Balloon Bowl - by By Belle (Michele)

Hey everyone, by belle here with my first post as a Crop Chocolate design team member.  I can’t tell you how excited I am to be sharing with you!!  Thanks for stopping by!!

Our July theme is ‘Ombre’, it is a technique you may have also heard called gradient.  I did some research and found that the definition of ombre is:  shaded or graduated in tone: said of a color. 

As I am sure is the case with all of us, we have all kinds of great scrap pieces of our favorite papers that we just don’t want to give up hope on using.  I was keeping this in mind when I decided what kind of project I wanted to make my grand entrance with…

My project uses a paper mache technique with standard Elmer’s glue and water.  I made this cute little ‘bowl’. 

You will need:  Elmer’s glue, water, a balloon, small plastic cup, paint brush, scissors and of course, paper.  My paper is MME Lost and Found that I got right here at Crop Chocolate.

After you have selected your paper whether it is scraps or crisp new pieces, start by cutting strips of paper and then cut pieces to be soaked in your glue mixture.  You could even punch shapes if you wanted a more uniform look.  The size of your paper pieces will depend on how big your balloon is.  I used a mini water balloon so my pieces were small.

Mix glue and water, equal parts in a bowl that you can soak you paper pieces in.  Let them soak for a few minutes; you may even want to crumple them a little so they are more flexible.

Start arranging your paper on the balloon making sure there are no spaces that you can see through to the balloon.  When you have all the paper how you want it, paint one more layer of glue mixture, for good measure.  Allow to dry.  I left it alone overnight.

 

When the glue is all dry pop the balloon with a pin or needle and discard the broken balloon.

Trim around the top and seal both inside and out with something like mod podge.  I used Distress Crackle Paint-Clear Rock Candy (that I got at Crop Chocolate) because I love that distress crackle.  Once that was dry I set the bowl down on a flat surface to see how it would sit naturally and then formed the bottom flat a little so it would not roll around.

Embellish as desired.  I made some flowers with scraps of paper and punched holes around the top to lace some celery ribbon around and tied a bow.  I also used from Crop Chocolate:  Liquid Pearls-white, MM button, Doodlebug button, EP Playground (leaves and tag), Distress Ink-Shabby Shutters, MME Lost and Found Madison Ave twine, BG Micro Mono alpha.

Think of all the things you could put in this cute little container, paper clips, buttons, Q-tips, etc.  Or even a cute little diorama, oh the possibilities…

Hope you enjoyed my first project; I certainly had FUN making it!  Oh and I hope that if you try this technique you’ll share it because I LOVE see what others are doing!!