Secret Sister « Nicole Stalker

Secret Sister Gifts sent for March

When we sign up to participate in the Secret Sister rounds we are required to fill out a questionnaire. This is then given to our partner so they can try and plan what they make around the information we have given them. In the questionnaire we list things like favourite stamp sets, favourite colours, whether or not we like chocolate among other things. Not sure what they mean by that as who doesn’t like chocolate…..lol. Then again sometimes it’s not that we don’t like chocolate but we are not allowed to eat it due to health reasons for example, so this would be where you would list that.

For the first 2 months we need to send 2 cards & 1 handmade gift.

My first card I made is using one of my sisters favourite stamp sets and that is Priceless. She also told me that she liked Chocolate Chip and Pink Pirouette. I didn’t use the Chocolate Chip in this card but in my next one and gift I did.

I hadn’t used Priceless in so long but I was really happy with the way this turned out. I’ve used Pink Pirouette along with Kiwi Kiss and Baja Breeze.

Here’s the inside:

It’s not a fabulous picture unfortunately so I hope you can see what I’ve done. There’s paper piercing around the outside with some stamping to tie in from the front.

I think creating an inside is just as important as an outside these day. It really makes the card that much nicer.

This was her 2nd card & gift. Seeing how March was Easter this is what I themed my card & gift for.

And inside the box is:

My sister mentioned that her favourite chocolate was Lindt White. I liked white chocolate myself but not sure I’d had Lindt before Easter. It’s now my favourite too…….hehehe.

I’ve made the box to fit the chocolate bunny and eggs. The divider lifts out of the box so it could be used for various sized items. I actually remade it for myself in another colour combo which I’ll share later.

I really liked how this turned out and think my sister was happy with it too.

Tomorrow I will share my April Gifts that I sent to her.

Till next time…..

Secret Sister Gifts received for May

My Secret Sister surprised me at Convention by letting me know who she was and handing me another wonderful gift.

This is a Card Organiser which is more obvious from this angle…

There is a section for each month with a calendar tab complete with room to add names so you don’t forget who needs a card that month. Pat also made a card for each month. Isn’t it gorgeous.

Thank you Pat Carr for being a wonderful and very generous Secret Sister for Round 3. Unfortunately I’m not sure if Pat has a blog or website to show off her wonderful creations. I’ll update this post if I find she does.

If you’d like to make your own one of these great Card Organisers then a tutorial for this can be purchased from Lynda Moss.

Till next time……

April Secret Sister Gifts…

Earlier this month I received a wonderful parcel from my ESAD-Secret Sister. Due to some personal issues my Secret Sister sent all my April goodies together which of course I didn’t mind. I’m actually surprised with what she had going on that she managed to get all this done and to me only a few days late. I also get to meet her at Convention so I’m really looking forward to being able to thank her in person for the wonderful March Easter Gifts she sent my whole family and also for the lovely April gifts.

So would you like to see the April Gifts.

Of course you would.

So this is all the items I received. 3 cards, a lovely bag and a desktop note set.

Inside the bag looked like this:

It contains a lovely block of Old Gold Liquor Chocolate, a snail refill, stampin’ dimensionals and a packet of Designer Brads – Filigree.

I will confess that it’s all still in it’s bag, even the chocolate. That’s how busy life has been.

Here’s a closer look at the desktop note set.

Notice the “From the desk of NIKKI STALKER”? Well that also appears on every handstamped piece of notepaper included in the box.

This must have taken hours to do and I absolutely love it.

May is the last month for this swap and as I mentioned I will be meeting my Secret Sister (have absolutely no idea who it is) at Convention. If she turned up empty handed I really wouldn’t care as she spoilt not only me but also my family for Easter and then this gift too. Far exceeds the requirements of the swap.

I just hope my Secret Sister is just as happy with what she has been receiving from me too. I’ll be meeting and revealing at Convention with her too.

Till next time….

Secret Sister is on again.

This is my 3rd Round of Secret Sister with fellow demonstrators from ESAD-SU. If you’ve been following my blog for a while you will already know that I can’t share my projects I’ve made for my partner until after the reveal, just in case they visit my blog, however I can share what I receive. This round is from March – May. We are going to try and have our final gifts to our partners before they head off to Convention so that way we can thank our partners in person if they are attending Convention. Convention is being held in Sydney this year and is on the 21st & 22nd May.

The requirements of the swap is that for the first 2 months, so March and April, you send 2 cards & 1 handmade gift each of those months. For the 3rd month we need to send 2 cards plus a package of SU goodies to a certain value.

Today I’m sharing my March items that I/we received. You’ll find out why I wrote I/we shortly…..

First up I received this lovely card from my Secret Sister.

We fill in a questionnaire prior to the swap commencing which is then given to our partners so they have some idea of what we like. Mine said that I loved Fifth Avenue Floral.

For my 2nd card and gift my Secret Sister spoilt ‘us’ rotten. I say ‘us’ like the ‘we’ above as not only did she send something for me but she sent gifts for my 4 daughters and my husband too. On the last day of March the parcel delivery man turned up with this rather large box. I didn’t have time to open it but I also wanted to leave it till my girls were all home as they love seeing what’s in it as much as I do. We had swimming on after school that day so I wasn’t able to open it till around 6pm but that meant my hubby was home too.

Can you imagine our surprise when we opened up the box, unwrapped things from the tissue paper to discover all this…..

There was an Easter package for all of us. My Secret Sister has definitely gone above and beyond here but it was very much appreciated by us all.

Along with the gift also came my 2nd card for the month.

Isn’t this so cute?

Thank you again Secret Sister if you are reading this. The eggs are now all gone, not that my some of them lasted long and I have your gift box and card on display still for all to see that visit me. Hubby was totally amazed by the detail you put into the gift box and could see the time and effort put into the whole package for us all. He also wondered how you knew he like “Old Gold Dark Chocolate”….hahaha. I told him that wasn’t on the questionnaire……..lol

Till next time….

Secret Sister items –Part 2

As I mentioned yesterday, January’s requirement for the swap was 3 handmade items where 1 could be a card.

Again I wanted to use Bravo Burgundy (the real Bravo Burgundy not the substitute I used for December….hahaha) but how am I going to create a trio of items without any Designer Series Paper. I’m writing this thinking back only a few years ago when I purchased DSP that I could never work out how to use it in a card. I’m not a scrapbooker so even though there was lovely papers, and I had to have them of course, they just never got used. These days I usually decide which DSP I want to use first and then the rest of the colours, etc fall into place. What a turn around?? Sound familiar to anyone else??

So I got to thinking what other colours go well with Bravo Burgundy as maybe I had DSP in those colours. Da da. Things were finally in motion. More Mustard and Old Olive go nicely with Bravo Burgundy and guess what???? Yes Haiku DSP has Old Olive and More Mustard. Once I got this worked out I new exactly what I wanted to do and this is what I made.

I’ve used the Great Friend stamp set as this was on my Secret Sisters questionnaire as her favourite stamp set. I sure understood that one as it’s one of my all time favourites too and so hope it makes the next big Idea Book & Catalogue on 1st September. If it doesn’t I don’t think it’s a set I will part with too easily though.

I have added some small 1/2 backed pearls from the Pretties Kit to the butterflies for an extra touch and I’ve attached the bag handles using a build-a-brad which I’ve also added a large 1/2 back pearl too.

I was really happy with the way this turned out considering my initially dilemma.

Now you may be thinking that this is only 2 items but there is still more….

Inside the ‘bag’ is a decorated note pad (in a colour not too far from Bravo Burgundy) with a matching pen and then 4 scallop note cards with envelopes.

Here’s a picture of the bag with everything that was inside it.

Supplies:
Stamp sets: Great Friend, Sweet Little Sentiments (Level 1 Hostess set)
Card: Bravo Burgundy, More Mustard, Whisper White, Haiku DSP
Ink: Bravo Burgundy, More Mustard, Old Olive
Accessories: Scallop Edge, Small Oval & Word Window Punches, Bravo Burgundy 5/8” grosgrain ribbon, Pretties Kit, Build-A-Brads, Crimper, Silver Hodgepodge, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Pen (non-SU).

February’s requirement was a card. Unfortunately I can’t remember which card I sent to my Secret Sister as I didn’t save it to the correct folder on my computer so that’s all I have to show you.

Till next time……