Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays and best wishes for a wonderful New Year!

Snow! In Vegas???

The Up, Up & Away! balloon show hit the road again last week, this time to Vegas. Our stay in Vegas was extended by SNOW! Here are a few pics from a really fun event...

A famous fella with one of our balloon creations:
































And a few fun balloon photos, including our larger-than-life Santa sculpture outside of the Paris just as the snow was starting to fall last Wednesday:

In The News! (Yes, AGAIN!)

We really have been busy creating fabulous new balloon sculptures and will share some new pics with you just as soon as time allows. Y'all keep telling us how much you enjoy photos of our work and we hear you! For now, here are a couple more news items of interest to tide you over.

We blogged awhile back about Twisted: A Balloonmentary. Filmmakers Sara and Naomi were recently interviewed on NPR's The Bryant Park Project. Click here to see a slideshow of photos featured on NPRs website. Photos 9, 10 and 11 are from the project we designed for the SXSW Film Fest in Austin, Texas. And don't forget to buy the DVD--it's perfect for holiday gift-giving!

Johnna was recently interviewed by Rick Montgomery of the Kansas City Star regarding the helium supply chain. Don't tease Johnna too much--while it's easy to see her artistic genius in her work, she does a good job concealing that she is also a bit of a helium geek, always seeking more information on the inner workings of the balloon industry. She even sent the entire family on a 4 hour detour while on vacation just to see a helium processing plant. Here's the article and please rest assured, we'll have helium for your balloons when you need it. And as always, most of our balloon sculptures need no helium so no worries!

In the News!

We are both natives of Northwest Missouri and every once in awhile get the opportunity to return to our home turf to create cool balloon sculptures. We recently got caught in the act and chatted with a reporter for a few minutes. Our work (and a bit about how we become balloon artists) was recently featured in the St. Joseph News-Press Gazette, the very same newspaper that appeared on our childhood doorsteps each morning.

Click here to read the article. Kudos to reporter Sylvia Anderson for the nice article and for making the interview fun!

Smoky Hill River Fest in photos

In June, we created an installation at the Smoky Hill River Arts Festival. We love the Smoky Hill Fest for many reasons and look forward to attending each year. Even if it takes a plane ride and a rental car to get there, this festival is worth the trip. Check it out!

Here are pics of this year's installation on a pedestrian bridge over the Smoky Hill River:

State Fair

We've just returned from 11 days of large scale balloon sculpting in Tulsa, Oklahoma. What a nice city and their state fair is loads of fun! We sculpted scenes from the Tulsa State Fair, using more than 10,000 balloons.

The Sugar Art Show, subject of several Food Network specials, is held at the Tulsa State Fair. Johnna was excited to see the cakes in person, meet Marina from Just Cake and replicate a few favorite cakes with balloons.

Our installation in Tulsa included a ticket booth, the winner of a pie contest, a pie-eating contest, bumper cars, a petting zoo, the Sugar Art Show, the state fair queen, a carousel and a 15 foot tall ferris wheel.

Another Fun Summer Balloon Adventure!

In August we loaded up the mini-Balloonmobile and headed for the mountains of Colorado. We were invited again this year to entertain the guests at the Cordillera Rider Cup gala held at the Ritz Carlton in Bachelor Gulch. What an amazing event this is and for a great cause, too! These folks sure know how to have a good time and we're tickled they let us be part of it!

Yee Haw!

It's that time of year again, time for us to load up the BalloonMobile and hit the road to build huge balloon sculpture installations across the country.

We've got many new adventures to share with you and we're starting with a favorite: Louisville, Kentucky! Not only can you get fried green 'maters and sweet tea at nearly every restaurant in town, they've got one of the best state fairs going complete with the World Championship Horse Show. Add to that Johnna's favorite restaurant in the whole wide world hosting a very funky "Ugly Lamp Contest" and a huge helping of Southern Hospitality and you've got one amazing gathering!

Here's a peek at our Rodeo-themed balloon sculpture installation. We hope you enjoy these pics as much as we enjoyed creating the sculptures.

Smoky Hill River Festival

Looking for something super fun to do this weekend? Join us at the Smoky Hill River Festival in Salina, KS! Not only has the festival invited your favorite balloon artists, they also have lots of great music in every genre you can imagine and a gathering of artists and crafters unlike any other event we have attended in the Midwest. Oh--and the food! Last year we had fried peaches with homemade ice cream and it was divine!

Come check out our sculpture installation at the River Festival--it's a pedestrian bridge over the river transformed into a flower garden of balloons. We're so excited about this project!

Two Exciting News Items!

We're having lots of fun with Graduation, Prom and "finally the weather is better" season. In the midst of all of the balloon fun going on right now, we've got a couple of news items to share.

Up, Up & Away! was selected this month as the Featured Portfolio at BalloonHQ.com, the internet's premiere site to educate, share, and promote balloon art for entertainers and decorators. We feel honored to be included on the list of previously featured artists!

Our next news tidbit is one that has put a permanent grin on our faces...we worked recently in North Carolina at a Mini Cooper gathering. Gathering might not be the best word as around 500 Mini Coopers and their drivers converged on a resort in the Smoky Mountains for a weekend of fun. While making balloons at this event, John was photographed by Motor Trend and the pic has been included in their review of the event. We thought seeing our balloon artistry on ESPN was cool...and now Motor Trend. WOW!

Twisted: A Balloonamentary

Last year we made a trip to Austin, Texas to build a balloon sculpture for the South by Southwest Film Festival premiere of Twisted: A Balloonamentary. We designed the sculpture and led an immensely talented group of local balloon artists and two additional out-of-town artists to create a movie theatre sculpture for the world premiere of a documentary exploring the lives of eight balloon artists and how their journeys were changed by balloons. SXSW was an amazing gathering of talent and we can't think of a better place for such a fun film to debut!

So here's the good news: you can now get your own copy of Twisted: A Balloonamentary! AND you might even catch a glimpse of Up, Up & Away's own John and Johnna doing what they do best in Austin, Texas. We're still spinning from how cool this whole experience has been and super-excited for Sara and Naomi, the filmmakers. Please buy their movie--you'll enjoy it!

Looking Forward to Spring...

Currently enveloped in the grey of Winter, we are really excited for Spring's arrival! We look forward to seeing many of our friends each Spring at school carnivals, Easter egg hunts, proms, graduations...and many more celebrations of life's special moments. In the meantime, here's a little bit of Spring, balloon style, for your enjoyment!