Clue in the Ancient Disguise

Happy Saturday and welcome to this week's edition of the Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today we are on book #69, Clue in the Ancient Disguise:

The arch cover reminds me of the cover of Old Attic but with a completely different color palette.  I think the middle one is the one I've had in my collection the longest but I think the last cover is more dynamic.  All three covers depict scenes in the book, but the suit of armor is NOT the ancient disguise.  I think the last cover wins for most action-packed, though I quite like the first cover this time too and maybe it's not a coincidence that those are the two where she has reddish hair.

Case file:  Nancy is asked to help French inventor Pierre Michaud, who found a mysterious old letter in his grandfather's effects from a River Heights resident referencing some big family secret.  (Absolutely no mention of Ned in this book, which is good because he would have been insanely jealous of Pierre even though Pierre is in love with someone who is not Nancy.)  At the same time, she's investigating a series of break-ins at a local museum.  This one is pretty much what would happen if Old Lace had taken place in River Heights, but with more French Revolution.

Here's my first card:

Most of Nancy's adventures seem to happen in the summer, so I'm always happy when we get something that specifically mentions it's fall.  And the colors on the arch cover are perfectly autumnal.

I used Petunia Pop, Dusty Durango, and Bumblebee for my colors.  Since we're dealing with a French mystery set in the fall, I got out French Foliage : )  I also feel like I am working hard to make my arch cards look different and interesting, how am I doing on that challenge?

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  French Foliage, French Script, Carte Postale
Ink:  Petunia Pop, Dusty Durango, Bumblebee
Paper:  Petunia Pop, Dusty Durango, Bumblebee, Very Vanilla, Dusty Durango DSP
Accessories:  Everyday Arches dies, Dimensionals, In Color Flat Pearls

On to the second cover:

Nancy, Bess, and George arrange with the museum curator to hide out in the basement overnight to try to catch the people breaking into the museum, but they get chased by someone wearing a suit of armor (which is 100% straight out of the very first Scooby-Doo episode from 1969, What a Night for a Knight) and locked in a storage room.  Since I have this adorable little knight from Magical Day, I had to use him, and he's got a fleur de lis pattern because he's a French knight.

I used Flirty Flamingo, Hydrangea Hue, Ballet Blue, and Basic Gray for my colors.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Magical Day
Ink:  Basic Gray, Ballet Blue, Stampin' Blends in Smoky Slate, Petal Pink, Flirty Flamingo, Hydrangea Hue, Seaside Spray
Paper:  Flirty Flamingo, Hydrangea Hue, Basic White, Myths & Magic Specialty DSP
Accessories:  Magical Mates dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, In Color Dots

And now for the third one:

This book has a LOT of tea in it, I think in the first half Nancy has tea four or five times and coffee twice.  Any excuse to make a tea card, right?

I used Gorgeous Grape, Seaside Spray, and Melon Mambo for my colors and my Gorgeous Grape ink pad is very juicy so the hearts are quite dark.  This stamp set does have coordinating dies, but not for either of the stamps I used so I fussy cut instead.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  A Nice Cuppa
Ink:  Gorgeous Grape, Seaside Spray
Paper:  Gorgeous Grape, Seaside Spray, Basic White, Have a Cuppa DSP Stack
Accessories:  Dimensionals

I thought this one was fun even if the French Revolution connection was totally implausible; it's always fun when Nancy is snooping around a museum (it's a vibe).  It does remind me of Old Lace like I said before, but I like this one better so I'm giving it three and a half stars.  If you're inspired to make a card based on this book or any of the cover art, leave me a comment so I can see!  And I'll see you here next week when Nancy encounters The Broken Anchor.

What's Cookin'?

Midnight greetings, ghoul friends!  I'm back with another Halloween Hex-Travaganza card and this one is just funny I think:

While I had the Toil & Trouble DSP out for this card, I found the frog, cauldron, and kitty that I had cut out from one of the patterns but hadn't used.  There was also that oddly shaped scrap of the polka dot paper so I thought I'd combine them...and then I couldn't resist the "What's cookin'?" greeting, ha!  A few Glossy Dots and it's done.

Stay spooky, friends!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  What's Cookin'?
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, Granny Apple Green, Toil & Trouble DSP
Accessories:  Cauldron Bubble dies, Dimensionals, Glossy Dots

Perfect Day

Mornin' y'all!  Ryan is off school today (because two weeks for fall break isn't enough?!) but we have a parent-teacher conference this morning and then we're going to shop for his Halloween costume.  I think he's going to do something other than superheroes this year, we'll see.

Anyway, here's my card for today:

I had to pull out my favorite Orchard Harvest DSP and the lovely Warms My Heart stamp set for the Time Out Challenge:

I have gingham, a circle, a basket, and lots of apples.  I think I break out Orchard Harvest at least once every fall, I love it.

Anyway, I need to get Ryan ready to go.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Warms My Heart, Suite Sentiments
Ink:  Early Espresso, Stampin' Blends in Old Olive, Azure Afternoon, Pool Party, Petal Pink, Pecan Pie, Gray Granite, Lovely Lipstick, neutrals
Paper:  Old Olive, Raspberry Ripple, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Orchard Harvest DSP
Accessories:  Watercolor Wonder Crayon (More Mustard, for her hat), Spotlight on Nature & Tile Garden dies, Dimensionals, Radiant Gems

Halloween Bingo

Midnight greetings, ghoul friends!  Tonight's card is one I made last week while I was just playing around with some stamps and papers.

Spooky Bingo Bits has a whole bunch of different images that are all designed to fit inside a small square so you could make your own bingo cards; I picked six and punched them out with a 1" square punch and then the postage stamp punch to layer.

Stay spooky, friends!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Spooky Bingo Bits, Cutest Halloween
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Highland Heather, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive
Paper:  Pumpkin Pie, Highland Heather, Old Olive, Basic Black, Basic White, Cute Halloween DSP Stack
Accessories:  1" square punch, postage stamp punch, Cute Star Sequins

Big Bold Sunflower

Mornin' y'all!  Hope your week is going well.  I have had so many ideas for cards swirling around in my little brain that yesterday I felt like I had a pack of overcaffeinated squirrels using my head as a gymnastics studio and I did something that turned out to be very smart:  I got a piece of scratch paper and wrote down the card ideas I had swirling around.  It was that simple.  I didn't feel like I was going to forget a gymnastic squirrel while I worked on something else and I crossed off the top four or five of my ideas yesterday and I felt like I got so much accomplished!  It was great, I was in the zone for sure.  I'm hoping to tackle the second half of my list after I take Daphne for a walk, but first, let's talk today's card:

I've had some fun playing with the new Radiant Sunflowers suite but I had to pull out Celebrate Sunflowers for the AAA Birthday Challenge:

And that worked very well with this Color Dare Challenge:

I used Flirty Flamingo, Darling Duckling, and added Peaceful Pine.  I could have gone with Calypso Coral and Daffodil Delight, but I use those colors a lot more so I thought I'd go for two colors I don't usually play with very often instead.

Daphne and I will be leaving for our daily walk shortly, which will hopefully make my tummy feel better.  I woke up this morning craving chocolate cake, so once Ryan was off to school I made a chocolate mug cake because there's no one here to stop me doing things like that and it turns out I need someone here to stop me doing things like that because that was waaaayyyy too much this early in the morning.  I am no longer craving chocolate cake, at any rate!  Cheers, y'all.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Celebrate Sunflowers
Ink:  Early Espresso, Stampin' Blends in Darling Duckling, Peaceful Pine, Pecan Pie
Paper:  Darling Duckling, Peaceful Pine, Basic White, Flirty Flamingo DSP
Accessories:  Celebrate Sunflowers dies, Stitched Rectangles dies, Dimensionals, In Color Flat Pearls

Scaredy Cat

Midnight greetings, ghoul friends!  Can't believe I'm more than a week into the Halloween Hex-Travaganza already this year, hope you're having as much fun as I am.  Tonight is a fun but quick card:

I think I tend to stick to pretty simple card layouts when I'm not following a sketch and I really like to put things towards the bottom right corner.  Anyway, Shopping Our Stash wants to see black cats and that pairs nicely with this month's cookie inspiration at If You Give a Crafter a Cookie:

I always *want* to play along over there but this might just be the first time I've done it.  I liked the bright yellow cat cookie with the edges shaded into orange, so I did the same on my card and I had that fun scrap of kitties to go with the theme.  I was going to put it on a Pumpkin Pie card base, but that felt like too much orange, and I tried Highland Heather too before I decided to go with Granny Apple Green.  What can I say, I like green and orange together.

Stay spooky, friends!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Scaredy Cat
Ink:  Versamark, Pumpkin Pie
Paper:  Granny Apple Green, Daffodil Delight, Basic Black, Toil & Trouble DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Circles Collection Framelits, black EP, Dimensionals, Iridescent Black Ribbon

Wishing Well Leaves

Mornin' y'all!  I got all my errands done yesterday but not much crafting, so that will be happening after I take Daphne for a walk today.  There's lots of challenges I need to catch up on, so let's start with two for today's card:

I used this week's Creative Colour Challenge:

The Mary Mary Quite Contrary in my really wanted to do purple leaves, but I decided to keep the leaves to actual real-life leaf colors.  (If I was using pumpkins, you know that pumpkin would have been purple because I am a pumpkin color anarchist!)  I paired that with this week's Atlantic Hearts sketch:

Pro tip real quick:  Always make sure you're LOOKING at your mug when you set it on a coaster, I just almost ended up with hot tea all over my desk and lap and that would have been a real shame as it's sweet potato pie tea and it does not belong in my lap.  Anywha, back to the card.  I saw this sketch and my brain said NO and then ten seconds later it hiccuped and there was my card idea.  I cut two patterns of Darling Duckling DSP into 1/2" strips and adhered them at an angle on a piece of copy paper (so it wouldn't add bulk), then cut off the extra bits on the sides before I put the whole thing on a Cajun Craze mat.  A few die cut leaves, the greeting, and some dots to finish.

Weirdly, I made a card with a very similar color combination earlier this week which you'll see on Saturday's Nancy Drew Challenge.  Check you later kids, I'm off to do a virtual appointment and then walk the Daphinator.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Gather Together
Ink:  Highland Heather, Cajun Craze, Darling Duckling, Versamark
Paper:  Highland Heather, Cajun Craze, Darling Duckling, Basic White, Darling Duckling DSP
Accessories:  Gathered Leaves dies, Textured Notes dies, Dimensionals, Frosted Iridescent Dots

Oops, I forgot to post my WIP Wednesday stitching photo!  Here it is:

I've done a whole lotta black stitching so far on the Frankenstein block (don't come at me, I know it's Frankenstein's MONSTER and he doesn't have his own name, but you know how we refer to artwork as like "a Picasso" and stuff like that?  He's a Frankenstein!...and now I need to watch Young Frankenstein, stat) and I am still having so much fun with this.  However, I know I need to slow down a bit as my right wrist is starting to complain, so I really need to back it off to maybe an hour of stitching per day.  That just means I'll get to enjoy making this project for longer, right?