Are you ready for your heart to skip a beat? Wait no longer. Joyeux Noel by Potts Design our No. 5!

There is so much beauty and attention to detail here, it’s hard to even know where to start. So let’s start with the obvious: the hand lettering. It is incredible. Only a true artist can sketch such lovely and animated letters. I love how both ‘joyeux’ and ‘noel’ have slanted cross hatching, but that it isn’t the same pattern. And I think the banner wrapping around the ‘o’ is incredible. It ties in so perfectly with the looped borders on the top and bottom, which play so well off of the cut-out blue background and the shape of the photo, which is by itself an innovative idea. I love the little dotted border around the entire design, but I especially love how Emily has added little cream circles around the brown dots when it is not overlapping over the cream text shape. Also, I love the hand drawn underline under ‘Noel’. Oh and then there’s the umlaut over the ‘e’. Great touch that even references the colored in dotes on the end of the border swirls. Finally, I love the colors–light blue and burgundy have never looked better together. Emily–you are incredible! We will all be toasting your brilliance all weekend long!

Are you ready for something truly magical? No. 6: Red Wreath by Gakemi Art + Design.

Ten words to describe this card: Delicate, lovely, crisp, seasonal, fresh, whimsical, sweet, modern, charming, perfection.

It’s been far too long since we’ve seen a multi-photo card and I don’t know if we’ve ever seen an image sequence card… certainly not one like No. 7: Holiday Set by Sara Westbrook.

This card is such a fun multi-photo image sequence card. The mini-type is adorable and I also really love the slate blue and white theme with the red accents. Sara has really made the absolute most of the long rectangle format. I am convinced that people are going to stage entire photo shoots around this card. And then it will be just so much fun to see what people decide to customize the captions to say. Do you have any fun ideas for image sequences or captions that you’d like to try with this lovely card?

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How about something really fun? No. 8: Be Merry by Chica Design.

First of all, I love seeing a holiday card that still says holiday, but incorporates some non-traditional, more lively colors– colors like turquoise, blueberry, and orange! Aren’t those little mistletoe dots adorable? The idea of doing a banner over the photo is great–I think this will work with a lot of photos–and the shape of the banner is just awesome. I also really like the white border on both the photo and on the banner. Angela, this is such a lively and energetic design! It just makes me happy.

You know, one thing we haven’t seen a lot of so far in the countdown is square designs… in fact, this is the very first one. And No. 9, Peaceful Wishes by Jennifer Postorino, really does makes excellent use of the unique shape.

This card absolutely embodies it’s message. I love all the white space–it’s so freeing! And the way the dove is overlapped on the text is just beautiful and such a smart idea to make it white as well. The small, lower-case names fits the whole concept, too–it’s almost like they’re minimizing themselves and instead emphasizing that the individual is part of the greater whole and greater good. Jennifer, this card is really a special one. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Are you ready for some candy colored deliciousness? B. Wise paper‘s Noel is just that and clocks in at No. 10.

The colors in ‘noel’ are fab. (And they are especially fab laid over a black and white photograph.) The little heart is just too cute, without being cutesy. The ‘merry wishes to you’ script is a nice contrast, but yet still goes with the modern ‘noel’ block lettering. Finally, I just love ’2010′ down there in the corner at an angle. Excellent work Alston! This is literally the perfect holiday greeting.

We interrupt the Holiday Countdown to bring you our esteemed judge’s awards! Given how awesome our judges are, we’re pretty sure you’ll understand! Each of these winners will receive $500 for each judge’s prize.

Elizabeth Mayhew is the Editor-in-Chief of Woman’s Day magazine and lover of all fine stationery–so much so that her stationery was featured in the New York Times.

Courtney Dolloff of Design Work Life,  Head vs. Heart, and Seamless Creative is an arbiter and creator of great design. She also just recently became a Mrs!! A huge congratulations from the entire Minted community on your recent nuptials!

Courtney had a hard time narrowing down her favorites, but she eventually came to the same conclusion as Elizabeth, yes, as luck would have it, two of our judge’s chose the exact same design so the winner will receive a grand total of $1,000:

Oscar+Emma‘s Nordic Snowflake.

We’re not surprised, this is such a beautiful design. The stripes have so much pop and the snowflake is so beautifully put together. I love the repeated dots and the floral motifs throughout. It’s just simply gorgeous. Stunning. Breathtaking. Refreshing. Yes, all of that and more!

Our third and final judge is Grace Bonney of the widely read and critically lauded blog Design*Sponge.

Grace chose Jolly Dots by Sweet Tree Studio.

We’re so taken by this great design that we’ve actually already sung it’s praises when it won No. 21.

So double congratulations to both Sarah and Karly–you are both doubly talented ladies!

Grace was also very taken by two other designs. She gave Emily Ranneby 1st Runner Up for Joyeux Noel + St Nicholas, No. 19. And, she gave her 2nd Runner Up to–no surprise here–Nordic Snowflake by Oscar + Emma.

Please join me in thanking our esteemed judges for sharing their excellent aesthetic with us!

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