The Clue in the Crossword Cipher

Happy Saturday, y'all, and welcome to the Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today we are on the forty-fourth book in the series, The Clue in the Crossword Cipher:

This is two books in a row featuring a largely brown cover, both by Rudy Nappi.  This time Nancy has a most excellent dress on with a fun chevron pattern that I like, but I like 99 Steps better than this one.

Case file:  Nancy's new friend Carla Ponce invites Nancy, Bess, and George to Peru to see if they can figure out the mystery behind a wood carving that's been in her family for 300 years, featuring a monkey and a crossword cipher on it.  We get another travelogue story with sightseeing in Peru and the Argentine (when did we start calling it Argentina instead of the Argentine?) while Nancy matches wits with a mysterious criminal known only as El Gato, The Cat.  She eventually finds (yet another) buried treasure near the Nazca lines.

Here's my card:

Yep, I found a chevron patterned paper in my stash in a color that coordinates with the book cover, and I had to do a monkey stamp since the wooden plaque has a monkey on it.  I used the colors of Nancy's dress as supporting colors on my card.

I will admit that monkeys are another human-adjacent thing that I find kind of creepy (add it to the list of dolls, puppets, and clowns).  But this little guy from Fox & Friends is rather cute.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fox & Friends, Really Retro
Ink:  Soft Suede, Versamark
Paper:  Tahitian Tide, Soft Suede, Thick Basic White, Park Lane DSP, Tahitian Tide & Parakeet Party DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, white EP, mini Dimensionals, Transparent Dots

Here's my second card:

There's a scene in a book where Bess is surprised by the sudden appearance of an alpaca in the window of a restaurant and thinks it's going to bite George (who, let's be honest, usually deserves it for the abominable way she treats Bess).  I don't have an alpaca stamp but I do have several llamas so I went with that and it just occurred to me that I could have used the extra long-necked llama from Long Time No See.  Dangit, missed opportunity!

I found another chevron patterned paper and used the colors of the book cover for the party streamers behind the llama.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Birthday Fiesta
Ink:  Early Espresso, Tahitian Tide, Versamark
Paper:  Tahitian Tide, Gumball Green, Peach Pie, Copper Clay, Night of Navy, Thick Basic White, Watercolor Wonder DSP
Accessories:  Fiesta Time dies, Tasteful Labels dies, white EP, Dimensionals, In Color Flat Pearls

This one isn't among my favorite Drews, perhaps because I still have yet to visit anywhere in South America, but it's an okay installment in the series so I give it three stars.  If you're inspired to make a card based on this book, please leave me a comment below and I hope you have fun with it!  Be sure to visit next week when Nancy takes on The Spider Sapphire Mystery.

Señor Taco Says Fiesta

Mornin' y'all and Scrappy Monday will be back next week because today is the day we FIESTA like there's no mañana!  Because the mustachioed taco told me to.

I just had to make something for the Addicted to CAS challenge:

I couldn't decide between Taco Fiesta and Birthday Fiesta for my stamps, so I went with both : )  Nothing says fiesta like a mustachioed taco, amirite?

I woke up not feeling too great today and it's super misty and cool outside so I wonder if Daphne will substitute nap time for walk time today.  She's currently staring intently out the window so I bet not.  Guess I'd better take her for her walk...and then nap later : )  Gotta have energy to make enchilada loaf for dinner tonight.  It's kinda like a Mexican food version of lasagna, with layered corn tortillas, beef & onion, enchilada sauce, and lots of cheese.  (Total health food!)  And then tomorrow is, of course, Taco Tuesday.

That's it for now, peeps.  Fiesta!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps: Taco Fiesta, Birthday Fiesta
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Real Red, Stampin' Blends in Lemon Lolly, Granny Apple Green, Real Red
Paper:  Lemon Lolly, Thick Basic White, Full of Life DSP Stack
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes dies, Ombre Dots, Dimensionals

Manana, Llama

I'm back with the other card I made yesterday...

I actually made this one before yesterday's guacamole card, and it is also inspired by the Festive Friday challenge:

For this card, I used orange, green, enamel dots (I think those count as enamel dots?), and llama.  Llamas always make me think of Birthday Fiesta and this fun llama stamp, who I named Lloyd the Llama.  Because I could.

My card is a sorta loose interpretation of the Just Add Ink sketch:

I'm counting Lloyd as one of the larger hexagons, and the flower (fussy cut from the Flowering Zinnias DSP) as the smaller one, and I have an actual hexagon on the left for the second large hexagon in the sketch.  I liked the bright colors of the Flowering Zinnias DSP on the Shaded Spruce card base, even though Shaded Spruce isn't a color featured in the DSP.  And of course I did the same thing again on the guacamole card.

That's it for me today, kids.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Birthday Fiesta
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Pumpkin Pie, Melon Mambo, Stampin' Blends in Ivory & Lemon Lolly
Paper:  Shaded Spruce, Lemon Lolly, Thick Basic White, Flowering Zinnias DSP
Accessories:  Fiesta Time dies, Beautiful Shapes dies, Timeless Labels dies, faceted gems, Dimensionals

Party Llama

Hey y'all, congratulations we made it to Friday!  That calls for a fiesta : )  (and a siesta afterwards, because who am I kidding I always need more sleep).

Yep, we're bringing back another retired stamp set for today, Birthday Fiesta!  I kind of totally adore it.  Check out this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And the Color Throwdown:

I realized that three of these colors are in the Butterfly Kisses DSP stack, so I used that for my patterned paper.  The colors I used are Calypso Coral, Crushed Curry, Balmy Blue, and Starry Sky.  Can't see the Balmy Blue?  It ended up being just a squee bit of shading on the llama with the lighter Balmy Blue Blend.  Doesn't show up a lot, but it's there!  Also I painted over "fiesta" with the Wink of Stella pen so it's got a little shimmer to it IRL.

Need to throw myself a fiesta because I have been scrappin' up a storm this week despite *still* being under the weather.  I think I'm at a dozen pages done since this Monday, woohoo!  Trying to get as much done as I can before we pack up all our stuff to move this summer, since I know it'll likely be at least two months that I won't get to paper craft at all.  Better enjoy it while I can!  And I am, I've been very pleased with the pages I've been making.  Now I just need an overcast day so I can take pictures of the completed layouts...

Have a great weekend and stay healthy, yo.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Birthday Fiesta
Ink:  Starry Sky, Crushed Curry
Paper:  Crushed Curry, Thick Basic White, Butterfly Kisses DSP Stack
Accessories:  Fiesta Time dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Artistry Blooms sequins, Wink of Stella

Desert Fiesta

Hey y'all!  I had a beachy card yesterday, and today it's a desert theme with a cactus...

I got Birthday Fiesta because I love Lloyd the Llama (I assume he is a llama and not an alpaca?) and then I only used the stamp set once, which is a crime because it's SO cute.  So today the cactus got to come out and play, along with the coordinating paper.  This was fun to make.

I started with the Paper Players sketch:

I did move my sentiment up to the smallest panel but otherwise stayed true to the sketch.

Add in the Retro Rubber challenge:

I did the top row, with patterned paper, green, and heat embossing, which gave me a great excuse to try out the new sparkly embossing powder.  I got both black and white, and tried them both; the black was actually easier to read but I felt like if I did the sentiment in black then I'd have to add black mats to the card and I just didn't wanna, so I went with the white.  Anyway, Birthday Fiesta is at least two years old.

Finally, here's the Cupcake Inspiration Challenge:

I think that might be the only cactus stamp I own, but I could be mistaken.  As my husband would tell you, my stamp collection is quite vast :p

Fiesta like there's no manana, peeps!  Today is Harry Potter's birthday, if you need an excuse to celebrate.

Supplies, all SU! (some retired)
Stamps:  Birthday Fiesta
Ink:  Emerald Envy, Versamark
Paper:  Emerald Envy, Melon Mambo, Crushed Curry, Thick Whisper White, Festive Birthday DSP
Accessories:  Fiesta Time Framelits, Shimmer White EP, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella (on the cactus)

Llure of the Llama

When the new Stampin' Up! catalog came out last summer, I loved the llama set right at the very front of the catalog.  But there was so much other stuff to love, too, that I didn't get Lloyd the Llama and then--wahhh!--he showed up on the retiring list.  And I thought about it for quite a while and decided not to get him, because I didn't want to buy the stamp set and then never use it and sometimes I forget about retired stamps I have (which is why I have my own personal stamp catalog, which is quite large and in charge).

And theeeennnnn....

Yeah I have a llama in the house!  I really don't know how these things happen.  He's just so cute with that slightly derpy expression.  Welcome to the Snapdragon family, Lloyd the Llama.  Let's fiesta like there's no manana!

(And of COURSE I got the matching Framelits and DSP!! Duh!)

Once again I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

Easy breezy beautiful, llama style.

Have a great day, y'all.  Ole!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Birthday Fiesta
Ink:  Tip Top Taupe, Emerald Envy
Paper:  Crushed Curry, Melon Mambo, Thick Whisper White, Festive Birthday DSP
Accessories:  Fiesta Time Framelits, Dimensionals