The Holidays should be fun. Not loaded down with to-do lists, multiple trips to Ross, and frantic traffic jams. Unfortunately, this is usually the reality. Luckily for us Alana, designer extraordinaire and gatherer of people, freshened up our holiday spirit with a create-your-own Christmas Ornament contest here at the office.

We all had about three weeks to ideate, plan, and build our very own handmade creation. The literal instructions communicated from Alana via email were:

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listen up.

i have decided to make a contest in preparation for christmas.

each person has to make ONE christmas ornament related in any way to design / matchstic / team members by December 19th (monday 8am meeting).
we will put these up on our christmas tree.
winner gets an artisanal, hand-made "Christmas Champion 2011″ award and bragging rights!

this is serious. i will remind you guys each week.

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The final entries were judged by our neighbors Octane and based on three categories:

1. Craftsmanship
(was the ornament created with craft in mind, are die-lines, fingerprints, and/or glue visible)

2. Creativity
(is the subject matter cleverly represented, is the ornament unique from its counterparts)

3. Experience / interactivity
(does it have special effects, does the matchstic team understand what the ornament conveys, is it humorous to all)

Below are all of our entries. Tell us your favorite!

"The Fire Ball" by Me – 250+ All-Purpose weather proof wooden matches (later ignited, as seen below, for dramatic presentation).

"Sneaky Creek" by Alana Dy – A replica of a miss-kerned cabin sign at our previous retreat. See the original sign here.

"Flame Soap" by Becky O'Mara – Inspired by Becky's home-made soap (featured on etsy) and held close by in case someone needs a good ole' fashioned mouth cleansing

"Da Bomb" by Jason Orme – Octane & Matchstic are an explosive combination… quite literally.

"S.S. Alina" by Staci Janik – A handmade creation dedicated to our advisory board member & team mentor Alina Wheeler, who's father was a polish sea captain. Complete with quote from our last session with Alina.

"Flaming Pile of Coffee" by Alvin Diec – A handmade paper cup, octane cut paper logo, and floating matchstic flame.

"God Jul" (pronounced "goo yule" which means "Merry Christmas" in Norwegian) by Craig Johnson – A common Norwegian ornament made in honor of Craig's wife & kids.

"Arctic R2D2″ by John Bowles – What do you do with all those recalled white Coke cans? Make an amazing star wars action figure, of course.

Dustin Britt was awarded the "Hat of Shame" for not entering.

And the judging:

The judges scorecard…

And the winner of the 2011 Matchstic Christmas Grand Champion (Adult division) is… (drum roll)…

Staci Janik with her "S.S. Alina" creation. The judges were quoted as saying "The craft & detail was simply hard to beat. It's a tiny boat with tiny sails for goodness sake." The other competitors were quoted as saying "This contest was over before it started. I knew Staci was entering it."

Kudos Staci. You are the official champ.

But you can still place your vote for the People's Champ below!

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