Hot Air Balloons

I knew very early on in the pregnancy that I wanted the nursery to be done in hot air balloons whether it was a boy or a girl.  However, when I began to look up bedding and decor, the choices were slim to none with that theme.  I ended up having to make just about everything myself including these hot air balloons that are one of my favorite things in the nursery. 

I purchased the paper lanterns at Hobby Lobby in the party supplies.  I got three different colors and they are about $8 for a pack of three. 

I needed something for the baskets to hang down from the bottom to look like a hot air balloon.  I couldn't find baskets small enough to work at Hobby Lobby and at the time, I wasn't able to go and shop around.  I ended up using little cardboard round boxes that I found at Hobby Lobby.  They were $0.99 each. 

I didn't use the lids of the boxes.  I painted the outside white and the inside blue.  I wasn't sure if the inside would show, but it does a little so go ahead and paint it. 

My step-dad drilled small holes in the sides of each basket for me to tie the twine to attach to the paper lantern. 

I started out cutting two different strings for each side of the basket to tie to the lantern, but I was having trouble getting the knots at exactly the same distance.  I ended up making two longer strings tying knots on the lantern...

Then running the strings though the outside holes of the basket...

Then tying a knot in the center of the basket.  This allows you to adjust the distance to make the basket more even.

I found that they were sliding a bit, so I hot glued the twine at the knot to each side of the metal hanger.  I also glued the twine down on the sides to eliminate the gap.

I decided that I wanted bunting to go around each lantern to make it look more like a hot air balloon.  I used some of the leftover paper I had from the larger bunting and cut out small triangles and sewd them together, then attatching them to the lantern with a glue gun.  This was tedious because it did take quite a bit to go around all nine, but it was worth it!  Jamie came over one night and helped with this project.  It was much appreciated!! 

They were attatched to the ceiling with push pins.