I'm participating in a very special weekend blog hop to celebrate Daniella Woolf's new book, The Encaustic Studio. You may recall that I mentioned it looked good in this post. Well, Jaime from Interweave Press saw that post and offered to send me a digital copy of the book and offered up a hard copy (which includes a DVD) for me to give away to one lucky reader! (Details on the giveaway at the end of this post.) I have to admit that I am equal parts intrigued and repelled by encaustic. Intrigued because it's just so darn cool. Seriously,... Read more →

If you're new to Art Journal Every Day, all the posts can be found here. Please read this post first. There is a flickr group for sharing right here. Remember, it's just ten minutes of nourishing your creative self every day! No need to finish anything or even like it. If you've done some art journaling this week and you've blogged about it, or put it on flickr, please leave a link in the linky list at the end of this post. Thanks! On Tuesday I showed you the outside of the brand new art journal that I made inspired... Read more →

This is it! The final stencil hop of the season. And as you can see from the graphic above, this week we're doing something a little bit special. This week I'm teaming up with the talented ladies from the Impression Obsession Design Team to show off the Balzer Designs matching stamps and stencils!! Each stamp set works independently. Each stencil works independently. Each stencil has a matching stamp set. Each stamp set has a matching stencil. And they work together. (Read the original announcement post here.) Clear Stamp Bird Set 6x6 Layered Bird Scene Clear Stamp Flowers Set 6x6 Layered... Read more →

A few years ago I painted a face on a bag: Recently I decided I was tired of that face and wanted to do a new one: I painted over the old face with some gesso and then I used a new-to-me supply to color the face: Dr. Ph Martin's Hydrus Fine Art Liquid Watercolors. I love the intense colors and they were fun and easy to use. Since they're watercolors I did have to seal them, since I plan to use the bag. I used a layer of Matte Medium to do the job. It dried quickly and now... Read more →

It's time for our June Book Club! Just as a reminder, each month I choose a crafty book from my bookshelf and create something inspired by the book. I hope you'll be inspired to do the same. This month I chose Cover to Cover by Shereen LaPlantz: As you can see, the full title of this book is Cover to Cover: Creative Techniques For Making Beautiful Books, Journals & Albums. This is not a sexy book filled with glossy pages, big text graphics, and huge photographs of brightly colored art. Rather, this is a straight-forward book binding manual. There are... Read more →

You guys rock! You've been posting so much impressive gorgeous-ness in the Balzer Designs flickr pool. Here is just a sampling of the inspiration you can find if you click through to view the flickr group: mumkaa using the Blazonry stencil: NolwennP using the Dashed Lines and Rain stencils: assicrafts using the Triangle stencil: Martha Richardson using a stamp from the Circles set: JJSobey using the Dashed Lines, Clouds, and Herringbone stencils: Ravenea using the Clouds stencil: jessica.sporn using the Blazonry stencil (to create the trees across the bottom of the page): zoegakatten using the Blazonry stencil: Chantalyon using the... Read more →

If you're new to Art Journal Every Day, all the posts can be found here. Please read this post first. There is a flickr group for sharing right here. Remember, it's just ten minutes of nourishing your creative self every day! No need to finish anything or even like it. If you've done some art journaling this week and you've blogged about it, or put it on flickr, please leave a link in the linky list at the end of this post. Thanks! Today we have a guest post from Carol Mahy-Merveille or Lechatquitousse: During my life I've tried various... Read more →

Today's stencil hop features two very talented ladies who are experienced stencil hoppers, back for more stencil action: Leslie Tucker Jenison: Leslie is a prolific quilter based in San Antonio, TX. She has appeared numerous times on Quilting Arts TV and has an hour-long instructional DVD called DIY Surface Design. She has been published in myriad books and magazines, including Quilting Arts Magazine. Tammy Tutterow: Tammy teaches a ton of online classes, both on her blog and at Big Picture Classes. She also has a roster of upcoming in-person classes, including several in Italy! Be sure to check out her... Read more →

I'm very pleased to share the very good news that I have released another hour-long instructional DVD with Interweave. The subject of this DVD is stamp making. Notice that I put emphasis on the word "making." This is not a DVD solely about stamp carving. This DVD covers a variety of techniques for making stamps -- many with foam. Here's a little sampling from the DVD: And here's an interview that Cloth Paper Scissors Editor, Jenn Mason, did with me: I've gotten a few questions from people as to the difference between this DVD and my online class, "Stamp Carving... Read more →

Today is the fifth Second Floor challenge! Are you ready to take it to the second floor? What does that mean? It means trying something vastly out of your comfort zone. Doing something that might not work. Experimenting with a crazy idea. It's all about pushing yourself. If it works, awesome. If it doesn't work, awesome! The challenge this time around is to create something that incorporates or is inspired by a found object. What is a found object? From Wikipedia: "A found object, in an artistic sense, indicates the use of an object which has not been designed for... Read more →