The Quest of the Missing Map

Hey y'all and welcome to another Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today we're on #19, The Quest of the Missing Map.

Unlike the last few books, the plot for the RT version of this book sticks fairly close to the OT version.  We have an illustrated scene from the book for the OT, and we're still doing the collage style for the RT version.  Personally I like the bold purple cover of the RT version better but they're both good.

Case file:  Nancy meets Hannah's friend Ellen Smith, who asks her to investigate prospective employer Mrs. Chatham, whose daughter Trixie says that Ship Cottage on their estate grounds (yeah they're rich) is haunted.  She's not entirely wrong; crooks are using secret passages on the estate to get around.  Also, Ellen's dad is trying to track down his long-lost twin brother because they each received half of a treasure map from their father and they have to work together to find the treasure.  Multiple bad guys are after the pieces of the map, but Nancy manages to charter an expedition to the south Atlantic and find the treasure despite being kidnapped several times.

Here's my card:

The model ships made by Mrs. Chatham's deceased first husband (who is the missing twin) are a big plot point, so I pulled The Open Sea out of my to sell sets to make this.  At first I was going to work in some Darling Duckling for Nancy's dress, but I found a striped piece of Island Indigo DSP so I used that instead.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  The Open Sea, Daring Adventure, World Map
Ink:  Crumb Cake, Early Espresso
Paper:  Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Island Indigo DSP
Accessories:  Deco Labels Framelits, Dimensionals, Enamel Dot Essentials

And here's the RT:

Only a few minor differences this time between the two versions but I like how we get Bess and George on this cover as well as the map.  Here's my card:

I went with the palm tree from Balmy Breezes because they're searching for Little Palm Island, and I chose that greeting stamp from World Treasures to echo the treasure hunt theme and also to honor Bess and George on the cover.  And I threw on some purple glimmer gems because treasure.  Y'all know I am highly influenced by the colors on the book covers when I make these cards.

I kept the World Map background from the first card but I kept it lighter and kinda faded in places for the background.  I did a lot of sponging on both cards for this challenge.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Balmy Breezes, World Treasures, World Map
Ink:  Pecan Pie, Crumb Cake, Gorgeous Grape
Paper:  Gorgeous Grape, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Layering Ovals dies, Dimensioanls, Purple Shimmer Gems

I think this one is a solid installment, but not among my favorites, so I'm giving it three and a half stars.  If these books inspire you to make a card, please leave me a comment so I can see!  As always, you can read a much more in-depth discussion of the books over on Hey Nancy Drew.  I'll see you here next week when we uncover The Clue in the Jewel Box!

The Mystery of the Ivory Charm

Welcome to a new Nancy Drew Challenge!  This time we're looking into The Mystery of the Ivory Charm, which is the thirteenth book in the series and definitely unlucky.

You can tell from the OT cover on the left that this time, we're going to the circus and I will be honest, this is my least favorite Nancy Drew book up to this point and by a wide margin.

Case file:  Nancy, Bess, and George see a circus unpacking while waiting for their train to River Heights and a circus worker named Rai, an Indian man, gives Nancy an ivory elephant charm for good luck.  The man's supposed son, Coya (who works with the elephants), stows away on the girls' train so Nancy just decides to keep him and let him do chores around the house (the HECK).  A weird lady comes to see Carson about selling some land she owns, and in the course of investigating where Coya came from and how he ended up with not-his-real-dad Rai, she discovers that the weird lady and Rai had colluded to rob Coya of his inheritance as a maharajah in India and installed someone else on the throne.  This one is just bizarre as well as being rife with racial stereotypes.  One star.

So here's my card for the OT version of The Mystery of the Ivory Charm:

And it's proof that I can make a card I really like that was inspired by a book I really dislike!  I decided on three simple blocks of color to mimic the colors on the book cover and of course I had to have an elephant.  At first I tried to do this as a vertical card, but the color blocks looked like a stoplight no matter what order I put them in.  I really like what I ended up with though.

Rai gives Nancy the ivory charm because she's brave and doesn't panic when an escaped circus snake (that's a thing, I guess?) drops out of a tree on her and tries to squeeze her to death.  I was tempted to make a snaky card but my stamp collection is pretty light on snake images, so I pulled out one of my elephants instead.  I chose that "hello" because the font makes me think of the circus, is that weird?

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  A Little Wild, Happy Greetings
Ink:  Versamark, Pebbled Path, Poppy Parade, Garden Green, Crushed Curry
Paper:  Soft Sky, Poppy Parade, Garden Green, Crushed Curry, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  clear EP, Little Loves Framelits, Squares Collection Framelits, Dimensionals

On to the RT version!

Revised case file:  This one follows the plot of the OT fairly closely, except that the Indian boy is renamed Rishi and Nancy discovers that his biological father is living in River Heights; the dad had been told that Rishi was eaten by a tiger years earlier.  Usually they tried to tone down the racism when they revised the texts, but this time they took out a scene where Nancy is invited to the White House to have lunch with the First Lady and pretty much left in all the racist stereotypes.  One of my best friends growing up was Indian and I can only imagine what she would have thought of this book--I wish I could ask her, but she passed away of cancer over ten years ago.  I'm sure she would have hated this though.  Or laughed herself silly.  Perhaps both at the same time.

Here's my card:

I bought Balmy Breezes on eBay a while back and this is the first time I've used it and I love it.  Of course I picked it for the elephant image, and I tried to stick close to the colors of the book cover.  There weren't any palm trees in the book but they go with the elephant image, right?

I used the Deckled Rectangles dies and a generous amount of sponging to mimic the book cover, and this time I decided to ignore Nancy's bright hair and just went with the greens.  She gets to keep the ivory charm as a souvenir; she gets a lot of jewelry from solving mysteries.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Balmy Breezes
Ink:  Mossy Meadow, Pear Pizzazz
Paper:  Basic Beige, Mossy Meadow, Pear Pizzazz
Accessories:  Deckled Rectangles dies, linen thread, Faux Glass Dots, Dimensionals

I'd love to see what you come up with for this book, drop me a comment below (no time limit).  Next up, we'll be investigating The Whispering Statue!  And if you want to deep dive into the books, check out my other blog at Hey, Nancy Drew.  Cheers!