Valentine Hot Air Balloon

I can’t believe it is almost February.  Wasn’t it just Christmas????  Anyhow, every year I make a valentine for my husband; and this year its a hot air balloon with its basket full of candy.

Last summer I posted a tutorial on how to make a hot air balloon.  If you missed it there is a video and templates that you can download.  Click here to jump to the tutorial.

The basic difference between this balloon and the ones in the tutorial is that instead a hanging balloon it is made to sit on a flat surface.  The balloon is held up with a wooden dowel. The basket is a piece of cardboard tubing from wrapping paper.  The chains hanging from the balloon are not connected to the basket.  I wanted to give the appearance that they were but if I actually connected them then it would be hard to get the candy in and out. 

To jazz up the balloon I used some filigree pieces (which I bent to fit the shape of the edges) to accommodate beads.  The banner at the top is attached to a straight pin with a heart (it came that way).  I snipped part of the pin off and inserted it through the top of the balloon and into the wooden dowel.  I pre-poked a hole in the top of the dowel to accommodate the pin.

It would be easy to scale this up to include lots more candy or other goodies.  All of the supplies I used are from my stash.

Below are the two banners I cooked up for the project.  Feel free to use them.