The Sinister Omen

Happy Saturday, y'all, and welcome to the Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today's book is #67, The Sinister Omen:

We have three wildly different covers this time.  I don't particularly care for the arch cover on the left, I just think it's boring; the middle cover is bonkers with Nancy's artistically ripped jumpsuit and the downed plane; and the one on the right wins the prize for the silliest Nancy Drew cover in the history of Nancy Drew books.  Okay the middle one is silly too but in a fun way, not in a roll-my-eyes way.  The middle one is definitely my favorite.

Case file:  Nancy is back in Florida and things always seem extra bonkers when she's in Florida.  Nancy flies Bess and George down to Fort Lauderdale in a seaplane (because of course she does), where they're supposed to meet up with the road trippin' boy half of the Drew Crew and help Carson with a case involving...a cartel of bad guys who steal valuable stamps.  Postage stamps, not my paper crafting stamps.  I bet you wouldn't have guessed that from looking at *any* of the book covers.

So here's my card for the first cover:

When the girls arrive in Fort Lauderdale, they find out that Carson has been kidnapped, but with Nancy on the case he doesn't stay that way for long.  She finds a clue and stupidly goes by herself to an abandoned hotel and has a run-in with a colony of rats before she rescues Carson single-handedly (because of course she does).

Yikes, the colors look off in this picture, the card is a better match to the book cover IRL I promise.  Happily for me, I have a suitably creepy-looking rat in my Halloween stamp stash.  Side note:  how many buildings in Fort Lauderdale have basements?  Because that seemed extremely unbelievable to me.  Anyway, I used Gray Granite, Boho Blue, and Secret Sea for my card colors.  I decided to forego the red on the book cover or else my card would have resembled a crime scene.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Piece of Poison, Spooktacular Bash, Ghoulish Grunge
Ink:  Gray Granite, Boho Blue, Secret Sea, Versamark
Paper:  Gray Granite, Boho Blue, Secret Sea
Accessories:  Everyday Arches dies, Smoky Slate embossing powder, Neutrals Candy Dots, Dimensionals

On to the middle cover:

So the bad guys call their little club the Brotherhood of the Vulture (bunch of drama kings), but the only vulture stamp I have is in Animal Alphabet and just didn't work for what I wanted.  And actually this is my second hack at a card for this book cover, the first one was awful so I decided to go with a raven for a different avian harbinger and ended up with a sorta-Halloween looking card that I like.

I only bought this book last year and I paid probably too much money to import it from Canada but I was just so excited to add this cover to my collection even though Nancy does not crash the plane.  I used Peach Parfait, Kiwi Kiss, and Basic Beige for my colors and for once the greenish cast to Basic Beige ink worked in my favor.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  The Raven
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Basic Beige, Peach Parfait
Paper:  Peach Parfait, Kiwi Kiss, Basic Beige, Well Suited DSP
Accessories:  Deckled Circles dies, Dimensionals, Clear Epoxy Shapes

And now for the third one:

The B mystery in this book involves a very old lady who was a friend of Carson's grandparents I think, but sadly my stamp collection is lacking in old lady stamps so I decided to go with the spring break angle instead.  The Drew Crew does manage to fit in trips to the beach and taking out a yacht or two in between solving the mysteries, and this was a good excuse to use the water mask I bought at the end of summer.  Hopefully I won't forget that I have it next summer.

Nancy has a nightmare at the beginning of the book that involves a vulture, and that's even before the Brotherhood of the Vulture even gets involved, which is where this silly cover originates but I still think it's stupid.  None of the SU! blues is a really accurate match for this cover, but in the end I went with Pacific Point, Summer Splash, Poppy Parade, Flirty Flamingo, and Basic Gray/Smoky Slate for my colors.  And I finally used the camera stamp in Summer Happiness along with my favorite sunglasses and some teeny flip-flops.  Is it weird that I wish the images in this stamp set were drawn on the same scale?  Otherwise the sunglasses and flip-flops must be made for a Funko Pop.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Summer Happiness
Ink:  Pacific Point, Basic Gray, Stampin' Blends in Poppy Parade, Smoky Slate, Flirty Flamingo
Paper:  Pacific Point, Basic White, Summer Splash DSP
Accessories:  Summer Happiness dies, Textured Notes dies, Water Decorative Mask, Mini Dimensionals, Wonderful Gems

Mostly what I remember from reading this book as a kiddo is the old lady, who is quite acerbic but gives Bess a well-deserved confidence boost so I like her.  The postage stamp angle of the story reminds me of the movie Charade, one of my favorites, which stars Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant and I shouldn't have to put a spoiler alert on a movie that's about 60 years old and if you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor and check it out.  Anyway, Nancy's Florida adventures always seem to have an extra bit of crazy and this one continues that trend.  The Drew Crew is rubbing elbows with the uber-rich and apparently stealing collectible stamps is super lucrative based on how much stuff the bad guys have.  There are some really bananas aspects to this book (a retired stunt man, a sinkhole, a suspicious butler and more) and you know I love me some bananas plot shenanigans so I'm giving this one four stars.  If you're inspired to make a card based on this book, leave me a comment!  I will be especially impressed if you choose that stupidly silly third cover with the vulture.  I'll see you next week when Nancy tracks down The Elusive Heiress.

Something Strange in Your Neighborhood

Goooooood mornin' y'all and happy Friday!  The weather is finally starting to cool down just the tiniest bit (I wore a sweatshirt outside last night and it was great) and I've started watching the spooky sweet movies.  Already watched both Hocus Pocus movies and I watched the first half of Casper last night; tonight I need to watch Practical Magic because I'm going to see the sequel tomorrow.

And there's one more movie (well, series) that I am happy to watch at any time of year but it's especially good during spooky season...

OF COURSE I have Ghostbusters stamps!  (But they're retired, so you can't get them, sorry.)  Shopping Our Stash wants to see people, so I chose the Ghostbusters in all their ghostbusting gear.  And I had to try out the sketch from Retro Rubber:

I made my first Ghostbusters card two years ago, I'm pretty sure I'd had the stamps for a while before that but in any case they count as retro.  I really ought to make cards just as soon as I get a new stamp set so I know how long I've had it but let's not talk about the brand new stamps I bought last month that I haven't used yet and nobody tell my hubs, kay?  Kay.  Definitely don't mention the ones that I got in the mail on Wednesday or the ones I ordered on Thursday.

Anywha, I also have a Ghostbusters cross stitch that I did several years ago but I haven't ever done the words I wanted to add on it and I should get on that.  I'm working on the Sanderson Sisters right now, Winifred and Sarah are done and I'm stitching Mary, then I need to do "It's just a bunch of Hocus Pocus!" underneath them and then the real trick is actually getting it framed.  I have an entire stack of stitches that I've done and not gotten framed yet, including at least two very large full-coverage pieces.  Maybe I should make that a goal for next year, get at least one piece framed every year.

Anyway, that's it for now.  I will be making cookies for most of the day because the hubs asked me to make "some cookies" for the Cub Scouts event this weekend and of course I heard "We need thousands of cookies" so I made a double batch of chocolate chunk cookies and a batch of oatmeal white chocolate cranberry cookies yesterday; today it's double chocolate crinkles and lemon crinkles and then I need to deep-clean my kitchen this weekend.  Cheers!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Slime by The Ink Road, Ghoulish Grunge, Itty Bitty Backgrounds
Ink:  Versamark, River Rock
Paper:  Basic Black, River Rock, Basic Beige
Accessories:  Black EP, White EP, Dimensionals

The Clue of the Tapping Heels

Welcome to the sixteenth Nancy Drew Challenge where we are listening for The Clue of the Tapping Heels!

This is another time when the original text (left) and revised text (right) are pretty different from each other.  Once again we have a scene from the book for the OT cover and the RTs continue the collage style and man, that is some outfit Nancy has on.  So 60s and I halfway expect her to be on roller skates.  Let's take a look, shall we?

Case file:  Nancy, Bess, and George befriend a retired actress named Miss Carter who owns and/or feeds over 20 cats, to the dismay of her neighbors.  Miss Carter had paid for Gus Woonton, a mentally challenged boy who had been in the care of her neighbor Fred Bunce, to be cared for at an institution, but receives a telegram that the boy has died.  Fred Bunce acts super suspiciously so Nancy investigates him and finds out that Gus isn't dead and Fred is a crook.  On his trail in New York City, Fred captures Nancy and traps her on a cruise ship bound for South America, but her tapping in Morse code leads her friends to find her.  Nancy also reunites Miss Carter with her former costar and they adopt Gus.

Here's my card for the OT:

There's a subplot in the book when Nancy and George are abducted by a man claiming to be an Egyptian fortune teller, but sadly I have ZERO Egyptian-themed stamps in my stash (unless you count a Halloween mummy or two), so I decided to go with Miss Carter's many cats for this card.  The cats and toy mouse are all fussy cut from the Playful Pets DSP, and I put them on a brick wall background to match the book cover.

In addition to the brick wall, I used Crushed Curry and Cherry Cobbler for my two main colors as a nod to Nancy's outfit on the cover.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Glad We're Friends, Ghoulish Grunge
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Cherry Cobbler
Paper:  Crushed Curry, Cherry Cobbler, Thick Basic White, Playful Pets DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Rectangles dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Nested Essentials dies, Mini Dimensionals

Now let's look at the RT:

Case file:  Nancy is invited to the home of Miss Carter, a retired actress, to investigate mysterious tapping sounds in her house as well as the theft of several valuable Persian cats, which Miss Carter breeds as a source of income.  Because Miss Carter has a broken leg, Nancy, Bess, and George help take care of the cats while they search for the cause of the tapping.  This time around, Gus Woonton is more or less an escaped mental patient who used to live in the house Miss Carter now owns when he was a child, and he's hiding out in a secret room in her basement which is just super extra ridiculously creepy.  Fred Bunce is still the criminal, he had siphoned off Gus's inheritance when Gus's parents died in a car accident, but all the action takes place near River Heights and Nancy doesn't get trapped on a ship heading for South America.

Here's my card:

Again, I just had to go with the cats, but this time just one Persian.  The RT Miss Carter still has a lot of cats, but she breeds and sells them rather than adopting every stray in a 20-mile radius.  Anyway, I chose bright yellow Pineapple Punch with some pink accents to mimic the book cover.

Nancy's hair looks way darker on this cover than it usually does, you would think the artist would make her stand out from the cat a bit more.  Still digging that outfit which I would never ever wear...I gave up wearing white when I had two black doggos!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Pampered Pets, Cool Cat
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Ivory & Bronze
Paper:  Pineapple Punch, Polished Pink, Pretty in Pink & Pineapple Punch DSP
Accessories:  Pets dies, Stitched Shapes dies, Rustic Metallic Dots, Mini Dimensionals

I think both versions of this book are a bit disjointed, I give them two and a half stars.  Don't forget you can check out my other blog at Hey, Nancy Drew for a deeper look at the books.  If you want to make your own Nancy Drew-inspired card(s), I would be delighted to see so just pop a comment on this post.  Next week we're looking into The Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk!

Slime!

You know, sometimes my creative process kinda takes a left turn.  I was thinking about the Paper Players challenge yesterday:

And yeah, birds and butterflies and bees are all very well, but what ELSE do I have in my stamp collection that flies?  So I took a look through my stamp hoard and...

Well...

He does fly.  Sometimes through walls, even.

This is Slimer from the Ghostbusters movies, if you didn't recognize him because you're not a superfan of those movies the way that I am, and once I found him I couldn't NOT make a Slimer card for this challenge.  Plus I got to break out my Ghoulish Grunge stamp set for the slime and that's super fun : )  Dan Aykroyd takes credit for turning the word "slime" into a verb in the original Ghostbusters script because prior to that movie slime was just a noun.  It makes a very good verb though especially if you have small children or doggos, who are both very slimy.

So yeah, I cackled gleefully while I made my Slimer card, but I did make a more "normal" card too which I'll share later.  For now I want to appreciate those slime trails.  I hope this is CAS enough to count for the Paper Players challenge, but even if it isn't, I got a good laugh out of it.  Now I just need to figure out who to send him to...

Cheers!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Ghoulish Grunge, Slime & Slime Icons from The Ink Road
Ink:  Granny Apple Green, Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Real Red & Granny Apple Green
Paper:  Granny Apple Green, Lemon Lime Twist, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Textured Notes dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals