My Secret Revealed!

For the past 3 months, I've been keeping a secret!! I have been Gloria's secret sister, sending her several cards a month. We just recently "revealed ourselves" to our secret sisters at a lunch get-together of the Meade Girls. Since I was keeping a secret, I wasn't able to post my cards to my blog, but now, since Gloria knows it was me, I'm finally able to show you what I've made her over the past couple of months.

I sent her this card for Valentine's Day. The image is from Dustin Pike. Isn't he adorable!?! (The image is cute, too!) :D The cardstock- Pumpkin Pie and Real Red- are from SU and the patterned paper is Basic Grey (Lime Rickey). The sentiment is from Hambo Stamps' Eye Monster digi-image.

This is the second card that I sent her. She had started making aprons several months ago and it became an obsession with some of the Meade Girls...Jane wanted one in every color and style! :) So, I thought I would send Gloria an apron card. The apron image is from Gina K's Sew Pretty. All cardstock is from last year's Stampin' Up "In Colors". The patterned paper is from Basic Grey's "Lemonade" pack. The grosgrain ribbon is from Offray and the Old Olive buttons are SU. I do need to work on my cutting skills, though! Inside I tucked the poem "Grandma's Apron".

The Meade Girls LOVE to eat, and we always seem to be on a diet so I decided to use this yet un-inked stamp called "Light as a Feather" from the Happy Hoppers series. To go along with the card, I included a packet of Extra Mint Chocolate Chip sugar free gum with a cover. Cardstock- SU's YoYo Yellow, Soft Suede. The patterned paper is from Basic Grey.

The card:

The covered gum packet:

For St. Patrick's Day I sent her this card, along with a pack of Shamrock Nail Stickers (I figured if she didn't want to use them on her fingernails, she could always use them on a card!!) Isn't this guy adorable?? I found him online- it was a free digi-image, but I can't remember where I found it... Cardstock is from Stampin' Up- Soft Suede, YoYo Yellow. The patterned paper is from the Origins pack of DSP from Basic Grey. The image was printed onto GP110 white cardstock, and colored using Copic Markers. I found some green Magic Mesh in my stash so decided to use that, along with a strip of YoYo Yellow that I ran through the Cuttlebug using the Square Lattice embossing folder from SU. I hope it put a smile on Gloria's face. It did mine!

This next card I sent her along with a "bag" of bath "tea". I figured she might need a good long soak in the tub! Sometimes a girl's just gotta relax after a hard day of stamping! :)

The image is from Melon Headz Illustrating. It's just too cute! Cardstock is all from SU- Vintage Violet, Bashful Blue. The patterned papers are from the "Cheeky" pack of DSP from Making Memories. The image was printed onto GP110 white cardstock and colored using Copic Markers. It was cut out using my Cuttlebug and the circle Nestabilities. I added a few stick-on pearls for the 'bubbles'.

Unfortunately, I had to send Gloria a sympathy card. Her sister-in-law passed away right before Easter. Sympathy cards are so hard for me. I hope she liked this one.

All cardstock is from Stampin' Up! (Blushing Bride, Basic Black) and the patterned paper is from Basic Grey. The image was stamped onto GP110 using SU markers (Cameo Coral and Garden Green). The image and sentiment are from the Thoughts & Prayers set from SU. The ribbon is from my stash- some that I bought on my ribbon run to the Offray Ribbon Outlet in Hagerstown.

This is the last card that I sent to her "in secret". I found this digi-image online and had to order it! I thought it would make some nice "eye candy" for her! He's kind of my Cowboy Cassanova! :)

Close-up (Oh, my!):

This is the verse that I put inside the card (computer-generated):

The digi-image is from Victoria Case. The sentiments were computer-generated. Cardstock is Buckaroo Blue, Cranberry Crisp, and Creamy Caramel (Stampin' Up!), GP110 white and the patterned paper is from an old retired SU western pack. I colored the image using Copic Markers and used my Cuttlebug and Nesties to punch out the image and Cranberry Crisp layer. I used the Faux Tooled Leather technique on the Creamy Caramel panel. You can find my tutorial here. I just LOVE this card and I hope Gloria did, too!!!

This is my reveal gift that I gave her when I told her who I was. I am not good at altering items or making things other than cards, but I gave it a go. This is the card and envelope that I made for her:

I love the way this turned out. I used Stampin' Up's Sew Suite stamp set and matching patterned paper. Some of the buttons are the matching ones from SU and others are from my button stash. I also decorated the envelope to match using the dress form stamp and Melon Mambo ink on the front and on the flap I used some dressmakers stick-on ruler tape. Cardstock used is Melon Mambo, Crushed Curry, Border Blue (Stampin' Up!) and GP110 white.

Here's a close-up of the card:

For her main gift I decided to make her a name frame for her craft room.

It's a little plain but I wasn't sure what else to do with it. I tried tying some ribbon around the frame but that just didn't look right. The frame is from Walmart. Again, I used the sewing-themed patterned paper and matching buttons, which are attached to the outside of the frame in the corner using glue dots. The letters of her name are stamped using Melon Mambo ink and the retired Newsprint alphabet stamps. I used the Basic Black fine point marker to add faux stitches to the letters. Again, you can see that I used the adhesive ruler tape.

Here is a close-up of the frame:

On a recent trip to Michael's, I found this wall hook in the $1 bin. It is painted white but I attached the same sewing-themed patterned paper to it using a couple coats of Modge Podge.

I really hope that Gloria has enjoyed having me as her Secret Sister as much as I enjoyed having her! We will be starting another round of the Meade Girls Secret Sister again very soon and I can hardly wait!!!!