Local Resident Wins Hallmark Card Contest

After entering 19 contests and three years of trying, a local resident has won one of Hallmark's card design competitions for fans.

Shani Fassbender, of said she was thrilled to find out that her card submission was recently one of 40 winners chosen from about 4,500 entries.

"I finally won!" she said in an email, adding that Stephanie Jamiolkowski of Allentown also won with an entry in the same contest.

Fassbender's winning card design for the theme "Fuzzy, Frisky and Funny" features a photo of her cat, Mellow, sticking out his tongue.

On the cover it says "I have eight more lives," and on the inside it says, "You do not! Happy Birthday."

"When she learned of the contest theme, [Fassbender] knew she had a funny card on her hands," according to information about the winning entry posted on the Hallmark Contests website.

Fassbender said she first learned about the regular contests on hallmarkcontests.com, and then became a fan of the website's Facebook page.

"My winning card has been for sale online and [on June 19] it was chosen to be sold in stores beginning in July," she reported. "You may be able to find my card in Walmart, and of course the Hallmark Store."

Fassbender said she is also looking forward to visiting the home of Hallmark--Kansas City--in July, for the greeting card giant's "Hallmark Fandemonium" gathering.

"I helped to come up with their catchphrase for the convention: 'Off-line and In-person,'" she said.

The catchphrase will ring true for Fassbender and the supportive online friends she's made since she first became an active submitter of card designs, she said.

She called this group of friends the "Hallmark Fan Brigade," or HFB, and said the July convention will be their first opportunity to meet one another in person.

"Along with our creativity, we share our joys and sorrows," Fassbender said. "We are each other’s critics, confidantes and unconditional friends."

"I am so excited to finally meet all these wonderful people and enjoy our behind-the-scenes Hallmark tour," she added.

Fassbender, in addition to writing a novel and being a married mom of two, teaches pre-school at New Jerusalem Pre-School in Lower Saucon Township and .