prize packets sent!

As part of the prize packet for the YourPets finalists, we are sending each person their own "flat" from the production work we did to turn their design into a real live card. We stamped them, signed them and sent them off to the Finalists with their prize money just the other day.

We think the flats are pretty fun to see. And really, are one-of-a-kind. Anyone in the country will be able to buy one of the Finalists' cards once they're printed, but only the Finalists themselves will have a copy of their pre-production flat.

If it were me who won, I'd frame it and smile each time I (or my pet) saw it. But then again, I'm a sucker for things like this.

Guess that's why I work here.

Judgy

Ranking the Funny

One "Bowling Alley". Three Judges. Lots and lots of funny card ideas.
The mission? Pick 50 ideas and rank them in order of funny.
It's a tough job, but hey...you're worth it.

Rats.

The contest is now closed.
You are late. We are sad.

Sit tight. Juding is starting.
Voting will be next.

And maybe a surprise or two.

(Hint hint - check out the Pets
page today.)

Have you shared your Funny yet? Hmmmmm???

Lately we're thinking a lot about "funny" and about how we know there are more of you out there who have a just-for-the-heck-uv-it hilarious card ideas out there.

(Did you funny people know that our deadline is THIS Sunday? Get cracking, procrastinators. The clock is ticking.) (Hear it?)

Go. Now. Inject some of your own brand of funniness into this world.

You know it'd be fun to share your funny. Think about it.

Judgy

Funny or No?

So, we judges have started digging in to your submissions and are *usually* laughing when we should. The humor nut is a tough one to crack, that's for sure (ask any of our veteran Shoebox writers or artists who have their own personal, very large collections of "no's"). (Actually, they did a whole chapter on that in their book last year and go on and on about it on their blog.)

And serious about humor though we may be, there was at least once when we couldn't help but lose it because of your funnyness. Hilarious. Thank you.

If you have been waiting until the last minute to submit your funny, just remember to restrict that funny to "just for fun" card ideas -- that means no birthdays and no holidays, just a joke ready to send in a card for a laugh.

You've just got until the end of this week, until SUNDAY night 11:59 CST to be exact, to submit YourFunny*ness to us.

Enjoy the funny. Be the funny. Live the funny.

(Good luck! We hope you win.)

Flats & Funny

How does a finalist card idea become a real card in the store? Anyone curious?

Before we even think of sending anything to print, everything we create must go through rounds of proofreading and be put into a fancy computer design program that makes sure it'll all look good once the ink hits the paper at our factory.

What you see over there on the right is a "flat"... all of the YourPets finalist designs should be through this process by the end of the day today, ready to be shipped off to print!

Speaking of printing, if YOU want an idea of yours to be printed (with your face and story on the back) (and sold in stores all around the country), join in the YourFunny*ness competition. (Funny Cards sent for no reason - just to make someone laugh.)

There are only nine days left! Have a funny photo? A funny drawing? A funny joke you can make into a card? (My mom was on one years ago and I can tell you that it was a big deal for her, for me and for everyone we know.)

Hurry up and GET FUNNY. (It's fun to be funny.) (And good for you, too.)

Are you smarter than a YourPets Blogger?

Try your brain at these trivia questions and see.

1. Photos of how many different species were entered in the contest?
a) 10 b) 12 c) 16 d) 20

Correct answer: a. While there were only ten different species, you all get diversity points for the bizarre breeds and hybrids!


2. Which one of these non-dog and non-cat species was NOT entered in the contest?
___Rabbit
___Turtle
___Horse
___Pig
___Hamster
___Boa Constrictor
___Chinchilla
___Guinea Pig
___Parrot

Correct answer: Boa constrictor. Though we hear they can be verrry snuggly. (All those other critters came to play!)


3. What is the age of our most senior human contender?
a) 74 years old b) 85 years old c) 93 years old d) 101 years old

Correct answer: c. Props to her! She rocks!


4. Why aren't there any monkey cards?

Correct answer: You tell us. We don't know.


5. Which of these farm animals is among the finalists?
a) Rooster b) Pig c) Lamb d) Llama

Correct answer: b. And oinks for playing!

Blogden Nash

Picking Pockets, Prepping Pets, Getting Funny...

Things are crazier and crazier around here, so Judgy called for back-up. Don’t worry—our chief correspondent will return when life settles down.

I’ve been helping out by editing the winners’ bios for the backs of the cards. It’s remarkable how many people have the best dog/cat/pig/bird/chinchilla/turtle/snake/guinea pig/hamster/tarantula in the whole wide world! Okay, kidding about the tarantula. We love everyone’s stories and we know the voting public will enjoy them, too.

Our small-but-mighty team is workin’ it, scrambling night and day to git ‘er done. wrapping up (RED), starting voting on PETS, kicking off SHOEBOX and dreaming up what contests should be next. (Good thing we love what we’re doing.)

Here’s Theresa, using state-of-the-art Dixie Cup technology to randomly assign stock numbers (and locations in the display) to our semifinalists’ photos. That’s how dedicated we are to making sure everything is fair and square.

In case you’re wondering about our team’s animal friends…

Winnie, my 90-pound lap dog (Lab/Newfie mix), enjoys watching the Westminster Kennel Club show. Specifically, she has a thing for the Saluki. We have to cordon off the TV so she doesn’t lunge and hurt herself.

But enough about me.

Get ready to get funny, people. Shoebox kicks off Monday!

"Blogden Nash"

YourPets Final Judging Day

Okay, so here are some pictures of the judging as it happened and where it happened.

The top one hundred were displayed for the judges and we each scored each card idea in a gallery sort of setting. (Sort of.)

Like I say, it was fun but tricky. There were so many stellar (and hilarious) ideas and pictures and writing.

But in the end, we are quite pleased with the group of finalists. (And we think you will be, too.)

And if you, dear reader, are not one of the selected 67, remember that there will be another chance to participate in this adventure: voting your favorite finalist into the Grand Prize Winner starts on 3/3.

Oh and on that very same day, we are launching our next competition (as if you didn't already know): Your Funny*ness.

Random Aside Follow-up: Hunthausen = Dog House. Bengelsdorf = Village of the Naughty Children.

Erin & Her Big Day (Our First Grand Prize Winner)

A little bit ago, the nice folks over at Erin McGuire's college (Ringling College of Art and Design in Florida) helped us make the big deal out of Erin winning the grand prize from our Your(Hallmark)RED contest that she deserved. We couldn't all fly out there (though we sure wished we could've), but some Hallmark alum were in attendance so that sure was nice.

Erin's friends and family were there too, along with the president of the school, her professors and all sorts of other people who support this very talented young illustrator. (Erin and the president of Ringling, Dr. Larry R. Thompson, are pictured above.)

It was a lovely day, by all reports. We hope you enjoyed yourself, Erin. :)

P.S. We are super grateful to Ringling and our Gold Crown friends in Florida for helping Erin celebrate her achievement. And of course, we also continue to be pleased as punch that Erin decided to enter this contest in the first place. Lucky us.

Finalists, Keep Your Ear to the Ground...

Decisions have been made. Finalists have been called. Confirmation letters and emails have been sent.

67 of them (plus some alternates just in case).

As we've mentioned, it wasn't an easy call to make. There certainly were many submissions that we're heartbroken didn't make it into the top group. (And there also are quite a few that just had such low resolution - from a camera phone maybe? - that they'd print really funny.) (Do check your design's image resolution (dpi) is high enough when you submit, pretty please!)

A few days ago, the Hallmark judging team (your hosts) invited Dr. Wayne Hunthausen, a local veterinarian and pet behavior specialist, and Brian Bengelsdorf, the Art Director of "Dog Fancy" magazine, to make the final call on which cards should make it to the finalist round.

They, too, were impressed with the quality of the entries, particularly how well many of you tied your photograph to your birthday sentiment. Also, with just how well your photos came out. (They know from lots of personal experience how squirmy even the most patient pet can be.) Nicely done, you guys.

To those of you who didn't make the cut this time, remember that this is not the end, but the beginning (we hope we hope we hope) of all these competitions. Stay tuned.

Random aside: At dinner with our pet experts, we found out both of their last names means something funny or pet-related when translated to English. Any guesses?

"Just For Fun"

Look out Judgy, I FINALLY figured out how to post on our blog and I just can't resist spilling a few more beans on this one! :)

By "Just For Fun" Judgy is referring to a card that can be sent for any 'ole reason. It's not a holiday card (sorry rose) or a birthday card like our last contest, but more of an out of the blue card that's just absolutely hilarious that you want to send it to someone just because it's so d@mn funny.

And one more hint... it doesn't have to be a photo this time (though it can be) so get those creative juices flowing!

Just For Fun... :)

That's hint #3 about the next competition.

So now you have: Funny + Shoebox + "Just for Fun."

Happy Brainstorming! (Oh and Happy Valentine's Day, too.)

Judgy

P.S. More judging/pets details to come very soon.
Waiting for some pics to make it more interesting.

So "Funny" isn't enough of a hint, then?

Okay fine, eager beavers. How about "Shoebox funny"?

Sink your teeth into that. ;)

Pssst... think you're funny?

While we are doggedly working on creating the best group of 67 finalists without caterwalling too many times or getting into too many skirmishes, we are also working on putting together the details for the NEXT competition (which will be officially announced on 3/3). (Presuming we master the art of multi-tasking.)

ANYWAY, there may be a few of you that are looking to work toward the next challenge while you're in wait-and-see mode for this one. (One of you is, anyway.) So... here's a little hint to help you prepare:

Our next card competition has to do with funny. Funny cards. Funny cards made by you, you funny people.

I'm sure you are all naturally hilarious and are able to translate that high hilarity into the world of greeting cards, but just in case you could use some practice or want to try out some varied approaches before go time, be our guest.

Details to follow.

Okay, back to the exercise wheel.

Judging = Tricky

We're getting closer to naming the finalists, but we're not there yet.
(This isn't easy, believe me.)

The next step: Two pet experts are coming in next week to join our Hallmark team in making the final finalist selections. They are all about pets. They'll be good to Squeakers and Sparky, don't worry.

Oh and since some of you are wondering which sort of pets wandered into our lives here, wanted to let you know that we've seen everything from pet pigs to your classic Chocolate Lab. (There was also a penguin. Do people really have pet penguins? I guess we'll find out if the penguin makes it to the final round.)

P.S. No bonus points for blogging, but it sure is more fun when you all join in on the convo. :)

Snow, Pets and Guffaws.

After reviewing (and laughing at) (I mean "with") many, many, many pet birthday card ideas, the preliminary round of judging is now done (!). You guys sent us over 7,000 ideas for our mere 67 spots. So, if you win, know that your Fido ran a tough race. (Really.)

And is it ever a tough race. (Especially for the couple of tortoises who entered.) (Guess who has a close 3-year-old friend?)

Hand-picked Hallmark art directors, editorial directors and photo stylists were all on hand (having battled a bit of a snow storm this morning) to look at your fun and funny animals. They laughed, they guffawed, they giggled, and they scratched their noodles at the wide and wonderful array of takes on the pet birthday card theme you all shared. And they all left the "bowling alley" smiling.

You are a funny bunch of pet-havers and pet-card-makers. Thanks for sharing.

"Judgy"

P.S. Yes, we totally made the pictures below too low-res for you to see the submissions ahead of time. I know, we're such stinkers.

P.P.S. We aren't going to be posting "favorites" ahead of the big reveal on 3/3 because we don't want to give any one finalist an unfair advantage over the others come voting time.

Warning to all Procrastinators...

... you have until 11:59:59 PM CST TONIGHT to submit your pet card idea. Thought you might like a reminder.

From one procrastinator to another, you're welcome.

Judging in the Bowling Alley

Judging and...Bowling

Yesterday we got to start the long-awaiting judging process. First, let me say that you crack us up. You and your pets. You are a silly group of animals.

Second, here's how the day went down: We all met in a room lovingly dubbed "the bowling alley," because it is long, concrete has no windows...and as such has some serious (as yet unrealized) bowling potential. (By the by, our tiny, secret room from the first competition was way too small to handle the gazillion goofy submissions you sent us.) (You made us move. Thanks a lot.)

Visions of bowling aside, however, we rounded up a fine panel of judges to do some judging and they spent a long day of seeing-what-you-sent. I think it is safe to say that they went home dog-tired (sorry), but very happy. They laughed, they discussed, they even purred a little. (They told me not to tell you that.)

There are many, many more submissions yet to review (again, thanks for your enthusiasm - wow). And there are still quite a few days left to submit your ideas (don't hold out on Squeaker, he's depending on you to make him a star).

P.S. Go, Squeaker, go!