The Clue of the Tapping Heels

Welcome to the sixteenth Nancy Drew Challenge where we are listening for The Clue of the Tapping Heels!

This is another time when the original text (left) and revised text (right) are pretty different from each other.  Once again we have a scene from the book for the OT cover and the RTs continue the collage style and man, that is some outfit Nancy has on.  So 60s and I halfway expect her to be on roller skates.  Let's take a look, shall we?

Case file:  Nancy, Bess, and George befriend a retired actress named Miss Carter who owns and/or feeds over 20 cats, to the dismay of her neighbors.  Miss Carter had paid for Gus Woonton, a mentally challenged boy who had been in the care of her neighbor Fred Bunce, to be cared for at an institution, but receives a telegram that the boy has died.  Fred Bunce acts super suspiciously so Nancy investigates him and finds out that Gus isn't dead and Fred is a crook.  On his trail in New York City, Fred captures Nancy and traps her on a cruise ship bound for South America, but her tapping in Morse code leads her friends to find her.  Nancy also reunites Miss Carter with her former costar and they adopt Gus.

Here's my card for the OT:

There's a subplot in the book when Nancy and George are abducted by a man claiming to be an Egyptian fortune teller, but sadly I have ZERO Egyptian-themed stamps in my stash (unless you count a Halloween mummy or two), so I decided to go with Miss Carter's many cats for this card.  The cats and toy mouse are all fussy cut from the Playful Pets DSP, and I put them on a brick wall background to match the book cover.

In addition to the brick wall, I used Crushed Curry and Cherry Cobbler for my two main colors as a nod to Nancy's outfit on the cover.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Glad We're Friends, Ghoulish Grunge
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Cherry Cobbler
Paper:  Crushed Curry, Cherry Cobbler, Thick Basic White, Playful Pets DSP
Accessories:  Stitched Rectangles dies, Stylish Shapes dies, Nested Essentials dies, Mini Dimensionals

Now let's look at the RT:

Case file:  Nancy is invited to the home of Miss Carter, a retired actress, to investigate mysterious tapping sounds in her house as well as the theft of several valuable Persian cats, which Miss Carter breeds as a source of income.  Because Miss Carter has a broken leg, Nancy, Bess, and George help take care of the cats while they search for the cause of the tapping.  This time around, Gus Woonton is more or less an escaped mental patient who used to live in the house Miss Carter now owns when he was a child, and he's hiding out in a secret room in her basement which is just super extra ridiculously creepy.  Fred Bunce is still the criminal, he had siphoned off Gus's inheritance when Gus's parents died in a car accident, but all the action takes place near River Heights and Nancy doesn't get trapped on a ship heading for South America.

Here's my card:

Again, I just had to go with the cats, but this time just one Persian.  The RT Miss Carter still has a lot of cats, but she breeds and sells them rather than adopting every stray in a 20-mile radius.  Anyway, I chose bright yellow Pineapple Punch with some pink accents to mimic the book cover.

Nancy's hair looks way darker on this cover than it usually does, you would think the artist would make her stand out from the cat a bit more.  Still digging that outfit which I would never ever wear...I gave up wearing white when I had two black doggos!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Pampered Pets, Cool Cat
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Ivory & Bronze
Paper:  Pineapple Punch, Polished Pink, Pretty in Pink & Pineapple Punch DSP
Accessories:  Pets dies, Stitched Shapes dies, Rustic Metallic Dots, Mini Dimensionals

I think both versions of this book are a bit disjointed, I give them two and a half stars.  Don't forget you can check out my other blog at Hey, Nancy Drew for a deeper look at the books.  If you want to make your own Nancy Drew-inspired card(s), I would be delighted to see so just pop a comment on this post.  Next week we're looking into The Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk!

Friday Flashback: Carved & Candlelit

Happy Friday, y'all!  I have an appropriately October-ish stamp set for today's Friday Flashback:  Carved & Candlelit.  Love it!  So let's get to the fun part :)

Also features Rough Edges Alphabet

It's hard to tell from this photo, but the jack o' lanterns' faces are embossed with Iridescent Ice so they're all sparkly.

Also features Cool Cat, Background Basics, All-Year Cheer III

What's more Halloweeny than a cool black cat?

Also features Background Basics, Petite Patterns, All-Year Cheer II

I happen to know a couple of people whose birthdays are ON Halloween, and quite a few more with October birthdays who also love pumpkins.

Ok, so this one is really old:  it's a layout from the first set of baby books I did way, way back.

Also features Bright Blessings (unmounted wheel)

So Carved & Candlelit is a simple little set with a couple of pumpkins and a few faces, but clearly I love it.

Also features Grateful Greetings

Again with the Iridescent Ice EP faces.

Also features Priceless, Falling Leaves

You've seen this layout on here quite recently but I couldn't leave it out.  And that's the Flashback part of today's post, so here's the new creations:

Yep, I made two!  My brother-in-law and his son have birthdays one week apart so I figured I'd make cards for both of them.  And between the two cards, I used every stamp in the set one time.

First up is the grown-up card; I had quite a time trying to get this card to work.  This is actually the FOURTH background panel!  I don't know why but I was just having trouble getting things to gel yesterday when I worked on it.

I used the color combination from The Color Throwdown:

And the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches:

And I think this one counts for the Male Room challenge to make an autumn card for a guy:

So next up, the card for the 6-year-old.

This one didn't quite want to gel either, I don't know what is up with my craft cave lately.  But anyway I used the color combo from ColourQ:

And the sketch from Retro Sketches:

I think this might have worked better for me if I'd made my card more like 5 inches square instead of 4.25".  But I don't have envelopes that size, so what can ya do.

Well, I know what I'm going to do:  I'm going to go back down to my craft room and work on another project, and hope that this time my mojo cooperates a little better.  Cheers, peeps!

Supplies, next-to-last card:
Stamps:  Carved & Candlelit, Fall Fest, Birthday Wish, Work of Art
Ink:  Pumpkin Pie, Garden Green, Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate Chip
Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Accessories:  Dimensionals

Supplies, last card:
Stamps:  Carved & Candlelit, All-Year Cheer II
Ink:  Basic Black, Kiwi Kiss
Paper:  Basic Black, Kiwi Kiss, Riding Hood Red, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Tangerine Tango DSP
Accessories:  circle punch, Dimensionals