I put together a silly video of this mixed media collage... ..."magically" coming together in about 13 seconds. I hope you enjoy it: Mixed Media Collage Magic - 13 seconds from Julie Balzer on Vimeo. If only creating art were truly that easy! If you're interested in learning how to make the art making process easier, consider signing up for my Design Boot Camp Online. Do you have trouble articulating what it is that's wrong or "off" with a piece you don't like? Do you struggle with decision making while you're making art? Do you have trouble figuring out if... Read more →

If you're new to Art Journal Every Day, the concept is simple: It's a commitment to take ten minutes each day to do something in your art journal. No need to finish anything or even like it. It's about making the time to nourish your creativity every day! If you have the time to flip through your phone, you have the time to Art Journal Every Day. If you'd like to share what you make, use the hashtag #artjournaleveryday so that we can all take a peek. You can find new Art Journal Every Day posts here on the blog... Read more →

Hello, friends! Here's a little bit about life around here right now: What are you working on? Classes. So many classes. I'm doing some private classes over Zoom. I have an upcoming gelatin printing class for teachers at a private school and I'm running a team building exercise for administrators at a university. (Email me if you're interested in a private class or training for you and your friends or your office!) I've also got lots of live online classes coming up -- some ScanNCut and some others, including a 5-week Design Boot Camp. There's a free webinar where you... Read more →

I designed and made a birthday card for my Brother and I think it's pretty cool. The "39" spins, as you can see in the .gif below: If you're not a card maker, this is an idea that easily translates into your art journal. I have several art journal pages that have little spinners hanging out in a hole I've cut through the page! I've always felt that one of the secrets to creative inspiration is to not necessarily be a literalist. (Is that a word?) Essentially: to see an idea or a color combo or a composition and be... Read more →

I finally put together the pom pom earring tutorial that I've been promising you! This video shares the basics of how to make a pom pom using the Clover pom pom maker: And then this video shares how to make the earrings: If you don't want to make pom poms, you can buy them pre-made. These are the little gold bars I used in the video. I think they really elevate the earrings and make them feel super polished. I'm off to try to find my needle nose pliers! Thanks for stopping by! Read more →

Here is my fourth USPS Art Project collaboration piece. This time with Judy. As a reminder, this is a project where two artists pair up and each mail an unfinished piece of artwork to the other. Then each artist finishes the work they were sent and posts it online. Here's what I made: My goal was to have them work together as a group and be able to stand alone as mini artworks. This is what Judy sent me to work with: As you can see, I cut the 6 tags from the large piece that she sent me. It's... Read more →

If you're new to Art Journal Every Day, the concept is simple: It's a commitment to take ten minutes each day to do something in your art journal. No need to finish anything or even like it. It's about making the time to nourish your creativity every day! If you have the time to flip through your phone, you have the time to Art Journal Every Day. If you'd like to share what you make, use the hashtag #artjournaleveryday so that we can all take a peek. You can find new Art Journal Every Day posts here on the blog... Read more →

Mom and I had a wonderful conversation with Wendy Solganik, aka "Willa.Wanders" this week. We probably could have talked to her for several hours. Our conversation covers making a living, pricing, business killing creativity, Black Lives Matter, authenticity, love of instagram, and more. Give it a listen: If you do not see the podcast player above, please click on this link. On the off chance that you've never listened to a podcast or don't get why anybody would want to, here are some facts: (1) Podcasts are convenient. It's a recording that is available to you whenever and wherever you'd... Read more →

I love art supplies! I keep a list of all of my favorite supplies HERE. But today I thought I'd share 5 that I can't live without: Grey Matters Palette Paper I used a plastic plate as a palette for years and years... ...before I switched to white palette paper (which you can see me using in this video). But then I read about how the only way to really see colors as they are is on a grey background. So then, I had to switch to grey colored palette paper. I made the switch many years ago and I... Read more →

Last week I posted this image on instagram... ...with the following caption: The number one thing I hear from my students is, "Oh, I'm not creative." These are people who make art and love to make art. Everyone is creative. Don't ever forget it. I think what these people lack isn't creativity, it's confidence. Agree or disagree? The responses I got were wonderful. Here are just a few (you can read them all on the post): Absolutely! I think so many people confuse creativity with the end product. If I don’t create a Picasso or a Rembrandt, I’m not creative.... Read more →