The Twin Dilemma

Happy Saturday and welcome back to the Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today's book is #63, The Twin Dilemma, and this time we have FOUR covers:

For this one and the next book, Scholastic released an edition that was maybe for a book club or something?  I don't know, it's only those two books, and they're stylistically different from all the other Drews.  Anyway, I like the vibe of the arch cover on the left and the one on the far right has a magnificent 80s vibe, but in my opinion Nancy's hair is terrible across the board.  I'd probably pick the last one as my favorite just for that 80s prom dress that Nancy is wearing.

Case file:  Aunt Eloise invites Nancy, Bess, and George to NYC for a charity benefit fashion show, and when the main model disappears, Nancy gets on the runway because of course she does.  The model turns up quickly but says her brother has been kidnapped, so Nancy starts investigating that as well as stolen designs for a fashion designer with all the emotional regulation of a spoiled two-year-old at the end of a day at Disneyland.  Her main adversary isn't the bad guys but an investigative journalist who keeps trying to get her out of the way because he thinks he can do the job better.  It's very sexist.

All of my cards this week are dedicated to Bess Marvin, because she loves fashion and she deserves much better friends than Nancy and especially George, more on that later.  Here's my first card:

We're in New York and this book is all about fashion so you know I had to ink up this fancy dress from Haute Couture.  I don't think any of the dresses described in the book are this color, but I matched it to the colors on the cover and you can't see it but I covered it in Wink of Stella for some shimmer.

I used Cherry Cobbler, Crisp Cantaloupe, and Taken with Teal for my colors and of course I got the arch shape on there.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Haute Couture, Fabulous Flowers
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Crisp Cantaloupe, Calypso Coral, Cherry Cobbler, Coastal Cabana
Paper:  Cherry Cobbler, Crisp Cantaloupe, Basic White, Sweet Pea DSP Stack
Accessories:  Everyday Arches dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Glossy Garden Dots

Next up:

The spoiled man-child fashion designer practically attacks a photographer in the book, so I had to make a camera-centric card for this one.

I used Basic Black, Daffodil Delight, Real Red, and Pear Pizzazz for my card; I chose that chevron pattern because it matched the colors on the book cover pretty well and it's just a fun pattern.  Also it's odd that they added "Mystery" to the title of this one, especially when it says "Mystery Stories" right above that on the cover.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Pun Intended
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, VersaMark
Paper:  Basic Black, Real Red, Basic White, Greenhouse Gala DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Layering Circles dies, white EP, Dimensionals

On to card #3:

Nancy wears a lilac gown in the fashion show at the start of the book, so I managed to work that in for this card and I found a floral pattern with colors that reminded me of the fire on the cover:

I used Pebbled Path, Fresh Freesia, Daffodil Delight, and Pumpkin Pie for this one and somehow I still don't have any stamps of burning buildings.  Closest I've got is the campfire from Musical Jamboree.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  All Dressed Up, Simply Fabulous
Ink:  Fresh Freesia, Pebbled Path
Paper:  Pebbled Path, Basic White, Bloom Impressions DSP
Accessories:  Dress Up dies, Potted Succulents dies, Dimensionals, Opaque Gems

And here's my final card:

Bess gets a makeover in this book, and when she comes back to Aunt Eloise's apartment Nancy and George both laugh at her and George mocks her mercilessly.  Really, Bess deserves far better treatment from her supposed friends.  Anyway, you may be asking if I purchased the Dressed to Impress bundle on eBay specifically for this challenge, to which I say SHUSH.

I used Berry Burst, Night of Navy, and Balmy Blue for my colors and dang, I could have done a disco ball card but that thought only just now occurred to me and I like the bold lipstick statement on here anyway.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Dressed to Impress
Ink:  Night of Navy, Balmy Blue, Berry Burst
Paper:  Berry Burst, Basic White, Regency Park DSP Stack
Accessories:  All Dressed Up dies, Spotlight on Nature dies, Dimensionals, Purple Fine Shimmer Gems

Y'all, I don't like this book.  The fashion industry concept could have been a really cool backdrop for a mystery, but this book is chock-full of fat shaming and comments about how even super-slim and athletic George is too big for the couture clothes.  None of that has any place in a book marketed to tween girls!  I mean, there's always comments about Bess's weight (and in the illustrations, she's depicted as being pretty much the same size/shape as Nancy and George!) but this time around it's much worse, I hate it.  One half star because I did have fun making all my cards for this book and also Aunt Eloise is always awesome.  If you're inspired to make a card based on this book or any of the four covers, leave me a comment below!  And I'll see you here next week when Nancy investigates a Captive Witness.

Tennessee, Part 2: Meet the Neighbors

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  And I'm ready for it with the second of my Tennessee layouts.  (Sidebar:  I am writing this post on the hubs' laptop, and its little proofreading thingummy is pickier than the one on the Mac.  It keeps giving me random blue lines under certain words and dude will ya just CHILL 'cause I know how to speak AND write in English and you're annoying.)

Anyway.  Here there be BEARS!

We stayed in a cabin outside of Gatlinburg (this is the second time we've done that in this area and I would not say no to going back a third time) and there are signs everywhere about bears.  As in Do Not Feed The.  So we saw two juvenile bears and a mama bear hanging out near our cabin, begging for food we did not give them, and a full-grown bear checking out the trash cans near the cabin that we had stayed in on our first trip to this area.  And as much time as we spent in the national park, we didn't see a single bear there!

I chose "Meet the Neighbors" for my page title but maybe it should have been "Meet the NeighBEARS".  So I wrote that in my journaling.

Oops, I left out a color in my palette picture; the page base is Creamy Caramel which goes really well with Cinnamon Cider (photo mats), and then I also used Pretty Peacock, Pear Pizzazz, and white.

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Calendar Alphabet & Numbers, Pure & Simple Alphabet Upper, Simply Fabulous
Ink:  Pear Pizzazz, Pretty Peacock, Cinnamon Cider
Paper:  Creamy Caramel, Cinnamon Cider, Pear Pizzazz, Pretty Peacock, Thick Basic White, Forever Greenery DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies

Leaves of Beauty

Fall is my favorite season by far, but my husband thinks summer is better (clearly he's crazy and also wrong).  So while I keep talking about how pretty the fall leaves are, he's sitting next to me talking about how it's so sad that all the trees are dying and here I am glorifying their death throes : p  So I made a card to further glorify all those poor dying trees.

I think this year's color family DSP is my favorite ever, for once I got all of the color families and I can't stop using it.  I used this week's sketch from Global Design Project:

And the colors from Retro Rubber:

I chose Crushed Curry, Poppy Parade, and Bermuda Bay as my colors from the graphic.  The sentiment is from Simply Fabulous, which doesn't count as retro yet; the leaves are from last year's Gorgeous Leaves, so just one year old for that one but it counts as retro.

My brain keeps trying to tell me it's Saturday because kiddo is off school and the hubs took today off work, it's doing me a confuzzle ; )  Next up on today's list of things to do:  go get flu shots and Covid boosters for the adults.  Ick.  At least I can enjoy the pretty fall colors while we're out.

Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Gorgeous Leaves, Simply Fabulous
Ink:  Crushed Curry, Early Espresso
Paper:  Crushed Curry, Poppy Parade, Thick Basic White, Bermuda Bay DSP
Accessories:  Intricate Leaves dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals

Sketchy Series for the Paper Players

Hey stampy friends!  Ready for a wonderful new sketch from the Paper Players?  I hope so, because it's coming at you right now!

Isn't that a great sketch?  Here's what I made:

Yep, still obsessed with Artfully Layered, the coordinating dies and papers.  Better hurry up and grab 'em before they retire on July 1!  I thought this sketch was a great way to showcase a couple of  patterned papers together, and after I made this card I just couldn't resist trying out the sketch with some other papers.  I, uh, made several more cards with the sketch :)

Here's the Butterfly Kisses DSP stack in action, sentiment courtesy of Simply Fabulous (don't you love that font?!).  My biggest problem was narrowing down which butterfly to cut out and what papers to use for the layers of the sketch.

Next up, I used the He's the Man specialty paper to make this one, no stamps required.  The hubs and I have talked about getting an RV or something and spending a year or two traveling around the US after he retires.  Don't know if we'll do that if gas prices continue to be so astronomical, though.

You know I wouldn't leave out Cup of Tea and the coordinating Tea Boutique DSP stack!

Finally, I was able to squeak out just one more quick card with the Design a Daydream DSP that's a host option.  I don't like this card quite as well as the other ones, but by the time I got to this one I was in a rush and didn't have time to add a stamped image or some embellishments.  I do like the giant floral pattern though.

If y'all like this sketch even half as much as I did, then the Paper Players gallery is going to be full of beautiful cards this week!  Have fun and get inky!

The Paper Players Design Team

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

Anne Marie Hile

Ann Schach

Cindy Beach

Christy Stanford <-- You are here : )

Jennie Maier

Supplies, Artfully Composed card:
Stamps:  Artfully Layered
Ink:  Calypso Coral, Just Jade
Paper:  Just Jade, Thick Basic White, Artfully Composed DSP
Accessories:  Tropical Layers dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, sequins from a past Paper Pumpkin kit

Supplies, Butterfly Kisses card:
Stamps:  Simply Fabulous
Ink:  Starry Sky
Paper:  Fresh Freesia, Thick Basic White, Butterfly Kisses DSP
Accessories:  Potted Succulents dies, Dimensionals

Supplies, He's the Man card:
Stamps:  None
Ink:  None
Paper:  Sahara Sand, He's the Man DSP
Accessories:  He's the Man die cut shapes, Dimensionals

Supplies, Tea Boutique card:
Stamps:  Cup of Tea
Ink:  Starry Sky, Stampin' Blends in Fresh Freesia & Parakeet Party
Paper:  Fresh Freesia, Thick Basic White, Tea Boutique DSP Stack
Accessories:  Teacup dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals

Supplies, Design a Daydream card:
Stamps:  Flowing Flowers
Ink:  Blackberry Bliss
Paper:  Petal Pink, Thick Basic White, Design a Daydream DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals

Summer Bouquet

Happy Friday, y'all!  I just raided the candy stash and ate part of Ryan's Easter bunny.  Hey, it's been sitting there for months with just the ears eaten, so it's fair game, right?  Now that I've had some chocolate (and I've got my cuppa tea too), I'm ready to share today's card:

Simply Fabulous was another stamp set I just had to get on my first new catty order.  I like the bold (but small) flowers and I adore all the sentiments, which are in this fabulous font.  I kept it CAS with some fussy cutting to go with this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

Paired with the CAS Colours & Sketches color palette:

I hardly ever see Gorgeous Grape pop up on color challenges and I do love purple, so I had to make a card for this.  Also my green looks dark but that's because I recently inked up my Pear Pizzazz ink pad, I promise I wasn't using Old Olive instead.

I've got some things to do today so I'm going to go get started.  As soon as I finish my tea, because priorities.  Have a great Friday!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Simply Fabulous
Ink:  Crushed Curry, Gorgeous Grape, Pear Pizzazz
Paper:  Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals