-dotted penguin

Congratulations to my friend Amy Moy on the publication of her wonderful children’s book The Polka-Dotted Penguin, a book about celebrating differences, inclusion, and kindness. Available on Amazon, as well as other bookstores. Also check out Evie the Extraordinary’s YouTube channel!

Learn more about Amy and her daughter Evie, and their story on their web site!

Polka-dotted penguin

Penguin with Christmas tree

Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays!
I know it’s been another tough year, and things have been difficult.
Here’s a penguin with a Christmas tree, wishing you a wonderful holiday, filled with peace, rest, connection, and great joy! We will get through this together!

Penguin with Christmas tree

Thank you for hosting us, S&M, when we couldn’t do what we originally planned for Christmas. So wonderful to spend the evening with y’all! Our friend named this penguin, Wilbur! Doesn’t it kind of look like a Wilbur? 🙂

[ Penguin tutorial by Lily Tan ]

Anniversary heart

Big heart balloon

We got to spend the weekend with our nephew and niece, and we put together this humungous heart for their parents’ anniversary! It was fun building the heart balloon together! Happy anniversary A&A! 🙂

I’ve made this one before, but this time we made it red with a pink border, which my niece picked. Check out the very talented Sue Bowler’s instructions for how to make this!

[Sue Bowler’s instructions | Sue’s YouTube video]

Wild unicorn hat

Wild unicorn hat

This unicorn hat got a bit wild! I feel this hat matched the bold and fun spirit of the birthday girl, who also loves unicorns.

This was a fun one to make, especially as it was my first time trying this idea out. I took apart my swiffer so I could use the stick to make the curls.

Happy birthday, Koko!

Balloon hat

Balloon hat

Happy birthday to a special birthday girl, S! I’m starting to get short on many balloon colors, but you can use almost any color combination for hats!

I haven’t been to a birthday party in a while! This one was outside at a playground, on a nice, sunny day (super great to be outside except for the pollen allergies.) Hope everyone is hanging in there; we’ll get through this together!

Also, I found another use for my stuffed animals!

Poop (emoji) wand

Poop wand

Introducing the newest poop emoji balloon – the poop wand! Everything it touches turns into magical poop! I’ve been making wands, scepters, and poop balloons, so I thought why not a poop wand? I added some ribbon for fun.
I think this one is a winner – I got some laughs out of it. But who doesn’t like poop?

Happy birthday, G!

2020 in review

Happy New Year! Wishing you all the very best in 2021.

2020 was a tough one, a real tough one.
I will remember 2020 as the year of poop [balloons]. When life gives you poop, make poop balloons.

Some losses we’ll never get back. But good things happened too (and I was glad to celebrate some of these this year, even if in a different way than expected.) We’ll get through this together. Stay healthy and safe!

Penguin

Penguins are one of animals I have twisted so many different versions of. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of more penguin designs. Plus, I usually have so many black and white balloons to use up. This super cute penguin is designed by the super talented Lily Tan. Instead of giving it a bow, I gave it a heart balloon to hold.

Penguin

[ Penguin tutorial by Lily Tan ]