Last week at the top of the oak tree next to our house, I spotted a cluster of bright red leaves. Ah! My heart did a little happy dance. Fall is here! The days are cooler, the nights are positively crisp, and the entire palette of the world shifts to deeper, more moody colors.
David and I walk to the Farmers Market every Saturday morning. I load up on heirloom tomatoes and honey crisp apples. Of course, I always buy a bouquet! I'm drying the flower heads so I'll have my own cutting garden next year. Zinnias are my favorites.
I find this season to be very stimulating to my creativity. The change of temperature alone is freeing. The July of 2010 was the hottest on record for the Washington, D.C., area. When we made our yearly pilgrimage to Kiawah Island, the temperatures soared to the three digit mark when you added in the humidity. I spent most of this summer indoors.
To salute fall, I carved a new cork stamp this morning in the shape of an apple. I used a champagne cork, because it's bigger than a wine cork. After I stamp the image, I use watercolor paint to add dimension. The result is pictured below. I have a bit of work to do to get it to be perfect, but so far, I like what I have done.
To read more about how to make a cork stamp, go to my blog.
CONTEST
I'm curious. What's your favorite part of fall? Tell me and I'll send you a bookmark that features my cork apple images.
13 comments:
I love watching the trees and leaves turn colors and the cool mornings!!
wendyhines @ hotmail (dot) com
your stamp is really cute!!
My favorite part of fall is the leaves turning colors!
Thanks for the opportunity!
forsurveysonly at gmail dot com
My favorite part is the change in colors, those rustic browns, touched with gold and red. Plus the fall food, apples and pumpkins. Then throw in State Fairs with candid apples, cotton candy and sausage sandwiches and strolling through the artwork to see if my nieces entered anything and won any awards. Don't forget the smell of burning wood, faint, but there from the first fire in the fireplace.
Of course I love the colors of fall, too; they come every year, yet every time I am as delighted and amazed as if I've never seen them before. I love to go for a drive to look at the hillsides ablaze with color, and stop at a roadside stand on the way home to buy a gallon jug of apple cider and some fresh apples -- especially the Honey Crisp variety.
I cannot tell a lie..I do not like Fall...but if I had to choose, I would say the red leaves of the maple trees...
Fall is my most favorite season of all and my favorite part is the cooler weather and the leaves changing colors.
I love your stamp...what an awesome idea!
dawn_marie29 at hotmail dot com
Hurrah for the cool mornings and color and Honey Crisp apples! Sausage sandwiches? Sounds divine. And Bettyann, you didn't tell us why you don't like Fall. I'm curious...
By the way, I love recycling, so the cork stamps are another way of turning trash into treasure.
I love the cooler temps. Out here in the desert, we start to come alive in the autumn.
I love the smell of Crayola Crayons that lingers in all the Back-to-School aisles.
I remember loving the sound of crunchy leaves and wood smoke!
Since I convinced my husband not to rake the leaves, I can indulge in my favorite part of fall ------- crunching through the fallen leaves.
Isn't it odd that we've replaced raking, which makes a soothing sound, with the horrid noise of leaf blowing? UGH.
There's a leafblower outside right now. Ugh.
And I also want to know why Bettyann doesn't like fall!
Bettyann, even though you hate fall, you won the bookmark! Please email me at joannaslan@aol.com with your mailing info.
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