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Hot Air Balloon Craft: Inspired by “OZ the Great and Powerful”

By Jonie @ Just Between Friends on June 13, 2013 in diy, sponsor, tutorial

*Disclosure* This is a sponsored post. All opinions are 100% my own.

Have you seen the movie “OZ the Great and Powerful” yet? We have watched it several times and we LOVE it at our house! While I was watching it, I was inspired by the colors and whimsy that you see throughout the entire movie. If you haven’t watched it yet, you should just to see the amazing design that went into making it.

Anyway, the reason I tell you all that is because while I was watching it, I had a lightbulb moment. I have been needing to add something to my girl’s room in their reading corner for some time now. When I saw the colors and the hot air balloons I just knew I needed to use those in their room for sure! The colors of the clouds in OZ reminded me of the poms that I already had in the reading corner and this whole design fell into place from there. Before we start, let me just show you where I started so that you know why it needed an update. This alphabet art is #1 missing letters, and #2 not really that fun anymore. I am in love with the new look! It all just looks so much more balanced and fun now!

Today I am going to show you how to make the hot air balloons. If you would like to make the up, up and away artwork, come back tomorrow for that tutorial. * POST EDIT* You can find the tutorial for the hot air balloon wall art available now. Here’s how I did made the balloons:

Supplies:

Scrapbook paper in various patterns, colors and textures
Glue stick
Fishing Wire
(optional: twine and bunting)

Let’s get started! I began by using my silhouette to cut out all the hot air balloon shapes. If you don’t own a silhouette, you could always just cut out a balloon shape with some scissors and add a cute paper basket below.

Once I had cut out several balloons in two different sizes and 6 different papers, I started to assemble them. You fold them in half so that the front of the balloon is in the middle and then you glue the backsides of each balloon together. It doesn’t matter how many you glue together. The more that you do the fuller the balloon will be, and the less you do, the more that you will see the pattern because it isn’t being smashed together by all the other sides. (make sense?)

After you have it all glued together, you can add little details to the balloon to make it even cuter. I used this bunting paper from Dear Lizzie’s 5th and Frolic Line because it was the perfect color, convenient, and easy to use. If you want to make your own bunting though, you can do that too. I also used some bakers twine to add some bows to the sides. I think the little details make it even more cute!

The best part about these balloons is that you can really customize it to anything you want. I alternated papers on some of them, and others I wanted to be just of one paper. And of course I had to use glittery emerald colored paper. It was the perfect tie in for the Emerald City. I really think the glitter paper is so perfect for this!

Now that your balloons are all finished, get out that fishing line. I stuck the line through the top in the center of all of the papers and then used a little hot glue to hold it in place. Don’t pull on the line until after the glue has hardened and it will hold it in place perfectly.

Hang those cute little hot air balloons from the ceiling and show them to your kids! They are going to feel like they are living in the “Land of Oz” every time that they go in their room.

Have I convinced you that you need to see this movie yet? If you want to see it, you are in luck! The Blu-ray combo pack was just released yesterday! Go get it and be inspired too.

If you would like to learn more about “Oz The Great and Powerful” or if you want more inspiration from the movie you can find out more here:

*Disclosure* This is a sponsored post. All opinions are 100% my own.

Here are some more incredible projects that were inspired by Oz:

Comments { 20 }

DIY Hello Sign

By Jonie @ Just Between Friends on May 27, 2013 in diy, Porch, POV, sponsor, tutorial

My front door has been seriously lacking any sort of curb appeal for quite a while now. I figured I should remedy that and got to work making it welcoming and bright. I don’t think anyone could come to my door and not feel welcomed by something so fun and colorful. What do you think? Would you put one on your door? Let me show you how I made this DIY hello sign for under $5. WHAT?!?! Yep, you heard me. UNDER $5! Let’s get to work.

First you will need to purchase this fun “hello” vinyl from Fab Decor. It is available in so many fun colors and it’s only $1! I chose the orange because it was so bright and perfect for my front door.

Next, you will need to get (2) 1X2X8 pieces of wood from Home Depot or Lowes. They usually are only $2 or so. Have them cut you (6) 18 inch pieces (or you can cut it yourself) and you will also need 2 pieces of wood that are about 10 inches long. Lay the 18 inch pieces of wood down next to each other and then place the 10 inch pieces on top of them. Nail them into place making sure that you use nails on each piece.

Your base sign is now ready. I sanded the edges a little bit before painting it, but then I took some white paint and just did a white washed coat of paint on the wood allowing the wood to still be seen in some places. The way to do this is to make sure that you don’t have too much paint in your paint brush and just dry brush it onto the wood. I added the vinyl to the board first so that I could see exactly where I would put the arrows, then I cut out a stencil with a bunch of cute arrows using my silhouette machine. (You could also just trace arrow shapes onto the wood and then paint them in.) I cut them out using cardstock and just made sure to use minimal paint around the edges so that it didn’t bleed underneath. After the paint was dry, I sanded it down just a little bit so that it had a little bit of a worn out look to it.

Last, I added a quick bow using tulle. All I did was bunch up a big piece of tulle and then wrapped the middle with a smaller piece to make it look like a bow. It is simple but effective. To attach it to the board, I just used hot glue.

To hang it on the door, I nailed two nails in the back of the board and then wrapped wire around each piece leaving it long enough that it hung where I wanted it to.

Ta-da! What do you think? I am SO happy with the way it turned out. Even if you don’t make the sign just like mine, you should get the cute “hello” vinyl and do SOMETHING with it. I think it is darling and would look great on anyone’s door. With a price like $1, you can’t really go wrong.

Comments { 4 }

Family Share Giveaway

By Jonie @ Just Between Friends on May 27, 2013 in giveaway, sponsor

Do you remember the awesome camera that the winner of Blog Wars will be getting? Well, it was provided by the awesome people at Familyshare.com and they are wanting to giveaway more amazing prizes! I am so excited about this giveaway!

There is nothing better than spending quality time with your family during the summer. This year we are going to help get the ball rolling with a prize pack that is sure to help build some great memories!

Jump into summer with these awesome prizes provided by FamilyShare.com!

You could win a Little Tikes bounce house, Zoku Quick Pop Maker, Pops! recipe book, and a Nikon CoolPix to help capture all of the great memories you are sure to make while enjoying these fun summer staples!

Entering is easy! Follow all of the participating bloggers on Pinterest. Once you’ve done that fill out the Rafflecopter form and you’re done! The giveaway will run from today until June 2nd, so be sure to go enter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*This promotion is sponsored by FamilyShare.com and is in no way affiliated with Little Tikes, Nikon, Zoku or Pinterest. We hereby release Pinterest, Nikon, Little Tikes and Zoku of any liability related to this promotion, the receipt of prize winnings, etc. The giveaway will run from Monday, May 27th at 12:01 AM MDT and ends Saturday June First at 11:59 PM MDT. Once the giveaway ends, winners will be chosen using Random.org and contacted via e-mail within 24 hours. Winners will then have 48 hours to claim their prize or another winner will be chosen. This giveaway is open worldwide except where prohibited by law. Winners must be of full legal age in the jurisdiction in which they live. FamilyShare is only responsible for sending out the prize. FamilyShare is not responsible for loss, damage or theft once the prize is shipped. Participants will be responsible for any taxes, tariffs duties, etc. due upon delivery of the prize.