Jennifer Schaerer
One of the best parts of our job here is to open and admire all the entries we receive for our card making contests. And with our World Card Making Day contest now closed for entries and the winner selection process underway (winners will be announced within the next 10 days, so stay tuned!), we’re knee deep in a whole lot of creative cards.
I thought I’d take a minute and highlight a few of the winning cards from its predecessor, the 2013 Stamping Royalty contest, since all the winners appear in our current November/December issue. Our whittling process is painstaking, and you may wonder what draws us to select the winning cards.
To refresh your memory, we announced the Stamping Royalty winners in each category back in April:
Plus an honorable mention in each category.
Let’s begin with birthday, and take a look at Amy Kolling’s card:
Hoot & Holla Card by Amy Kolling
Amy used a skinny chevron border stamp to make the pennant background piece on this card, and in addition to the trendy combination of ink colors, she also reversed the direction of the border stamp with every other row. The energy of this pattern really made us hoot & holla when we selected it as a winner.
Moving on to the thank you category, this card by Ilina Crouse has a little secret:
More Than You Know Card by Ilina Crouse
At first glance, you may think Ilina just stamped her images on textured cardstock to get the woodgrain effect on the roses and leaves – and that’s what we thought as well. But as we read the instructions more closely, we understood that she inked her stamps using the rock-n-roll method, then off-stamped on woodgrain textured cardstock to remove a bit of the ink, and then stamped on smooth cardstock for the final look. Add to that her masking of the roses and leaves and perfect placement of the sentiment and it was easy to select this as a winning card.
In the hello/thinking of you category, I want to highlight this fun and funky card by Alicia Thelin:
Oh, Hello Card by Alicia Thelin
Although this card’s random collection of design elements could easily fall apart visually, Alicia expertly placed each one for a cohesive yet freestyle collage effect. The stitched chevrons point inward to the sentiment, which is nicely framed with the coral and turquoise roses to the left and zigzag stitches to the bottom. And the oval stamped zigzag background is a perfectly understated way to tie the design together. See? Fun, funky, and a definite winner.
Season’s Greetings is next, and this card by Sarah J. Moerman was an eye-catcher for sure:
Merry Christmas by Sarah J. Moerman
These cool blueprint-style stamps by Tim Holtz were new to the market early this year, and we had seen them used in every technique-y way possible – from water-blended marker treatments to layers of distressing and inks. But the way Sarah chose paper piecing to highlight the package and let the sketch marks play a supporting role on an industrial-feeling kraft card base really made this simple but sophisticated card pack a punch. Again, an easy choice.
Finally, we’re at the love category. Just wait ’til you realize how Pamela Ho made this card:
Love You This Much Card by Pamela Ho
See all those teeny envelopes? Each one is masked and stamped individually. And all the red and blue airmail stripes on each one? Those are dots Pamela made with red and blue marker. Then that itty bitty heart is stamped twice, once in pink and again in red, in random pairs across the card. She added shadow to some envelopes with a light gray marker, and all this detail provides the perfect frame for a sentiment that weaves all those love notes into one well-planned card. We were in awe.
To see all the winning cards in these categories, be sure to check out the November/December issue. And by all means, give each card a second and third look to fully appreciate the stamping talent in each of these amazing winners. For even more inspiration, the 15 members of the 2013 Stamping Royalty team had some fun with a blog hop after we introduced them, so if you missed it there’s no better time than the present to do some catching up.
With a royal wave,
