A Compendium of Curiosities 2 -- The Final Challenge

First of all, I want to thank Linda Ledbetter for being the creative force behind both the first and second Compendium of Curiosities challenges.  A weekly challenge often gave me just the boost I needed to get the juices flowing.  I participated in all of the first set, but this past year life often got in the way, and I didn't get as many challenge pieces done as I'd have liked.  But, as in all aspects of living, it's best if you just deal with what you've been given, make the best of it, and carry on with as little guilt and fewest "what ifs" as possible.

For the final CCC2, Linda challenged us to use any of Tim's techniques from either Volume 1 or 2, and make a birthday card for Tim.  Great timing, as his birthday is next week.  And I have been itching to use my new Sizzix Pop N Cut die to create something.  Because the focus of this card is the inside, I kept the front fairly simple. 

I used paper from Tim's Vintage Shabby stack and embossed it with his Damask folder, and highlighted the embossing with various distress ink browns and blues.  The banners and leaves are both from his Regal Crest die.  The greeting is an old Stampin' Up stamp which I love and use all the time on birthday cards. It was stamped on some scrap from Vintage Shabby and cut with a scallop oval punch, and layered on a larger plain oval.  That, and the Regal Crest die cuts were done on kraft cardstock, which is what I also used as the card base.

And now for the inside.  I have not done many pop up cards and I think I'm in love!  I need to get more inserts for the base die, but there are plenty of things that can be done with the one that comes with it.







The skyline is a stamp from Tim's Rock Star set.  The balloons, floating above the city are from one of the very first Sizzix dies I ever bought, about a hundred years ago (or so it feels), back when I had that heavy, unwieldly red machine that you had to crank.  That made way for my Big Kick, which, after many years of service, retired (to the back of a closet) to make room for my Vagabond.  I can't imagine having to crank out a die cut anymore!  Spoiled?  You bet I am.  But back to the card.
Except for the skyline, which was stamped on Ranger's Specialty Paper, everything else was cut from various papers from the Vintage Shabby stack, and inked with different distress inks in blues and browns.

Here is a sideways view so you can see the "pop."

 

 

The balloons and the skyline were attached with pop dots, so there was popping on top of popping.

 

The card is in the mail (in one of my handmade envelopes, by the way), and I hope Tim enjoys receiving it even half as much as I enjoyed making it.