Prima Designer Day

Two weeks ago I was lucky enough to be featured on the Prima blog! Here's the post:

Hi!  My name is Julie Fei-Fan Balzer and I live in New York City – Times Square to be exact! 

(Sorry for the blurry photo, but that's NYC -- always in motion!)

On my street (pictured above) there are two Broadway theatres, Roseland (a famous nightclub/dance hall), lots of restaurants -- including two that specialize in Russian food and homemade vodka, a hotel, four apartment buildings, a theatrical scene shop, a garage, a bank, a large office building, and a defunct subway stop. 

This is the view, at night, from the other end of my street looking down Broadway:

If you were to turn around you'd see the Ed Sullivan theatre where David Letterman records his TV show plus lots more theatres and restaurants and enormous office buildings!

My husband and I have been married for four years...
 

...and together we live in a two-bedroom apartment in the sky (okay, it’s only the seventeenth floor).  But this is our vertigo inducing view down to the street:

Bet you didn't know that street corners are actually round in NYC! 

And the view from our terrace looking out towards the Hudson River on a particularly lovely sunset:

When we moved in to this apartment my sweet hubs told me to take the master bedroom as my craft room.  What a nice guy, right?

(By the way: It never looks this neat.  Most of the time it's full of piles and piles of stuff!)

And this is my best storage solution ever:

I hung a bunch of those grids from those cheap buildable wire cube things you get at Target and then all of my embellishments are grouped by category (journaling spots, border strips, etc.), hung on giant book rings, and then clipped to the grid wall.  I can see what I've got and never have have to go hunting!

I'm not a native New Yorker.  I grew up outside of Boston (and still root for the Red Sox and against the Yankees!)  I moved to New York City to work in the theatre – I’m a theatrical director – and have directed plays all over New York for the past eleven years.  But 2011 is a new beginning for me.  I am happily transitioning into doing more and more art and craft work! 

And, of course, I love teaching live online classes for Live with Prima every month!
 

As you can see, I like to paint, spray, and stitch whenever I can.  I was shocked and delighted when Prima took a risk and made me and my off-beat style a part of this design team.

I have so enjoyed being a part of the Prima family for the past two years!  I particularly love all the fun alterable products that Prima makes like this cool canvas camera bag:

Please visit my blog: Balzer Designs to see more colorful painty fun!  I post ideas, projects, and tutorials daily and I have a new online course in mixed media stitch called It's Sew Easy starting at the end of this month! 

Thanks for letting me share!