My First Card using Twinkling H20s

I was really excited to use my Twinkling H20s, and also this Spellbinders die, which I've been trying to buy for a year now. Every time I saw the card for it in the stores, it was out of stock, and the same thing for every time I've tried to order it online. I finally got it at Michaels when I was in New York!

This is the stamp that seemed to fit the best of any that I have. It's the same Anna Griffin one I used on a card the other day.

It was stamped onto Core'dinations Pearl CS using VersaMark, and embossed with gold EP, then colored with the Sparkling H20s I had. I love them, they make the flowers look like they are enameled when you see the card in person. (The card looks kind of flat in the photo). Then I cut and embossed the stamping with the die.

Next, the card was shaded with Brilliance ink, while still in the die. After removing the die, I wasn't really happy with the shading on the outside edge. There weren't enough details, so I went around the edge with the brilliance ink.

I really wanted to mount it onto a larger oval, but don't have a larger oval die, so I mounted it onto a rectangle of pale yellow CS, then matted that with metallic green, and mounted everything onto a card I made with the pearl CS.

The leaves were made with a McGill punch, and the roses are some I bought a long time ago. I don't really like what I added to the other corners. I kept trying different things, then decided to just add pink pearls. After adding the pearls, I wasn't happy with them, but it was too late, since they were stuck down.

Then I punched a bunch of butterflies and tried different things with them. The larger ones are the smallest ones from the MS butterfly punch that has three butterflies in it, and the smaller ones are from a hand punch I got at Hobby Lobby last week. I colored those with more of the Twinkling H20s, and folded them up in the middle, then added them to the card. They aren't great, but it looks better than it did without them. Last, I added some gold Liquid Pearls to the die cut.

***

I hate to mention sad things again, but I wanted to extend my condolences to anyone in the Rochester, NY area.

We all know about the tragedy in Newtown, then the next day, here on the island, we lost two fishermen.

We went out to Rochester from Sturbridge, Mass, to see the kids on Christmas Eve. When we got to Rochester, we learned there had been another terrible thing which happened. A man started a fire in the town of Webster, not far east of where the kids live.

He started the fire just so he could shoot firemen. He shot three firemen and one police officer from the town of Greece, where the kids live, on Christmas Eve, and burned seven houses down. These men were killed and seriously wounded while responding to a fire. They were heroes who were helping people when they were shot.

The man had been released from prison eight years ago. The reason he had been in prison was because he had beaten his grandmother to death when he was sixteen.

The kid's baby sitter is from Webster, and that is where Hobby Lobby is, so we heard a lot about it first hand. One of the baby sitter's friends lives in a house next door to the houses which were burned. Both she and her friend had difficulty getting home because of the investigation.

Kids and firemen being killed, and just before Christmas. It's just so heart breaking. I don't even know what else to say.