(Re)Discovering Donna Downey

So there I am minding my own business when I find an art journal reference toInspiration Wednesdays. It's Donna Downey's site, best known in the scrapbooking world, but here she is in the Art Journal world. OMG, the thin veil that once separated artists and scrapbookers has really vanished, and the two worlds have now collided. So if you're a purest...well, sorry about that.

I remember Donna from the old days. I even bought some Donna stuff...like crappy tag books...and here she is producing her own journals to sell to us peons while she buys new clothes from some shabby ultra chic online store. Of course, she's more than happy to share that information because the clothes are expensive. She'll even tell you (and show you) which items she purchased so you can check out the price. I don't know what it is about Donna that makes her want and/or need to divulge information about her financial status. I got the message the first time, when she built her new office and just had to tell everyone how much it cost. Now she's doing it again, and quite frankly, I don't like it. Never did. Still don't.

I know people have to make a living. I know that my money actually supports a lot of other people when I spend it. But I don't like it when people tell me how much they make, or how much something cost them, or how rich they are because they have MY money! That's just rude. Rude, crude, and definitely not classy. It's kind of like laying off hundreds of employees and then giving yourself a raise. Not kosher, kids, don't do it. Keep the money talk off the internet, keep it to yourself, because you're not getting anymore of mine when you do that. I think your journals are really neat and I probably would have bought one (letting bygones be bygones), but you just had to talk about the new expensive clothes you were buying. Several items at an average of $150... you must have bought at least a $1,000 worth of clothes from that shop.

God love ya, Donna. I know you mean well, but it so offends me when I have no office, no studio, and I can't afford $150 skirts or there wouldn't be any scrapbook supplies at all...You don't need my money.

On the other hand, I'm loving Donna'sInspiration Wednesdays. I really am. Check it out...

sad

Okay, this is getting a wee bit out of control now. I'm getting caught up in the past and I don't think that's a good idea! I didn't know what I was starting. I really like these journal books, but going through all the papers and ephemera that I've collected over the years is taking an emotional toll on me that I didn't expect. Just sayin'.

Junque Journal Love

I love my junque journal! I can't wait to fill it up and start another one!





After getting interested in art journals, I came across this video about altering Composition Notebooks. I've done that before....back here in 2008, but this video, by Rita Hutcheson Cobbs, made me take another look.



Can you believe how happy she is? Such enthusiasm! It made me want to create again...so I grabbed a few more composition notebooks and started in!

In the meantime, I found this next video, Junque Journal Introduction, and knew I wanted to make a book like this!



Tangiebaxter's tutorials:
Part Two
Part Three

I love these videos. I've watched them over and over and over, and learned how to break out of my box and and just play! Scrapbooking, Art Journals, Junque Jounrals. This mixed media stuff is fun!

My Sweet Magnum

I lost my beautiful boy on Monday. It was unexpected....so sudden. He wasn't feeling well, very sluggish, running a slight fever. It was cancer. Squamous cell carcinoma. An insidious, aggressive form of oral cancer. I hate cancer. It keeps taking my loved ones from me.

Journal Me This Swap

I joined the Journal Me This swap at YourPaperPantry. Jane was my partner and made a beautiful layered page with turned edges and romantic detail. I love this page.

cards for claudia

Some of the beautiful cards made for the "Cards for Claudia" campaign. Over $1,000 was made from the sale of these cards!!

LOOK what I have created!!! Happy Dance!

OMG! I joined a swap at Your Paper Pantry (a very cool site with extremely talented people that love scrapping, card making, journaling, etc. Check it out!) The following video was made by my swap partner. I was so shocked when I saw this, when I heard what she was saying. The funny thing is that when I saw what a beautiful plaque she sent me, I felt the same as she did! I just didn't think my tag was good enough and I felt like I had not done enough. And yet we're both so happy with what we received! What a great day!

My apologies that the video is no longer on YouTube.