Mystery at the Ski Jump

Welcome to a new Nancy Drew Challenge and today we're investigating The Mystery at the Ski Jump, Nancy's 29th adventure.  I didn't finish these cards until yesterday evening, usually I have them done way ahead of time but this week went a little off the rails.  Anyway, let's take a look!

Both of these covers feature menacing men.  Nancy looks quite alarmed in the original text cover by Bill Gillies on the left and we have a really bright poppy red top on her.  Is that a jacket?  Because my jackets are all much less form-fitting but Nancy probably has designer ski clothes.  I think the yellow mittens look a little goofy though.

On the right is the Rudy Nappi cover for the revised text and we have a menacing man's hand, but Nancy looks determined to stop the crooks rather than concerned for her own safety.  I like this cover better, maybe because teal and lime is my color vibe, but I also like the composition of the ski jump in the background better because it has more detail than the Gillies cover.

Let's take a look inside.

Case file:  When Hannah Gruen buys stock in a fur company that operates in an unconventional fashion, selling furs at a discount price door to door, Nancy investigates and discovers that the company is fake and the fur stole Hannah bought is stolen (yes, it's a stolen stole).  The bad girl steals Nancy's identity but she keeps investigating through several towns near River Heights, to New York and a visit with Aunt Eloise, and then to Aunt Eloise's cabin in the Adirondacks where Nancy's foes attempt to put her on ice.  Very exciting and a rare winter outing in the original mystery stories.

Here's my card:

I was going to do something with a lot more Poppy Parade and Daffodil Delight to go with Nancy's outfit, but I found this blue pine tree pattern in the Beauty of the Earth DSP and this ended up being a very blue card instead.  I used the skates from Sophisticated Sled because the bad girl, Mitzi Channing, is a semiprofessional ice skater--Nancy discovers her name when she sees her perform in an old movie.  Also I remembered that name from reading this as a kid because I had never heard the name Mitzi before and thought it was strange.

I did add the cardinal so we get a tiny pop of Poppy Parade for Nancy.  Also, the skates could belong to her as she performs a doubles routine in a big skating competition in Canada with no practice beforehand beyond dancing a single waltz with her partner.  Because Nancy of course is a professional ice skater.  I forgot to mention that she and Carson also go to Canada, there is a lot of traveling in this one.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sophisticated Sled
Ink:  Night of Navy, Stampin' Blends in Pecan Pie, Smoky Slate, Poppy Parade, Mango Melody
Paper:  Night of Navy, Thick Basic White, Beauty of the Earth DSP
Accessories:  Sophisticated Sled dies, Ornate Frames dies, Charming Shimmer Faceted Dots, Mini Dimensionals

Let's check out the revised text:

Once again, there are no major changes to the story in the revised text, just condensing it to 20 chapters.  We still get all the same traveling and Aunt Eloise has a larger role in this one than she usually does.  Also Nancy calls her Aunt Lou, which I don't recall seeing in any of Aunt Eloise's other appearances.

Here's my card:

I wanted to incorporate the fun colors on this cover, so I chose Summer Splash, Lemon Lime Twist, and Timid Tiger.  I had a plan to use the Freezin' Fun bundle because I thought there was a fox in it, but upon closer inspection I found it was a sledding raccoon and not a skiing fox (there's a part in the book where the villains refer to Nancy and Carson as foxes).  Still, I like my happy snowman and it amuses me that I found Let It Snow sentiments for both cards.

I stamped some snowflakes on the Summer Splash DSP I used for the background and I like how that looks.  I was making this card up as I went along and trying to make it quickly last night while Ryan was getting ready for bed, pretty happy with where I ended up despite the time crunch.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Snowman Season
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Summer Splash, Stampin' Blends in Summer Splash, Lemon Lime Twist, Timid Tiger, Smoky Slate
Paper:  Lemon Lime Twist, Summer Splash, Thick Basic White, Summer Splash DSP, Celebratory Sips DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Shiny Sequins

I didn't particularly like the aspects of this mystery that deal with the fur trade, but I did enjoy all the travel to different places and Nancy outwitting the dastardly Mitzi, so I give it four stars.  If you're inspired by these books, please leave me a comment so I can see what you make!  And come back next week for the final Nancy Drew Challenge of the year, where we will uncover The Clue of the Velvet Mask.

Merry Christmas 2019

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  And today is a day to celebrate--our master shower is FINALLY operational after 3 months!!!  The hubs and the kid tried it out last night and I took a shower in there this morning.  So glad to have our entire bathroom back!  Daphne was a bit confused about the whole thing as the shower was torn up well before we adopted her.  Once she saw the water turned on, she decided that she wanted nothing to do with that and noped out : )

Anyway, I have a couple of scrapbook layouts to share from 2019, so here they are:

AAAAACCCKKK Ryan is such a cutie.  This Christmas was in North Carolina and my parents came out to spend Christmas with us.  Of course almost everything under the tree was for Ryan and he loved opening up all the presents.  In fact, he would offer to "help" everyone else open up theirs too!

I love the side-eye from Ryan in that smallest picture on the left page.  And I love the fun patterned paper I chose for this, high energy for our high energy kiddo.

Today's festive color palette:  Real Red, Pear Pizzazz, Mossy Meadow, Pacific Point, and Whisper White.  I rather miss Pear Pizzazz or Certainly Celery, I would trade out Soft Sea Foam for one of those colors in a heartbeat.

Gotta get Ryan to school, this is his last week before winter break.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Snowman Season, Pure & Simple Numbers, #Elfie
Ink:  Mossy Meadow, Real Red, Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in neutrals, Petal Pink, Old Olive, Mossy Meadow, Real Red, Night of Navy, Smoky Slate
Paper:  Real Red, Mossy Meadow, Pacific Point, Thick Basic White, Heartwarming Hugs DSP
Accessories:  None

December 2019

Scrappy Monday!  Right before we had to get Ryan out the door to go to school, it started snowing, and two hours later, it's still coming down.  I'm still debating if I want to take Daphers out for a walk or not.  I mean, I'm all snug in the house and I have...oop, HAD...a cup of tea and I can make another one.  Decisions!

Also we have two guys working on putting the tile in our shower!  We might get to use our own shower by the end of the week for the first time in three months!!!!!  More exclamation points!!!!!!  Very exciting.

Okay, time for a scrapbook layout.

I loooooove that DSP with the snowflakes!  And it color matched that quilt that Ryan and the hubs are under on the left page perfectly.  This is another of my catch-all monthly layouts and I can't believe how much Ryan has grown since then.  My little boy is not so little anymore.

Today's color palette:  Pear Pizzazz, Pacific Point, Shaded Spruce, Balmy Blue, and Whisper White.

That's it for me today, peeps.  Think I might take Daphne out to enjoy the snow (she's stressed out with the guys here working) and then have another cuppa.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  My Paper Pumpkin, Snowman Season
Ink:  Shaded Spruce, Balmy Blue, Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, and Smoky Slate
Paper:  Pear Pizzazz, Shaded Spruce, Balmy Blue, Thick Basic White, Storybook Gnomes DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies

Snowman Celebration

Hey y'all, happy hump day :)  Uh, I just realize I'm pretty sure I do not have a camel stamp so sometime in 2022 I need to fix that, haha!  Anyway, I baked about a zillion cookies on Monday and then yesterday I worked a half day and spent the other half in my craft room, which was lovely.  It's been so long since I got to spend much time in there (I made yesterday's hedgehog card probably a couple of months ago) that for a while I just had to look around everywhere in confusion before my brain kicked in and I got to creating.  Anyone else have that happen?

Anywha, I did eventually make a card to share today.

Remember the Peaceful Prints DSP that was in the fall Sale-a-Bration catalog?  This is the first time I've cut into any of it and I am loving this pattern with the plaid and the snowflakes.  Also I loved the idea of a red backdrop for my celebrating snowman :)  I played around with the layout a bit before deciding to go super-simple and low-key reminiscent of a snow globe.  Appropriate for the image, no?

I'll be entering this at Global Design Project:

Just so happens that the SUO Challenges theme is *also* celebrations, so that's fun :)  I'm also entering this at Cupcake Inspirations:

Thanks, Cupcake Inspiration, for giving me an excuse to ink up Snowman Season, I really enjoyed the creative process on this card.  Here's hoping I get a bit more time in my craft room this afternoon :)

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Snowman Season, Sweet as a Peach
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Coastal Cabana, Stampin' Blends in Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Gray Granite, Just Jade
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Thick Basic White, Peaceful Prints DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes dies, Rectangles Stitched dies, Potted Succulents dies, Dimensionals

Baby Luke: January

Just two more baby book posts to go after this one!

I thought that winter pictures would probably have a lot of rosy cheeks, and since most of the pink will be covered up by the photos it doesn't look TOO girly :)  Love the Coastal Cabana with all the snowflakes, that DSP pack was pretty awesome.

We're going to hop across the border into France today, maybe look at some antiques and hit up the big bakery while we're there.  Au revoir!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Snowman Season, Merry
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Coastal Cabana, Real Red, Blueberry Bushel, Pumpkin Pie
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Flirty Flamingo, Blueberry Bushel, Thick Whisper White, Let It Snow Specialty DSP
Accessories:  Sizzix letters, Snowman Builder punch

SUO Challenges: Winter Wonderland

Mornin' y'all!  Christmas is in just a couple of days, which means the new year is right around the corner, which means we've almost made it to the end of one very tough year.  We've got time for one more challenge from SUO Challenges!

The theme this time around is WINTER!  I don't know about you, but I enjoy snuggling up in some nice cozy blankets with a cuppa tea and either a good book or a good movie in the wintertime.  I do love all the snowflakes and snowman images too though, so that's what I went with for today's card:

The hubs asked me for a birthday card for his coworker yesterday and I thought this snowman was just the ticket.  I didn't have much time, so I embossed the snowman in white on Pacific Point cardstock and then die cut--I thought it looked a bit like a snow globe when I added the sentiment underneath.  Super easy, doesn't take much time, but people who don't do papercrafting are always impressed with embossed stuff.  I kept trying to add more stuff to this card, but it insisted on staying CAS to let that amazing snowflake paper show off.  I did add just a little to the inside of the card:

Ya know, just in case you missed the snowflakes on the front :)  I also made the white panel the same size as the DSP panel on the front of the card; usually if I line the inside of a card I just make a little border all the way around but I liked this.

Your turn!  Make something winter-inspired and share it on the SUO Challenges blog here.  Peace, joy, and let's all yell JUMANJI! as soon as midnight hits on New Year's Eve, k?

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Snowman Season, Zany Zebras
Ink:  Versamark, Pacific Point, Balmy Blue
Paper:  Pacific Point, Balmy Blue, Whisper White, Snowflake Splendor DSP
Accessories:  White EP, Stitched Shapes dies, Tasteful Labels dies, Dimensionals