Balzer Designs

Art Journal Every Day: Some February 2019 Pages

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. 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, use the hashtag #artjournaleveryday so that we can all take a peek. Even if you're not on social media, you can see everything (from twitter, pinterest, instagram, and facebook) that uses that hashtag here. Today I am sharing some art journal pages from February 2019. You'll notice... 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 →

A Pop-Up Birthday Card!

I made Steve a pop-up birthday card! It's better in video because you really get to see how it works: And here are some photos: I used hand carved stamps to decorate the inside of my card. This is a "Twist and Pop Up" card. I found a tutorial on YouTube that was comprehensive and super easy to follow: If you enjoy papercrafting, this is a fun one! I hope you'll give it a try! Thanks for stopping by! Read more →

Two ScanNCut Cards

I haven't bought a card to give someone in years. I like to make the cards. It's a mini gift to the recipient! A few months ago I was invited to a family member's baby shower. I immediately knew that I wanted to make the card and so I went looking for inspiration! I was poking through some of the premium ScanNCut cut files and I found one called "SVG Cutting Files Baby, Steampunk and Skulls Pattern Collection." I immediately loved the elephant card (I have long had a thing for elephants): I decided to make it with a few... Read more →

Baby Shower Thank You Cards

You may recall that I asked for advice on making thank you cards for my baby shower. I got lots of good advice -- keep it simple, create a postcard instead of a folding card, etc. Well, I took the advice and these are the cards that I made: These were pretty simple to make. I took two large pieces of paper and did some indoor sun printing on them -- in two different color ways -- one dark and one bright. I cut up the sun printed paper and glued it to a white piece of cardstock. In some... Read more →

Thank You Card Inspiration

My baby shower is this weekend. (Yay!) Knowing that I'll have lots of thank you cards to write, I've been looking for inspiration. I think handmade thank you cards are always a really nice gesture, but I'm also short on time (we move in less than a week) and need to make a whole bunch ASAP. I thought I'd share some of my favorite cards I found online. There are a couple of styles I clearly like. STYLE ONE: Watercolor source source source source source STYLE TWO: Cut Outs source source source source source STYLE THREE: Text Based Design source... Read more →

Art Journal Every Day: August into September 2018

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. 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, use the hashtag #artjournaleveryday so that we can all take a peek. Even if you're not on social media, you can see everything (from twitter, pinterest, instagram, and facebook) that uses that hashtag here. I'm delighted to be sharing some pages from August & September of last... Read more →

ScanNCut 4th of July Card

I'm super excited about today's project because it turned out even better than I imagined! Here's a lovely way to celebrate 4th of July: And the best part is that this card was made by slightly altering a free file for a New Year's Eve Card! Watch the video for the how to: Thanks for stopping by! --- P.S. I am a paid spokesperson for the Brother ScanNCut. It is a machine that I love and use. All projects and opinions are my own. Product Registration: https://www.brother-usa.com/registermybrother/ Brother Customer Support: https://www.brother-usa.com/support/ Read more →

Project Life Update

Did you know that I still scrapbook? It's true. I no longer make the big 12x12 scrapbook pages, but I do try my best to keep up with Project Life aka pocket scrapbooking. I've been a Project Life participant since 2012! (You can read my very first Project Life post here.) After 7 years, I still love my Project Life albums. They're super fun to flip through because they're packed full of memories. It will not surprise you to know that I approach my Project Life albums slightly differently than other people do. Today I thought I'd share some recent... Read more →

Wine Bottle Flower

Here's a super quick and fun crafty idea for you. I made a paper flower with a wired stem: I wrapped it around a bottle of wine that we brought a friend's house. A fun and easy way to "wrap" the gift. The hostess was mightily impressed. And I never admitted that it took me just a few minutes to whip up this wired flower! If you don't drink, you could bring a nice bottle of balsamic vinegar wrapped the same way. I do have a tutorial on making paper flowers, if you'd like it. Otherwise, the internet is packed... Read more →