Balzer Designs

ScanNCut DX: Halloween Lantern

Today I've got an epic Halloween project tutorial for you! The video is literally packed with information on how to build your own cut files in CanvasWorkspace for Mac. We are building four files: a jack o'lantern, bats, spider webs, and Halloween text.

Then we use the roll feeder and the ScanNCut DX to cut out the four designs from a single roll of Brother vinyl. Throw some Christmas lights and/or LED candles inside the lantern and you've got Halloween magic that lasts year after year!

Watch the video for the how-to:

SUPPLIES:

• Brother Vinyl: https://amzn.to/2MMdksG
• Transfer Sheet: https://amzn.to/2MM4riY
• Roll Feeder: https://amzn.to/2ZvLabf
• ScanNCut DX: https://amzn.to/2ZEMepy
• Hook Tool: https://amzn.to/2NBBMwx
• Scraper Tool: https://amzn.to/2MJV4jC
• Brayer: https://amzn.to/2ZBGzAg
• Lantern (the exact one I used is no longer available, but this one is close): https://amzn.to/2MK3B63

Thanks for stopping by!

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P.S. I am a paid spokesperson for the Brother ScanNCut.  It is a machine that I love and use.  All projects and opinions are my own.

Product Registration: https://www.brother-usa.com/registermybrother/
Brother Customer Support: https://www.brother-usa.com/support/

Art Journal Every Day: December 2018 & The End of a Journal

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'm sharing the last few pages of this art journal, which are from December 2018.  It isn't often that the end of the year coincides with the end of an art journal, so this feels like a lucky moment.

This purple page is a clear indication of how sporadic my journaling was in December: 11, 17, 18, 19, 24, 27.

Definitely not every day, and that's okay.

One of the things that inevitably happens in December is that my hand carved stamps from the month find their way into my art journal.  Do you recognize this stamp:

Or this one:

They're both #CarveDecember stamps.

This next spread features big chunky hand lettering:

As you can see from this detail photo, I clearly don't believe in painting within the lines.

I used a mixture of marker and paint on these faces.  I've always liked how the two mediums go together.

Washi tape moustache, anyone?

For the end papers at the end of this journal, I used an illustration from a newspaper.  I was in Ireland for Halloween last year and I saw this image and knew that I needed to paste it into my journal.

I like the double entendre of "the end" with this image.

I hope you enjoyed this peek into my art journal.  I'll be back next week with a new journal and a new year!

Thanks for stopping by!

Thank You Card Inspiration

My baby shower is this weekend.  (Yay!)  Knowing that I'll have lots of thank you cards to write, I've been looking for inspiration.  I think handmade thank you cards are always a really nice gesture, but I'm also short on time (we move in less than a week) and need to make a whole bunch ASAP.  I thought I'd share some of my favorite cards I found online. There are a couple of styles I clearly like.

STYLE ONE: Watercolor

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STYLE TWO: Cut Outs

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STYLE THREE: Text Based Design

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STYLE FOUR: Clusters of Little Things

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For the sake of time, I'm inclined to think that either some simple watercolor cards or some simple text-based cards would be the best choice.  Mostly, I think I need a "thank you" stamp to make things go quickly and smoothly.  What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by!