The Double Jinx Mystery

Mornin' y'all and welcome to the FIFTIETH Nancy Drew Challenge!  I am still just having the best time entertaining myself over here, both reading the books and making cards for them, and I hope you're enjoying the journey with me.  So today, Nancy takes on The Double Jinx Mystery.

Once again we have a mostly brown cover (see also 99 Steps and Crossword Cipher), but this time Nancy is wearing a pretty cool 70s orange collared shirt with a fun pattern (this book was first published in 1973, still some years before I was even born).  Not sure why Nancy looks extra worried on this one, but hey, we get another Ned cover!  I had some fun using this cover for inspiration, as you'll see in a minute.

Case file:  Carson asks Nancy to help investigate a case where a town is considering tearing down a family-owned zoo and aviary to make way for a high-rise apartment complex.  Someone is trying to convince the owners of the zoo/aviary that they're being jinxed, so there's quite a lot about superstitions and it's very clear that Harriet Stratemeyer Adams gives superstitious people short shrift.  Nancy and Ned both contract ornithosis (different from bird flu according to Google, but it sounds similar) while investigating and Nancy gets kidnapped by one of the most bizarre villains ever, a mentally unbalanced male ballet dancer.  A bonkers ballerino, if you will.

Here's my card:

A lot of this book has to do with birds, and one of the characters is a foreign exchange student from an unnamed Eurasian country who brings along her pet wryneck woodpecker while studying in the States, like you do.  I don't have any wryneck stamps, but I figured a feather would do, and I had a good (and messy) time making the background with watercolor paper, ink refills, and salt.  I dripped the ink on wet watercolor paper, then spritzed more water to get the colors to run, and when you sprinkle salt on and let it dry, it kinda gives you freckles, which I liked.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fine Feathers, Sincere Salutations
Ink:  Peach Pie, Pecan Pie, Early Espresso
Paper:  Early Espresso, Basic Beige, watercolor paper, Autumn Toile DSP
Accessories:  Lots of Labels dies, In Color Dots, Dimensionals

I was having SUCH a good time with my background that I ended up with several more pieces, and I thought I could make a better card than the first one, so here is attempt #2:

I do like this one better with the fussy-cut feathers, and I feel like it lets more of the fun background show.  I chose the good luck greeting for both of these cards since so much of the book has to deal with people thinking they're jinxed or getting bad luck from all kinds of things, which reminded me of the peacock-induced bad luck from The Hidden Window Mystery.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Fine Feathers, Sincere Salutations
Ink:  Peach Pie, Pecan Pie, Early Espresso
Paper:  Early Espresso, Basic Beige, Very Vanilla, watercolor paper, Autumn Toile DSP
Accessories:  Rectangles Stitched dies, Pecan Pie Ribboned Dots, Dimensionals

And then I liked the second card so much that I just had to keep going and make a third:

I had to do a get well card since Nancy and Ned both come down with ornithosis in this book, it just made me giggle.  And this time I found a piece of DSP with a great circle pattern that matches Nancy's shirt!

As soon as I found that pattern in the Gathering Together Specialty DSP I knew I would use it.  The watercolor bit is a leftover piece from my first watercolor background so I kind of had to build the rest of the card around it.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Wildlife Wonder, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Peach Pie, Pecan Pie, Early Espresso
Paper:  Pecan Pie, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, watercolor paper, Gathering Together Specialty DSP
Accessories:  Layering Circles dies, Circles Collection Framelits, Dimensionals, Earthy Matte Dots

This book and its focus on superstitions and bad luck is just a little weird to me, and that's even before we get to the bonkers ballerino, so I'm giving it two and a half stars.  I think several books in the 50s go a bit off the track but sometimes the really bananas ones are the most fun (the high-water mark for bananas shenanigans is still a tie between Brass-Bound Trunk and Moss-Covered Mansion, and I really love those), but this one just feels weird without the extra fun.  Anyway, I hope it inspires you to make something and if so, leave me a comment!  And make sure to tune in next Saturday when things get *really* weird (again!) for Mystery of the Glowing Eye.

Vintage Traveler

Mornin' y'all!  Daphne is currently gamboling about the living room and playing with a toy and being totally adorable.  I went to the store this morning and got her and extendable leash, so we'll see how she does with that in about a half hour when we do our daily neighborhood tour.

Anyway, I've got something a bit different to share today:

Y'all know me and how much I love color--in general, I only make all-neutral cards under duress, but it seemed like the thing to do for this particular card.

Let's talk challenges, shall we?  Starting with Festive Friday:

I've got sepia colors (now you know why I made my card all neutrals), twine, distressing techniques if you count sponging and paper tearing, postmarks, and a thinking of you sentiment, not too shabby.  This list seemed to dovetail nicely with the Cupcake Inspirations Challenge:

I was actually looking for a plane image for this card, but I think the old-fashioned valise works.  Next up is the Atlantic Hearts sketch:

I used a square punch to keep all the background pieces exactly the same size, and once again my flabbers are gasted that I don't have a 1 1/8" square punch.  The heck?  I have 1", 1 1/4", and 1 3/8" but no 1 1/8".  Annoying.  And also why my scale is a bit off from the original sketch.  Also, I used the twine in place of the foliage on the sketch, and I tried to put some embellishments on there but decided my card looked better without.

I just realized this also works for the Retro Rubber Challenge:

This time I have the diagonal with tag - your choice (vintage) - die cut and everything on this card is vintage, including the cardstock, inks, punch, and die I used.  For the stamps, Traveler is the least vintage and has been in my collection for about a year, Post Script is 9 years old, and Teeny Tiny Wishes is at least 14 years old.  I hang onto my stamps, because obviously I need them for challenges.

That's it for now, peeps.  Next time I will post a colorful card as an antidote to all this brown : )  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Traveler, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Post Script
Ink:  Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel
Paper:  Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Lots of Labels Framelits, Early Espresso bakers twine, Dimensionals

The Clue of the Leaning Chimney

Happy Saturday and welcome back to another Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today's book is #26, The Clue of the Leaning Chimney.

Both of these covers are by Rudy Nappi; there's the original text on the left and revised on the right.  Nancy, Bess, and George are investigating a mysterious walled compound in the woods wearing very sensible...skirts?!  And probably heels?!  We do have some nice colors on the three girls on the OT cover but I don't know why Bess has dark hair.  I can tell it's Bess in blue because of the expression on her face, George would look eager or determined to get inside the compound and Bess looks concerned.

The RT cover is a similar composition but focusing on Nancy, who's still in a totally inappropriate (but pretty) outfit.  Seriously how does she climb trees in that skirt without getting dirty?  I'm still choosing this one as my favorite of the two; I think Nancy's face is prettier and I like the patterning on her shirt and skirt.  This one just appeals to me more than the OT.

Let's take a look at the story!

Case file:  While driving home late one evening, Nancy and Bess encounter a mysterious man in the woods who drops an antique Chinese vase.  Soon Nancy is involved in tracking down stolen Chinese pottery and the crooks who are not only forging copies of priceless originals, but are also engaged in human trafficking and forcing their victims to make the forged pieces.  Pretty dark for a Nancy Drew book.

Here's my card:

One of the first objects stolen in the book is a vase that has a dragon on it and wouldn't you know I have a stamp of a vase that has a dragon on it?  I have a few packs of DSP with Oriental-inspired designs, so I chose the Ginger Blossom DSP for Nancy's red skirt.

I stamped the vase with Pebbled Path + Versamark, then embossed with clear EP so I could watercolor it.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Ancient Asia, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Versamark, Pebbled Path, Ruby Red, River Rock
Paper:  Ruby Red, River Rock, Thick Basic White, Ginger Blossom DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Word Window & Modern Label punches, Mini Dimensionals, Candy Dot

Here's the RT:

No major changes to the story line here and I decided to make my cards very similar too:

This time I used the Green Tea DSP, which is Ginger Blossom redone in blues and greens.  And that was perfect to go with Nancy's outfit on this book cover.

I do remember this one from reading it as a kid; Nancy gets to learn about some Chinese symbolism and pottery-making methods which is fun.  I give it four stars.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Ancient Asia, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Versamark, Pebbled Path, Baja Breeze, Island Indigo
Paper:  Island Indigo, Thick Basic White, Green Tea DSP
Accessories:  Stylish Shapes dies, Word Window & Modern Label punches, Mini Dimensionals, Candy Dot

As always, if you're inspired by Nancy Drew, I would love to see what you make so drop a comment on this post.  My book analysis blog is still on hiatus for the moment but I'll be bringing it back probably after the new year, you can find it at Hey Nancy Drew.  Next week we have another great installment, so stay tuned to learn The Secret of the Wooden Lady.  Cheers!

Haunted House on the HIll

Midnight greetings, spooky friends!  I can't believe we're already over halfway through October and I would like to start a petition to make October be more like 75 days long please : )  For tonight's card, I present...a haunted house:

I have owned House of Haunts for many, many years and I still love this haunted house image.  Once again I started with a CASE-ing Tuesday sketch:

I moved the sentiment strip upwards to where it made more sense with my haunted house image.  I pulled out my Cast-a-Spell DSP and Perfect Plum Candy Dots, which are both also quite old by craft supply standards but don't they still look great?  I would love to have some Halloween DSP more like Cast-a-Spell.

Stay spooky, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  House of Haunts, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, Perfect Plum, Old Olive, Smoky Slate, Daffodil Delight
Paper:  Pumpkin Pie, Perfect Plum, Basic Black, Thick Basic White, Cast-a-Spell DSP
Accessories:  Squares Framelits, Word Window & Modern Label punches, White EP, Clear EP, Dimensionals, Perfect Plum Candy Dots

Stars & Stripes Birthday

Mornin' y'all!  I tried doing things in a different order this morning and I think it will work for the rest of the summer.  It's getting toasty enough outside that I walked Daph early this morning before Ryan got up and before the hubs left for work, and I still got my workout done before I took Ryan to camp.  I think that will be good to keep Daphne from getting too hot walking later in the day when the sun's all the way up.

Anyway, I made three cards in my crafting palace yesterday, so here's the one I'm sharing today:

This was the only stars and stripes cards before the 4th this year, and I'm holding onto it for next year's July birthdays since I already sent out cards this year, so here's another one for next year.  The paper strip behind the star is gold foil and I added some gold Low Profile Dots to draw the eye to the greeting in the corner and coordinate with the gold paper.

I like the Just Add Ink sketch:

Though I only realized after the fact that I left off the bow, oops.  The sketch did inspire my card though, promise.

I'm also entering this at Color Dare:

I used Real Red and Azure Afternoon for the colors, plus the gold.  I'll have to make more 4th of July cards next year, they're fun.

Okay, I've got about 30 minutes left before I have to go back to Ryan's camp for their parent showcase day (it's a robotics camp this week).  Better make the most of it...and finish my cuppa tea!  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Be the Star, Painted Stripes, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Versamark, Real Red, Azure Afternoon
Paper:  Azure Afternoon, Basic White, gold foil
Accessories:  Stars Framelits, white EP, Dimensionals, Low Profile Dots

Bunny Trio

Mornin' y'all.  I am super duper ridiculously tired this morning thanks to Daphne so I am fortifying myself with a cuppa British Breakfast tea before I take her out for a walk.  I shall try valiantly not to take a nap today or else I won't sleep tonight and that won't help my long-term fatigue.  Ugh.  Good thing Daph's cute.

Anyway, for some reason I thought Easter was this weekend so I went ahead and mailed out Easter cards yesterday but my phone just told me it's not until the 20th.  Only time I'm this early for holidays is by accident, ha!  I did make another Easter card yesterday.

The Gifts of Spring is a very old retired stamp set but is that not the cutest bunny image ever?  I made this for the Addicted to CAS challenge:

That coordinates nicely with the CAS on Friday challenge to make an Easter card.  The bunny image is so large that I have less white space than I usually would for a CAS card, but I still think it counts.  I stamped the image in Pecan Pie ink and then dug out my watercolor pencils to do just a little coloring.

That's it for now, kids.  I'm going to go raid the Easter candy.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Gifts of Spring, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Pecan Pie, Balmy Blue
Paper:  Balmy Blue, Basic White
Accessories:  watercolor pencils

Thanksgiving Pumpkin

Howdy y'all and happy Friday!  Kiddo doesn't have school today (seriously, they seem to have days off all. the. time) so we got to sleep in a bit today and he's playing video games while I write up this blog post.  I think later I'm going to enlist his help to make pumpkin cream cheese muffins.  In the meantime, I have a paper pumpkin to share.

Going CAS today for a simple Thanksgiving card!  I started with this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And of course I paired it with the Color Throwdown, I love pairing those two challenges:

I used Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, and Lost Lagoon for my colors.  I don't have any current pumpkin stamps (at least I don't think I do) so I broke out the retired Pick a Pumpkin and Teeny Tiny Wishes for this card.  I am in full fall crafting mode now!  My favorite : )

Have a great day, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Pick a Pumpkin, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Watercolor Shapes
Ink:  Crumb Cake, Lost Lagoon
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Lost Lagoon, Thick Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Patterned Pumpkin dies, Deckled Rectangles dies, Dimensionals

Thinking of the Seaside

Hey y'all, how's it going today?  Once again I am reaching back for some retired sets to make my card :)

I had so much fun with last week's Freshly Made Sketch that I had to give it another whirl.  I liked this week's theme challenge at the Paper Players:

I paired that with the Color Throwdown:

I used Crumb Cake, Gray Granite, and Whisper White.  I'll be honest, I don't like gray and brown together, so it was definitely a challenge to me to come up with a way to combine them that didn't make my eye twitch ;)  I stamped the Seaside Notions stamps with Gray Granite and then sponged the edges of each panel with Crumb Cake, and for a finishing touch I added some highlights with a chalk marker.  When I added the sentiment, it seemed like it was much too bright for the rest of the card so I sponged on a bit of Crumb Cake ink there too.

Hope you have a great day, peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Seaside Notions, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Crumb Cake, Gray Granite
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Word Window punch, mini Dimensionals

Farm Livin'

I used to watch Nick at Nite a LOT when I was a kid.  Green Acres, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, The Patty Duke Show, Dobie Gillis...but my favorite was Mister Ed.  I was a horse-crazy little girl so no wonder.  Anyway, the stamp set Bareback was one of my early purchases in my stamping career.

I put this card together in no kidding ten minutes, but I still think it looks pretty good?  Everything on the card is retired other than the Very Vanilla cardstock and the adhesive.  Bareback has been retired for years and years, and Blue Bayou was I think in the second year we had In Colors?  Vintage stamping stuff here I tell ya.  At first I was going to make this a birthday card, but that horse has always looked kinda contemplative to me, so I went with "thinking of you" instead.

I used this week's Fall-To Layout:

Great sketch, and also why I was able to put my card together so fast.  Plus I'd kinda planned it out in my head when I was running yesterday morning (I'm not the only one who plans out cards and scrapbook layouts in her head while doing other things, am I?).

Next up, and the reason I chose the horse image, is the Global Design Project theme this week:

Guess what else I discovered when I checked out the GDP blog yesterday morning?  My lemon card was a winner for their last challenge!  Squee!

Anyway, I was trying to think of country and farm life images while I was running yesterday, and somehow using Lemon Zest again did not occur to me, but that horse image from Bareback popped into my head so that's what I did.  But I feel like I didn't put enough effort into that card since it was done in under 10 minutes (we were almost late to kid's swim lessons yesterday) so as a bonus, here's a scrapbook layout that I recently finished and finally got photographed yesterday!

I've been working a lot on pictures from the last time we lived in North Carolina, about 10 years ago or more, and this is one of the layouts from that time period.  I think it was October of 2007?  Indigo Farms is pretty much on the border between North and South Carolina and these pictures are so old they were taken on a non-digital camera with FILM.  Haha!

My color palette is straight from the Orchard Harvest DSP, which I loved and bought like six packs of when it hit the clearance rack and I'm hoarding it.  Anyway, the colors are almost all retired now, and include More Mustard, Raspberry Ripple, Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade, Early Espresso (I know it looks black), and Very Vanilla.

That's it for me today, y'all.  Gotta go to the gym and start cleaning up the house to get ready for some friends to get here on Wednesday!  Cheers!

Supplies, Bareback card:
Stamps:  Bareback, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, Wild Wasabi
Paper:  Wild Wasabi, Thick Very Vanilla, Blue Bayou DSP
Accessories:  retired Candy Dots

Supplies, Indigo Farms layout:
Stamps:  Taffy Alphabet, Perfectly Preserved
Ink:  Island Indigo, Raspberry Ripple, Lucky Limeade, Early Espresso marker
Paper:  More Mustard, Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade, Thick Very Vanilla, Orchard Harvest DSP
Accessories:  Cannery Framelits

Easter Flowers

Mornin', y'all!  Heyyy look it's the first card I've made in my new craft room!

I don't make or send a lot of Easter cards, so I don't have any current bunnies or specifically Easter sets, which means I reached for some floral stamps, Eastery colors, and good ol' Teeny Tiny Wishes for this one.  And dangit, rhinestones typically don't photograph well.

Let's start with the Fall-To Layout from Clean & Simple Stamping:

Love it.  Classic sketch.

And here's the theme challenge from Global Design Project:

I combined those two with the color challenge from Sunday Stamps:

Those speckly eggs are my FAVORITE Easter candy.  Let's not even discuss how many bags I may or may not buy every year.  And they had them at Christmas too, just different colors :). Oh yeah, colors...I used Tranquil Tide, So Saffron, Marina Mist, and Sweet Sugarplum for my colors (everything but the first swatch, really).  I think Tranquil Tide hasn't been super popular but I love it.  It reminds me of a lot of Stoney Creek cross stitch patterns I've done; they always seem to choose a bluey green for leaves on floral designs.

That's it for now.  I've got to get the kiddo up in about 45 minutes to take him to the doctor...he's had a wet-sounding cough that just will not give up so I'm taking him in.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Colorful Seasons, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Sweet Sugarplum, So Saffron, Tranquil Tide, Marina Mist
Paper:  Sweet Sugarplum, So Saffron, Tranquil Tide, Whisper White
Accessories:  rhinestones

Colorful Seasons Leaves

Hey y'all, how's it going?  I'm getting a cold.  I have a feeling the next few days will NOT be fun.  At least the hubs has Friday off of work so if I need to I can spend most of Friday sleeping? Just got to make it to Friday....

At least it's already Wednesday.  I thought for a minute it was only Tuesday.

My brother's birthday is tomorrow so I need to get this card out in the mail today.  It won't get to Texas in time, but he's been in our family long enough not to expect birthday cards and presents on time ;)  Anyway, as an Oklahoma State alum, he lurves him some orange so I started with the color challenge from Fab Friday:

I'll be honest:  I like Tangerine Tango and Pumpkin Pie separately, but I'm not a fan of them together.  I sponged the ink on the leaf stamp to make it less concentrated, so it's more subtle that the three leaves are two different colors.  And then I stamped the fancy outline leaf stamp on the card front in stamped-off Tangerine Tango on Pumpkin Pie cardstock, which turned out okay.

I also used the latest sketch from Clean & Simple Stamping:

And then I combined those two challenges with the Global Design Project CASE the Designer challenge:

I kept the orange from this card, and the linen thread (I need to order more linen thread...), and I stamped a large image on my card front though mine is a lot more subtle than the pumpkins here.  I like challenges like this because there's a lot of "scope for imagination" as Anne Shirley would say.  Though I am extremely color-driven so a lot of my CASEd cards incorporate similar colors.

Sounds like kiddo is ready to get out of his bouncer for a bit.  Hope naptime comes quickly, 'cause I want a nap too...

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Colorful Seasons, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Tangerine Tango, Pumpkin Pie, Fresh Fig
Paper:  Pumpkin Pie, Fresh Fig, Whisper White
Accessories:  Petals embossing folder, linen thread, Dimensionals

Pumpkin Thanks

Salutations and greetings, friends!  Ryan yodels a greeting from his bouncer, too.  He gets very vocal if anyone is eating and he's not.  Piggy baby :)

Oh yeah, happy Halloween!

Had to do pumpkins for Halloween, even if they're not jack-o-lanterns.  Although looking at this card on the screen, I kinda wish I'd done some more Lemon Lime Twist sprigs or something behind the pumpkins and gourd.  Ah, well.  Check out this week's Cupcake Inspirations color challenge:

And the Fall-To Layout from Clean & Simple Stamping:

Looks like Ryan and I won't make it to the gym in time for the class today; we got a bit of a late start this morning.  That's okay, I can work out on my own, and he'll still enjoy being in the day care with the other kiddos.  Better finish up my oatmeal and get a move on.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Pick a Pumpkin, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, Garden Green
Paper:  Thick Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Lemon Lime Twist, Quilted Christmas DSP
Accessories:  Patterned Pumpkin Thinlits, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Mini Dimensionals