The Crooked Banister

Good morning friends, and welcome to the 48th Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today, Nancy is investigating The Crooked Banister.

Okay, so Rudy Nappi went ALL IN on the hot pink on this cover but I really like the composition with the crooked banister and that somewhat menacing robot.  Quite an eye-catching cover.

Case file:  Carson has clients who have been swindled by conman Rawley Banister, who has since disappeared, so he asks Nancy to investigate Rawley's peculiar mansion and see if she can find clues as to where he went, with the help of Rawley's two siblings.  Rawley liked to call himself the Crooked Banister and he's got a creepy robot, a literal crooked banister, poison paintings, hidden rooms, and a moat that sometimes catches on fire.  Yeah this one is pretty weird.

Here's my card:

Did I buy robot stamps just for this challenge?  Uh, YEAH, of course I did.  I had to make a card for Robby the Robot (who does not say "Danger Will Robinson!" because he IS the danger), and I really enjoyed the colors too:  Magenta Madness, Lovely Lipstick, and Mango Melody.

My robot is far less menacing than Nancy's.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Nuts & Bolts
Ink:  Basic Gray, Versamark, Stampin' Blends in Smoky Slate & Magenta Madness
Paper:  Magenta Madness, Lovely Lipstick, Thick Basic White, Magenta Madness DSP, Lovely Lipstick DSP, Mango Melody DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, white EP, Dimensionals, Smoky Slate Pearls

One more card because I was having fun:

Rawley was obsessed with poisons so I had to do a poisonous card with the Sweet Hauntings stamp set.  I need to ink up my Lovely Lipstick ink pad, my background of poisonous drips was more subtle than I was really going for.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sweet Hauntings, Drizzling Droplets
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Lovely Lipstick, Stampin' Blends in Mango Melody, Magenta Madness, Lovely Lipstick, Smoky Slate
Paper:  Magenta Madness, Thick Basic White, Lovely Lipstick DSP, Mango Melody DSP
Accessories:  Layering Circles dies, Dimensionals, Neutral Matte Dots

Like I said before, this book is just a bit bizarre...well, more than a bit, but I do enjoy bananas hijinks so I'm giving this one three and a half stars because I think it's fun.  If Nancy and Robby inspire you to make a card, please leave me a comment so I can see!  And we'll see you next week when Nancy sleuths out The Secret of Mirror Bay.

Cozy Cuppa

Mornin' y'all!  I didn't get quite as much craft room time as I wanted to yesterday (I need to work on my time management skills...I get distracted) but I did make a card for today!

Check out this week's fun sketch from Freshly Made Sketches:

And the Color Throwdown:

The inspo pic just looked so COZY and it 100% drove what I chose for stamp sets today.  I used Boho Blue, Very Vanilla, and Crumb Cake for my colors, with a bit of Pecan Pie for the coffee (even though I don't drink coffee, I'm a tea girl).  Some In Color dots from last year's catalog and my card was finished.  Like I said, I don't drink coffee, but a lot of my friends do so I'm sure this will get sent out soon!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Latte Love, Drizzling Droplets
Ink:  Crumb Cake, Boho Blue, Pecan Pie, Stampin' Blends in Boho Blue & Pecan Pie
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Thick Very Vanilla
Accessories:  In Color Dots, Dimensionals

Speaking of cozy, while the hubs and I were out antiquing on Tuesday, I found this:

It's a little quilt about 3 feet square and I bought it to go on my dining table or island counter to decorate for Thanksgiving (I like to host Thanksgiving with as many people as I can because more people = more PIES to make!) and it was only $6.  I recently bought three cross stitch patterns that are quilt inspired and done in fall colors, so yesterday I went out and bought the thread for all three of them:

Most of the reds are on the bottom I think.  Anyway, at some point, I will have those cross stitched pieces done and framed to go on the little quilt.  Most likely not for this Thanksgiving since I haven't started yet, but maybe next year's.  Gotta love starting new projects!

Rainy Day Blues

Mornin' y'all!  I had a good time in my craft room yesterday and made THREE cards that I'm quite pleased with, but the other two will make their appearances later as they're for design team work.  It has been bright and sunny here lately, but it's raining on my card today, take a look:

I do love these bold colors together!  Check out the Paper Players challenge:

Joanne used the cute bunny from Playing in the Rain, so I wanted to use something different.  I was going to go rooting through my retired stamps until I saw the color challenge from Cupcake Inspirations:

And then I had to use the fox stamp : )  I used Pumpkin Pie and both Blueberry Bushel and Azure Afternoon for my colors, and for once the Wink of Stella on the fox's umbrella actually shows up.  I thought it would be cute to put my greeting on a die-cut cloud, and that little "hello" from Submarine Life worked perfectly.  And even though it looks more like fluffy snow than rain, I couldn't resist using Drizzling Droplets for my background.  Guess where that strip of Pumpkin Pie DSP came from?  It's in the Stargazing pack and I thought just a little strip of it was just the thing to ground my fox on the rainy background.

That's it for me today.  I've got some more projects to tackle : ) Whether it's rainy or sunny where you are, have a great day, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Playing in the Rain, Drizzling Droplets, Submarine Life
Ink:  Night of Navy, Blueberry Bushel, Azure Afternoon, Stampin' Blends in Pumpkin Pie, Ivory, Blueberry Bushel
Paper:  Blueberry Bushel, Thick Basic White, Stargazing DSP, Bright & Beautiful DSP Stack
Accessories:  Playing in the Rain dies, Wink of Stella, Dimensionals

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day, y'all!  And happy birthday to my hubs, my favorite Valentine : )  Since he's still on deployment, I'll just have to celebrate Heart Day with Ryan, my favorite ice cream date.  So here's the card I made for Ryan:

The Share a Milkshake bundle always makes me think of an old-fashioned diner/soda fountain kind of place, which makes me think of George McFly in the 1955 era of the first Back to the Future movie and I totally just tried to type BAKE to the Future.  Anyway, I was inspired by the fun sketch from Retro Rubber:

Share a Milkshake is one year old so it just barely counts as retro, and I confess I used a brand new background stamp on here, how do you like Drizzling Droplets?  I had already cut the DSP for the card when I got the idea to stamp Drizzling Droplets on the patterned paper and I just had to do it.  I think the most retro things on my card are the glitter enamel dots!  They're from when Berry Burst was an In Color so they're definitely retro.

I used the sweet color combo from the Paper Players:

And since I made this a Valentine for my kiddo, I'm entering in the Inspire. Create. challenge:

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Share a Milkshake, Drizzling Droplets
Ink:  Smoky Slate, Bubble Bath, Berry Burst
Paper:  Berry Burst, Thick Basic White, Bright & Beautiful DSP Stack
Accessories:  Share a Milkshake dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Glitter Enamel Dots



That's it for cards today, but I do have a funny story to share.

Me, texting my dad at 9:30pm last night:  Um, I have a problem
Me: (pausing to move ladder)
Dad:  (already calling my phone because he's On The Ball)
Me:  Ryan and I are fine, we're safe.  But you know how this house has a light fixture in the entryway, where it's open up to the second floor?
Dad:  Yeeeaaahhh...

Me:  Well, Ryan likes to give Peking (his favorite duck stuffie) "flying lessons"...
Dad: (laughing) I think I see where this is going.
Ryan, from his room upstairs:  IT'S NOT FUNNY!!!!!!!!
Me:  So yeah, Peking is stuck in the light fixture.
Dad:  I'll come over there tomorrow morning and we'll figure out how to get him down.  If all else fails, we can call the fire department.
Me:  It's not a cat in a tree, it's a duck in a light fixture, ha.
Ryan:  PEEEEEEKIIIIIIINNNNG!

So yeah, this story doesn't have an ending yet, but figuring out how to get the duck out of the light fixture will be our entertainment this morning.  Wish us luck!