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.