The Message in the Hollow Oak

Welcome to the Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today's book is number twelve, The Message in the Hollow Oak.

This time, the revised text is completely different from the original and both of them are a trip.  This is where the revised text covers start going with more of a collage effect rather than a scene out of the book.  Let's take a look at them, starting with the original text.

Quick side note:  I love the horse playing peekaboo by Nancy's hip, I didn't notice him at first and now he makes me giggle every time I look at the cover.  Peekaboo!

Case file:  Nancy wins a radio contest and the prize is the deed to some land in a super remote part of Canada, so she, Bess, and George head for the border with an older lady to chaperone them.  They're involved in a pretty serious train accident but keep on going anyway, only to discover that unscrupulous men are digging for gold on Nancy's land.  She manages to trick the thieves and ends up with a bag of gold and along the way she saves a kidnap victim and reunites two people who had been separated by a misunderstanding years before.  Those two used the titular hollow oak as a letter drop to pass notes to each other.  Lots happening here.

Here's my card for the OT:

We have lots of big, burly lumberjack and gold prospector types in this book, but I was thinking of the one whom Nancy reunites with his long-lost sweetheart when I made this card.  And it was a great excuse to bust out my Wood You Be Mine stamp set!  I put some Cajun Craze Faux Glass Dots on there for accents but they kinda fade into the background. 

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Wood You Be Mine?
Ink:  Early Espresso, Old Olive, Stampin' Blends in Old Olive, Neutrals, Pretty in Pink, Cinnamon Cider, Cajun Craze, Crumb Cake, Gray Granite, Boho Blue
Paper:  Bumblebee, Old Olive, Boho Blue, Beauty of the Earth DSP
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Faux Glass Dots

Now let's look at the revised text:

Case file:  Aunt Eloise's PI friend dares Nancy to solve an old mystery that he and his buddies couldn't crack on their vacation--find a message left by a French missionary in a hollow oak tree and follow the clues to find a treasure.  She stays with Ned's cousin as part of a university archaeological dig and not only does she do some digging with them, she does find a series of hollow oak trees and finds the treasure despite another treasure hunter harassing her.  No gold prospectors in this one but it's still pretty wild.

Here's my card:

The cover of this one looks super spooky and Halloween-y, but the book isn't set around Halloween and the only skulls in it are the fragments that the archaeological dig find.  Still, I couldn't get the idea of a skull card out of my noggin so I made this one.  I did cover up the jack o' lantern on this stamp with a flower that's meant to represent Nancy on the cover.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  From the Crypt, Thoughtful Expressions
Ink:  Versamark, Island Indigo, Timid Tiger, Whisper White
Paper:  Island Indigo, Basic Beige, Beauty of the Earth DSP, Beautifully Penned DSP
Accessories:  Thoughtful Expressions dies, black EP,, Dimensionals

Since the book doesn't really have much to do with skulls despite the cover illustration, I made a second card:

Pretty sure that's Nancy's family motto right there.  I happened to see Textured Timber when I got out Thoughtful Expressions for the first card and I just had to use the tree images for a second card.  Still have orange flowers for Nancy though.

What's funny is that when I first sat down to make a card for this book many weeks ago, I hit a creative block and couldn't figure out what to do.  That's about when I snapped up the OT versions of the books and went back to reread from the start, gave it a few weeks and when I came back to this one I ended up with TWO cards for the book that was giving me a block.  Hooray!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Textured Timber, Thoughtful Expressions, Feathered Flight
Ink:  Early Espresso, Pecan Pie, Island Indigo, Stampin' Blends in Old Olive & Timid Tiger
Paper:  Island Indigo, Pecan Pie, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Basic Beige
Accessories:  Thankful Labels, Thoughtful Expressions dies, Dimensionals, In Color Flat Pearls

I'd be delighted to have you play along, just drop a link in the comments to your Nancy Drew inspired creation.  You can check out Hey, Nancy Drew for more chatter about the books, and stop by next week for lucky #13, The Mystery of the Ivory Charm!

Swiss Capade 2

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  Daphne woke me up in the middle of the night making weird noises so I can already feel that today is going to be one of those days when I'm tired but wired.  But let's make the best of it and get started with some scrapbook pages:

Here's the first of the waterfalls we visited in Switzerland : )  I think this one is the best known in that particular valley, and you just walk through a tunnel and then up a trail to the top of the waterfall.  Gorgeous!

Today's nature-inspired color palette is Seaside Spray (waterfall spray), Misty Moonlight, Certainly Celery, Garden Green, and white. 

I haven't worked on scrapbook pages in a while since I've been obsessed with the Nancy Drew stuff, and it's a little harder to get crafty time with Ryan home for summer.  Most of his camps are only three to four hours a day but I do what I can.  Time to get him out the door for farm camp!

Cheeeeeeeeeers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Thoughtful Expressions
Ink:  Misty Moonlight, Certainly Celery
Paper:  Seaside Spray, Misty Moonlight, Certainly Celery, Garden Green, Basic White, Certainly Celery & Garden Green DSP
Accessories:  Thoughtful Expressions dies, Stylish Shapes dies

Regal Hummingbird

Mornin' y'all!  Last night I again did the stupid thing and stayed up too late reading.  I will never learn.  It snowed (again) overnight and Ryan was Most Displeased that he didn't get a snow day (kid, you've already had a LOT of snow days and two-hour delays, deal with it) but I got him off to school and now I'm wondering if Daphne will be cool with me taking a nap.  BUT I also have some crafty things I want to work on because I actually finished a scrapbook layout this week!  And I want to do more!  I also erased pencil lines from a whole stack of layouts and took pictures and I have ten new draft posts of scrapbook pages just awaiting their time to shine on the next Scrappy Monday, which will be making a return next week.

In the meantime, I did make a card to share today:

SU! updated the Last Chance List and I am now down to nine not-retired stamp sets, which doesn't really make much of a difference as I'm not shy about using retired stamps anyway.  Thoughtful Expressions is on the last chance list and it gets the spotlight today.

Let's talk challenges, starting with Sunday Stamps' color palette:

I used Crushed Curry, Mossy Meadow, Gorgeous Grape (well, Highland Heather Blends because we don't have Gorgeous Grape ones, or Crushed Curry or Coastal Cabana or Garden Green and I really want them), Blackberry Bliss, and Basic Black.  I used all of the colors, with the top yellow and green being the main ones.

Next up is the Paper Players tic-tac-toe challenge:

I did the left column (flowers - die cut - lavender) and the center row (die cut - animal - green) as long as a bird counts as an animal.  Oh, and the diagonal (flowers - animal - sentiment).  #overachiever

Last up is the Atlantic Hearts sketch:

This sketch would be perfect for a gate-fold card but let's be honest, I don't do fancy folds unless I'm forced to so I made mine a standard fold.  I thought the rectangular shape in the Thoughtful Expressions dies would be a good stunt double for the sketch's oval shape plus I was too lazy to go look for an oval die.  I really should stop staying up so late but...books.  I am currently reading three different books plus another one that I'm reading aloud to Ryan before he goes to bed, because that's how I roll.

Anyway, that's it for me.  I should take Daphers out for a walk and maybe if I go get crafty after that I'll forget about taking a nap.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Thoughtful Expressions
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Crushed Curry, Mossy Meadow, Stampin' Blends in Daffodil Delight, Mossy Meadow, Blackberry Bliss, Highland Heather
Paper:  Crushed Curry, Thick Basic White, Mossy Meadow DSP
Accessories:  Thoughtful Expressions dies, Dimensionals, Regal Glitter Dots

Serene Thoughts

Mornin' y'all.  I spent the last couple of days getting the house all nice and clean and now...I think I'm getting another cold.  Ugh.  After I write this up I've got to go to the store to get more DayQuil.

Anyway, my mom had a surgical procedure on Wednesday so I made a sweet, simple card to send her.

I love the mood board at Hand-Stamped Sentiments:

I chose Misty Moonlight and Petal Pink for my colors, with a bit of retired Seaside Spray for the leaves, and here's the Freshly Made Sketch I followed:

I just sponged some Petal Pink ink over the top of my flower image, easy peasy.  A couple of embellishments that I think are actually Boho Blue but they went well with the rest of the card.  I just realized this card is the first one I've made with Spotlight on Nature.  I've used the dies a few times but the last time I went to make a card with the stamps, I ended up scrapping it and doing something different.  So yay, the stamps finally got inked!  One of them, anyway.

Okay, I'm off to the store.  Cheers, and stay healthy, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Spotlight on Nature, Thoughtful Expressions
Ink:  Misty Moonlight, Petal Pink, Stampin' Blends in Petal Pink & Seaside Spray
Paper:  Petal Pink, Basic White
Accessories:  Boho Blue embellishments of some sort that I don't remember the name of

Another Boho Hummingbird

Hey y'all, happy Friday.  The hubs and the kid are currently upstairs playing some kind of car racing game and it's really loud and it's just going to be a chaotic day with both of them home ; )  That's okay though, I am accustomed to a certain level of chaos.

Anywha, without meaning to, I'm posting bird cards two days in a row.  Ryan the bird lover would be so proud : )  Here's today's hummingbird:

I started with this week's Freshly Made Sketch, which I flipped upside down:

And I used this week's Color Throwdown colors:

I used Boho Blue, Pretty in Pink, and Lemon Lolly for my colors, with Early Espresso and Basic Beige for neutrals.  And then I had to ink up my Early Espresso ink pad right after I finished this card, don't know why all of my ink pads are suddenly saying they're in need of ink.

That's it for me today, peeps.  We're waiting for a technician to get here to take a look at our heating system, and then we're going to buy some paint to paint the kitchen/dining/pantry area.  I'm looking forward to seeing that space transform from greige to greens.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Thoughtful Expressions
Ink:  Early Espresso, Stampin' Blends in Boho Blue, Pretty in Pink, Lemon Lolly, Soft Sea Foam
Paper:  Basic Beige, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Thoughtful Expressions dies, Dimensionals, Earth Tones Shimmer Gems

Thoughts of Autumn

Happy Friday and guess what, today I only have a single card to share.  Whaaaat. I should make another one : )  But for now, here's my card:

I tried to resist, but in the end I bought Autumn to Remember, which is one of the stamp sets that coordinate with the CTMH stuff that SU! now has under their umbrella.  Here's this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I thought the different sized leaves would work well for the circles on the sketch.  And here's this week's Color Throwdown:

I used Peach Pie (again), Basic Beige, and Pecan Pie for my colors, but I kinda want to have another go at this and use Peach Pie with Very Vanilla and Crumb Cake.  Anyway, the entire DT made cards in honor of Barbara Anders, and so I chose a thinking of you sentiment for my card.  Wishing comfort to Barb's family.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Autumn to Remember, Thoughtful Expressions
Ink:  Peach Pie, Basic Beige, Pecan Pie
Paper:  Basic Beige, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Mini Dimensionals, Classic Enamel Dots

SUO Challenges: The Highlander Challenge

 Mornin' y'all!  It's time again for a new challenge at SUO Challenges!

This particular challenge came from my diabolical brain...

I call it the Highlander challenge because there can be only ONE...stamp.  (Okay my knowledge of Highlander is limited to "There can be only one" and a mental image of Sean Connery with a sword.)  At least one other stamper on the design team was like WHAT how is that possible, but I think the easiest way to do this challenge is to pick a great DSP and add a sentiment.  BAM.

The Thoughtful Journey DSP was too gorgeous to not use the whole sheet though so I made two cards.

The stamp on this one is from Feathered Flight in the Online Exclusives.  Super, super simple with the gorgeous DSP, a die cut sentiment, and one Boho Blue gem.

For this one, I used a sentiment from Thoughtful Expressions and two In Color Shimmer Gems in Petunia Pop.  I thought this would be a nice sympathy card, and I like to make those when I don't need them so I have a couple on hand.

So there's two ideas from me and I could have done a lot more with different DSPs and let's be honest I probably will.  Hope you have as much fun with this as I did and don't forget to upload your cards to the SUO Challenges blog.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Feathered Flight, Thoughtful Expressions
Ink:  Mossy Meadow
Paper:  Boho Blue, Mossy Meadow, Petunia Pop, Thick Basic White, Thoughtful Journey DSP Stack
Accessories:  Countryside Corners dies, Thoughtful Expressions dies, Dimensionals, retired Solid Gems, In Color Shimmer Gems

I'm Thinking Mauve

Mornin' y'all!  We're off to a slow start this weekend, the hubs hasn't been feeling good and yesterday afternoon my energy level went subzero for unknown reasons.  I don't feel bad, just tired.  But I had made a couple of cards on Thursday so I have one to share today.

I haven't played much with the 2023-2025 In Colors much because I like the brighter colors, but I had to give two of them a whirl for the Hand Stamped Sentiments Color Challenge:

I don't think I'll ever be overly fond of Wild Wheat, but I think I made it work here.  I paired that with the sketch from CAS Colours & Sketches:

That's it for me today, y'all.  Have a good weekend!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Thoughtful Expressions
Ink:  Blackberry Bliss, Stampin' Blends in Moody Mauve and Wild Wheat
Paper:  Moody Mauve, Thick Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Thoughtful Expressions dies, In Color Dots

Boho Hummingbird

Mornin' y'all!  Ryan had is taekwondo belt test last night and it was pretty great--part of the test is sparring, both with other students and with the instructors, and at one point Ryan and another kiddo ganged up on the guy who runs the studio and it was HILARIOUS and I got a video of it to share with the hubs.  And then Ryan got to break his first-ever board and he was so excited about that.  I'm sad that he only has two more weeks with this martial arts studio before we move.

Anyway, I have a card to share today!

I had picked up Thoughtful Expressions a week ago, intending to make a hummingbird card, and then I went with a sea turtle instead so today is the hummingbird's time to shine.  I used the Paper Players color challenge:

And my additional color is Moody Mauve.  I inked up the images with Versamark and then Night of Navy ink, stamped, and embossed with clear EP so I could watercolor without the outlines smudging.  My mom loves hummingbirds so after I move to Colorado this will probably be going to her : )

I finally got pictures of a GIANT stack of scrapbook layouts yesterday!  So now I have a whole lot of draft posts ready to go for future Scrappy Mondays.  I have this week and next in this house and then the movers get here to start packing up, so I'm trying to bust out a few more layouts (and cards) before that happens.  I have six in progress layouts going right now and I'm hoping to start two or three more and get them finished.  We'll see how I do.

That's it for me today, peeps.  Have a great day!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Thoughtful Expressions
Ink:  Versamark, Night of Navy, Boho Blue, Lemon Lolly, Moody Mauve
Paper:  Boho Blue, Thick Basic White, Countryside Inn DSP
Accessories:  Thoughtful Expressions dies, clear EP, Dimensionals, In Color dots

Thoughtful Sea Turtle

Happy Friday, folks!  It's the last day of Ryan's karate camp and this afternoon they'll have a little showcase and hand out some awards, so I'm looking forward to seeing what Ryan has learned this week.  But for the next few hours I will be trying my best to be productive in my craft room while I still can ; )

I was cruising through my current stamp sets with a particular color challenge in mind and this is what I came up with:

At first I had picked up Thoughtful Expressions with its beautiful hummingbird image, but I couldn't resist the sea turtle (and I still used Thoughtful Expressions for the sentiment).  Here's the color challenge from Hand-Stamped Sentiments:

Just realized that the last time I used the Sea Turtle stamp set, it was for a different color challenge on this same site :)  Anyway, this time I used Lost Lagoon for the bubbly background stamped off once, and then full strength for the sentiment.  My Petal Pink ink pad is extra super juicy for some reason, so I had to experiment a bit to find a way to make the sand dollars dark enough to see but light enough that they didn't look weird.  For the sea turtle, I inked up the back side (solid side) of the stamp and then used a sponge to remove some of the ink so it wouldn't be quite as dark.  I also didn't worry about getting absolute even coverage when I stamped, as I figured it would just give the sea turtle some extra texture.  Then I stamped the detail side twice to make it stand out, and then covered it in Wink of Stella which you can actually see in the photo, it's a miracle!  A few retired Polished Dots and there's my card for today.

I've been very focused on scrapbook pages lately and I have a stack of like eight layouts (soon to be nine) that I need to write journaling for, and then add those to the other seven or so that I haven't taken pictures of yet.  The movers are coming to start packing out the house on June 24 so I'm trying to squeeze in as much crafting time as possible.  At least this isn't an overseas move so it won't be months before I get my craft room set up on the other side.

That's it for me today, peeps.  I'm going to do my morning blog surfing while I finish my tea, then it's up to my craft room to make more things.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Sea Turtle, Thoughtful Expressions
Ink:  Lost Lagoon, Soft Sea Foam, Petal Pink
Paper:  Soft Sea Foam, Thick Basic White
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Polished Dots

SUO Challenges: MAAAMAAAAAAAAA!!!

 Happy Tuesday, y'all, and it's a fun Tuesday because it's time for a new challenge at SUO Challenges!

And here is our theme:

In case you forgot, Mother's Day is coming up and MAN I cannot type today, I'm glad you can't see all the typos that have gone into this blog post today.  Anyway, my mom loves hummingbirds because they remind her of her grandmother, so I made this for her:

I made this weeks ago, and I admit that when I made it, I wasn't tracking that the Occasions catalog would be gonzo when this blog post went live, so that Poetic Expressions and Forever Love DSP are both retired now.  I bet the Wildly Flowering DSP in the new catalog would be a great option for current stuff though, it has several pretty Moody Mauve patterns.  Anyway, I went with a fancy gold and Pretty Peacock background and then a Moody Mauve and Bubble Bath smaller pattern for the smaller panel, then colored my hummingbird and flowers to match.  A few Pretty Peacock Foiled Gems (still available!) for accents and there's my card.

We hope that you'll join us for this challenge and upload a mom-tastic card at the SUO Challenges blog.  As always, have fun!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Thoughtful Expressions, Perennial Postage
Ink:  Moody Mauve, Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Blends in Bubble Bath, Moody Mauve, Pretty Peacock
Paper:  Moody Mauve, Bubble Bath, Thick Basic White, Forever Love DSP, Poetic Expressions DSP
Accessories:  Thoughtful Expressions dies, Pretty Peacock Foiled Gems, Dimensionals

Cozy Quilt Trio

Okay what day is it today???  I finally feel like I'm emerging from the cold-induced zombie stupor and I got Ryan off to school today and now I need to deal with the tornado situation he perpetrated in the living room while I wasn't feeling well over the long weekend.  It's pretty bad in there.

But first, I have a set of cards to share!

After seeing the latest Inspired By... challenge, I had to try out the other die in the Patchwork Pieces set.

I see some Calypso Coral in that inspo pic, and that led me to pick the Sale-a-Bration DSP Softly Stippled.  This particular die has 12 openings, so you could have a nicely symmetrical design with 2, 3, 4, or 6 different colors/patterns.  I decided to go with three patterns and then chose sentiments from three different new stamp sets just for funsies.  A few Opaque Faceted Gems and I have three more cards in my stash!

Okay, I'm off to go do...something...productive.  I'm glad that I'm feeling better than I was for the last couple of days, and Ryan was pretty good about letting me rest when I needed to.  So now I need to start tackling the things that fell by the wayside for the last several days.  Cheers, y'all, and stay healthy!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Thoughtful Expressions, Lovely & Sweet, Perennial Postage
Ink:  Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Wild Wheat
Paper:  Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Wild Wheat, Thick Basic White, Softly Stippled DSP
Accessories:  Thoughtful Expressions dies, Dimensionals, Opaque Faceted Gems