Freebie Friday – Stamping Royalty: From A to Z

P. Kelly Smith

Welcome to Freebie Friday! I have a confession to make…I’m sort of a walking celebrity encyclopedia. I blame it on my brief stint as an intern for InStyle magazine (many moons ago).

While my duties were limited to transcribing B-actor interviews and fetching my boss’s dry cleaning (among other personal items), I did get to attend one very cool celebrity party. Thus the abnormal fascination begins. And royalty? Don’t even get me started on royalty…in my book, that’s a step up from celebrities. Right?

People.com recently posted an article called Will and Kate: From A to Z and it featured 26 facts about British royalty. It piqued my interest and got me thinking about our own Stamping Royalty – just announced this week! So much so, I thought it would be fun to reveal 26 facts (or secrets!) about this year’s court of royal stampers.

• A is for Amber Daigre who left us in stitches with her Anatomy of a Royalty Win. Favorite revelation of Dr. Amber’s: “I wonder if the entries into the Stamping Royalty Contest have to be STAMPED?” Even though 7 out of her 10 entries were ineligible, three of them did have some stamping. Whew!
• B is for Sue Boyle. Sue’s been away from her computer. Maybe she’s busy promoting her record, I Dreamed A Dream. P.S. Sue, I think it came true!
• C is for Cristina Kowalczyk who’s “over-the-moon-and-all-the-planets excited” that her winning card is just paper, ink and stamps. She said, “I’m usually too modest to say things like this, but I’m really proud about that.”
• D is for Lynn Darda who named her blog From My Bungalow after the 1920′s Craftsman bungalow she crafts in.
• E is for Edmonton, Canada, the home of Sue Boyle. Congrats to fellow Canadians Angela Fehr and Julia Stainton!
• F is for Angela Fehr who shared the happy news with a stranger at the grocery store. Angela responded to her confused look with, ”What? It’s not like I’m actually wearing the tiara. Because it hasn’t come in the mail yet.”

Photo courtesy of Angela Fehr

• G is for Mariana Grigsby, who studied to be a graphic designer in her native Mexico. And Mariana knows her markers! All hail the Queen of Copics!
• H is for Honorable Mention. Yep, in addition to the 15 winners we revealed this week, we also chose five honorable mentions. We’ll reveal their names on Monday and you, the reader, will vote for your favorite!
• I is for Illinois, home to Cristina Kowalczyk and Mariana Grigsby.
• J is for Julia Stainton, who won the 2009 Stamping Royalty Contest with her Once Upon a Time Card (seen below). Welcome back to court, Julia!

Julia Stainton's Once Upon a Time Card

• K is for Kelly Silva who is a self-proclaimed ”accounting nerd by day, crafter by night.” Kelly, with 2,332 entries submitted, what’s the mathematical probability that you would win this contest?
• L is for Karolyn Loncon who masterfully compared winning Stamping Royalty to winning the Masters Golf Tournament (where her husband just happened to be when she told him the good news).
• M is for Mustache, the trendy icon featured in Sarah Jay’s winning card.
• N is for Stephanie Nagel who became royalty yesterday – the same day she gave birth to her baby boy! I wonder if she named him Will or Harry?
• O is for One, the number of cards Angela Fehr and Laura Pryor submitted to this year’s Stamping Royalty contest. Looks like one=won.
• P is for Laura Pryor. This never-been-published designer just started submitting cards a few months back. Looks like luck is on her side…Laura was also one of our three March Gallery Challenge winners this week!
• Q is for Queen Mary Dawn Quirindongo. Poor Mary Dawn broke her ankle right before the royal announcement. She later wrote on her blog, “Even princesses get broken bones, apparently!”
• R is for Royalty. Something all 15 of our winners can now claim to be.
• S is for Shelly Kurth, who said, “This is one of the best early birthday presents ever!”
• T is for Tiara. We can’t wait to see our winners wearing their sparkly tiaras!
• U is for Unity Stamp Co., one of the generous sponsors of our 2011 Stamping Royalty Contest.
• V is for V, the first letter of one of our honorable mentions’ names.
• W is for Laurie Willison, who joins Laura Pryor as one of our March Gallery Challenge winners! Laurie, your card below perfectly sums up the occasion!

Photo courtesy of Laurie Willison

• X is for Xxtraordinary, the only adjective to describe this year’s entries.
• Y is for Yearly, the frequency of the Stamping Royalty Contest.
• Z is for ZZZ’s, otherwise known as sleep, an essential for all royals.

I just happen to have Stampin’ Up’s A to Z background stamp (what else?!) and copies of Stamp It! Cards and Stamp It! Techniques. Leave a comment and I’ll pick two lucky winners to take home this fun prize package. All comments must be received by midnight (MDT) on Sunday, April 17.

Two lucky winners will take home this stamping prize package!

Happy Friday!
Kelly

P.S. Remember to join us on Monday when we reveal our five honorable mentions and voting begins for your favorite card!

P.P.S. It’s time to announce the winner of Teri’s Make Your Own Rainbow post!

Bev E. (April 14, 8:16 a.m.)

Congrats, Bev! I’ll be contacting you shortly to discuss your prizes and get your mailing address. Thanks to all who left comments