Design Challenge Themes for September and October!

To refresh our collective minds (or to clear the cobwebs from mine!) here's a quick recap explanation of the monthly design challenges:

Every month a new design challenge is set with a specific theme for the month. All items created are kept TOP SECRET by their makers until they are posted to the flickr challenge group by or on the closing day, which is normally the end of each month. The challenges are open to all UK sellers.

Themes are suggested by all involved and get put into a hat and drawn at random by the wonderful Kezzaroo. Themes for September and October have just been announced: "Birds" (Sept) and "King Arthur" (Oct).






















Image Copyright Menno Stassen

When the deadline for entries has closed a voting thread is started in the Etsy Forums by a Street Team member (currently the lovely Debsmuddle) and the voting commences. The winner and runners up are announced in the flickr challenge group :)

Trees Challenge Results (December)

December's design challenge theme was (rather appropriately) "trees" - as usual this challenge resulted in a wide variety of interpretations of the theme, in lots of different creative mediums.

In third place came Konyskiw's "Bluebell Woods" painting:


In second place was Gracefell's tree stump pincushion:


And the winner was TheDevilsWallpaper with "Crow Folk"

The other great entries were...

Memake's Christmas tree tags:


KittyPinkStars Candy Tree:


The NuttyKnitter's knitted tree:


Siansburys' Haycorn the sock monkey:


LiveCreations' painting:


... and last but not least, Quintessentially's Secret Garden:

Fairytales Challenge Results (June)

The UK Etsy challenge theme for the month of June was Fairytales, and it proved to be a very inspiring theme, with the standard of work entered reaching new heights of "wow"-inducement

In third place came Askey for her spooky illustration "Lost" (photo coming soon!)

Second place went to Bunny for her incredible "Alice in Wonderland" art shoes

... but the winner of the challenge was Seaurchin for her awesome ceramic Frog Prince

The other excellent entrants were:

"The Dish Ran Away with the Spoon" embroidered bag by Stitchworks

"Cinderella" photograph by Tiinateaspoon (photo coming soon!)

"Princess Painting" by MadameBogg

"Fairytale" illustration by Askey (image coming soon!)

"The birth of Thumbelina" drawing and "Little Mermaid" necklace by SakuraFubukiDesigns
(photos coming soon!)

"Red Riding Hood" painting by NovemberMoon

"Fairytale" notecards by Alicub (photo coming soon!)

Transforming "Pumpkin Carriage" by CharlotteNarunsky
"Princess" illustration by Bunny

A very bling "Gingerbread Man" by Memake

Siamese twin art dolls by TheDevilsWallpaper (photo coming soon!)

"The Elf's New Shoes" and "Anansi and the Ant" tie by KoolKookyKreatures

"The Snow Queen" by LAMdesigns

"Little Red Riding Hood" earrings and necklace by Honeybeedz

"Little Red Munkie Hood" modelling a shawl by AmandaWilliamsDesign who didn't want to get left out of this month's challenge!

"Fairytales" collage by Rosehip71

"Snow Queen Coronet" by BlueMarmalade

"Once Upon a Time" textile artwork by Lupin

"A Long Tale" and "High Tea" photos by SugarSnaps
"Thumbelina" by PinkAngel (photo coming soon!)

"The Little Mermaid" art quilt by Swirlyarts

And last but not least...

"Gingerbread Men" playset by Lovealittle

UK Etsy Challenge: notice of themes

So we're all currently working on items for this month's theme of "fairy tales" (deadline the end of June) but what about next month? and the month after that?? Well, to give the old creative juices plenty of time to flow, we are happy to report that the theme for JULY is MEDICINE and the theme for AUGUST is CLOUDS. Happy making!

Flowers Challenge Results

The deadline for our latest design challenge was May 31st, and this time we had a whole month to work on our entries... and the response was huge! Loads of artists and crafters entered flower-themed items to the challenge group over on Flickr, most created specially for the challenge. With so many entries, it was hard to decide to vote for, but after much umming and ahhing, the winners were declared:

In first place was Greygoat with her San Francisco art knickers "If you're going to San Francisco or indeed anywhere even slightly groovy, be sure to wear some flowers on your pants"
Second place went to TheDevil'sWallpaper for two paintings. 'Daisies' - "Because the floral theme was all looking so bright and happy"...
...and 'The Fake Lily' - "Some of us are not lotuses. Some of us drown in an environment where others thrive" And third place went to Reform for this page from her sketchbook:
The other awesome entries were:

Alicub's modern florals cards
AmandaWilliamsDesign's flower photo
Askey's "Rose" illustration
Arty Allsorts' "Geum" and "Primrose" photos - images to be added soon!

Bianca Snow's caramel dot hair flower

Bunny's "Freesia" illustration

Feltbug's felt vessel with flowers
Gilfling's "The fuscia lantern" and "Traces of flowers"
Gillyflower's "Woodland Flora" necklace
Honeybeedz's crystal flower necklace

Koniskiw's "the little bee" ACEO
KoolKookyKreatures' flower brooch and "down the garden path" painting

LittleMissRiver's flower painting

Lovealittle's slashed silk flower bag and flower needlecase

Lupin's urban rose garden photo

Marmalady's crochet bookmark, smiley flowers cards, spring flowers cards and crochet brooch

Memake's blue flower bag

Nonsuch's 'high tea' card

Pinkangel's fabric flower pendant
SakuraFubukiDesigns ceramic and pearl sakura necklace and melted glass sakura tapas dish - images coming soon!

Seaurchin's "forget-me-not" pendant and "mermaid flower" pendant
Stitchworks' handmade felt bag and flower pin

Swirlyarts' flower brooch
... and Yumptatious' "flowers of joy" felt brooches

Many of these items are now for sale in the entrants' Etsy shops... or you can see all these photos and more over on Flickr.
This month's challenge theme is "fairy tales" and the deadline is the end of the month - midnight on 30th June. The themes for the next few months are due to be selected soon, to give everyone plenty of time to fit the challenges in to their busy lives! New themes will be announced in the challenge group and reported here shortly afterwards.