The Mystery of the Fire Dragon

Happy Saturday and welcome to a new Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today we are investigating The Mystery of the Fire Dragon, Nancy's 38th adventure and one I remember from childhood.  Take a look:

We have another gorgeous Rudy Nappi cover and I do love Nancy in a yellow dress.  I think this is a favorite cover for a lot of Nancy Drew fans and it is pretty fantastic, I love the composition with the rounded doorway and Nancy looking at the party happening on the other side.  Five stars just for the cover.  Yes I have two copies of this book, I've had the flashlight edition (glossy cover) on the right for years and I just got the matte cover on the left last year.  A previous owner left a coded message in the book and apparently she thinks Greg is cute.

Case file:  Nancy's aunt Eloise invites the girls to New York to investigate the suspected kidnapping of her next door neighbor, Chi Che Soong, who bears a strong resemblance to George despite being Chinese when George is...not.  Nancy has George dress up as Chi Che in an attempt to get clues to the kidnappers; George is almost kidnapped, Bess really IS kidnapped, and once they get Bess back, Nancy moves the investigation to Hong Kong where Ned is conveniently doing a class.  Then Nancy also gets kidnapped not once, but TWICE, and eventually rescues herself and Chi Che and we get to learn about dragons, fireworks, and mah jongg along the way, not to mention international politics and smuggling.  It's an adventure.  With lots of kidnapping.

Here's my card:

That dragon stamp is one of the very first stamps I ever bought way (waaayyyy) back in high school and I couldn't wait to get it out for this book challenge.  And how perfect is it that I have firework patterned paper?  Love it.  I embossed both the dragon and the greeting with black embossing powder so they're shiny.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Artistically Asian, dragon from Rubber Stampede
Ink:  Versamark
Paper:  Crushed Curry, Poppy Parade, Pacific Point, Celebrate Everything DSP
Accessories:  Spotlight on Nature & Textured Notes dies, black EP, Starburst Sequins

But wait, there's more!  Here's a second card:

I've had that junk mail stamp for probably over 15 years (I have another one that says fan mail) and this is the first time I've used it, I couldn't resist since Nancy and Chi Che are both held prisoner on a junk in the book's climax.  I used a lot of the same supplies as on the first card and hey, I even have Crushed Curry embossing powder.

This time I used one of the Everyday Arches dies to sort of mimic the arch on the cover, though it doesn't match exactly but it was the feeling I was going for.  I used Crushed Curry as my main color for both cards due to Nancy's dress, which is pretty fantastic.  I would totally wear it if I needed to dress up for something.  And naturally she has the matching handbag.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Junk Mail from A Stamp in the Hand
Ink:  Versamark
Paper:  Crushed Curry, Basic Black, Celebrate Everything DSP, Poppy Parade DSP
Accessories:  All That & Everyday Arches dies, Azure Afternoon sheer ribbon, Crushed Curry EP, Dimensionals

I really like The Mystery of the Fire Dragon and I think in general it handles Chinese culture better than The Clue of the Leaning Chimney, though having George dress up as Chi Che is problematic at best.  Overall I give it four and a half stars, I remembered several scenes from this despite not having read it in many years, and it was very interesting to read now as they went into detail about the political situation in Hong Kong, which was a British territory when this was written.  Anyway, if you are feeling inspired, I hope you'll leave me a comment with a link to what you make!  And join me next week when we tackle The Clue of the Dancing Puppet.

Friendship

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  I was looking through all my draft posts of scrapbook pages (happily, I have quite a few from which to choose) and I came across this one from January of 2016, when my friend Tiana flew out to spend a few days with me and our friend Sarah happened to come in on a business trip at the same time.

Tiana and I went to Hillwood Estate in DC, which was pretty amazing.  It was owned by Marjorie Post (as in Post Cereal) and she was an avid collector of art.  Never thought I'd see a Faberge egg in person!  The estate was also having an exhibit of Marjorie's evening gowns which was fun to see.

A few pictures on the grounds of the estate, and then the only picture that Tiana and I got with Sarah since they only overlapped in DC for a short time.  Sarah loves polar bears, so we made sure to make polar bear cupcakes just for her.

Today's color palette includes Powder Pink, Soft Sky, Berry Burst, and Tranquil Tide.  You wouldn't think those colors would go together, but I think the layout pulls it off nicely.  It was the orchids that inspired me.

Hope your week is off to a great start, peeps.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Artistically Asian
Ink:  Powder Pink, Tranquil Tide, Basic Gray marker
Paper:  Powder Pink, Tranquil Tide, Berry Burst, Whisper White, Color Theory DSP, Naturally Eclectic DSP
Accessories:  Rose Garden Thinlits, Sunshine Wishes Thinlits

China: Golf Cart Tour, Merge, & Light Show

Mornin'!  It's China Sunday, but as it happens I have already shared the next several layouts in the China books so today it's all reruns.  But I like these pages so we're doing it anyway!

First up are two layouts for the golf cart tour.

That color combination of Pool Party, Tranquil Tide, and Powder Pink is one of my favorites.  Love it!

Next up is the Merge, which is apparently what happens when two dudes accidentally share a drink (and then the hubs caught Bennet's cold).

And last up is the light show Illuminations that we went to that night.  So the river cruise (see the layouts here and here), golf cart tour, stop at McDonald's, and the light show were all on the same very busy day.  Next weekend I have a new layout to share, but for now I'm going to go play with the tiny child for a bit.  Cheers!

See the blog posts linked above for supply lists. :)

China: Silk

Happy Sunday, y'all!  I'm back with new China pages.  Well, they're not really new...I made these about a year ago, but they're new to the blog :)

This layout goes along with the Jade layout from last week, so I used the same colors but flipped them around a bit.

This came out a little more subtle than I thought it would, but I stamped the flower from Artistically Asian on the Peekaboo Peach strips and it reminds me of the designs we saw on the silk.

Color palette is the same as last week, just in different concentrations:  Peekaboo Peach, Dusty Durango, Brocade Blue, and a little bit of Mint Melody.

Have a great Sunday, y'all!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Artistically Asian
Ink:  Peekaboo Peach, Basic Gray marker
Paper:  Brocade Blue, Peekaboo Peach, Dusty Durango, Mint Melody
Accessories:  1/2" circle punch

Simple Smile

Hey dudes, how's it going?  Mosquito season has started here, and lemme tell you, skeeters LOVE me.  I'm already coming down with a case of polka dots.  Ick.

So let's talk about something more fun today, like a very fast card.

I've been having some trouble lately with getting colors to show up true-to-life when I take pictures of cards and scrapbook pages.  At first I was afraid the sponged background wasn't even going to show up in the photo.  I used a technique called reverse masking to do that--I die cut a square out of some scrap computer paper (so it's thinner), and then I used the negative of the square for my mask.  Super easy but it gives neat results.  Anyway, the sentiment is stamped in Soft Suede and doesn't look nearly so dark IRL.

Here's the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch that I used:

I just thought this sketch was fun and different, and I enjoyed the challenge of using this sketch to make a one-layer card.

Here's a pretty springy color combo from Just Add Ink:

I've been slowly working on rearranging all my craft supplies for the new catalog.  Usually it's just a matter of moving the In Colors over to the retired section for my cardstocks and ink pads, but with the color revamp this year it's a bigger job than normal.  And I got my new catty preorder yesterday afternoon so I finally got an eyeball on the new colors!  I'll probably be playing with those this week which makes me happy.  I love new colors.

Anyway, sounds like the kid is awake so I'm going to go get him up.  Have a great day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Artistically Asian, Colorful Seasons
Ink:  Powder Pink, Pear Pizzazz, Melon Mambo, Wild Wasabi, Soft Suede
Paper:  Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes Framelits used as a mask

Plum Grape-ful

You know I love me a good pun!

I didn't have a color challenge picked out for today's card, so I decided to dust off yet another seldom-used color:  Perfect Plum.  I love purple but it rarely comes up in the color challenges, and I'm a challenge junkie so I don't use it as much as I'd like.  I paired Perfect Plum with Elegant Eggplant and Old Olive for this card, and put a bit of Wink of Stella on the flower so IRL it's nice and sparkly.  I added two rhinestones to the corner to sparkle it up a little more (although they don't look so hot in the picture).

Anyway, check out this week's theme at Global Design Project:

It's possible that I make more thank you cards than anything else; I've never counted (not going to, either!).  I love doing thank you cards with fall colors too but for today it was nice to give the warm colors a rest and play with purple.

I also used this week's Fall-To Layout from Clean & Simple Stamping:

Y'all, this is totally a sketch that I use all. the. time if left to my own devices, it's SO easy.  I like easy.  Maybe it's a good thing I do so many sketch challenges though, keep me from doing the same card layout 99% of the time ;)

That's it for today, y'all!  Ryan and I are off to the gym in a little bit.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Artistically Asian, Post Script
Ink:  Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive
Paper:  Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant, Thick Whisper White, Color Theory DSP
Accessories:  Wink of Stella, Rhinestones, Dimensionals

Golf Cart Tour (Guilin)

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  Actually I typed this post up Sunday night because this morning we're taking the hubs to the hopsickle for a pre-op appointment--he has back surgery on Wednesday.  He's in so much pain from his sciatic nerve that Wednesday can't get here fast enough.  I hope that surgery does the trick and he feels a lot better really fast.  I hate seeing him in pain.

Buuuuut you're not here for the not-happy stuff, you're here for a scrapbook layout!  Actually I have two for you today.

You might be able to tell from the lettering template if you've been around here for a while, these pages are from our 2010 China trip.  (See the pictures here.)

Yep, I use the same lettering template on all the China layouts, and accent with Rough Type.  Sometimes I only use one or the other, but most often it's a combination.

And there's the second one.  I don't know why I associate dragonflies with Oriental stuff?  But apparently I do.

Let's talk color!  Today's color palette is Pool Party, Tranquil Tide, Powder Pink, and Whisper White.  Y'all, this is my FAVORITE NEW COLOR COMBINATION ever since I saw it in the SU! catty this summer.  I don't know why but I am in luuuurve with it.  Well, Tranquil Tide is actually my favorite new In Color, I love how it plays nice with pretty much every other color I've put it with and I need to play with it more often.  And guess what...

This is the current color challenge at Just Add Ink.  Technically I made these layouts several weeks ago, so I won't enter them in the challenge, but last night I managed to sneak in a wee bit of stampy time and I made something new for this color challenge that I'll share tomorrow.  Because, as I said, I'm totally in love with it.  A LOT.

Until then, peace out yo!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Rough Type, Awesomely Artistic, Artistically Asian
Ink:  Pool Party, Tranquil Tide
Paper:  Pool Party, Tranquil Tide, Powder Pink, Whole Lot of Lovely DSP
Accessories:  Lettering template, Detailed Dragonflies Thinlits

Asian Flowers

Hey kids!  I have to write this post in a hurry, I need to get out the door to my doctor's appointment in the next ten minutes to check on Mr. Three Days Late (not that I'm counting).  So without further ado, here's today's card!

Having lived in Japan for almost three years, I love all the Asian-inspired stamps I can get my hands on.  I used this week's Global Design Project color combination:

I only used a little bit of sponged-on Daffodil Delight ink, kinda to look like sunlight behind the flowers, and I added some Early Espresso to ground the brightness of the Emerald Envy and Watermelon Wonder.  And there's some Soft Suede in there too.

Combined that with the Mojo Monday sketch:

All those layers were a bit of a challenge but I gave it a shot!  And now I need to quickly eat the rest of my sandwich so I can get out the door.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Artistically Asian
Ink:  Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Daffodil Delight, Emerald Envy, Watermelon Wonder
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Early Espresso, Carried Away & Moroccan DSP
Accessories:  Emerald Envy ribbon, Layering Circles Framelits, Dimensionals

Thank You...Now With Bamboo

I blame Rysa Walker.  Here I was all set to spend lots of time in the craft cave yesterday but while I was eating breakfast I started reading The Delphi Effect and next thing I know the hubs is getting home from work (oops).  I stopped reading long enough to make dinner and do some stitching, but let's just say I finished the book last night.  #WorthIt

And today I finally made something!  Now if I could just finish the scrapbook layout that's been 75% done since the weekend....anyway.  New card.

I had to do the sentiment twice; the first time I had too much ink on the stamp and the insides of the teeny letters on the bottom line were all filled in, so I used a sponge to ink up the stamp this time and that's like my new favorite technique.  Anyway, I started with a fun color combo from Cupcake Inspirations:

I used Old Olive and Elegant Eggplant for SU! versions of the colors, plus added in some crumb cake because I thought my card needed it.  I used this week's CASE the Designer challenge at Global Design Project as a jumping-off point:

I used the same layout (my "main" bamboo stalk is even tilted to the left like the bear) but my layers are a bit different sizes.  The length of my sentiment stamp dictated that the main image panel had to be wider than in Brian's card but I still think mine is balanced fairly well.  Bonus:  it's got Dimensionals, but other than that it's flat and easy to mail :)

So that's it for me today.  I now have three choices:  a.) eat lunch, b.) go to the gym, or c.) finish that scrapbook layout.  Decisions, decisions....

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  One Big Meaning, Artistically Asian, Touches of Texture
Ink:  Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, Crumb Cake
Paper:  Elegant Eggplant, Crumb Cake, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Dimensionals

Golden Friendship

Heyyy I got a card made today.  Take that, Anne McCaffrey!  (Okay, so I did read a lot more than I intended to at lunchtime, and then didn't get downstairs until after 3:30 to work in the craft cave, but hey, I made something!)

Admittedly I stared at all my stamps for a bit (and maybe perhaps possibly ate a handful of Raisinets for inspiration) before I finally figured out what I wanted to do.  I'm convinced those Metallic Enamel Shapes just don't photograph well, they always just look weird in pictures.

Anyway, for this one I used the sketch from Fab Friday:

Once I picked out the stamp set and settled on colors, I had this card done in under ten minutes.  So I should strike while the iron is hot and work on my card for tomorrow right now :)  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Artistically Asian
Ink:  Real Red, Wild Wasabi
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Gold DSP
Accessories:  gold doily, Decorative Label punch, Dimensionals

Asian Watercolor

Hey kids, how's your Tuesday going?  I took my kiddos out for a walk this morning and the weather was nice (though too hot for my liking), but this afternoon we're supposed to get thunderstorms.  I love me a good thunderstorm.  It's days and days on end of rain with no thunder that I don't like :)

Anyway, yesterday I finally broke open one of my new stamp sets!

I didn't do anything fancy though.  I finished a big project last week, and it always seems like I have creativity fatigue when I get to the end of a big project.  So yesterday I spent a little time reorganizing some things--moving retired cardstock colors and patterned paper out of my "current" drawers, that kind of thing.  I'll need to do my stamp sets today, that's probably the biggest job.  Anyway, I did that before making this card, and then I was in a hurry because it was already 5:30 and I hadn't started lasagna yet so I didn't wait for the background to dry before I stamped the flower on top and I'm going to pretend the blur on the left side of the image is an artistic choice.

Anyway, I used the colors from Global Design Project:

I have a feeling that Sweet Sugarplum might be like Orchid Opulence was for me--I liked the color, but I found it difficult to work with.  Guess I'll just have to work with it some more.

That's it for me today, y'all.  Gotta go get those stamp sets organized :)  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Artistically Asian
Ink:  Sweet Sugarplum, Night of Navy
Paper:  Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  None