We're Having a ball, Darling...

the kingdom is having a ball for pride and you are invited...

Category is, Honeycomb Realness...

Whats up Flockers! You know by now that when I do a project I try not to do what others are doing, But this one I had to try and put my spin on it. I ran across a few projects last fall where people were taking Honeycomb tissue balls and making trees from them. Whoever came up with this idea you're a genius. I watched a lot of videos and read a lot of how to posts and most used tomato cages for the base but of course that was not going to work for me. You know I like to go big. I decided to use a 9' tree instead. and made up my plan as I went along. Always start with the bigger balls on the bottom and work you way up switching to smaller sizes as you go. Most of the honeycomb balls have string attached to them that you can just hook on to the branches of the tree. For this tree, because I wanted it to sit back into the corner;I only covered the parts you would see. Yes she is naked on the back. If you choose to do it the same way I did then be sure and attach the strings further back in the tree so the balls are close to the tree and not hanging down to far. This tree took roughly eighty balls of different sizes. Most of those honeycomb balls came from a company called Devra Party, they are a family-owned and operated business located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They have been manufacturing honeycomb tissue paper decorations for four generations and use 80 to 100% recycled paper to create their products. The honeycombs that did not come from them came from a discount store and the quality of Devra Party products over the Discount store is crazy. I will be using them for all of my Honeycomb needs. Here are a few close ups of the different honeycomb shapes I used. Be sure and check out their website and also Instagram.

Category is, Fan For Me...

What is a ball without a fan? I actually ran across these great Rainbow fans on a trip to Dollar Tree. I figured these would make great filler pieces. To get them to stay open, I hot glued a wooden skewer across the back and tucked them in between the balls. I think it gives the look a little more whimsy and the shape brings in a little more depth. While at the Dollar tree I also found tissue paper flower garland that I cut apart and glued to skewers to fill in some of the holes between the balls. You will also notice I used some Confetti balloons to fill in holes. Once all the big holes had been filled, I grabbed some smaller metallic picks and metallic rainbow pom poms to fill in the rest of the smaller holes.

Category is, Lights...

Lighting for this tree, I will admit had me so confused. I went into this with a grand idea of using Led Neon for the lighting, they don't get hot and are easy to work with. Well lets just say I should have done more research on the lights. Although they do not get hot and they are easy to work with the ones I ended up getting are super skinny about the size of yarn. I was a little frustrated that my plan wasn't working out the way I wanted it to and decided not to do lights at all. Then the hubs looks at me and says its missing lights. I remembered we had bought these great fairy lights that don't get hot and would weave in and out great so that's what I used. It took two strings for this tree, remember only the front is decorated.

Category is, Unicorn Greatness...

This tree deserves a unicorn jumping right out of the top. Luckily for me Micheal's had pretty good sized paper mache unicorns on the clearance rack for $3.00. It then needed some paint and hair. For the body of the unicorn I used gloss white craft paint and then topped that with iridescent glitter for a little sparkle. The hair is made from a few extra metallic pom poms, I took them apart and hot glued them to the unicorn. The horn and hoofs are covered in gold rhinestone ribbon I also found at Micheal's. He turned out to be pretty Majestic!

Category is, Shine like Mylar...

If it was up to me every light pole, street sign, and bench would have mylar balloons on them everyday. They make me smile every time I see them. I found the 36" Rainbow and 14" tall standing Unicorn at 5 Below for about $3.00 each. I also found the Rainbow Pinata there for $5.00 and the small PRIDE flags for $3.00. The tree skirt itself is a set of belly dance wings a friend let me borrow because I love the way the fabric changes color. I was going to add more regular shapes of mylar balloons but I didn't want to get carried away, we all know I can do that sometimes.

Category is, Colorful Hair...

The Buffet needed to be fun and sticking with the ballroom room theme why not go with face and hair. These great vases that look like heads just needed some fun hair. I used candy, metallic tinsel stems and mylar burst picks to give all the three some pretty amazing hair. The first and my personal favorite has a pretty impressive Mohawk made out of giant and small old school lollipops. The second has a head filled with peach glitter ball steams and mylar burst to give him a nice spiky style while the third has a Rainbow Afro made from metallic stems and is wearing my yellow patent leather crown from EyeHunee. The rest of the Buffet is finished off with a few more honeycombs and some neon lights I found at a second hand store.

10's, 10's across the board...

This years theme for Pride was fun to create because I got to test myself with new materials and push myself to learn a few new things. I used alot of refrences in this post that pertain to The Ballroom Scene. The Ballroom Scene, is a young African-American and Latin American underground LGBT subculture that originated in New York City, in which people "walk" (i.e., compete) for trophies, prizes, and glory at events known as balls. Ball culture consists of events that mix performance, dance, lip-syncing, and modeling. Events are divided into various categories, and participants "walk" and compete for prizes and trophies. As a counter cultural phenomenon, ball culture is rooted in necessity and defiance. Beginning in the late nineteenth century, members of the underground LGBTQ+ community in large cities began to organize masquerade balls known as "drags" in defiance of laws which banned individuals from wearing clothes associated with the opposite gender. If you have never watched a movie/documentary called Paris is Burning or the TV show POSE you should. Not only are they both great shows but they also give insight into a world that more need to learn about and should know more about. I hope you have enjoyed your time in the Kingdom today for the Ball. Be sure to stop by again soon.

Until next time, Always remember to love yourself, be yourself and screw what others think...

LIVE Happily evercrafter