The Secret in the Old Lace

Happy Saturday, y'all, and welcome back to the Nancy Drew Challenge!  This week we are on book #59, where Nancy investigates The Secret in the Old Lace:

So, the arch cover is my least favorite of this trio, but I like Nancy's outfit the best out of all of them.  We have a moody gothic cover with a Captain Hook dude staring down at Nancy from a wall with a sinister cloaked figure behind him, but I just don't like Nancy's face and hairdo on this cover.

Next up is the pink checkerboard, we have Nancy and George confronting a phantom in what looks like a dungeon but WHAT in the 1980s is Nancy wearing??  I like the girls' shoes but Nancy's outfit is definitely mockable.

The fashion doesn't get much better on the orange checkerboard cover, this time we have Bess and Nancy.  Bess, why would you put a purple top with maroon pants?  Nancy, what are you smuggling under that ginormous blouse?  The bit with the painting described in the book is good, though.

Case file:  Nancy enters a magazine contest where she writes a fictitious ending to a real-life mystery of a Belgian nobleman who disappeared in I think the 19th century, and Bess conveniently pops up with a present-day mystery for Nancy to solve in (you guessed it) Belgium.  Nancy has to figure out who the present-day heir is to some jewelry discovered in an old house in Bruges, and along the way she really does solve the mystery of the missing nobleman.  Alas, there were no waffles.  Opportunity missed.

Here's my first card:

So upon perusing my stamp collection, my options for lace were surprisingly slim pickins.  At last I landed on using both Tasteful Touches and Touches of Texture and once again I managed to incorporate an arch for the arch cover, it's becoming a game to design cards around that shape.

My color palette is Purple Posy, Petal Pink, and Concord Crush so even though the card looks like it's got black on it I promise it's very dark purple.  And I included just a touch of Golden Glow to match Nancy's hair; I used it on the flower center.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Tasteful Touches, Touches of Texture
Ink:  Purple Posy, Concord Crush, Petal Pink
Paper:  Purple Posy, Petal Pink, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Everyday Arches dies, Dimensionals, In Color Opal Rounds (they're Fresh Freesia, but they looked good with the Purple Posy on my card)

Here's my card for cover #2:

Before the girls take off for Europe, a criminal breaks into Nancy's house.  She calls Chief McGinnis who rushes right over and then she pulls out her own fingerprinting kit (yeah, I have one of those in my hall closet too, Nancy) and he comments that he'd never seen her dust for prints before.  And that was the PERFECT opportunity to use True Crime Vol. 2 from The Ink Road.

I kept this one a very simple design and went with Melon Mambo, Basic Gray, and Cloud Cover for my colors and we're just ignoring Nancy's outfit now.

Supplies:
Stamps:  True Crime Vol. 2 from The Ink Road
Ink:  Smoky Slate, Basic Gray
Paper:  Melon Mambo, Basic Gray, Cloud Cover, Basic White
Accessories:  Textured Notes dies, Dimensionals, Glitter Enamel Dots

And on to cover #3:

So there's a bad guy who pretends to be a ghost running around this house that Nancy, Bess, and George are investigating, but Nancy notices the "phantom" is wearing boots and later she finds a guy wandering around Bruges wearing cowboy boots and of course he's the rightful heir to the jewelry.  So anyway, boots are a recurring clue in this book.

This one was the hardest of the three to come up with a card for some reason.  Super bright and possibly not coordinating colors (sorry Bess, I am not digging your outfit), but I went with Mango Melody, Sweet Sorbet, Tahitian Tide, and stamped the boot image in Night of Navy.  So hopefully that color combo feels cohesive on my card?  Well, not every card can be my favorite.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Bootiful Occasions
Ink:  Night of Navy, Mango Melody Blend which should probably be tossed
Paper:  Mango Melody, Whisper White, Sweet Sorbet & Tahitian Tide DSP
Accessories:  Nested Essentials dies, Hydrangea Hue glitter pen, Dimensionals, In Color Matte Dots

This book is another travelogue and we learn a few things about lace making along the way.  I had forgotten that this one takes us to Belgium and you know what?  I've been to Bruges!  I did not visit the same museums as the girls did, nor did I foil any nefarious criminal plots, but I can imagine where they were in the book.  Still, I think this one is a middle-of-the-road Nancy Drew book, not terrible but not great either, so I'm giving it two and a half stars.  If any of these book covers (or the story) inspire you, pretty please leave me a comment!  And stay tuned next week when Nancy takes on The Greek Symbol Mystery.

Watercolor Wildflowers

Hey y'all.  Yesterday was a looooooooooooooong day because Ryan woke up at 3:00 throwing up, and then didn't want to go back to sleep until about 9 a.m. and then was only down for about an hour.  He seems like he's feeling better now, so here's hoping there are no further relapses into last weekend's stomach bug.  I went and bought a new bottle of laundry detergent yesterday because we're going through it so fast :p

Ryan DID take a nap yesterday afternoon, so I got to make this:

And yes, watercoloring that panel took FOR.EV.ER!!!  I thought to myself why didn't I decide to make a 3x3 card??  But I liked how it turned out.  I stamped the big flower from Beautiful Day (I bought that set on a whim and I freakin' LOVE IT) in Sahara Sand ink (stamped off once) and then just went to town watercoloring around it.  Does this count as no-line watercolor if I watercolored the lines back on?  The ribbon is retired, but it's what I have on hand and no one is policing that on my blog anyway so I can do whatever I want. :p

I was inspired by the challenge graphic from Retro Rubber:

I love that green bottle; kinda wish my card idea had ended up with a much more saturated green but my stamping muse said watercolor so I watercolored.  Obviously I used the main colors from the picture on my card.  Beautiful Day is just one year old, but Touches of Texture I've had for at least two and a half years...and the word die is brand spankin' new because like I said before, Imma be using that set of dies a lot.  They're fun.  But do be careful to grab the dots for your "I"s...I had to dig through the trash to find the one for my bridal shower card earlier this week.  Oops.

I also used the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch:

Very simple sketch, I like it a lot.  Lots of scope for imagination, as Anne Shirley would say.

Cheers, y'all!  Stay healthy.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Beautiful Day, Touches of Texture
Ink:  Tranquil Tide, Mint Macaron, Garden Green, Flirty Flamingo, Berry Burst, Daffodil Delight, Mango Melody
Paper:  Mint Macaron, Tranquil Tide, watercolor paper
Accessories:  Well Written Framelits, retired ribbon

Opportunities for Embellishment

Mornin' y'all!  I was hoping to post this card yesterday, but thanks to the glossy white paper I used the ink was wet and I decided to let it sit overnight before I finished it up so here it is today instead!

The background is sort of watercolored on the glossy paper--I smeared some Crushed Curry ink on a plastic placemat, then sprayed water on it to water it down and smooshed the paper in it.  I dried it with my heat tool and that's how I got the drippy look.  I stamped the greeting on there and WHOOPS it was still wet when I tried to get a little bit of fuzz off the card front--it smeared.  And now you know why that little butterfly is right there touching the sentiment ;)

Anyway, I used the Color Throwdown colors:

I used Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, and Real Red for my colors.  I also used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And my card fits the theme at Global Design Project as well:

Glad I took the opportunity to play with the new Butterfly Gala stamp set; I haven't even scratched the surface of what I could make with those stamps, I need to play a lot more.  Lately I've been obsessed with a cross stitch project before we go on our Disney cruise (Disney Princess bookmarks!), so when we get back from that, I'll definitely be spending more time in the ol' craft cave.  In the meantime, cheers peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Butterfly Gala, Touches of Texture
Ink:  Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Crushed Curry, Glossy White, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Butterfly Duet punch, Dimensionals

Gather Together

Mornin', kids!  This week is going by pretty fast but I'm glad because my husband will be home this weekend and I miss him.  In the meantime I've been getting my fingers inky!

Also I think I'm just going to steal a pack of Ryan's wipes to stay in my craft room.  I bunched up a wipe and dabbed it on my Crushed Curry ink pad for part of the background on here, and even before I stamped the leaves and the green splats it looked pretty cool.  I never did baby wipe techniques back in the day because I didn't have baby wipes...well, I do now!  Everything old is new again, right?

Anyway, just three challenges today.  First up is the Global Design Project challenge:

I used different images from the same stamp set (Rooted in Nature) and I used linen thread on mine, similar to the baker's twine the Krista used on her card.  My colors are courtesy of the Paper Players:

I love me a good fall palette.  And also I love the new Thick Very Vanilla cardstock, and the Thick Whisper White that's been around for a bit longer.  Other than occasionally using the thinner stuff to line the inside of a dark card, I use the thick stuff for like errythang.  It's great.

Last up is the Fall-To Layout from Palmtrees and Pogo Sticks:

That one's a classic.  I used the twine instead of buttons because a.) I had twine and not buttons, and b.) the card will go through the mail just fine with twine while buttons are problematic.  Cute, but post office problematic.

Okay kids, today we're off to the gym so I can take pilates and hope that my hamstrings will stretch out and quit yelling at me.  I did dead lifts on Monday and now my legs wish they were dead.  Ta-ta for now, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Rooted in Nature, Painted Harvest, Touches of Texture
Ink:  Crushed Curry, Mossy Meadow, Cajun Craze
Paper:  Crushed Curry, Mossy Meadow, Thick Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Linen thread, Dimensionals

Finally....A Pink Elephant

Mornin', y'all!  I mentioned last week that I reallyreallyreally wanted to do a pink elephant card and at long last, my friends, that day has come.

The Global Design Project color challenge this week features pink in the form of Flirty Flamingo, so I just had to make a pink elephant card.

I paired that with the Paper Players sketch challenge:

I made the Daffodil Delight strip 1" wide, the flower strip is 1 1/2" wide, and the bottom strip is 2" wide.  That "dirt" strip was way more trouble than it should have been, this was the third try to get something I liked.  I had wanted to stamp the sentiment on the card base with the peekaboo circle on the "dirt" strip, but somehow I got some fuzz in my ink or something and it didn't look right.  Luckily I had the circle I'd cut out of the strip so I just stamped the sentiment on that instead, but like I said, it was more trouble than it had to be.

Hope y'all have a good day, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  A Little Wild, Touches of Texture
Ink:  Daffodil Delight, Flirty Flamingo, Soft Suede, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Daffodil Delight, Flirty Flamingo
Accessories:  Little Loves & Layering Circles Framelits, Dimensionals

She Sells Copper Shells

Happy Saturday y'all!  Usually I don't post on Saturdays buuuuuut I had a few challenges I couldn't let pass me by so here's a card.

I used some long-retired stamps on this one, which I'll get to in a minute.  First challenge is this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And next up I *finally* got a beachy card done for the Retro Rubber Challenge:

Stippled Shells is a very, very retro stamp set--I've had it since at least 2006.  Maybe even earlier, but I started my Splitcoast gallery in 2006.  The sentiment is from It's Your Birthday, which is almost as old since I've had it since 2007.  Touches of Texture is the newbie here at just two years old.

Finally, here's the Color Throwdown:

I must confess I swapped out the white for Very Vanilla on my card, and I added Sahara Sand to the palette.  I beg the forgiveness of the challenge gods :)

Also, I first put the card together without the thin black mat on the vanilla layer, and it just didn't look quite finished to me so I peeled it apart to add the black.  But here's the before version:

Yep, better with the mat.  And also my copper embossing powder is so old it's from the FIRST time SU! had copper EP :D  So even my embossing powder is retro!

Have a great weekend, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Stippled Shells, It's Your Birthday, Touches of Texture
Ink:  Versamark, Sahara Sand, Basic Black
Paper:  Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla, Basic Black
Accessories:  Copper EP

Bold Butterfly Splat

Happy Friday, y'all!  I'm looking forward to the weekend.  How 'bout you?  And to start things off right, how 'bout a big bold bright butterfly?

Okay, I kinda love how the butterfly turned out--I stamped a splotch from Touches of Texture several times on a piece of white cardstock, then stamped the butterfly outline in black over it, and then cut it out.  I could wish that I'd gotten the colors to overlap a bit more, but I still like the effect.  What do you think?

Let's start off with this week's CAS(E) This Sketch:

I liked how Jen Mitchell on their design team used a script stamp for one of the layers, so that's why I wanted to use a background stamp on mine.  I chose Sheet Music just because I liked it :) I inked it up with a sponge to make it a bit softer than if I inked it with the ink pad normal-normal.

Next up is the inspiration photo at Just Add Ink:

I took my colors straight from the photo:  Flirty Flamingo, Pineapple Punch, Call Me Clover, and Lovely Lipstick, plus some Basic Black to ground all those bright colors a bit.  And this image is what inspired me to do the stamped splotch coloring technique.  I could have used the flower from Beautiful Day, but I just used it earlier this week so I went with the butterfly instead.

That's it for me today, peeps.  Ryan and I will be heading to the gym so he can play in the nursery while I run two miles and do yoga.  I think we both win with that plan.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Beautiful Day, Touches of Texture, Sheet Music
Ink:  Flirty Flamingo, Pineapple Punch, Call Me Clover, Lovely Lipstick, Basic Black
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Call Me Clover
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Metallic Sequins

Because I'm Punny

Happy Friday, y'all!  That holiday smack in the middle of the week threw me off.  I spent half of yesterday feeling like it was Monday again!  But today really is Friday and I have the fifth card in a row with a white card base.

And a pun.  No matter what my husband tells you, puns are FUNNY.

First up, I used the colors from this week's Color Throwdown:

Which means Night of Navy, Petal Pink (I'm somewhat obsessed with it right now TBH), gold and white.  I paired that with this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I made mine a standard A2 card instead of square, and I'm counting the gold die cut flower as the layer behind the sentiment.  And for a nice surprise, my butterfly card from Monday was chosen as one of the winners for last week's sketch!  Yay!

Okay, my kiddo is making noises so it's time to get him up and feed us both breakfast.  Cheerios, peeps!  (because I'm punny again!)

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sheet Music, Labeler Alphabet, Brushwork Alphabet, Touches of Texture
Ink:  Petal Pink, Night of Navy
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Petal Pink, Night of Navy, gold foil
Accessories:  Eclectic Layers Thinlits, metallic sequins, Tailored Tag punch, Dimensionals

Let's Flamingle

Mornin', y'all.  How's your Thursday going?  Ryan is already up and taking all the books off the bookshelf, but I'm going to allow it until I finish writing this blog post as long as he doesn't destroy anything.

Here is today's card:

I was at Wal-Mart the other day and saw a plastic cup with this written on it, which I thought was funny but now I wonder if this card sounds like a proposition? o.0  I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I'm counting the leaves as the smaller rectangle layer on the sketch; I wanted more of the Melon Mambo stripes to show.

Here is this week's theme challenge from the Paper Players:

I think my card counts as clean, but simple might be a bit of a stretch since it does have multiple layers.  Nevertheless I was thinking of this challenge when I made it, and I discovered I have not a single solitary bird stamp that's in the current SU! catalog.  My flamingo retired at the end of may.

Finally, here is this week's Color Throwdown:

I used Petal Pink, which despite its name seems more peachy to me, Blushing Bride, Melon Mambo, and Old Olive for my colors.

Okay, time to go rescue the books and feed Ryan his breakfast.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Pop of Paradise (retired), Labeler Alphabet, Touches of Texture
Ink:  Petal Pink, Melon Mambo, Old Olive, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Petal Pink, Basic Black, Thick Whisper White, Melon Mambo DSP (retired)
Accessories:  Dimensionals

Just Breathe

Y'all, I think it's time to face facts:  I've had blooms on the brain this week.  I've also got two black thumbs, so all my flowers have been the ink-and-paper kind :) So here's one more CAS flower card for this week.

I am a military spouse, and I know sometimes you need someone to tell you to just breathe and you'll get through it.  Because it never fails, your spouse deploys and the dog gets lost and everybody gets the flu and your kid breaks her leg on the slide at the park (I do actually know someone whose kid broke her leg while her dad was deployed, and someone else whose kid got food poisoning on a trip to Croatia and ended up in the hospital).  So yeah.  Just breathe.

Let's start with the Color Throwdown:

I used Poppy Parade (because it's a poppy and sometimes I'm on the nose like that), Marina Mist (it looks more gray in the picture, trust me it's blue), white card base, and the sentiment is in Early Espresso.  Doesn't show up in the picture but the center of each flower has some Wink of Stella on it for shine.  When I pulled out my Poppy Parade ink pad for this card, I discovered that it has succumbed to the Dreaded Gold Sheen that afflicts some red ink pads.  This disease is terminal, so now I have to buy a new Poppy Parade ink pad when the new catalog goes live.  Seems like I used it not that long ago and it was fine...

Anyway, here is this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

Which I turned into a one-layer card.  What is with me and the CAS cards lately?  Oh yeah, it's the challenge at the Paper Players:

...that I've played with three days in a row.  But it's fun!

Well, the hubs has off work today so I think we're driving to Wilmington for the day to hang out with the little one.  He's never seen the ocean before, so here's hoping this is fun and not just hot and miserable ;) Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Touches of Texture, Colorful Seasons
Ink:  Poppy Parade, Marina Mist, Early Espresso
Paper:  Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Wink of Stella

Sunflower Thoughts

Mornin', y'all!  As I type this, I'm about an hour and a half away from my appointment time to get LASIK this morning.  I feel the same way I did when I went in for my induction--scared, excited, not at all ready but we're doing this anyway!

But anyway, I made a card yesterday afternoon to share today.

I started out with this beautiful inspiration picture from Just Add Ink:

I decided to use So Saffron, Crushed Curry, and Soft Suede for the flowers, and a mix of Dapper Denim and Tempting Turquoise for the background.

Once again I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch, this time in its original orientation:

I've been having lots of fun lately with watercolor backgrounds.  They're fun but my fingers are always turning different colors, haha.  The one on this card was the second one I made with these colors; the first one was a lot darker and more vibrant but I kinda wanted a softer feel.  And then I used sponges to ink up the flower stamps to match the softness of the background.  Maybe I'll make another card with that other darker background so you can see the difference.  Oh yeah, I almost forgot--I stamped the background with the dragonfly from Touches of Texture, but it's so light you can hardly see it even IRL.  I think it kinda adds to the dreamy effect of the card though.

Kiddo is up and eating his breakfast, and we're heading out the door in about a half an hour for my appointment to get my eyeballs lasered.  Wish me luck!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Painted Harvest, Hug in a Mug, Touches of Texture
Ink:  Dapper Denim, Tempting Turquoise, So Saffron, Crushed Curry, Soft Suede
Paper:  Dapper Denim, Thick Whisper White, Watercolor paper
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes Framelits, Dimensionals, Glitter Enamel Shapes

Shimmery Birthday Leaves

Bonus Saturday card today!  I was completely incapable of resisting the color challenge at Create with Connie and Mary:

I think autumnal color combinations are my favorites...I love the jewel tones.  Fall is my favorite season and I don't even drink pumpkin spice lattes...though I do make lots and lots of pumpkin-y goodies in the fall.  I'm having pumpkin baked oatmeal for breakfast this morning.  But I digress!  This color combination was another chance to play with Fresh Fig, so I did.

We've got lots of birthdays coming up in the next couple of months (my brother, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and nephew, not to mention all my friends with fall birthdays and why am I friends with so many Libras?) so I thought a birthday sentiment would be a good idea for this one.  Very simple for the leaves, I just stamped one in each of the challenge colors on Shimmery White cardstock and then cut them out with the matching Framelits.  I spritzed the background with water and did a little Pear Pizzazz watercolor wash, dried it with my heat tool, and then stamped some flecks from Touches of Texture on it.  The part that was difficult was deciding how to arrange the leaves on top.  The Calypso Coral and Pear Pizzazz leaves are simply glued on, and the Fresh Fig leaf is popped up on Dimensionals.

So anyway, y'all have a good weekend.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Vintage Leaves, Rose Wonder, Touches of Texture
Ink:  Pear Pizzazz, Fresh Fig, Calypso Coral
Paper:  Pear Pizzazz, Fresh Fig, Shimmery White
Accessories:  Leaflets Framelits, Dimensionals

Dolwyddelan

Scrappy Monday, y'all.  Today has started out a little rough, but some of yesterday's leftover waffles with strawberries and whipped cream is definitely making it a bit better :)

Today's scrapbook layout is one I finished a few months ago but today seems like a good day to share it.  Pics are from the one castle we visited in Wales that's actually Welsh as opposed to a castle built by the English king Edward to subdue the Welsh (pics here).  This is a really small castle, more like a tower house...it's possible that the townhouse I live in now is about the same size.  Maybe slightly smaller.  But the views from Dolwyddelan are definitely better than what I've got in Virginia ;)

There's some subtle background stamping going on (sorry for the glare on the sheep photo).

Today's color palette:  Soft Sky, Night of Navy, Smoky Slate, and Sweet Sugarplum.  Not what I was planning to use when I got these pictures out, but that's what I ended up with :)  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Jayne's Type Alphabet, Touches of Texture, Watercolor Minis
Ink:  Soft Sky, Night of Navy, Smoky Slate, Sweet Sugarplum
Paper:  Soft Sky, Night of Navy, Smoky Slate
Accessories:  Circle punches

Brought to You By the Letter T

Mornin', y'all!  How's your day going so far?  You ready for a kinda CAS card today?

I fussy cut the branch because YES I AM CRAZY.  And when I finished it, I realized I used three different stamp sets whose names start with T.  Even the sentiment starts with a T.

Take a look at this week's Cupcake Inspirations challenge:

And the Fab Friday sketch:

I admit, it's a looser interpretation of the sketch, but this IS what I started out with.

Finally, here's the Global Design Project color combination:

At first I thought I'd need black to ground the colors and then somehow my card turned out with no black on it at all.  Weird.

Well, Ryan did REALLY well when I took him to the gym daycare thing on Monday, so we're going to try it again today.  I prefer to work out in the mornings but for the past few months I've been going in the evenings once the hubs gets home, and really I'd rather spend more time with him ya know?  So this is good.

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Thoughts & Prayers, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Touches of Texture
Ink:  Crumb Cake, Berry Burst, Wild Wasabi
Paper:  Wild Wasabi, Thick Whisper White, Color Theory DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Shapes Framelits