Balzer Designs

A Drawing Becomes a Notebook & an Apron

One of my favorite features of the ScanNCut is how easy it is to scan in an image and cut it out. And once you've digitized the design you can cut it out of multiple materials. I recently made a notebook and an apron from a simple sheet of doodles. Later, I took it a step further by adding another doodle drawing to the lower half of the apron. And I used the new doodle to decorate the cover of a notebook I had previously painted. How fun is that? To learn more about scanning, you can watch this video:... Read more →

100 Days of Art Botanical: Days 1-10

We are 10 days into The 100 Day Project. As I mentioned before, I have been smushing together my #100DaysofArtBotanical with #februllage and I'm not sure that it's working for me. I'll show you what I've done and then I'll talk about why I'm feeling a bit unsure about this mash up. This was my first day, before #februllage started -- so it's the only piece without collage: Starting with this next piece, all of these contain collage and are in response to the daily prompts: Let's talk about these pieces. The good: I said that I wanted to try... Read more →

Library Book Book Reviews: February 2021

I thought that I would resurrect an old blog feature: Book Club...but with a twist! If you listen to the podcast then you know that I love our local library. And I love requesting books from different library branches all over the state of Massachusetts and being able to pick them up at my local library. For free. A public library truly is an amazing thing! One of the main ways that I use my library is to figure out whether or not a book is buy-worthy. Over the years I've bought a ton of books online -- based on... Read more →

Mix & Match Valentine's Day Cards - 2021 Version

As you may recall, I created mix & match Valentine's Day cards using a combination of hand painted black and white papers and painted/printed deli paper back in 2014. So, I challenged myself (and you) to do it again but with a 2021 flair. I would say, I'm still the same artist, but I've definitely gained some design skills over the past 7 years, don't you agree? I would even venture to say that I'm better at creating interesting black and white papers now (note the variety of line textures and weights as well as varied density of pattern)... ...than... Read more →

Art Journal Every Day: Pen Talk 2021

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 →

Valentine's Day Ideas From The Archives

I wanted to share a round-up of just a few of the fun Valentine's Day DIY projects I've shared over the years. You can find the links to all the project tutorials below: Stamped & Masked Valentine's Day Cards Pop-Up Valentine's Day Card Valentine's Day Flipping Photo Cubes Gelli Masked Heart Prints Valentine's Day Explosion Card Heart Boxes And finally, a post from the archive and a challenge to you! In putting together this post, I came across a post from 2014, which I had totally forgotten about: In the original post, I set out a challenge for myself: Using... Read more →

Have You Heard of Februllage?

I accidentally stumbled across an online challenge called "Februllage." The Scandinavian Collage Museum and Edinburgh Collage Collective are the hosts of Februllage -- a combination of the words "February" and "collage." The challenge is to make a collage a day throughout the month of February, using the prompts from the Februllage Official Word Prompt Calendar: The challenge is hosted on instagram. Even if you don't wish to participate, I think the work that people are doing is super inspiring. So I thought you might like to see a few of the entries from the first two days (these images are... Read more →

Valentine's Day: Photo Puzzle Card

Valentine's Day is quickly approaching and so here's a cute idea for a sweet gift to give a loved one: a small puzzle that he or she can put together that features their loved ones or a hidden message! You can find a step-by-step guide to creating your own custom puzzle by hand cutting HERE or by using an existing puzzle HERE. I made mine using my ScanNCut. It's something I figured out how to do because of a question in January's Member Livestream. It's a simple process: Use a wet adhesive to glue the photo to a piece of... Read more →

Simple Acrylic Paint Monoprints

The first of the 13 "A Year of Gelatin Printing" monthly classes begins today! I have been teaching gelatin printing for many years. One thing I've learned while teaching my in-person classes: If a class has a gelatin printing component, you can't do the gelatin printing until late into the day. Because once people start gelatin printing, they can't stop. It's deeply addictive. I've encountered so many students who don't "get" the whole gelatin printing craze. And then they try it....! The thing that I love about gelatin printing is that, much like stamp carving, you can jump right in... Read more →

Art Journal Every Day: Another One Bites the Dust

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 →