Wow! I can hardly believe that we're up to 156 participants for January! We have literally exactly doubled in numbers since last Friday. It's beyond anything I ever imagined for this little project. What a kick ass community to be a part of! I am delighted that so many of you are up for the journey. I'm super psyched myself!! (My husband always says that I overuse exclamation points, but I really can't help myself at this point!!!) Welcome to the first official post of Art Journal Every Day! Yay! For those of you who are new, you can read... Read more →

Today I'm going to continue to wrap up the year with my top ten favorite non-scrapbook layout projects of the year! Woo Hoo! March 21, 2010: April 16, 2010: April 29, 2010: June 16, 2010: July 14, 2010: September 13, 2010: September 13, 2010 October 12, 2010: November 21, 2010: December 9, 2010: And some observations: I can't stay away from hearts! Four of these ten projects are based around hearts! Layers and layers and layers. Almost all of these projects are all about the layers. Paint, paint, paint, paint! I am a paint girl! I like messy order. What... Read more →

I really enjoy writing tutorials. Mainly I enjoy seeing what people make based on them! (Hint: If you've made something based on a tutorial of mine, please send me a photo! I love seeing them!) Today I thought we'd take a look back at my top ten favorite "Balzer Designs" blog tutorials of 2010: January 15, 2010: Scor-It Project of the Month March 9, 2010: Scrappy Mini Book April 7, 2010: Butterfly Obsessed June 30, 2010: The Apron Tutorial August 19, 2010: Start with a Strong Image September 6, 2010: Fabric ATCs October 27, 2010: Chevron Stamp Tutorial/Addiction November 26,... Read more →

I'm wrapping up 2010 with a look back at some favorite art adventures from the year. Today we'll be looking at my ten favorite scrapbook pages from 2010. Tomorrow a look back at my ten favorite blog post tutorials from 2010. Thursday will be a peek back at my ten favorite non-scrapbook projects from the year. And finally on Friday I will have the first post for my big year-long art project for 2011! (I hope you'll join me!) So without any further ado, here are my favorite pages I made during 2010 (some of which I haven't even shown... Read more →

I have been lucky enough to be on the design team for Sultane/InfoCrea -- a French paper company -- since 2007. They saw my work in the Two Peas Gallery and asked me to join the team. I was thrilled to design a paper line for them along the way. It was released in January of 2009 and I learned a lot in the process of creating it. They have always been extraordinarily kind to me and I appreciate it. But all good things must come to an end. As I have mentioned on my blog before I'm trimming back... Read more →

I'm delighted that so many people are planning to join in on the art orgy of Art Journal Every Day! If you haven't seen the list of January participants, it's up to seventy-eight! Wow! That's a lot of artful blog hopping! In case you're still on the fence, I thought I'd show you a whole bunch of examples of what an art journal is (as it turns out, there's very little that an art journal isn't). I visited every single one of the seventy-eight participants' links and I stole some art journal pages along the way to share with you.... Read more →

I *love* it when people e-mail me pictures of projects that I inspired them to make. First, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy! Second, I am always impressed by the improvements that they make on my projects! Inspiration really is a circle. I inspire you, you inspire me, I inspire you...and it just keeps going and going! Love that! Here are a few of the amazing projects that people have shared with me recently: Nicole What a gorgeous canvas! Love it to death! Nicole was inspired by a segment I did on Scrapbook Memories TV. (My original instructions... Read more →

Spent a wonderful Sunday teaching art journaling at Portrait Bug! Take a peek: A new Mom of a ten-month old, she confessed that this was her first time being out of the house alone in that time! Wow! Sweet Celeste has been a student of mine at The Ink Pad. She has the coolest job: doing the titles (English translations) for the Metropolitan Opera! Isn't that neat? Avril (above) has a theatre background just like me! She has been a frequent student of mine at The City Quilter and I was delighted to see her in class! She told me... Read more →

Last week my husband testified before the New York State Senate. Exciting to be an expert and get asked to testify, don't you think? I knew he had to leave early, before I'd be up, so I left a little something taped to the bathroom mirror. It took me less than five minutes and put a grin on his face. Why not? It's a little something to show I care. And I didn't spend so much time making it that I care whether or not it ends up in the trash. It's a token of my affection. A little bit... Read more →

For the past year I've been keeping a daily art journal. (I talked about it a little in this post.) It's super low stress. I don't do a finished art journal page every day. That would be way too hard for me. Instead I add a little something every day. For me, the point is to open that art journal every single day and do something creative in it -- even if it's just for 10 minutes. I have schlepped that art journal with me on every trip I've taken this year. It has come with me to Paris, Chicago,... Read more →