When Fate Pops In

The other day I realized that I have a problem.

OK, another problem. (Did I mention I'm a hoarder?)

I make many of my projects from Readers Digest Condensed Books (RDCB). (Oh yeah, I did mention that I'm a hoarder.) That's because RDCBs have a lot of pages, are easy to find, and have stellar covers!

Case in point, here's Volume 90 from 1972.

Open up an RDCB, however, and it is filled with kitschy pictures like this 

 

 (Harold Goldfluss? Really?) or this

(Fifty Shade of Grey meets The Patriot!)

So these pictures are great fun to look at, but whenever I start a project I have to tear them out or they ruin the look of the folded book. And now I have this...



...a stack of kitschy pictures. A stack big enough to be its own RDCB. I've been trying to figure out what to do with them. And then...serendipity.

A couple of weeks ago we were vacationing in Mendocino, CA (go there!) when I happened upon the Gallery Bookshop & Bookwinkle's Children's Books (bookstore + vacation = happy, happy, joy, joy!). That's when I found this:

The Pocket Paper Engineer, Volume 3: V-Folds: How to Make Pop-Ups Step-by-Step, Of course! Pop-ups + kitschy pictures = more fun with books! So here's my first endeavor, a greeting card. The outside:



and the inside:

So OK, it's a fairly simple pop-up and it doesn't actually fit in any envelope, but I had great fun making it. I'm definitely sticking with this.

Those of you with kids (or who were once kids themselves) should really check out the Pocket Paper Engineer series. Lots of fun for all ages with tear out projects on every page. I own all three books now. (Did I mention I'm a...yes, yes, I did mention that.) 

 

Oh wait, I just found one of my favorite pictures. Caption anyone?