It's Raining JellyBeans: April Showers Bring My Flowers

These gorgeous flowers are more of the flowers I posted previously that I made with book text, various colored papers, and the wax tissue from Anthropology. The flowers were cut using Tim Holtz's

Tattered Florals die on my Vagabond. They were colored with Distress dye inks and Glimmer Mist. I glued glass buttons to some- while others I left unfinished and will be finished when I find the right project for each one. They are really quite beautiful and very very fragile.

This week I discovered my life-twin in artist de-la-canvas, Donna Downey. I have loved her work since I discovered her about a year ago but had only looked at her work and maybe read a blog or two; I had not see any of her videos. She loves working on canvas and the colors she uses and the way she keeps the dyes and inks translucent takes my breath away. Here are a few of my favorite pages from her "week of inspiration" that you can watch on her website. I really recommend you check it out even if you aren't interested in her videos. She has lots of stuff for sale in her shop, a great blog, and beautiful artwork.

from donnadowney.typepad.com

Donna also does all things floral and in fact is a designer for Prima Marketing Inc which is a company that has taken the craft world by storm in the last few years with all of their beautiful flowers and crystals. And that's not all…. Donna's makes exquisite aprons...

from donnadowney.typepad.com

Last week she held an "Inspiration Week" which had her posting daily videos of her working on a canvas book. Essentially, a down and dirty look at her process of making art journals on canvas. She started with plain canvas pages and worked her way to semi-completed pages. While I expected to learn some new techniques and get a glimpse at how she gets those colors so translucent, I had no idea how hilarious I would find the entire thing. You see, it was like watching myself on video. Donna could easily be Danee. Why you asked? Well, for one she makes mistakes, all the time- mostly from being sloppy and getting drips on her work-and then has to figure out how to fix it…I do that. Donna leaves her brushes a mess, barely wipes the paint from her stamps and uses the same nasty water for her brushes day after day…I do that. Right in the middle of the video she has to stop and ask her husband to open something…. I do that. Maybe it was just that I am so used to watching videos of perfection; perfect artist making perfect art. It was refreshing and funny to watch the video I would make if it was my project. When she revealed that she uses pages from Twilight in her work I almost fell off my chair. I do that. Why Twilight? Because I LOVED the series. Oh, and because Ryann and I reread the original book to death, literally until it fell apart. Waste not want not right?

And Now It Is Time For My Art Work To Take The Stage

I am almost done with the online class du jour, "Mouse Paper Scissors" as it ends this week. We are on the final project and it is a doozie. We are actually making the decorative paper used in the project using Photoshop. Using a variety of fonts to type up little blurbs and quotes from the journals we kept over the 5 weeks. It really is a cool class and I LOVE photoshop and the creative control it gives me. Probably my biggest thrill is that I learned how to print well at home using presentation paper. I was having my project pieces copied at Kinkos and even with our Fed Ex discount it was very expensive and for some reason the colors were always off on the House of 3 files which I use the most. Probably my biggest complaint though is the shiny-look their prints gave off. I hated the shiny look- I guess it is from the laser printer. I am thrilled to be getting better quality at home and yes I am spending a lot on ink thank you very much.

The journal I mentioned above was made all that much cooler by adding a little jacket from a piece of "Daily Junque" from Pink Paislee and House of 3. When my kit for Mouse Paper Sciossrs arrived to my house the "Daily Junque" line wasn't out and I was so super excited to get it. Yes, I am pathetic. Tuesday, I got my order of both new papers from the collaboration of Pink Paislee and House of 3- "Daily Junque" and "Soiree" as well as the final order of the retired "Parisian Anthology". Ironically, later that day I learned that the "House of 3" is now the "House of 2" because Rhonna - the digital artist of the group, no longer wants to live in the House of 3. I just love the art produced by the trio, the kits they put together, the projects, the digital files…. everything! Will Heidi and Janet continue to life there or will the entire house burn to the ground in a spectacular implosion? I don't know but I know that it won't be the same. I just hope that they continue to inspire me with their sophisticated style.

Time to end the pity party and move on right? Time for some pictures of pretty papers.
Here is the journal cover:

Front cover- paper is itself a collage, but I added a few elements and the gold glitter polka dots

Inside cover- paper is two sided so I just added the banners and string

Inside right cover

Back cover

All closed up and tied with seam binding I misted with Chalk Glimmer Mist

I love this project because it is easy to make and creates a beautiful way to hide some basic notepads- it even has a little slot for a pencil. I made the pencil holder a little too small so I'm not using it. Next time I will measure my actual pencil and be a little more meticulous.

I shall leave it here for now since I haven no more current pics to show. I do have 2 more mini-books and some random cards I made in Mouse Paper Scissors using Photoshop Elements 8. There is also a super cool project I am making on my own using Parisian Anthology; a project that I have never seen done before so I am pretty pleased with myself!

Laters...