Balzer Designs

Art Journal Every Day: exploring the #artjournaleveryday hashtag

If you're new to Art Journal Every Day, there is a short introduction here.  All of the previous posts can be found archived here.  Remember, it's just ten minutes of nourishing your creative self every day!  No need to finish anything or even like it. If you've done some art journaling this week, use the hashtag #artjournaleveryday so that we can all take a peek.  Even if you're not on social media, you can see everything (from twitter, pinterest, instagram, and facebook) that uses that hashtag here.

Today I wanted to share some of the amazing work that was hashtagged #artjournaleveryday this week.  Even if you're not on social media, you can see everything (from twitter, pinterest, instagram, and facebook) that uses that hashtag here.

Jessica Sporn:

lorrieta:

tararoddenrobinson:

studio318:

raemissigman:

flo_herethere:

tangiebaxter:

ninnynoo:

ozgebasagac:

jill_holmes:

littlerowanredhead:

arts_inc:

lou_stine:

florenceturnour:

I hope that you will make some time to art journal this week!  I'd love to see what you're up to!

Thanks for stopping by!

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P.S. The monthly Balzer Designs newsletter will go out on Feb 1.  Be sure to sign-up if you haven't already!

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ScanNCut on HSN Recap...

Hey everyone!  I thought I'd share some photos from my recent trip to HSN down in Tampa, Florida.

Coming from the Northeast, this view from my hotel room was most welcome:

We even rented a convertible!  It may have been cold by Florida standards, but I was thrilled to go coat-less.  Of course, fitting all the stuff for the broadcast into that tiny car wasn't easy...

...but we made it work!

Valentine's Day is rapidly approaching and we had a lot of love-themed projects on air.  Here I am in the green room (a backstage waiting room) holding one of my favorites...

...a beautiful heart ornament!

Check out our table laden with lovely projects:

Here's a closer peek at that heart ornament:

Quick and dirty tutorial for it:

1. Cut the same file four times.  
2. Layer them on top of each other.
3. Stitch down the center.
4. Fluff the stitched hearts apart to create the ornament!

We had to go cake shopping at the local supermarket in Tampa.  I wasn't sure what we'd find, but I think we found the perfect cake for this topper -- simple, elegant, and lots of great visual texture!

The cake topper is a free project download from ScanNCut Canvas.  You get the instructions and all the cutting files for free!  In fact there were a few free ScanNCut Canvas projects represented on the table!

Favor Box:

Pop-up Card:

There are new projects added every single month!  We also added some Valentine's feeling to the winter wreath in the photo above.

We slipped a glittery gold cut out under the wreath and then added the pink heart with the sentiment.  I think those two easy additions help to keep that beautiful wreath feeling seasonal!

We did the same trick with this white banner:

We just added a heart and voila!  It's Valentine's Day!  Check out all of the hearts:

This scrapbook album has fabric hearts on it:

We had a number of fabric projects, including this beautiful applique quilt:

And here's an idea that uses quilt pieces, but cut out of paper!

One of my favorite parts of the whole HSN experience is that my Mom always sends me photos she takes of the TV where I'm making a million insane faces.

Second row, on the left.  Is that some serious side eye or what?!  I have to giggle.  

Hope you're having a great Thursday.  Thanks for stopping by!

Around Here: January 2016

Hey you guys!  I'm starting a new blog feature today.  Each month I plan to share some photos of life around here without a lot of commentary.  Just some snaps of the daily chaos and color I live with!

I hope you're staying warm wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for stopping by!

ScanNCut Techniques Galore!

In honor of the fact that I'm on HSN today (in the 12pm EST and 4pm EST airings - with a possible additional airing at 11pm EST) showing off the ScanNCut, I've got a collection of ScanNCut techniques for you.  I hope they'll be useful to you.  You can view them anytime on my YouTube channel.

The wireless transfer function is one of the super duper coolest and most useful features of the new ScanNCut 2.  (Learn how to activate your wireless ready ScanNCut 2 in this video and here’s a video all about how the wireless transfer works.)  In the video I made, I show you how to change both the wifi network the machine is on, as well as the user account used for the wireless transfer process.

Next up is a fabulous function that I'm super duper excited about!  It's called "ungrouping."  It's a little thing, but it makes a big difference when it comes to customizing your projects and getting them to look just the way you want them to!  Watch the video to see what I'm so excited about:

And here is a photo of the felt ornaments before and after ungrouping:

Finally, I thought I'd address one of the most common questions I get: what's the difference between the scans on "scan to cut data?"  Watch the video to see the different types of cutting files each scan creates:

And here are the leaves from the video:

Check out how skinny that little leaf tail is:

I hope these videos were useful to you!  Please leave your ScanNCut questions in the comments section so I know the types of things you'd like to see explained in a video demonstration!

Thanks for stopping by!

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P.S. While I am a paid spokesperson for the Brother ScanNCut, it is a product that I love and use!

Exploring Distress Crayons

Thank you so much for all of your votes and kind words!  You can see all of the winners here.  Now onto today's post!

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As I promised last week, when I showed off this project...

...here is the video sharing my explorations of Distress Crayons:

Before I sat down to make this project I had to know what the Distress Crayons could do.  And I think that's a good general rule for all of your art supplies.  If you don't know the pros and cons, the cans and can'ts (and every single art product on earth has pros and cons, as well as cans and can'ts), how are you going to create something amazing?  

So how do you find out about those possibilities?  You can take a class, read a book, watch a video, go to google, or you can just try everything you can think of and see what happens.  I enjoy testing out a product with my own methods first.  How would I naturally approach this product?  Once I've used it a bit then I'll go and look for the "right" way to use it.  If I begin with the "right" way I feel like it stifles my creativity.  Sometimes there are wonderful and amazing discoveries along the way when you do it "wrong!"

Have you tried the Distress Crayons?  What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by!

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P.S. I'll be on HSN tomorrow (in the 12pm EST and 4pm EST airings - with a possible additional airing at 11pm EST) with the ScanNCut.  Tune in online or or on your TV!