Christmas Trees & Santa's Workshop - BALLOONS!

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!  Doing Christmas balloon decorations can be so much fun! 

Two dozen Balloon Christmas Trees!  Four were life-sized and twenty were tabletop sized centerpieces.  Volunteers helped by stringing lights and decorating all the trees.  We then filled the room by suspending a couple dozen foil balloon stars from the ceiling! Beautiful!

 

 

 

Then, with the help of my good friend and talented balloon twister, Marta Hoburg, and a new-found friend, Lisa Hastey, we helped decorate "Santa's Workshop"!  We made gigantic balloon candy canes, huge balloon nutcrackers, North Pole columns, and balloon candy gift boxes!  We completed the decor by suspending nine 3' Balloon Christmas Ornaments!  These were my absolute FAVORITE!  Of all the balloons I've hung from the ceiling, these are my all-time favorite to date!  They looked AWESOME!  (I've even decided to make them for my upcoming Family Christmas Party this year.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS ALL...

all year long!

 

 

Thanksgiving Balloon Decorations with BIG FUN BALLOONS

 

This year I was privileged to take part in helping to create balloon decor for the Salvation Army's Annual Thanksgiving Dinner here in Phoenix.  Sponsored by Big Fun Balloons and Qualatex Balloons (Pioneer Balloon Company), volunteers come together each November to decorate for the event!  We made giant balloon sunflowers, several huge balloon turkeys, beautiful balloon trees with fall-colored "leaves" (designed by Anthony Pearce) filled with critters, barbershop columns, and scads of balloon pumpkin and balloon cornucopia centerpieces!

 

 

Overcoming Fears - CLOWNS!

Taulbee, Marta, Brenda

Are you afraid of clowns? For some inexplicable reason I have been...ever since I can remember. Not just clowns...anyone in a costume where I can't see their face...even Santa! In the balloon business, I've met many kind, wonderful people who do clowning and, as a result, made a decision to seek to overcome that fear.





In November 2012 I attended the Western Region Clown Association Convention in Laughlin, Nevada with two of my close friends and fellow balloon artists (Marta Hoburg & Taulbee McJunkin.) The classes were fun and instructive and the people were welcoming!

1st Place Group Balloon Competition Winners!

While there, and at the encouragement of my friends, I decided to face another fear and gathered up enough courage to enter some of balloon competitions. As luck would have it, my friends and I took first place in the "Group Balloon Competion" (I got to make the roadrunner - most of which is double-stuffed) and, to my surprise, I also took first place in the "Single Balloon Competition" and the "Multiple Balloon Competition".

 



Do you recognize these two?

With "Santa Hugo"

Although I will probably never be a "clown", I can now be in an entire room FULL of clowns and not get nervous!

We had SO much fun! A warm thanks to all my new friends and to everyone there for being so kind and patient with me!

 

Luau

A close friend of our has been battling cancer for several years.  Each year he and his wife celebrate life by hosting a LUAU.  This year, I was priveleged to provide some balloon decor for this worthwhile event - A colorful tropical flower balloon arch with balloon tiki columns.

 

Warm wishes to this family and may there be many luau's to come!

Bowling Birthday Party - and BALLOONS!

Check these two "birthday kids" out! - So brave of them to wear their birthday hats to the bowling alley!

A visit from CAPTAIN AMERICA!

Imagine my surprise when I opened the door Sunday evening and found CAPTAIN AMERICA standing on my doorstep!  How cool is that?!  He'd come to visit his grandma who lives nearby...but had left his shield at home.  Noooo problem! -  a BALLOON SHIELD will work for now!

(Shield design by David Brenian.)

High School Dance - Cinderella also used a PUMPKIN

I went to my neice's wedding this past weekend and got to visit with my brother's family.  On my last night there I found out that my twin nephews had both been asked to the high school dance...more than a week before!  With all the wedding preparations, they hadn't yet had a chance to respond.  In their date invitation, they were each given a pumpkin with the girl's name hidden inside.  They'd had to clean out the pumpkin to find the name and were to carve their reponse, Yes or No, in the pumpkin.  Well, with the elapsed time, the pumpkins had begun to decompose.  I suggested that I make BALLOON PUMPKINS for them.  The boys thought of carving their response in candycorn pumpkins and placing them inside.  WAY cute!  Thanks, guys - for letting me join in the fun!

Jungle Safari Balloon Animal Centerpieces - With a Twist

For this particular baby shower, I was asked to create centerpieces using twisted balloon animals.  I made these using larger size balloons that usual - making some of these centerpieces over 3 feet tall!  FUN!

  

  

Contemporary Balloon Decorations

Because I love to create fun and unique balloon sculptures and decorations, customers typically call me with requests that require "balloon twisting".  Last month, I was asked to provide some contemporary balloon decorations for a national conference for Origami Owl.   We suspended huge 3' balloons (inflated to varying sizes and at varying heights) both in the stage area and throughout the ballroom.  The effect was pretty FABULOUS!  

(Note:  Tying 80+ 3' balloons is more difficult than it looks - these are thick latex.  Heartfelt thanks to a couple of  Origami Owl employees who came to my rescue about half-way through!)

Balloon Luau

On occasion I get the opportunity to work with some of my FABULOUSLY TALENTED balloon artist friends on large balloon decor jobs. (Together we are "AZ Balloon Artists".)   June 30th we created a tropical "Balloon Luau" for an event in Phoenix.  A tiki hut, tropical birds, exotic flowers, monkeys, frogs, bugs, a floral arch, scads of palm trees, and more... were all part of the decorations.

Thanks to Taulbee McJunkin - she brought along a professional photographer ("Gwendolyn Grace Photography") to take some photos for us. We added a few other snapshots and created this video.   Hope you enjoy!

Baby Shower - Ocean / NauticalTheme

In June I was asked to provide some centerpieces for a Nautical Themed Baby Shower.  I love baby showers!  Seems to be that time of year....   


 

Whimsical Floating Fish

 

Anchor & Chain  



Underwater Octopus Scene



      

Baby Shower Balloon Decorations - "It's a Girl!"

I LOVE when I get the chance to make something with balloons I've never made before!  Whether simple or complex - it's just fun!

 

Over the weekend I got to make these cute "Baby" columns for a baby shower - It's a GIRL! 

One in pinks and one in purples - eash made with fun polka dot balloons, foil baby balloon, and "charms" (hearts, stars, moons,...) and softened with a touch of tulle.  These were about 6' tall.

 

(And you should have seen the ADORABLE candy-filled "baby booties" party favors they had, made from styrofoam cups and accented with ribbon!)

Jungle Safari Balloon Animal Centerpieces

These balloon centerpieces were made for a Jungle Animal Themed Baby Shower! 

Monkeys, Zebras (my favorite), Lions, Elephants, Frogs,...

and two balloon palm trees for the cake table. 

Cute jungle animals....such an adorable idea for baby shower decorations!

(To prevent the balloons from popping, the foil balloons were slightly under-inflated, as they were to be used outdoors, where temperatures were slightly warmer.  Foil balloons fluctuate in size, depending on the temperature.)

HUGE BALLOON FLOWERS

Last month, we had the opportunity to create some fun, HUGE, purple flower balloon sculptures for Intel's WIN Conference held at Chandler Center for the Arts. 

Some of these flowers were over 9 feet tall!  For more pics, go to

http://www.balloonhappyaz.com/Huge_Balloon_Flowers.html

 

Baseball Balloon Decorations

BASEBALL - LITTLE LEAGUE
Chandler National Little League's Opening Day is always an event to remember!
Balloon Happy AZ joined in the fun by twisting balloon animals for many of the players and their families and creating these customized balloon columns / sculptures for the event.

Pictured below:  Left:  Two 10' tall baseball bat columns, topped with baseball balloons
Right:  A larger-than-life (approximately 8.5 feet tall) baseball pitcher balloon column
Lower left:  Floating helium "cloud clusters" with streamers