Balzer Designs

Live with Prima: April 5

I'm so excited about my next class!  And I hope that you will be too.

I am not a fast scrapper.

I am slooooooooooow.  But on Monday, April 5 at 2pm EST (GMT -5), we are going to make *3* 12x12 layouts in just 2 hours!  Start to finish and in real time!

As you can imagine, it took me way more than 2 hours to come up with these layouts.  But that's the beauty of it!  I've done all the thinking for you.  I picked out the supplies, the photo sizes, the design, the techniques...and now all you have to do is follow along and add your own special touches!  Plus, this is a *loaded* kit full of tons of the latest and greatest with plenty of leftovers to keep creating with!

Here's the official description:

Hold on to your scissors, it’s going to be a wild ride!  Join me for 3 fabulous artsy layouts full of fast and fun techniques to get pages in to your albums!  From super girly sweet to an all boy layout that incorporates both pink and flowers, you’ll be amazed by how much you can get done with Prima’s oh-so-easy-to-use products!

As always, there will be plenty of techniques to share!  We'll be painting, dyeing flowers, sewing, and using packaging in clever ways!  You can buy your kit right here.

I sure hope that you will join me on the Live With Prima site on Monday, April 5 at 2pm EST!  Here's a peek at what time that might be for you:

Thanks for stopping by!

Round Robin Scrapbooking

This is my all time favorite crop game ever.  Here's how it works:

1. You gather a group of participants. 
2. You take a photo of everyone together. 
3. You print one copy of the photo for each participant (i.e. 5 players, 5 photos).
4. Each participant starts with the photo and a piece of neutral cardstock (black, kraft, white, gray).
5. Every fifteen minutes the layouts are passed to the left.
6. When you receive a layout, you may add or take away anything you want.  However you must leave the journaling to the last person to receive the layout.
7. The last layout you work on is also the layout that you get to take home!

At the end, each participant has a layout that each person in the group has worked on.  Here's our group with the layouts we made together in New Jersey at the beginning of the month:

I like this game for a lot of reasons that have to do with camaraderie and creativity.  You really have to be on your toes and make quick decisions.  No dilly dallying.  Just go!  It also helps to loosen up all those control freak moments you might be having when you scrap.  You have to let the layout go every 15 minutes.  My Mom, who is not much of a scrapbooker, loved playing this game.  She has trouble with sitting down to work on a layout for a long time, but liked working in 15 minute bursts.  Plus, I think she liked the problem solving aspect too.  It's kind of a puzzle that you have to untangle.

Here's the layout that I took home:

When it came to me, the patterned paper sections on the layout were partially white-washed.  I added more gesso over the letters and photo and cardstock.  After I dried the gesso I sprayed through a stencil with Color Wash and painted the flowering branches with watercolor (oh, and added the location info too).  Finally, I moved the "scrapalicious" up above the title, rather than its original location in the bottom left corner of the layout.  With more time, I probably would have colored in the flowers, but I think it's cool the way it is too!

Thanks for stopping by!

Miscellaneous Monday

Thank you for all of the wonderful comments about my apron!  I've been breaking it in and it's starting to get that inky lived in feeling!  I had a crazy weekend filled with lots of fun and friends and plenty of work too!

I taught my Distress Ink Explorations class at the Ink Pad on Friday night.  It was my very first time teaching in the store (as opposed to over at the Westbeth Community Center where they host their weekend classes).  It was a tight squeeze and a lot of fun because there were lots of lovely and talented ladies:

It was a great mix of new students and old and I was delighted to meet Carla, who had taken my "Technique-a-Palooza: Paint and Ink" online class, in person.  It's always so fun to put a face with the online name!

Over the weekend, I whipped up a couple of silly projects.  Here's a fabulously oversized ring:

And here's a funky little frame:

Plus a bit of painting from my art journal:

Thanks for stopping by!

A New Apron

I am a messy creator.  I get paint, glue, ink, etc. all over everything, including the chest area of every single shirt I own.

Because I'm a larger gal, regular aprons don't do a great job covering up that bust area.  Very frustrating.  So several years ago, I made myself an apron that addressed that problem.  It has been my constant companion and suffered through plenty of messes.  It's made from plain cotton fabric, however.  Yesterday, I decided that I wanted to upgrade to something a little sturdier -- better at resisting wet messes.

Tada!

It's made from printed canvas.  You can see that I put in pockets - aprons really should always have pockets, don't you think?  And I gathered the neckline and put in some little darts to help the bust area really fit, without restricting any arm motion.

I made the ties long enough to tie in the front so that I wouldn't have to lean against a knot when I'm sitting in my studio at home.  And you can see how the apron really covers, wrapping all the way around me.  I have brushed against too many paint covered tables and projects to forget to wrap it all the way around!  At the neckline I added some rolled fabric roses.

My original intention was to stitch them on, but they wouldn't fit under my sewing machine foot and I was too lazy to stitch them on by hand...so I used Fabri-Tac!  It really holds and can go through the wash, so I feel like it was a great solution!  I like having that little decorative touch that makes it not quite so utilitarian and a little bit feminine.

I look forward to all the colors and textures that will get added as I work in this apron and splash a little bit of each piece of art all over myself!

Thanks for stopping by!

A Quick Card

I recently received a Sizzix Big Shot Die Cutting Machine and some dies as a gift.  (Lucky me, huh?)  I wanted to make a thank you card for the gift giver.  Here it is:

The hearts and embossed pattern are both from Sizzix.  (I have to admit that I used a punch for the butterflies.)  I put the finished card through my typewriter to add the sentiment.  It was hard to photograph this card because the metal (okay, tinfoil) really catches the light.  Here's another photo to try and capture some of the beautiful embossing detail:

I had to wash out the color a bit in Photoshop in order to show the detail, but I think it's so lovely!

I don't often make cards because I just have trouble wrapping my mind around the format somehow.  But I kept this one simple.  And it was so easy!  I hope the recepient likes it!

And I hope that you have a great day!