Balzer Designs

Right at Home: Making Memories Wedding Line

ETA: Oh.  My.  God.  Know how I mentioned that I had thrown some cards into the horse race over at Paper Crafts magazine's Gallery Idol competition?  Well, I made the top twenty!!!!!!  276 people submitted 1,254 birthday cards for just 20 spots!  Wheeeeee!  Round two starts immediately.  But, just for making it to the top twenty, I get this prize package:

 

Lots of Cosmo Cricket goodies!  How fun is that?  The next challenge is a wedding card and I believe the public will vote once the cards go up on Monday.  I'll post more once I know more.  So excited!

Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming:

The ladies at Right at Home Scrapbooking sent me papers and embellishments from Making Memories Wedding Line this month.  I had a ball pulling the pieces apart and making a lot of non-wedding layouts with the line!  However, before we get to that, I've got a super fun project for the summer!

This is the front and back of a 7gypsies spinner card.  The paper I used for the background on both sides, and for the banner on the front, was made by stamping with celery.

Watch the video below for instructions:

Now for the layouts!

This one is so simple and graphic:

I cut apart this paper...

 

...to create the circles on the layout. 

Because the circles are offset on the original paper, I had to cut apart rows of three circles and then glue them together.  But, before I glued them down, I fed them through my typewriter to add my journaling.  (You may notice a kind of typewriter theme here.)

This next layout has been the bane of my existence for the last forty-eight hours.  I am not one of those quick scrappers who just puts stuff down and says "done!"  And I have agonized over this one for a while.  And (shhhhh, don't tell anyone) I actually re-did the layout.  It just never settled into feeling really right and I kept staring at it and staring at it until it bugged me too much to leave it alone!

 

But, I'm pleased with it now.  Much simpler than I normally do, but I'm happy.  I stole the white border from this paper:

 

I used a pair of scissors to trim it off and then added a dyed version of this paper...

...to the bottom half.

 

I used a mixture of dye inks and Adirondack Color Wash to color it.

BUT, before I put it on the layout above, I used it as a stencil to create the background for the layout below:

 

I like a lot of things about this layout, but I'm kind of grumpy with how the title turned out.  Not at all like it was in my head.  Something about the "of" just bugs me a lot.  (BTW: I am totally enamored with the American Crafts puffy Thickers on this layout.  That font is so divine!  It's called "rainboots."  These ones are leftover from my June Label Tulip kit.  I'm on the hunt for more!)  Anyway, here's a close up of the background:

 

Also, notice that I painted this paper...

 

...blue, because the stark black and white was fighting with the photos a bit too much.

This layout was a last minute addition.

 

It was kind of a series of good mistakes.  Behind the lace paper (Creative Imaginations), is a piece of cardstock that I had painted and sprayed for another project and then decided not to use.  But, the color was just so vibrant, I had to use it for something!

There's a lot of texture and pattern on this layout (and color) and so I used a mixture of gesso and watercolor paint on the journaling card to tame the pattern a bit, which started as this paper:

You can also see it in its "raw" state under the "J" in the detail photo below.

I start most layouts with a story I want to tell.  This one sort of just came together and then the fact that I could only fit one letter in the frame, gave me an idea for the journaling: "J" words that describe me!

Finally, June 'tis the season of weddings.  And I couldn't let this whole wedding collection go without any wedding fun!  Thus, I give you a short tutorial on making a wedding dress embellishment like the one below:

 

You could use the dress element on a card, as a package topper, on a page.  Whatever your pleasure!

Here's the "how to":

If you'd like the template I used to make my wedding dress, you can download it here.

Whew.  Monster post.  Thanks for stopping by!

Easy Inspiration

This is a post that I wrote for the Right at Home Scrapbooking Blog.  It appeared on that blog a few days ago.

Today, I want to share an easy way to be inspired by modern art: use it to create your background! 

Mark Rothko is one of my favorite abstract artists.  In case you're not familiar with his work, here are three of his paintings:

I love the way his blurry colorblocking looks.  When I look at these paintings, I see a border with blocks of color inside.  Essentially, this:

Now, given how much I paint on my pages, it would be easy to look at these paintings and find inspiration by copying those blocks of color directly.  What a cool background for a page or a tag, right?

But, I decided to push the inspiration a little farther out and use patterned paper.  I had some Cosmo Cricket paper leftover from their Christmas collection, "Oh Joy":

But the patterns were too bold.  I needed something softer.  Luckily, the other side of the papers (don't you love double sided paper)...

...was absolutely perfect!  I cut strips (as you can see below):

And then I glued them into place to create my Rothko-esque background:

And here's the finished layout:

 

You can see that I turned the background sideways.  I added my photo, some flowers, a title, some journaling, and a few doodle dots!  Super simple!

Now it's your turn to be inspired by art!  Pick an artist you like or just head to your local museum or art gallery for some easy inspiration!

Paint, Paint, Paint...FAQs!

This is a post that I originally wrote for the Right at Home Scrapbooking blog.  Hope you enjoy it!

Paint is the first product I reach for when I'm creating.  But, it can be intimidating!  I get asked a lot of questions about it, so I thought I'd compile a quick list of questions and answers:

Q: What kind of paint do you use?

I use either acrylic paint or watercolor on most of my layouts.  For acrylic paint, I'm a fan of Making Memories (it dries super fast, is awesomely opaque, and comes in great colors) and Claudine Hellmuth Paints for Ranger (it comes in awesome little pots and has a translucent quality).  I also use gesso for absolutely everything and use both the Ranger gesso and Golden's.  For a long time I used Winsor&Newton's tube watercolors.  Recently I switched to Koi by Sakura and I'm very happy.

Q: What's gesso?

Gesso is a primer that artists use to prime their canvasses.

Q: Can't I just use white paint?

Gesso is different from white acrylic paint.  I'm certainly not a chemistry expert, but in my experience, gesso creates a surface with tooth and does a better job priming porous surfaces (like paper and wood) than plain paint does.

Q: What's the difference between watercolor and acrylic paint?

Eeek!  I could probably write a dissertation on this one.  But essentially:

• Watercolor is more transparent, harder to control, easier to clean up, cheaper, and provides more organic results.
• Acrylic paint is more opaque, easier to control, permanent when it dries, more expensive, and provides more predictable results.

It's a personal taste issue, really.  I tend to mix and match them.

Q: How do you keep your paper from buckling?

I don't.  My paper buckles like crazy.  And I either flatten it out by adhering flat things to it (like photos) or by ironing it (with a regular household iron and a pressing sheet) or by putting it in a page protector and then under something heavy.  But, your pages will never by 100% flat.  I think it's part of the charm!

Q: What kind of paper do you paint on?

Lots of people I know use Watercolor Paper to avoid the buckling problem, or at least lessen it.  I don't care.  I use regular cardstock.  I like the way textured cardstock interacts with paint!

Q: What kind of brushes do you use?

This is kind of the like the paint question.  I use a lot of different brushes.  Some really cheap ones and a few ridiculously overpriced ones.  But, as of late, I'm kind of in love with the Claudine Hellmuth brushes from Ranger.  They're really nice quality and hold up to abuse.  Plus, they're crazy cheap.  Gotta' love that!

Q: How do you paint those titles?  Mine always come out so weird.

I think the trick to painting a title is not to care too much about how it comes out.  Just hold the brush loosely in your hand (and significantly higher than you'd hold a pencil, almost at the end of the brush) and gently (don't push too hard) write your title.  Also, use a round brush (as opposed to a flat) that comes to a nice strong tip.

Hope that gives you a couple of answers to things you've been wondering about!  Let me know if you have more questions!

Newspaper Flowers Tutorial

Want to learn how to make this awesomely cool flower?  Well, read on!

We get The New York Times delivered to our apartment every morning.  And every night, it goes into the recycling bin.  I wanted to find a way to use some of that newsprint!  Here's what you'll need:

• Newspaper (Note: If you’re using these on something more permanent, like a scrapbook page, use pages from an old book because newspaper is NOT acid free.)
• Scissors
• Crop-o-Dile or Big Bite (i.e. hole punch)
• Brad
• Watercolor Paints
• Paint Brush & Water
• Heat Gun & Heat Resistant Surface (I use a teflon craft sheet.)
• Ink (I use brown.)
• Ink Blending Tool

STEP ONE

Cut a series of graduated circles from the newspaper.  Use scissors.  The idea is for them to be a bit wonky and uneven.

Cut more than you think you need.

STEP TWO

Stack them together from smallest to largest (top to bottom).

STEP THREE

Punch a hole through the center of the entire stack with a Crop-O-Dile.

STEP FOUR

Place a brad through the hole.

STEP FIVE

Paint the flower with watercolor paints.

 

Work from light to dark as you paint.

 

You can see that I added some paint splatters to the center.

STEP SIX

Immediately dry with a heat gun.  This should make the petals curl up a bit.

You can see the slight curling here:

STEP SEVEN

Using an ink blending tool, color the edges of the petals by pushing them towards the center of the flower.

This will also help curl the petals.  You can the result here:

STEP EIGHT

This is the most important step.  Spin the layers (separating them from each other) in order to reveal some of the unpainted newsprint.  It makes an enormous difference in the "look" of the flower.  And here's your finished product:

 

And a side view:

 

Cutting the circles is the most time consuming part.  The rest of it takes less than two minutes.  Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Thanks for stopping by!

One Layout: Step-by-Step

This is a post I originally wrote for the Right at Home Scrapbooking blog.

Here is a recent layout I made using Making Memories paper (Just Chillin' Collection), Bazzill Cardstock, Making Memories ribbon (also Just Chillin' Collection), paints and ink by Ranger, a Sakura Pigma Micron pen, Koi watercolors, and a sewing machine.

Today, I thought I'd take you through my typical layout creation process.  I like to work in layers building up texture and color.  Here are step-by-step photos on how I made the layout above:

So, that's my process!  Is it anything like yours?

The Ribbon Flower Tutorial at Long Last

I have been promising a tutorial on how to make my ribbon flowers for a very long time.  And today's the day, the tutorial is finally here!

Here's what they look like:

 

And here's the how-to video:

And this is what I did with the flowers:

The scanner kind of smushed the flowers.  I think they look way better in person than they do on this layout.  You can see the depth much more clearly in this photograph:

Thanks for stopping by!

Tutorials From the Web...

In case you can't tell from my lack of posting, I'm psychotically busy.  My non-crafty life has gotten soooooooo busy.  So, it's time for another roundup of fabulous tutorials from all over the internet!

Stacked Button Necklace

Ribbon Flowers

Juice Box Into ipod/iphone Holder

Crayola Crayon + Watercolor

French Knots

Crumpled Cardboard Background

Chipboard Flower - Four Ways

Cereal Box Bookmarks

How To Mend Broken Jewelry

Paper Rose Made From Punches

Custom Decorated Buttons

Thanks for stopping by!

More Sugarplum Paperie...

Three more hybrid layouts today!  And they're three very different layouts...but all using digital elements from Sugarplum Paperie.

City Love: I wanted to create something that captured the messy chaos and claustrophobic feeling of NYC.  I also mixed grungy elements with glitter, which feels so NYC to me!

Here's the layout:

Here's the digital portion:

 

Every Day Me: This one is pretty straightforward.  Though, I have noticed that I've been using my sewing machine a lot more ever since I put it on top of my desk (rather than stored under it).  I threw the circles onto the layout and then (without any adhesive) carefully fed the layout through the sewing machine to adhere all the circles.  I love the way it looks!

Here's the layout...

Here's the digital portion...

 

You can see that I added a lot of pen work after I printed it.

Eileen: I love the look of journaling lines.  I don't know why, but it makes a layout feel so much more ordered and neat to me.  And even though I've been playing around with hybrid for more than a year, I'm still discovering new ways to mix pixels and paper.  My impulse is always to print a mostly finished layout and then add some embellishments, but I really love how this last layout turned out.  As you can see, I printed a sheet of leaves and flowers on a transparency and then randomly adhered them to my layout.  And recognize that green strip?  It's the leftover scrap from layout #1's torn edge! 

Here's the layout...

Here's the digital portion...

I wanted to share a quick tutorial on how to create the cool multi-colored leaves you see here.

Thanks for stopping by!

Two Tutorials on Friday the 13th...

I've got two easy and fun tutorials for you today.  I did these for Right at Home Scrapbooking, a fabulous LSS in North Attleboro, MA.  Every month I do a few of these cards for the 7 gypsies spinner and then follow up with a little technique video.

If you would like to doodle an adorable little bird like the ones above (did you see the super little one covered in glitter?) just watch the video:

And here's the next one...

This video is all about painting a new pattern onto existing patterned paper to give it a more personalized look.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tutorials From the Web...

Lately, I've come across a lot of awesome tutorials online, so I thought I link up to a few....

Button-Embellished Notebook Cover

The Five-Minute Notebook

Lamp Shade Sleeve

Tie-Dyed Flowers

On a related note, this isn't a tutorial, but check out this post on the Prima blog for some examples of altered flowers. You have to scroll down a bit.

Accordion Album

Two Way Photo

Salvage Your Selvedges

Re-Do a T-Shirt With Pin Tucks

Door Organizer

Hanging Book Display

PS: I've put my March Label Tulip Sneak Peeks up on the Label Tulip blog.  So, check them out!

Thanks for stopping by!