Balzer Designs

Jewelry, Jewelry, Jewelry!

I needed to take some photos of the jewelry I'm going to be selling at the Urban Inspirations show in March. So, I thought I'd share those photos with you. Most of my jewelry is one-of-a-kind, so it was interesting to have to come up with some designs that were easily replicable so that I could make several of each piece. Black and Pink Pearl Necklace Made from Sterling Silver, Glass Beads, and Freshwater Pearls Freshwater pearls are a kind of pearl that comes from freshwater mussels. Natural freshwater pearls are seldom perfectly round or even nearly round, more often... Read more →

When It Rains, It Pours!

Wow! Got another layout picked up today. Simple Scrapbooks has requested one of my all time favorites. It's my first time in that mag and I'm very excited! Thanks for letting me share my excitement! In the meantime, it's just before 5am and I'm about to head off to bed. I think I've just finished my final HOF layout. (Just in the nick of time, since I'm leaving town.) I now have the delicious problem of narrowing down what I'm going to send... Read more →

Yay! Lots of Good News!

I am very excited to share two exciting opportunities that came my way today! (1) Maelynn Cheung is writing a book for Leisure Arts called Doodling for Papercrafters. She has requested two of my layouts for the book! It is due for release May/June 2007 and will be distributed mainly to craft stores, such as Michaels and Hobby Lobby. It is possible that the book will also be available at large size book stores, such as Barnes&Noble. I will update you as the release date gets closer. (2) Last year, I submitted a layout to Legacy Magazine. It's one of... Read more →

The "It" Scarf

So, I've made many wearables. Some quilted necklaces, jackets, etc. I've also made a lot of beaded jewelry. But, nothing has attracted attention the way that these scarves do. I feel like it might become a full time business selling these! Not a day goes by that somebody doesn't ask me for my business card! "Where can I get one?" It's very gratifying, but they're a lot of work! There's about thirteen hours of work in each of these babies! I'm trying to branch out and make them even more sculptural. I'm experimenting with felt and other materials. I'll share... Read more →

Designing for a Contest

I have a problem designing for contests. I was thinking about this in regards to the quilt I just finished making for the Empire Quilters' Urban Inspirations Show and I spent much of yesterday working on a layout for Creating Keepsakes' Hall of Fame. Over the last month, I've also entered four or five other contests. But, I've been dissatisfied with my work for all of them. Why? I think that when I design for a contest, I'm too busy trying to (1) be what I think they want, and (2) impress them -- blow them away -- and I... Read more →

Had a Totally Scrappy Day!

I sat down at my scrapping table this afternoon and opened up my design team box from Just Let Me Scrapbook. GREAT stuff and my mojo was definitely working. I'm usually a very slow scrapper, but I managed to create three layouts and an altered canister today! Pretty impressive for me! Check out the layouts below... Finally, this was an illy espresso can. But, I needed a place to store quinoa, which comes in these totally anoying bags which don't re-seal and fall apart. On a totally separate note, I'm trying to define my scrapping style, but I'm having trouble.... Read more →

Little By Little...

Closer and closer to getting this quilt done! In this photo you can see a preliminary "layout" of the quilt. I gathered all the little mini quilts I had made so far and used the livingroom floor to lay them out. I had some trouble deciding whether I wanted to leave gaps between each of the quilts or butt them together. In the end, I think I've decided to (1) butt them together and (2) make the overall shape of the quilt like a shirt. For me, it's as if each of these statements about myself is something I wear... Read more →

Racing The Clock...

It's 1am and my back aches. My eyes are dry and I'm starting to become very conscious of my contacts. I think I've been sitting at the sewing machine for too long! Empire Quilters, my local quilt guild, is having a show in March ("Urban Inspirations"). Since I've only been quilting for a year, I don't have a body of work. I've given away the few quilts I've made. So, I'm desperately trying to make at least one (and hopefully two) quilts by the deadline for entry (Saturday). I thought I'd share this photo of my work in progress. I'm... Read more →

Take Some Art With You

When we left for vacation last week, I packed a small traveling art box: watercolor paints (I prefer tubes to cakes), 2 water brushes, a dye based ink pad (so it will dry quickly), adhesive, scissors, small alphabet stamps, one pack of alphabet rub-ons, a protractor (for curves and straight lines), a waterproof pen, a pencil, and paper towel. It all fits very neatly into an old chocolate box. I pre-cut a bunch of white paper to 8.5x8 (my preferred size for my art journal pages) and put the blank pages along with the scraps into a ziploc bag. I... Read more →