Glitter

A family story says that, when I was young, my favorite color was "sparkle." It may be true. And, in fact, sometimes it still is.
If you're driving through central Minnesota along I-94, you'll notice that there are quite a few billboards that use tinsel to attract attention. I love spotting them (well, actually they're hard to miss...which might be the point) and can always tell when we're getting towards the Twin Cities because they are replaced by much more "sophisticated" ads. (I looked all over for a photo of a billboard but couldn't. I'm almost tempted just to go out for a drive to find one and take a picture myself!) For some reason, they seem to be a fixture of central Minnesota. I haven't seen them south of Minneapolis or even north.
If you love glitter as well, it's fun to peruse the amazing colors at Art Glitter. One of my more (admittedly shallow) fantasies involves a life that allows me to own all 375 colors (not in the teeny sizes) and to store them so they can be seen all at once. (Hmmm...I would say...do I want to use cornflower blue or baltic blue on this project?) I have to say that I think her projects are a little cheesy, but the product is great. Tsukineko now makes a glue pad for using glitter with rubber stamps and there is a glue pen as well. You use the pad like an ink pad, except that it leaves a sticky image to dust with your glitter. With some of the more sophisticated stamp designs it's possible to use glitter in a way that's sort of kitschy but fun.
For the moment, I have my glitter fix all in one jar. At a craft sale a few years ago, I bought the container of gold glitter (pictured at the top) just because it was so huge. It amused me highly to think that I would always be the "go-to" person if there was a glitter emergency.
Last winter on a trip to see my KC family, I spent the afternoon with my nieces using their glitter glue on some simple book arts projects together. They had the complete set...some 36 colors I think: lavenders, pinks, chartreuse and fuchsias. Of course I fell in love and was able to find my own set on sale in Target's craft aisle.
This weekend my task was to make some signs for my upcoming sale for the neighborhood coffee shops. I got out those glitter glue pens and filled in the colored letters with sparkle. Just like those signs along I-94, I'm sure they'll get people's attention!