The Secret of Mirror Bay

Happy Saturday and welcome to the Nancy Drew Challenge!  This week, Nancy and her chums are off to rural New York State to investigate The Secret of Mirror Bay:

Okay, I think this cover is unique in Nancy Drew covers with the way Nancy is presented.  I can't think of a similar composition with Nancy's face so large (though partially covered).  We have totally embraced red hair (for now, anyway) and I do have to say this cover is eye-catching.

Case file:  Aunt Eloise (I love when she turns up) invites Nancy, Bess, and George to vacation with her at a cabin on Otsego Lake, where there's a woman who apparently walks on water and a mysterious green sorcerer trying to scare people out of the woods.  Eventually Ned, Burt, and Dave show up with an uncle who turns into a little romantic interest for Aunt Eloise, we learn a lot about fireflies, and they all go to the Baseball Hall of Fame though it has nothing to do with the mystery.  And as you can tell from the cover, Nancy unearths a treasure from the lake.  Wait, if it's in the water, does that count as unearthing it?  Okay, she recovers a treasure from the lake, how's that.

Here's my card:

I really wanted a leafy background for my card to match the leafy background on the book cover, and happily my new favorite Moonlit Flora DSP had exactly what I was looking for.  Since a lot of this mystery is about fireflies and trying to replicate their light effects, I had to go with Lighting the Way for my stamp and die set, and I looked up pictures of fireflies which are indeed brown and deep orange, though maybe not exactly as I have it on my card.

I'm always surprised when Basic Beige works well for something.  I like the idea of a pale neutral, but this one usually breaks into an unappealing green (especially if watercoloring).  This time it matches the cover of the book really well.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Lighting the Way
Ink:  Peaceful Pine
Paper:  Basic Beige, Evening Evergreen, Golden Glow, Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, Moonlit Flora DSP
Accessories:  Lighting the Way dies, Stitched So Sweetly dies, Dimensionals, Faux Glass Dots

And I have one more card:

The Drew Crew meet a girl working as a camp counselor nearby who is a college student studying bioluminescent fungi, so I had to make a mushroom card.  I used colored pencils for the image stamped in Early Espresso on Basic Beige cardstock.

Once again, I just love that Moonlit Flora DSP and I think this matches the mood of the book pretty well.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Inspirational Sketches, Fancy Flexible Phrases
Ink:  Early Espresso
Paper:  Cajun Craze, Basic Beige, Whisper White, Moonlit Flora DSP
Accessories:  Lots of Labels dies, Crayola colored pencils, Mini Dimensionals, Faux Glass Dots

This mystery is okay, but not one of my favorites--not terrible, but not super memorable for me either.  I give it three stars.  If you're inspired to make a card, please leave me a comment below!  And we'll see you next Saturday when Nancy takes on The Double Jinx Mystery.  Cheers!

The Witch Tree Symbol

Happy Saturday and welcome to the 33rd Nancy Drew Challenge, where today we will investigate The Witch Tree Symbol!  Here are my books:

I think my OT cover on the left might be printed darker than usual, it seems dark when I compare it to pictures online.  We have Nancy and a pair of Amish people looking at the titular witch tree symbol and I kinda wonder why Rudy Nappi painted the hands the way he did for the two Amish people.  I bet painting hands in a realistic way is a challenge.

The RT on the right is a newer Nappi cover and it's spookier, which is amusing to me because I wouldn't classify this story as being particularly spooky, even by Nancy Drew standards.  Nancy is wearing a '70s-style blue pantsuit here with some purplish details which I find interesting, and we learn over the course of the book that a witch tree is one that has a parasite on it that makes it look odd.

For once, I don't have a favorite among the two covers, I think they're both interesting.  Let's take a look inside:

Case file:  Nancy, Bess, and George travel to Pennsylvania's Amish country in pursuit of stolen furniture; we learn about Amish culture (not sure how accurately it's portrayed here but interesting nonetheless) and Nancy is repeatedly accused of being a witch, usually right after some character says the Amish people aren't superstitious.  Nancy finds the furniture, reunites a runaway girl with her strict parents, and they eat a lot of food while of course fat-shaming poor Bess, who deserves better friends.

Here's my card:

Nancy has to track down where a "schnitz" is, which has something to do with apples, and that combined with the Amish character Manda Kreutz made me think of this sweet Greeting Farm stamp called Lottie, isn't she darling with her bowl of apples?  I made her hair dark because I was thinking of Manda rather than Nancy.  Plus I have dark hair so that's what I tend to do when I color in stamped images like this.

I chose Boho Blue to go with the sky on the cover, a bit of Calypso Coral to match the symbol being painted on the tree, and a bit of Wild Wheat to coordinate with Nancy's shirt here.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Lottie from The Greeting Farm, Fancy Flexible Phrases
Ink:  Early Espresso, Stampin' Blends in neutrals, Petal Pink, Calypso Coral, Boho Blue, Mossy Meadow, Wild Wheat
Paper:  Boho Blue, Thick Basic White, Timeless Plaid DSP Stack
Accessories:  Stitched So Sweetly dies, Ombre Matte Decorative Dots, Dimensionals

Next up is the RT:

As I said, I think this cover is misleadingly spooky, but it does grab attention.  Here's my card:

Nancy is accused of being a witch several times so I just had to make a witch card, plus it has witch in the name of the book.  I used some nontraditional Halloween colors to match the book cover.

Once again I think Nancy's pantsuit is Boho Blue but I ended up not working that into my card; instead I have Moody Mauve for the purple accents on her clothes and some Pretty Peacock for the blue color in the tree, plus a black card base for the shadows behind Nancy.  I got Out on a Limb last year and this is the first time I've inked it up other than doing my index sheet for it.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Out on a Limb, Fancy Flexible Phrases
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Pretty Peacock, Stampin' Blends in Petal Pink, Copper Clay, Pretty Peacock, Moody Mauve
Paper:  Basic Black, Thick Basic White, All About Autumn DSP
Accessories:  Seasonal Labels dies, Mini Dimensionals, Pretty Peacock sequins

But wait, there's more!  I found some DSP that I really wanted to use to match the RT cover, but the DSP didn't match the vibe of my little witch, so I ended up making another card:

This is the Earthen Elegance DSP, which coordinates with the Earthen Textures stamps and dies I used, that background pattern just felt like it coordinated with the book cover.

This time I did work in some Boho Blue to match Nancy's outfit, and still have Moody Mauve on there to boot.  I think I like the witch card better though, I was getting tired by the time I got to making this one so I'm not sure how much I like it.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Earthen Textures
Ink:  Pebbled Path, Boho Blue
Paper:  Misty Moonlight, Boho Blue, Pecan Pie, Earthen Elegance DSP
Accessories:  Earthen Textures dies, Deckled Rectangles dies

I wish I had reread this before the hubs and I visited Ohio's Amish country a few years ago just to see if Amish culture and turns of phrase are similar to what's depicted here, though we were in Ohio as opposed to Pennsylvania.  I do think the focus on food is accurate, I still remember Amish pies from our trip : )  I give this one four stars, it's a fun adventure outside of River Heights.  If you are inspired to join the challenge, comment with a link so I can see what you make!  Otherwise, I'll see you next week when we investigate The Hidden Window Mystery.

Joyful Cardinal

Mornin' y'all!  I am tired this morning, Daphne has been getting me up three times a night for the past couple of nights so she can go outside.  Hope her tummy feels better soon.  Anyway, I got a bit of crafty time yesterday after running errands and writing in cards, so here is my card for today:

I had to dust off my long-retired stamp set A Cardinal Christmas for the Hand-Stamped Sentiments challenge:

I also couldn't resist the plaid, I love me a good plaid!  Or two : )  I used up several scraps of the Wrapped in Plaid DSP Stack for this card, thanks to the layer-iffic sketch from As You See It:

I didn't want to cover up my cardinal image, so instead of the wide strip for the sentiment, I used some gold cord and stamped the greeting on the circle.  And I just now realized that I copied down the sketch a bit incorrectly, that plaid pattern on the right should be narrower, but oh well.  I think it's obvious that I was using this sketch anyway, despite the vagaries of my creative process.  I think maybe I could have added some gold accents on this, but it's already out in the mail so too late now.

I've got a giant cuppa tea this morning and Daphne is waiting impatiently for me to finish it so she can do her daily tour of the neighborhood.  Have a great day, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  A Cardinal Christmas, Fancy Flexible Phrases
Ink:  Night of Navy, Shaded Spruce
Paper:  Cherry Cobbler, Night of Navy, Thick Basic White, Wrapped in Plaid DSP Stack
Accessories:  Layering Circles Framelits, gold cord, watercolor pencils

Pink Lilacs

Mornin' y'all!  The hubs had a weird work schedule yesterday so he got home after ten last night and I woke up and was so confused that I said "Ryan, what are you doing?" when he came in : )  Ryan had an episode of sleepwalking last week (his first one ever) so that's why mostly-asleep me thought it was Ryan and not the hubs.  My little brother used to sleepwalk when we were kids so at least I have some experience with that.

Anyway, I broke out some old, old stamp sets for today's card:

I had just done a Nancy Drew card with Blossoms Abound (I have been having so much fun with those and I'm working ahead) so it was on my mind when I saw the Paper Players color challenge:

I'm contrary so I wanted to do a non-floral card with these colors, and I did, but I didn't really like how it turned out, so I made this one instead.  I also used the new sketch from CAS Colours & Sketches:

I stamped my flowers on a 3x3 piece of cardstock, then cut it into 1.5" squares and sponged the edges.  I had started with the flowers pointing upwards but after I cut them apart I decided to have them point to the side and that's when I stamped my sentiment.  What would this be called, it's not really a mosaic but I like the effect.

Ryan has his extracurricular class today so I get an extra-long day to do fun things in my craft room and maybe do a little laundry.  But first it's a beautiful morning and Daphne is ready to go for her walk.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Blossoms Abound, Fancy Flexible Phrases
Ink:  Bubble Bath, Berry Burst, Lost Lagoon
Paper:  Bubble Bath, Lost Lagoon, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Purple Shimmer Gem in Berry Burst

Gothic Halloween

Happy Halloween, y'all!  I'm wearing a super cute shirt featuring Gretchen the mini horse with a witch hat on and it's bright orange :) and my Stitch Halloween jammy pants and socks so I am appropriately festive.  I'm glad that my costume for tonight is nice and toasty--we got quite a bit of snow yesterday!  Like, a couple of inches!  Now it's bright and sunny out and the high is in the 50s, so the snow might be gone by the time trick-or-treating starts, but this is the first time I've ever experienced snow on Halloween.  Ha!  I put all our Halloween candy in a big bag up by the front door where hopefully I will not be snacking on it all day long.  We've got a lot of kids in the neighborhood so that bag of candy weighs probably 20 pounds...I wanted to be prepared.

You know I couldn't resist making just one more Halloween card this year.

Once again I'm reaching back in the retired archives for a cool Halloween stamp set.  I'd never used this particular image stamp before, what would you call it, anyway?  It's From the Crypt, and there's a creepy skull that I haven't used too (next year).  I added Wink of Stella to the bat's wings for some sparkle but you can't see it in the photograph, and I thought the greeting from Fancy Flexible Phrases was appropriate for the ornate bat design.

I started with the Atlantic Hearts sketch and made it a little more CAS:

I like how the torn edges on the top and bottom add a bit more detail without making the card front feel too busy.  I was trying to make it more CAS so I could still enter at Addicted to CAS:

And sadly, that is most likely my final Halloween card for this year.  But I am plotting an entire parade of Halloween cards for next year, I love making them.  In the meantime, I'll still make some fall cards and Christmas is going to start creeping in here soon.  But for now I am enjoying the last bit of Halloween joy.

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  From the Crypt, Fancy Flexible Phrases
Ink:  Basic Gray, Smoky Slate
Paper:  Basic Black, Smoky Slate
Accessories:  Basic Black 3/8" taffeta ribbon, Wink of Stella

Friday Flashback: Watercolor Garden

Happy Friday, y'all!  Looks like it's going to be a nice day where we are today, and the trees are starting to bloom so it looks like spring.  And so does today's Friday Flashback!  Today's featured stamp set is Watercolor Garden.  Let's check it out!

Also features Fancy Flexible Phrases

I made this card for my stamp club way, way back in 2007 and I still love those rock'n'rolled flowers.

Also features Background Basics, Warm Words

Ya know what, looking back at some of my very old cards (this one is from 2006), for a long time there I wasn't using *any* patterned paper.  And now I've got a ton of it!  But sometimes it's nice to go back to the basics of nothing but ink and paper and stamps.

Also features Terrific Tulips, Season by Season

The flowers on this one aren't from Watercolor Garden, just the stems and leaves.  And it's sad that this set has apparently been collecting dust since I made this card in 2008!  Well, I broke it out for today's new card:

Apparently I was feeling old skool so no patterned paper...I got this idea to use only Whisper White (well, Thick WW) cardstock and stamp each panel with something different, but I wanted soft pastel colors.  The Filigree background I did by sponging the ink on the stamp so it came out lighter, and pretty much everything else but the sentiment was stamped off once.  There are some Pink Pirouette butterflies on the bee panel but they're really, really light.

I used this week's Mojo Monday sketch:

And the Retro Rubber Challenge:

I figured that the spring flowers counted as Easter-y, after all isn't there a flower called an Easter lily? ;)  Anyway, I've had Watercolor Garden for at least 10 years (whoa!), same for Filigree, and Fancy Flexible Phrases for 9 years.  Hadn't really thought about it but I suppose I have been a stamper for over a decade now.  Craziness!

The challenge over at Just Add Ink is to Just Add E--I think my Easter card qualifies.

Hope you have a good weekend, stampy folks.  I'm off to the gym (again!) and then I've got some spring cleaning to do.  Bleargh.  But then it's date night with the hubs tonight so that makes it better.  Cheers!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Watercolor Garden, Filigree, Fancy Flexible Phrases
Ink:  Perfect Plum, Wild Wasabi, So Saffron, Pink Pirouette, Soft Suede
Paper:  Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Circles Framelits, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Peaceful Wishes

Howdy, folks!  It's the last Friday before Christmas, and you know what that means:  the stores are gonna be PACKED this weekend.  And also this is the last Christmas stamp Friday Flashback this year :)  This week's choice is Peaceful Wishes.

Also features Many Merry Messages

This is another one of those times that I could have sworn I'd used a retired stamp set a whole lot more often, but other than two other versions of this same card this is IT from the archives.  So I made a new card for today:

At least this time I managed to use different stamps and make a completely different card than the first time :)  Most of the time I don't go back and look at my previous creations before I make something new for the Friday Flashback, so every once in a while my new card winds up looking a whole lot like whatever was in the archives.  Anyway, here's a closeup:

I showed the card to the hubs and we both thought the pine cones could use a little glitter, which you still can't see well in the picture but I tried.  So the pine cones have a bit of sparkle, because sparkle is always a good choice on a Christmas card.

I used the festive color challenge at Colour Me...!

And the sketch from Mojo Monday:

And there's one more Christmas card done :)  Christmas cheers to you, peeps!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Peaceful Wishes, Fancy Flexible Phrases
Ink:  Baked Brown Sugar, Early Espresso, Always Artichoke
Paper:  Baked Brown Sugar, Early Espresso, Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla, Holly Berry Bouquet & Candlelight Christmas DSP
Accessories:  Circle Framelits, Dazzling Details glitter glue, linen thread

Friday Flashback: Floral

Time for the Friday Flashback again already!  This week's randomly chosen retired stamp set is just one stamp, the background Floral.  Back in the day before I had tons of patterned paper and embossing folders and such to play with, I used background stamps a LOT so today's Flashback is longer than like the last three put together (no wait, four flashbacks, I looked), and I didn't even post all my previous cards with Floral : )  So let's flash back with a visit to the archives, shall we?

This one features an old favorite, Roses in Winter, plus It's Your Birthday for the sentiment.

One of my favorite color combinations ever!  Baja Breeze, Pink Pirouette, and neutrals.  Main images on this one are from Eastern Influences (another favorite of mine).

 Flower and definition stamp on this one are from Bloomin' Beautiful.

A nice springy card with the morning glories from Morning Soft and sentiment from Warm Words.

Main image from Perfect Petals, "wish" from Small Script.

Here's a more autumnal take with a hummingbird from Spring Song and a second background stamp, Sanded.  I like this card but I wish I could move that sentiment up onto the main image panel--it would have fit just fine underneath the bird!

And here's something a bit different, I stamped the floral pattern with a contrasting color on light cardstock instead of doing tone-on-tone like I did with everything else.  So that's it for the flashback part, here's my new card:

This time I wanted the Floral stamp to take center stage, so I stamped it with Versamark and embossed with Early Espresso powder, then colored with an Aquapainter.  You can't tell from the picture, but the white bit with the sentiment is popped up from the card base, and then the butterfly is popped up again from there so it's multidimensional.

I used the colors from Dynamic Duos' Triple Threat Week:

So there you have it!  I've done nothing but flowery cards (and even a floral scrapbook layout) for over a week now, so I promise that next week I'll have at least two non-floral projects to share.  In the meantime, have a great weekend!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Floral, Best of Butterflies, Fancy Flexible Phrases
Ink:  Versamark, Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango, Wild Wasabi, Elegant Eggplant (because pansies have to be purple!)
Paper:  Melon Mambo, Whisper White, retired Wild Wasabi DSP
Accessories:  Early Espresso EP, Circles Framelits, Artisan Label punch, Dimensionals, random ribbon from my stash that's probably not SU

Friday Flashback: Delight in Life

Happy Friday, Flashback fans!  Which I think is just my mom but that's okay :)  This week's randomly chosen retired stamp set is Delight in Life, which was a Sale-a-Bration stamp set back in the day when it was still called Sell-a-Bration.  So let's flash back...

This old card was done with the white crayon resist technique....I know for me, the white crayon was always the only one that was still pristine and untouched while all the rest of my crayons were well-used.  So here's an idea to use the white crayon too--stamp on glossy white cardstock (might work on regular cardstock, I don't know?) and use the crayon to draw in highlights, then sponge ink over.  Easy peasy.

Welllll I thought this flashback was going to be a lot longer, but somehow that's the only old sample I had!  So here's my all-new card for today:

I used last week's SCS sketch challenge and this week's Color Throwdown, and this card came together in maybe 15 minutes.  I was tempted to swap out the Soft Sky for my personal favorite Baja Breeze, but I was a good girl and stuck to the challenge colors.  Although the way my photo turned out it almost looked like I used Baja Breeze anyway, hmph.  The ribbon is pale pink; I'm not real sure where it came from since I found it in a bag of loose ribbon and I thought it might look okay on here.  It seems a teensy bit heavier than SU's taffeta ribbon, but who knows where I got it.  Anyway, here's the color challenge:

That's a beautiful inspiration pic too.  I had fun using Regal Rose again, I miss that color.

Thanks for stopping by today, and have a great weekend!  I'm off to work on another scrapbook layout so I actually meet my goal of 10 pages for January :)

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Delight in Life, Fancy Flexible Phrases
Ink:  Regal Rose, Baked Brown Sugar, Soft Sky
Paper:  Shimmery White, Soft Sky
Accessories:  Circle Framelits, Argyle EF, ribbon of questionable provenance, Subtles Candy Dots, Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Garden Silhouettes

Good morning, everybody!  It's Friday Flashback time, and this week's randomly chosen retired stamp set (RCRSS?  Nah, that doesn't work) is Garden Silhouettes, which is kind of a companion set to Stem Silhouettes (or at least, I often use them together).  So let's take a peek in the archives, shall we?

Ah, the shaving cream technique background.  Fun, right?  You put a layer of shaving cream on a paper plate and then add a few drops of ink refill and swirl them around, then smoosh glossy cardstock in it.  Scrape off the shaving cream and you're left with this neat swirly background.  I should do this again...oh yeah, use the cheap white foam shaving cream for this, not some fancy-dancy gel stuff : )  Sentiment on this one was from Hugs & Wishes.

I made this one for one of those "color" challenges that makes me roll my eyes, where there's only one color and two neutrals.  Not that I mind doing cards like that from time to time, but when you do that for six weeks in a row it gets old.  I think color challenges should have multiple colors in them, not neutrals. *steps off very colorful soapbox*  Sentiment from Fabulous Flowers.

Ooh, purple.  I miss Almost Amethyst, Lavender Lace and Lovely Lilac.   Sentiment on this one was from Fancy Flexible Phrases.

Here's another one color/two neutrals card, very simple because I think I was making Mother's Day cards at the last minute.  That sounds like me.

So here's today's brand new creation:

The colors are this week's SCS color challenge (now with multiple colors!):  Soft Sky (bring back Baja Breeze!!), So Saffron, and Summer Starfruit.  When I first read that, I thought EWWW and couldn't imagine what to do with them.  Then I got the cardstock colors out and what do you know, the So Saffron turns the Summer Starfruit into a green color, hmm.   So I actually liked that color combo a whole lot more than I thought I would.  I kept wanting to add more stuff to this card but it insisted that it was done like this, so I said okay.

I used last Friday's Sketch Frenzy Friday sketch:

I think I love this sketch.  I've got some ideas to use it again.  Anyway, for today's card I moved the banner flaggy thing over to the right side because otherwise all the Summer Starfruit would have been on the same side of the card and I thought it just worked better with my design to have it on the other side.  I used up some DSP scraps too, that Starfruit strip was straight out of the scrap pile, all I did was flag the end.  Yay for using up a small scrap!

Anyway, that's enough yammering for me today.  Since it is our tenth wedding anniversary today (yay us!), hubs and I are heading out to Liverpool for the weekend.  Wonder if he'd mind listening to the Beatles the whole way there...

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies, last card only, all SU!
Stamps:  Garden Silhouettes, Noteworthy
Ink:  Summer Starfruit, Soft Sky
Paper:  Soft Sky, Whisper White, retired So Saffron & Summer Starfruit DSP
Accessories:  Deco Labels Framelits, I forget the name of the butterfly Embosslit thingie