Balzer Designs

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 extra embellishments!  Here's my version:

I added some bling:

I frosted the stars with glitter glue and I added some black rhinestones.

I also personalized the card with some text:

The "Baby" is a built-in design in my ScanNCut and the "Balzer" was created with one of the built-in fonts.  You may also notice that I used colored ink pads to ink the edges of most of the pieces of paper.  I think inking adds a lot of dimension to paper crafts.

I also added actual dimension:

I looooove foam adhesive.  If you wander down the card aisle at any drug store, you'll notice that an enormous number of the cards now feature raised elements.  It's more visually exciting!

So there you have it!  An adorable baby card suitable for giving away or simply popping into a frame and displaying in the baby's nursery!

This next card was something I hid in Steve's car as a surprise!  You may or may not know that he is back in college at the moment (very exciting).  He had a big exam and I wanted to go a little bit beyond a post-it note of encouragement.  Once again, I turned to the premium ScanNCut cut files -- this time to the "School Grad & Beach Pattern Collection."  I found two different designs that I liked:

Both are box files, but I figured that I could transform them into card embellishments!  I frankensteined the two designs together and came up with this card:

To give the card visual dimension, I used a lot of my favorite card techniques, like inking and foam adhesive.

You can see in the photo above that I inked the edges of the polka dot paper.  And, it's subtle, but did you notice that there's foam adhesive under the top of the notebook paper but not the bottom?  It makes the paper really appear to be tucked behind the apple.

To add hyper dimension to the heart, I stacked two pieces of foam adhesive together.  Even the leaf on the apple got some dimension, with a bit of folding!

Once again, one of the things I love about my ScanNCut is the ability to constantly customize.  I love that I was able to grab two "recipes" and mash them together into something uniquely my own!

Thanks for stopping by!

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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/

ScanNCut DX: Halloween Lantern

Today I've got an epic Halloween project tutorial for you! The video is literally packed with information on how to build your own cut files in CanvasWorkspace for Mac. We are building four files: a jack o'lantern, bats, spider webs, and Halloween text.

Then we use the roll feeder and the ScanNCut DX to cut out the four designs from a single roll of Brother vinyl. Throw some Christmas lights and/or LED candles inside the lantern and you've got Halloween magic that lasts year after year!

Watch the video for the how-to:

SUPPLIES:

• Brother Vinyl: https://amzn.to/2MMdksG
• Transfer Sheet: https://amzn.to/2MM4riY
• Roll Feeder: https://amzn.to/2ZvLabf
• ScanNCut DX: https://amzn.to/2ZEMepy
• Hook Tool: https://amzn.to/2NBBMwx
• Scraper Tool: https://amzn.to/2MJV4jC
• Brayer: https://amzn.to/2ZBGzAg
• Lantern (the exact one I used is no longer available, but this one is close): https://amzn.to/2MK3B63

Thanks for stopping by!

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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/

ScanNCut DX: Clean Your Scanner Glass

Hello!  Let's talk about cleaning the scanner glass on your ScanNCut DX.  The scanning feature is one of the most powerful and unique features that ScanNCut has to offer.  Occasionally, you may notice a line or a dot or a missing section in your scans. 

What's up with that?  Well, it's nothing to worry about.  It just means that you need to clean that scanner glass.  And in this video, I show you how to do it:

Super easy, right?  And once I cleaned the scanner, here is what I made with the scan of that simple drawing:

I turned the drawing into a stencil...

...and then used the stencil to make lots of pretty prints!

My ScanNCut is a stencil making beast -- easily one of my favorite features of the machine.

Thanks for stopping by!

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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/

ScanNCut: Fall Home Banner

Today is the first day of Fall!  I figured that it might be the perfect time to share this Fall-themed project:

This super fun ScanNCut banner incorporates some basic sewing on no-ravel materials like cork fabric and felt.

No-ravel materials make this project quick and easy because they require absolutely no finishing!

The best part is that this entire project uses built-in designs from the ScanNCut DX225!  If you haven't taken the time to explore what's already built into your machine, I hope that you will.

Watch the video for the how-to:

Here are the basics:

1. Choose banner shape.
2. Load a mat with cork fabric on it.
3. Cut the shape from cork fabric.
4. Choose a font.
5. Resize the text.
6. Load a mat with four colors of stiff felt on it.
7. Cut letters from felt.
8. Tack felt letters to cork fabric banners with a glue stick.

9. Sew fabric letters to cork fabric banners.
10. Cut small strips from excess cork fabric.
11. Use the strips to create loops for the banner pieces.  Stitch the loops in place.
12. Choose one of the rolled flower designs.
13. Cut it from patterned paper.
14. Roll the flower.
15. Fold the base along the perforation line.
16. Release the rolled flower and glue to base.

17. Choose a leaf design.
18. Scan in felt scraps and place designs so they fit on the scraps.
19. If you have extra room on your scraps, keep adding various leaf designs.
20. Cut leaves and other embellishments from felt.
21. Glue felt embellishments to the back of each paper flower.
22. String a ribbon through the cork fabric banners, leaving enough room for the paper flowers.
23. Glue each flower/embellishment combo onto the ribbon between banners and at the two ends.
24. Hang in your home and enjoy!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!  Thanks for stopping by!

(Also, because I know someone will ask, I took the photos of the finished banner at my Mom's house in her beautiful dining room!)

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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/

NEW: ScanNCut DX Disney Machine!

I'm super excited to share that Brother has released an extremely limited Disney ScanNCut DX!  This machine is the DX you've come to know and love (AutoBlade, whisper quiet, 3mm cutting, etc.) with some awesome Disney extras!  I take you through all of it in this unboxing video, but here are the basics:

• The machine comes loaded with exclusive Disney designs.
• Cutting designs include rhinestone designs -- built right into the machine!  This is the only ScanNCut that doesn't require you to go through CanvasWorkspace in order to cut rhinestone designs.  You can cut the built-in rhinestone designs quickly and easily, especially because...
• The machine comes with a mini-version of the Rhinestone Starter Kit!
• The machine comes with a ton of accessories, including the brand new Tool Kit! 

(If you already have a DX, you can purchase the Tool Kit separately.)

Watch the video for more:

Here is the starter project that I made in the video (instructions and even the paper to make it come in the box):

The Disney ScanNCut DX is sold exclusively through the Brother Dealer network.  You can find your local dealer by inputting your zip code here.

Thanks for stopping by!

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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/