The Haunted Showboat

Happy Saturday, y'all, and welcome to a new Nancy Drew Challenge!  This week we reach a milestone:  we've finished the books with original and revised text versions, and from here on out we get just one story for each one, and just one book cover until we get to the paperbacks.  So let's take a look at #35, The Haunted Showboat!

We have another lovely Rudy Nappi cover here, and this is the first of three in a row where we have Nancy and her chums Bess and George turned away from us and looking at something (side note:  Ryan recently read the first Hardy Boys book, and one word he asked me about was chum, he'd never heard it for friend before).  Anyway, I quite like this one, it's got some great vibes like The Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland.

Case file:  Road trip!  Nancy, Bess, and George drive down to New Orleans to visit another cousin, Donna Mae (whose dad is always referred to as "The Colonel" so I imagine him looking just like Colonel Sanders at KFC).  Donna Mae has just jilted her perfectly lovely fiance and taken up with a new and more obnoxious man as well as a new obnoxious personality.  She wants to refurbish an old showboat to use as the location for a ball to announce her engagement, but no one will work on the boat because it's haunted.  In between tourist activities, Nancy investigates the haunting and proves the new fiance is a ne'er-do-well in the middle of Mardi Gras.

Here's my card:

I don't have any showboat stamps (what a weird omission in my collection, am I right?), but we do get a LOT of descriptions of flowers and gardens in this book, including several mentions of azaleas.  George is wearing that lovely pink shirt on the cover so I had to do an azalea for this one.

My current favorite Nature Walk DSP coordinates very well with the book cover, don't you think?  The style of the DSP mirrors the painting style on the cover art and also I just really love that DSP.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Best Thoughts
Ink:  Secret Sea, Stampin' Blends in Polished Pink, Magenta Madness, Berry Burst, Mossy Meadow
Paper:  Dapper Denim, Basic Beige, Thick Basic White, Nature Walk DSP
Accessories:  Seasonal Labels dies, Layering Circles dies, Dimensionals, Sparkle Dot Essentials

But wait, there's more!  We also get talk in this book about pirates and hidden treasure, and a day or two after I made the azalea card I just had to come back and make a pirate card for this book:

This isn't the first book where Nancy has found literal pirate treasure, and I'd wager it won't be the last!  I do have a pirate image in this stamp stamp set, but I decided to just go with the treasure chest and a punny sentiment this time.

I dug out my Waves of the Ocean DSP for this card for a fun background, quite appropriate for pirate treasure, don't you think?  I still incorporated pink for George's shirt and I didn't even talk yet about how Nancy and Fred from Scooby-Doo apparently shop at the same clothing boutique.  It's hard to tell but I think Bess is wearing an orange button-down shirt, it kind of blends in with Nancy's hair.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Pirates & Mermaids
Ink:  Early Espresso, Night of Navy, Stampin' Blends in Daffodil Delight, Pecan Pie, Smoky Slate
Paper:  Pacific Point, Thick Basic White, Waves of the Ocean DSP, Bright & Beautiful DSP Stack
Accessories:  Layering Circles dies, Purple Fine Shimmer Gems, Dimensionals

So only one book cover, but I still made two cards this week!  I'm not going to say I will *always* make more than one card for each book, but sometimes I might.  Anyway, this book does have some fun tourist stuff (the restaurants mentioned in the book are still in operation today), but be aware that there are some not-so-fun racial stereotypes involved.  I'm going to give it three stars for the stereotypes and also I think that Donna Mae's first fiance should have run very far away instead of taking her back at the end of the book.  If you're inspired to make a card, either just by the book cover or if you read the book itself, leave me a comment so I can see!  Or just tell me what your favorite Nancy Drew book is.  Stay tuned next week when we uncover The Secret of the Golden Pavilion!

Puppy Love

Mornin' y'all!  Ryan has an early release day (WHY?) so I need to get moving if I want to get some things done before I go pick him up in about three hours.  I already dropped off a package at UPS and picked up a few things at the store, and as soon as I finish my tea I'll be taking Daphne out for our walk.

Speaking of puppers, I have a paper puppy today!

One of my (ahem, several) Spellbinders purchases recently included this super adorable doggo and I can't wait to send this card to my puppy-loving pal Krissy.  I would NOT want to mass-produce this, it took quite a while to die cut all the different pieces and assemble them, but I do love how he turned out.  I adapted this week's Freshly Made Sketch for an A2 card:

I wanted to do a heart behind the pupper, but I didn't have a die cut that was big enough to be obviously a heart but small enough to fit on an A2 card, so I went with the circle.

I thought of the old Candy Lane DSP as soon as I saw this color palette from Sunday Stamps:

The paper has Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, Close to Cocoa, and Very Vanilla in it, but the stripey pattern I used behind the doggo seems to have a shade between the red and pink that I thought worked very nicely for this color challenge.

Okay, my real-life doggo is demanding attention with her rubber duck toy that makes this funny wheezy sound, so I'm going to play with her and then take her for a walk.  Cheers!

Supplies:
Stamps:  I {Love} Love (unmounted wheel)
Ink:  Pink Pirouette, Close to Cocoa, Riding Hood Red
Paper:  Pink Pirouette, Close to Cocoa, Very Vanilla, Riding Hood Red, Basic White, Basic Black, Pink Pirouette DSP, Candy Lane DSP
Accessories:  Darling Dog dies from Spellbinders, Circles Collection Framelits, Dimensionals

Smoochy Kiss

Mornin' y'all, I am on the struggle bus today.  Another night of not nearly enough sleep, which means a lot of caffeine today!  So let's get to it.  How about a Valentine?

I was kicking around card ideas in my brain yesterday and I thought the Creative Colour Challenges palette would be fun with this bear from Valentine Kisses:

There are two other bears in this stamp set, but for realsies we know I'm going to choose the kissy face bear every time.  I also used this week's Atlantic Hearts sketch:

I looked for a fun rectangular die to use for the background elements but they were all the wrong aspect ratio for my card, so I ended up snipping a few scraps of Lemon Lime Twist DSP for the panels and then giving them a thin Early Espresso mat.  And I still have die cut elements on the diagonal behind the sentiment piece.

Anyway, I think it's time to brew my first cuppa tea today and then take Daphne for a walk.  Hopefully I'll still be able to get a few things done today.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Valentine Kisses
Ink:  Early Espresso, Stampin' Blends in Pecan Pie, Ivory, Strawberry Slush, Lemon Lime Twist
Paper:  Strawberry Slush, Early Espresso, Thick Basic White, Lemon Lime Twist DSP
Accessories:  Valentine Kisses dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Strawberry Slush Gems

Famous Fiona

Ryan has actually gotten ready to leave for school on time TWO DAYS IN A ROW, it's a miracle.  And he has STEM club after school today, so extra crafty (and laundry) time for me!  I always seem to do laundry on Wednesdays.

Anyway, I *finally* inked up one of my "new" stamp sets that I've had for...three or four months now?  I have a CAS card today.

CAS on Fridays wants to see something monochrome, so I chose Cloud Cover for Fiona the hippo here.  Fun fact:  the real-life Fiona and I share a birthday (not the same year, obvs).  So happy slightly belated birthday to Fiona!  I kinda wish I had stamped her in Cloud Cover twice to make her stand out a little darker, like I did for the greeting stamped directly on the DSP.  There are no dies for this stamp set, but she was easy to fussy cut out.

That's it for now, peeps.  Daphne and I are going to go for our morning walk and then I have to get started on laundry and work on some cards.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Big Little Things
Ink:  Cloud Cover
Paper:  Cloud Cover, Thick Basic White, Cloud Cover DSP
Accessories:  Nested Essentials dies, Dimensionals, In Color Flat Pearls in Cloud Cover

I'm A Little Teapot

Mornin', y'all.  I woke up with a ginormous headache this morning so I'm going to be taking it easy today...just as soon as I get Ryan off to school and do the grocery shopping.  But first, a card:

This was actually the first one I made for the Color Dare Challenge:

I used Pretty Peacock, Gorgeous Grape, and Coastal Cabana on this one too, and fussy-cut three teapots from the new-to-me stamp set Tiny Teapots.  And here's my other challenge from AAA Cards:

And the card to CASE:

I kept the basic layout and the tea theme, but with the colors from the other challenge.

Okay, I'm back from the store and I'm almost done with my tea, so pretty soon Daphne and I will be heading out for our walk.  Maybe the fresh air will help alleviate my headache a bit...one can hope.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Tiny Teapots, Snow Swirled, A Nice Cuppa
Ink:  Pretty Peacock, Gorgeous Grape, Coastal Cabana
Paper:  Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Textured Notes die used for reverse masking, Mini Dimensionals, rhinestones 

Winter Gnome

Mornin' y'all!  Who else had winter weather over the weekend?  Actually it wasn't too bad here, just very cold; we got some snow and ice (enough to give Ryan a two-hour delay starting school) and I'll have to watch for slick spots when I go out today.  The winter weather didn't stop me seeing both The Two Towers and The Return of the King in theaters over my birfday weekend though : ) My ticket for Return of the King was in the very front row so I was basically IN the movie.

Anyway, I have about ten minutes before it's time to get Ryan dressed and out the door for school so I should get on with the card for today:

I actually stamped this winter gnome image when I was kicking around ideas for the recent Signs of Winter challenge at The Paper Players, before I made my winter reading card.   This gnome is also all about winter reading with a nice cuppa, and I thought he would work wonderfully with this Color Dare Challenge: 

I used Pretty Peacock (it's Island Indigo in the DSP, but I think it's close enough to work here), Gorgeous Grape, and Coastal Cabana.  We still don't have Gorgeous Grape Blends (WHY, SU?!) so I had to use Highland Heather, but I used Gorgeous Grape for the card base.  I do love a good purple so that was fun.  I also had to bust out my long-retired Coastal Cabana Blendabilities because we don't have Blends in that color either (WHY, SU?!).  I added a bit of Smoky Slate for the gnome's beard and some ground for him to stand on, and a bit of Petal Pink for his skin, but otherwise only the colors listed.  And I used up some smaller scraps of that pretty DSP!

Okay, that's it for now, peeps.  I've got to get Ryan moving so I can take him to school.  Cheers!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Storytime Gnomes from Spellbinders, Delicate Pines (greeting)
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Highland Heather, Pretty Peacock, Coastal Cabana, Smoky Slate, Petal Pink
Paper:  Gorgeous Grape, Pretty Peacock, Thick Basic White, Winter Frost Specialty DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Nested Labels dies, Dimensionals, Purple Fine Shimmer Gems

A Lucky Sketch for The Paper Players

Happy Sunday, y'all, and that means it's time for a new Paper Players challenge!  Check out this wonderful sketch from Jaydee:

I personally don't like making slimline cards (I know, I'm weird) so I modified the sketch for a standard A2 card and here's what I made:

Ryan asked why I made a St. Patrick's Day card when we haven't even gotten to Valentine's Day yet and the answer is I'm a rebel and I do what I want, and also this rainbow paper popped into my head one night as I was settling down to sleep and I just had to make it.  I did think about snowflakes or hearts or teacups, but the shamrocks and rainbow background won out this time.  I added some gold accents for the lucky leprechaun who gets this card in the mail.  I used Shaded Spruce ink for the darker shamrocks, which are showing up darker in the photo than they do IRL, they're lovely dark green.  I think I inked up my Shaded Spruce ink pad in the not so distant past so it's stamping extra dark at the moment. 

Check out the other design team creations on the Paper Players blog, or you can hop through their individual blogs:

The Paper Players Design Team

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Anne Marie Hile

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:  Lucky Clover
Ink:  Shaded Spruce, Granny Apple Green
Paper:  Granny Apple Green, Basic White, Full of Life DSP Stack, Gold Glimmer Paper
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Gold Swirls

The Hidden Window Mystery

Happy Saturday and happy birthday to MEEEEE!  Ryan had the nerve to argue with me about how old I am, as if I am not aware...he was trying to make me older than I really am.  This child would argue about absolutely anything.  Anyway, it's time for another Nancy Drew Challenge and today we are on #34, The Hidden Window Mystery!  And this is officially the last book to have two versions of the text; starting next week we'll have just one cover and one text version to look at, until we get to the paperbacks which have lots of cover variants.  Anyway, let's investigate The Hidden Window Mystery!

Both of these covers are by Rudy Nappi; for the OT on the left, we have a scene from the book where Nancy is out in the middle of the night in her jammies and chases a peacock, which George mentions is one of Nancy's more unusual chases.  For the RT, we have Nancy looking pensive in a lovely cerulean shirt, and behind her is the stained glass window she's hoping to find.  I love all the blues and teals in this book cover and you know what I just realized, I took a photo of my old flashlight version (glossy cover with the flashlight in the corner), but since then I've acquired a matte cover copy.  Same art, but no flashlight.

Anyway, it's a tossup for me between these two covers; I like the giant peacock fan on the left, but I love the colors on the right.  Let's take a look inside, shall we?

Case file:  Nancy reads a magazine article about an Englishman who is searching for a stained glass window that used to be in his ancestral home, and travels with Bess and George to Charlottesville, Virginia, in search of it.  We get to learn about the process of making stained glass, Nancy investigates a mysterious walled estate nearby where they hear odd shrieks, and in the end Nancy engages in some property damage (with the owner's consent, of course) to uncover the long-hidden window.  We have lots of peacock feathers, live peacocks are doing the shrieking, the stained glass window features a peacock on a knight's shield, and people are superstitious about peacocks.  Peacocks everywhere.

Here's my card:

If you've been stamping for as long as I have, you may remember the Polished Stone technique, which is what I used for the background.  You wet a cotton ball with isopropyl alcohol, add a few drops of ink refill in your desired colors, and pounce it on glossy cardstock (I think photo paper would work as well, but I still have a small stash of glossy cardstock that SU! used to sell).  The more you pounce, the more the colors blend together and you end up with this gorgeous background.  Easy technique, though I did end up with two multicolored fingers : ) I used three drops of Pear Pizzazz and one each of Tranquil Tide and Blueberry Bushel, you definitely want to add more drops of the lightest color or it will get overwhelmed by the darker colors.

I have over half a dozen peacock stamp sets, so I had lots from which to choose for my cards today.  I went with this bird from Pretty Peacocks since it most closely matched the book cover; I stamped it in Night of Navy on white cardstock, sponged on some Pear Pizzazz ink, and then added more color with my Crayola colored pencils.  I even gave the eyes on the peacock's fan a bit of a reddish tint to match the cover art.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Pretty Peacocks, Royal Peacock
Ink:  Tranquil Tide, Pear Pizzazz, Blueberry Bushel, Night of Navy
Paper:  Tranquil Tide, Night of Navy, Thick Basic White, Glossy White, Frosted Floral DSP
Accessories:  Apothecary Accents Framelits, Dimensionals, Noble Peacock Rhinestones

Next up is the RT:

Same basic story, and interestingly enough this mystery starts out in a very similar fashion to Nancy's Mysterious Letter:  her elderly mail carrier (not the same one though) has an accident near her house and Nancy has to go chasing mail being blown about by the wind.  We also have a couple of bad guys in this story who are using the mail to try to defraud people, though it's different from Edgar's Lonely Hearts Club scam in the other book.  I just found it interesting how similar the setup was in these two books.

Anyway, here's my card:

I actually made this one first and isn't that peacock die GORGEOUS.  Royal Peacock is another bundle that I bought either on eBay or Facebook last year and I think it was worth it just for that die.  Yes, it took some time to punch out all the fiddly little bits on the peacock's tail, but I love how this turned out.  My Polished Stone background this time is Tranquil Tide, Night of Navy, and Ballet Blue, and this is when I discovered that I don't have an Azure Afternoon ink refill.  Guess what's going on my next SU! order.

Here you can see the matte cover of the book as opposed to the glossy flashlight edition; I like the feel of the matte covers better in my hands but that's just my opinion.  Anyway, I cut the peacock out of some foil paper and I think it might be Blueberry Bushel rather than Night of Navy, I don't have the sticker that said what colors were in that particular package but I love how it looks regardless.  The greeting is stamped simply on Basic Beige and I lined the inside of the card with Basic Beige as well, though for now I'm hoarding all my Nancy Drew-inspired cards instead of mailing them out.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Royal Peacock
Ink:  Night of Navy, Tranquil Tide, Ballet Blue
Paper:  Tranquil Tide, Night of Navy, Basic Beige, Glossy White, Blueberry Bushel? foil
Accessories:  Detailed Peacock dies, Textured Notes dies, Stitched So Sweetly dies, Charming Shimmer Faceted Dots

For my birthday today, the hubs and I are going to see the extended edition of The Two Towers on the big screen, and then we're meeting up with friends (and Ryan, they're keeping Ryan for us since he would not sit still for a movie that long) to have dinner at Chuy's.  That's all I wanted for my birthday, a movie and tacos!  Tomorrow I'm going to see The Return of the King by my onesies, but I waited so long to get my ticket that I'll be sitting in the front row and therefore I will be IN the movie.

Hope you enjoyed this look at The Hidden Window Mystery, I give it four stars.  If you make a card inspired by this book, please leave me a comment here so I can see!  And come back next Saturday, where Nancy will investigate The Haunted Showboat.  Fun!

A Hot Chocolate Kinda Day

Mornin' y'all!  It is literally freezing here--colder, actually, and I think Daphne might just have to skip her daily neighborhood tour in favor of staying warm and cozy in the house.  We have some snow flurries right now and the wind chill is -7.  You know what, I think my threshold for walking Daphne is zero, if it's in the negatives for wind chill that's a no from me, dawg.  Apparently my birthday this year will resemble Arendelle after Elsa lost control of her powers ; )  At the moment, Daphne looks quite content on her chair, so maybe she won't argue with me too much.

So how about a sweet card to send some warm thoughts?

This coordinates with yesterday's espresso card (I even used the same patterns), but today it's a cuppa hot chocolate with whipped cream on top.  Last Sunday, while my boys were skiing at Keystone, I holed up in a mac 'n cheese restaurant and had a hot chocolate with a breakfast sammie while I read Anne of the Island (third in the Anne of Green Gables series).  That hot chocolate was really good and LOTS of whipped cream on top!  Anyway, today's card is for this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And I'm also going to enter this at Retro Rubber:

Like It A Latte has been in my stamp collection for roughly TWENTY YEARS and the DSP I used isn't much newer, I think it dates back to 2008 which doesn't seem like it was that long ago but time is weird.  Anyway, for some reason I always associate that stamp set with that DSP pack, and for today's card I dug out a Taken With Teal marker and used it for the mug.  It comes out pretty streaky using a marker on a solid stamp like that, but then a lot of it was covered up with the Regal Rose heart and I'm just going to call it extra visual texture.

I just picked up my mug (Salem's Original Witches with cartoons of the Sanderson Sisters) and to my dismay it is empty, so I'm going to go make another cuppa and watch the flurries come down while I enjoy being cozy inside my nice warm house.  I do have hot chocolate and marshmallows if I want to switch up my hot beverage game later, ha!  Have a great day, peeps.  And don't forget to come back tomorrow to check out the Nancy Drew Challenge, I made my cards yesterday and I love them!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Like It A Latte
Ink:  Taken With Teal, Regal Rose, Close to Cocoa
Paper:  Regal Rose, Taken With Teal, Thick Basic White, Loves Me DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Espresso Love

Mornin' y'all!  I think it's going to be a long one, I was up for hours last night and couldn't get back to sleep.  Good thing my favorite breakfast tea is caffeinated?!

Also caffeinated is my card:

I bought Espress Yourself sometime last year on the 'Bay, and I've had Like It A Latte (the greeting) and the Loves Me DSP for many many many years.  I think Espress Yourself was in a lot with some other stamp sets, and it works just as well for other hot beverages as it does for coffee.  I pulled out my very old Taken With Teal ink pad to match the DSP, but even after freshening up the ink pad it looks more like Not Quite Navy than it does Taken With Teal, sadly.  So for this card I used Bermuda Bay instead, I figured that was the closest match.

I thought I'd give this week's Atlantic Hearts sketch a whirl:

I have another coordinating card made but I don't know if I'll be posting it later today or tomorrow...depends on if I get another card made for tomorrow or not, and I have my Nancy Drew books for this week's challenge sitting on my craft table too so lots to do when I'm sleepy.  Think I'll brew myself another cuppa caffeine.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Espress Yourself, Like It A Latte
Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Regal Rose, Close to Cocoa, Versamark
Paper:  Taken with Teal, Regal Rose, Thick Basic White, Loves Me DSP
Accessories:  Layering Circles dies, key tag punch, clear EP, Dimensionals

Vintage Flower

Mornin' y'all!  How's your day going?  Ryan has STEM club after school today so I am looking forward to some extra crafty time...while I do laundry : )  Here's my card for today:

Yes, I still have multiple brand new stamp sets that I haven't inked up yet, but I pulled out a set that retired several years ago for the TGIF inspiration challenge:

At first I looked for a cake image, but then I decided to go with a floral theme instead.  I paired that with the Festive Friday challenge:

I've got white, silver, lace, and heat embossing on here.  At least I thought the pearls were silver but they're Smoky Slate?  They still look silvery to me.  Anyway, I don't know anyone who's getting married anytime soon, so I skipped the wedding vibes.  For the flower image, I stamped it in Basic Gray + VersaMark, then heat embossed with clear EP so I could do a bit of watercoloring.

Last up is the CAS Colours & Sketches sketch:

For the striped element, I stamped my lacy pattern in the corner, masked with a bit of torn copy paper, and lightly sponged Smoky Slate on before removing my mask.  I have to say though I wish I had used a different pink color, try as I might I just am not super fond of Petal Pink but the SU! folks seem quite enamored of it given how often it features in patterned papers and embellishments.

That's it for now, y'all.  Daphne is extra crazy today so I'd better take her out for a walk before she starts destroying things in the house for the fun of it.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Tasteful Touches
Ink:  Smoky Slate, Basic Gray, Petal Pink, Versamark
Paper:  Petal Pink, Basic White
Accessories:  Clear EP, Smoky Slate pearls, Dimensionals

ETA:  I had to do another one, so here it is in Bubble Bath:

I used Crumb Cake ink for my neutral...I tried Early Espresso for the flower but it was overpowering.  I also switched out the sorta-silver pearls for rhinestones; I tried to color those with the dark Bubble Bath Blend but it didn't show up at all.  So, Petal Pink + Smoky Slate, or Bubble Bath + Crumb Cake?  Either way now I have two more cards to mail out next week : )

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Tasteful Touches
Ink:  Crumb Cake, Bubble Bath, Versamark
Paper:  Bubble Bath, Basic White
Accessories:  Clear EP, Dimensionals, Rhinestones

Tiptoe Through the Toadstools with SUO Challenges

Mornin' y'all and happy Tuesday!  And it's time for a new challenge at SUO Challenges!

And today we have some fun colors for you, take a look:

I pondered these colors for quite a while before deciding that it had been a while since I tiptoed through the toadstools, so here we go:

I added Crumb Cake as a neutral, stamping off once for the stems and then using a light Crumb Cake grid pattern behind my fancy Night of Navy circle.  I sent this card off to my parents already because my mom is always like "What's with all the mushrooms??" which makes me want to send her MORE fungus, ha!

Don't forget to add your SU! only card creation on the SUO Challenges blog.  Have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Terrific Toadstools
Ink:  Crushed Curry, Crumb Cake, Night of Navy
Paper:  Night of Navy, Crushed Curry, Thick Basic White, Nature Walk DSP
Accessories:  Spotlight on Nature dies, Textured Notes dies, Dimensionals, Dots for Days

Coffee Catch-Up

Mornin' y'all!  I didn't even sit down to eat breakfast until after 10:00 this morning, it's been a slow morning here but I got my workout done, took a lovely hot shower, and did the dishes.  We spent Saturday night in Silverthorne because we went to an ice castle thing there on Saturday night and then the boys went skiing for a couple of hours at Keystone yesterday morning while I was happily ensconced in a restaurant with a hot chocolate and a book.  The hotel's shower wasn't great and I couldn't get the water temperature right, so I was glad to be back in my own shower this morning.

Anyway, I do have a card to share today and we're continuing the hot drinks theme:

You may remember that I never drink coffee (I am 100% a tea girl, though the occasional hot chocolate is fine too, and it's easier to find in America than a place that serves good tea), but all my friends drink coffee so I bought the Latte Love suite when it came out two years ago.  I decided to ink it up for Retro Rubber's triumphant return challenge:

So glad to have you back, Retro Rubber!  I paired that with The Card Concept:

I made a clean and layered card and this inspo pic is what made me choose Real Red for my mug color and card base.  I used Very Vanilla instead of Whisper White on my card because I pulled out a very, very old piece of DSP from a pack called Cerise and it has Vanilla, which I think warms up the card so I like it here.

I've also pulled out a very, very old stamp set that is coffee/hot chocolate themed and I really want to make a card with that for later this week.  But for now, I'm going to finish my tea and then take my darling girl for our tour of the neighborhood.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Latte Love
Ink:  Real Red, Pecan Pie, Early Espresso
Paper:  Real Red, Thick Very Vanilla, A Little Latte DSP, Cerise DSP
Accessories:  Latte Love dies, Stitched So Sweetly dies, Dimensionals, Swirl Dots, Chocolate Chip polytwill ribbon

Signs of Winter with the Paper Players

Good morning stampy friends!  And it IS a good morning, because it's time for a new challenge from The Paper Players!  Check out the theme this week courtesy of the lovely Joanne:

So when you hear the word winter, what do you think of?  Evergreen trees?  Skiing?  Snowflakes or snowmen?  All valid answers and all on the challenge graphic, but you know what I think winter is for?  Tea and books!  And a snuggley blanket!

Yep, while the hubs and the kiddo were out skiing last weekend, I was snug in our house with a cuppa tea and a good book (and also icing my hand after I fell down, I can't imagine how I would injure myself if I tried skiing).  For my card, I combined a teacup image from the long-retired Take a Sip (a wheel that I unmounted and turned into stamps, it lives in the stamp case with the coordinating Morning Cup stamp set) and a stack of books from last year's For the Books.  I found my winter greeting in Delicate Pines, and I took my colors mostly from the Penguin Playmates DSP, though the pattern I used is monochromatic Fresh Freesia--I chose the snowflake pattern to support the winter theme of my card.  I had fun coloring in my stack of books, added a few Two-Toned Sparkle Gems even though this is a CAS design, and done.  The color on the sparkle gems doesn't show up too well in my picture but it does coordinate well with my card IRL.

Do you like to read?  My kiddo does not, which I find inconceivable.  Last week I was reading The Lord of the Rings:  The Return of the King, and now I am reading the third book in the Anne of Green Gables series.  I read every single day and can't imagine going any length of time without reading something.  I've been a bit fixated on Middle Earth of late, which is funny because the first time I read the books I thought they were an absolute slog, but I enjoyed them much more this time around.  Next Saturday the hubs and I are going to see the extended edition of The Two Towers on the big screen for my birthday.  I have the movies in our library, but there's no telling how long it would take me to get through an almost 4-hour movie when I'm getting interrupted by Ryan or Daphne or bedtime or laundry or what have you, so I will enjoy going to see it all in one go in theaters.  Going to the movies is also a fun winter activity : )

I digress.  I hope you'll check out the Paper Players blog to see what my teamies think of when winter is upon us, and upload your own creation there.  You can also hop through all the blogs:

The Paper Players Design Team

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Anne Marie Hile

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:  Take a Sip, For the Books, Delicate Pines
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Balmy Blue, Fresh Freesia, Just Jade, Pretty in Pink, Soft Sea Foam, Ivory, Bronze
Paper:  Balmy Blue, Thick Basic White, Penguin Playmates DSP
Accessories:  Nested Essentials dies, Dimensionals, Two-Toned Sparkle Gems

The Witch Tree Symbol

Happy Saturday and welcome to the 33rd Nancy Drew Challenge, where today we will investigate The Witch Tree Symbol!  Here are my books:

I think my OT cover on the left might be printed darker than usual, it seems dark when I compare it to pictures online.  We have Nancy and a pair of Amish people looking at the titular witch tree symbol and I kinda wonder why Rudy Nappi painted the hands the way he did for the two Amish people.  I bet painting hands in a realistic way is a challenge.

The RT on the right is a newer Nappi cover and it's spookier, which is amusing to me because I wouldn't classify this story as being particularly spooky, even by Nancy Drew standards.  Nancy is wearing a '70s-style blue pantsuit here with some purplish details which I find interesting, and we learn over the course of the book that a witch tree is one that has a parasite on it that makes it look odd.

For once, I don't have a favorite among the two covers, I think they're both interesting.  Let's take a look inside:

Case file:  Nancy, Bess, and George travel to Pennsylvania's Amish country in pursuit of stolen furniture; we learn about Amish culture (not sure how accurately it's portrayed here but interesting nonetheless) and Nancy is repeatedly accused of being a witch, usually right after some character says the Amish people aren't superstitious.  Nancy finds the furniture, reunites a runaway girl with her strict parents, and they eat a lot of food while of course fat-shaming poor Bess, who deserves better friends.

Here's my card:

Nancy has to track down where a "schnitz" is, which has something to do with apples, and that combined with the Amish character Manda Kreutz made me think of this sweet Greeting Farm stamp called Lottie, isn't she darling with her bowl of apples?  I made her hair dark because I was thinking of Manda rather than Nancy.  Plus I have dark hair so that's what I tend to do when I color in stamped images like this.

I chose Boho Blue to go with the sky on the cover, a bit of Calypso Coral to match the symbol being painted on the tree, and a bit of Wild Wheat to coordinate with Nancy's shirt here.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Lottie from The Greeting Farm, Fancy Flexible Phrases
Ink:  Early Espresso, Stampin' Blends in neutrals, Petal Pink, Calypso Coral, Boho Blue, Mossy Meadow, Wild Wheat
Paper:  Boho Blue, Thick Basic White, Timeless Plaid DSP Stack
Accessories:  Stitched So Sweetly dies, Ombre Matte Decorative Dots, Dimensionals

Next up is the RT:

As I said, I think this cover is misleadingly spooky, but it does grab attention.  Here's my card:

Nancy is accused of being a witch several times so I just had to make a witch card, plus it has witch in the name of the book.  I used some nontraditional Halloween colors to match the book cover.

Once again I think Nancy's pantsuit is Boho Blue but I ended up not working that into my card; instead I have Moody Mauve for the purple accents on her clothes and some Pretty Peacock for the blue color in the tree, plus a black card base for the shadows behind Nancy.  I got Out on a Limb last year and this is the first time I've inked it up other than doing my index sheet for it.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Out on a Limb, Fancy Flexible Phrases
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Pretty Peacock, Stampin' Blends in Petal Pink, Copper Clay, Pretty Peacock, Moody Mauve
Paper:  Basic Black, Thick Basic White, All About Autumn DSP
Accessories:  Seasonal Labels dies, Mini Dimensionals, Pretty Peacock sequins

But wait, there's more!  I found some DSP that I really wanted to use to match the RT cover, but the DSP didn't match the vibe of my little witch, so I ended up making another card:

This is the Earthen Elegance DSP, which coordinates with the Earthen Textures stamps and dies I used, that background pattern just felt like it coordinated with the book cover.

This time I did work in some Boho Blue to match Nancy's outfit, and still have Moody Mauve on there to boot.  I think I like the witch card better though, I was getting tired by the time I got to making this one so I'm not sure how much I like it.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Earthen Textures
Ink:  Pebbled Path, Boho Blue
Paper:  Misty Moonlight, Boho Blue, Pecan Pie, Earthen Elegance DSP
Accessories:  Earthen Textures dies, Deckled Rectangles dies

I wish I had reread this before the hubs and I visited Ohio's Amish country a few years ago just to see if Amish culture and turns of phrase are similar to what's depicted here, though we were in Ohio as opposed to Pennsylvania.  I do think the focus on food is accurate, I still remember Amish pies from our trip : )  I give this one four stars, it's a fun adventure outside of River Heights.  If you are inspired to join the challenge, comment with a link so I can see what you make!  Otherwise, I'll see you next week when we investigate The Hidden Window Mystery.