Autumn Pearls

Well, once again I needed a quick card. Maybe that's how it's going to be for this year: quick & simple...as long as I don't get sloppy, it should be okay. This one is for Mom & Dad for Thanksgiving. Their cards have to be mailed (they live 600 miles away) and the Post Office has been giving me quite a hard time with cards with bows and brads. So, I've started making their cards less layered and a bit more simple, just so I can mail it straight from my house (and not go in to the Post Office).

This one features my Inkadinkado set "Fall Season." I have used this set so much this Fall; I really thought I'd use it only for the tree, but I think I've used all of the images...

You can't tell from the photo, but the leaves are shimmery! This was the first time I used Perfect Pearls, and it is so much fun. You just stamp using the Perfect Medium (instead of ink), then brush on pigment powder to the wet image, then brush away the excess powder. After all images are pigmented, spray the whole thing lightly with water or hairspray (I used hairspray).

Here is a photo of the set I used and my little travel size hairspray. I applied the pigment powder with the smaller brush, then brushed away excess powder with the larger brush.


I colored some images with copper and some with bronze powder. I definitely need more practice with this stuff, though. I had some smudges and unevenness in pearl coverage, but it was still a lot of fun.


SUPPLIES: Paper...Natural White (Neenah), Caramel (Paper Company); Stamps...Fall Season (Inkadinkado); Font...Harrington (printed in dark brown on laser printer); Misc...ribbon tag dies (Spellbinders), brick piped ribbon (Martha Stewart), Antique Linen distress ink, Perfect Pearls (bronze & copper), Dove hairspray

And for absolutely no reason at all...

This a weird photo that I took the other day at the Costco parking lot. It just struck me as pretty: dark bird on dark branches against a gray sky. That bird was in no hurry, too. There were tons of cars in the parking lot and lots of traffic, but he just sat there...sat long enough for me to grab my camera out of the car, which really irritated the guy who wanted me to leave so he could have my parking spot (so he finally gave up and went somewhere else; the bird, however, stayed).

Somedays, it really helps to find "pretty" wherever you are; even if it is at a Costco parking lot.