Balzer Designs

CHA-Summer 2009: Wednesday (continued)

Yesterday, I left you with a quick tour of the Fancy Pants booth. Where did we go from there? Kim and I have long argued over Tattered Angels' Glimmer Mist (a water-based spray with color and shimmer). When she first opened Portrait Bug, she asked everyone on the design team for recommendations. Included on my long list was Glimmer Mist. She got some and it sold very, very slowly. People just didn't seem to get it. But, as the store got rolling and people started to see it being demo'd and used in classes, they started to buy it. I... Read more →

CHA-Summer 2009: Wednesday

I started this post yesterday and just didn't make it to the end by the time I had to go to bed. I also didn't make it to the end today. But, it's huge, so I thought I'd post what I have so far. Enjoy! I am exhausted. Should have gone to bed earlier last night. Because the show is so small this time, Kim and I slept in a little bit this morning. She headed for the show floor around 10:20am. (The show opens at 9am every day.) I dragged myself out of bed and into the shower and... Read more →

CHA-Summer 2009: Tuesday (continued)

Continuing yesterday's post...I left off right at the Prima booth! Get ready for some eye candy! I know that I said this yesterday, and I'll say it again, there's nothing like seeing these products and projects in person. They're so much more in person. Here's hoping you can sort of tell how magnificent it all was! Flowers are up first. Can every single one be my new favorite? I really loved the collection of printed flowers (above). The project below uses the top center one (in slightly different colors): Love these flowers (above) and you can really see them put... Read more →

CHA: Tuesday

I took 398 photos today. 398. Including the very silly photo of Kim and me above. The show opened at 9am this morning. We got our badges, our free CHA tote bags, grabbed our maps, and made it to our first appointment about fifteen minutes late. Retailers, who have relationships with salespeople, often like to make appointments rather than stand around the booth waiting for a salesperson to be free. In case you don't know how the buying at CHA works, here's the breakdown (taken from this post I wrote after CHA-Winter): Buying is a long, slow process that seems... Read more →

CHA: Monday

The official open of the Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) show is tomorrow morning. Today was a travel day for me. The airport was a zoo! Everyone was hot and cranky and the lines moved sooooooooo slowly. But, I'm in a chipper mood and even sitting on the runway for an hour couldn't change that! Life's too short to be in a bad mood, right? It helped that I brought along a project to play with: I packed my box of art (from yesterday's post) in my packed luggage. Scissors and liquids and all that make it impossible to bring... Read more →

Box of Art

Ideas for traveling with art supplies (from flickr): 1. Traveling Journal Kit - contents, 2. Crafty Girl-on-the-go kit contents, 3. Artists Field Bag, 4. The Supply Kit, 5. ARToids, 6. How it will all get there I have an endless fascination with designing ways to travel with my art supplies. I suspect you might be able to identify with me. I am a passionate crafter and the idea of time away from creating makes me a little bit crazy! How is it a vacation if I can't get crafty? My biggest issues are: Editing: How can I pare down what... Read more →

Nothing Will Rob Me Of Joy

I was so struck by this... ...art journal page by one of my absolute FAVORITE art journalers, Judy Wise. I'm hoping to take a class with her someday soon. I keep peeking at her teaching schedule and hoping that the stars will align. In the meantime, I've been playing in my art journal and thought I'd share a few photos: I've taken to pre-creating backgrounds and carrying my art journal in my purse. Then, while I'm waiting for the bus or sitting on a bench somewhere, I just pull it out and start writing. Here are some eye-candy links to... Read more →

Is it really Friday?

I can hardly believe that it's already Friday. I'm teaching at The City Quilter today. We're playing with Tyvek and making fun little skirts like the one seen here... If you're interested in learning a bit more about Tyvek, you can check out the brief tutorial on this site. Essentially, Tyvek is heat reactive and you can get some very cool effects as it bubbles and melts. I'm also teaching a brand new class tomorrow (Saturday)! It's called "Everything That Sparkles." I'm a little anxious. It's also my first time kitting a class. I have baggies of rhinestones and Angelina... Read more →

Experiments with American Crafts

It's no secret that I *love* American Crafts' D-Ring Albums, Slick Writers, and Thickers. But, truth be told, I've never really played with American Crafts patterned paper. Lots of large bright patterns. Very bold. So, when the design team call went out a few weeks ago, I decided to see what I could do. I bought this pack of patterned paper... ...and started playing around! This is a $1 wooden frame from Michaels: I painted the frame blue and then hand cut a ton of flowers from various American Crafts papers. You can see a bit of the crazy hyper-dimension... Read more →

CHA is Coming Fast!

CHA starts next week! Woo Hoo! I can hardly wait! I'm multi-tasking while I'm there: I'm staying with Kim, the owner of Portrait Bug, and will walk the show floor with her. I've promised Cathy, the owner of Label Tulip, that I'll take photos for her since she's not going to make it there in person. AND, (this is my big news) I'll be hosting some interviews/project segments for Scrapbook Memories TV (PBS) with some of my favorite scrapbook designers! That's right, hosting! Eeek! I'm so excited! I can hardly stand it! (Totally throwing up nervous too, but we're far... Read more →