Cardmaker of the Year 2012 Competition

I've got some exciting news to share with everyone. Last year, I picked up an Australian Simply Cards and when reading through it, I found a competition for the Cardmaker of the Year 2012. The criteria of the competition were that three cards need to be submitted in the following categories:
1. Stamping and colouring
2. Tools and Templates
3. Embellishments and Paper
I thought to myself, 'Hey, I can do that! Give it a go!' The due date was 14th December, in the busiest time of the year, but the prizes were worth $300 for runners up and $700 for the winner. Just about the same time I had received my Basic Grey package containing the Lucille collection and this was what I used for all three cards. After submitting, followed by a very busy Christmas period, I had forgotten all about it until I got a phone call in late January from the editor of Australian Simply Cards to inform me that I got a runners-up prize! All the winning cards were on display at the Australian Scrapbooking and Papercraft Expo in Melbourne last weekend. Here is a photo of the main display:

The overall winner - Karen George from South Australia

Runner Up from Victoria!

 Here are my cards:

This first card was submitted in the Tools and Templates category. I used the PTI lovely layers stamp and diecuts for the main flower and placed it on a scalloped circle (Spellbinders). The flags were die cut with MFT DieNamics STAX Fishtail dies. The sentiment was from Hero Arts Florentine Message.

This second card was for the Stamping and Colouring category. As all my blog followers know, I don't often like to colour in. So this card demonstrates more stamping than colouring! I used the Hero Arts Antique Flowers and Butterflies (a favourite of mine) for the background and the sentiment was stamped with HA Florentine Message over one of the tags from MFT DieNamics Layered Labels. A lovely wide bow from my stash finished off the card nicely!

The third card was for the Embellishments and Paper category. I don't often buy embellishments, but there were some in the 12x12 BG Lucille pack. I used the butterfly from the pack and added a crochet flower (done my moi!) with a pearl brad. The butterfly was adhered onto the Memory Box Woven circle and some fishtail flags. A few extra pearls in the background paper finished off the card.

I will upload the rest of the winning cards that were on display in my Flick photo stream - please check them out there (link is on my sidebar). All the winning cards will be published in an up and coming issue of Australian Simply Cards - watch out for it! Thanks for dropping by... I have more good news to share next week!