P. Kelly Smith
Welcome to Freebie Friday! The results are in for the Open Auditions round of Gallery Idol 2011! We were blown away not only by the number of submissions, but the quality as well. We’ve never seen so many gorgeous designs laid out on our conference table! I’m predicting one nail-biting, wake-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night-with-cold-sweats competition!
This year, 502 designers submitted 1,671 cards for 20 spots. It was an agonizing decision, but we’re confident we got it right with these 20 gals. Wanna meet them? Here’s they are in alphabetical order. Drum roll, please…
Finalist #1 – Lindsay Amrhein:
Finalist #5 – Debbie Carriere:
Finalist #11 – Cristina Kowalczyk:
Finalist #12 – Kristii Lockart:
Finalist #13 – Valerie Mangan:
Finalist #14 – Vanessa Menhorn:
Finalist #16 – Laura O’ Donnell:
Finalist #17 – Jennifer Rzasa:
Finalist #19 – Laurie Willison:
Congrats, Top 20! You’ve each won American Crafts’ Margarita collection and a copy of our current issue!
Top 20, we absolutely loved all of your congrats cards and can’t wait to see what you come up with for round one. We thought long and hard about a theme that would not only challenge you, but inspire you (and hopefully our voters!). So…the theme for round one is Do-It-Yourself Embellishments!
And that means we want to see your very best cards that incorporate handmade embellishments. (For inspiration, please refer to the DIY Embellishments feature in our July/August 2011 issue.) The deadline is Monday, July 11 at 9 a.m. (MDT). All cards must be posted to our gallery by this time. I’ll be e-mailing you this afternoon to go over the specifics for posting and to answer any questions you might have.
Before I go, I want to take this opportunity to thank the other 482 designers who uploaded their amazing submissions to our gallery. With over 1600 entries this year, it was not an easy decision to narrow the pool to 20 spots. We hope you’ll still support our finalists in the voting rounds…after all, it’s our online community who will decide the next Gallery Idol winner. Voting begins at noon (MDT) on Monday, July 11, so please come back to cast your vote!
Ready for today’s giveaway? Since our first round of competition is all about embellishments, I have a fun selection of chipboard, flowers, stickers, etc. from Maya Road. Leave a congratulatory comment for our Top 20 finalists and I’ll pick three winners to receive this prize package, plus a copy of our current issue. All comments must be received by midnight (MDT) on Sunday, July 10.
Three lucky winners will take home this fun prize package!
Happy Friday!
Kelly
P.S. It’s time to announce the winner from Julie’s A Fresh Side to Silhouettes post!
Linda (July 6, 6:14 a.m.)
Congrats, Linda! You’ve won some silhouette-themed prizes! I’ll be contacting you shortly for your mailing address. Thanks to all who left comments!
Congratulations to all the winners! Those cards are gorgeous…
Thanks for the giveaway and have a great weekend!
Congratulations ladies! Your cards were gorgeous and I wish you all the best of luck.
Congrats to all the winners. Great job. Projects are awesome.
Congratulations, ladies, on all your wonderful “congratulations” cards! Way to go! Looking forward to round 1!
Wow! Congrats! I can see why they were picked. Good luck on the next round, you all should be so proud of yourselves!
Congratulations to all the winners! Those cards are fantastic!
Congratulations! The cards were awesome and Good Luck in the next round.
Great job everyone. I can’t wait to see what you come up with in the next round! Good luck ladies. Mary M
Congrats! Awesome cards!
Congrats to the winners! Those are some absolutely stunning picks!
Way to go Winners. Looking forward to the rest of the competition.
Incredible competition! Congrats to all the winners!
WOOHOO! congrats to the winners!!!
Congratulations to all of the winners and what a lineup of incredible talent. LOVED the variety of styles.
Looking forward to seeing what you do in the next round. Lovely projects so far and congratulations!
Congratulations to the top 20. Wow! The creations were incredible.
All those cards are so wonderful! Very colorful and creative.
Wow! Beautiful cards. Such great inspiration. Congrats top 20 and good luck.
Congratulations finalists! All of the the cards are amazing!
Congratulations Ladies! These are all so awesome! So thrilling to see names of cyber friends in the mix! Good luck on the next round!
Fantastic cards! Congratulations! Keep up the great inspiration!
oh I am so thrilled for the ladies who won! congratulations!
and good for you to the people who had the courage to send in an entry! it isn’t easy to put yourself out there like that. I’m proud of you for being brave and giving it a go.
What super cards from all the finalists.Congrats and good luck to all of you. Neat prize pack. Thanks for the inspiration.
Congrats to the top twenty! Those cards display a lot of talent and hard work…and fun of course!
congrats to everyone that won. they are all great ideas can’t wait to see the next round.
Wowza…what amazing talent. Congrats to the winners. Can’t wait to see what they all create next.
Congratulations to all the Top 20…the cards are fabulous. You are an inspiration!! Thank you for the giveaways.
Great cards everyone and congrats for getting to this point!! Can’t wait to see what happens next!!
Congrats to all the finalists! I can’t wait to see all the homemade embellishments! Good luck to all.
Congratulations ladies!! Wow, I am blown away by your talent. Best of luck going forward!
Wow! So much talent! I loved ALL of these cards, thanks for the inspiration!
Wow! All of the winners cards are great! Congratulations are definately in order here.
Kudo’s to all the winners. Glad I did not have to be on the team to choose the winners! One is more beautiful than the next.
WOW!! I see SEVERAL of my Favs IN THIS LIST!! i AM SO excited FOR THESE fabulous designers!! congrats AND GOOD LUCK ON THE COMPETITION!!
Congratulations everyone!
I cannot WAIT to see the next round of entries! Congrats and HAVE FUN!!!
WOW…I’m really impressed this year and think you got it right too. Some of these cards are outstanding. CONGRATULATIONS to all of the winners…you truly are! (I see some ‘lifts’ in my future.)
What a great gathering of inspiration! Looking forward to seeing all the fabulous cards as the weeks go on!! Congratulations!
So much talent!!! Congratulations for you Top 20 finalists !!!!
You inspire me!!!!
kisses
Rosana
Wow! Awesome work Top 20!!
to be considered out of all of the entries is so special. best wishes for the next round.
Congrats to the top 20. So many wonderful cards. Can’t wait to see the next round.
Congrats finalists! I can’t wait to see what you all create for the next round!
congratulations to all the winners and to all the other participants also!
thanks for a shot at the giveaway!
sandyh
Congratulations Ladies. Your cards are all fabulous.
Congratulations to the top 20!! WOW!! What fabulous designs, great inspiration. I’m off to make some cards!
Outstanding job by each designer! Congrats!
You guys…wow. A hearty “Congratulations” to you all. Your creations were beautiful. I looked at all of the posting-whew, quite a lot (I entered too), and do agree that although I wasn’t picked-I agree with the Judges. Great job! Can’t wait to see what y’all come up with for round 1, embellishments
Congrats to the top 20!! Very inspiring cards. Paper Crafts, I think you picked the right people!! So excited for the next round of cards!
Congratulations to all the winners!! I can see why it was difficult to narrow down with all that talent out there!!