If you're new to Art Journal Every Day, there is a short introduction here. All of the previous posts can be found archived here. 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! I often use the photos of models in fashion magazines as reference images... Read more →

Okay, okay. I know I promised you the earring tutorial, but I have such good news that I just had to share! Hooray! The new Winter 2014 Balzer Designs Stencils are finally available for sale!!!! (I'll have the earring tutorial for you on Monday.) Here's a quick look at some projects made with the new stencils: Don't forget that next week is Stenciling Live! All week long you can join me for FREE online LIVE stencil mini classes where I'll be sharing stenciling tips, showing off the new stencils, making pretty things, and offering a new stencil giveaway each and... Read more →

You know how I love to re-do old projects, right? I can't help myself. I started my crafty life as a jewelry maker and beader. Did you know that? My early jewelry attempts were hilarious and lumpy, but still much loved and often worn. In my current jewelry collection I have tons of jewelry that I made years and years ago. I love that jewelry, but sometimes it makes me crazy when I look at the workmanship. I recently took down a pair of earrings to wear and then had to take a few minutes to re-make them. My wire... Read more →

I love coincidences. I tend towards calling it fate or destiny, but I'm romantic like that. :) I recently read the article "Drawing the Olympics" by Liza Donnelly on The New Yorker website. In the article she talks about "tweet-drawing" the Olympics. What is tweet-drawing? Essentially, she watches a live event on TV (in the past she has done it with award shows) and quickly draws sketches which she then tweets out: "Tweet-drawing requires the immediacy of the moment as I see it on the television, and the exchange that ensues with my followers. I am emboldened by their responses... Read more →

After my post about forty-eight hours in my life, I got a number of questions about my photo tent. I bought it several years ago, but I've finally been using it lately and it's awesome! I bought it as part of a kit. The kit comes (in a soft sided suitcase) and contains two foldable photo tents (one smaller than those pictured -- and which I never use), a tripod, several background drops, and two lights. Here's my feedback on the kit: The tripod is lightweight, but great. I use it all the time for all sorts of things. It's... Read more →

If you're new to Art Journal Every Day, there is a short introduction here. All of the previous posts can be found archived here. 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 I've got some daily art journal pages to share. These are from... Read more →

Back in August of 2011 I wrote a post that covered forty-eight hours of my life. My life is very different now than it was back in 2011 and so I thought I'd share an updated forty-eight hours with you today. 10:29 am | Wake up and check e-mail, twitter, and instagram on my phone. Bad habit, but I do it every day. 10:43 am | Contemplate staying in bed forever. 10:45 am | Open curtains, brush teeth, etc. 10:49 am | Studio Time: Use a gold marker to touch up the soap dispenser and then feel the need to... Read more →

You guys, I am on a serious turn-paintings-into-bags kick! I took four painted canvases and pulled them off of their frames. Then I got to stitching. It was really tough. The two flower paintings are both collage based and not very flexible. But, it was worth the struggle (you'll see where I had to a bit of hand stitching to make the seam work)! To add a little New York grit, I lined the inside of the bag with NYC subway fabric: I love my new tote bag and cannot wait to start carrying it! I have a feeling there... Read more →

With my new found zipper skills, I decided to remake a purse that I love, but find a little bit unusable because it doesn't have a closure. I blogged about it right after I made it in 2010. So, I pulled the whole thing apart. Took me a long time with a seam ripper and a pair of scissors. Once I had pulled it apart, I ironed everything and remade it with a few changes: I made it bigger. I added a zipper. I shortened the strap. Because I made it bigger, I had to add fabric to the lining... Read more →

I've been wanting to learn how to put in a zipper forever. I find the whole thing very intimidating. But, last weekend I was bound and determined to make it happen! I googled a million tutorials and finally found one that made sense to me. It's from a woman named Debbie Shore: Of course, being completely incapable of doing anything the easy way, I decided that instead of regular fabric, I was going to remove an old painting from its frame and use that as my fabric. Remember this painting: I never liked it, so I figured pulling it off... Read more →