Paper Crafts

Prima Canvas Album for Portrait Bug

When Prima came out with the Donna Downey fabric album, I just about jumped out of my skin!  Here's what the original album looks like:

920197_01

I knew that I had to have one!  So, I was so totally thrilled when Kim at Portrait Bug asked me to play with one for the store.  Yay!  Here's a peek at what I did (though, photos really don't do it justice):

AWeddingStory-sm

Obviously I used a lot of paint: a mixture of Claudine Hellmuth paints for Ranger, gesso, and watercolors.  Speaking of which, I finally had to say goodbye to my Winsor&Newton watercolors.  I bought them in college for a costume design class. 

Winsor&NewtonWatercolors

Sadly, several of the tubes have dried up over the past twelve years. 
So tragic.  This was my first foray into buying art supplies and I loved
this set.  But, I have moved on to a set of Koi tube watercolors.  They don't come with a built in palette, like the Winsor&Newton set, so I bought a fabulous little portable palette at my local art shop.  Here are the watercolors and a similar palette…

Watercolors

It's so great for travel.  It just closes right up and nothing spills anywhere.  I love it!

Anyway, the album comes with a mixture of plain canvas pages and page protectors.  I decided to go a little crazy and stitch flowers inside the page protectors, thus creating clear flower pages.  Here's a closeup:

AWeddingStory-clearpagestitched-sm

Those flowers are sandwiched inside the page protector.  Cool, right?  I hope so.  Because it was a pain in the you-know-what to get them to stay where I wanted them while I was trying to sew them in.  A major pain.  The clear page looks something like this when it's all finished:

MrAndMrs-med

And here's a close up of one of the painted canvas pages:

KatyMugs-sm

Finally, the album has a nice fat spine, so I even put a photo right on the spine (certainly makes it easier to identify in my bookcase):

Spine-sm

I can't wait to get my hands on another canvas album and try something totally different!

Thanks for stopping by!

Julie Fei-Fan Balzer

Based outside of Boston, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer is a painter, printmaker, and collage artist who constructs vibrant compositions. Her artwork investigates the interplay of identity and perception, inviting viewers to take a longer look. Julie works in layers, both physically and metaphorically, exploring what is visible and what is concealed. Passionate about connecting with and inspiring other artists, she shares her expertise through in-person workshops and her online classroom at MyArtPractice.com. Julie's achievements include high-profile clients, multiple publications - including her book, “Carve Stamp Play” - and exhibits in New York City and throughout Massachusetts. She is a graduate of Brown University.

64 thoughts on “Prima Canvas Album for Portrait Bug

  • OMG FANTASTIC FANTASTIC FANTASTIC!!! Julie your canvas album is so inspiring! I have one too, but I haven’t done anything with it yet. This really inspires me to get moving on it. I really love what you did with the page protectors! This is the coolest example I’ve seen of this album yet!

    Reply
  • OMG FANTASTIC FANTASTIC FANTASTIC!!! Julie your canvas album is so inspiring! I have one too, but I haven’t done anything with it yet. This really inspires me to get moving on it. I really love what you did with the page protectors! This is the coolest example I’ve seen of this album yet!

    Reply
  • OMG FANTASTIC FANTASTIC FANTASTIC!!! Julie your canvas album is so inspiring! I have one too, but I haven’t done anything with it yet. This really inspires me to get moving on it. I really love what you did with the page protectors! This is the coolest example I’ve seen of this album yet!

    Reply
  • OMG FANTASTIC FANTASTIC FANTASTIC!!! Julie your canvas album is so inspiring! I have one too, but I haven’t done anything with it yet. This really inspires me to get moving on it. I really love what you did with the page protectors! This is the coolest example I’ve seen of this album yet!

    Reply
  • holy moly this is rocking fantastique.!!!! Awesome girl!!! I love the sitchted in flowers. I just got the album last week and I was kind of complaining – LOL – about the clear protectors- but actually- you send some Mojo to me 😉

    Reply
  • holy moly this is rocking fantastique.!!!! Awesome girl!!! I love the sitchted in flowers. I just got the album last week and I was kind of complaining – LOL – about the clear protectors- but actually- you send some Mojo to me 😉

    Reply
  • holy moly this is rocking fantastique.!!!! Awesome girl!!! I love the sitchted in flowers. I just got the album last week and I was kind of complaining – LOL – about the clear protectors- but actually- you send some Mojo to me 😉

    Reply
  • holy moly this is rocking fantastique.!!!! Awesome girl!!! I love the sitchted in flowers. I just got the album last week and I was kind of complaining – LOL – about the clear protectors- but actually- you send some Mojo to me 😉

    Reply
  • Love the backgrounds. Am I the only person who is SO over Prima flowers???? (Yes, I know you HAVE to use them!)

    Reply
  • Love the backgrounds. Am I the only person who is SO over Prima flowers???? (Yes, I know you HAVE to use them!)

    Reply
  • Love the backgrounds. Am I the only person who is SO over Prima flowers???? (Yes, I know you HAVE to use them!)

    Reply
  • Love the backgrounds. Am I the only person who is SO over Prima flowers???? (Yes, I know you HAVE to use them!)

    Reply
  • Incredible album! I haven’t seen these canvas albums yet in person but you certainly did it justice Julie. OMG it is SO beautiful. The hard work on stitching the flowers was worth it to me…for they are so lovely to see!

    Reply
  • Incredible album! I haven’t seen these canvas albums yet in person but you certainly did it justice Julie. OMG it is SO beautiful. The hard work on stitching the flowers was worth it to me…for they are so lovely to see!

    Reply
  • Incredible album! I haven’t seen these canvas albums yet in person but you certainly did it justice Julie. OMG it is SO beautiful. The hard work on stitching the flowers was worth it to me…for they are so lovely to see!

    Reply
  • Incredible album! I haven’t seen these canvas albums yet in person but you certainly did it justice Julie. OMG it is SO beautiful. The hard work on stitching the flowers was worth it to me…for they are so lovely to see!

    Reply
  • Hi Julie! Love your work and am super thrilled to be on the Home Team with you.

    Reply
  • Hi Julie! Love your work and am super thrilled to be on the Home Team with you.

    Reply
  • Hi Julie! Love your work and am super thrilled to be on the Home Team with you.

    Reply
  • Hi Julie! Love your work and am super thrilled to be on the Home Team with you.

    Reply
  • Julie, they are REALLY energetic and full of colors, I love them so much, thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  • Julie, they are REALLY energetic and full of colors, I love them so much, thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  • Julie, they are REALLY energetic and full of colors, I love them so much, thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  • Julie, they are REALLY energetic and full of colors, I love them so much, thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  • Your album is reeeealy amazing!I love the colorfull theme on the wedding…(although I don’t see myself dare enough to do something like it anytime soon)….Way too cool….Thumbs up.

    Reply
  • Your album is reeeealy amazing!I love the colorfull theme on the wedding…(although I don’t see myself dare enough to do something like it anytime soon)….Way too cool….Thumbs up.

    Reply
  • Your album is reeeealy amazing!I love the colorfull theme on the wedding…(although I don’t see myself dare enough to do something like it anytime soon)….Way too cool….Thumbs up.

    Reply
  • Your album is reeeealy amazing!I love the colorfull theme on the wedding…(although I don’t see myself dare enough to do something like it anytime soon)….Way too cool….Thumbs up.

    Reply
  • OMG….This is FABULOUS!!!! What a wonderful treasure to save always!!!!! You did a fantastic job!!!

    Reply
  • OMG….This is FABULOUS!!!! What a wonderful treasure to save always!!!!! You did a fantastic job!!!

    Reply
  • OMG….This is FABULOUS!!!! What a wonderful treasure to save always!!!!! You did a fantastic job!!!

    Reply
  • OMG….This is FABULOUS!!!! What a wonderful treasure to save always!!!!! You did a fantastic job!!!

    Reply
  • That is an awsome album! You can probably still use those Windsor Newton watercolors. Just slice the tubes open and use them like you would pan watercolors. Spray with water and let sit a few minutesand they should be ready to go. It is worth a try.

    Reply
  • That is an awsome album! You can probably still use those Windsor Newton watercolors. Just slice the tubes open and use them like you would pan watercolors. Spray with water and let sit a few minutesand they should be ready to go. It is worth a try.

    Reply
  • That is an awsome album! You can probably still use those Windsor Newton watercolors. Just slice the tubes open and use them like you would pan watercolors. Spray with water and let sit a few minutesand they should be ready to go. It is worth a try.

    Reply
  • That is an awsome album! You can probably still use those Windsor Newton watercolors. Just slice the tubes open and use them like you would pan watercolors. Spray with water and let sit a few minutesand they should be ready to go. It is worth a try.

    Reply

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