Hi there,

The floating balloons in the Balloons theme are an intentional design element of the theme. The scrolling effect that causes the balloons to 'float' should move the balloons off of hidden text with only a slight scroll.

It is unlikely that the balloons will be removed in a future update, so short of the Custom Design upgrade, I'd recommend trying out another one of our single-column themes: http://theme.wordpress.com/themes/features/one-column/

From: http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/useless-balloon-on-the-text?replies=16#post-1244808

I also just found that even though balloons don't show up on my computer, they show up on my mobile devices (iPad and iPhone). I triple checked and the CSS settings button to apply to mobile is checked. Don't understand the issue.

The balloons are setup in different ways for different screen sizes (i.e. iPad, iPhone) using media queries, or @media rules. They're pretty common to use when creating what designers call a responsive design. This is a nice overview if you want to take a look:
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/CSS/Media_queries

The mobile checkbox applies to the mobile theme which can be turned on or off from your Settings → Mobile admin page. It's separate from responsive design. The mobile theme is its own separate theme.

To get rid of the balloons background image that appears when the browser width is 800px or smaller, try adding this to your custom CSS:

@media screen and (max-width: 800px) {
	body {
		background: #eee;
	}
	header#masthead {
		margin: 0;
	}
}

Are you still seeing any other balloons if you add that?

I want a bright yellow. Instead I get only the option for a sort of dark yellow/brown.

This sounds like a contrast issue. The color tools in the Custom Design upgrade have some built in contrast rules for accessibility. They try to make sure that the text is still readable for visually impaired readers. It should be seamless for the most part. You can override the contrast rules by using custom CSS to set colors.

I really love this theme - lighthearted and slightly whimsical, but not overly childish or distracting.

The floating balloons in the Balloons theme are an intentional design element of the theme. The scrolling effect that causes the balloons to 'float' should move the balloons off of hidden text with only a slight scroll.

It is unlikely that the balloons will be removed in a future update, so short of the Custom Design upgrade, I'd recommend trying out another one of our single-column themes: http://theme.wordpress.com/themes/features/one-column/

Let us know if you have any questions!

I entered my first post in my blog with Balloons theme but there is a balloon image right in the middle of the text which cause interruption in the text. How can i remove it?

Best Regards,
Danial.A

I use the color studio program on my computer, but there are a number of very good online sources such as this one, which I've also used: http://www.febooti.com/products/iezoom/online-help/online-color-chart-picker.html .

I'm not sure what to do to get rid of the balloons. They disappear using display: none; until the browser window gets down to a certain width and then they reappear.

Perhaps @designsimply (staff) will drop by this thread and have an idea as to what to do.

1.) Although I go to "pick your own color" for my site header, I am only allowed to use specific shades of each color group. I want a bright yellow. Instead I get only the option for a sort of dark yellow/brown. This seems not very customizable.

2.) I have the "balloon" theme. Although I had no trouble removing the balloons themselves and the weird bar that was covering my background image, the blog credit is now over my main image in the middle of the page and I cannot seem to get it to move to the bottom of the page.

Here is the site to see for yourself:

freckledorganizer.com

Please help at your earliest convenience.

Thank you,
Sharon Harms

Regarding moving the footer widgets in the Balloons theme from the side to the right on WordPress.com, some people have figured out how to do it with CSS only. Here is an example:
http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/moving-widgets-on-balloon-theme?replies=2#post-1091818

To test that, add the code to your Appearance → Custom Design → CSS page and click the Preview button.