The Message in the Hollow Oak

Welcome to the Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today's book is number twelve, The Message in the Hollow Oak.

This time, the revised text is completely different from the original and both of them are a trip.  Let's take a look at them, starting with the original text.

Quick side note:  I love the horse playing peekaboo by Nancy's hip, I didn't notice him at first and now he makes me giggle every time I look at the cover.  Peekaboo!

Case file:  Nancy wins a radio contest and the prize is the deed to some land in a super remote part of Canada, so she, Bess, and George head for the border with an older lady to chaperone them.  They're involved in a pretty serious train accident but keep on going anyway, only to discover that unscrupulous men are digging for gold on Nancy's land.  She manages to trick the thieves and ends up with a bag of gold and along the way she saves a kidnap victim and reunites two people who had been separated by a misunderstanding years before.  Those two used the titular hollow oak as a letter drop to pass notes to each other.  Lots happening here.

Here's my card for the OT:

We have lots of big, burly lumberjack and gold prospector types in this book, but I was thinking of the one whom Nancy reunites with his long-lost sweetheart when I made this card.  And it was a great excuse to bust out my Wood You Be Mine stamp set!  I put some Cajun Craze Faux Glass Dots on there for accents but they kinda fade into the background. 

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Wood You Be Mine?
Ink:  Early Espresso, Old Olive, Stampin' Blends in Old Olive, Neutrals, Pretty in Pink, Cinnamon Cider, Cajun Craze, Crumb Cake, Gray Granite, Boho Blue
Paper:  Bumblebee, Old Olive, Boho Blue, Beauty of the Earth DSP
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Faux Glass Dots

Now let's look at the revised text:

Case file:  Aunt Eloise's PI friend dares Nancy to solve an old mystery that he and his buddies couldn't crack on their vacation--find a message left by a French missionary in a hollow oak tree and follow the clues to find a treasure.  She stays with Ned's cousin as part of a university archaeological dig and not only does she do some digging with them, she does find a series of hollow oak trees and finds the treasure despite another treasure hunter harassing her.  No gold prospectors in this one but it's still pretty wild.

Here's my card:

The cover of this one looks super spooky and Halloween-y, but the book isn't set around Halloween and the only skulls in it are the fragments that the archaeological dig find.  Still, I couldn't get the idea of a skull card out of my noggin so I made this one.  I did cover up the jack o' lantern on this stamp with a flower that's meant to represent Nancy on the cover.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  From the Crypt, Thoughtful Expressions
Ink:  Versamark, Island Indigo, Timid Tiger, Whisper White
Paper:  Island Indigo, Basic Beige, Beauty of the Earth DSP, Beautifully Penned DSP
Accessories:  Thoughtful Expressions dies, black EP,, Dimensionals

Since the book doesn't really have much to do with skulls despite the cover illustration, I made a second card:

Pretty sure that's Nancy's family motto right there.  I happened to see Textured Timber when I got out Thoughtful Expressions for the first card and I just had to use the tree images for a second card.  Still have orange flowers for Nancy though.

What's funny is that when I first sat down to make a card for this book many weeks ago, I hit a creative block and couldn't figure out what to do.  That's about when I snapped up the OT versions of the books and went back to reread from the start, gave it a few weeks and when I came back to this one I ended up with TWO cards for the book that was giving me a block.  Hooray!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Textured Timber, Thoughtful Expressions, Feathered Flight
Ink:  Early Espresso, Pecan Pie, Island Indigo, Stampin' Blends in Old Olive & Timid Tiger
Paper:  Island Indigo, Pecan Pie, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Basic Beige
Accessories:  Thankful Labels, Thoughtful Expressions dies, Dimensionals, In Color Flat Pearls

I'd be delighted to have you play along, just drop a link in the comments to your Nancy Drew inspired creation.  You can check out Hey, Nancy Drew for more chatter about the books, and stop by next week for lucky #13, The Mystery of the Ivory Charm!