Balzer Designs

New Balzer Designs Stencils: Winter 2013 (part 2)

I'm so very pleased to share that I'm debuting *eighteen* brand new stencil designs this Winter.  All of the stencils will be available at both scrapbook.com and bluemoonscrapbooking.com and many other online and brick & mortar retailers.  If you don't see them at your favorite store, be sure to ask for them by name!  I believe they will begin shipping in February.

This stencil is called "Entrelac" and is based on the knitting pattern of the same name.

Speaking of knitting, I used the "Aztec" stencil...

...and some Super Heavy Gesso to create this layout about my friend Rodney:

The background of the photo was really distracting, so I painted it out.

I've also got three "doily" designs this time around.  The first one is called "Bubble Doily," though I think it looks more like a flower than a doily.

Here's a peek at the initial background design, which I instagrammed:

And here's the layout with a slightly toned down background:

I used both the 6x6 and 12x12 versions on this layout.  I often mix the two sizes of stencils of the same design.

Next up is the "Flying Bird Doily."

I made some patterned paper with the stencil and several colors of Distress Ink...

...and then cut it up to use on this layout:

Finally, I present to you the "Fleur de Lis Doily."

You'll notice that I only traced a portion of the stencil for this layout.  Don't ever forget that stencils are tools and you should use them however you see fit.  Be the boss of your stencils!

I painted the background with liquid watercolors and I love the way it turned out.

Do you see a stencil that you'd like to add to your collection?  Let me know what you like!

Thanks for stopping by!

New Balzer Designs Stencils: Winter 2013 (part 1)

I'm so very pleased to share that I'm debuting *eighteen* brand new stencil designs this Winter.  I truly love designing stencils and I'm so grateful to be able to do what I love!  Over the next week few days I will share all eighteen designs with you.  I hope that you'll see something you love and have to have!

All of the stencils will be available at both scrapbook.com and bluemoonscrapbooking.com and many other online and brick & mortar retailers.  If you don't see them at your favorite store, be sure to ask for them by name!  I believe they will begin shipping in February.

First up is my favorite of all the stencils this time around.  It's my new addiction and you should expect to see it on absolutely everything I make in the near future!

It's called "Tiny Circles" and here is a layout I made using it:

You can also see it in the header for this post and the layout below (which uses three other brand new stencils as well):

The other stencils used in "Besties" include "Circle Regiment," "Diamonds," and "Flower Quarter."  You can see them all below.

This is "Circle Regiment":

As you can see I made some deli paper washi tape from the next featured stencil!

This is "Diamonds":

This layout feels a little overworked to me, but I'm a big fan of "done is better than perfect."

I used that homemade deli paper washi tape to hold the photos in place.

And finally, this is "Flower Quarter":

As you can see from the layout, the reason it's called "Flower Quarter" is because if you rotate the stencil four times (divided into 4 parts = 1 quarter) you will get a complete circle with a seamless pattern!  Pretty cool, right?

So which of today's stencils do you like best and why?

The Weekend Five: Circle Explosion Stencil

I'm starting a new occasional feature on the blog!  Hooray!

Five photos.

Each "Weekend Five" will be themed.

It could be...

• Five products I love.
• Five things from Pinterest.
• Five outfits I wore.
• Five projects I'm working on.
• Five red objects.
• Five things inspiring me right now.
• Five photos from my week.
• Five works of art I love.
• Five dishes I cooked.

The only rule is that the post must contain a collection of five images.

Recently I noticed that one of my favorite scrapbookers, Louise Nelson, has been using the "Circle Explosion" stencil on many of her recent layouts.  Feast your eyes on five of them:

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Each one is so absolutely stunning.  As a collection, they make me drool.  And, of course, Louise is demonstrating one of the best things about stencils: you can keep using them over and over and over and over again!

Thanks for stopping by!

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P.S. The winner of Fabric Art Collage is...

Congratulations Marianne!  Contact me with your address and I'll mail that book out to you!  If you didn't win, don't worry...I've got another book giveaway on Monday!

DIY: Canvas Necklace

You may recall these silly pictures of me wearing the make & take that I designed for The Crafter's Workshop CHA booth.  

It's easy and fun to do and I thought today I'd share how to put a necklace of your own together!

You will need: 

Sticky Back Canvas White 12x12 Cutterbee Scissors Gelli Plate Speedball 4" Acrylic Brayer Eco Green Paints: Primary Collection Liquitex Basics Acrylic Paint Lumiere Acrylic Paints Baby Wipes Deli Paper Cosmetic Sponges Black Sharpie Black Rubber Necklace

InLinkz.com

Note: I didn't include links to any of the stencils because they're not available yet.

STEP ONE: Monoprint with a Stencil

A blank white canvas can be very intimidating.  One easy way to mess it up is with a quick monoprint with a stencil!

Squirt acrylic paint onto a Gelli Plate.  (If you don't have a Gelli Plate, use a piece of glass or even some Palette Paper.  It won't be exactly the same, but quite similar.)  

Notice that I used two colors of acrylic paint.

Roll the paint out with a brayer.  

Be sure to clean your brayer.  I like to use a baby wipe.

Place a stencil onto the Gelli Plate.

This is the "Bug Doily" stencil in 6x6.

Place a piece of Sticky Back Canvas face-down onto the Gelli Plate.  

Rub with your hand.

Lift it off and you'll see your print!

My print is a little blurry because I moved it while I was printing.  We're going to cover it up, so it's not a big deal.

I like to clean my plate by making additional prints with the remaining paint on the Gelli Plate.

To transfer the ink, simply rub with your hand.

Don't forget to lift the stencil and make one more print!  

You can clean any remaining paint from the Gelli Plate with a baby wipe.

Check out this quick video where I show you the printing:

STEP TWO: Layer, layer, layer!

Now it's time to have some fun with lots and lots of layers of stenciling.  In my FREE online class, Stencil 101, I share how I like to apply acrylic paint through a stencil.  It's the method that I used for all of the stenciling you see here:

I also like to add in some simple hand painted shapes (like these red circles):

And then I just continue to layer even more stencils until I have something like this:

It's really important that the canvas be really densely patterned.  We're going to be cutting it down into little pieces and for the little pieces to be interesting, they need to be dense.

STEP THREE: Create the Pendants

I discovered that the smallest rectangle on the 6x6 "Life Masks" stencil (numbers are for the 12x12 version)...

...is the perfect size for these pendants.  Essentially it's 1.5x2" opening with rounded corners.

Trace the smaller rectangle on the back (paper side) of the Sticky Back Canvas.

To create each pendant you will need two rectangles.  So if you want three pendants, trace six rectangles.

Once you've traced them all, cut out the rectangles using a sharp pair of scissors.

Peel the paper backing off of one piece of Sticky Back Canvas.  Place the neck cord onto the adhesive side, about 1/3 inch from the top.

Remove the paper from a second piece of Sticky Back Canvas and place it adhesive side down, so it matches the first piece.

You are effectively trapping the neck cord in the center of the two sticky pieces.  I like to use my fingernail to smooth out the canvas on each side of the cord.  If you didn't match up the two pieces of canvas, no worries.  Simply trim with scissors.

And remember, you can make the necklace any length you want.  Add one pendant, three pendants (as seen in the first set of photos), or even seven pendants as seen here:

Thanks for stopping by!

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P.S. Don't forget that your necklace is double-sided!  So you're actually getting two-for-one!  :)

CHA Summer 2012 Stencil Peeks: Part Four

As I mentioned for the last three days, I am debuting fifteen new stencil designs with The Crafter's Workshop this summer.  Here are the last four: 

These two tags use the "Numbers" stencil.

I always like the play of hard agains soft, so it's nice to have a strongly ordered stencil in contrast with my own messy hand.  I think it creates a lovely tension in what I create.

I also used the numbers stencil on this layout:

You can see that I used both the 6x6 and 12x12 sizes of the "Numbers" stencil along with the "Chevron Arrows" stencil:

Can you see the chevron pattern that the arrows create?  It gives the overall stencil a really nice rhythm.  Here's a size comparison for you of the 6x6 and 12x12 versions:

Use the stencil as an overall pattern, an individual line of arrows, or an individual arrow!

I used the 6x6 version of the "Curl Frame" on the layout above.

I like frame stencils because I often want stenciling around a journaling area and this way, I don't have to do the masking!  

If you ever wondered about stenciling over patterned paper, it looks awesome! I had a lot of fun with this layout:

It uses the "Stripes" stencil:

This is one of those stencils that I feel like is going to become a total utility stencil for me.  The kind of stencil I use all the time, because I love the individual parts and I love the overall pattern.

So, there you have it.  All fifteen new stencils!  I hope you see something you like and can't wait to have!

Thanks for stopping by!