The Mystery of the 99 Steps

Happy Saturday and welcome to the latest Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today we are investigating The Mystery of the 99 Steps, Nancy's 43rd adventure.

We have a pretty cool Rudy Nappi cover here with a whole lot of steps and I really want Nancy's dress.  George's dress is good too, but she's still rocking Danny Zuko's hairstyle from Grease, like she was on the cover for Old Stagecoach.  That mysterious figure at the top of the stairs looks scary but it's Bess, who I'm sure is also wearing a lovely frock.

Case file:  We have another travel mystery as this time the Drew Crew is heading to France on two different cases.  While Carson has been hired to try to figure out why a French financier is suddenly behaving oddly, Nancy has been asked by a French lady to find out why she has recurring nightmares about falling while someone says "99 steps".  We get tourist time in Paris and the Loire Valley as well as lessons on medieval alchemy and Joan of Arc.

Here's my first card:

Actually I can't remember offhand if they talk much about the Eiffel Tower, but they go to Paris and I just had to make a Paris card.  Plus Artistic Etchings is an old favorite stamp set and I will accept any excuse to use it.  I have several stamp sets in French, with today's greeting coming from Carte Postale.

I used Terracotta Tile to match Nancy's dress and Pool Party for George's.  

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Artistic Etchings, Carte Postale, French Script
Ink:  Terracotta Tile, Pool Party, Pecan Pie, Early Espresso, Cajun Craze Blend to color the rhinestones
Paper:  Terracotta Tile, Thick Basic White, Early Espresso DSP
Accessories:  some kind of label punch, I forget what, Dimensionals, Rhinestones

I couldn't stop with just one card though, so here's the second:

Since we have the alchemy angle in this mystery, I had to break out the It's a Science stamp set for some chemistry beakers.  And you know what, this is the very first time I've used that stamp set!  I knew it would come in handy sometime.

This time I used my favorite Fresh Prints (of Bel-Air) DSP, so the colors are Coastal Cabana, Real Red, and Crumb Cake.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  It's a Science
Ink:  Early Espresso, Coastal Cabana, Real Red, Versamark
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Thick Basic White, Fresh Prints DSP Stack
Accessories:  Textured Notes dies, clear EP, Dimensionals, Delightful Dots, Wink of Stella

I was going to stop there, but then I decided I had to make a card to commemorate the Drew Crew's visit to Notre Dame, so here is my third card:

I had to get out the stained glass stamps from Painted Glass for Notre Dame's rose window.  Once again I tried to choose colors that coordinate with the book cover:

This time I did Coastal Cabana for George, but used Timid Tiger for Nancy, and incorporated Daffodil Delight for the book title.  Still kept quite a bit of Pecan Pie for all the brown on the cover of the book too.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Painted Glass, Stacked Stone
Ink:  Early Espresso, Pecan Pie, Stampin' Blends in Daffodil Delight, Timid Tiger, Coastal Cabana, Pecan Pie
Paper:  Coastal Cabana, Pecan Pie, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Textured Notes dies, Best Year Ever ribbon, In Color Flat Pearls, Earthy Matte Dots

This is another example of the mystery being secondary to the setting, but kid Christy loved the French tourist bit (I started taking French classes in middle school and would have gotten a minor in French if I had taken two more classes in college).  Adult Christy thinks the financier was just about the stupidest person ever--the fake alchemist has him convinced that he can turn coal into gold, which is a trick alchemists have been trying to pull since the Middle Ages so why is the financier so easy to fool?  All in all I give it three and a half stars.  If you're inspired to play along, leave me a comment on this post so I can see!  And come back next Saturday when Nancy investigates The Clue in the Crossword Cipher.

The Clue in the Crumbling Wall

Happy Saturday and welcome to another Nancy Drew challenge!  This week we're focusing on book 22, The Clue in the Crumbling Wall:

Both of these beautiful covers are by Rudy Nappi.  The OT is on the left and we have a thrilling action scene with Nancy removing a box from the titular crumbling wall while bad guys are chipping away at the other side (the real mystery is how the bad guys don't see the girls).  Once again I love Nancy's dress, which is my favorite shade of green, though Bess and George have made some lovely color choices as well.  Good job all around.

For the RT cover, we're still in the collage era of cover design.  We still have a bad guy (just one this time) chipping away at the wall and Nancy looking worried about it, but we get a bit more of a view of Heath Castle in the background which I love.  This one kinda has a similar feel to the RT cover of The Mystery of the Ivory Charm as it uses similar green tones for most of the cover, but thankfully this book is far superior to the hot mess that is Ivory Charm.

Let's take a peek inside:

Case file:  A female police officer who works with juvenile offenders asks for Nancy's help in finding missing dancer Florianna Johnson, who is to inherit the old estate of Heath Castle if she can be found in the next three weeks.  Florianna's niece Joan has been in trouble for stealing plants (including two rosebushes from Nancy's yard), and Joan's mother is not well, but Florianna has been missing for nearly 10 years.  Nancy, Bess, and George investigate Heath Castle and find that extensive damage has been done by men searching for something valuable in the walls of the castle.  Of course Nancy outwits the bad guys and locates Florianna, reuniting her with her family and saving the estate from further ruin.

Here's my card:

Since the book begins with Joan stealing Nancy's rosebushes, I decided to go with roses for this card and I had to use the Stacked Stone background stamp for the crumbling walls in the book.  There's a subplot involving river pearls, so I used pearls for my embellishments, and actually this is the first time I've used the Smoky Slate pearls, I quite like them.

I took Shaded Spruce from Nancy's dress and went with a combination of Groovy Guava, Calypso Coral, and Crushed Curry, inspired by Bess's outfit and hair.  Sorry George, I didn't use blue but you look good in that color.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  All Things Fabulous, Stacked Stone
Ink:  Groovy Guava, Calypso Coral, Crushed Curry, Shaded Spruce, Smoky Slate
Paper:  Shaded Spruce, Smoky Slate, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Fabulous Florals dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Smoky Slate Pearls

On to the RT:

Case file:  This is one that follows the OT very closely, just a bit condensed, and a couple of the names have been changed; Florianna is now Juliana and some of the more minor characters have their names changed too.  The mystery itself plays out the same way as the OT.

Here's my card:

This time I wanted to feature Heath Castle on my card, and the closest I could get to that in my stamp collection was this collage-style stamp from Provençal.  I happened to find a small line-drawing rose image in the Dear Friend stamp set while I was looking for a greeting to put on here, which is just what I wanted for the background strip.  I used Marigold Morning cardstock for that piece with the roses, but used Peach Pie ink since I thought my Marigold Morning ink pad was probably dry--turns out those two colors are nearly identical.

Once again I used pearls as my accents on this one; I chose Marigold Morning as my supporting color because of--what else?--Nancy's hair.  We can only see the top of Nancy's shirt here but I kinda hope she's dressed just like Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Provençal, Dear Friend
Ink:  Shaded Spruce, Pear Pizzazz, Peach Pie
Paper:  Pear Pizzazz, Shaded Spruce, Marigold Morning, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Word Window & Modern Label punches, Mini Dimensionals, Pearls

I very much enjoyed this installment and remembered bits of it from my childhood, I give it four and a half stars.  If you're inspired by Nancy's latest adventure, please leave me a comment so I can see what you make : )  Meanwhile, stay tuned for next Saturday when we listen for The Mystery of the Tolling Bell.  Cheers!

Succulent Pair

It is definitely Friday the 13th, a little bit ago I was putting laundry in the washer and managed to whack my head but good on the window when I stood up.  Got a bit of a headache going but hey, I'm off work today so hopefully I'll get some good progress made in my craft room after I write this post :)

Today I have two cards to share.

I liked the color combination on this week's Color Throwdown, and I decided to pair it with Simply Succulents.  Then I was playing with the pieces I had stamped and/or die cut and ended up making two cards with them.

I did learn from my past mistake though and I ran that background die through the machine like five times to make sure every little bit of it cut the way it's supposed to ;)  Sorry the pic is a little blown out, I just couldn't get a good one today.

Here is the Color Throwdown:

I used Blushing Bride, Mint Macaron, and Smoky Slate for my colors.  Cute inspiration pic, too!

Wishing you nothing but good luck today, peeps.

Supplies, first card:
Stamps:  Simply Succulents, Stacked Stone
Ink:  Mint Macaron, Blushing Bride, Craft Whisper White
Paper:  Smoky Slate, Mint Macaron, Blushing Bride, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Potted Succulents dies, Dimensionals

Supplies, second card:
Stamps:  Simply Succulents
Ink:  Smoky Slate, Blushing Bride, Craft Whisper White
Paper:  Smoky Slate, Mint Macaron, Blushing Bride, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Potted Succulents dies, rhinestone, Wink of Stella

Thanks, Chickadee

Hey y'all!  With being out of town for the holiday weekend and then working Tuesday and Wednesday, today was my first chance to stamp in a week.  I only got one card made, but I think it turned out nicely and it's for four different challenges, so that ain't too bad!

This would have been a fairly quick card if it weren't for fussy cutting the bird image.  Coloring it in took a little time too, but it was definitely the cutting that made this time consuming :)  Check out this week's Color Throwdown:

I used So Saffron/Crushed Curry, Smoky Slate, and Memento Tuxedo Black for my colors, with a little bit of Ivory, Petal Pink, and Soft Sea Foam on the bird image.  I went with a thank you sentiment for the Inspire. Create challenge:

One can always use more thank you cards, am I right?  I chose the birds for the Global Design Project theme challenge:

Plus I thought the birds would stand in nicely for the three diamond shapes on this week's Freshly Made Sketch since they kinda overlap a bit:

At first I was trying to put the sentiment underneath the birds, but in the end I decided it worked better above and to the left a bit.  I cut out the cloud border from the Basic Borders dies and used it as a mask for some subtle clouds behind the birds; it actually looks a bit better in real life than in the photo (I could not get it to show up right in a picture).  The birds are popped up on Dimensionals, but this will still go through the post office machines no problem, which is always a plus.

Hope you're having a good week, peeps.  I'm going to see if I can get anything else done before I have to pick up the spawn...cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Free as a Bird, Stacked Stone
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Smoky Slate, Crushed Curry, Stampin' Blends in Smoky Slate, So Saffron, Petal Pink, Soft Sea Foam, and Ivory
Paper:  Smoky Slate, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Basic Borders dies

Aloha Flowers

Mornin' y'all!  What with Friday's unexpected "day off" (which meant my kid couldn't go to daycare, so pretty much effectively took AWAY my day off) I didn't get in my craft room at all that whole day, which makes me grumpy because there was a bunch of challenges I wanted to play along with.  I did sneak a bit of time in my room yesterday though, enough to put together a card for two of my favorite challenges at least.  So here 'tis:

If I'd had a bit more time, I think I would have used my blending brushes to add a bit more color to t he flowers and leaves.  I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

Just now seeing that I should have moved the flower and sentiment down a bit to be more in line with the sketch.  Whoops.  And here's the Color Throwdown:

I interpreted the colors as Real Red, Granny Apple Green, Crumb Cake, and Polished Pink.  Remember I thought we did NOT need another pink when I first saw Polished Pink as part of the new In Colors, and now any time I have an excuse to use it, I totally do :D  I added a healthy dose of Early Espresso as well.

Got any plans for Father's Day?  We spent time yesterday at the Technik Museum, where they have a whole bunch of cars and planes to look at.  This morning I'll be making waffles per the hubs' request, and I think we're doing slow cooker pulled pork for dinner tonight.  We ought to start picking cherries off the tree in our yard, too...oh, I should look up cherry recipes!  Hope y'all have a good day.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Timeless Tropical, Stacked Stone
Ink:  Real Red, Granny Apple Green, Crumb Cake, Polished Pink
Paper:  Early Espresso, Granny Apple Green, Crumb Cake, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  In the Tropics dies, Dimensionals, rhinestone

Guest Designer...Radical!

Hey hey, y'all!  Fun news for today...my sympathy card was chosen as the winner of that week's Color Throwdown challenge, which means I get to be a guest designer today!

And here is the super-radical color palette for this week:

I won't lie, these colors immediately scream EIGHTIES to me and I love it :) I used Bermuda Bay, Melon Mambo, and Basic Black, with the addition of Smoky Slate for my background to make this:

I hadn't used Butterfly Brilliance recently and what's more fun and colorful than butterflies?  I was going to do colored embossing powder on black cardstock but I decided to go for white EP on colored cardstock instead, maybe I'll try the other way 'round if I get a minute this week.

I also used the Sunday Stamps sketch for this week:

Such a fun sketch, I like it!

Hope you join in the fun at Color Throwdown this week!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Butterfly Brilliance, Stacked Stone, All Things Fabulous
Ink:  Versamark, Bermuda Bay, Melon Mambo
Paper:  Basic Black, Smoky Slate, Bermuda Bay, Melon Mambo, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  White EP, Clear EP, Brilliant Wings dies, Dimensionals, retired Glitter Enamel Dots

Shimmery Hydrangea

Mornin' everyone.  Kinda glad I'm not working today because my husband's phone was buzzing all night  last night and I'm tired!  I do have a card to share today though.

I started out with a sketch challenge but my card ended up morphing enough that it didn't look much like the original sketch, so I'll just stick with the Fab Friday color challenge:

I used Shimmery White cardstock for the white panel and the die-cut hydrangea, and then I upped the shimmer factor by painting the flowers with Wink of Stella.  I used the Stacked Stone background stamp done with Versamark and clear embossing powder for the background panel; I love that background :)  I made this card on Tuesday and it went out in the mail yesterday.

Tired or not, I've got some things to get done today so I'm going to get after it.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Hydrangea Haven, Stacked Stone
Ink:  Basic Gray, Misty Moonlight, Pear Pizzazz, Versamark
Paper:  Smoky Slate, Misty Moonlight, Pear Pizzazz, Shimmery White
Accessories:  Hydrangea dies, clear EP, Wink of Stella, Dimensionals

SUO Challenges: Mambo No. 5

Oh man, I'm feeling off this week since the hubs was home for 4 days in a row and yesterday was a holiday so here it is nearly lunchtime and I'm like OH WAIT IT'S TUESDAY so here I am for a brand new SUO Challenge!

It is time for a color challenge, and here it is:

My first thought was hearts, especially with Valentine's Day just passed, but I decided to do something different and came up with this instead:

Still loving A Touch of Ink from the SAB catalog.  The strip on the bottom looks gray in the photo but I promise it's silver foil.  For the background, I stamped the Stacked Stone background with Versamark ink and heat embossed with clear EP, in person the background is pretty subtle with a nice texture to it, I like how it turned out.

So now it's your turn!  It's up to you if you want to sing "Mambo No. 5" while you make your own card, but please share it with us at the SUO Challenges blog.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  A Touch of Ink, Stacked Stone
Ink:  Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black, Melon Mambo
Paper:  Melon Mambo, Basic Black, Thick Whisper White, silver foil
Accessories:  Hippo & Friends dies, Wink of Stella, Clear EP, glitter enamel dots, Dimensionals

SUO Challenges: Gettin' Sketchy

Heeeeyyyy yooouuuuu guuuuuuys!  Ready for another SUO Challenge?

This time we're getting sketchy!  We even have two options for you; please excuse my terrible photo of the catalog but I was in a hurry before the movers came to pack up everything so this is what I've got:

That's page 94 of your catalog, aren't they both fun?  (Side note:  I do need to get my hands on that bundle, it's adorable!)  I decided to go with the card on the left and used two brand new stamp sets to make this:

Oooh pretty roses!  I did cheat a bit and use the no-longer-available Purple Posy ink pad, but you could get a very similar look by stamping off Highland Heather ink for the largest rose image, then full strength Highland Heather for the middle part and Gorgeous Grape for the darkest part.  I think my glitter enamel dots are retired too, I don't keep track of what accessories are current because I typically don't use them very quickly. *shrug*

So which sketch will you choose, left or right?  Make your choice and upload your card on the SUO Challenges blog.  Have a great day, Goonies!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  All Things Fabulous, Stacked Stone
Ink:  Gray Granite, Purple Posy, Highland Heather, Gorgeous Grape, Just Jade
Paper:  Gorgeous Grape, Gray Granite, Highland Heather, Purple Posy, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Fabulous Florals dies, Dimensionals, Glitter Enamel Dots