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.

Spooky Candelabrum for The Paper Players

Goooooood mornin' y'all!  I hope you enjoyed Jaydee's tic-tac-toe board last week and are ready for a new Paper Players challenge coming at you right now courtesy of the joyful Joanne, who will be celebrating a birthday this week!  Take a look:

So maybe the obvious choice was a birthday cake with candles, but you probably know by now that my brain is wired differently especially since we are *finally* in the -BER months and I've been listening to my spooky sweet playlist of movie scores from movies like Hocus Pocus and Casper and okay you read the title to this blog post so you know I made a Halloween card!  Also those ghost candles on the challenge graphic are ridiculously cute.  Here's my card:

I saw "candles" and immediately remembered this spooky candelabrum from the Dark & Dreary stamp set, which I paired with the Magic In This Night DSP that's kinda fancy while still being spooky.  I decided to work my card around the scraps I had from this paper instead of cutting into a new sheet so that drove the design.  This fancy spooky (or is it spooky fancy?) card makes me think of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland and I love that (and I also have that movie score in my spooky playlist, of course).  I meant to sponge some black ink around the candelabrum but I forgot until after I'd already stuck it down so this is how it is.  I used black embossing powder for shine and some black rhinestones to finish it off.  I have been promising more Halloween cards so you shouldn't be surprised ; )  And also I had already made a birthday card for Joanne!

Check out the other design team creations on the Paper Players blog, and you can hop through their individual blogs to leave some comments too:

The Paper Players Design Team

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Ann Schach

Jan Clothier

Stef Perry

you are here --> Christy Stanford

And then upload your card at the Paper Players blog!  Keep in mind a few simple rules:
1.  Create a new paper project
2.  Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to us and provide a direct link to the post featuring your challenge submission
3.  Please link your card to no more than four challenges, TOTAL
4.  Have fun!


Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Dark & Dreary, The Raven
Ink:  Versamark
Paper:  Pretty Peacock, Rich Razzleberry, Basic Black, Magic In This Night DSP
Accessories:  Lots of Labels dies, Ornate Frames dies, black EP, Dimenisonals, Black Rhinestones

The Ghost of Blackwood Hall

Happy Saturday and I'm happy it's time for a new Nancy Drew Challenge!  This week's book is great too, take a look at The Ghost of Blackwood Hall:

Let's talk about the OT cover on the left and WHY does it look like Nancy is delivering a singing telegram?!  Also Bess and George seem to both have dark hair.  This book is actually pretty spooky so this cover seems like it doesn't fit, though someone in a Nancy Drew fan group on Facebook said this was their favorite book cover.

I like the RT cover on the right better, I think it fits the spooky vibe much better with the ghostly organist.  Nancy's hair is a weird shade of orange (as in Flaming Hot Cheeto orange), I'll give you that, but at least we can tell Bess and George apart.  I think Bess looks totally adorable on this one.

So let's take a look inside!

Case file:  Nancy meets widowed Mrs. Putney, who thinks her deceased husband is contacting her and believes everything the ghost says until she discovers that a box of jewels she buried in the woods per the ghost's instructions has been substituted with fakes.  Nancy's investigation takes her, Bess, and George to New Orleans, and we get seances and all kinds of suspicious characters.  Nancy doesn't go to the titular Blackwood Hall until a bit late in the book, but we get a haunted house too!  Nancy exposes a group of fake mediums who have hoodwinked people out of lots of money and finds Mrs. Putney's missing jewels too.

Here's my card:

I think the OT cover is a little bit silly with the singing telegram of it all, so I made a silly card to go with it.  Mrs. Putney and several other characters believe that they're being contacted by deceased loved ones and I could not resist this funny image of the ghost on the telephone.

I used blue for Nancy's shirtwaist (that is a shirtwaist, right?  Or is it just a vest?) and green for the overgrown plants in the background.  Had to get the woodgrain pattern because a lot of this book takes place at Blackwood Hall or in the woods nearby.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Boo-la-la and Hey Boo from The Ink Road
Ink:  Versamark, Basic Black, Stampin' Blends in Pecan Pie, Shaded Spruce, Pool Party
Paper:  Shaded Spruce, Basic Black, Thick Basic White, Pacific Point DSP
Accessories:  Tinsel Gems, white EP

On to the RT!

I think after #18, The Mystery of the Moss-Covered Mansion, the revised texts stay very close to the originals other than condensing the plot from 25 chapters to 20 chapters, and that is the case here.  But I still made a second card, here it is:

I think the RT cover is pretty spooky so I made a spooky card to match the vibes.  I started by using blending brushes on some white cardstock for my blue and green background, then spritzed with a bit of water and let it dry.  For the haunted house, I embossed shimmery black embossing powder on black cardstock, then die cut it out so it's sparkly and fun.  I hunted through my dies and punches until I found this old something-label punch (I forget its name) that matched the ticket corners on the main image die cuts.

I have green and blue for George and Nancy's outfits, and a bit of deep orange for Nancy's Cheeto hair and maybe sorta Bess's shirt...well, it's a bit more red but whatever.  Good color choices on all three girls, no one looks like they shopped in Steve Irwin's closet this time.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  The Raven
Ink:  Blueberry Bushel, Azure Afternoon, Granny Apple Green, Garden Green
Paper:  Garden Green, Granny Apple Green, Basic Black, Thick Whisper White, Spooky Night DSP
Accessories:  Scary Silhouettes dies, ? label punch, Earthy Matte Dots

So there is The Ghost of Blackwood Hall.  I read these both in October and the spooky vibes were spot-on for Halloween season, five stars for both books.  Absolutely loved this story!  If you're inspired too, leave me a comment so I can see what you make!  Next time we''l be searching for The Clue of the Leaning Chimney.  See you then!