donna downey

Here it is, my long overdue post about the Donna Downey event that I went to in April, with Renee, Stephanie and Mellisa.

Loved it, loved it, loved it.

Donna is fabulous! So creative, and so fun. Renee and I met her right away after arriving in Smiths Falls - we ran into her at the hotel as we were checking in. She was so friendly, and so in need of a Starbucks, we decided to grab a coffee together...

Our coffee plans fell apart when we found out Smiths Falls doesn't have a Starbucks {the horror!}, but Steph and Mel ended up finding her a chai latte that rivals Starbucks, later on anyway! And we enjoyed more time with Donna later, when after a long day of teaching she decided she needed to unwind with a BIG Canadian beer. In a paper bag. Again Steph and Mel {the beverage queens maybe?} came to the rescue...

and we stayed up waaaayyy too late in their hotel room {not much to do in Smiths Falls after hours, we discovered} getting to know Donna. So cool to hear about her experiences in the scrapbooking/mixed media industry and the "famous" {yes they do exist, and yes I know I am a dork} scrapbookers whose work and creativity we admire. And Stephanie made me her famous Caramel Candy Apple Martinis...yum! Good times.

The classes were great, and Donna is a wonderful teacher. I tried all kinds of mixed media techniques that were new to me, and so much fun. Check out this link to the classes we took - Swatches and Bloom and Paint.Watercolor.Doodle. All the painting and the oil pastels and the ink, made me feel like a real artist...{sigh}. When I grow up, I want to be an artist.

After all this, I wish I had signed up for Donna's Inspired event in her home town of Charlotte, North Carolina...but it was too late, the event sold out a while ago. Oh well, there is always next year! Who's up for a trip???