Balzer Designs

New Kenner Road Digital Team!

I'm posting from Cleveland where we are currently being walloped with snow! Though my husband tells me that New York City is getting it much worse! I have been sick like you can't believe for the past week. It has been quite an issue of mind-over-matter to get the taping of Scrapbook Memories TV done! But, it is done. And I am planning to sleep for about fourteen hours straight. Before I forget, the response was overwhelming to last Friday's question of which layout do you like better? Everyone chose the second layout, including me! It needed that little something... Read more →

Planes, Trains, and Pencil Lines

Just hopped off an Amtrak train from upstate New York. I took lots of iphone photos that I'm planning on turning into a cool little mini album. Just have to find the time! I'm just stopping at my apartment long enough to change suitcases and pick up projects and then it's off to the airport and Cleveland, OH to tape Scrapbook Memories TV and Quilting Arts TV. I'm having one of those hazy, blurry, hurry-up-and-wait kind of days. I'm hoping to blog a lot from the road this week. Hotel rooms in strange cities do make for lovely places to... Read more →

Randomly....

I've got some random bits and pieces to share today. 1. Here's a quick card I made for the hubs for Valentine's Day: (I didn't realize that little birdie was even on the table until I looked at this photo! How cute!) 2. Jennifer McGuire had a link on her blog to the product below: It's a storage cubby for pens, which are supposed to be stored on their sides. I love it! Totally genius. It's from a company called Studio 3 Solutions. They say that a single tower (one five compartment section) will hold 120 Copic style markers (24... Read more →

Just Because I'm a Tease

I've been hunched over a sewing machine all day. Well, a sewing machine, an ironing board, and my paints. I'm preparing to tape two segments on Quilting Arts TV (PBS). I'm not quite done and things are in bits and pieces, but here are some peeks at what's to come! Exciting stuff and totally new techniques for me! Experimenting and finding new techniques is probably my most favorite thing to do! And now it's back to the sewing machine for me! Thanks for stopping by! Read more →

Portrait Drawing: Class Five

I did two drawings during class yesterday. After about 5 minutes, I had this: Over the next hour I developed the portrait and ended up with this: Here's a photo with the model (though he removed his hand just as I was snapping the photo): Today's drawing was tough because the model moved a lot. Previous to this, our models have stayed very still. It was hard to get an accurate portrait, but the teacher told me to lighten up. He told me to worry less about it being accurate and more about getting a pleasing picture. So, for my... Read more →

Just Couldn't Make It Work

Ever have one of those layouts that you just couldn't make work? I wanted to play along with the sketch challenge at Studio Calico. My new kit arrived last week and I figured I'd crack it open with an easy sketch. Didn't really work out that way.... Here's the sketch: When presented with a sketch, I usually try to go my own way. But I really liked this sketch, so I decided to keep it pretty straightforward. Here's my first attempt: Ick. I hate it. It's just a mess and pulling in twelve different directions and just a total disaster.... Read more →

Kenner Road: February Reveal

I worked with Kenner Road's main kit, "Skylark," and the add-on, which is called "Garden Party." Here's what I made! Mama And Her Babies Yes, I'm obsessed with painting circles these days. And of course, I'm obsessed with painting in general! Here's a look at the little flower I painted: The base is gesso and then I used watercolor paint on top. I really like how it turned out, very coloring book-ish. There was an incredibly generous serving of die cut border strips in the kit. I layered a collection of them. They're self-adhesive too, which makes things easy. My... Read more →

Kenner Road: Sneak Peeks

I'm excited to share some sneak peeks of my very first projects using Kenner Road's amazing kits! Important information: Monthly kits and add-ons are available at 12am EST on the 15th of every month for one time purchases. Purchase a subscription any time. One time kit purchases are $34 + s/h and subscriptions are available for $29. + s/h with a six month commitment. At 11pm EST on the 14th of every month, there is a live online chat with the design team while we wait for the reveal at midnight. Just go the Kenner Road site and a link... Read more →

Prima + Ranger = Early Valentine's Day!

Like peanut butter and jelly. Like mac and cheese. Like fun and scrapbooking. Some things just go together. Today, I want to talk about Prima and Ranger. A love match for sure! Take a peek: First up, a masculine flower layout. Gotta' love the beauty of brown and red together. Check out the details: I inked my journaling with two colors of brown Distress ink before adhering it to the layout. It's hard to tell in the photo, but I used Distressed Stickles on the tiny hearts before I stitched them down. When working with Distress Stickles, I like to... Read more →

Lift Me Up

Cocoa Daisy does the coolest thing on their message board. It's a challenge called "Lift Me Up" and it's like playing "telephone." From their message board: Here's how it works. I am going to take the first seven people to sign up. Once we have our list of seven, i will email the first person on the list a layout from our gallery here at Cocoa Daisy. The first person will lift the layout and then send it back to me. You have 48 hours to complete the lift. I will then send it to the next person on the... Read more →