For those of you who don’t know, I ran a contest a few months back as a way to say thank you to the online card collecting community. Over 200 posts were made in my contest spanning over three forums I post in. The participation was great!  I truly enjoyed it.

I wanted the winner of the contest to really be happy.  Instead of choosing one winner, I chose nine.

I have posted some on here already, but since I finally wrapped up the last one, I’ll show everything here in one post, with the last (and best) for the end!

The idea was for everyone who wanted a custom card to post what they wanted, to nominate someone else to win, and also to post something little known about themselves.  Let me tell y’all, we had some great and hilarious responses!

Without further adieu, here they are!

#1 @stone193 (Mickey Mantle)
He was an easy person to select. Why? Because he was nominated over and over again on one of the forums I frequent.

I reached out to Mike first, to see if he even wanted a custom card, and he said absolutely. He shared an idea with me: A 1963 Fleer Mickey Mantle. The ’63 Fleer set is iconic, and has a cult following in spite of several BIG name hall of famers not making it into the set. The 1963 Fleer set consists of 66 cards, and … you guessed it. Mantle was not one of them!

#2 George_Calfas (The A-Team)

He too was nominated by several members, in addition to entering. It is great to know someone who has such an amazing collection is interested in a custom piece.

And this one is cool.

What is the coolest combo for a custom card that has to do with tv? You guessed it:

1978 Topps & THE A TEAM!

#3 Glen87 (Dual Fur/Claw Relic Cat Card)

This next card is something that I was on the fence about, and my wife said it must be included. So, here it is. The Big Cat! And I’m not talking about Andres Galarraga, either! I’m talking about 15 pounds of feline fury. I introduce to you: ECHO.

Echo is Glen87’s pet beloved by his entire family – especially his daughter. An interesting point on this is that both Echo and Glen’s daughter were characters in a fairly well known novel “Three Can Keep a Secret”.

The fur and claw:

So, here is the finished product! Dual Relic Famous Feline Collection with Foil!

#4 TKRAFT24 (Digital Only Winner)

He had initially requested an eyebrow / moustache swap of this fellow:

This is for you, Tkraft24 – enjoy!

Here they are side-by-side:

It really is amazing how hard it is to tell which one should be the real version! I posted this online and many … MANY people weren’t sure which one was the real one 🙂

#5 RandyB (framed mini of his step-father)

I’m a big RandyB fan – he was kind enough to reach out to me and give me a lead on a card that is now one of my favorites in my collection.  He could have picked any card he wanted … instead, he chose one for his step-father.  How cool is that?

#6 Phillies_Joe (Dual Baseball Autographed Relic Booklet)

Joe actually had me do a few family cards for the contest, but he also ended up having me do this one, using an autographed baseball he received of Aaron Nola:

#7  Dboneesq (T-206 Mantles)

Okay, this wasn’t a real “winning” entry, but this did happen during the contest 🙂  Dboneesq is putting together the T206 New York set. Yes, a Bronx Bombers collector before they were the Yankees. They were actually the Highlanders. The twist? He is a Mantle fan. The problem? The Mick was born about 20 years too late.

This project was challenging because I had to get Mantle’s head on an existing Highlanders body … in addition to putting a fitting hat. Here they are: The red and blue back variations!

#8 A_Pharis (Hoyt Wilhelm Patch)

He both entered and was nominated.

He sent me over this:

So I did this:

and made the back look like this:

Then the front like this: (ooooOOoooohhh purty blue foil!!!!)

#9 Houdini (Leoneez Dual Sock Relic)

The final winner is none other than Blowout’s own Houdini! He did not enter himself because he is an Admin, however he was nominated by someone else.

I have laughed (a lot) with the back and forth on many of the cards in this contest, and it was truly a joy to be able to create each and every card in the contest for everyone, but this ended up being the most significant piece.

This card is of Leoneez. For those of you who aren’t familiar with her, please take the time to read these threads:

#teamleoneez
#teamleoneez

I’ve cried more than once after reading these, as I’m sure many of you have as well.

Houdini sent a thumbdrive with some pics, and 2 of the many mis-matched socks she liked to wear.  Here are portions of them I cut up and mounted on card stock.

Here is what I came up with:

He wanted a some extras as well, which I was happy to do.  Here is a pic before I added the sock pieces to show the cascading foil:

And the finished project:

Thank you, Houdini for putting your trust in me to do this. For everyone else, please participate in the contests Houdini puts up – they are for a good cause. Be thankful for your loved ones, and pour yourself into those who are hurting.

Thanks again to everyone for following along – it has been fun!