The Thirteenth Pearl

Happy 4th of July, y'all, and welcome to the Nancy Drew Challenge!  We get fireworks for the final hardback Nancy Drew, #56 The Thirteenth Pearl.

The one on the left is my childhood copy, and the one on the right is another matte edition that I picked up at that middle-of-nowhere used book store in Wyoming; the colors are just a bit more saturated on it but for now at least I plan to keep them both.  We get a fun BLUE book cover this time and you can tell we're traveling based on the building depicted on this cover.  I do like how Nancy is in profile and she's the only spot of color on this otherwise blue and gray cover.

Case file:  Japanese jeweler Mr. Moto asks Nancy to locate a missing pearl necklace that belongs to a wealthy socialite (we hear about her a lot but she never actually appears in the book), and shortly after that Mr. Moto also disappears.  Nancy and Carson follow rather insubstantial clues to Tokyo and start tracking an international gang of jewel thieves; upon returning to River Heights the book takes a very strange left turn when Nancy and Ned spy on a cult of pearl worshipers before getting kidnapped.  At least we got a daddy-daughter trip to Japan first, it's fun to have more Carson than usual in this one.

Here's my card:

Naturally I had to do a card featuring pearls for The Thirteenth Pearl, though I included seven pearl embellishments and a bunch of stamped ones.  Did I purchase Seaside Bay specifically to make a card for this book?  Yep.  Of course I did.

I found this Azure Afternoon (and possibly Pool Party?) wash in the Lights of Aurora DSP Stack and I like how it feels like you're underwater and the sun is shining into the water.  I kept a very simple layout and just did some Barely Blush shading on the inside of the oyster and some Wink of Stella on the pearl.  They do talk about color variations in pearls in the book, mentioning pink specifically.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Seaside Bay
Ink:  Basic Gray, Barely Blush, Barely Blush Blends
Paper:  Basic Gray, Azure Afternoon, Barely Blush, Basic Beige, Lights of Aurora DSP Stack
Accessories:  Seaside Bay dies, Layering Circles dies, Circles Collection dies, pearls, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

It's the last hardcover book, you know we're not stopping with one card.  Here's my second:

I bought Geisha Anya from The Greeting Farm many, many moons ago (I have a collection of Asian-inspired stamps since we used to live in Japan for a couple of years) and I'm fairly certain this is the first time I've used her as I still had backing paper on the stamp.  I had some fun coloring in her hair and her kimono, and this time I used some In Color Dots but they look like the flat pearls we had last year in the newer colors so they're still pearls.

I decided to use some Golden Glow for Nancy's hair this time and Flirty Flamingo and Barely Blush for pinks to go with Nancy's face.  And lots more Azure Afternoon for my blue book cover.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Geisha Anya from The Greeting Farm, Symbols of Solicitude, French Filigree
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Azure Afternoon, Stampin' Blends in Basic Black, Smoky Slate, Barely Blush, Azure Afternoon, Golden Glow
Paper:  Azure Afternoon, Basic White, Moonlit Flora DSP
Accessories:  Stitched So Sweetly dies, Dimensionals, In Color Dots

But wait, there's more!

I had pulled Power of Hope and this pagoda before I remembered that I had Geisha Anya, but I wanted to make a card with it too.  I used the leftover scrap of DSP from my first card here and once again accented with more pearls.  I found the Basic Gray DSP scrap in my stash.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Power of Hope
Ink:  Azure Afternoon, Basic Gray
Paper:  Azure Afternoon, Basic Gray, Basic White, Lights of Aurora DSP Stack, Basic Gray DSP
Accessories:  Stitched So Sweetly dies, Dimensionals, pearls

The Thirteenth Pearl trucks along fairly normally by ND standards for like the first 80%, and it reminds me of Fire Dragon where Nancy and several friends visit Hong Kong.  Nancy even dresses up in a kimono and wig to pass herself off as Japanese in this one while George impersonated a specific Chinese girl in Fire Dragon, which is still not my favorite plot point.  I did like the part of this book spent in Japan and we learn quite a bit about cultured pearls, but the ending of it just comes out of left field where suddenly there's not just jewel thieves but a pearl cult.  Say what now?  The heck is a pearl goddess??  I give it three and a half stars for the bizarre turn, it does get extra credit for going to Japan because I loved that part of the plot.

This is the last hardcover Nancy Drew, so does that mean we're done with the Nancy Drew Challenge?  Heck no!  Starting next week, we'll turn over to the Simon & Schuster paperbacks, and not only are there many many of those, there are several cover variations for a lot of them too so I have a whole lot of cards in my future.  If you're inspired to make a card based on today's book, leave me a comment!  And I'll see you here next Saturday for The Triple Hoax.

4, 3, 2, 1...NACHO

Howdy, folks!  Are ya ready for another great Nacho Average Sketch challenge?  Because it is upon us!

I really wanted to use Haunt Ya Later again but I figured I did three cards with it last week so let's do something different.  So here's what I made:

This is a 4-3-2-1 card, which I didn't think about until it was done.  Take a look:

4 colors of cardstock--Mint Macaron, Cajun Craze, Delightful Dijon, Very Vanilla
3 stamp sets--Lighthearted Leaves, A Dozen Thoughts, French Filigree
2 Framelits--leaf and circle
1 color of ink (and also one Candy Dot)

Honestly the thing that took the longest with this card was deciding how I wanted to orient the leaf in relation to the sentiment banner.  I chose the colors on a whim--they just seemed like an interesting combination.  I had to pull French Filigree out of retirement for the background...I looked through the entire current catalog and couldn't find anything that would have worked as well as French Filigree so I went with it.

So now it's your turn!  Take this fabulous sketch for a whirl and show us what you've got on the Nacho blog.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Lighthearted Leaves, A Dozen Thoughts, French Filigree (retired)
Ink:  Cajun Craze
Paper:  Mint Macaron, Cajun Craze, Delightful Dijon, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Leaflets & Circles Framelits, Dimensionals, Neutral Candy Dot

Friday Flashback: Well Scripted

Happy Friday, peeps!  It's time for this week's Friday Flashback, and the randomly selected retired stamp set du jour is Well Scripted, a collection of sentiment stamps from back in 2010.  I'm a wee bit embarrassed this Flashback isn't longer than it is, but let's get to it anyway.

Also features Bloomin' Beautiful

Believe it or not, I made this card when I did a Friday Flashback on my other blog, before I started this stamps/scrapbook blog.  I do love that flower from Bloomin' Beautiful, but the Well Scripted sentiment is a mite hard to see.

Also features My Matryoshka & French Filigree

Coincidentally I used the same birthday stamp on this card, and it's the end of the Flashback part of today's proceedings.  I made a bunch of these for a swap back in the day.  Don't know why I didn't use this set more often, I do like the fonts and it's got a nice collection of sentiments.

Lucky for me, I decided (without checking the archives first) to use a NON-birthday stamp for today's new creation:

Yay Mother's Day card!  I owe the color combination to the Color Throwdown:

It's funny that I used Pale Plum and Perfect Plum on today's card, like I did on the first card on this post.  I almost went with Almost Amethyst and Lovely Lilac instead, but chose the plums specifically because I don't use them very often and then they show up twice in the Friday Flashback.  Anyway, I added Wild Wasabi, Whisper White, and it needed just a teensy bit of So Saffron to make the card work.

The layout is courtesy of Freshly Made Sketches:

I stamped my sentiment banner first and placed it on the card front so I could kind of see where I would want my roses to go.  And I didn't try to fill up the entire Whisper White panel, but somehow I covered up most of the white bits with the other layers.

Anyway, that's it for me this week.  Have a great weekend and cheers, peeps!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Well Scripted, Roses in Winter (an old fave!)
Ink:  Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Wild Wasabi, So Saffron
Paper:  Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Whisper White, Wild Wasabi DSP
Accessories:  Circle punches, hexagon punch, Subtles Candy Dot

Friday Flashback: French Filigree

Felicitations on this fine Friday!  And welcome to this week's Friday Flashback, featuring the background stamp French Filigree.  That's a lot of F's :)  But no failing grades today, just some cards!  So let's visit the archives for some French Filigree artwork.

Also features Falling Leaves & All Holidays

This was my little brother's birthday card one year.  You knew that I was only going to go without leaves for one day :)

Also features Fabulous Flowers

 This one was created when Fabulous Flowers was the featured Friday Flashback stamp set.

Also features Medallion & Occasional Quotes

And here's a birthday card for my hubs from a few years ago.

Also features Well Scripted & My Matryoshka

When we went to Russia, we looked long and hard at the matryoshka dolls and would have loved to buy them, but all the really pretty ones were SUPER expensive so we didn't do it.

Also features Sage Advice & Hearts a Flutter

And there's another former Friday Flashback card.  But now it's time for today's all-new creation:

Hubs' aunt and uncle are hosting us for a big Thanksgiving hooferah next week, so I thought it would be nice to make a card for them.  I used the color challenge from Create with Connie and Mary:

I admit, I was not at all sure about Tangelo Twist on my card...it's just so BRIGHT.  But I think it works because there's so much Hello Honey on there.  I also used the sketch from Just Add Ink:

Easy peasy!  I cut a piece of Hello Honey cardstock to 3 3/8" by 5", stamped it, and then cut it into three strips that were 1 1/8" wide for my background pieces.  Then I pulled out some other wonderful retired stamp sets for the sentiment and leaves, and bing bang boom my card was done.  Which is good, because now I can tackle some other items on my to-do list :)

Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  French Filigree, Day of Gratitude, Curly Cute (all retired)
Ink:  Hello Honey, Blackberry Bliss, Tangelo Twist
Paper:  Hello Honey, Blackberry Bliss, Tangelo Twist, Whisper White
Accessories:  Dimensionals

Ready for Fall

I know a lot of people in the States are still pretty firmly in summertime, at least according to the thermometer, but it's a brisk 55 degrees where I am, and I'm kinda totally loving it.  Fall is my favorite season so I'm thrilled to live someplace that actually *has* a fall...where I grew up in Texas, there's summer and winter, with a very brief transition between the two.

Trying to decide if I like the extra large photos for cards, or if I should just keep it a size smaller.  Hmm.  It's not Friday, but I used all retired stamps for today's creation.  French Script is finger-walked in Sage Shadow over the entire panel, though I wished I'd gotten a bit more of an impression with it as I somehow didn't fill up the spaces I meant to fill up with it and most of it ended up behind the sentiment.  So I added some of the script from French Foliage to help fill in the blanks a little more, and it needed more Chocolate Chip in the mix.

I also used the latest from CAS(E) This Sketch:

And I used the beautiful autumnal palette from Color Throwdown:

The leaves aren't changing colors here quite yet, but it won't be long.  And when that happens, I'll be ready to bake apple bread and pumpkin cookies.  Or pumpkin bread and apple cookies.  Or all four : )

Thanks for stopping by today!  Have a lovely day.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  All-Year Cheer I, French Foliage, French Script (all retired)
Ink:  Sage Shadow, Really Rust, Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake
Paper:  Sage Shadow, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  None, except sponges : )

Friday Flashback: Falling Leaves

Happy Friday, ready to Flashback?  This week's stamp set is Falling Leaves, which I love :)  So let's get to it!

You'll see that I love to line up the leaves in this stamp set.  This was for my brother's birthday a few years ago (he was born in November).  I also used French Filigree and the sentiment is from All Holidays.

Here's a card that matches one of the kokeshi dolls in my collection :)  Sentiment is from the eponymous Grateful Greetings.

Here's a baby book layout which also features Wonderfall.

And another baby book layout.  I do believe that Autumn Traditions DSP is the *only* DSP that Stampin' Up! has ever had with Elegant Eggplant in it (aside from the monochromatic stuff that comes in every color).  It's a shame too because I love Elegant Eggplant.  I think I (and lots of other people too probably) would use it more often if it was in more DSP.

Here's a little CAS card; sentiment is from the Bright Blessings wheel that I cut up into a bunch of little stamps.

So that's it for the past projects, here's the new card:

Yep, I lined up those leaves again!  Though this time I think they're a little crooked, I was kinda in a hurry.  This is based on some old SCS sketch and color challenges; the sketch turned out much better than I thought it would (though it's still a bit overcomplicated for my taste) and I love the colors together.  Again, I used the Autumn Traditions DSP though even in that there's not a print that features Elegant Eggplant as the dominant color.  That Riding Hood Red print and the acorn print are two sides of a single sheet of paper.

That's it for today, hope you enjoyed this Friday Flashback!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Falling Leaves, Express Yourself
Ink:  Riding Hood Red, Elegant Eggplant, Soft Suede
Paper:  Soft Suede, Elegant Eggplant, Very Vanilla, Autumn Traditions DSP (retired)
Accessories:  Corner rounder punch, Elegant Eggplant brad (I'm using up some old brads instead of using the new Candy Dots)
Stamps:  Falling Leaves

Friday Flashback: Fabulous Flowers

Howdy, folks!  It's time for another Friday Flashback :)  Today's randomly-chosen stamp set is the totally awesome Fabulous Flowers.  I'm not going to share allll my cards using this stamp set because then you'd be here all day and you'd probably get bored, but I did pick out several to share.

The background on this one is stamped with the Tres Chic background stamp, which I really should break out and use again.  I think I might go ahead and unmount all my background stamps to free up a bit more space in my stamp cabinets.  Hmm.

You can't really tell from this picture, but the sentiment panel is covered with Iridescent Ice EP so it was really sparkly IRL.

Here I used just the sentiment from Fabulous Flowers along with Garden Silhouettes.

Another one covered with Iridescent Ice.

I think this one might be my favorite card I've made with Fabulous Flowers, although the sentiment is hard to read on it.  I like how the flower turned out; I stamped it in a lighter ink color and then shaded the flower petals with markers.

So that's it for the Flashback part, and here's today's new creation:

It's a fabulous bouquet.  I didn't really have a good place to put the sentiment so I'll just stamp something on the inside when I'm ready to send it off.  I used the current sketch from The Paper Players:

This is my first time playing along in one of their challenges.  The color combo is courtesy of Color Throwdown:

I really liked those colors together so I had to play along.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a fabulous weekend!

Supplies, last card only:
Stamps:  Fabulous Flowers, French Filigree (both retired)
Ink:  Coastal Cabana, Crisp Cantaloupe, Strawberry Slush, Rich Razzleberry
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White, Silver Glimmer Paper
Accessories:  Dimensionals

Friday Flashback: Sage Advice

It's time for another Friday Flashback!  This week's set is Sage Advice, which is a stamp set that I really, really loved because it's got such neat quotes in it.  However, I haven't made tons and tons of cards with it...and this is why I do Friday Flashbacks, to reacquaint myself with my old favorites :)

So first up, let's see what I've got from the archives.

This card also uses Spring Garden and Print Pattern, which I think is my most-used background stamp ever.  I'm betting this was a combo SCS sketch/color challenge but I kinda like it.

This quote I think is why I like this stamp set so much--I'm a Beatles fan.  This card was for a VSN I think?  The quilt thing was tough to pull off, trying to keep all the squares evenly spaced and then cut off the partial pieces.  I have new respect for people that do tile floors on the diagonal.

I made this card not that long ago and to be honest, it doesn't do anything for me.  That is a wonderful quote from Anne Frank though...and Lee and I just booked a weekend trip to Amsterdam later this spring to see the tulips.

Here's my new card with the one remaining quote stamp that I hadn't used yet:

I do kinda like this one, what do you think?  And you can see that my willpower crumbled, I bought Hearts a Flutter and the matching dies.  Oops.  Better hurry up and use them this week since Valentine's Day is next Thursday!

This card is a combo challenge, the layout is based on Freshly Made Sketches #72:

And the color combo is from Pals Paper Arts (and the More Amore DSP):

I still don't care for Primrose Petals with Real Red, but I seem to be in the minority :)  I did use both those colors though and I did like how the card turned out, so maybe they don't clash as much as I think.

Thanks for joining me for this Friday Flashback!

Supplies (last card only, all SU!):
Stamps:  Sage Advice (retired), French Filigree (retired), Hearts a Flutter
Ink:  Basic Gray, Primrose Petals, Real Red
Paper:  Basic Gray, Primrose Petals, Very Vanilla, More Amore DSP, Champagne Glimmer Paper
Accessories:  Labels & Hearts a Flutter Framelits, Dimensionals