Compendium of Curiosities III Challenge Begins!

Hello and welcome to the first of MANY Compendium of Curiosities III Challenges. Are you planning to play along with the challenges? Do you have your CC3 book? Are you curious to know the first challenge? You can check out all the official details on the Studio L3 blog. Then hurry and get your copy of Tim Holtz's Compendium of Curiosities Vol. III. Craft stores and scrapbook stores have it, but if you'd like a SIGNED copy from Tim himself, go here and order yours ASAP.

The first challenge "Paint Marbling" can be found on page 43 in the book. While I can't show you the technique itself (we'd love it if you'd buy the book and try it for yourself instead) I CAN show you my creation with the technique included.

The tag on my card has a very soft Paint Marbling effect, which works well with the new Wallflower paper stash in the background and the Nature Walk stamp set from Stampers Anonymous.

After doing the Paint Marbling technique on my tag, I swirled some Bundled Sage and Tumbled Glass Distress Inks onto the edges and a bit in the center. Oh, and I am LOVING the new round blending tools!

Added a bit of Vintage Photo around the outer edges for a finishing touch.

My Kraft Core card base, folded, measures 5" x 6", so I cut a piece of the Wallflower paper 4 3/4" x 5 3/4". Then I stamped the nest and feather with Potting Soil Archival Ink into the position I liked.

Since I want to stamp the same images onto my tag and have them line up with those on the paper, I first laid a piece of vellum between the two, positioning my tag as desired, then stamped the images directly over the previous ones. The vellum serves as a window for lining up my stamping while also masking off the ink so it doesn't get on my paper below it. 

Now I have this. The tag will be positioned over the paper and the stamped images will appear to continue from the tag to the paper.

From the Nature's Elements clear stamp set, I stamped a small kraft tag, added some Vintage Photo to the edges, another bit of Wallflower paper along the bottom and a reinforcer to the hole using the same colored Kraft Core card stock as the card base.

I wanted to add some small flowers to my card, however all I had were these print pink ones (left). A little too bright! So I grabbed my Picket Fence Distress Marker and colored over the paper flower which muted back the pink nicely (right). And it gives a more shabby look, which I love.

Then I started to assemble my card. As you can see, I stamped another feather along the right edge. When I started adding the Shabby Buttons, twine, flowers and leaves, I had eventually covered up my stamping technique I showed you before. Oh well. Whatchagonnado? I like it better now with the embellishment cluster anyway.

A strip of tissue tape along the top adds a bit of embellishment as do the green Kraft Core leaves I cut from Tim's new "Spring Greenery" Sizzix die. The metal bird comes from the new Nature Adornments Idea-ology collection. I colored him with some alcohol ink.

Chit-Chat Stickers are a great way to add a personal touch with a message or thoughts. I inked each piece with Vintage Photo before sticking them down.

Special thanks to our lovely sponsor over at Inspiration Emporium for this first challenge. You can find all of the products I've used on my card at InspirationEmporium.com. 

Thanks for popping in today. Hope you're inspired to join in the challenge too!