This week on What's Up Wednesday, a cool arts and craft project kit, a fun, yet educational youth t-shirt, the first pin for the 2026 event, and a quick update on last week's email.
Have you ever tried Quilling? Do you know what it is? At its heart, quilling (also called paper filigree) involves rolling thin strips of paper around a small tool to create coils. Those coils can then be pinched, curved, loosened, or tightened into shapes like teardrops, scrolls, marquises, petals, and hearts. The shapes are glued together to form decorative patterns, lettering, florals, landscapes, ornaments, or dimensional art.
And we have a kit that can get you started. Our kit comes with all the materials you need to create 6 projects, including plants, butterflies, a kite, and of course, a hot air balloon. This would be a great project for when you're snowed in during a late spring snowstorm, or anytime you're in a creative mood. Pick up a kit today, and when you complete the hot air balloon, send us a picture.
Next up, a fun long-sleeved, yet lightweight, youth tee shirt that is both fun and educational. Illustrations and items on the front of the tee include information on the first balloon flight, what a balloon is made of, how it works, how high balloons fly, how to steer a balloon (you don't), and more. Grab one for the youth in your life.
While the next pin of the month is set to be released next week, we have the first official pin for the 2026 event. It's the Balloons Aloft pin. Designed by Petroglyph Elementary 5th grader Luna Perez Carpio, it features a balloon floating in a colorful sky in front of the mountains. Luna's design was chosen from more than 80 entries. It's available for purchase now. The four runner-up designs are being turned into stickers which will be available at the Balloon Discovery Center during the 2026 event.
Now to last week's email. One of the Signature Style items we featured was the leather sling bag. Unfortunately, we provided a link to an out-of-stock cloth sling bag. Here's the correct link. We apologize for the confusion. Note, there are only two of these bags left in stock, one black, the other tan.