The Kachina Doll Mystery

Mornin' y'all and welcome back to the Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today is book #62, The Kachina Doll Mystery: 

We have three pretty great covers this time and at least Nancy is strawberry blonde on the third one.  I don't have a favorite cover this time around, I love the colors on all three and had a good time making my cards for them...maybe because this book is one of my favorite Drews!

Case file:  Nancy, Bess, and George are invited to Arizona by their friend Heather McGuire to investigate strange happenings and sabotage at the ranch resort her family is trying to get started.  Suspicion has fallen on a young boy who's living at the ranch with his aunt.  In addition, there have been sightings of a Kachina doll ghost (pictured on the first two covers) and rumors of a long-lost treasure.

Here's my first card:

I didn't want to be unintentionally disrespectful of First Nations cultures so I decided to stick with the desert setting for my cards, starting with Desert Details which I dearly love.  When the girls arrive in Arizona, they talk a lot about how Heather and her family have made the desert bloom at their ranch, so desert blooms it is for this card!

I used Merry Merlot, Blushing Bride, and Just Jade for my colors and I was surprised at how much I liked them together.  I've never been a fan of Blushing Bride but I really like how it plays together with the other two colors.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Desert Details
Ink:  Merry Merlot, Blushing Bride
Paper:  Merry Merlot, Just Jade, Whisper White, Awash in Beauty DSP
Accessories:  Desert Details dies, Everyday Arches dies, Dimensionals, Regal Foiled Dots

Here's card #2:

At one point in the book, Nancy and a large group of people take a trail ride out into the desert and have dinner and sing songs around a campfire, and there are several mentions of coyotes so Musical Jamboree was a natural choice for this one.

To match this cover, I used Lovely Lipstick, Azure Afternoon, Tranquil Tide, and Cinnamon Cider.  I used an Azure Afternoon watercolor wash pattern for the color of Nancy's dress and would you believe that Tranquil Tide piece on the bottom is from the Classic Garage DSP stack?  I just stamped some grassy bits on it.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Musical Jamboree
Ink:  Early Espresso, Azure Afternoon, Tranquil Tide, Stampin' Blends in Cinnamon Cider, Ivory, Lovely Lipstick, Golden Glow
Paper:  Lovely Lipstick, Early Espresso, Whisper White, Bloom Impressions DSP, Classic Garage DSP
Accessories:  Dimensionals

And for my third card:

One of the acts of sabotage that was blamed on the innocent kid was burning a huge cactus, which almost fell on Nancy, Bess, and George when they went to check it out and I will not miss an opportunity to make a fun cactus card.  Plus this gave me an excuse to use the frame dies from Desert Details since I didn't use them on my first card as I was focused on the arch shape.  One of the clues that Nancy finds is an old journal, so I used a piece of patterned paper with a lot of words on it.

Another color combination that was very fun to work with:  Shy Shamrock, Pool Party, and Fresh Freesia.  This particular book has some water damage along the right side, so if I find a copy in better condition I will probably grab it, but this one is otherwise in pretty good shape.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Flowering Desert
Ink:  Shy Shamrock, Fresh Freesia, Pool Party
Paper:  Shy Shamrock, Whisper White, Pool Party DSP
Accessories:  Desert Details dies, Dimensionals, Tinsel Gems

This book definitely hearkens back to Shadow Ranch which is one of my all-time favorites, I wish they had done some kind of callback to that book but they didn't.  This book also has an incident with a scorpion, which is the second book in a row that I don't have scorpion stamps for so maybe I should look into that.  The sabotage mystery was a no-brainer to solve; it's the missing treasure and the Kachina doll ghost that are more interesting and delightfully spooky.  I think this book is more respectful of First Nations cultures, by which I mean that Nancy doesn't dig up any bodies this time (yeah that bar was low), but we get a little bit of talk about Hopi culture and artwork, which is nice.  Also I have seen Kachina dolls in person, they are amazing and beautiful!  I'm giving this one five stars, I love it.  If you're inspired to make a card for this book, please leave me a comment!  And I'll see you next week when Nancy takes on The Twin Dilemma.

Radiant Bouquet

Mornin' y'all and happy Friday.  I'm so happy that yesterday I finally inked up the third new stamp set I got in my last SU! order, Radiant Sunflowers!

I have the coordinating DSP too, but today I used something different to go with the inspo pic at Just Us Girls:

I put my bouquet on a Night of Navy pattern from the Nature Walk DSP and used Peaceful Pine as my card base, going with the darker colors to make the flowers pop like on the pic.  And I had some fun coloring in the flowers, I did each one a bit differently with a mix of Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, and Cajun Craze.  And I kinda sorta used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

My bouquet image is a little pointier at the top and bottom and wider in the middle, though I wish I'd cut the ribbon a little differently to match the sketch a little better.  And obviously I stretched this into a regular A2 card because I don't like making square cards.  But I did just get the new Tiled Garden square dies, which are like the square version of the Spotlight on Nature dies that are circles.  Those teeny cutout bits are annoying as all get-out to get off the cutting plate for my Big Shot, but they sure look good on the card!  I backed the cutouts with Daffodil Delight to make them stand out more.  I thought the sparkle dots were Daffodil Delight but they're actually Darling Duckling, we have hardly any embellishments in Daffodil Delight or Pumpkin Pie and I don't know why.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Radiant Sunflowers
Ink:  Night of Navy, Stampin' Blends in Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Cajun Craze, Peaceful Pine
Paper:  Peaceful Pine, Daffodil Delight, Basic White, Nature Walk DSP
Accessories:  Radiant Sunflowers dies, Tiled Garden dies, Dimensionals, Night of Navy bordered ribbon, Low-Profile Sparkle Dots, Wink of Stella

How about a little extra cute today:

BLEP.  Daph was snoozing on the love seat next to me while I was working on my stitching project and watching the end of Wonder Woman (the movie, though I do own the 70s TV show as well).  She's a good couch time companion.

Sew Crafty

Mornin' y'all.  I was not as productive in the craft room yesterday because I was busy running back and forth to the store.  The hubs had requested lasagna for dinner, so after I took Ryan to school, I went to the store to get ingredients for lasagna and orange Jello because we always had orange Jello with lasagna when I was a kid so they go together in my brain.  Then I got home and made the orange Jello so it could set in the fridge and sat down at the computer and realized that I had forgotten the ground beef for the lasagna, so I had to go BACK to the store to get that and then I assembled the lasagna and put it in the fridge until time to bake it for dinner last night and then most of my kid-free time was used up.  I was grumpy.  That lasagna was sure good for dinner though, and Ryan refused to eat it because he's crazy.

Anywha, I do have a card to share today:

I used this week's sketch from Atlantic Hearts:

And the speed stamping challenge from As You See It:

And here's my time:

I pulled out the very old Sweet Stitches DSP, Handmade for You and Button Button stamp sets and I'm sure this card will be going to my mom, who does like to sew and is the one who taught me how to cross stitch when I was younger than Ryan is now.  I've had that DSP for many many moons (I think it's over ten years old) so I'm glad to use up even a little of it.

Ryan and the hubs have a Donuts with Dads thing at Ryan's school this morning, so Daph and I will be going for our morning walk while they're doing that.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Handmade For You, Button Button
Ink:  Chocolate Chip, Daffodil Delight
Paper:  Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Basic White, Sweet Stitches DSP
Accessories:  3/4" circle punch, Layering Circles dies, Dimensionals

A Couple of Corny Cards

Mornin' y'all!  Man, Ryan was in a MOOD again this morning, he must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed.  Hopefully he'll be over it by the time I pick him up from school.  Meanwhile, I'm pretty happy because I had a very productive session in the warcraft room yesterday and made SIX cards.  So let's start with a couple of corny cards, shall we?

I thought of my old favorite set Perfectly Preserved when I saw the AAA Cards Challenge:

So the central theme is on the farm, and I went with the left spoke of crops of fruit or veg.  I've used the apples from Perfectly Preserved much more often than the corn, so today it's the corn's time to shine.  And I actually stamped three ears so I I decided to make a second card while I was at it:

I also used up some scraps of my also favorite Orchard Harvest DSP and I think I still have several unopened packs of it because I am a paper dragon.

Two quick cards that started off my crafting session yesterday.  And these also fit with the theme at the Paper Players of looking forward to fall : )

Okay, the hubs asked for lasagna for dinner tonight so I had to go to the store this morning and I just realized as I typed this sentence that I totally forgot to get ground beef, ugh!  There was someone standing in front of it and so I detoured to pick up the mozzarella cheese and then forgot to go get the beef.  Okay, guess I'm going back to the store.  I even had it written on my list!!  Maybe I'll wait and go get it when I pick Ryan up...

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Perfectly Preserved, Country Home
Ink:  Early Espresso, More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Old Olive
Paper:  More Mustard, Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Orchard Harvest DSP
Accessories:  Cannery Framelits, Textured Notes dies, Dimensionals

Fabulous Colors for SUO Challenges

Mornin' y'all!  It is time once more for a new challenge from SUO Challenges, and this time we've got some fabulous colors for you:

It would be super easy to go for florals with these colors, but I like to do things the hard way so I decided to go with pumpkins instead:

It's the new Painted Pumpkins bundle again!  This time I did use the big leafy stencil background, and instead of stamping the pumpkin outlines, I used the stencils for those as well.  I don't have any current DSP with Fresh Freesia in it but I found some nice stripes in the retired Toadstool Gardens DSP stack and that's what I used to ground my gourd trio.  A few Fresh Freesia gems and done!

We hope you'll give these colors a try and upload your card to the SUO Challenges blog.  Don't forget to use only Stampin' Up! products, like it says in the name : ) Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Painted Pumpkins
Ink:  Peaceful Pine, Darling Duckling
Paper:  Darling Duckling, Peaceful Pine, Basic White, Toadstool Gardens DSP Stack
Accessories:  Painted Pumpkins stencils & dies, Dimensionals, Opaque Faceted Gems

Rhino Hello

Mornin' y'all, hope your week is off to a good start.  'Member how Ryan had a stomach bug last Friday?  I think he shared it with me, the plague rat, but if he's anything to go by I should be feeling better by tomorrow.

So how about a cute little card today...

I thought of Animal Outing immediately when I saw the new Festive Friday Challenge:

I started out with a lot of Basic Gray and Smoky Slate for neutral colors, but I did add some other colors so I'm not sure if that one still counts.  Side note, I really like the combo of Basic Gray/Smoky Slate, Pool Party, and Shy Shamrock.  Anyway, for the recipe list, I do have stripes, wild animals, and some jungle leaves--I had pulled out Tropical Chic when I did my tropical card for Retro Rubber last week and didn't use it, so it was fun to use it for this card instead.  It took me some time playing around with the placement of the leaves and stripes to get something that I liked.

That's it for now, peeps.  Ryan is supposedly getting ready for school and as soon as he's off I will be off to run some errands.  And then possibly a nap because I'm still feeling this bug that Ryan gave me.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Animal Outing, Tropical Chic, Softly Sketched
Ink:  Basic Gray, Shy Shamrock, Stampin' Blends in Smoky Slate, Pool Party, Shy Shamrock, Golden Glow
Paper:  Pool Party, Basic White, Animal Expedition DSP, Pool Party DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Tropical dies, Dimensionals, In Color Dots

Falling Twice as Hard With The Paper Players

Mornin' ya'll and happy Sunday!  It's time for a new challenge from The Paper Players...hope you enjoyed last week's color combo from Stef, and get ready for a great CAS challenge from Claire!  Here it is:

HECK YEAH I am looking forward to fall!  And I just got a new SU! order with several different packs of fall patterned paper, so here's what I made:

Say hello to the Autumn Opulence DSP, which comes with two sheets of cut-outs and that's where I got the images for my cards.  Yep, I made two; the first one came together so fast I figured why not!  The cut-outs have a wide white border around them, so I trimmed that down a bit, added a simple strip of torn DSP and embossed the greeting with copper embossing powder.

This one's on Early Espresso...

And this one's on Blackberry Bliss.  I love when fall papers include a blue or a purple to ground all the browns, oranges, and reds.  I think this one is a bit less CAS just because the image is so large so it's a good thing I made the pumpkin card, which is definitely clean and simple : )

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:  Fern & Flora
Ink:  Versamark
Paper:  Early Espresso, Blackberry Bliss, Autumn Opulence DSP
Accessories:  Copper EP, Dimensionals