 |
| This mailbox is designed for Catch the letters inside the basket! |
Making this Valentine’s Day mailbox looks harder than it actually is. You can see pictures below on how to get started with hot air balloon formation. I started with a foam ball but you may choose to start with an egg shape instead. This will delete one of the steps (6.) from the instructions below.
Support list:
- Red and white threads plus a smaller amount of tan colored threads
- Hot glue gun and hot glue
- white school glue
- Small recycled plastic bottle for basket
- Four toothpicks
- masking tape
- Newsprint or tissue paper
- Styrofoam ball
- 1 cotton ball
- Red and white paper, one sheet each
- Recycled White Mesh Garlic Mesh Bag
- cardboard scrap
Step by step instructions:
- Cut a small plastic “basket” for the hot air balloon out of a recycled bottle and cover it inside and out with duct tape.
- Stick a toothpick firmly in the glue and stick them at an equal distance from each other around the circumference of the open end of the bottle basket.
- Insert the opposite ends of the toothpick through a foam ball and stick it in place. Wait for the glue to dry completely.
- Wrap the plastic basket with red and white string using glue to keep it in place. I start a final piece of thread with a bit of hot glue and then use white glue to adhere the rest of the thread.
- Wrap the toothpicks with thread as well.
- I crushed extra tissue to enlarge the shape of my Valentine’s mailbox balloon before unwrapping it with red foil.
- Then I wrapped the recycled garlic mesh bag around that balloon while it was still damp.
- Trim off the excess grid at the bottom.
- You may need to use a threaded needle to cut the net and fold it around the base of the balloon.
- Next, take a string and wrap it in four places up over the tied balloon, twist it neatly and stick it in place with the four toothpicks wrapped in it.
- Wrap additional alternate color threads at the top of the toothpicks around the four connection spots on the balloon.
- Add decoration for sandbags.
- Make small sandbags using pieces of cotton batting sandwiched between masking tape to make the details.
- Hot glue sandbags to the basket.
- Braid a piece of twine and hot glue it to the top edge of the plastic basket to hide the joints.
- Cut a small tube for the underside of the balloon, cover it with red foil, and push it into the Styrofoam ball with white glue. This is a skirt or scoop of a hot air balloon.
- Decoupage the hot air balloon basket liner page with white paper and white school glue.
- Make a flag garland that wraps around a balloon using twine and triangular pieces of paper. Glue this on with a little hot glue.
 |
| On the left, I started the basic shape of the balloon. Well, here I’m starting to add leads. |
You can vote for this Valentine’s Day mailbox entry in the comment box below, if you like. It would be interesting to see if people/kids on the internet judge our Valentine’s Day doll mailbox contest the same way the kids do in our house.