Holly Mills

2009 may be behind us, but the prestige of being a winner of our World Card Making Day Card Contest lives on. Since we just announced the winners in our new March/April 2010 issue, I thought I would take the opportunity to spotlight these talented card makers once again.  

With 936 submissions, narrowing the field to 20 winners in five categories was a huge challenge. Kudos to these ladies for making the final cut. We’re proud to publish your winning cards in the magazine (p.82) and honor you here.  

Let’s roll out the red carpet for: 

Birthday category: 

• Terri Davenport (Toledo, OH)
• Ann Marie Pultorak (Romeoville, IL)
• Debbie O’Leary (Dingmans Ferry, PA)
• Cindy Holshouser (Edgewood, VA)

Hello/Thinking of You category: 

• Jenny Harper (Bear Creek, NC)
• Lynn Kirby-Griffith (Blairsville, GA)
• Crystal Birr (Cincinnati, OH)
• Rachael Burdick (Portland, OR)

Thank You category: 

• Katie McCullough (Tulsa, OK)
• Kristie Larsen (Valhalla, NY)
• Susan Mangum (Danville, CA)
• Cathy List (Peotone, IL)

Love category: 

• Kelley Eubanks (Mt. Juliet, TN)
• Becky Olsen (Salt Lake City, UT)
• Julie Batta (Rockwell City, IA)
• Mary Ashby (O’Fallon, MO)

Season’s Greetings category: 

• Desiree Roesler (Chandler, AZ)
• Ryann Salamon (San Diego, CA)
• Michele Kovack (Evergreen Park, IL)
• Winter Sims (Warren, TX)

I just loved the diversity of styles in the winning cards from our Hello/Thinking of You category: 

Great job Jenny, Lynn, Crystal and Rachael!

Congrats, winners! For those of you wondering about this year’s World Card Making Day, mark Saturday, Oct. 2 on your calendars. We’ve got some fabulous ideas up our sleeves for our fifth annual celebration. And look for details on the 2010 World Card Making Day Card Contest in our upcoming September/October 2010 issue. Until then… 

Keep smilin’,
Holly 

P.S. Speaking of fun contests…for those of you who aren’t afraid to get a little ink on your fingers, don’t forget to enter our current 2010 Stamping Royalty Card Contest.  

Not only can you impress your family and co-workers with your royalty status, but winners will each receive an amazing prize package of the latest stamping products (valued at more than $250)! So look into your creativity mirror and say, “I am the fairest stamper in the land.” Did I mention the 15 winners will each receive a sparkly tiara as well?

Brandy Jesperson

I know it’s cliché, but time flies when you’re having fun. I distinctly remember talking with the Paper Crafts team and dreaming up a blog full of interactive challenges, beautiful pictures and prizes galore! Sure enough, two blinks of an eye and one year later here we are! 

One of our goals when we concepted this blog was to encourage people to serve those around them. After all, card making is innately generous. We make cards for our loved ones to celebrate events, give condolences and simply say “hi.” 

As I think back over the past 12 months, we’ve not only had the chance to give back, but we’ve also had a lot of fun doing it. So put on your magical time machine hats (you’ve all got one, right?) and join me for a quick trip down memory lane.  

Last Fall Kelly joined forces with some crafty friends to crop for Cystic Fibrosis. Not only did all the proceeds go to a great cause, but it was also a chance to meet new people and create into the wee hours of the morning!

Here's Roxanne (Becky's sister), Kelly, Megan, Brenda and Becky.

In November we continued our tradition of decorating and donating a tree (complete with oodles of donations from manufacturers and designers) to the Festival of Trees. All the money raised at this event goes to the patients at Primary Children’s Medical Center, and over the past three years our trees have made more than $5000 for this great cause. 

Ta da! What do you think of our finished tree?

Even our Go-to Gals got into the act this year! Ms. Maren shared a delicious assortment of chocolate-covered creations (accompanied by a hearty dose of papery goodness) ideal for teacher gifts. With two former teachers on our team, we love and respect the fine people who teach our children each day.

Switch out the tag and you've got a yummy Valentine's treat!

In December we joined forces with Creating Keepsakes magazine and Creativity Heals. This program encourages people to donate time, creativity or extra crafting supplies towards improving the lives of others. We invited all of you to donate cards to Operation Write Home and were blown away by the generosity you showed on our blog and Facebook pages. We’ve been associated with this charity for years and love their support for our nation’s armed forces. We also donated hundreds of cards to this charity following our World Card Making Day Card Contest in October.  

All of these cards were sent in to Operation Write Home.

At each turn we have been struck by the kindness and willingness to give all of you readers have shown. Thanks for making 2009 a year of giving back. As a thank you I’d like to give ONE lucky person two copies of our new special issue Stamp It! Cards, two Fiskars stamp sets and two of our sassy Betty t-shirts. All that I ask is that you keep one prize package for yourself and give the other to a friend. To be eligible to win, please leave a comment telling me how you like to give back to those around you. Perhaps we’ll be able to take something YOU do and work it into 2010. All comments must be received by midnight (MST) on Wednesday, Feb. 3.

Thanks and love,
Brandy

P.S. It’s time to announce the 10 winners from Jennifer’s Sharing the CHA Goodies post and the five winners from Kelly’s January/February I-Spy post!

Jennifer’s winners:

1. Diane S. (Jan. 29, 7:59 p.m.)
2. Carisa (Jan. 28, 3:17 p.m.)
3. Brandy Jarvis (Jan. 28, 2:12 p.m.)
4. Tammy Wisterman (Jan. 28, 8:08 p.m.)
5. Carol (Jan. 28, 3:31 p.m.)
6. Iris Soscia (Jan. 28, 1:48 p.m.)
7. Diana N. (Jan. 28, 6:40 p.m.)
8. Sue B. (Jan. 29, 7:56 p.m.)
9. Letisia Chubbuck (Jan. 28, 6:43 p.m.)
10. Jennifer Hansen (Jan. 28, 11:15 p.m.)

Kelly’s winners:

1. Carol H. (Jan. 29, 9:53 a.m.)
2. cards4ever (Jan. 29, 10:39 p.m.)
3. Wendy M. (Jan. 30, 8:47 a.m.)
4. Kerry A. (Jan. 31, 9:43 a.m.)
5. Mary Ashby (Jan. 29, 8:04 a.m.)

Congrats, winners! Kelly will be contacting you shortly to discuss your prizes and get your mailing addresses. Thanks to all who left comments!

Jennifer Schaerer

We’ve been watching the gallery on the World Card Making Day web site grow and grow and grow…and I am just giddy that it’s over 1300 cards already. If you add in the 1000+ cards from the 2008 archive, there’s a whole lotta inspiration going on!

Cath spotlighted five gallery winners over at Moxie Fab World a few days ago, and I’m here to show you the other five winning gallery cards. Wow — what a group of talented cardmakers we have in our midst! Each winner will receive a one year subscription to Paper Crafts magazine.

Happy Birthday Card by joey73

Eat Cake Card by Parker Laine

Ahoy Sailor Card by cadnileb

Oranges Card by Aga

A Good Friend Card by Vanessa Menhorn

We’re also happily slicing open the envelopes that are arriving daily with entries for the World Card Making Day Card Contest (don’t worry, there’s still time to enter – details HERE).

We donated the 2008 entries that were not selected to www.operationwritehome.org

As World Card Making Day continues to grow and bring cardmakers all over the world a lot closer to one another, we want to give a shout out to everyone who has helped spread the paper crafted love for this year.

Cheers!
Jennifer

P.S. It’s time to announce the three winners from Cath’s A Recap of World Card Making Day post! Here they are in no particular oder:

1. CKH in Tulsa (Oct. 6, 9:51 a.m.)
2. Mary Alice Leonard (Oct. 7, 1:28 p.m.)
3. Laura J (Oct. 6, 4:17 p.m.)

Congrats, winners! Kelly will be contacting you shortly to discuss your prizes and get your mailing addresses. Thanks to all who left comments!

Cath Edvalson

How was your World Card Making Day? No matter where you were or who you were with, I hope it was fun memorable!

Here at Paper Crafts, we are overwhelmed with the response to our fourth year celebrating this amazingly connective holiday. From manufacturers and online companies who were sponsoring events, to grass-roots blog hops and challenges, to individuals posting cards on their blogs, to groups of gals who gathered to make cards for charity, to those of you who really did get a jumpstart on your holiday cards, there was a lot going on as Oct. 3 worked its way around the globe.

Speaking of the globe, in the World Tour of Card Making that took place in the Moxie Fab World last week, we spotlighted 42 different designers in 17 countries. There were a total of 8,470 comments made–many of them in different languages–and 347 international bloggers joined in on the tour as well!

On the World Card Making Day web site, there was a blog tour for discounts on products in our online store and 383 other card makers did something special on their blogs for World Card Making Day, linking them on the site as well. Here’s some of the great cards that were featured on this tour:

Stinkin’ cute Boo Card by Becky from the Becky & Stacy Blog:

Fun Christmas Blessings Card by Lynn Miller:

Beautiful Blue Butterfly Card by Brises from Poland:

Cutie-pie Thanks a Latte Card by Michelle Woerner:

Fun Trick or Treat Card by Jona Panesa from the Philippines:

…and from what could be our youngest blogger in World Card Making Day history, this For You Card by eight-year-old Rebecca Ledlow:

Our Go-to Gals – Kim H., Maren, Teri, Betsy and Jessica were busy teaching classes at five winning retail stores around the country, while Kim K. was promoting the holiday at CKC-Glendale. Click their names for their takes on their experiences.

It was certainly a busy day, friends – but believe it or not, there’s still more fun to be had. If you live in the U.S. or Canada (except Quebec), you can send your Birthday, Christmas/Season’s Greetings, Hello/Thinking of You, Love and/or Thank You cards in to our World Card Making Day Card Contest to win a fantastic prize AND a spot in our March/April 2010 issue. But you need to hurry! Entries must be postmarked by Oct. 12! Click HERE for all the details!

What did you like most about World Card Making Day? My favorite part was the connections that I made with paper crafters from all over the world. With the click of the “translate” button, I was able to make friends with people I would never have met otherwise. Here’s hoping that the World Card Making Day spirit is alive within us all throughout the coming year until it’s time to celebrate again in 2010 on Saturday, Oct. 2!

I’d love to hear what you liked most about World Card Making Day and am prepared to thank you with a chance to win some fun embellishments from American Crafts. Just be sure to leave a comment by midnight (MDT) on Wednesday, Oct. 7 and I’ll draw three random winners!

Basking in the sisterhood of World Card Making Day,
Cath

P.S. I now get the privilege to announce the grand prize winner of Kelly’s Happy World Card Making Day post! This lucky lady is taking home this giant jackpot of a prize:

Congrats to Sherry for winning this WHOLE prize package!

 Sherry (Oct. 3, 3:56 p.m.)

“Happy World Card Making Day from Iowa! I’ve been looking at the web pages and gathering lots of inspiration and reading blogs while putting together a few cards! Oh What Fun!!!”

Well done, Sherry! Kelly will be contacting you shortly to get your mailing address. Thanks to all of our 408 commenters! We loved hearing how you spent your World Card Making Day!

P. Kelly Smith

Welcome to Magazine Monday! I hope everyone had fun celebrating World Card Making Day on Saturday. Whether you made one card or 20, hopefully the creativity gods were with you. And if you didn’t see our special post on Saturday, you have until midnight (MDT) tonight to leave a comment and be eligible to win our giant jackpot of a prize! The grand prize winner will be announced tomorrow, so make sure you check back with us!

If you did make some cards on Saturday, it’s not too late to send them in to our World Card Making Day Card Contest. We’ll pick 20 lucky winners to receive a prize package valued at $185 and be published in our Mach/April 2010 issue! All entries must be postmarked by Monday, Oct. 12. For more information, including full rules and where to submit entries, see p. 47 in our September/October 2009 issue or click HERE.

Since it’s the first Monday in October, it’s time to announce our next gallery challenge theme! But first, let’s pay tribute to our three September Gallery Challenge winners! These creative gals not only aced our clean & graphic-themed challenge, but they also reminded us that gorgeous cards can be made with limited product and just a few steps. Way to go, ladies!

Winner #1 – Kelly Marie Alvarez:

We loved Kelly Marie's festive Joy Card.

Winner #2 – Tami Mayberry:

Tami Mayberry's Love You to the Core Card is "apple-solute" perfection.

Winner #3 – Winter Sims:

And Winter Sims' Absolutely Fabulous Card is well, you know...

Congratulations, ladies! Each of you has won either a one-year subscription or the special issue of your choice. I’ll be contacting you shortly to discuss your prizes. If you’re interested in seeing all of the clean & graphic projects from the September challenge, please visit our gallery here.

Wanna join the fun and participate in our next challenge? We just launched our spooktacular October Gallery Challenge! We want to see your best Halloween cards, bags, tags and treat containers! This three-week challenge will run through midnight (MDT) on Monday, Oct. 26. Click HERE to learn more about this frighteningly fun challenge!

Happy Monday!
Kelly

P.S. It’s time to announce the two winners from Brandy’s Gallery Goodness post and the two winners from my Editor Ask Around post!

Brandy’s winners:

1. Gwen Y. (Oct. 2, 1:09 p.m.)
2. Sara P. (Oct. 3, 7:22 a.m.)

My winners:

1. Beverly S (Oct. 2, 7:40 a.m.)
2. April Z (Oct. 2, 10:54 a.m.)

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

P. Kelly Smith

Today is the big day! Isn’t it a nice feeling knowing that people from all around the world are creating cards at this very exact same moment? If you find yourself needing some inspiration, why not check out our official World Card Making Day blog tour? We have over 300 passionate supporters whose blogs are just bursting with World Card Making Day cheer!

And while you’re blog hopping, make sure you stop by one (or all!) of our top 25 featured blogs. Each designer is giving out a 25% off coupon code that’s good for ANYTHING in our online store! Click HERE to see the 25 designers, then go visit their blogs and finally, go shopping HERE! The coupon expires at midnight (MST) on Oct. 12, so don’t delay!

The Paper Crafts team made these cards on World Card Making Day, 2008.

And since you’re all making cards today (nod yes), why not enter them in our World Card Making Day Card Contest? We’ll award 20 winners a prize package containing the latest card making products from some of the hottest manufacturers. The retail value of each prize package totals over $185! Winners will also have the opportunity to be published in the March/April 2010 issue of Paper Crafts magazine. How’s that for a sweet deal? Please submit a card(s) under the following categories:

• Birthday
• Christmas/Season’s Greetings
• Hello/Thinking of You
• Love
• Thank You

All entries must be postmarked by Monday, Oct. 12. For more information, including full rules and where to submit entries, see p. 47 in our September/October 2009 issue or click HERE.

Since it is World Card Making Day and I mentioned there would be one giant jackpot of a prize, let’s get on with it! I just happen to have an extra set of prizes from our World Card Making Day Card Contest. What’s a girl to do? How about I offer it up as a prize for one very lucky person?! Leave a comment telling me how you’re celebrating World Card Making Day. Whether you’re celebrating in a big way with lots of friends or just you in your craft room, I want to hear all about it! All comments must be received by midnight (MST) on Monday, Oct. 5. The big winner will be announced on Tuesday!

This WHOLE prize package could be yours!

Happy World Card Making Day!
Kelly

P.S. Jennifer is unveiling her newly designed and organized craft room today! Click HERE to see the finished result!

P.P.S. It’s time to announce the two winners from Susan’s Let’s Celebrate post and the two winners from Kim Hughes’ It’s Time to K.I.S.S. post!

Susan’s winners:

1. Laura (Sept. 29, 10:56 a.m.)
2. Angel S (Sept. 29, 4:18 p.m.)

Kim’s winners:

1. Lee Anne (Sept. 30, 1:19 p.m.)
2. sweetpapertreats (Sept. 30, 6:02 a.m.)

Congrats, winners! I’ll be contacting you on Monday to discuss your prizes and get your mailing addresses. Thanks to all who left comments!

Susan R. Opel

It seems fitting that we would use the world wide web to celebrate World Card Making Day, and if you haven’t taken a tour of our freshly remodeled site, you’re missing out on some great stuff. 

1. Click on the About drop down menu, and you’ll find out the origins of the holiday and the philosophy behind it, as well as cool card facts and the benefits of making a handmade card.
2. Click on the Celebrate drop down menu, and be inspired by a list of event ideas, see if there is a participating retailer in your area, check out our official sponsors and learn how to participate in our blog tour.
3. You’ll definitely want to send in an entry for our fourth annual World Card Making Day Card Contest! Twenty winners will take away $185 worth in prizes from ten of your favorite manufacturers. Check out the official rules here.
4. Go to the Create section and get some ideas from cards created by our sponsors and then head over to the Share menu and connect with other card makers from around the globe. There’s a gallery there, too, where you can share projects that you’ve made.

Here's the Paper Crafts team on World Card Making Day, 2008.

So dive right in! Explore all of the fun things that you can do to prepare for the day and then enjoy it once it arrives October 3^rd! And don’t forget that the gallery will be there long after October 3^rd, so you can always upload more or come back for tons of inspiration no matter the time of year!

Want more ideas of what to do for World Card Making Day? Hop on over to the blogs of our fabulous Go-to Gals! They’ll share what they are doing for World Card Making Day – and it’s pretty fun!

• Betsy Veldman
• Jessica Witty
• Kim Hughes
• Kim Kesti
• Maren Benedict
• Teri Anderson

Now go! Explore! Plan! Create!
Susan

P.S. If you’ll be doing something special on your own blog to celebrate World Card Making Day this year, please click HERE to add your blog URL to our offical World Card Making Day blog tour. Then post the World Card Making Day logo on your blog to let the world know that you’ll be celebrating with us on October 3!

Jennifer Schaerer

Let the countdown begin – that’s how long we have until the fun and celebration of World Card Making Day is here for 2009! That’s right, mark your calendars for Saturday, October 3^rd and start building your plans now.

No idea where to start? Try the World Card Making Day web site. We’ve got plenty of ideas for celebrating in style, plus the 2008 community gallery. We’ll be adding card projects from our product partners (with photos, instructions and supply lists!) in the coming weeks, and invite you to help build the 2009 gallery by uploading your own cards as you make them. We’ll also be launching a blog hop later this summer.

And, as we do every year, we’ll be sponsoring the 2009 World Card Making Day Card Contest. This year’s prize package is worth over $185, and we’ll be awarding four winners in each of five categories. Keep your eye on the web site for more information.

So hop on over and get started today! If you’re already a member of our Scrap and Paper Corner community, you can can login with the same username and password as your Scrap and Paper Corner profile. Otherwise, you’ll need to set yourself up as a new user.

Then, feel free to use the World Card Making Day logo anywhere you’d like – your blog, your online profile, emails, or anywhere else you can spread the word and create yet another paper crafting connection through card making.

Finally, to get you into your crafty space to start making cards, here’s a chance to win a great big boost of inspiration.

For five lucky winners, I’ve got hot-off-the-presses copies of Card Creations, Vol. 7, plus a whole bunch of cheery chipboard accents in a rainbow of colors from GCD Studios.

Leave a comment by this Sunday, June 21 at midnight MDT and let me know how World Card Making Day fits into your life – do you use it to get your paper crafting space organized? Or is it your kick-off to making your holiday cards? Is it a great excuse to get your paper crafting peeps together for some creative fun?

However you do it, just unite and celebrate the connection and creativity that is the heart of card making.

Jennifer