Balzer Designs

Art Journal Every Day: December Daily Art Journal 4

If you're new to Art Journal Every Day, all the posts can be found here.  Please read this post first.  There is a flickr group for sharing right here.  Remember, it's just ten minutes of nourishing your creative self every day!  No need to finish anything or even like it.  Just play! Linky list for December is right here.

As I mentioned in a previous post, memory guru Ali Edwards is once again running her December Daily project.  Essentially she encourages people to build a foundation of pages for a mini album and then add in photos, ephemera, and journaling for each of the days leading up to Christmas.

Well, as those of you who art journal every day know, this is pretty much what we do every single day!  So I figured I'd share my daily December entries this month and call them my December Daily Art Journal!  Here's the first post, the second, and the third.  And truth-be-told I opened my art journal only once this whole week:

You can see that I decided to represent the "lost" days with big numbers cut from cardstock.  I could have faked it.  I could have written some stuff down from my memory.  But my art journal is a real account of my real life and I have been happily playing hooky from my life for the last week.  So it makes sense that my art journal reflects that. 

Can you believe that this is the final Art Journal Every Day post of 2011?  What a very interesting year it has been.  I think today's spread full of "lost" days is kind of an appropriate way to end the year.  This project hasn't ended up being anything that I expected.  At the start of the year I figured that I'd share pages from my daily art journal every Friday and maybe a few people would play along.  Since then Art Journal Every Day has evolved to include so much more. And I've evolved as an art journaler; grown by leaps and bounds.  I have learned so much about myself, my likes and dislikes, the process, and why I need to art journal.

I don't know if you did, but in 2011 I didn't art journal every day.  And that's okay.  Art Journal Every Day isn't really about art journaling every day.  It's fantastic if you do, and it's fantastic if you don't.  I inititated this project as a way of encouraging everyone to try and make art journaling a part of their daily life.  If at the end of 2011 you have art journaled more than you did in 2010, then I feel like this project has been an enormous success! 

I am planning to continue these Art Journal Every Day posts on Fridays in 2012.  Thank you to all of you who have joined me in this art journal journey thus far!  For those of you on the fence, here are some things to do if you're interested in joining in, but are unsure of where to start:

• Check out the posts from Art Journaling Week.
• Visit the Art Journal Every Day flickr group for lots of inspiration!
• You can see links to all of the Art Journal Every Day posts here.  Lots of great tutorials and encouragement to be found!
• Read THIS post.  It's my Art Journal Every Day manifesto.
• Take my "30 Days in Your Journal" online class.  I take you step-by-step through the process of making art journaling a part of your daily life.
• Subscribe to this blog via e-mail and get all of my blog posts, including Friday's Art Journal Every Day posts, delivered to your inbox each day.

Whether you're an experienced art journaler or a totaly newbie I very much hope that you'll join me in taking ten minutes a day to be creative in your art journal!

Until next year....

2011 in Review: Favorite Blog Posts

Wrapping up a week of looking back, I thought I'd share my favorite blog posts from this year:

 January 7, 2011
Art Journal Every Day: Creating Space for Art Journaling Every Day

The title pretty much sums it up.  Some ideas on how to be prepared to art journal every day.

It's one of my favorite posts because I think making literal space for art in your life is where all creativity begins.

March 2, 2011
On Confidence and Creating

In this post I share five tips on how I get motivated to create when I feel a bit intimidated by all the pretty art out there already.

It's one of my favorite posts because I had forgotten all about this post until I reviewed my blog to write the post you're reading right now.  And you know, I read this post and it spoke to me.  Reminded me who I am and what I'm capable of.  I hope it reminds you of that too!

March 16, 2011
Prima Designer Day

This post is one I originally did for the Prima blog.  It's a basic run down of where I live and create and all that good stuff!  (That photo is the view from the end of my block.)

It's one of my favorite posts because while I share art that is personal on my blog, I don't usually share my personal life.  I'm not a lifestyle blogger.  This was a rare opportunity to just talk about my life and show off my neighborhood!

April 29, 2011
Art Journal Every Day: No More Blank Pages

Five short technique tutorials meant to get you past the intimidation of a blank white page in your journal.

It's one of my favorite posts because I use these techniques constantly.  Virtually every page in my art journal begins here.

 May 18, 2011
Colorful Garbage = ATCs

In this post I share how I made ATCs from some leftover fabric scraps.

It's one of my favorite posts because I adore making something out of nothing! 

June 1, 2011
Super Quick Tutorial: Book Page Tape

As the title suggests, a super quick tutorial on creating tape made from book pages!

It's one of my favorite posts because it's such a simple idea.  Simple and good.

June 28, 2011
Thursdays I'm at MoMA

This post is about the mixed media art class I took at MoMA where we worked on art after sketching in the galleries.

It's one of my favorite posts because this class meant a lot to me.  In some ways I think it was a huge turning point for me.  I'm not sure if I'm totally able to verbalize my feelings, because I think I'm still processing, but it opened my brain to art in a way that it hasn't been opened before.

July 5, 2011
Some Thoughts on Blogging

This post is one of my all time faves in the entire history of my blog.  In it, I outline my tips for successful crafty blogging.

It's one of my favorite posts because it's advice from the heart.  

August 16, 2011
I Fail More Often Than I Succeed

In this post I share the millions of times I've been rejected and some advice on dealing with rejection.

It's one of my favorite posts because we're all in this together.  We've all had our art rejected in some way.  It's healing to be reminded that it happens to everyone and it's just part of life.  It doesn't change who you are or the value of what you create.

August 25, 2011
Forty-Eight Hours

For forty-eight hours I kept track of everything I did.

It's one of my favorite posts because it's like a virtual scrapbook!  And a reminder to myself to stop working so much!  I re-read that post and was re-reminded that I need to set some working hours for myself.  It can't be all day, every day.

September 2, 2011
Art Journal Every Day: Museum to Journal

In this post I share how art at the Art Institute of Chicago inspired me in my art journal.

It's one of my favorite posts because it's sort of a continuation of the class I took at MoMA.  How do you take inspiration from interesting established art and create something with it in your own style?

October 14, 2011
Art Journal Every Day: Doodling on Dark

This post includes a video and several examples of art journal pages with black backgrounds.

It's one of my favorite posts because starting with a black page is just fun.  Don't believe me?  Try it!

December 6, 2011
Art Adventures Abroad: East Side Gallery

This post contains a banquet of yummy photos of Berlin's East Side Gallery.

It's one of my favorite posts because it's a feast for the eyes.  Lots to think about and look at!

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Some overall thoughts:

This is the first year that I blogged at least five-days-a-week for a complete year. 

I'm really proud of myself for making the commitment to blogging and I want to thank you for being here and listening.  Through your comments and e-mails you have changed my art, brightened my mood, encouraged me to keep innovating and experimenting, and generally been a great source of happiness every day.  I hope that reading my blog has made you happy too! 

Thanks for stopping by!

2011 in Review: Favorite Other Projects

Continuing a week of looking back, I thought I'd share my favorite non-scrapbook and non-art journal projects from 2011:

January 2011:

It's one of my favorite projects because I love the face -- very different from what I was doing at the time.  And I love the way I created a sort of placard on the front and back of the bag.

February 2011:

It's one of my favorite projects because it represents (a) several artistic experiments, and (b) was one of the first just-for-me projects I made when I decided to leave the whole design team thing behind.

March 2011:

It's one of my favorite projects because I love the background and the message.


It's one of my favorite projects because it tells a story without any words.  Something I struggle with.

May 2011:

It's one of my favorite projects because it's a little outside of what I normally do (or it was at the time) and I love the way it turned out.  The image, the colors, the meaning.

June 2011:

It's one of my favorite projects because it turned out way better than I could have imagined!  I love this card so much that I can't bring myself to write a note inside and give it away!


It's one of my favorite projects because I believe in the message and just love the colors, layers, and the whole design (notice how it was inspired by the "Be Unique" canvas from March?)

July 2011:

It's one of my favorite projects because I couldn't be prouder of this dress!  I still don't have any "real" photos of it.  But it was a labor of love that took me days and days and I poured all of my creativity into it.  Some day, when I have lots more room, I hope to make a whole bunch of mixed media dresses!

September 2011:

It's one of my favorite projects because it reminds me to be true to myself.  This is the way that I like to paint and shade a face.  It's not my teacher's way and it's not for everyone, but I *love* it!

It's one of my favorite projects because I wear this pair of super light weight earrings all the time and get tons and tons of compliments on them.  The colors really glow in real life and they're so great for travel because you barely feel them!

October 2011:

It's one of my favorite projects because for a girl who always felt like she couldn't draw realistically, this drawing makes me proud.  I've got a long ways to go, but I'm headed in the right direction!

November 2011:

It's one of my favorite projects because this set of stamps needs to exist.  And now that they do, I can't stop putting them on everything (which is so sad because I think banners are "over" as a trend).

It's one of my favorite projects because I discovered a whole new concept for carving/printing stamps.  New discoveries are the best!


It's one of my favorite projects because I adore the background and it represents a big mental shift for me.  Now that I know that I can draw realistically, I don't feel like I have to.

December 2011:

It's one of my favorite projects because I love how the face turned out.  She's a great mix between the imaginary girls I like to draw and a drawing made from a real human being.

It's one of my favorite projects because I love turning nothing into something!  Amazing what you can do with a white pen and a steady hand.

This one is still in progress.  It's my take it on the airplane craft.  But It's one of my favorite projects because I'm not a comfortable embroiderer and it was been wonderful to explore my own natural stitch choices and just play with texture and what feels right.

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One of the things that I love about this process of wrapping up is the sense of accomplishment.  A year is such a very short and very long period of time all at once.  I don't feel like I'm improving.  In fact, I often feel like I'm treading water.  But with this colleciton of art, I can see how I've changed and improved.  I can see how small ideas bloomed and how I let go of others along the way.  I'm really proud of how much better at painting faces I am today than I was a year ago.  And I'm pleased to see that most of the projects on this page were experiments that went really well!  That's always a great encouragement to keep trying new things!

No doubt about it, I am on an ongoing artistic adventure and I can't wait to see where 2012 takes me!

Thanks for stopping by!

2011 in Review: Favorite Scrapbook Pages

Continuing a week of looking back, I thought I'd share my favorite scrapbook pages from this year:

January 17, 2011:

I love this page because of the tissue paper background, the soft gradation of color, and the silly photos!

February 19, 2011:

I love this page because of the painted journaling.  And the design is really different for me.

February 22, 2011:

I love this page because it mixes simple with paint in some nice ways.  And I love that I used that leftover scrap of pink with a cut out in it for the bottom of the page and it just works.

March 25, 2011:

I love this page because I love those flowers I made!  They're one of the lessons from my "It's Sew Easy" class, which is probably the hardest class I've ever taught.  But I loved all of the projects that came out of that experience!

June 22, 2011:

I love this page because it came together effortlessly.  And I took some risks that paid off: the teal stripe, and the big circle around the photo).

July 24, 2011:

I love this page because I threw paint all over that pretty paper piecing and it just made it better!  Plus I managed to make two terrible grainy photos look kind of cool!

July 27, 2011:

I love this page because it was my first 8.5x11, a rare patterned paper background page, and it incorporates one of my favorite embellishments: a hand painted tag!

August 7, 2011:

I love this page because when I figured out that glitter technique I jumped up and down!  Love how it looks!

August 8, 2011:

I love this page because when I figured out that chevron piecing technique I jumped up and down!  Plus I love the inclusion of a piece of crochet.  I want to do more of that in the future!

September 7, 2011:

I love this page because of those quirky little painted and typed tags.  Love.

September 12, 2011:

I love this page because of the colors and the bold black herringbones.

October 12, 2011:

I love this page because I love the design.  I love tags.  Have I mentioned that I love tags?  And I finally figured out a way to get some of the big ones onto a layout!

October 31, 2011:

I love this page because it is doodleriffic!  I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out, but I love the result!

November 15, 2011:

I love this page because it is so simple and graphic.  Plus I love that stamp set!

November 16, 2011:

I love this page because it is graphic and clean.  Not a single paint splat in sight!

December 6, 2011:

I love this page because I was experimenting with a new technique with watercolor crayons and the results are so cool!  Plus I love that tape I made!

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Some things that I notice all these layouts have in common:

• They all have a white, kraft/brown, or yellow background.  And most are built on white cardstock.
• Every layout, but one, uses paint.
• Generally speaking I tend to like the photo in the center of the cardstock -- maybe slightly off to the left or the right, but pretty centered.  There are some exceptions, but not a lot.
• I'm proud to say that all of the layouts have journaling.
• While there is some typed journaling, I tend to be a handwriting journaler.
• Many of the layouts have a stripe of some kind up against one or two edges.
• I clearly like a bold title!
• I used mostly smaller photos, and a lot of Hipstamatic photos!  Also a white border appears around many of the photos.
• All of these layouts fit into the "graphic artsy" category -- they're definitely artsy, but they all have a strong graphic quality.
• Most of the layouts employ a certain amount of white space.  As dense as some of the painted areas are, there is a clear place for the eye to rest.
• I'm not a big embellishment user.  Looking at all of these layouts, most of the embellishments were hand made, not bought.

Lots of food for thought here.  Since I left all of my scrapbook design teams this year I find myself more and more able to scrap the way that I want to.  And the way that I want to is pretty much cardstock, paint, stencils, stamps, and a pen.  With maybe a few tags or a bit of patterned paper.  And since I love all of these pages, I feel encouraged to continue in this direction of doing what feels good, keeping it graphic but artsy, and making my own little embellishments!

P.S. I like tags.  ;)

P.P.S. The winner of May's class, The Curious Scrapbooker's Field Guide, is...

Congratulations Hilda!  Let me know your e-mail address and I'll send it on to May!

2011 in Review: Favorite Art Journal Pages

The week between Christmas and New Year seems like a very good time to look back and reflect, doesn't it?  So all this week I'll be looking back at my faves from 2011.  Today I'm going to share my favorite art journal pages from 2011:

January 2011:

I love it because I love the white and colored chevron pattern.  It's always amazing to me what a little white paint can do!

May 2011:

I love it because it was a page that didn't work and I found a way to fix it!  Plus, look at all of that journaling!  Love that!

June 2011:

I love it because it was a great experiment.  A face-a-day for thirty days.  Very accomplishable because of the small size.  I'm tempted to try for a face-a-day every day for 2012, but how many "every day" projects can a girl have?

July 2011:

I love it because it is the first time I've ever sewn on a journal page!  Because of the whole two-sided page thing, it's hard to put those pages in your sewing machine, you know?

August 2011:

I love it because I built this spread over a long period of time using a ton of different techniques and then one day I decided to pulli t together.  Proof that slowly and gradually are really good things!

I love it because I sometimes get stuck in one kind of art journaling.  It's easy to forget that there are so many other kinds out there!  This journal of my vacation to Maine remains one of my faves.  All these little "ugly" drawings that look so fantastic now with a bit of distance.

October 2011:

I love it because it is just layers and layers and layers of play! 

I love it because for two reasons: (1) it was a great experiment to make an alphabet (2) it makes me think of my "30 Days in Your Journal" class, which was really fun for me to create.

November 2011:

I love it because I went against my "more is more" philosophy and tried something a bit bare and I really like it!

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Looking at this collection of pages I see a few common strands:

• Lots of layers.
• Use of white.
• Colors and lines that fade in and out.
• They're very dense.
• Red/Orange is a favorite color.
• Strong black line.
• Drawing and doodling are everywhere.
• I like circles and grids.

Looking back at a collection of pages like this and identifying the things that unite them helps me figure out where my focus should be in the future.  For instance, I keep lusting after the beautiful sparse pages of some art journalers, but in my heart I'm a maximalist and I need to stuff the page full of...well...stuff.  I love the collage pages that other do, but it doesn't come naturally to me.  I'm more of a paint and draw it kind of girl, and that's okay.

The thing I'm most proud of when I look at this collection of pages is the fact that each one represents a risk I took that was rewarded.  An encouragement to take even more risks in 2012!

Thanks for stopping by!

Merry Christmas!

This is probably the most difficult stamp I've ever carved.  And I love how it turned out!  My husband and I don't send out Christmas cards, but I made a bunch of cards to put the Christmas tips in for all the people who work in our building.  Here's a small sampling of what they look like:

I think it's a card fit for any mantle!

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas!

Art Journal Every Day: December Daily Art Journal 3

If you're new to Art Journal Every Day, all the posts can be found here.  Please read this post first.  There is a flickr group for sharing right here.  Remember, it's just ten minutes of nourishing your creative self every day!  No need to finish anything or even like it.  Just play! Linky list for December is right here.

Thank you for all of your comments on last Friday's post about Art Journal Every Day.  I knew that I would continue to art journal every day personally, but I wasn't sure if you were enjoying sharing the journey or not.  Now I know the answer is, "yes!"  So the Art Journal Every Day Friday blog series will be back (in a slightly altered format) in 2012!

As I mentioned in a previous post, memory guru Ali Edwards is once again running her December Daily project.  Essentially she encourages people to build a foundation of pages for a mini album and then add in photos, ephemera, and journaling for each of the days leading up to Christmas.

Well, as those of you who art journal every day know, this is pretty much what we do every single day!  So I figured I'd share my daily December entries this month and call them my December Daily Art Journal!  Here's the first post and the second.  And here is what I've done this week:

I decorated this next in-progress-spread with tags I've been making with my handcarved stamps (most from Stamp Carving 101)!

Thanks for stopping by!

Playing with Polymer

Have I mentioned lately that I'm a craft-a-holic?  I love exploring all sorts of crafts!  And this weekend I fell down a crafty rabbit hole. 

I had an idea, which led to many, many, many hours of playing with polymer clay.  In the end, my original idea ended up in the trash.  You win some, you lose some.  But I ended up with some fun new jewelry.  Plus I have some new skills to work on and a lot of new ideas and I love when that happens!

I still don't get the sanding stage and most of my canes turned out a little bit wonky and my shoulder is killing me from conditioning clay.  But man, did I have a good time making lots of mistakes and learning all sorts of new things!

Thanks for stopping by!

Art Cloth

When I was in San Antonio I stayed with Leslie Tucker Jenison, who is a wonderful mixed media fiber artist with an encyclopedic knowledge of surface design.  She was a very gracious hostess and really made my stay in San Antonio memorable.  I wanted to send her a thank you gift, but what to send? 

Leslie had just gotten back from a meeting of the Art Cloth Network.  From their website:

"The Art Cloth Network is dedicated to exploring and promoting art cloth. Art Cloth is cloth transformed by adding or subtracting color, line, shape, texture, value, or fiber to create a compelling surface." 

We had several conversations about art cloth while I was there and I found the whole thing fascinating.  I paint on fabric all the time, but these women have taken it to another level.  I am fascinated by all of the chemical processes they use! 

Most art cloth is finished art.  Meaning, that fabric isn't meant to be turned into anything.  It is the art.  Whenever I paint on fabric, I'm just adding texture for when it goes into its final home.  So this is a dramatically interesting idea to me.

And despite feeling terribly intimidated, I figured that a lover of surface design might appreciate a fat quarter of my own painted fabric.  So I made a piece of fabric for Leslie:

It's definitely evidence of my "more is more" life philosophy.

I'm not sure if it's "art cloth" or just painted fabric meant to be used in a piece of fiber art.  What do you think?

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P.S. The winner of the "Circles in Squares" stencil in 6x6 and 12x12 is...

Congratulations, Kate!  E-mail me with your mailing address!

Eight Nights of Presents

Tonight is the first night of Hannukah.  And while the holiday isn't really about giving presents (most Hannukah gifts are quite small, tokens really) my holiday wish list is still full of yummy art supplies.  So I thought I'd share what I think would be perfect presents for each of the eight nights of Hannukah!

For a few months now the internet has been abuzz about Inktense Blocks.  Essentially, they're permanent watercolor in stick form.  I have read about them and read about them, but I never really got the hype.  Then one of my students in Hamburg handed over hers for me to use and...well, I was hooked!  So now I've got the set of twenty-four on my wish list.

Watch this video and see if you aren't hooked too!

I used to be a huge beader!  I made so many necklaces and earrings and bead purses and all sorts of stuff.  I'd like to get back into it, especially bead crochet.  And one thing that makes bead crochet easier is a Bead Spinner:

It's a kind of magical little tool.  Essentially, when you spin the bowl the tiny little beads "jump" onto a wire or thread, so you don't have to string hundreds of seed beads by hand!

I aspire to make beautiful bead crocheted things like this:

(From Irregular Expressions on Etsy)

And a related-to-the-bead-spinner-gift is this book...

...on making French Beaded Flowers, I'm thinking the bead spinner could do a bit of double duty, you know?  I have absolutely no idea what I'd do with those beaded flowers, but they are so pretty to look at, aren't they?

If I had a huge room I think I'd get one of these:

They each hold 128 ink pads!  The one on the right rotates and has that great shelf on top for more stuff!  But alas, I have neither the table space nor the wall space for either one.  So mostly I need a bigger space...but I don't think that's likely this Hannukah.

Gift number five on my crafty wish list is a bunch of Montana spray paints!

I've been wanting to get into spray paints more, but the toxicity factor and the fact that they're locked away is kind of scary to me.  But I recently bought a respirator for a different crafty endeavor, so I think spray paint might be next.  And I've heard from lots of folks that the Montana spray paints are the best.  Really opaque colors and very little drippage.  They are marketed as spray paints for artists.

Another paint product I want is Distress Stain in Picket Fence. 

I didn't think much of it when I first heard of it, but seeing Tim Holtz use it in this video convinced me that it must be mine:

Speed ahead to 10:55 to see the Picket Fence in use!

It's not in stock a lot of places, but I did see that ArtistCellar has it in stock.

I am truly a sucker for a demo.  I think most people are.  Which is why I'm wishing for another product that I had previously overlooked, but am now interested in: deColourant

I saw some cool images of it in use on The Crafter's Workshop blog and now I want it!

(image from LuAn Kessi)

Essentially, deColourant reacts with heat to subtract color while adding color.  Here's a quick video that Noel from Paperclipping did at CHA when deColourant was introduced:

Finally, how about some of the cutest washi tape ever?

I love the filmstrip and the camera, but the roll of label tape at the bottom is just beyond awesome!  I can see using it for so many things!  And it comes in several colors too!  You can see the blue version here:

And it looks like some of the bottom roll of tape has filmstrips instead of tickets!  Love it!

I've got my fingers crossed that I'll get something off of this list for Hannukah.  But truth be told, we haven't exchanged Hannukah presents in my family since I was a kid.  Ah, well. 

Happy Hannukah to all!

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P.S. If you don't know a lot about Hannukah, Suze Weinberg has a nice post on her blog all about it.