We had a string of super cold, like windchill below zero, days last week, which led to lots of crafting. Ornaments were the theme of the week. Judging by our pinecone garland and party tree, festive and colorful decorations are the theme of our holiday decorating this year.
What is more festive than balloons? These are so fun, I can’t even stand it!
To make these happy ornaments, I drew designs on the plastic ornaments with my low temp glue gun. Then, I cut the neck of a balloon and stretched it over the balls. The hot glue creates a raised design underneath the stretched balloon. How cool is that?
Step 1. Create your hot glue design on a plastic ornament.
Step 2. Let the glue cool.
Step 3. Cut the neck off a balloon right where it meets the rounded part of the balloon. With some work, it should be able to stretch over the ornament. If not, cut more off.
Step 4. Stretch the balloon over the plastic ornament.
Step 5. Tug on the balloon to pull it up over the top of the ornament. Pull the balloon further than you need to so it will stretch and stay around the top of the ornament. Put the top of the ornament back on.
Note: I do not recommend doing this on glass ornaments. While stretching the balloons over the ornament, you might crush a glass ornament in your hands. Ouch! The plastic ornaments are much safer. I found mine at Michaels.
I experimented with a few different designs. The lines wrapping the ball and the heart were simple and effective. My first attempt at writing out “joy”, I made the letters too small. Large, simple letters worked better. I adore the hobnail ornament, but all those glue dots led to a lot of strings. If you have a secret hot glue method to avoid strings, definitely make a hobnail ornament. The snowflake is good, but might be a little to intricate to be fully appreciated from a distance.
What do you think? Are you dying to try balloon-dipping?
Those turned out great! I like the hobnail one the best.
So fun!
Jackie,
I think this is one of my favorite Holiday tutorials this season! I love these!!! Lesley
These go with your basement lantern theme but on a smaller scale. So it just ties your entire decorating theme together. So clever. I’d have never thought to use balloons!!! Love them!
Great idea! For less string mess I saw a guest on Carol Duval kinda do a spin motion at the end when she lifted the glue gun. Carol was so impressed she asked about the motion. Think end point as the center of a clock, and swirling one way or the other a few turns. Takes a bit of practice, but I have found it helps a lot!