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premier issue
September 2006
in this issue
-- inside the studio...
-- inspired by...
-- trash to treasure...
Greetings! Welcome to the premier installment of my monthly
newsletter, The Creative Playground! Each issue of
The Creative Playground will be formatted much the
same way, give or take a few photo changes; and
each newsletter will be divided into three main
articles: ?Inside the studio?, ?Inspired by?,
and ?Trash to treasure?. |
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inside the studio... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It?s crazy how much of my world revolves around the
goings on in my studio. I call it my ?happy place? and
for good reason, it makes me happy! It is my room,
the place I keep all of my treasured creative things.
It is where my hobby has turned into a passion and
where my passion is expressed through my creativity.
Everything in my studio reflects who I am as well as
who I want to be. Since so much of my life and my
public persona happens within these four walls, I
wanted a forum to be able to share a little bit about
what goes on inside the studio.This month inside the studio, I am replacing my paper storage system. This really is a big decision and a financial commitment! With so many choices on the market it is hard to know what storage solution will work for you and will grow with you? Unfortunately, after my studio catastrophe of the ceiling falling in from exterior water damage, my former display dynamics 12 x 12 paper racks came crashing to the ground; I needed to find another storage solution for my papers. You can just imagine the mess and the pieces of acrylic shelving strewn across the hardwood floor. After I cleaned up the mess and organized the papers, I realized that the situation offered up an unexpected organizational opportunity I hadn?t thought about before. In efforts to consolidate and reorganize my "stuff? I decided to find shelving for my papers that fit the storage I already had in place. Because my studio is a small room with a lot of furniture in it, saving space it vital to its function. If you have the Ikea EXPEDIT shelves you may already know this but for those of you that don?t, hold onto your seats you may be in the market for some new Ikea furniture. Display dynamics makes their 12 x 12 stackable acryllic shelves lipless now and best of all, they fit PERFECTLY (no really perfectly!) as high as six tall inside each shelf cube. I ordered five sets of ten stackable trays (50 total) from scrapbook.com (I just can?t put a price on the joy of function.) They fit and they are FABULOUS!! I have two of the large EXPEDIT bookcases that meet at a 90 degree angle along the far walls of my studio. I chose to set my paper trays at eye level for easy access and I ran them all the way across the ten shelves stacked five trays high. Five of the shelves are used for my cardstock and the remaining five are for my patterned papers. I no longer have to bend down to the ground to find the perfect color of cardstock. They even have drawers for the trays with repositionable dividers for small embellishment storage as well as tabbed dividers for separating papers within the trays. Now, with the added space that my paper rack took up; I, most importantly, have more room to move around my small studio.
For pricing and dimension details on the 12 x 12
paper trays I bought from scrapbook.com
click the
link and at checkout use the coupon code
ddsfavoritetrays to receive an extra 10% off
your
purchase of the shelves. |
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inspired by... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This month I am inspired/consumed by the incredible
artistic talents of Teesha
Moore. Teesha is a mixed
media collage artist/designer and I keep finding
myself surfing her website for a
wealth of color,
design, and product inspiration. Her designs are fun,
funky, bold (I love bold!) and highly expressive.
She has a unique style to her art. She has an impressive ability to manipulate color in such a way that it sets the tone of her work. As you take a closer look at her journals it is not images that actually become the most captivating, but her artistic use of handwritten and stamped journaling. These are all principles that break the traditional RULES of scrapbooking (as if I believe there are any rules). Her work further convinces me that there are no rules to art: no matter what genre or medium you?re working in. ?It is those that break the barriers of traditional ways of thinking that shine the brightest and lead the way to artistic enlightenment?. donna downey Taking her suggestions myself, I recently placed an order with dickblick.com and am trying my hand at some original collaged art pieces for my personal art journal. She actually recommends several products and gives directions on how to use them. I bought the watercolor papers she recommended. And let me tell you, if you have ever tried to create an art journal on cardstock, you will totally appreciate the thickness and the texture of the 140lb paper she suggests. It is pricey, but if you are seriously thinking about creating an art journal it is totally worth it. I also ordered some of the 1 oz. bottles of GOLDEN liquid acrylic paints that she uses. These are really cool, but it was kinda difficult to order them online without seeing the colors in person. If you live by an art store you should see if they carry them, my Michael's does not. The final thing I bought from her list was the watercolor crayons. I had these forever ago and gave them away because I didn't really understand how to use them. Teesha does not use them with water and they are bold and fabulous! If you are like me and bought these ages ago and still have them laying around take them out and play with them. If you don?t have them and think you want to try your hand at them, wait and use your Michael's coupon because they are not cheap. For more Teesha inspiration as well as her journal making instructions, and her complete line of Zettiology stamps check out her website. Buy any 2 of her stamps and receive 1 of equal or lesser value FREE by typing the code ddnewsletter as well as the item number of your free stamp in the comments section of your shopping cart. offer expires Oct. 31, 2006. |
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trash to treasure... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Transforming trash into treasure is perhaps my
favorite creative pastime. It is the basic act of
repurposing trash into something not only
aesthetically valuable, but artistically functional.
This
section will feature a piece of trash (I use the
word ?trash? both lovingly and loosely) and give you
the challenge to transform it into something
meaningful. Many times I have been asked the
question, ?What made you think to use that?? and
now I am going to encourage you to ask the same
question of yourself. This month I give you, the toilet
paper tube. Everyone?s got ?em and many times
members of our family leave them behind for us to
dispose of; however, this month I want you to
collect them. Place them on your workspace and look
at them until they speak to you. And they will, I
promise. You?ll be falling asleep at night thinking of
ways to bind them, punch them, adhere them,
ect.If you have accepted the ?trash challenge? for this month, email me a scan or digital image (72dpi/500 pixels) at donna@donnadowney.com with ?Trash to Treasure: toilet paper tubes" in the subject line. Okay, now is the really fun part, in each month?s newsletter I will feature one person?s ?trash to treasure? inspired masterpiece from the month before. Whether you choose to create a card, page, mini-album, journal, d�cor, ect. I would love to see it! Feel free to share your work online, as well as submit it to magazines for publication. The sole purpose of the challenge is to inspire. ?I will plant the seed and watch it grow and take shape as only your mind sees fit.? donna downey
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quick links... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Contact Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email:
donna@donnadowney.com
website:
http://donnadowney.com
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