Blast from the past

Do you remember Pearl-Ex powders? Years ago -- it was before I became a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, which was in 2005 -- Pearl-Ex powders were all the crafting rage, and I bought several jars. I never used them a whole lot, but they're cool, so I've hung onto them. Well, a couple of weeks ago I decided to get them out and play.

Pearl-Ex are powdered pigments that you can mix into other substances (paint, embossing paste, etc.) to create a metallic or pearlescent finish. You also can use them dry and apply a fixative. I remember stamping images with VersaMark ink and then applying the powder with a stipple brush over the ink. I also mixed different colors with gum arabic in a plastic paint palette and added water to make paints.

This time around, I wanted to try mixing some powder with embossing paste, since that was something I didn't have oh those many years ago. So I chose one color of Pearl-Ex powder, Spring Green, and got mixing. Because the paste is opaque white, it hid the luster of the powder (maybe I should have used more?), but it did create a pretty mossy green embossing paste. I pulled out some stencils and created backgrounds for two cards.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Petite Pairs
Paper: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake
Ink: Early Espresso
Accessories: Red paper flowers (Eyelet Outlet), light molding paste (Golden), Spring Green Pearl-Ex pigment (Jacquard Products), Button Latte Designer Buttons, linen thread, Garden Leafy Stems stencil (Memory Box), gold sequins (The Makery), gold Wink of Stella glitter brush pen, sponge, Glue Dots

What do you think? I do wish the paste had a bit more sheen -- you can just see hints of it if you move the card in the light. But I like the vintage, shabby chic look of the finished card. (The lighting in this photo isn't very good; the card looks much "warmer" in person.)

There is a lot of texture going on here -- paste, paper flowers, button and thread -- and I really like it. I sponged ink around the edges of the Crumb Cake panel and crumpled the paper flowers to add to the distressed look. And a few gold sequins and some gold Wink of Stella splatters create just a little sparkle.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Paper: Mossy Meadow, Very Vanilla card stock; gold foil sheets
Accessories: Eastern Medallion Thinlits dies, metallic foil doilies, Mossy Meadow ribbon, 2" circle punch, light molding paste (Golden), Spring Green Pearl-Ex pigment (Jaquard Products), Mini Fish Scales stencil (The Crafter's Workshop), large pearls, Dimensionals, Mono Multi liquid glue

For the second card, I went with a green, gold and vanilla color palette. Honestly, I wasn't crazy about this card at first. It felt too much like a St. Patrick's Day card or something, and that wasn't what I was going for. But it's grown on me, and now I think I like it. (Again the lighting isn't great; the gold is much shinier in person.)

To make the focal image for this card I used three dies from the Eastern Medallions Thinlits set to create the Very Vanilla shape. I punched a 2" circle out of a gold foil sheet and carefully glued it to the back of the medallion. I decided it needed a bit more oomph, so I adhered the medallion to a gold foil doily with Dimensionals. (I could have skipped the gold circle, and you still would have seen the gold color through the openings in the medallion. But this way probably worked out better, because then I didn't have to try to fit little tiny pieces of Dimensionals between the openings in the medallion.) I finished off the medallion with a large pearl in the center and also added a tiny strip of gold foil along the bottom of the background panel.

I want to play with my Pearl-Ex powers some more, but this wasn't too bad for my first attempt after a long time. I just did an online search, and Pearl-Ex powders are still available, so who knows, maybe I'll even decide to buy some more. Thanks for stopping by!