ALSO SCROLL DOWN FOR 300 GIVEAWAY!

IMPORTANT NOTICE JUNE 30TH: PLEASE VOTE ON THIS POLL. Thank you all who voted on the poll. While the majority of you voted on YES, I can't just ignore the people who voted on NO, as there's a big chance they may be one of the winners. So I have made a decision that should be alright for all my contestants!:
3 runner-up places have been added to the prize list, each getting $10. BUT I will only use their design if they feel comfortable with me using their design when they got a smaller prize. If you win a runner-up place, but don't feel comfortable with me using the design, I will not use it and you will still get the prize. I hope everyone is happy with this decision! If not, please tell me and I will try to think of something that YOU are happy with! (if it's reasonable, of course)


UPDATES:
06/22: TWO WEEKS LEFT! GET YOUR ENTRIES IN!
06/25: The only reason I tell absolutely everyone "thank you, added your entry" without any "omg"s and stuff, is that I don't want anyone to feel superior or as if they already lost! It is only to keep things fair.
Also, I have added a "current entries" section you see below! ♥
06/29: ONE WEEK LEFT! BETTER HURRY =U=
06/30: OH MY GOD WHY ARE YOU PEOPLE SO TALENTED IT'S NOT EVEN THE END OF THE CONTEST YET AND I'M ALREADY HEARTBROKEN ABOUT HAVING TO CHOOSE ONE.
07/01: 3 runner-up places added with conditions, don't forget to check those out.
07/04: TWO DAYS LEFT!!
07/06: Remember, THIS ENDS TODAY! You still have around 12 hours to get your submission in. This ends at 11.55pm UK time, which is fairly late, so you will have to give me a day or two to decide the winners! Until then, get to it if you haven't yet :3

!!! CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED, THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR ENTRIES! Give me a few days to announce a winner - believe it or not, this takes a lot of time haha. especially with all of you being so talented !!!

CURRENT ENTRIES

Hello everyone! It's been a while since I've held a contest, so I think it's about time!

On June 30th, my Etsy shop will celebrate its third year of being open! It's hard to believe how far I've come in those 3 years, so many sales, so many favorites, and so much heartwarming fanmail! These three years have been full of amazing experiences for me, and I owe my thanks to all of you.

Since the second year, all my envelopes were sent to people with a special little address design on the back, which changed every year. First, we had the mailman bunny drawn by my friend (who sadly deleted her dA ages ago):



Then in 2013 and currently, I have this one, drawn by reblog:


And now, since the shop is moving onto it's fourth year, it is once again time for change! So my contest will be about designing me a new address stamp!

First of all, IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE A BUNNY, IT'S JUST A COINCIDENCE THAT THEY WERE BOTH BUNNIES.
Now that that's out of the way, onto the technical stuff, rules, and of course, PRIZES!

First things first - what do I have to do??

You have to design me a mascot little creature thingy for my address stickers like you see above! The design must consist of two pieces:

ONE - the address box. It can be a thought bubble, a box, a cloud, anything you can think of! Be creative!
TWO - the mascot design itself. For the mascot:
* It has to be a creature/animal! No humans or anthro thingies!
* It DOES NOT have to do anything with my shop name (Frozen Crafts) or logo or even mail. But you might get bonus points if it does! Just don't force it.
* Refer to THE LIST BELOW OF THINGS I LIKE for ideas on what I want to see!
* It can be in color or black&white, although color is preferred.
* MAKE IT CARTOONY! No over-complicated designs or anything, take the two above as examples. Simple and cute.

List of hella awesome things I'd like to see:

Animals I'd like to see in no particular order:
cats
 bunnies nah scratch that I'm sick of bunnies
 dragons
 dinosaurs
 lizards in general
 sheep
 bears
 flamingos
 hamsters
 anything else that's cute I guess?
 OR think of your own creature! Go wild!
 MAKE SURE THEY CUTE THOUGH OKAY

Colors I'd like to see in the design:
 light blue
 any pastels really
 ...I don't mind any colors to be honest? Just don't make it too neon or completely pink.
 And not too dark, I run a happy business =u=
 Just make it tasteful.

Technical stuff your submission needs to have

These are the technical things you must follow when making the design. Please understand that I can't accept submissions that will be unusable later in printing and whatnot.

Print size must be no more than 6cm (width) x 3cm (height) - you must fit everything in those dimensions. And make sure it's print size, not some canvas size or whatever in photoshop or sai or whatever you are working with! (yes, slightly different from the examples above, as I'm working with professional printing companies from now on)
If you are working in color, work in CMYK and in 300dpi (NOT 72, which is default!), NOT RGB. CMYK is for printing, while RGB is for screens, they should not be used interchangeably! If you work in RGB and then I try to print it, the colors will all be weird-looking and most likely bad. Please google about CMYK for the differences or for further explanation on how to open a CMYK file if you have no experience in this, it's nothing much.
The design must consist of:
a) a mascot sort-of character thing (example above - bunnies);
b) an address bubble, box, cloud, whatever you can think of.
Make sure to leave space for SIX LINES OF READABLE TEXT. Please, in your submission, use THIS FORM as a placeholder for text in your design:

Ugne Nikitinaite
"Frozen Crafts"
XX Xxxx Road
XXX XXX
Birmingham
UNITED KINGDOM

I WILL NOT accept a design that has un-readable text (too small, too blurry, etc) or one that does not use this template, because I kinda need to know if my address will fit in your design. It's a long address, I know. Kinda ridiculous yeah. Can't do much about it.
Please use A SIMPLE ARIAL OR HELVETICA OR VERDANA FONT, I WILL BE CHANGING IT TO MY OWN FONT ANYWAY.

You are not filling the whole rectangle? Make the background transparent if so.
Save in .png and do not forget to save the photoshop or sai or whatever file you worked on as well, with all the layers! If I do not have the program you use myself, I will have to ask you to add in my address if you win!
Keep the design simple and visible. If you shrink it down when you are done and it's all chunky/blurry and I can't make out what it is, I can't accept it.
If you upload one with a watermark, please make sure you have one without it as well! Or at least make sure your username is very subtle on the design, if it makes you uncomfortable to have me using the design without it.

Don't worry if your entry looks bigger on screen - that's what happens when you work in 300dpi! Print size will be the size you set it to!

This is pretty much what the settings should look like. I did these in Photoshop CS6, if you work with something else, that's fine! Most drawing/editing programs have these settings in a very similar way:

I am terribly sorry for all this, but I can't do anything about it! Please, please follow these technical guidelines!

General rules

Please make sure you read and follow these simple rules too!

No art theft/tracing. Obviously.
No use of bases, the work must be 100% made by you.
HAVE PAYPAL, so I can give you the $70. (doesn't apply to UK people, I can just do a bank transfer for you then)
Be okay with giving me your address, so I can ship you the prizes.
Be okay with me using your design on my envelopes afterwards, as this is what the contest is for. (If I upload it or use it anywhere else, I will of course, properly credit you for your work. But please understand that I can't tell every single one of my buyers who made the design in person.)
Comment on this journal with your entry, and I will add it to my contest entry favorites folder.
Link back to this journal on your entry's description.
There's no submission limit - make as many as you want. However, it will always be quality over quantity.
No matter how many submissions you have, though, you can only win once and get one prize. I will only be picking ONE winner and 3 runner-ups.
Don't try to bribe me. Yeah, that actually happened once.
FOLLOW THE TECHNICAL GUIDELINES ABOVE.
Follow dA's rules as well.

Ahhh long list again SORRY. But please follow the rules and guidelines and I will love you forever.

Prizes

You scrolled here first, admit it =u= I don't blame you! Here's the prize list!

One winner will receive:

$70 transferred to your Paypal (or bank account if you're in the UK and prefer that);
A custom item from me (FrozenNote) that's not too complicated
Around 10 random things I have in stock. Completely random, they can be keychains, necklaces, anything I make!
15% off coupon in my shop
A pixel icon from reblog
25% off at BlackBlossomJewelry's Etsy shop
Copic marker request from YinUkume

Three runner-ups will receive:

$10 each, transfered to their Paypal (or bank account if you're in the UK and prefer that)
A detailed sketch request from YinUkume (each)
Runner-ups are not required to let me use their design. Only let me do that if you are comfortable with it!

If you'd like to donate a prize, please send me a note! Donors can participate too!
Keep checking back for new prizes!
I will ship worldwide.

Note: the $$$ CAN be converted to upon request, say if you don't have Paypal or something!

The entries will be judged by quality and creativity!

What's all this about a giveaway!?

It's simple! Anyone can enter a giveaway to win 300 , whether you are entering the contest or not!

To enter the giveaway, you need to:
* Make a journal about this contest. Don't forget to link to this journal, it's a requirement!
* Post a link to your journal here.

You will then get a number in a comment from me, and when the contest ends, I will use the random number generator to pick a winner.

CONTEST AND GIVEAWAY DEADLINE: JULY 6TH, EXACTLY A MONTH FROM NOW, 11.55PM GMT +0 (UK TIME)