The Clue in the Old Album

Happy Saturday!  And welcome back to the Nancy Drew Challenge, I love these : )  Today we are on book #24, The Clue in the Old Album, and once again I have three different covers.

The first one is by Russell Tandy and features what could be one of several scenes of Nancy watching the happenings at a Romani campsite (the book says Gypsies, but I'm going to do my best to use the more correct and respectful terminology).  This time we have Nancy in a dark red skirt suit with matching headwear, looking pretty sharp.

The second cover is the same type of scene, but updated by Rudy Nappi so we have Nancy in a '60s-style yellow sheath dress with her signature flippy 'do, and if you look closely, her fingernails are painted.  The camp scene she's observing feels more menacing to me, with the man opening the tent and the woman sitting on the ground inside...is it just me?  Gives me the heebies a little bit.

For the third one, also a Nappi cover, we have Nancy in the foreground looking through a photo album, and behind her is the Romani violinist she's trying to find.  I like that Nancy is still in yellow, which looks great with her titian hair and makes for a nice contrast with the black and deep red of the background.  I think this is my favorite of the three, I like the moodiness.

So let's take a look inside.

Case file:  While at a violin concert, Nancy sees a man steal an elderly woman's purse, which is how she meets Mrs. Struthers.  The woman asks Nancy to find a specific doll for her, which her daughter had mentioned in her last words before expiring of an unexplained illness, and while she's doing that Nancy acts as her personal shopper to buy dolls at doll shows in different cities.  Mrs. Struthers also asks her to find Romano Pepito, estranged father of her granddaughter Rose, who is a Romani man and plays the violin (and apparently he is less important to her than the dolls).  Of course Nancy finds everything she's looking for and reunites the family.  And the dolls.  Don't forget the dolls.

Here's my card:

Musical Jamboree is the closest I could come to a violin in my collection, though in this context would it be a fiddle?  What's the difference, anyway?  Ah, Google says that the main difference is the style of music played rather than the structure of the instrument, but fiddlers will sometimes flatten the bridge of the strings so they can more easily play multiple strings at once.  Today I learned.

I thought my music-loving animals were a good parallel for the campfire scene on the book, and I used my new favorite Everyday Skies DSP for the background, embossing the greeting right on the sky.  Over the course of the book, Nancy encourages Mrs. Struthers to get her wild granddaughter Rose into music lessons, so I liked that sentiment for this card.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Musical Jamboree, Music from the Heart
Ink:  Misty Moonlight, Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, Stampin' Blends in Pebbled Path, Ivory, Copper Clay, Pecan Pie, Petal Pink, Pumpkin Pie
Paper:  Misty Moonlight, Thick Basic White, Everyday Skies DSP Stack, Meandering Meadows DSP Stack
Accessories:  White EP

And the second OT cover:

Here's my card:

A large part of the book has to deal with Mrs. Struthers' doll collection; she sends Nancy on a couple of errands to go buy more dolls in other cities and a pair of nefarious Romani steal dolls from her and also kidnap her granddaughter Rose.  Anyway, dolls brought to mind the My Matryoshka stamp set...I like matryoshka dolls but most other types creep me out ; )  I think dolls were a bigger plot point than the titular old album.

I wanted to incorporate yellow for Nancy's dress on the cover, so I started with the Floral Delight DSP, then added Real Red from the book cover and a bit of Pool Party from the DSP.  Parts of the dolls are colored with the lighter Pool Party Blend but it's hard to see in the photo.  I went with the "Missing You" sentiment since Rose and her dad were missing each other until Nancy reunited them.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  My Matryoshka, Oh So Eclectic
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Daffodil Delight, Petal Pink, Pretty in Pink, Real Red, Pool Party, Old Olive
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Lemon Lolly, Thick Basic White, Floral Delight DSP
Accessories:  Stitched So Sweetly dies, Opaque Faceted Gems, Best Year Ever ribbon, Dimensionals

Now for the RT:

Case file:  This one closely follows the RT, omitting a subplot where Nancy, Bess, and George buy a sailboat and beat a snooty girl and her friends in a sailing race, which was pretty pointless anyway.

Here's my card:

Rose, the granddaughter, is a bit of a wild child and Mrs. Struthers initially doesn't want Rose to know about her Romani heritage (because...it will make her more wild?).  Rose loves music and dancing, so I chose Margarita Ketto from Stamping Bella to represent Rose, plus many multiple Romani women are described as wearing scarlet skirts.  I used a giant rose outline on the Cherry Cobbler paper and on the inside, I stamped the Katharine Hepburn quote "If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun" which pretty much encapsulates Rose's attitude.

I took my colors directly from the cover on this one.  I wanted to put the Katharine Hepburn quote on the front, but that stamp is quite large so I put it on the inside instead and then forgot to take a picture of it.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Margarita Ketto & greetings from Stamping Bella, Fifth Avenue Floral
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Cherry Cobbler, Stampin' Blends in Cherry Cobbler, Daffodil Delight, Petal Pink, Pretty in Pink
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Layering Ovals Framelits, Dimensionals, Daffodil Delight 3/8" taffeta ribbon

I do vaguely remember this one from childhood--as soon as it mentioned Mrs. Struthers' doll collection, I was like "Oh yes, the creepy dolls!"  Nancy even gets poisoned by one.  Anyway, this is a pretty solid installment but not one of my favorites; I give it three and a half stars.  If you are inspired to create a card, leave me a comment below as I would love to see!  Meanwhile, I will be back next Saturday to investigate The Ghost of Blackwood Hall.  Cheers!

Just a (Music) Note

Hey y'all, how's your week going so far?  I'm pretty chuffed with how my card turned out for today, take a look:

This will be going to my friend Lori, whom I've known since at least middle school if not elementary school; we were in band together all through middle and high school and while I haven't played since we graduated, she still plays oboe with a community orchestra and her husband and kiddos are musicians as well.  I think this card will be appreciated in her house : )

So for today's challenges, we have Festive Friday:

I used pink, purple, and flowers, and there is one heart on there too.  Next up is the Paper Players theme:

I have several musical stamp sets that I could have chosen so I may have to revisit this one later this week.  Music from the Heart just happened to be the first one to pop in my head.

Last up is the Sunday Stamps sketch:

The sketch is what made me think of the Hues of Happiness DSP with all those lovely flowers in a rainbow of colors, including pink and purple.  The background papers are from the Tea Boutique DSP Stack which I thought coordinated quite well.  I think I'm going to have to stock up on Fresh Freesia before it retires this summer, I am enjoying that color.

Have a great day, y'all!  I'm off to work in my craft room : )

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Music from the Heart
Ink:  Fresh Freesia, Mossy Meadow
Paper:  Fresh Freesia, Thick Basic White, Hues of Happiness DSP, Tea Boutique DSP Stack
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals

Rockin' 70s

Hey y'all, how's it going?  I really need to learn *not* to try reading right before bedtime...I always stay up too late!  But I got my trusty mug o' tea this morning and a card to share.

Let's start with the Retro Rubber Challenge:

I used Delightful Dijon (harvest gold), Always Artichoke (avocado green), Really Rust (burnt orange), and Chocolate Chip (brown), so even my colors are retro!  As for the stamps, For the Record isn't retro yet, but Music from the Heart is at least 2 years old, Epic Celebrations is 4 years old, and Gorgeous Grunge is 8 years old.  Man, for a while there I used Gorgeous Grunge on *everything*, so it was fun to bust it out again for this!  Also, as for the 70s theme, I think I've already mentioned that I recently bought my first pair of bell bottom pants and I'm working on putting together an epic 70s playlist (it's an ongoing process as I find more music!).  So no way was I letting this challenge pass me by.

But I played in two other challenges as well!  I used the sketch from Fusion:

And the inspo list from Festive Friday:

As someone who is allergic to the sound of silence, I really appreciated the music theme this time around.  I used music notes, white, an instrument (guitar), embossing, and a circle.  Half the list ain't too bad.

Have a great day!

Supplies, all SU! (many retired)
Stamps:  For the Record, Music from the Heart, Epic Celebrations, Gorgeous Grunge
Ink:  Versamark, Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, Always Artichoke
Paper:  Really Rust, Chocolate Chip, Thick Basic White, Always Artichoke DSP
Accessories:  Layering Circles dies, Stylish Shapes dies, clear EP, Dimensionals

And here's my awesome butterfly bell bottoms!

I need to have them hemmed; the hems are unfinished and even wearing tall espadrilles, these pants drag on the floor.  But I loves them!  And I *have* worn them out in public!