Cariad

Phew, what a month!

On September 11^th 2010 I got married!

There was a lot of crafting leading up to this stupendous event but for today I’ll keep it light hearted and introduce these little critters!

We had 5 small children in attendance at the wedding and thought a good way to occupy their tiny hands and appease their fidgeting ways through the speeches was to give them a balloon to play with....a nice floaty star shaped helium balloon.....the only problem with floaty light balloons and little children is their tendency to tug out of tiny fingers and float up on high....followed by loud wails of dismay. To prevent such a disastrous turn of events some balloon weights were required. A quick search online yielded either some moulded plastic shapes...or a concrete block covered in tin foil. What a dismal selection!

After all the efforts of making the wedding to my own tastes, organising, enslaving the artistic skills of my brother and printing and sticking cardboard shapes right up until the end; the last thing that I wanted was to place a tacky balloon weight on the table. So I turned to ravelry and found some lovely appealing amigurami/small toy patterns. My Husband (Wooo!) helped narrow down the selection and voila! The balloon weight zoo was born!

 

There is a turtle

And elephant

 

A chick

 

A penguin

And a Pig!

I left the naming to the small people.

I filled them with stuffing and chickpeas and tightly sewed on the eyes....they were not intended as toys (parents were duly warned to be vigilant!).

They were created under pressure...time was running out and at critter three there was definitely an air of “oh my god what have I let myself in for!” but the pain and the panic and the effort was well rewarded.

Not one critter was left behind after the wedding. They were carefully packed into the cars to go home with. Cries were fended off by the appearance of the penguin whilst the turtle went on an exploration trip under the table. The elephant turned some funky moves on the dance floor and the pig and chick were regarded with barely focusing eyes from the newborn two.

Overall a success. And definitely something I will be exploring for future projects as I’m sure I’m not the only one in need of some classy balloon weights!