From balloon art to beloved childhood characters, Barnes and Noble was teeming with creativity on the evening of Thursday, Dec. 10.

The writer/illustrator pair of Zoë B. Alley and Robert W. Alley, best known for his illustrations for the "Paddington Bear" books, read and signed their books.

Also present was Phoenix Carreira, 13, a talented balloon artist who's been making waves locally. Armed with hundreds of balloons, she created everything from teddy bears to swords for the children in attendance.

"Married for forever" and collaborators for nearly as long, the Alley's latest endeavor came in the form of the lovable cartoon dog, Enzo, based on Garth Stein's "The Art of Racing in the Rain." In fact, the first book in the series is titled "Enzo Races in the Rain!"

"In that respect, we were given the framework," Robert said.

"[Enzo] was the first time we actually wrote words together," Zoë said. "Beyond that, we had to basically take a concept from an adult novel and take a lot of themes out as you can imagine because they're not going to fit in a picture book, and make it appropriate and interesting for little ones."

Their other collaborations typically consist of Zoë writing the story and Robert creating the illustrations. The two do most of their work from home in Barrington, Rhode Island.

Robert is best known for his illustrations for the "Paddington Bear" picture book series by Michael Bond, which follows the adventures of Paddington the bear who was sent to live in England and was taken in by Mr. and Mrs. Brown. The series was less known in the U.S., though the 2014 film adaptation, "Paddington," has garnered the series much more attention.

The Alleys weren't involved in the movie, though it was exciting for them to see Paddington come to life on the big screen. The film has since prompted new Paddington books to be written.

Inspiration comes from a wealth of sources from them both, but nothing has proven more inspirational than the kids they meet

"We get many ideas from watching the children in the audience," Robert said. "I mean, they think they're watching us but we're actually watching them. And it's wonderful to see their interactions."

Robert's illustration career spans over 100 books, "since I had hair!" he joked. Zoë has been writing children's books since 2008, including "There's a Wolf at the Door," a collection of fairytale retellings, "There's a Princess in the Palace" and the "Enzo" series.

Children and parents gathered around as Zoë read "Paddington" and "Enzo" while Robert sketched the characters on a large easel. They inspired budding creatives in the crowd, talking about creative processes and artist blocks.

While illustrating, Robert outlined his process which was never without it's frustrations.

"[When] things don't turn out exactly how [I] want it to, I use my favorite tool: the trash can," he said.

The two bantered back and forth, taking light-hearted jabs at one another and amusing the older crowd. They also fielded questions from the children about how long they'd been creating together and how to go about creating characters.

After the readings, children flocked to Carreiro to get their fill of balloon creations. Though she boasts some complex designs ranging from Minions to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Carreiro kept things simple to accommodate all the kids present.