Hello – everyone Jennifer Maker here it’s a beautiful day – to make amazing balloon bouquets, just like this one right here, So these fun balloon projects have been blowing up. Lately, I’ve seen them made as birthday gifts on display at parties as centerpieces and even given out as promotional items for businesses. Yes, really They make a big impact with a big, beautiful, clear balloon and there are so many decorations that you can put inside. I think that they’re really fun
And everyone always wants to know the secret of how to get those balloons inside the big one and I’m going to share my best tips. So you can make these beautiful, bouquets, yourself.Using, the right materials and some special techniques. We will take the mystery out of them for you, so you can mystify your friends and family I’ll also share some balloon. Specific vinyl designs like this one that you can use to customize your balloon bouquet for every event or gift. So, let’s head on over to my craft table and we will get started: ( happy music ). So let’s first talk about the balloons that you need for this project.
It is really important to use a big balloon to get the right look for this bouquet, So I tried out a few different options and during testing I looked at different, balloon strength. How well they worked with vinyl and how easy it was to work with in general.My favorite hands down is definitely the 24 inch. Bobo, balloon Vinyl sticks really well to the clear surface and it’s super strong, so you can shape it a bit and decorate it with confidence And because the Bobo balloon is so strong. It does take some preparation to blow up
So I’m going to share those tips in this tutorial as well, But don’t worry, I will walk you through it all And when you order these balloons several usually come in the pack. That is perfect for learning a new skill, because you should always plan a test run before you make your finished project. I always do at least.So set aside some time to get familiar with these Bobo balloons. If you haven’t used them before, and you will have awesome results, And I should note that balloon projects always come with some allergy concerns because many do use latex
Unfortunately, the Bobo balloon does contain latex, So please don’t use this project if you are allergic, Also check that it’s safe to give someone a gift with latex before you actually do it. For example, I wouldn’t want to give this to my niece, who has a latex allergy If you can’t use latex balloons for any reason. Vinyl designs also stick to Mylar balloons which come in lots of fun shapes
All right, so, if latex is okay for your project, I found that these small balloons here are easy to get into the Bobo. If you follow my steps, I blew them up to about five inches or so, and I placed four to six of them in the big balloon. I’Ll also show you a little hack in the tutorial for using extras of these small balloons too, And this confetti here also looks really awesome in the balloon. I have it in this one right here. You can get really creative with what you put inside the balloon. Once you get the basic process down,
This balloon hand pump will become your best friend while making balloon bouquets. It is strong enough to blow up the big Bobo balloon, which does take a lot of pumps. A hand. Pump is definitely required for this project. You will not be able to blow up these balloons all by yourself, even if you are a deep sea diver And don’t fill up some of the balloons with helium and others with the pump, because then they will deflate at different times and that won’t look. So great
So assembling the bouquet and base takes a few items. This four and a half inch round gift box was perfect for the project, as I pictured it in my head, but you can certainly use a different container just make sure it’s sturdy enough to hot glue the balloon stick inside the balloon. Stick looks like this: The stick and the attached cup are what keeps the big balloon in place. You can cut the stick to whatever height you want and I’ll explain that in the tutorial So filling and decorating, the gift box is almost as much fun as filling the balloon.
You can use a combination of tissue paper real or crafted flowers candy, even a plush animal. Some of my projects from my Dollar Tree Cricut Projects tutorial would fit perfectly You can find them over at jennifermaker.com/dollar-tree-cricut-projects All right. So I made my vinyl decals that you see here on the balloons with my Cricut cutting machine. I use permanent adhesive vinyl in various colors. You can use your favorite colors match a theme or use holographic vinyl for some added sparkle.
Standard grip, transfer tape works really well for this project and I have a tip for that as well.Now, since we’re using adhesive vinyl you’ll also need your standard grip machine mat, a brayer, a pair of scissors and a weeding tool And I’ll show you a few tips On preparing your materials that include a lint-free cloth, super useful painters, tape and a measuring tape too. So let me show you where you can get my free designs for these balloons and then we will get started Step. One get my free balloon: decal designs,
You can find all of these designs on my blog Go to jennifermaker.com/386 and look for Libraries in the red bar at the top.And. Then either click Get a Password. If you don’t yet have one or click Enter the Library Search, the page for design number 386 and then click it to download a zip file with an SVG folder for cutting on a Cricut or another cutting machine, DXF files and printable PDFs for cutting by hand
Let me show you how to cut this design on a Cricut cutting machine. There are three design options in the folder One says: “, happy birthday”. Another is for Mother’s Day, and the third is a happy birthday with a customizable name. Spot.I’Ll show you how to customize and cut a decal using that last design, Then you can use these steps to complete the other designs or make something entirely different.
So, first upload the SVG cut file to Cricut Design Space. If you’re unsure how to do this, please go to jennifermaker.com/svgs to learn how to unzip and upload SVG files Step two customize and cut the decal. Here’S. What my customizable birthday design looks like on my canvas.
If you need to you, can zoom out to see the design by clicking on the minus sign over on the lower left. This design is sized for the 24 inch Bobo balloon, So the decal is about nine inches wide and seven and a half inches tall. If you’re using a different balloon, resize it to fit by clicking and dragging the design’s resize icon right here Or type, a new dimension in the width field in the top menu
Either way make sure the lock icon is closed to maintain the design’s proportions. If you need any help resizing an SVG in Cricut Design, Space check out my resizing guide over at jennifermaker.com/resize-svg. I designed these decals in a specific way to make them easier to use on a balloon Curved slippery surfaces. Take some planning See how the design is separated into nine layers.
We’Re going to apply each element to the balloon individually, instead of all at once I’ll show you how to get everything aligned. So don’t worry Now, unless you have a friend named “, Name ,”, let’s edit, that text layer, it’s just a placeholder, So select the design and click Ungroup at the top of the Layers panel. Now click on the word Name to highlight it in there
Click its eye icon right here to hide it, and now we have a space for a new name Click. The Text icon on the left of the screen, A box with text highlighted in it will appear on the canvas Now without clicking anything else, type in the name that you want.I will type in Alexa.
Then click the box that says Cricut Sans under Font in the top menu to see your font options Scroll through and click Fonts, to see how your name looks in it until you find one you like Make sure your font choice doesn’t have a price next to It to avoid a charge when you go to cut the design, I’m going to use the font called Tingler Print which can be purchased from fontbundles.net.But. You can use the font that you, like the best
If you’re using a long name, don’t worry, we can adjust the design If you need any help filtering and finding the best fonts check out. My Font Finder Cheat Sheet over at jennifermaker.com/cricut-fonts-list. Next drag the name into position under the word. “ birthday” Change the color to match the word: “ happy”. If you want your colors to match, that is
To do this, just click on the colored square in the top menu and select the color that you want. You could also resize your name now, if you’d, like it bigger or smaller Once your name is perfect. Look at the stars on either side. If the new name takes up more or less space than the name did before, they might be too close or too far from the design, But it’s an easy fix.
Click and drag each star closer to or farther from the name until you are happy, If you make a mistake, just click the undo arrow in the top menu. Remember we’ll place the design element separately, so it doesn’t have to be perfect on the screen.You. Can use these same steps to adjust the Happy Mother’s Day decal for different celebrations To do this click Ungroup and then hide the Mother’s layer and replace it with another word. Such as Father’s
If you want the font to match, I used a font called Beachwood, which you can also get from fontbundles.net. Now Beachwood is a script font, which means we want any connected letters to cut as one piece and I’m happy to report. That Cricut already knows this and will autoweld them for us when we go to cut it. So there’s no need to weld it manually, So just resize and change the color to match the other words
Remember the design doesn’t have to be perfect on the screen. You can position the flowers and other decal pieces as needed on the balloon. It’S really flexible Back on our Happy Birthday design. It’S time to cut Make sure you have the right machine selected and click, Make It.If, prompted click On Mat and Continue.
If you’re using the same colors as me, you should see three mats of different colors on the Prepare screen, We’re going to cut each of the nine elements apart before applying them to the balloon. So you may need to move them on the mats. To add some extra space for cutting them, apart with scissors Click on an element and drag it just enough to cut between each with a pair of scissors. Here’S what my elements look like on my three mats after spacing them out:
Click Continue in the bottom right and now we choose our material, We’re using permanent adhesive for all of the mats, so set your material to Premium. Vinyl Permanent Glossy.I always like to change my pressure to more for a cleaner cut Check. Remember these materials box to save yourself some time Now place your first piece of vinyl, shiny side up on your machine mat and use a brayer to make sure it’s fully adhered
Check that your fine point blade is clean and in clamp B and then load the mat into your machine and press the flashing button to begin cutting.When. The cut is finished, unload the mat flip it over and roll it back to release the vinyl Repeat the same steps for the other mats Step. Three prepare the decals. Now, let’s get our decals ready so that they’re ready to go once the balloon is blown up.
Cut the excess vinyl away from your designs and separate the elements With your weeding tool, remove the excess vinyl from the decals making sure to get. The letters’ centers Now cut a piece of transfer tape, a bit larger than the word “ birthday”, as we’ll be applying that piece. First, Remove the backing from the transfer tape. Fresh transfer tape is so sticky that it will grab the balloon surface and risk popping it
So here’s a tip Stick: the tape to a lint-free cloth and peel it off to tone down on the grabbiness of the transfer. Tape Now apply the transfer tape to your birthday, vinyl decal, by holding the transfer tape in the shape of a taco or a? U shape and then put the bottom of your taco onto the middle of your design, Smooth the tape over the decal from the center outward to minimize wrinkles and bubbles.And burnish the decals front and back with your scraper or a store loyalty card.
Step four prepare the balloon and bouquet materials. Now, let’s get the base ready too Gather your gift box, hot glue, gun, filler, balloon, stick scissors tissue paper and anything else you want to put in the finished box. I’M going to get some ribbon for decoration too Turn on your glue gun and let it heat up. So it’s ready.
Don’T let it get near your balloons once they’re blown up, though, that Bobo is strong, but the plastic will pop if you touch it with the glue gun’s hot metal tip. I cut a piece of ribbon 39 inches long and I tied it in a bow around the box. A dot of hot glue will keep the bow in place at the front, Feel free to play with the decorations and items that you want to put in the box to see how tall they’ll be. You can use coffee filters or other inexpensive paper as the bottom layer to fill up any empty space and prop up whatever you add to the box.
Then place the balloon: stick in the box and cut it, so it sticks out above the contents. A bit For mine. I cut the stick to about nine inches, Remove the decorations and hot glue one end of the stick into the center of the box and hold it in place. While the glue dries, We assemble the decorations in the box, making sure you don’t jostle the stick too much.If. It falls over just glue it again.
You can use hot glue to keep your filler and other items in place too ( bright, music, ), Here’s how mine looks, but you can try lots of different ideas. Now we can blow up the balloons. Unplug your glue gun just to be on the safe side, And you may want to remove any jewelry and smooth your nails to avoid snagging the balloon too.
Can you tell, I don’t want this balloon to pop ( chuckles softly )? So, do you remember how I mentioned preparing the big Bobo balloon? Here’S what I found helped it reach its blown up potential, Hold the balloon in both hands and pull it tightly in opposite directions. Go around the entire perimeter of the balloon, stretching it as you go.
Do this several times.When you’re done your balloon will look a little wrinkly, okay, a lot wrinkly! This is what we want. I also added some air to the Bobo and released it right away a few times Doing this until it wasn’t really wrinkly made the plastic easier to inflate
( bright music, ) And now for the magic inflating balloons within a balloon. So pick the colors that you want to use for the small balloons Secure one on the balloon pump, but don’t inflate it.Place, the small balloon inside your uninflated Bobo balloon pushing the main part of the small balloon up inside the large area of the Bobo And here’s A tip if you’re having trouble wrangling, both balloons and the pump
Bunching up or folding the Bobo’s neck opening made it easier to get the small balloon in place. This could take some practice, so don’t worry, Hold the opening of the Bobo balloon tightly around the end of the balloon pump to keep it in place while inflating the small balloon inside of it. The small balloons take just four or five pumps to inflate to about five inches Once the small balloon is inflated, hold its end tightly and remove it from the balloon pump.
Don’T let any of the air escape or lose the little balloon instead of the Bobo, Now tie this small balloon tightly and let it go so it is completely inside the Bobo balloon. Isn’T that cool, So repeat for three to five more small balloons.If, you want to add confetti or other non-sharp decorations to the Bobo. This is the right time to do it.
Once you have a couple balloons blown up inside the big one, it will start getting crowded and you may need to add some air to the Bobo. Balloon itself. Add only enough air to give the small balloon some room and allow space for more balloons If you’re having trouble keeping the air inside or you need to stretch your hands, give the balloon neck a few twists and clip it closed with a binder clip or a Clothes pin That’s also helpful when you’re preparing the next little balloon.And. Don’T worry if some of the air escapees, while you’re placing your next balloon inside
Your Bobo balloon will expand with each new balloon and you can add more air as needed. ( bright, music ). Once you have your small balloons inside you can blow up the Bobo balloon. I found a few tips to shape the Bobo For our design. To look straight, the Bobo balloon needs to be more of a circle than an egg shape. Since the balloon is so strong. We can shape it a bit while we’re blowing up
Here’S how you do it Use the pump to blow up the Bobo until there are no more wrinkles, then remove the pump Hold the opening of the balloon closed and carefully flip the balloon. So the top is touching your work surface With a bit of downward pressure. Roll the Bobo’s top to push the air more toward the opening. This will help the top and bottom of the balloon stretch into more of a circle.
Let a bit of air out and repeat the rounding process.Then, fully inflate the balloon and check that it’s closer to a circle than an egg and repeat until you’re happy with the shape. Since the Bobo is so strong. I found that I could keep adding air even after it looked full. I had the best results when I blew up the balloon to a circumference of between 40 and 48 inches at the widest part, Hold the end of the Bobo balloon tightly and remove the pump making sure you don’t let the air escape.
Twist the end several times before, tying it off and tie it as tightly as you can For added security. I used an uninflated small balloon like a string and tied it in a knot above the Bobo’s knot. Now, to prepare and add our decals.I tried a few different ways to apply the decals nice and straight on the balloon with mixed results, Since everyone’s balloon will be a slightly different size and shape. Getting everything perfect takes some experimentation.
The Bobo kind of has a mind of its own, so I tried a few ways to keep it steady As usual painters. Tape is the answer and I’ll explain.So place your Bobo on the work surface, making sure the center of one side is facing up. You can use the side seams to check just roll the balloon until one is on each side and they’re level, Now cut a long piece of painters, tape and attach one end to the right side of the balloon.
Cut another for the left and a third for the top Check that the balloon is still centered and attach the other ends of the tape to the work surface, pulling them tightly. So the balloon can’t move. It should look like mine. It kind of looks like how they hold a hot air balloon in place with ropes before they lift it off. Doesn’T it We’ll use painters tape again to create a guideline for our first decal
Look at your balloon from above and use your best judgment to determine where the horizontal center is Place. A small square piece of tape on the balloon in that spot.Use. Your tape measure to check the distance from the left seam to the piece of tape and the distance from the right seam to the tape. These distances should match If they don’t carefully, remove your tape and reposition it accordingly.
Now, it’s really centered Repeat the measuring process to get the vertical center too, measuring from the top seam and the knot and adjust your tape square as needed, Cut a six inch piece of tape and center it on the small square, creating a longer reference line. Look at your tape from above and make sure it looks level We don’t want it slanting down to the left or to the right.
Reposition it if you need to Step five, apply the vinyl balloon bouquet decal. Now that our balloon center is marked and it’s secure, we’re ready to apply the decals. I printed out a copy of my design to use as a reference, but you can also just keep your Cricut Design Space canvas open to look, at.So, get your prepared birthday decal and remove the paper backing from the vinyl
If your decal is still sticking to the backing paper, just replace the transfer, tape and burnish again Hold it just above the painters, tape underlining the decal’s and tape’s centers And here’s an important tip. Don’T position the decals so that the vinyl is on the tape. If they overlap, it will be difficult to remove the painters tape without moving your vinyl, Make sure it looks level and then lightly place the center of the decal onto the balloon.
Allow the sides to fall flat against the balloon, but don’t press anything down just yet Step back and take a look at the word to see. If it’s positioned how you’d like. If not no worries, You can still remove the decal and try again because you haven’t pressed down to adhere it. Yet, Once you’ve got your decal, where you want it, go ahead and press it down with your fingers from the center outward
Be gentle and try not to use your fingernails because we don’t want to accidentally pop the balloon.Press one letter down at a time making sure to get them nice and smooth. Before moving on to the next letter, Once you’ve pressed everything down, remove the painters, tape and the transfer tape Go slowly and make sure all the vinyl letters stay attached to the balloon. If a letter starts to come up, just push it back down before moving on place, the transfer tape on the next decal, so it’s ready to go.
Now, since we know birthday is positioned perfectly, you can apply the word “ happy” above it using it as your reference with the same technique.Make, sure you’re happy with the placement before pressing down Next apply the name that you’ve chose underneath the word “ birthday”, The three Words will be centered with each other in the middle of the balloon After you’ve applied the words, add the red sparkles
And you can use your design print out or canvas to help you with the layout.And finally apply the stars. The small stars go on either side of the name. The sets of stars go to the left and to the right of their words. “ Happy birthday” with the large stars at the top on either side of “ happy” And you did it You’ve customized your balloon with a fun decal.
Step six assemble the balloon bouquet Insert the Bobo balloon’s tied end into the balloon cup slit and wrap it around the base.If. Your end isn’t long enough to wrap around that’s okay, it should still stay attached. You can even add some tape or rubber band. If you want to make sure it’s attached really well After you’ve attached the cup to the balloon slide it onto the stick,
Then step back and check how everything looks Be sure to admire your hard work. If you’d, like you, can add some finishing touches with ribbon and bows, Pretty impressive and not as intimidating as they look right. Your finished balloon bouquet is now ready for a loved one or your next party.
And now that you know all the secrets, don’t you want to make a balloon bouquet for every event, I just love all of the possibilities, and I can’t wait to see what you come up with using this tutorial Now, if you don’t want to use up all Of your pretty tissue paper, filling the box ,’cause. That box is pretty big coffee filters, make a great first layer.So, that’s a tip for you. You can also use a hot glue gun to keep everything in place.
Sticky, glue dots are also helpful if you need to secure something to your balloon, So make sure you have a variety of different adhesives And this is purely optional, but I really love how the ribbon pulls these bouquets. Together, I used a few different types as you can see: here.So balloon bouquets, make great gifts for all kinds of occasions.
You could make one with flowers for Mother’s Day or one with candy for Valentine’s Day. That would be really cool’cause. You’D have to pop it to get the candy or one with fairy lights, wrapped around it as a centerpiece for a wedding. You could even add things like confetti flowers, tissue paper, feathers or pompoms inside your Bobo balloon, instead of or in addition to your small balloons, There are so many options for customizing your bouquet and I’d love to see what you come up. With.So you can use my decals customize them or start designing your own. If you do remember to break your design into smaller elements to make applying them easier, it really really makes a difference.
All right now, if you have any questions about making these awesome balloon bouquets that I didn’t answer here in this tutorial or anything else, craft related that I might be able to help you with. Let me know, Leave your question below this video or come ask over in our awesome, Cricut Crafters group at jennifermaker.com/cricutcrafters. I love to help and I love to see you make things And that’s it for today. Until next time this is Jennifer Maker, reminding you to craft a life, you love
( bright music, ) Read More 5 Dollar Tree Crafts With Cricut
