So here is my attempt at a Manatee.
Maybe this is Barbara.
1 Grey Big Bear Head and 1 260.
The bow is just a scrape of 360.

I have been invited over to lecture at EFABE in the Netherlands and also by Sofie in Belgium.

More details will follow soon.

Here are two of my latest designs with the Big Bear Heads that I will be sharing.

It is official, I will be lecturing at http://www.eba-foundation.com/ in 2014.

They are offering a pre-day lecture and two post day lectures.  
The official dates are March 28 to April 2nd.

I am so glad that the concept of the Big Bear Heads or the Mouse Body are finally becoming popular.

It is in the works to get me to Australia, Thailand, Japan, China and Germany and Brazil.  
If you would like to have me lecture in your area, please let me know.  

Happy Twisting,

Simply Shonna

I am not sure how many of you here do more than balloons for your business, but if you are a Magician or Face Painter in addition to being a balloon artist, you might want to check out
www.KapitalKidvention.com

It is my utmost favorite convention to date!  The energy at this event is so amazing because of the variety of performers and artist that participate.   Also it is pretty cool because it is a new convention and clicks and groups have not formed yet.  

Dustin Queary, Ryan Lavallee, Rebecca Kanar, Perry Yan, Corrine Sparkles Smith and I are the ones on the balloon track.  Our focus is on balloons that make you money.   I know that other conventions offer the "WOW" factor in balloons with the amazing and impressive, which Dustin Queary, Rayn Lavallee and Rebecca Kanar can definitely deliver in that department, but with an economy that is still trying to recover, we all recognize the need to do the "bread and butter" balloons better, faster and in a more entertaining manner.

If you are more into magic and balloons are a 2nd in your book, the line up for Magicians is pretty impressive.
Alexandar The Great, The Great Zucchini, Brad Ross, Michael Finnery, Alan Kazan, Dave Knight, Mike Norden, Oscar Munuz, Eric Henning, Dave Hill, Ken Scott, Brad Ross, Barry Mitchell, Tim Sonefelt and Louis Meyer.

For Face Painting they have Nick Wolfe, Athena Zhe, Heather Green, Tina Fillah-Carroll, Corey Morgan, Lori Hurley and Diane Spadola.

For Puppets they have Al Moessinger and Juggling Earl Long.

The convention is taking place February 6th through February 9th in Arlington, Va.   This is this conventions 5th year and we already have over 200 people registered for it!   I am excited because about 60% of the registrations are from people who have never attended before so I am sure we will have a huge turnout once the full schedule is up and the date gets closer.  
For most conventions, people don't seem to get registered until a month or two before hand.  

Anyway, I hope to see some of your there.

 
Simply Shonna

The Hungry Caterpillar

So, I have been invited over to a few cities in Europe.  I am really considering doing a little tour.
Although I have friends in several countries, most of them are not involved in the entertainment/balloon/face painting world.

I am wondering if enough of you are interested in attending a lecture in your country if I decided to do it.
Please let me know if you think you might want to have me in your area.

Thanks
Shonna

I have been making my Lorax both ways.   Which one is better.  Sorry the over-all photography is not good.

For the past 4 years I have been helping Karen Owens with the http://www.FPBAconvention.com that started in Orlando and then moved to Vegas.
This year it is being held in St. Louis from November 10 to November 15.  

Karen has graciously allowed me to expand the balloon part of the convention to include some more instructors and classes.

To date we have the following artist helping us, plus if you are a face painter or body artist, you might want to check out the instructors attending for the main track.

The Balloon Track

Ken Stillman
Dustin Queary
Marie Dadow
Steve Kline
Dennis Scott
Shonna Flanigan
John Reid
Terry Stokes
Pat Crossland

More will be added to our list shortly as soon as we have the completed paperwork.

Please check us out and also like our page, The Balloon Track on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/balloontrack?fref=ts


Thanks in adavance.

I just wanted to let all of you know about another convention for balloons that is combined with Face Painting and Body Art.

www.FPBAconvention.com

It takes place November 10 through November 14.
So far the instructors we have coming are
Ken Stillman
Dustin Queary
Marie Dadow
John Reid
Steve Kline
Simply Shonna (Me)

There are 6 other instructors who will be there too.  They will be announced shortly.
We plan to have our classes and schedule online by the end of June.

The balloon track is being run separately and is $150 without the banquet or $225 with the banquet ticket.
It is being held in St. Louis.  
Please check out the website for more detail.

 
Shonna

Dustin had some promo photos taken recently.
He is trying to decide which ones to have edited for use.

Please take a look at the ones he chose and tell him which ones you like the best to help him narrow it down.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =1&theater

Thanks for your help!

Here are a few photos from our annual Spring display at our local mall.
We have been done a variation of this project to 4 years now.   They ask us to keep in very similar to the past years since the public gives them so many compliments on it.

This year it was harder to install and may be the last year I agree to accept the job.   Every year we arrive to install, the floors are very dusty and full of little things that hurt balloons so we bring along our own broom and mop to get the area ready.   At least they normally have it set up in the way they want it for the Easter Bunny to visit.

This year they had an area with green grass already in place and it looked set up the way they would want it.   So we installed our Balloons, only to come back the next morning to see they had rearranged things and destroyed some of our pieces along with taking some of them.

Also to start the project off right, I fell moving some things getting ready to make the balloons and gave myself a concussion, which I didn't get checked until yesterday afternoon.   I worked all day on the project with an awful headache and the urge to vomit if I moved around at all.   My wonderful son Dustin was so kind to take photos of me while I felt like I was dying and post them to facebook.  

I hope you like the photos.   I do feel "happy" when I look at the final pictures.

Dustin didn't want to compete at the 2008 Twist and Shout but did want to make something unique and crazy.
He had a lot of fun hanging out with his friends.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNWdNUn34ak

I don't know if any of you have seen this clip from 2008.   This was the second time Dustin Queary (my baby) made a costume out of balloons to use with stilts.   He won that year at Diamond Jam.
He made this when he was 18 years old or maybe 17, I don't feel like doing the math.  If you want to figure it out, Dustin was born July of 1990.  LOL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-ghKXecE2o

I miss Diamond Jam.   Ed Chee put on an amazing convention.   Thank Ed, miss you bunches.

PS.  Florida Super Jam has a similiar feeling, but nothing can ever be a Diamond Jam like Ed produced.  

My daughter Alayna Nicole wore the balloon dress Marie Dadow made.
It was so lovely.

Dustin Queary won 1st prize and people's choice in the costume category at Twist and Shout.

It may come as a surprise to some of you, but I actually make balloons and sculpture that do not use any Big Bear Heads.
Here is a ship Dustin helped me with for a party that Alayna and Alysa will be entertaining at next week as Pirates.

Dustin and I will be at The Florida Super Jam so we had to drop it off today.  
I so love LOL's because they last a long time and allow you to create large sculptures fast.

We didn't like the client's color choice, but then, if you want to get paid, you need to make what the client wants.   Alayna will be adding some tropical trees, monkeys and exotic birds.  (The birds will be made with Big Bear Heads   )
Hopefully she will get some photos that I can add to this in a few weeks.

Happy sculpting and I hope to see some of you at The Florida Super Jam.

I have been watching the 121212Concert for Sandy Relief and I have to say, the Brits still have it when it comes to ROCK-N-ROLL.
The WHO is still as hot as ever and Mick Jagar still has the moves.  
What a fun concert!

Just wondering Graham, can you still ROCK?

This past Spring I came up with the idea of "Gifting Columns" to help me with line control and to add some $$$ to our party packages.  

The Gifting Column is a disply of various balloon sculptures, usually done to match a theme, that can be handed out at the end of the event. I up-sell my services to Shopping Malls and Corporate Events by suggesting they purchase two to four Gifting Columns that can be used for decor but also serve the dual purpose of having more sculptures available for the guest.   Making these columns has allowed me to end my lines much more smoothly which proves very beneficial for both the client and me.

For parties were they want painting, magic and balloons, I suggest that I come with one to two gifting columns to match the theme of their event.   I tell them that these sculptures will add extra festivity to the atmosphere.   Then I will start the party with Face Painting so that the guest have time to arrive before the Magic starts.   It also stops the guest from waiting as long for their turn to be painted and for a balloon later.  No one ever likes to have to wait.

After my magic show, I make a few cool balloons and then I offer the sculptures from the Gifting Columns.   This has been working out wonderfully allowing me to do more shows in one day and to add additional $$$ to my shows.

I hope this idea can be useful to some of you.

Okay, I hate to admit this, but I haven't been on for awhile and I don't have a good memory.   Who is the gentleman who does the DVD reviews?   I was suppose to send him some DVD's and I forgot as we were out of stock.   We are all stocked up again and I would like to send them over for him to review.
Thanks

These are designs that can be done in three minutes or less