let's combine 2 makeblog entries today
diy rocket up to 12km
http://jrockdale.com/O.htm
diy high altitude balloon up to 35km
http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/satellites_budget.html
that rocket weighs 96lbs. i don't know how much payload the balloon can carry, but i would guess that you could increase it by adding more and more balloons??
if you can go 12km from the ground in a rocket, you should be able to go much further from 35km. which you would have to because space technically begins a 100km. google says a low earth orbit is 160km.
i wonder how long it will be before some college kid gets something into orbit.
of course i don't know what the hell i am talking about either.