Pinterest Fail: Ice Marbles

I have boards on Pinterest packed full of "projects I can totally manage!" yet most of those projects go unattempted to be honestly, how has time for that?! Most of them are labor intensive (I'm not opposed to the time or work, it's just that sometimes I don't have the extra time needed), require supplies I do not own and/or are not readily accessible.

But occasionally, I'll stumble across an idea that really does seem like something I can manage, like the one: Ice Marbles.

Simple, right!

All you need are four things:
*Balloons
*Food Coloring
*Water
*Cold Weather

Friday night I set about my task of making my marble!

I gathered my supplies:

I filled my balloons with water and food color and set them outside to freeze!

And then something went wrong.....

The blue balloon decided it couldn't carry on (maybe it had the winter blues....) and rolled off the bench to what I thought for sure would be its death.

But thankfully, for the briefest amount of time I was wrong. The balloon didn't pop and the water stayed where it was supposed to.

Until of course I came home from work on Saturday afternoon to find this:

The remaining three marbles in training were holding up, but not frozen so I left them alone and let them sit for another 24 hours (total freezing time required for this project: 40 hours) until they were solid.....or at least until I thought they were solid.

To remove the balloons, I poked a small tear in the side and the balloon split the rest of the way on its own. I then carefully peeled off the rest of the balloon and admired my handywork.

Taking the balloon off the red and yellow marbles went quick smoothly. The balloon came off without incident and I was able to set then in the snow in front of my porch without any issue.

When I was taking the balloon off the green marble, it slipped, it landed apparently not as gently as I thought it had on the bench and cracked, leaking bright green water all over the bench, the porch and my boots. It looks like a leprechaun threw up all over the porch.

I love that my first instinct was that I needed to "take a photo for the blog!!" instead of chucking the thing in the side yard.

Thankfully it wasn't a total loss and there was enough green ice to keep it intact to be set out with the other two.

All-in-all I wouldn't call this a total fail. I think the concept of this project is pretty awesome. Especially if you were going to have some sort of a winter party, lining the walkway or around a deck. I'm just not sure how practical of a project this is.

I'm worried about spring, with these things start to melt and there is colored water all over my side yard--I plan on keeping a close eye on them once warmer temperatures arrive so I can move them, and hauling the water balloons through the house to get them outside was a bit stressful even with them in a bucket. 

But I do really like they way they look out in front of the house. They are a great pop of color in the snow making mine the most color yard on the block! 

Has anyone else attempted this DIY? If you have, any tips or tricks you'd like to share?