Balzer Designs

Coming Friday: New Online Class (+ Live Online Class)

Hooray! I'm just wrapping up the filming and editing of my epic online class all about designing and cutting custom stencils with a ScanNCut. I filmed the final video yesterday afternoon and I'm planning to have the online classroom all spiffed up and ready for students on Friday. This class is epic because it has taken me the entirety of the pandemic to film and edit it. I recorded every tutorial twice -- once on a ScanNCut 2 and once on a ScanNCut DX. Hopefully this will allow all ScanNCut users to easily understand the lessons and translate them to... Read more →

A New Mixed Media Collage

If you've been following this blog for a while, you know that my interests are far and wide when it comes to art making. I tend to create in phases or bursts or binges or whatever you call it. At the moment, I'm in a mixed media collage phase. That's the thing that's holding my attention at the moment, and so here is a new one. This piece is 8x8. It's a long way from where it started. Take a peek at this fast forward video of the process: If you're a member, you can see the real time version... Read more →

A Birthday Card for my Brother

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 →

USPS Art Project: Judy

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 →

Art Journal Every Day: September 2019 into October 2019

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 →

A Pen Bag Made From Paper

I made this fabulous pen bag from...PAPER!! I have always looooved cut paper, but it's fragile. It's hard to make anything long lasting from it. But then I figured out that I could sandwich the cut paper between two sheets of iron-on vinyl and turn it into a much more durable material. I cut two pieces of pink cardstock, sealed them between layers of iron-on vinyl and was then able to stitch together this pen bag... ...including putting in a zipper! One Note: You do have to be careful when turning the bag because the paper will crease if you... Read more →

USPS Art Project: Melinda

I'm working fast and furiously through these USPS Art Project collaborations now! As a reminder, this is a project where two artists team up and mail each other an unfinished artwork. And then they each finish the artwork they receive. My partner Melinda sent me an embellished gelatin print and I turned it into a cover for a little pamphlet stitch art journal -- otherwise known as a single signature art journal: Here's a peek at some of the inside pages: One of the things I love about bookbinding is that you can put any kind of page into your... Read more →

USPS Art Project: Melanie

Here is my second USPS Art Project collaboration piece. This time with Melanie. Here's what I made: This is what she sent me: In essentials, all I did was cut up her work and put it back together again with the help of a ton of foam adhesive. This was a fun idea and I'd like to try it again. After all, there's plenty of stuff around here to cut up! Thanks for stopping by! Read more →

Washi Tape Thank You Cards

You know what I have a lot of? Washi tape. I love it. I collect it. But I don't always use it. Until today. I found a great way to use tons of washi tape: thank you cards! In essentials: I added strips of washi tape to pieces of cardstock. I cut the phrase "thank you" from the washi taped cardstock. On some cards I used the positive. On some cards I used the negative. On some cards I used both. Positive: Negative: Both: This idea would work for other phrases and for shapes. And here's a pro tip: If... Read more →

Collage Text

I've been playing around with little scraps of paper! Here are some text pieces made entirely from little doodled pieces of paper: I love the way they turned out. And they were super easy to make. I just doodled all over some layout bond paper (it's strong but nice and thin for collage) and cut it up into letter shapes. In some places, I added additional little paper cuts to help embellish the letters. This is the original alphabet I made when I was trying to figure out how this was going to work: I liked the idea, but I... Read more →