Inspired by: Julie Fei-Fan Balzer

What to do about Wednesday? For the next month I’ll be sharing a person who inspires me, and a technique, idea, or project inspired by them! Today I’m kicking it off with an artist who is also a friend, and someone whose work, personality, and general awesomeness I always admire: Julie Fei Fan Balzer!

One way she inspires me is through her ScanNCut knowledge and projects. If you’ve got a ScanNCut I strongly recommend looking through her projects on her blog (here) and her many fantastic tutorials too. Before we go further I will disclose (as I always do!) that I am a paid consultant for Brother, but that all ideas & opinions are my own. Julie is in fact the spokesperson for the ScanNCut – you may have seen her on TV before either her Make it Artsy TV show or on QVC with the ScanNCut!

The challenge for today: make a doodle

You don’t have to make it into a project, it doesn’t have to be “good”. NO pressure! If there’s one thing I’ve learned from Julie over the years it is the importance of daily practice and making time to try new things, and to improve/work on skills. I doodled a number of things but my favorite was this flower.

This layered paper flower began as a doodle – I explain (and share the how-to) here in this YouTube video.

I love how this turned out and I love saving it as both just an outline and as the full doodle so that I can play with layering and depth even more! Now I ended up placing this on a birthday gift bag just perfect for a special friend – but this is one of those experiments that could be used for many things from making a stencil to a stamp, scrapbooking to playing in a planner!

I am reminded that we don’t always need to have a finished project or an end goal in mind when we create. Sometime we can simply doodle and play. Enjoy the process. And just have some fun! I hope I’ve inspired you to do just that this week.

31 thoughts on “Inspired by: Julie Fei-Fan Balzer”

  1. Lovely and you are such a master! You inspire me! I love the look with the plaid paper behind your doodle.

  2. I agree that you don’t always have to have a finished product when you’re creating. I do this all the time with my Cricut explore air. Great doodle flower!

  3. I have been trying and trying this on my scanNcut and can not for the life of me figure out the layering…would you do this again soon on a different “doodle”?

  4. Two of my favorite people I watched Julie when she had her show won some stencils one of which I’m using in my project today after watching your video yesterday.

  5. So clever! Love the layered effect you got. Julie is a great source of inspiration, and so are you.

  6. I love playing with my circuit this way…the experimenting makes me feel brave!

  7. I have a silhouette, not a scan & cut and I will admit I have barely used it since getting it for Christmas, but now I am inspired to give it a while in a whole new way !!!!!

  8. I learned what zentangles were from Julie. I also remember hearing her say something like if one of something looks good then a whole bunch will look even better. I always remember that when I’m making layouts. I love the layered flower doodle, very nice!

  10. Julie has been inspiration for my artwork for years! Funny story. I resolved to learn hand lettering and line drawing, just before Christmas. A week later, I tore ligaments in my wrist and am just beginning to use my dominant hand again. I think doodling will be good therapy.

  12. This is the first time I’ve seen the Scan n cut in action. Nice little product. I have a silhouette cameo that I use every time I scrapbook.

  13. What a great idea…methinks I’ll be adding a sCAN N CUT TO MY Christmas WISH LIST

  14. I have been following Julie for many years, Even before she started hosting Scrapbook Soup. I remember seeing her as a guest on scrapbook Memories (at least I think that was it )! At that time she was already very polished in the way she presented herself and demonstrated her projects. She is a huge source of inspiration for me and is an incredible artist!

  15. You’re right. Julie is awesome. And put the two of you together…marvelous.

  16. I have a Silhouette Cameo and a Cricut Explore and hardly ever use either. I always revert back to my dies and Bigshot machine. For some reason, I Just love my dies! Both machines are like New because of lack of use. If I ever have the time, I really need to get them out of hiding and play! However, my time is soooo limited these days until I complete this crazy hospital contract I took. The Scan & Cut I’ve seen on QVC and is actually pretty cool. It seems to do so much! Thanks for sharing you ideas and talent ladies!

  17. While I dont have a scan n cut, I do like to doodle/draw. Its nice to be surrounded by people who inspire you, even if it’s an online community:)

  18. That’s an awesome doodle, about the most I can manage is something a bit geometric – lots of straight lines! I’ve never seen anyone use a ScanNcut and didn’t know you could do things like this. I’m very impressed.

  20. What a clever way to use your doodle! Love the idea of crafting for fun and then finding a use for it versus struggling to come up with something decorative for a gift bag.

  22. I love Julie’s work. It always inspires me. I don’t have a ScanNCut, but I do have a Silhouette which i’ve been neglecting lately. You’ve inspired me to get it out and learn to use some of the features I haven’t explored yet.

  26. Love Julie. I met her 2 years ago in a class in Montreal, canada. I have been following her blog ever since. You and her are two of my favorite creative people I want to strive to be like “when i grow up”. You do amazing work!

  27. I agree, you are very inspiring. Thanks for sharing people who inspire you. Michelle t

  28. Julie is awesome, and I love the doodle flower. I have a Cricut Explore, not a scan n cut, but you’ve reminded me that I can doodle and cut it with my Cricut too! Such a great idea!

  31. You guys are too cute! I actually need to finish up an atc swap and the theme was doodles so this will be perfect! And I do have a scan n cut2 and plan on spending some serious bonding time with it this weekend! I will definitely be checking out the videos!

Comments are closed.