seeing the positive in the negative...

i am a frugal crafter, so before i through out a scrap of paper, i examine it to determine if there is anything that is salvageable of the design or of the paper.  in this instance, there was a complete card front just waiting for glitter, my favourite embellishing technique (of last week...  i have already moved on and done some heat embossing to a few cards).  to complete this card, i added after photographing, holly leaves to the base of the antlers and a tree in the background, perhaps i'll heat emboss a sentiment!

painstaking·ly adv.

i made this elegant card from  http://www.customcrops.com/article_info.php?articles_id=116 that i glittered using the xyron method of putting the image face side into the xyron so the adhesive is on the front, then peeled off backing and applied glitter.  important lesson learned, really burnish around the letters before removing the backing because the glitter covers every bit of adhesive so...i spent some time with a safety pin painstakingly (what does that word really mean???) cleaning around each part of each letter and each element of the snowflakes (one is inside)!!!  someone special is getting this card for christmas.... my mom, i know she won't see this posting.

pains·tak·ing (pnztkng)  adj.  Marked by or requiring great pains; very careful and diligent. See Synonyms at meticulous.
n.  Extremely careful and diligent work or effort.
painstaking·ly adv.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

yes! i used it in the right context, just sounded odd... pain and stake, there was no pain involved and stake???  uhhh, the english language and the ramblings of someone who has had no sleep...