The Kachina Doll Mystery

Mornin' y'all and welcome back to the Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today is book #62, The Kachina Doll Mystery: 

We have three pretty great covers this time and at least Nancy is strawberry blonde on the third one.  I don't have a favorite cover this time around, I love the colors on all three and had a good time making my cards for them...maybe because this book is one of my favorite Drews!

Case file:  Nancy, Bess, and George are invited to Arizona by their friend Heather McGuire to investigate strange happenings and sabotage at the ranch resort her family is trying to get started.  Suspicion has fallen on a young boy who's living at the ranch with his aunt.  In addition, there have been sightings of a Kachina doll ghost (pictured on the first two covers) and rumors of a long-lost treasure.

Here's my first card:

I didn't want to be unintentionally disrespectful of First Nations cultures so I decided to stick with the desert setting for my cards, starting with Desert Details which I dearly love.  When the girls arrive in Arizona, they talk a lot about how Heather and her family have made the desert bloom at their ranch, so desert blooms it is for this card!

I used Merry Merlot, Blushing Bride, and Just Jade for my colors and I was surprised at how much I liked them together.  I've never been a fan of Blushing Bride but I really like how it plays together with the other two colors.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Desert Details
Ink:  Merry Merlot, Blushing Bride
Paper:  Merry Merlot, Just Jade, Whisper White, Awash in Beauty DSP
Accessories:  Desert Details dies, Everyday Arches dies, Dimensionals, Regal Foiled Dots

Here's card #2:

At one point in the book, Nancy and a large group of people take a trail ride out into the desert and have dinner and sing songs around a campfire, and there are several mentions of coyotes so Musical Jamboree was a natural choice for this one.

To match this cover, I used Lovely Lipstick, Azure Afternoon, Tranquil Tide, and Cinnamon Cider.  I used an Azure Afternoon watercolor wash pattern for the color of Nancy's dress and would you believe that Tranquil Tide piece on the bottom is from the Classic Garage DSP stack?  I just stamped some grassy bits on it.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Musical Jamboree
Ink:  Early Espresso, Azure Afternoon, Tranquil Tide, Stampin' Blends in Cinnamon Cider, Ivory, Lovely Lipstick, Golden Glow
Paper:  Lovely Lipstick, Early Espresso, Whisper White, Bloom Impressions DSP, Classic Garage DSP
Accessories:  Dimensionals

And for my third card:

One of the acts of sabotage that was blamed on the innocent kid was burning a huge cactus, which almost fell on Nancy, Bess, and George when they went to check it out and I will not miss an opportunity to make a fun cactus card.  Plus this gave me an excuse to use the frame dies from Desert Details since I didn't use them on my first card as I was focused on the arch shape.  One of the clues that Nancy finds is an old journal, so I used a piece of patterned paper with a lot of words on it.

Another color combination that was very fun to work with:  Shy Shamrock, Pool Party, and Fresh Freesia.  This particular book has some water damage along the right side, so if I find a copy in better condition I will probably grab it, but this one is otherwise in pretty good shape.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Flowering Desert
Ink:  Shy Shamrock, Fresh Freesia, Pool Party
Paper:  Shy Shamrock, Whisper White, Pool Party DSP
Accessories:  Desert Details dies, Dimensionals, Tinsel Gems

This book definitely hearkens back to Shadow Ranch which is one of my all-time favorites, I wish they had done some kind of callback to that book but they didn't.  This book also has an incident with a scorpion, which is the second book in a row that I don't have scorpion stamps for so maybe I should look into that.  The sabotage mystery was a no-brainer to solve; it's the missing treasure and the Kachina doll ghost that are more interesting and delightfully spooky.  I think this book is more respectful of First Nations cultures, by which I mean that Nancy doesn't dig up any bodies this time (yeah that bar was low), but we get a little bit of talk about Hopi culture and artwork, which is nice.  Also I have seen Kachina dolls in person, they are amazing and beautiful!  I'm giving this one five stars, I love it.  If you're inspired to make a card for this book, please leave me a comment!  And I'll see you next week when Nancy takes on The Twin Dilemma.

Desert Sunshine for a Paper Players Sketch

Mornin' y'all!  It is time once again for a new Paper Players challenge, and this week the lovely and talented Claire has a sketch for us:

One of the stamp sets that I got out for last week's CAS floral challenge was Desert Details, and since I didn't use it for that challenge I just had to use it for this sketch.  Here's what I made:

I used both the Delicate Desert DSP and the Dry Brushed Metallic specialty paper for this, I think it's the first time I cut into the specialty paper.  I added some brushed metallic dots to bring the gold over and draw the eye toward the greeting on my desert landscape backdrop.  For the "anything goes" strip, I combined one of the stamps that's a long, thin pattern and a die on a scrap of the same paper I used for the background (it's a bit I cut off the top that's just a little bit Soft Succulent colored).  And just because I like sparkle, I added Wink of Stella to the largest flower.

Check out the other design team creations on the Paper Players blog, and you can hop through their individual blogs to leave some comments too:

The Paper Players Design Team

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Anne Marie Hile

Ann Schach

Jan Clothier

Stef Perry

you are here --> Christy Stanford

And then upload your card at the Paper Players blog!  Keep in mind a few simple 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!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Desert Details
Ink:  Cajun Craze, Soft Succulent, Pale Papaya
Paper:  Soft Succulent, Thick Basic White, Delicate Desert DSP, Dry Brushed Metallic Specialty Paper
Accessories:  Desert Details dies, Dimensionals, Brushed Metallic Dots

Mauve-y Desert

I love me a good pun.  And for today's card, we're visiting the Mauve-y Desert.

Let me tell you, this card was a *challenge*.  I started with this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

Which I found more difficult than usual.  I paired that with the Color Throwdown:

And this was a challenge because those are NOT my kind of colors.  I like bright, clean colors, not muted dirty ones.  But I went with the outgoing Blushing Bride (not sad to see this one go) and the incoming Moody Mauve (not very excited to have this one coming in) with a bit of Early Espresso.  So yeah, combining those two challenges this week was definitely a challenge for me.  I chose Desert Details because of the long thin stamp, and I thought the larger flower could stand in for the rainbow shape on the sketch and the two smaller ones for the cloud shape.

I did get something major accomplished yesterday, and it took a solid FOUR HOURS:

There's my paper hoard (I am a paper dragon, for sure).  It's 12x12 cardstock on the left (for all my scrapbook pages) and patterned paper on the right, though a couple of the containers have finished scrapbook pages in them.  I bought a LOT of 12x12 cardstock when it went on sale due to the color refresh, and yesterday I opened up all the packs and organized everything by color.  I have the current color families on top (brights sorted by color name, then regals, etc.), and then all the retired colors in alphabetical order underneath that.  Also one entire container has nothing but black in it, I wish they'd bring that back to the full-time cardstock lineup.  While I was doing this, I FINALLY found two packs of In Color cardstock I bought like three months ago that then disappeared and it's been driving me nuts ever since.  For some reason I had stuck them in the middle of my Garden Green 12x12 cardstock.  I have no idea why.  I also made myself an inventory sheet so I know how many sheets I have of each color, and whether or not I have patterned paper in each color.  Remember when SU!'s color family DSP was 12x12?  I put it in here with the 12x12 cardstock so I know exactly where to lay my hands on it if I need it.  Also I feel a little bit sad for our movers next month because this paper is HEAVY.  For reals, my back and shoulders are sore from everything I did yesterday to move all the paper around and get it organized.

Enough about my organization obsession.  The hubs just got home after being gone for 10 days for work, so I'm going to go be quiet in my craft room while he takes a nap and then I'll spend time with him when he doesn't feel like a zombie.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Desert Details
Ink:  Moody Mauve, Blushing Bride, Early Espresso
Paper:  Blushing Bride, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Desert Details dies, Mini Dimensionals, Artisan Pearls

SUO Challenges: Desert Sunshine

Happy Tuesday, y'all!  We went to see the Dungeons & Dragons movie yesterday and all three of us really enjoyed it : )  And none of us have any experience with D&D; my brother has played for years and he approved of the movie as well.  So go see it if you haven't already, it's a fun time!

Know what else is fun?  We've got a new challenge at SUO Challenges today!

We challenge you to use the colors Soft Succulent, Calypso Coral, and Pale Papaya, which just so happen to be featured in the Delicate Desert Desert suite.  I love this suite, the papers are gorgeous and so is the Desert Details stamp set, snag them now as they're retiring soon!  So guess what suite I used to make my card for today...

I totally CASEd this card by Amy Koenders that she posted a couple of weeks ago, isn't it beautiful?  Thanks for the inspiration, Amy!  I played around a while to figure out how I wanted to arrange my collage elements.

Hope you enjoy playing with these colors as much as I did, and don't forget to upload your card on the SUO Challenges blog.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Desert Details
Ink:  Calypso Coral, Pale Papaya
Paper:  Pale Papaya (you can't see it but that's what I used for the card base), Thick Basic White, Delicate Desert DSP
Accessories:  Desert Details dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Fine Sparkle Gems (retired), Dimensionals

On A Dark Desert Highway

Happy Friday, y'all!  The hubs is off work and Ryan is off school today, so I may not get much craft room time, but I'll get to spend time with my two favorite dudes.  And I did have a *really* good time in my craft room yesterday, so there's that : )  Here's one of my creations!

Umm how much am I in love with Starry Sky.  It's amazing.  The colors aren't quite right in my photo, but it's the best I could do with yesterday's super gloomy skies.

I rotated this week's Freshly Made Sketch to make a landscape card:

And I paired that with the Color Throwdown:

I used Starry Sky, Soft Suede, and Cajun Craze for my colors, isn't this a fun palette?  I like it.

Okay, I need to go start finalizing our itinerary for spring break.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Desert Details, Nature's Prints
Ink:  Starry Sky, Soft Suede, Cajun Craze
Paper:  Starry Sky, Soft Suede, Thick Basic White, Delicate Desert DSP
Accessories:  Desert Details dies, In Color Matte Dots, Dimensionals

Desert Sunshine

New stamps alert!  I spent some time this week getting my craft room organized and unpacking my new stamping goodies, and yesterday I made my first card with the stunning new Desert Details bundle.  Take a look:

I haven't cut into the coordinating DSP yet but I will soon : )  For today's card, I used the colors from the Color Throwdown:

I read it as Bumblebee, Rococo Rose, and Old Olive, so yes I used two retired In Colors with my new stuff by why not?  Also I still had some Shimmery White cardstock on my table from yesterday's card, so I stamped the desert blooms on that.  I paired the color challenge with the Freshly Made Sketches challenge:

I had fun with the new stamp set and I look forward to playing with it some more, plus the new papers too.  I love the sentiments in this set!  It's different than any of our other desert-themed sets too, with the Southwest-inspired elements and nary a cactus in sight.

I spent part of the day yesterday going to the store and making a meal for a coworker of my husband's who just had a baby.  Today I'm looking forward to more craft room time and not going anywhere...after all, I have several loads of laundry to do :p  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Desert Details
Ink:  Rococo Rose, Bumblebee, Early Espresso
Paper:  Bumblebee, Shimmery White, Old Olive DSP
Accessories:  Desert Details dies, Wonderful Gems, Dimensionals