Ribbons please!

Ok, so for my first *real* attempt at this blogging thing! I posted this picture on Pinterest, and it seems to be the most popular so far:

They're SUPER easy to make, all you need are

• balloons
• elmer's glue
• water
• ribbon

I used the kind of ribbon you can buy for 50 cents a spool. I think each spool has about 10 yards. I think. (yeah, the first few entries on this here blog may not be the most detailed....I wasn't thinking "blog" when I was making stuff yet) But anyway, the width seems to be just right. If your ribbon is too wide it doesn't shape to the balloon very well and looks more messy.

To begin, make sure your work space is covered. This is some messy fun!! Also have a place ready to hang the balloon so it can dry. I used a clothesline in my basement so they could just drip on the concrete floor and don't drive me crazy.

Mix together equal parts glue and water. Sometimes if I think I put too much water in or I'm running low on glue I'll throw in a little bit of flour, ala elementary school paper mache. Unwind a spool of ribbon and loosely coil it in the glue/water mixture. Knots suck when your hands are all gluey and the ribbon is wet and you're trying to hold onto a balloon and the ribbon and untangle it all at the same time!! Trust me, I know this from experience haha!!

Start wrapping the wet, gluey ribbon around the balloon. Try to get most of the balloon covered, as this will help it hold it's shape once it is dry. Usually on a 12" balloon I use 3-4 spools of ribbon..I think..like I said, I did this one before I was thinking I would need to remember all the steps for a blog!! You can just use your judgement and see what you like the look of as you go.

When you like the way it looks, hang it up to dry on your line. It will drip, so don't put it over anything too important or precious! Let them dry. I leave them overnight to make sure they're all the way dry.

Before I go and just pop the balloon, I push the balloon away from the ribbon with my fingers a little. The couple of times I didn't, the balloon was still stuck to the ribbon and the decoration lost it's shape a bit when I popped it and I had to go back and try to reshape it. It was more of a pain than just pushing on the balloon.

The last, most funnest step comes now: pop the balloon!!