Showing posts with label Spring Fair. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spring Fair. Show all posts

Monday, February 13, 2023

Cupcake Theme Balloon Decoration Ideas!

Last week I attended the Spring Fair at the NEC Birmingham. Spring Fair is an annual B2B trade show where businesses go, and that includes many of the major high street and online retailers as well as small independent stores, to buy new and inspiring products to sell in their stores. The fair is not only balloon and party related, it covers an abundance of products from fashion to jewellery, cookware and thousands of other products! The next show will be from the 4th -7th February 2024, so don't forget to mark it in your diary if you are UK based! 

So what does this have to do with Cupcakes? Each year, for more years than I can actually remember, I have been given the amazing opportunity to create balloon designs for Qualatex Europe's windows at this trade event! Each year I am tasked with creating and designing displays that feature new balloons and products from scratch.


Colourful Balloon Cupcake by Sue Bowler
Balloon Cupcake by Sue Bowler, inspired by Dante Longhi

For my first window, I was asked to feature the new Birthday Ombrè Cupcake, a fabulous new 31" Microfoil balloon.



My Inspiration

Before I even touch a balloon, I start by creating a mood board; this helps me to get an idea of the balloons that I should feature within my displays. I use Canva to create my mood boards. I simply import the balloons and any images that I want to use to help me with my display. This is also a great way to show your clients your ideas when you are still in the development stages of your designs.



Cupcake Window Display Mood-Board 



I knew that Dante Longhi of Dream Factory Balloons in New Jersey, USA had designed and made balloon cupcakes, so this was my first stop, to find out the technique! Fortunately for me, Dante had filmed himself making the cupcake for the QCorner convention last year. 

To learn how to make Dante's 3-D Cupcake Sculpture watch the video below! 


Watching this video was invaluable as it helped me understand the technique that I needed to use. My next challenge was then to work out the balloon sizing, as my cupcake was much smaller than Dante's! I surprisingly worked out the sizing quite quickly and after only a few attempts my cupcake began to take shape! I cannot tell you how much fun I had creating this design and seeing it grow into the final result! 

Here are photos from each step of building the cupcake:

Balloon Cupcake Base Layer
Base Layer



Balloon Cupcake
View looking into the Cupcake

Second Layer Added


Two Layers of Frosting added

And the final balloon added to fill in the top



Here is the final result and my window display!

I did actually make some changes to Dante's original design. I only use four rings, whereas Dante uses five. This helped me to reduce the size and height of the design to ensure that it was in proportion to the window space that I had available.

Colourful Balloon Cupcake by Sue Bowler
Balloon Cupcake by Sue Bowler - inspired by Dante Longhi

Colourful Balloon Cupcake design by Sue Bowler
Window Display created by Sue Bowler for Qualatex Europe at Spring Fair 2023

If you are interested to learn how to make the smaller cupcake design, email me sue@bapiaonline.com and I will happily share the sizing, just follow the same construction techniques as shown in Dante's video above! 

A huge thank you to Dante for his incredible talent and for sharing this design! 

I will be sharing my other window displays over the next few weeks! 

Happy Ballooning! 

Sue
Follow me @suebowler

Sunday, February 13, 2022

Spring Fair 2022 - Check out what we've been up to on the Qualatex Stand! Part 1.

So what is Spring Fair? Probably the best way to describe Spring Fair is that it is a B2B (business to business) trade show for the retail market.This show attracts thousands of customers from around the world looking to buy new and exciting products for their shops, stores and showrooms.

Spring Fair has been an annual event for me for many years. Each year I have had the honour and privilege (and what some might call daunting task) of creating a variety of displays for the Qualatex stand. My remit is to create displays that displays new and existing products in a creative way to promote and inspire customers visiting the stand.

Due to the worldwide pandemic, last year's show was cancelled, as with most events! As you can imagine, myself and the Pioneer Europe Team were extremely happy to be back once again! 

Dinosaur Design by Sue Bowler CBA
Design by Sue Bowler, CBA

Meet the Pioneer Europe Team and Instructors

Pioneer Europe Team & Instructors


The Window Displays

Designs by Sue Bowler, CBA


This year I was assigned four themes to create designs for, and each theme required two displays. It is the first time that I have made displays for double-decker windows, and so I was a little unsure how it would work. I am happy to report that it was successful!

These are the themes I got to create for:

  • Dinosaur
  • New Baby
  • Adult Milestone Birthday
  • Child Birthday

Dinosaur theme

If I am honest, when I was first asked to create a display with the Dino theme, I was a little concerned, as this is not a 'subject' that I usually work with! However, it proved to be one of my favourite window displays ever, and offered me the opportunity to step outside of my usual style! The tree that I made was actually created in inspiration of the extremely talented Alberto Falcone, CBA. Alberto is a true artist and everything that he makes is a work of art! 

Sue Bowler with her Dinosaur window display



Dinosaur Window Display Design by Sue Bowler CBA
Design by Sue Bowler, CBA

The hoop display below had a mobile effect, and gently spun around with slight air movement.

Dinosaur Window Display Design by Sue Bowler CBA
Design by Sue Bowler, CBA
Northstar 46" Stegosaurus
#63854



42" Tyrannosaurus
#88459



The tree was made from aluminium rod and secured to a small weighted base. I used 160Q and 260Q balloons to create the tree, and twisted and twined them together to create this fabulous effect. To ensure that the balloons lasted and looked good for the duration of the show, I treated each balloon with HI-FLOAT. This may sound like a tricky job, but it's actually quite easy when you use the smallest bottle that has the long nozzle that fit perfectly into a 260Q! 



The hoop design was made on PVC electrical conduit that was secured with a push fit connector. Using PVC conduit allowed me to make the hoop the size that I required for the design.

Qualatex Balloon Colours

All the balloons were double-stuffed: this is something that I always do when I create displays for events such as this. This ensures that the balloons last the duration of the event, plus I like to create custom colours to give tonal changes and create new and exciting colours! This colour selection would also be perfect for a Harry Potter themed party.

Qualatex
Mocha Brown
Emerald Green
Spring Green
Sparkling Burgundy
Green
Chrome Gold

Baby Theme

This window gave me the opportunity to display the new Baby Girl Garland and Baby Girl Dark SkinTone balloon. You will see that I have included some of the garland shapes with my design below, if you would like to learn how to do this I have added a link to Cam & Eve's video - Happy Hour with Cam & Eve: Let's play with the NEW Microfoil Garland Balloon.


New Baby Window Display by Sue Bowler CBA
Design by Sue Bowler, CBA

Rainbow display by Sue Bowler CBA
Design by Sue Bowler, CBA

New Baby Window display by Sue Bowler, CBA
Design by Sue Bowler, CBA

22" Baby Girl Pink Confetti Dots Bubble
#10035

41" Baby Girl Garland
#17765

38" Baby Girl Dark Skin Tone
#18943

Adult Milestone Display

I love a pink and floral display, so as you can imagine this was a favourite for me. In this display I featured the fabulous new 33" Pink Peony and the 22" Birthday to You Pink Peonies Bubble balloon. I also used one of my favourites, the 18" Birthday Pink & Gold Dots, which is such an elegant balloon. I accented my designs with beautiful silk peonies and greenery. For the smaller window, I created a heart using a heart frame and added balloons in an organic style. The colours that I used are:
Qualatex
Pink
Rose
Wild Berry
Pearl Pink
White
Chrome Gold
Mocha Brown - Inside Rose and Pearl Pink


Elegant Balloon Heart Frame Design by Sue Bowler
Design by Sue Bowler, CBA

Female 50th Birthday Displays by Sue Bowler, CBA
Design by Sue Bowler, CBA

Elegant Balloon & Flowers Hat Box display by Sue Bowler CBA
Design by Sue Bowler, CBA

Elegant Balloon Heart Frame Design by Sue Bowler - www.suebowler.com
Design by Sue Bowler, CBA

22" Birthday to you Pink Peonies Bubble
#18649

33" Pink Peony 
#18712

Child Milestone Display

The fourth and final window display was to show the new Birthday Blue Dots (Ages 1-5) and the Birthday Boy Blue Dots balloons. This was such a fun display to make. I created a number 3 frame and made some Monkey Balloon Buddies... all of which would be perfect for a 3 year olds birthday! 

18" Birthday Boy Blue Dots
#18874

18" Age 3 Blue Dots
#23109



Age 3 Birthday Boy Window Display by Sue Bowler, CBA
Design by Sue Bowler, CBA

Age 3 Birthday Boy Window Display by Sue Bowler, CBA
Design by Sue Bowler, CBA

The colours that I used in this display are:
Qualatex
Pale Blue
Pearl Light Blue
Robin's Egg Blue
Caribbean Blue
White
Pearl Azure
Chrome Gold


In Part 2, I will show you the "Four Seasons" displays that Alberto Falcone and I made, along with other attractive features from the stand! 

I hope that you enjoyed seeing all these designs, and that it might give you a little inspiration for your own displays and designs! 

Happy Ballooning! 

Sue
Follow me @suebowler


Monday, February 23, 2015

A short overview of this year's Spring Fair & Nuremberg Toy Fair 2015



Stand Decor by Fiona & Rodney Fisher
The NEC Birmingham, England has been the host of Spring Fair since 1976. Spring Fair is Europe's leading presentation of gift and home products and the largest trade exhibition in the UK. From 1st February to 5th February 2015, Qualatex proudly wowed customers with fantastic displays of balloons and decor along with with their fantastic range of balloons and accessories, and introduced many new and exciting products for 2015. 

Qualatex have been exhibiting at Spring Fair for 20 years and I have been part of the Qualatex Spring Fair team for quite a few of those years. It is truly a team effort that makes the stand look so impressive, which we know is very important for visiting guests and prospective customers.

This years stand decor was designed and created by Fiona & Rodney Fisher with the help from the Pioneer Europe team! The colours and design were awesome, impressive giant flowers and garlands using Caribbean Blue, Wild Berry with a hint of 'Fashion' Rainbow Super Agates was simply stunning and stood out from all the other trade stands!

Here's what one of our customers said:
"The stand was beautiful. It was vibrant , colourful , fresh and created alot of ideas to work with in our own business . The spongebob display was a great idea for childrens parties , the pink champagne bottle is a perfect product to add to the hen section or just a girls night out or party , I think it will be a great success . '"- Sonya from Partyworld, Ireland
The great thing about attending a show like this is that there is so much on offer. Not only can you visit your favourite suppliers and find new ones, you get to see firsthand all the great new products that will be available during the year. 

There are great demonstrations and seminars including The Stage where Keith Stirman, Dominic Cassidy and myself presented a range of designs using some of the fantastic new Qualatex balloons, including the beautiful new Wedding Butterfly that adorned both stands! 



After I had finished my stint working at the eduction centre on the Qualatex stand, I took the opportunity to walk around a few of the other exhibition halls. I always like to see what's exciting and new in other markets, especially if I feel that it might be the next big thing that can be used with balloons. You also get the opportunity to see the latest trends too! I discovered some other great seminars going on and was lucky enough to sit in on an e-commerce seminar 'Secrets for e-commerce success', which I found really informative and picked up some really great tips. I think that next year I will try and plan to attend a variety of the seminars especially some of the more creative one's such as display techniques and creative gift wrapping which I feel would be very beneficial in our industry.

Every year Spring Fair and the International Toy Fair in Nuremberg, Germany run almost at the same time giving International customers the opportunity to attend both shows - which many do! Once again, the Qualatex stand was beautifully decorated with very elegant and eye-catching decor created by Luc Bertand with a little help from the Pioneer Europe export team.
Stand Decor by Luc Bertrand

Spielwarenmesse International Toy Fair Nürnberg, Germany is the largest international trade fair for toys and games held annually since 1949. Only trade visitors associated with the toy business, journalists and invited guests are admitted.








Here is a short presentation of photographs from both the Spring Fair and International Toy Fair.


Michelle Commerford, Head of Sales and Marketing at Pioneer Europe shared her thoughts on this year's shows.
"Nuremberg Toy Fair and Spring Fair International have been exceptionally good for us this year. The 2015 Qualatex Everyday Catalogue (European Version) is 40 pages heavier and all the new products have received great feedback from our customers. It was nice to catch up with old friends and see how their business is doing, as well as meeting new customers and help them start in the balloon business." 
To download a copy of the latest European Qualatex  2015 Everyday Catalogue CLICK HERE

Both Spring Fair and the International Toy Fair are trade shows that are exclusive to trade customers only. To attend either of these shows you need to pre-register, so why not register today for 2016!

Happy Ballooning!

Sue Bowler
www.suebowler.com





Thursday, February 6, 2014

An opportunity to take a 5 minute tour around the Qualatex Stand at the 2014 Spring Fair.

I cannot exactly remember how many years I have been part of the Qualatex Spring Fair crew, but it is quite a few now and I have enjoyed each and every one of them!

www.SPRINGFAIR.com

For a number of years I have been invited to create the designs for the window displays, which is a huge honour for me as well as a massive challenge... what can I make to show off the new range of Qualatex balloons at their Very Best? I was pretty lucky this year as most of the theme's were totally 'up my street', very feminine, I even think that my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle was a pretty version!


Friday, January 3, 2014

Happy New Year...and welcome to 2014!

I hope that you had a very productive 'ballooning' Christmas and New Years eve, and even managed to fit in and enjoy some family time over the holiday period! 

Looking at the Qualatex Facebook Groups it appears that many of you were busy creating some awesome Christmas and New Years decor, which is fantastic, congratulations to you all!

Before I start working on a heap of 2014 projects (which is always very exciting), I would like to take a quick look back Christmas 2013!

Starpoint & Taper Wall - by Sue Bowler CBA
I personally had a very busy time leading up to Christmas working with my husband John. As many of you will know, BAPIA -- the Balloon and Party Industry Alliance, took on the fantastic task of organising balloon decor for Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital annual Christmas parties, held for all the sick children and their families. 
In 2 days the GOSH team and their many volunteers hosted 4 parties with over 2000 children and adults attending, along with a whole host of well known UK celebrities... so a great opportunity to show balloons at their very best!

Monday, December 31, 2012

Sue's 2012 review... the best bits! Part 1

It is at this time of year that all the TV and radio channels review their 'best bits' of the year! So I thought  that I would like to do the same, looking back over my 'Ballooning 2012' with some of the people and events that have made is so very special!


January 2012

For me, January started with a wonderful trip to Israel with Elisa Helman, of Balloonland, Jerusalem's annual training event, along with Keith Stirman and Dom Cassidy, aka the Balloon Brothers!

Balloonland 2012

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Spring Fair 2012 review with photographs...

Sue Bowler
2012 is a big year for celebration!
 
This years Spring Fair took place from the 5th-9th February at The NEC, Birmingham, England.

Against a backdrop of economic pressure and inclement weather (snow) it still attracted over 63,500 buyer visitors. The Spring Fair is divided into 13 main categories, 



Contemporary Gift & Home


Gift & Home


Volume Gift & Home


Greetings & Stationery


Kitchen, Dining & Housewares


The Summerhouse


Toys, Games & Kids Gifts


The Party Show


Festive & Floral


Art & Framing


Body, Bath & Home Fragrance


Fashion Jewellery & Accessories


The Jewellery Show

Balloons, costume and party goods were represented within the new 'Party Show' sector in Hall 3.
New 2012 Catalog


The Spring Fair for Pioneer Europe (Qualatex) is the perfect opportunity to launch the 2012 Everday Catalogue, to showcase the amazing range of Qualatex balloon products to new and existing customers.

With both the 'Education Centre' and 'The Stage' daily demonstrations, visitors were 'wowed' with the endless ideas and profitable designs being shown to them, the demo teams was made up by myself, Dee White, Dom Cassidy & Keith Stirman.

Me in one of the Education centre's... before the show had officially opened!


To give you an idea of the size of the entire show, 17 miles... yes miles of carpet was used to cover the endless walkways between the aisles and halls!

I have been part of the Qualatex Spring Fair team for many years. I have had the privilege and honor of designing and creating the stand/ booth window displays, showing a host of new products and design ideas. Working along side Jodie Norris & Dee White, who each year create the most incredible stand/booth decor, which I can honestly say makes the Qualatex stand probably one of the most colourful and professional looking stands in the entire show!
Spring Fair is very much a team effort, with a number of the Qualatex Sales team (Michelle, Mark, Debbie, Linda. Jag, Michelle) being an integral part of the stand/decor build as well as being on the stand once the show opens talking to customers and of course taking order!


Preparation starts earlier in the week prior to the show with stand builders building the stand.





Dee White adding graphics to an 8' Giant Cloudbuster- Chloroprene balloon



View of the completed stand/booth - Stand designers Jodie Norris & Dee White
                           
                           Retail display... Microfoils, Bubbles and Qualatex Retail Latex
New Microfoils & Bubble balloons

Beautiful new Special Shapes balloons
The Qualatex Hot Air balloons with Dee's fantastic Smiley Face men

New holographic balloons... they are lovely!

The Animal head shape balloons worked so well, especially with Dee's added touch for the 'ladies'!

View from the other end of the stand.



Sue Bowler
Window displays using the beautiful new holographic balloons!

Sue Bowler
Birthday Display!

Sue Bowler
Numbers Display!


If you would like to see a little more, I have put together a short DVD that gives you a great look at the stand, the fantastic new balloons and some inspirational design ideas!


Spring Fair 2013 will be 3rd-7th Feb 2013... mark the date in your diary!

If you attended the show please add your comments to this blog, we would love to hear what you thought of the stand decor, new balloons... anything really!

I walked around the show after I had finished my stint on the stand, I only actually managed to visit a few of the other halls. I saw some great new products that will work very well for balloon artists... watch this space as I hope to try out and review some of these soon!

Sue :)