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Greetings!
This October join me in energizing your creative soul and letting your inner heartsong sing freely!
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inside the studio
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 let your inner voice be your guide
Inside the studio is metaphorically where my ideas, experiments and creativity happens. In my room surrounded by my baskets and bins of multi-media opportunities, almost daily I feel as if this is the place that inspiration materializes. Inside the studio i can experiment, play and make a mess. I love that my creative misses often become the stepping stones to the next potential great idea and I feel fortunate that I have a special place where I feel limitless possibility.
The studio as it has been defined is changing, not necessarily in its organization but moreso in its functionality. Changing daily and growing in purpose...one day I am a painter, the next day fabric media, the next, scrapbooker and some days all 3!
Like an education, the studio allows me to explore new things, changing my perspectives and broadening my view of the world. I have found that I am now at a place where comfort zones and boundaries have been stretched and I am allowing my self free rein of my spirit.
The theme this month is change...redirection and growth. Join me on this journey and begin to look at your creative space, no matter how big or how small, as your playground...pull things out of your organized bins and USE IT without purpose and let the creativity be your guide. Push yourself past your limits and try blending art mediums.
TRY THIS!
Pull out the following products from your stash and place them on your work surface.
- 3 paper punches
- 3 acrylic paints
- 1 foam brush
- 1 package of rub-ons
- 2 sheets of patterned paper
- 1 cardstock
- piece of fabric
- 1 stamp
- 1 stamp pad
- 6 buttons
- stapler
- 2 tags
- old book or dictionary page
- 1 set of alphabet stickers
- 3 chipboard embellishment pieces
- 1 flower
- piece of ribbon
- a liquid adhesive and or favorite adhesive
Don't touch them just take a pen and paper and write down 20 possible combinations of creative uses for the products. If you feel the mojo go with it, start sketching out your ideas. Then put the notebook off to the side and GO FOR IT!
I would love to hear your stories about your process and see your results. If you are interested in sharing your experience, please email me. I would love to be able to share some in November's Creative Playground Newsletter.
Remember, let your inner creative voice be your guide this month. Think of your creative space, your "inside the studio", as a place where your creativity lives and let yourself play freely every time you enter.
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inspired by...
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 flowers
I have just been so drawn to flowers lately, mostly poppies, cherry blossoms, zinnias, iris' and tulips. You know how when you are visually aware of something you begin to see them everywhere...well this heightened sense of awareness has visually been my latest inspiration.
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trash to treasure
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recycled fabrics
Oh you know you have them hidden in the back of your closet...those clothes that one day you are going to wear again. Or maybe you have a secret stash of your child's clothing that they have grown out of that you are saving but haven't figured out why.
This month's Trash to Treasure has the solution for you! Creatively recycle your old clothing and/or linens and transform them into what's new again!
Here's a few ideas to get you started:
- cut the back pockets off of an old pair of jeans
- reuse and old pair of your child's ripped and grass-stained knees as a tag
- cover a chipboard album with an that summer camp t-shirt or concert tee
- create a fabric page using an old baby blanket or vintage dishtowel
- create a patchwork background from old outgrown clothing
- layer cut fabric circles to create flower embellishments
- create a holiday scrapbook using last years Christmas outfits
- make a school album using an outgrown school uniform
- customize a military scrapbook using old fatigues
- recycle buttons, cuffs, trims and lace from old clothes and use as embellishments.
If you're up to the challenge, email photos of your Trash to Treasure project to donna@donnadowney.com by October 28th and write "recycled fabrics" in the subject line and you just might find your work may be featured in the next Creative Playground newsletter.
 Meet September's featured Trash to Treasure artist Jen and Ebby Bowles!Jen and her daughter Ebby from MA, used circles punches (for the smallest circles) and circle stencils (for the larger circles). They made a giant pile on the dining room table with a ton of scraps from Jenn's scrap paper bucket. Ebby helped sort the papers into different color piles, then they went to work cutting and gluing their circles. The grid and layered circles were inspired by the famous artwork of Wassily Kandinsky, Colour Study: Squares with Concentric Circles. Truly a great afternoon of mother-daughter art time: creating and bonding. See more of Septembers Trash to Treasure Circle inspirations!
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the D.O. Corner
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 and the garage fills...
Boxes have already started arriving with big plans for Inspired. and our garage is growing increasingly smaller everyday. We are excited and have big plans for 2009 and lots of new changes for Donna Downey, llc. So stay tuned for continued updates from me with news of our big plans!
If you have any questions about registering for the Inspired. event, booking a workshop for your store or any store orders placed, please feel free to contact me at bill@donnadowney.com or give me a call directly at 704-875-0971.
Thank You,
Bill
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As a
Craft-Media artist, and author of the Yes it's a Scrapbook book series, I enjoy experimenting, blending and transforming
both traditional and unexpected items into meaningful pieces of
self-expression. A former elementary school teacher, I have synthesized
my first love of teaching with my passion for craft and enjoy traveling
across the globe teaching my workshops at scrapbook stores and events,
writing books, gathering inspiration, designing, and creating art.
Originally from the Jersey shore, I now live in North Carolina, with my
incredibly supportive husband Bill and our three children, McKenna,
Payton and Cole.
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