Artist of the Week: Paper Ave

Hey lovelies, I'm back with another fantastic Artist of the Week feature! 

Let's get close and personal with Donna Tran-Corona, owner and artist behind Paper Ave that is currently based out in Huntington Beach!

I first saw Donna's stunning paper creations on Instagram and I was right away attracted 

by her photos style and colorful floral arrangements!

I hope you'll get just as inspired as I was when reading Donna's following 

responses to my little questions:

How or why did you start making paper flowers?

I've always had a liking for paper products since I can remember.  Each year during the holiday season, I would have so much fun sitting in the room for hours just wrapping each gift.  In 2015, I started Paper Ave on Instagram as a place to share my gift wrapping ideas, which eventually led to starting up a small side business selling small gift wrapping embellishments with little craft paper flowers. These embellishments were used as a keepsake of the wrapping.

As I looked up ways to evolve my business and stay in the paper world, I discovered the world of paper flowers using crepe paper as the main medium.  Through lots of Pinterest tutorials, books such as Paper to Petal by Thuss and Farrel, and drawing inspiration from other paper artist such as Jennifer Tran from Papetal and Margie Keates from The Lovely Ave, I spent all of 2016 exploring the techniques of crepe paper flowers and haven't looked back since then!  

I love creating paper flowers because crepe paper is so versatile and allows you to "grow" any type of flowers all year long.  As one who loves working with colors, it allows me to have a creative outlet and is my way of connecting with mother nature (as I'm not the best at keeping real plants alive).  I love creating flowers that someone can keep forever and can customize it to their favorite flowers and/or colors so that it'll be a keepsake for them at all times.

What is your most important artist tool? Is there something you can’t live without in your studio?

A good pair of scissors goes a long way when it comes to paper flowers!  It allows you to cut out multiple petals at a time and to create more intricate cuts when the flower requires finer details. Another thing that I can't live without is my self-healing cutting mat.  I like the ease of measuring my paper on the mat versus having to use a ruler.  It's also easy to clean at the end of the day as well.

What is your dream paper flower project? 

As a business owner, the dreams never stop growing!  As I've expanded into creating window displays with my paper flowers, one of my dreams is to someday have a collaborative project with Anthropologie and to work with them to create their window display.  Second dream would be to work on a destination wedding.  Last but surely not least, I hope to someday teach a 3-5 day workshop where we can create multiple flowers to create a centerpiece or bouquet. Then we would also have a photographer help us take beautiful photos of all the students work.  

Favourite or most inspirational place?

Having had the opportunity to do a bit of traveling the past few years, my most inspirational places are anywhere outdoors with mother nature.  When I attended design school (which led me to become a kitchen and bath designer for 7+ years), one of the most memorable lessons I learned is to draw inspiration from mother nature in terms of color ratios and color inspiration as well.  

So now whenever we get to be outdoors whether it's at the beach, hiking through snowy mountains or being surrounded by mountains and waterfalls, I always bring some of that back with me to see how I can incorporate it back into my work.

Donna also offers workshops - if you are in  Fullerton, CA on March 3, 2018 -- it can be a super wonderful occasion to meet Donna in person and learn to make a fabulous mini bouquet!

Click here for Workshop information: Mini Bouquet Workshop

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If you wish to be feature, follow @PaperandPeony on Instagram and 

fill the CONTACT FORM (on the sidebar) and I will be in touch! 

Can't wait to get to know you all!