The Clue of the Black Keys

It is time for a new Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today we're investigating #28, The Clue of the Black Keys, take a look:

Bill Gillies did the artwork for the OT on the left, and I think I heard in a podcast that he based his Nancy on his wife.  She seems to be wearing the same sweater she had on for The Secret of Red Gate Farm.  The scene is a bit crowded with the other three guys on the cover while they unearth literal buried treasure.

Rudy Nappi did the artwork for the RT on the right, it's the same scene but I like that this one only has Nancy and one other person in it so the focus is more on the treasure chest.  The silver is supposed to be tarnished so the black chest on the OT might be more accurate, but artistically, I like the brighter colors and focus of the RT art.  Plus you really get the jungley feeling with all the plants around Nancy.

Let's take a look at the mystery.

Case file:  Nancy is contacted by Terry Scott, a professor who was working on an archaeological dig in Mexico in search of treasure.  He and his partners found three black keys and a cipher stone, but now those items are missing and so is one of the professors working with Scott.  All Terry has is half of a black key.  Nancy's investigation leads her to Florida and then to Mexico and of course she finds the treasure and the missing professor.

Here's my card:

Of course I had to play with the idea of a black key for my card, and I remembered there was a key pattern in an old pack of DSP called Fan Fair, so that's where I started my card.  It was my great good luck that the colors match the colors Nancy and one of the men on the cover are wearing:

I used the map pattern for the background as well as the panel with the key and sentiment on it, I liked the map aspect because it makes me think of a treasure map, and Nancy travels in this one.  She's kinda Indiana Jones-ing it in this book.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Artifacts, You're a Gem
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Island Indigo
Paper:  Primrose Petals, Basic Black, Fan Fair DSP
Accessories:  Tasteful Labels Framelits, Rustic Metallic Dots, Dimensionals

On to the revised text:

The story plays out the same way as in the OT, just condensed to 20 chapters vs. 25.  Here's my card:

I really wanted to lean into the jungle theme on this card, so I chose the Tropical Oasis DSP.  The treasure in the book is inside of a silver frog and they call it "the frog treasure", so of course I had to use the little guy from Animal Outing, and that sentiment just makes me laugh.

I used two different extra-leafy tropical patterns to make it feel like the jungle is closing in on Mr. Frog there.  Shaded Spruce and Pretty Peacock aren't listed in the colors for the DSP, but they sure look like they're in it to me!  I popped up the Pool Party circle on Dimensionals, and then popped up the frog and his branch on another layer of Dimensionals.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Animal Outing & coordinating Paper Pumpkin stamp set that I don't know the name of
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Shaded Spruce, Granny Apple Green, Soft Suede
Paper:  Shaded Spruce, Pretty Peacock, Thick Basic White, Tropical Oasis DSP
Accessories:  Animal Friends dies, Layering Circles Framelits, circle punch, Pretty Peacock metallic ribbon, Pretty Peacock Foiled Gems, Dimensionals

I enjoyed this installment, I give it four stars.  It's got some fun elements in it and who doesn't like looking for buried treasure?  If you are inspired by this book, leave me a comment as I would be delighted to see what you make too.  Stay tuned next Saturday when we unravel The Mystery at the Ski Jump.  Cheers!

Hobby Hello

Afternoon, y'all.  Ryan and I went to the potluck and both ate waaayyyy too much sugar (the gingerbread bars were great--with dinosaur sprinkles on the cream cheese frosting--but the Mississippi mud stuck to the pan something crazy.  Still tasty though) and then went Christmas shopping for the hubs and Daph.  And now I want a nap, but first I have a second card to share today:

I got the Hobby Haven DSP last month I think and this is the first time I've cut into any of it.  I thought the die cut shapes in the pack would be great with the Atlantic Hearts sketch:

Same sketch I used for this morning's card, but this time I kept the original orientation.  I did mess up the measurements on the DSP layer as I meant to have even borders all around but somehow it ended up being a quarter inch short, but it's okay.  The banner shape and all the images on the right of the card are pre-printed and die cut in the DSP, though I did trim the white borders a bit on the shapes.  Then all I did was add a two-part greeting from Branching Out and some Charming Shimmer Faceted Dots, and it's done.

Might see if Daphne will let me up on the oversized chair with her, I could use some doggo snuggles and a nap right about now.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Branching Out
Ink:  Garden Green
Paper:  Pool Party, Garden Green, Thick Basic White, Hobby Haven DSP
Accessories:  Charming Shimmer Faceted Dots, Mini Dimensionals

Pineflake

Mornin' y'all!  Ryan is at school for some kind of elementary assessment thing (he says they have to do reading on a computer) and I have to pick him up in a half hour, which is happily enough time for me to enjoy my morning cuppa : ) and share a card.

I finally made a pineflake!  I bought Delicate Pines months ago and before now I'd only used one of the greeting stamps, so it was fun to make a pineflake for today.  Love this different take on snowflakes.

I took the Atlantic Hearts sketch and turned it on its side:

My sentiment doesn't show up as well as I might like, but I had already stuck down the DSP when I stamped it so that's how it is.  The pineflake was sinking into the background a little too much, so I added a second pineflake stamped in Shaded Spruce on Old Olive cardstock, glued them together and popped it up on Dimensionals, which I think solved the problem.  I added a mini pineflake in Cherry Cobbler and a few Gold Textured Dots to finish it off.

I made another card with this sketch before this one and I'll share it this afternoon if I can.  After I pick Ryan up, we've got to walk Daphne (of course) and then there's a potluck thing at the hubs' work (this time I got all three planned desserts made ahead of time), and after that I'm going to take Ryan to do some Christmas shopping.  So that's the plan for today.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Delicate Pines
Ink:  Shaded Spruce, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler
Paper:  Shaded Spruce, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Thick Basic White, Elegant Pine DSP
Accessories:  Delicate Pines dies, Gold Textured Dots, Dimensionals

Christmas Plaid

Mornin' y'all!  I had some fun in my craft room yesterday, which is good since today will be spent in the kitchen.  I have brownies baking for Mississippi Mud right now.  But let's talk about today's card:

I thought about adding gold accents, but I decided I liked it how it is.  I was inspired by the Card Concept challenge:

I like the picture, but I'm glad my kitchen isn't all white ; )  The photo led me to do a CAS design with a white card base and a limited use of patterns.

This also counts for the Festive Friday challenge:

My second time playing this challenge, I got red, white, green, stripes (the DSP strips count as stripes, right?), Christmas tree, and Christmas sentiment.  I stamped "Merry Christmas" on the inside of the card.

Next up is the Color Dare Challenge:

I see that as Real Red and Evening Evergreen, which dovetails perfectly with the Card Concept inspo pic.

And last up, the CAS Colours & Sketches challenge, also for the second time:

Here's the sketch I chose this time:

Man, I was all set to say I followed the sketch more closely this time, but I did put the sentiment underneath the other elements instead of on top.  Oh well, I still like what I made.

Brownies are about to come out of the oven so I'd better get ready to add the marshmallow fluff on top.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Perfectly Plaid
Ink:  Evening Evergreen, Real Red
Paper:  Thick Basic White, Lovely in Linen DSP, Peaceful Prints DSP
Accessories:  Pine tree punch, Dimensionals

You're a Mean One

Mornin' y'all!  Had to go to the store this morning because I am once again baking for a potluck at the hubs' work.  This afternoon I'll be making the dough for orange crinkle cookies (take this lemon crinkle cookie recipe and use thawed orange juice concentrate and orange zest in place of lemon), and tomorrow I'll be making the gingerbread bars I didn't get to make before Thanksgiving as well as a family recipe for Mississippi Mud (which is brownies topped with marshmallow creme and chocolate ganache).  For now I'm waiting for the orange juice concentrate to thaw, so I have a load of dishes running and I need to move clothes into the dryer.  After I finish my cuppa tea while writing this blog post.  And even then I'm going to take Daphne out before I do anymore household chores.

But for right now, how about a fun card?

The card is a lie because all I want right now is a NAP.  I used the two Grinchmas stamp sets from The Ink Road, which are no longer available (sorry) and somehow this is the first time I've used either set.  I really wanted to make a Grinchy card ever since I saw Jaydee's card for the Paper Players challenge this week.  (Also I will neither confirm nor deny that I bought the dies she used as soon as I saw her card.)

I have three challenges today, starting with TGIF Challenges:

Perfect Grinch colors!  Next up is the Festive Friday challenge:

I've got red, white, green, and stripes.  Next up actually I'm not sure my card counts...the CAS Colours & Sketches Challenge:

Here is the sketch I chose:

I'm not sure my card counts for this sketch because the Grinch is nowhere close to that oval shape, but that is where I started my card-making process.

Alas, my tea is gone so it's time to walk the Daphinator.  Then I will need another cuppa tea, it's chilly out there.  Cheers!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Grinchmas Volumes 1 & 2
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Real Red & Granny Apple Green
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Thick Basic White, Let It Snow Specialty DSP
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Red & White Peppermints

Dolly Christmas for SUO Challenges

Morning came a bit earlier than I wanted it to today, but it's time for the final SUO Challenge of 2025!  (Don't worry, we'll be back in January!)

And here it is:

Something easy for the end of the year busy season, right?  As long as you only use Stampin' Up! products, it counts for this challenge!  So here's what I made:

I am (finally) in the mood to make Christmas cards, so I was looking through this year's stamp sets and came across Long Time No See and I just had to ink up this cutie pie again.  I also had to break out the Christmas Tags & More DSP Stack that I got in my most recent SU! order (which was...near the beginning of November?).  I had to use my favorite plaid from the stack (I love plaid) and the green starburst pattern, which is my favorite non-plaid in the stack, is the opposite side of the paper.  I added two gifts for Dolly to carry (I named her after my friend Lynn's doggo, though her Dolly is blonde like her namesake) (HI LYNN!), fussy cut her out, and added a few Delightful Decorative Dots to finish my card.  (Today's blog post is brought to you by parenthetical asides.)  (I need more sleep.)  (Or tea.)

Now it's your turn!  Make anything with Stampin' Up! supplies and link it up on the SUO Challenges blog.  Doesn't have to be Christmas related : )  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Long Time No See
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Garden Green, Stampin' Blends in Pecan Pie, Real Red, Soft Sea Foam
Paper:  Garden Green, Soft Sea Foam, Thick Basic White, Christmas Tags & More DSP Stack
Accessories:  Textured Notes dies, Dimensionals, Delightful Decorative Dots

Jolly Mistletoe

Mornin' y'all!  I've been busy this morning, running some errands, and I bought Daphne her own Christmas stocking this morning--it's in the shape of a bone : )  I picked up a couple of decorations too, slowly adding to my collection.  Oh, yesterday we all went to see Zootopia 2 at the movie theater and it was so much fun!  All three of us really enjoyed it, both my guys said they liked it better than the first one and we rewatch the first one on the regular so that's high praise.

Anyway, I have a card to share that I forgot about last week so here it is:

I used the Freshly Made Sketch posted last Wednesday:

Something about this sketch made me immediately think of the Framed & Festive stamp set that came out a few years ago (I know it was while I was in Germany, so it's at least three years old) and then I thought of the DSP that went with it and it's got such fun, not necessarily traditional colors in it.  My favorite is the Night of Navy pattern with the mistletoe on it, and I had a large scrap of it so I started my card there and chose the other patterns to coordinate.  Quick and easy card.

Since I was out running errands for a couple of hours, Daphne is now doing her puppy dog eyes routine to go on her daily walk...we are about an hour and a half behind schedule, so I'll have to acquiesce to the cuteness.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Framed & Festive
Ink:  Polished Pink
Paper:  Polished Pink, Balmy Blue, Thick Basic White, Fitting Florets DSP
Accessories:  Layering Circles Framelits, Lots of Labels Framelits, In Color Opal Rounds, Dimensionals

Paper Players: Give the Gift of Card Making

Happy Sunday, card-making compadres!  It is time once again for a great challenge from The Paper Players.  Jaydee has a great theme for us this time around:

And here's what I made:

Ann beat me to using this year's North Pole Delivery DSP with its cute doggos delivering gifts, so I decided to pull out the Beary Christmas DSP featuring cute polar bears instead (and actually I made this before I did the polar bear card set I shared last week).  When I make cards for design teams, I always want to do something different than the other DT members so you see a variety of cards : )  So Beary Christmas it is for today.  I loved that pattern with the gifts on it so I started with that and built up my card from there.  The polar bear is cut from one of the DSP patterns, and the greeting is from this year's Jolly Delivery.

We hope that you'll play along with the final Paper Players challenge of 2025.  We will be back in January, never fear!  Don't forget these rules:

1.  Create a new paper project
2.  Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to us and provide a direct link to the post featuring your challenge submission
3.  Please link your card to no more than four challenges, TOTAL
4.  Have fun!

The Paper Players Design Team

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Anne Marie Hile

Ann Schach

Jan Clothier

Stef Perry

Eliz Stewart

you are here --> Christy Stanford

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Jolly Delivery
Ink:  Night of Navy
Paper:  Balmy Blue, Flirty Flamingo, Beary Christmas DSP, A Walk in the Forest DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Stitched Rectangles dies, Dimensionals, Rainbow Dots

The Secret of the Wooden Lady

Happy Saturday and welcome to the latest Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today we're investigating The Secret of the Wooden Lady, the twenty-seventh adventure of Nancy and her pals.

There's the original text on the left, artwork by Bill Gillies.  I'm thinking that's George in the striped dress and Bess in the yellow top, but it's hard to tell since their hair color looks the same.  Why are we making George row by herself?

The revised text on the right features cover art by Rudy Nappi, it's the same scene but darker colors so the title pops more.  Also if you go back to The Secret of the Old Clock, Nancy is wearing the same dress on this cover.  Poor George still has to row by herself.

I think the title and pretend author's name stand out better on the revised cover, which makes me like it more.  Let's take a look at the mystery.

Case file:  Captain Easterly of Boston requests Carson Drew's help in obtaining a clear title to the Bonny Scot, the clipper ship that he lives on and wants to purchase from its owner.  Carson enlists Nancy's help in researching the history of the ship, which she finds out had had its name changed when it was taken by pirates, and it supposedly still contains some kind of treasure hidden on it.  Nancy has to find the ship's missing figurehead and the treasure to outwit a jewel thief known as The Crow.

Here's my card:

I actually only made this week's cards yesterday and usually I am working ahead at least a little bit.  I knew from the jump that I was going to use On the Ocean for a pirate ship.  The Bonny Scot is absolutely a character in the book, after all, and much of the action takes place on the ship and there are hidden passages and all that fun stuff.

I thought the colors of the By the Shore DSP were a pretty good match for the cover of the book, and the stripes remind me of George's dress.  And the green matches Nancy's dress pretty well too, serendipity.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  On the Ocean
Ink:  Basic Gray, Dapper Denim, Soft Sky
Paper:  Soft Sky, Dapper Denim, Thick Very Vanilla, By the Shore DSP
Accessories:  On the Ocean dies, some kind of label punch, circle punch, pearls

On to the revised text:

My childhood copy, I love it.  There are a few elements from the longer original text that are omitted here, but the mystery itself plays out the same way.  Here's my card:

The jewel thief was a major part of this book, and the treasure aboard the Bonny Scot was a ruby so I really wanted to do jewels for this card.  I came across this lovely pattern that matches the colors on the book cover pretty well:

I don't have any DSP with rubies on it so this will have to do : )  Yes, I used the same treasured friend greeting as I used on one of my cards for The Quest of the Missing Map, but it works for both stories.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  World Treasures
Ink:  Night of Navy
Paper:  Night of Navy, Thick Basic White, Naturally Eclectic DSP
Accessories:  Apothecary Accents Framelits, Dimensionals, Opal Rounds

It took days of pondering before I sat down to make my cards for this challenge, but I had a ball when it was finally time to create.  This book is once again quite a fun installment, the 20s have really had some great books!  Five stars.  If you're inspired to create a card, comment on this post as I would love to see!  See you next Saturday when we search for The Clue of the Black Keys.  Cheers!

Paper Blizzard

Mornin' y'all!  We still have quite a lot of snow in our backyard, but we had enough sunshine yesterday that the roads are clear and so is our driveway which means Ryan has school today : ) Woohoo!  I am currently trying to chivvy him along and get him out the door but I'm typing while he brushes his teeth.

All the snow this week inspired me to make a couple of snowflake cards.

I had the AAA Cards Challenge sketch in mind when I was choosing a stamp set, and I ended up with the beautiful Snow is Glistening for my card.

And I figured I would add some silver embossing so I can enter at Addicted to CAS as well:

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Snow is Glistening
Ink:  Azure Afternoon, VersaMark
Paper:  Azure Afternoon, Basic White, Silver Glimmer Paper
Accessories:  Stitched Rectangles Dies, Festive Pearls, silver EP

And then I made a second card while I was at it:

I noticed that the Snowfall dies that coordinate with this stamp set had this lovely curvy shape, which seemed just right for the CAS Colours & Sketches sketch:

I cut off one snowflake from the right side of the die to make it fit the card front, and then I moved the greeting to the bottom corner as it fit better with the die shape.  I also die cut one silver glimmer snowflake to give this card a bit of extra glitz.

Okay, heading out the door now.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Snow is Glistening
Ink:  VersaMark
Paper:  Azure Afternoon, Basic White, Silver Glimmer Paper
Accessories:  Stitched Rectangles Dies, Snowfall Dies, Festive Pearls, Fine Sparkle Gems, silver EP

Reindeer Games Collection

It is another snow day here at Snapdragon Stamps, Ryan and I are still in our jammies and it's almost nine o'clock in the morning.  I just let Daphne out in the backyard and she looks like she's questioning her life choices...oh, now she's got the zoomies.  I didn't take her for a walk yesterday because it was actively snowing for most of the day, but it's sunny out today so maybe we'll go after I put on approximately 57 layers of clothing.

Remember that TGIF Challenge from yesterday?

Yeah, I had to have another go at it, so here is the Reindeer Games Collection:

And more:

I can't believe that I had never even opened this particular pack of Memories & More cards!  Maybe I got them when they hit the clearance rack?  I don't know.  Let's take a closer look.

I added a few scraps of the Reindeer Days DSP to a few cards and used the stickers in the Memories & More pack as accents.

The images on these are so cute that I really didn't do much at all when I put the cards together.

The strips on the left card are from the Reindeer Days DSP, I got the one that had a sticker sheet and it has three border stickers that are about 11 1/2 inches long, so I was able to cut them up and use multiple strips on this card.

Once again, I lined the inside of the cards with white cardstock and added more stickers from the pack and I still have lots left.  The pieces in the pack come in two sizes, 2x4" and 4x6", so I had to cut down the larger ones a bit for a standard A2 card front.  Still, I made ten different cards in a single afternoon, which is pretty good for me.

I do think I'll wait a bit before I tackle the other two Memories & More packs to make other sets, I want to make something different for a bit, plus I really need to make the Nancy Drew cards for this Saturday : )

We decorated the Christmas tree last night and I put up all the other holiday decor inside the house; the hubs had put up the lights and inflatables a few weeks ago while it was still warm so we are now all decked out.  I just saw a video on Facebook this morning where someone had a HUGE inflatable Millennium Falcon and now I need to figure out where to get one of those : )  Stay warm and toasty, peeps!  I've got my cuppa tea right here.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  None
Ink:  None
Paper:  Garden Green, Granny Apple Green, Pool Party, Real Red, Whisper White, Reindeer Days DSP, Reindeer Days Memories & More Cards
Accessories:  None

Cozy Polar Collection

Mornin' y'all!  It's a snow day here in Colorado, this is the current view out my back door:

Daphne has gone out a couple of times and done just one brief zoomie and then she charges back inside.  Since both Ryan and the hubs have a snow day today, I think we'll put up the Christmas tree this afternoon.  For right now I'd like to curl up with my extra large cuppa tea and watch The Return of the King.

But first, take a look at the TGIF Challenge:

Yesterday I was looking through a drawer in my craft room and discovered that I have no fewer than FOUR different packs of Christmas themed Memories & More thingamambos (I was trying to write thingamabobs but I like thingamambos), one of which had never even been opened!  So yeah, a challenge to make card sets was very timely for me.

I used the time-honored tradition to pick which set to work with (by which I mean Eeny Meeny Miney Moe) and the winner was the set that went with the Beary Cute stuff a couple of years ago.  So here's what I made:

But wait, there's more:

I took the Memories & More cards and two of the sticker sheets, added in cardstock colors to coordinate and a few teeny scraps of the Beary Christms DSP to make all of these, no stamping at all.  At first I was going to make six, then it turned into eight, and the hubs got home yesterday as I was finishing up the tenth card so I finally called it quits there.

So here's a closer look at the collection:

The reindeer on the left are stickers, and I lined the inside of each card with Whisper White or Very Vanilla cardstock and also put stickers on that.

I had to die cut a Night of Navy circle for the left card because the Let It Snow sticker didn't show up well enough on its own, but other than that all I used was my paper trimmer.

How cute are those polar bears?  And I still have two full sticker sheets to play with.

Both of these have scraps of the Beary Christmas DSP.

There was only one seal sticker in the whole pack so I hope that little dude doesn't feel like the odd man out.

These were all fairly easy to put together and now I have a card set I can gift to someone.  I still have the three other sets out on my craft table and will have to do the same with them...despite making ten cards with this pack, I still have LOTS of the Memories & More cards left to play with.  The other three packs are just as cute too so I can't wait to play with them as well!

Okay, I'm off to get the living room prepped to put up the tree this afternoon.  Daphne hasn't wanted to spend much time outside so maybe she'll let us skip the walk today...but if she insists on going, I know where my hat and gloves are so I'll be prepared.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  None
Ink:  None
Paper:  Balmy Blue, Flirty Flamingo, Misty Moonlight, Old Olive, Real Red, Whisper White, Very Vanilla, Beary Christmas DSP, Beary Cute Memories & More cards
Accessories:  Layering Circles Framelits