The Clue of the Broken Locket

Welcome to another Nancy Drew challenge, and today we are on book #11, The Clue of the Broken Locket!

This is one of the times where the original text (left) and the revised text (right) are not even nodding acquaintances they're so different, so let's take a peek.

Case file:  Carson Drew is asked to draw up the legal paperwork for a pair of actors to adopt 14-month-old twins, but he regrets it afterwards and Nancy decides to look for the babies' biological parents.  The babies were found in a boat with a broken locket; the adoptive mom wants to destroy the locket and the clothes the babies were found in, but Nancy prevents that and ends up taking care of the twins along with Bess because the actors' nursemaid is useless (and so are the actor parents, they adopted the babies pretty much as a publicity stunt).  Not only does Nancy reunite the babies with their mother, she also reunites a pair of adult twins who had lost track of each other after the man went off to WWI.  Also, I read somewhere that the old man with the pipe is a self-portrait of the cover artist : )

Here's my card for the OT version of The Clue of the Broken Locket:

I had to have a golden locket on my card, even if it's not broken, and I liked the love sentiment since the mother was so happy to be reunited with her babies.  She had been struck by lightning (!!!!) and unable to claim the babies when they were found the next day in the boat.  I wanted a soft, dreamy background so I inked up Painted Stripes with Versamark for the card base, and found a scrap of a Balmy Blue pattern to match Nancy's ruffled shirt.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Painted Stripes, Best of Love
Ink:  Versamark, Pecan Pie
Paper:  Darling Duckling, Wild Wasabi, Thick Basic White, Tranquil Textures DSP
Accessories:  Gold EP, Antique Pearls, Dimensionals

Next up is the revised version:

Case file:  Carson sends Nancy, Bess, and George to a lake in Maryland to investigate a ghostly boat that's scaring people away from the lake.  The girls meet Cecily Tyson and her boyfriend Nico Van Dyke, who is the lead singer of the popular band The Flying Dutchmen; soon they discover that there's a suspicious family (brothers, their wives, and a set of young twins) living in the big house on the lake.  Cecily is there looking for an old family treasure dating back to the civil war.  They catch sight of a girl who looks exactly like Cecily and it turns out she's really Cecily's cousin and the mother of the twins who is being held against her will.  Cecily and Susan (the doppelganger) both have pieces of a locket that was passed down in the different branches of their family with clues to the family treasure.  And also as if kidnapping and wrongful imprisonment aren't enough crimes for two brothers, they're also pirating Nico's records.  This one is a bit all over the place!

Here's my card:

I managed to find a piece of patterned paper that has the same colors as Nancy, Bess, and George's shirts AND it's even in the same order as on the cover.  Since one of the mysteries dealt with pirated records, I had to bring out For the Record for this one.

Also there is no power on this earth that would induce me to go trudging through a swamp barefoot.

Supplies, RT card:
Stamps:  For the Record
Ink:  Versamark, Night of Navy, Misty Moonlight, Blushing Bride
Paper:  Misty Moonlight, Crushed Curry, Bashful Blue, Magenta Madness, Thick Basic White, Abstract Beauty DSP Stack
Accessories:  Layering Circles dies, clear EP, gold sequins, Dimensionals

Comment here with a link if you make a card for this challenge, I would love to see!  Visit Hey, Nancy Drew for more in-depth book commentary.  I'll be back next Saturday when we'll be taking a look at The Message in the Hollow Oak!

Friday Flashback: Ancient Asia

It's time for the Friday Flashback!  If you've been here for a while (or if you've perused my other blog), you know that I used to live in Japan and I love stamps with an Oriental flair.  Today's Friday Flashback is for the superfantastic Ancient Asia!

Also features Bamboo II and Happy Birthday Frame

I sent this to my dad for his birthday a few years ago.  I still miss the retired blue colors like Ballet Blue and Brocade Blue.

Also features Bamboo II, Natural Beauty, and Itty Bitty Backgrounds

I made this card before I ever knew there was a band called Imagine Dragons :)

Also features Sanded and Birthday Whimsy

And there's the other dragon in the set.

Also features Whimsical Alphabet

The first layout in my Okinawa scrapbook--I used the tiny dragon in a line across the top of the pages.  So that was the Flashback part, and because I've been having SUCH a good time in my craft room this week I have two new cards to share!

My friend Misty recently had a wedding anniversary, and when she got married I made her a wedding sampler with Chinese characters on it so I was thinking of her when I made this card.  I used the colors from the Color Throwdown:

Such a pretty photo on there, I want to go wherever that was taken.  And you might recognize this week's Nacho sketch too:

But I didn't stop there, I made one more card today:

Kind of different for me, it's all neutrals (and you know I like color, and lots of it).  That Whisper White layer is actually sponged with Sahara Sand and Basic Gray ink, but the flash kinda whited that out.  I used this week's Mojo Monday sketch on this one:

So there you have it!  I've got some pictures picked out for a scrapbook layout to work on next week, and I think Ancient Asia will be making another appearance in my scrapbooks.  Hope y'all have a great weekend, and cheers, peeps!

Supplies, dragon anniversary card:
Stamps:  Ancient Asia, Best of Love, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Riding Hood Red
Paper:  Basic Black, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White, Night & Day DSP (I used up a scrap!)
Accessories:  Riding Hood Red taffeta

Supplies, horse card:
Stamps:  Ancient Asia, Weathered
Ink:  Sahara Sand, Basic Gray, Whisper White
Paper:  Sahara Sand, Basic Gray, Whisper White, Sahara Sand DSP
Accessories:  Whisper White baker's twine, Neutrals Candy Dots, Dimensionals

Kissin' the Blarney Stone

Wow,  I had intended to make a card this morning for today's post, but I kinda had a headache and the rain lulled me to sleep sometime around mid-morning and I just woke up and here it is mid-afternoon.  Sooo...how 'bout a nice Irish scrapbook layout for today?

As I said in my journaling, sometimes I can't believe all the cool things hubs and I get to do, like kiss the Blarney Stone.  If you're curious, they do disinfect it periodically--not between every person though, so they didn't do it between the four of us in our group so hubs made sure to kiss it in a different spot than Bennet who went before him :)  But you're kissing a ROCK, you can't be too picky about hygiene.

Detail shots!

As soon as I stamped the first letter on my title, I realized I needed to ink up my Night of Navy ink pad, but it was too late.  Didn't want to do it then and have one letter way lighter than all the rest, so they're all a little bit faded.  (I did ink it up when I was working on another layout...and then realized after I'd already put all the ink on that I was using an Island Indigo ink refill.  D'oh!)  The handwritten words are done with Gumball Green marker; I traced over them a second time to make them stand out better.

Little four-leaf clover hidden in the corner :)

I was hoping I had a stamp that was just lips but I don't, so I went with this one from Best of Love instead.  And the end of my journaling says "Pucker up, buttercup!"

And here's a progress shot from my desk, you can see I work in creative chaos clutter (and then I have to clean up between projects).  Lately I haven't been cropping my photos hardly at all, but I wanted to squeeze in all 11 pictures on this one so I had to chop 'em a bit.  I didn't want to crop the photos until I was sure how I wanted to lay them all out, so I used some white scratch paper (the kind that comes in scrapbook sheet protectors when you buy them) and chopped that to the sizes I thought I'd use.  Worked a treat to make sure my placement was okay, and then I didn't have to worry about messing up the photos.  I use that same scratch paper to stamp alphabet letters on and use them for placement the same way; I've got small plastic bags of letters in all my alphabet stamp cases.

If you're interested, you can see the original photos here.

Cheers, peeps!  Thanks for stopping by today.  Erin go bragh!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Broadsheet Alphabet, Hearts & Clovers, Best of Love
Ink:  Gumball Green, Night of Navy, Regal Rose
Paper:  Gumball Green, Night of Navy, Whisper White, DSP from Little Yellow Bicycle (hey, if SU! made DSP that would work on Ireland pages, I totally woulda used that, but they don't)

I Love the Nachos!

Merry Christmas!  "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" just started playing on my iPod : )  I only started listening to Christmas music last week.

Soooo are you ready for a new Nacho Average Challenges sketch?  Ready or not, here it comes!

And since I'm Christmas-ed out (at least as far as cards are concerned), here's my Valentine:

I kept this card pretty CAS, partially because it kinda seemed to work for this sketch and partially because I just started studying for a massive comprehensive exam I have to take in three weeks to finish my master's degree.  So until then, my craft room time will be limited to sporadic short bursts!

Go see the beautiful creations from the other Nacho DT members and then give the sketch a whirl, can't wait to see what you create!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Best of Love
Ink:  Midnight Muse
Paper:  Whisper White, Midnight Muse, Quatrefancy & Strawberry Slush DSP, retired Pear Pizzazz DSP
Accessories:  Full Heart Punch, Dimensionals (only on the bottom heart)

Indigo Love

Wow, today is the first day in like two weeks that I haven't had my post written and scheduled the day before.  I was being a good girl yesterday and working on my last essay for my class, so I whipped up today's card real fast this morning.

This is another one of SU's "Best Of" stamp sets--in this case, Best of Love.  I admit, I got it because I really like that heart image and I didn't get whatever stamp set it was originally from.  It kinda reminds me of Little Orphan Annie's locket, anyone else think that?

I made this one in blues partially because I was thinking of my hubby, whose favorite color is blue, and also to participate in a challenge (I think I'm an official challenge junkie).  The color combo (with the addition of Sahara Sand) is courtesy of this week's Dynamic Duos challenge: 

I have begun building my hoard of both Island Indigo and Pool Party cardstock :)  I wish they'd just keep introducing more and more new colors and never retire any, but I'm weird like that.

The layout is from Unscripted Sketches, this is the first time I've played in their challenge:

Ok, so my card is a little bit off the sketch when it comes to proportions and placement, but you can still tell I used this particular sketch.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies (all SU!):
Stamps:  Best of Love
Ink:  Island Indigo
Paper:  Sahara Sand, Island Indigo, Whisper White, In Color DSP Stack
Accessories:  Island Indigo baker's twine, Dimensionals