Balzer Designs

HUGE news to share!

I've been bursting!  Dying to share!  Rosy and Linda over at My Kits & Pieces have asked me to design some acrylic stamps for them!  Eeeeeek!  The first ones come out this June and I can't wait!  I might be a little too excited!  One of my big goals (you know those "someday" daydream type goals?) is to design product (digital kits, paper, stamps, etc.) and this is such an exciting opportunity to do that!  I'm just over the moon!

Thank you for letting me share my excitement with all of you!  And, here are some quick projects I made with the beautiful March kit from My Kits & Pieces, which should be available on March 1!

I know this layout (above)  is a little weird for me -- so linear -- but I had a great story to share!  Here's the journaling:

He’s the Lucy to my Charlie Brown.

I’m not sure why I trust him. Why I keep going back for more punishment!? And yet, every time he tees up that ball, I go to kick it. And sure enough he pulls it out at the last moment. I’m the big sister, shouldn’t I be the one mercilessly teasing him?

Last Christmas, he gave me a “printer pack” for the Epson PictureMate. It has ink and paper for this little photo printer. I said, “Oooo! Where’ the printer?” He said, “Oh, I couldn’t afford the printer.” Used to his tricks, I said, “No way! I know you wouldn’t give me the ink and paper without the printer!” Nonetheless, he insisted that he did.

After much pushing, he finally capitulated and went upstairs. He came down with a box. I eagerly opened it, an expectant smile on my face.

It was empty.

He laughed and laughed. And so did everyone else. I sulked, but decided not to push it. It would only make him keep going. When we were finished opening presents, he said, “Okay. Do you want the printer?” My face lit up! “Of course!” He went upstairs and came down with a wrapped package. I tore off the wrapping.

It was empty.

He laughed and laughed. And so did everyone else. I refused to play into it. He said, “Okay, okay. I’ll really get it.” I said, “I’m not interested.”

About an hour later, he came into the kitchen to apologize. He was very contrite and brought a box with him. I stuck my nose in the air and refused to open it. “Aw, c’mon Julie! I’m sorry. Really, here it is.” After a few minutes of my refusing to open it, he waked away and left the box. I couldn’t stand it. I opened the box.

It was empty.

He burst back into the kitchen laughing and laughing. Both my husband and my Mother joined him, tears running down their faces.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

I did get the printer eventually. But, man oh man, I kept falling for it! And this is not an isolated incident! I trust him every single time! I know the old saying, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” But, I can’t help but think the reason I keep trusting him is because I love him and I know that he loves me too.

And finally, here's a little wall hanging I made:

Thanks for stopping by!

Kitchen Sink Stamps Rock!

I am in love.

Last year, I had the opportunity (through Craft Critique) to review two sets of acrylic stamps by Kitchen Sink Stamps.  I gave them a rave because I think the quality is amazing and I totally dig the designs. Well, Maria Colosimo, the fabulous owner/designer of Kitchen Sink Stamps offered me a guest design team gig and I jumped at the chance to play with her fabulous stamps!  She sent me three amazing sets of stamps and I had a very good time!

First up, I chose "Playful Christmas."  As you can see from the image on the far left, it's a very fun set of Christmas Tree stamps.  I love how you can layer the patterned triangles over the plain tree bases.  And Maria includes so many fun extras like the stars, the "happy holidays" and "peace to all" sentiments as well as the "to" and "from" options.  However, it's February and there's not a Christmas tree to be seen.  What's a girl to do?  I want stamps that can work for all the seasons!  So, here's what I did...

I like the way the stamps create paths -- like when you shovel snow.

The next set I worked with was the center set, called "Playful Frames and Journaling."  It's a HUGE set of stamps.  Not that the stamps are huge, but there's so much to choose from!  Maria is a genius!  She gives you the pieces to put together, which just provides you with so many options!  I can use just the journaling lines, just the frames, just pieces of the frame.  It's awesome!  For my first layout with this set, I went pretty traditional....

I started with a blank sheet of white paper.  I drew a grid of 2.25” squares.  I added eight photos and stamped three journaling blocks.  The title is made from vinyl stickers I bought at Staples.  The remaining four blocks are a combination of doodling and small star and circle stamps.  The red border is stamped (the set contains corners and strips in two sizes) and then doodled.

This next one is more out of the box...

I was playing around with the stamps and discovered that you could make words out them!  How freakin' cool is that?!  Maria provides you with curves, straight lines (in two sizes), and corner stamps IN  THREE PATTERNS (circles, stars and flowers).  WOW!  I'm so in love.

Finally, I dug down to find my inner girly-girl and played with the set on the far right, "3 Step Daisy."  This is the coolest concept ever!  The set contains a daisy (in three sizes) made up of three layers.  I need absolutely zero artistic skill to layer these flowers together and create these über cool multi-colored flowers!  There are 2 step leaves too (both a single leaf and a double leaf)!  I love that this set has many sayings in an absolutely adorable handwritten font.  The sayings include: "Flowers of true friendship never fade." and "Memories are held in our hearts forever."  Maria also includes an adorable "handmade for you with love" stamp.  Here's what I did....

I really had such a great time working with these stamps.  I know that I will be using them over and over again!  They're just so versatile!

Thanks for stopping by!

Photoshop Elements Tutorial

Next Monday, my four week course on using Photoshop Elements for Hybrid Scrapbooking will begin at My Creative Classroom.  I thought that I would share a quick tutorial from the classroom to give you a taste of the class in case you'd like to sign up.  It's a QuickTime video.  If you don't have QuickTime, you can download it for free.  If you're having trouble viewing the video, try using Firefox as your browser. 

You can pause and rewind the tutorial as needed by using the controls at the bottom of your screen.  If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me!

January and February at Just Let Me Scrapbook

Just Let Me Scrapbook has a brand new website (and she just uploaded a ton of fabulous American Crafts' goodies).  Here are my January and February design team projects:

Finally, I just wanted to point out a great article for scrapbooking newbies.

Thanks for stopping by!

Ten From Photo-a-Day

After almost two months of doing Photo-a-Day, here are ten things I've learned:

1. I am embarrassed to take photos in public.
2. Your flash is not always evil.
3. I need to have my eyes checked (or my manual focus is broken, I think it's the former rather than the latter).
4. I think like a scrapbooker and not a photographer. (I think about the story I'm going to tell about the photograph rather than the story the photograph is going to tell.)
5. Not editing my photos is killing me!
6. My camera is not as delicate as I thought.
7. I am using one sixteenth of my camera's cool features (if that).
8. The lighting in my apartment stinks.
9. Have I mentioned that I'm embarrassed to take photos in public?
10. Know that I was going to upload the photos to the internet has definitely made me censor myself (unflattering pics of people or taking photos of other people's kids, etc.).

How about you?  Have you taken the challenge?  How are you doing?

Histoires de Pages and Sultane

Well, I fielded a phone call from France this week.  You see, I'm going to be featured in the French scrapbooking magazine, Histoires de Pages.  They do a one page feature on a different scrapper each issue and I am very honored to have been chosen.  It looks like I will be the first American to be featured.  Pretty exciting!  I sent off three pages to them today (all featuring the fabulous Sultane paper).

I am also busily working on my pages for My Kits & Pieces and Just Let Me Scrapbook (currently debuting a new website).  In the meantime, I thought I'd share some work from my final kit with Serendipity Scrapbooks.  It has been a great six months with them!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Man, I have been such a good blogger!  I've been posting almost every day!  Anyway, just wanted to say Happy Valentine's Day and share two hybrid cards I made.  One for my Mother and the other for my Husband:

If you're interested in hybrid scrapping, stop by the Scrapbook Dimensions blog for some great tutorials!

Finally, I thought I'd share something I posted at SIS today.  The poster on this thread, asked about storage for small spaces.  Here's what I've been doing lately and really loving:

You know, I sometimes make HUGE kits out of my stuff (because I'm short on space too). I take a sampling of 10-15 cardstocks and 10-15 patterned papers along a theme of some kind (office supply chic, bright and playful, etc.) and then add stamps, embellishments, alphabets, etc. Then, I stick the "kit" into a ginormous ziploc bag and scrap out of it until I'm not feeling it anymore. I usually have 3-4 going, so I don't get too bored. When, I'm done, I just reabsorb all the leftovers into my stash and then create new kits.

This way I can see what I'm using and clean-up is a breeze! Making the kits is kind of like shopping in your own stash! Very fun!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Sultane Winner and Some Good News!

Drumroll, please...

The winner of the Sultane papers is...

LORI W.

You didn't leave your e-mail, Lori, so be sure to drop me a line with your mailing address!

Also, a bit of good news in my inbox last night.  I had a hybrid layout picked up by Digital Artist Magazine. It's my first time submitting to them and I'm over the moon!

Have a great day!

Text in a Circle using Microsoft Word

For proof that you don't need Photoshop to do cool hybrid stuff on your computer, here's a quick tutorial I wrote up on creating a circle of text in Microsoft Word:

1.    Make sure that the “Drawing” Toolbar is open.  This can be found under the “View” Menu under “Toolbars”

2.    Once the menu is open, choose “Word Art.”

3.    The following screen will open.  Choose the text that’s in a slight curve.

4.    Input your text, choose your font, and adjust the size.  Then hit okay.

5.    Use your mouse to click on the little yellow square and pull it below your text as if you are trying to draw a circle.

 

6.    Your text will now be in a smushed circle.

7.    Using the clear square boxes around your text, stretch the smushed circle into a regular one.

8.    You can change the color by using the “Line Color” and “Fill Color” choices at the bottom of the “Drawing” Toolbar.  Here are four examples:

Have fun creating!  And remember that today (Tuesday 2/12) is the last day to enter to win some fabulous Sultane papers!  I'll be posting the name of the winner tomorrow!  To win, post a comment on this blog entry at Craft Critique!

What Level Are You?

I found this post on Jewish-Scrapbooking.com very interesting.  In it, the poster asks a thought-provoking question:

I have scrapped for most of my life.  I have taught many classes, I have worked in a scrapbook store, I subscribe to scrapping magazines, I sometimes go to crops and I am curious.  . . what level scrapper does this make me???

I don't have a sizzix or a cricut or quikkutz (or however you spell it).  I don't buy designer albums.  I have supplies out the wazzoo. . .I sometimes create my own albums, I alter plain albums, I am a lumpy scrapper, I love fiber and ribbons.  I use Jolee's tastefully. . .I have never submitted my work for publication, I think I do great work, and I see some LO's in magazines and cringe that I didn't submit something.  I have never been on a design team, although I tried once, but was told that her team was filled.

I think I am a "skilled" or "advanced" scrapper; however, when you read the question "What level scrapper are you?"  if you are not a beginner, what makes that determination?  Is it your own perception.  I totally consider myself to be a Scrapbook Designer.

Just wondering what you all think about this topic! 

The responses are varied and my own answer was pretty straight forward: "I think that only you can define what level of scrapper you are.  What do your experience and knowledge combine to create?"  But, the more I think about it, the more that answer bothers me. 

I'm going to ramble here for a moment, so bear with me.

There exists a raging debate in many craft/art communities: Is it craft or is it art?  Is craft art?  Is it always art?  Can some of it be art?  Who decides if it's art?  Who decides if it's craft?  Who decides if it's good.  I have talked to beaders, silversmiths, quilters, scrapbookers...so many people who make strong arguments for and against being labeled as either artists or crafters.

I found a quote a while back that I really love:

"Art strives to express; craft strives for excellence. Good art has good craft, good craft is artistic.  Within every craft there exists artists. Within every artist there is craft."

It doesn't really answer the question, but it eloquently sums up so many of my feelings about the subject.  Why do we need to define it so harshly?  If I make a quilt that I mean to be hung on the wall like art, and someone else makes a quilt that is meant to go on a bed, but I hang it on my wall because to me, it is art, what's the difference?  Or if someone has only been scrapping a year ends up teaching a class to someone who has been scrapping for thirteen, who is the expert?  Who is the advanced scrapper?

I am a beginning quilter.  I learned to sew in the summer of 2005. (Heck, I learned to iron at my first quilting class in 2005!)  I have won blue ribbons and teach classes, but I still consider myself a beginner.  There is just so much technical knowledge out there that I don't possess.

So, is technical knowledge the standard?  In ice skating, the skaters are given two marks: technical and artistic.  And, I've always wondered about the latter.  It's so subjective.  A number given to rate someone's artistry?  Bizarre.  But, we somehow have this need to do it.

I don't know if I'm headed anywhere in particular on this great ramble.  It has just been rattling in my head and I'm trying to figure it all out.  Do you have an opinion?

PS: Just Let Me Scrapbook is having another GREAT sale (psst: they have clear albums)...

Who Needs Candy?

 

We Are Scrappers...

 

WE NEED SWEET NEW SUPPLIES!

 

So, how about 30% off your entire order by using the code LOVE30?

 

Isn't that just wonderful?

 

This offer is good through Valentine's Day, February 14.

Don't forget to mention my name (Julie Fei-Fan Balzer) in the comments section!

PS #2: TOMORROW is the last day to sign up for my class, Scrapalicious (see the image on the left).  We start class today, but I always let students sign up until we're two days in.  E-mail me (balzerdesigns@gmail.com) if you have any questions.

Thanks for stopping by!