So, I get asked all the time, “How did you ever get started doing balloons?” Well, I have 6 children, so with 6 children comes birthday parties ALL THE TIME! I found early on that balloons were an easy way to fill space and add huge decorative value to all my kids parties. But it really took off when I walked into a party store in Fairbanks, Alaska to get some decorations for a birthday party. It was October and they had a balloon column inside the door with this awesome balloon spider crawling on top of it. I thought to myself “I can do that!?!” I was lucky, because it was an awesome store that carried all kinds of balloon supplies. So I purchased what I thought I would need and headed home to recreate that awesome spider. I made like 7 or 8 of them to crawl all over the walls and furniture for the following weeks leading up to Halloween. A few months later we moved from Alaska and I packed away my balloon supplies. We found our way to Valley City, North Dakota. A town that would provide me with so many wonderful opportunities to do more with balloons. That Spring the PTO was preparing for the school picnic. I asked if they needed someone to decorate. They said that was not an event that they typically decorated for. I thought to myself “How can that be?” So I quickly volunteered my time and resources to make some decorations. I went home and told my husband I was going to make balloon flowers to celebrate the arrival of Spring. He asked me “Do you know how to make balloon flowers?” I responded “No, but I think I can do that!?!” So I found my box of supplies that had been packed away, grabbed my laptop and searched the internet for directions. I made the simplest flowers...a lot of them. They weren’t perfect, but I had created something I thought was pretty cool. The following fall as school was about to start I volunteered to make some balloon sculptures for the back to school night. Again my husband asked “Do you know how to make a balloon sculpture?” and once again I responded “No, but, I can do it!?!” So I grabbed some water balloons and some wire and created numbers and letters. They were most definitely not perfect, but they were pretty awesome. As time went on I would see ideas on Pinterest or Facebook and then would find an event or reason so I could create those ideas. School picnics, music programs,scouting events, holidays, reading nights, gymnastics meets, church parties, you name it. I could, and would, find just about any reason to make balloon decorations. Sometimes I was asked to do rather large things. I made a giant balloon tree for a gymnastics program and the next year I created the Emerald City from the Wizard of Oz. I made cactus and tumbleweeds for a desert scene, giant flower gardens for a musical production, floating fish for an under the sea musical production, balloon fireworks for my favorite holiday, giant lollipops and strings of candy balloons for a Willy Wonka event, Christmas trees for a holiday meet, the list goes on and on. All the while, never being paid for it, just doing it because I enjoyed creating with balloons. We moved Grand Forks, North Dakota in 2016. I was still doing balloon things, but not as often. I did a balloon photo frame for a friend’s son’s graduation and was asked to do one for a Red River HS reunion that year as well. In May of 2019 I was preparing balloons for my kids’ gymnastics banquet and some of the parents kept telling me that I should do this as a business. I said “NO ONE is going to pay me to do balloons.” They told me “EVERYONE would want your balloons!” Well, a friend asked me about a week later to help her make some balloon decorations for a Relay for Life event. I created some really marvelous things for her. Could I really make this into a business? I decided to give it a go. What did I have to lose? So, by the end of May I set up Facebook page and made up some business cards. I didn’t really know who would want to buy my decorations, but what the heck! I had made some decorations for my kids’ end of school events, posted some pictures and right away had people contacting me with requests. CRAZY! Now I have people send me photos of things or message to ask if I can make something (like a Titanic) and I reply “I can do that!” I have taken some online balloon art classes and I scour Pinterest all the time for ideas, so that as people ask me I can pull up stuff on my ‘I can do that!?! list’ I am always so excited when someone asks for something I have pinned and have been wanting to create, but had no reason to do so. So, if there is something you are needing balloons for, I would be happy to create something wonderful for you. I can’t wait to see what other awesome things I will get to create. Now you know.