Balzer Designs

Creative Jumpstart Interview

I wanted to share 22 seconds of an interview I did for the Creative Jumpstart Classroom: What is Creative Jumpstart? My friend Nathalie Kalbach made a video to answer that question: Along with my interview all about curiosity and creativity, I will be teaching a super cool lesson all about working in a series. These are the four pieces that I create -- from start-to-finish -- on camera in the class: If you sign up for class you get 31 downloadable video lessons from 31 different artists! Early Bird Pricing is in effect until December 31, 2019. I hope to... Read more →

Guest Post: No-Sew Craft Plastic Pen/Pencil Case

Today's guest post is from the super talented Cat Kerr. Cat is a frequent guest on Make It Artsy and always shares super fun projects with lots of layers! Are you always losing your favorite pens, pencils and markers? If you're anything like me you want to pull your hair out every time you go reach for your favorite writing tool and guess what...it's not where it's supposed to be! So I decided I wanted to make my own case and I would attach to directly to my journal so I could never lose my favorite writing tools again. Now... Read more →

Guest Post: Stamped Reusable Shopping Bags

Today's guest post is by my sweet friend, Nathalie Kalbach. You may know Nathalie as the host of Creative JumpStart -- the annual January art lesson extravaganza! You can still sign up for the discounted price of $50 until December 31, 2019. Don't miss out! After getting into making patterns with my rubber stamp sets, I knew I wanted to take that idea and use it on a couple fabric projects. My friend Kim and I got together to put some of those lovely patterns to use on reusable shopping bags. Our neighborhood banned single use plastic bags this year... Read more →

Guest Post: Taking Risks to Open Up Creative Possibilities

While I'm settling into my new role as a mother, some of my art friends have agreed to keep you inspired with guest posts! First up is my friend, May Flaum, with a wonderful post about stretching yourself creatively. I was above 95% success rate in my creative endeavors, and I was miserable. Now I know this is going to sound crazy, but I was winning at making good projects way too much and somehow that became a bad thing. It took a good amount of time and self-reflection, but what I came to realize is that I had bound... Read more →

Creative JumpStart is Back, Baby!

My sweet friend, Nathalie Kalbach, has been running an online class smorgasbord called Creative JumpStart (CJS) for NINE years! And of course, it's back! I'm excited to once again be teaching a lesson. If you're not familiar with CJS, it's a series of short (i.e. doable) video lessons from a wide variety of artists, intended to kick your creativity into high gear, getting 2020 off to a great start! Each day during the month of January, students get access to a new downloadable video lesson -- 31 video lessons from 31 featured artists. Watch the promo video for more: You... Read more →

Art Supplies Used to Restore Art

I went to a conservation event at the Museum of Fine Arts here in Boston (MFA Boston). Professional conservators were in one of the exhibits sharing how they restore and preserve the art on display. Do you see what I see?! I spy art supplies that I use all the time! Golden Fluid Acrylics: Aves Apoxie Sculpt: And Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylics: I thought it was super duper cool to know that professional conservators are fixing up ancient art with the same supplies I use to create my art! I chatted with some of the conservators and they said that... Read more →

October Livestream Recap

Each month I host a one-hour livestream for members of my YouTube channel. I put together lots of art tips and tricks and tutorials based on questions that members post both before and during the livestream. Replays of all livestreams are available to members at any time they wish! Membership is just $4.99/month. It's a super fun hour of art and conversation. In October, we kicked off the livestream with a face painting demo, at the request of several members. Here's the demo face I painted: We also covered how deColourant works, organizing paper scraps and ephemera, Gelli Printing with... Read more →

Make Art Because You Can!

I loooove art supplies. I keep buying art supplies. I hoard art supplies. I covet art supplies, But the truth is, you don't need anything fancy to make art. This is a sketch I did in a hotel room back in 2012. All I used was a ballpoint pen and a piece of paper. Nothing fancy. I 100% believe that whatever you think is limiting your creativity -- supplies, time, inspiration, talent -- is an excuse. Supplies don't have to be fancy. You can use any paper, any cardboard, any pen, any paint, anything you want! Lack of time is... Read more →

From the Studio: My Moveable Walls

In the new house, my studio is in the attic. It's a wonderful space with one big problem: low angled ceilings. Beyond the fact that this eliminates the ability to hang shelves for storage (a problem I am currently working through as I unpack), it means that I don't have a painting wall or a place to put a quilt design wall. I talked to my contractor about it and he built me two huge wooden walls on wheels! This means that I now that 4 flat walls (2 sides on each of these wooden "boxes") to work with! Yay!... Read more →

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! Hope you have a spooktacular day! We have done zero decorating for Halloween this year because we're still unpacking, but here are some pumpkins Steve and I painted back in 2016: I'm usually 100% against anything fake, but I've been thinking that I might buy some *gasp* fake pumpkins and paint them. That way I'd have them year after year instead of having to re-do it every year...is that sacrilege? I'm going to have to think about that. We will see if the after-Halloween sales offer any great deals on fake pumpkins! In the meantime, I've got... Read more →