Baby Shower Decorations

As posted below, Avery found these string lanterns on an adorable website and thought they would be cute for the shower. None of the original attempts survived. Joel, with his brilliant self, suggested that the yard was the issue and brought home a spool of paper twine. It was thick and really hard to work with but I decided to whip up a mixture of Elmer's glue, corn starch, & water and soak the twine in a pyrex glass bowl. I liberally lubed up a 12" balloon with petroleum jelly and began wrapping it around the top and weaving it into itself. The first balloon popped and I just hung my head for a solid minute. I decided that it was a perfect time to practice this "motherly patience" I'll be needing- so I tried AGAIN and was very methodical and persistent. 

I hung it up and sprayed it with Krylon clear spray paint. This morning I hesitantly peeked into the living room, where I hung it to dry overnight and lo and behold...

I also had a crochet spool that I used for embroidery and it was a success! This one came out wild. It's all about the string.

It is beyond messy and there is a lot of preparation and clean up. But the result is worth the work. I love them and look forward to making more tonight with Joel!

UPDATE: HERE IS WHAT JOEL DID!

He combined both of the twine and string. So SMRT.
I love how organic they look.