Sparkly Chandelier

Twenty-four years ago, one dusky summer evening in suburban Oklahoma, one little girl and her family arrived at another little girl's house for a barbecue. Strangers at first, they blinked at each other from opposite sides of the living room and periodically ordered their respective younger brothers about. Neither remembers who came up with the idea of playing "Red Light, Green Light" in the front yard that evening, but play they did. Never tiring of the game, they played on stairwells, in driveways, in the park, shouting to each other across the McDonald's playpen... Over time, their circle expanded and contracted and then expanded again, but the foursome - two little girls and each of their brothers - was always a solid core.

After a couple of years, the two families moved thousands of miles away, in opposite directions.

Twenty years later, I came into contact with Peggy again. Seeing her for the first time in such a long time was an odd sensation - it's, like, I know this person so well, but I don't know anything that happened to her in the past two decades. It was a doubly happy occasion when we met up because I also met her fiance, Alan.

I smiled widely when I opened the invitation to their wedding in Chicago this past summer. It was my first time in the Windy City, and I took a couple of extra days off work and had a total blast.
I used gold pigment ink for the chandelier, waited a day for it to completely dry (since pigment inks stay wet much longer) and then ramped up the sparkle factor with purple and clear glitter glue I strategically dotted on the oversized stamped image. (You'd never guess how many versions I made before I was satisfied!)
Here's the inside of the card. Simple, elegant, gorgeous. Just like the bride on her wedding day.
Sometimes I wish I could go back to that carefree time, looking forward only to barbecues with big slices of watermelon and the next session of "Red Light, Green Light". But since I can't, I tried to infuse that kind of uncomplicated joy into the card I made for Peggy and Alan's wedding.