|
Some of the best decorations are the ones that are easiest to make. Yarn balloons are a craft that both adult and child will enjoy doing and, once done, they look fabulous hanging from the ceiling or the trees outside. While these yarn balloons can be made for virtually any special occasion, here we will cater them for the Easter holidays.
Another great thing about yarn balloons is that not only are they simple to make, they are inexpensive, too. Before you begin, you will need some regular white craft glue, water, a large plastic bowl, balloons of various sizes and colored yarn (for the Easter holidays, pastels in green, blue and pink work best). Whether or not you are working on this Easter project with your kids, you will want to work on a flat surface with newspaper strewn over it to catch glue spills. Also, try to work in an outfit that you won’t mind getting messy and, if you have long hair, keep it pulled back so you won’t have to spend the rest of the night washing glue out of it.
For each yarn balloon you will make, blow up a balloon. Before the kids start fighting over which color balloon they want to blow up, let them know that the color of the balloon does not matter for this project, since it will be popped later anyway. In your large plastic bowl, pour in some of your white craft glue. Add a few tablespoons of water to help thin out the glue mixture. Cut your different colored pieces of yarn into strings about a foot to a foot and a half long. Dip one of the colored strings of yarn into the glue mixture and pull it out, using your thumb and forefinger to squeeze out the excess glue. If you use too much glue on the yarn, the project will take much longer to dry and the yarn will not hold tight. Once the yarn piece is all glued up, wrap it gently around the balloon in whichever direction you choose. Continue doing this until the entire balloon is covered in yarn with only a few spots showing the balloon underneath.
Wrapping the yarn around the balloon is an art in itself. You can create patterns with your yarn using different colored layers or you can simply throw the string onto the balloon for more of a “graffiti” style. Allow your children to wrap their balloons in whichever style they choose since the end product is guaranteed to look fantastic. One enhancement you can make to give the yarn balloon more of a sparkling effect is to add some glitter to your glue mixture before dipping the yarn.
Once you have finished wrapping your balloon, set the wrapped balloon on some wax paper to dry. You will probably not want to set your balloon to dry on something like newspaper since you don’t want the newspaper to stick to the finished product. Give the balloon time to dry overnight. Once it is completely dry (touch it to make sure it feels firm and not wet), you can pop the balloon through one of the holes between the yarn and simply pull the balloon out. At this point, you can use some extra yarn to hang from the top of the yarn balloon so that you can hang the balloon from the ceiling or from the tree. If you want to decorate your balloon some more, you can glue some colorful sequins to the outside of the balloon, or you can hang a tassel of yarn from the bottom of each balloon.
|
| |
