Organizing challenge sites

[Barbara Jay]

I am not sure if this is the correct place for this question.

One of my goals for 2014 is to enter a few challenges. I have only entered challenges for one company .

There must be hundreds of blogs that have challenges.

If you enter quite a few challenge sites how to do keep track of all of them?
I have seen entries that are also entered into a lot of other challenges so there must be a way to quickly find the blogs you want to enter


If I had to check the rules each week for hundreds of blogs I would not have time to make any cards to enter the challenges :lol:


Any ideas are welcome !!

[bensarmom]

Splitcoaststamers,(right here) has at least one daily challenge. Each day there is a different challenge so you are working on improving your stamping skills in many areas.
Check out the home page and scroll down. Splitcoaststampers: Stamping, Stamps, Card Making Ideas, Paper Crafts & Template Gallery
Good luck and happy stamping.

[Barbara Jay]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bensarmom

Splitcoaststamers,(right here) has at least one daily challenge. Each day there is a different challenge so you are working on improving your stamping skills in many areas.
Check out the home page and scroll down. Splitcoaststampers: Stamping, Stamps, Card Making Ideas, Paper Crafts & Template Gallery
Good luck and happy stamping.

Thank you!
I am aware there are a lot of challenges including on Splitcoast. My problem is after you save the links to sites that offer challenges how do you organize them so you can find one that is similar to a current challenge you are entering. I have seen blogs were a person enters one card in several challenges .

[weims]

I thought this was a challenge to get organized!

[Barbara Jay]

Quote:

Originally Posted by weims

I thought this was a challenge to get organized!

It is! A challenge to organize links to challenges :lol:

[fionna51]

I have a blog so I have a listing of the challenges I would like to enter (in addition to those here on SCS, of course!).

My problem is checking it!


Without a blog, maybe the best way would be to create a word document with a listing for a couple of challenges that you particularly like for each day of the week. Make each challenge a hyperlink to the main page of the blog or site. That way you can link to those sites directly from your document.


I think the people who use a card to enter more than one challenge have their favorite challenges for a company or companies they particularly use (or they're on the design teams for) and they watch favorite color challenges, or sketch challenges. I don't think they go browsing for hours to find multiple challenges that they could combine. That's not practical. Maybe they'll chime in here and say how they do it!

[RiverIsis]

I use Feedly for my reader and I use it to keep challenge blogs together... but I think you want to quickly see relevant challenges to group together.

I have seen some blog posts with multiple challenge entries, I can only think there must be a site or blog that lists them.

However that said I have entered challenges where it is obvious crafters are doing multiple challenges and often their entry doesn't qualify because it doesn't use the right product/company.

[Barbara Jay]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RiverIsis

I have seen some blog posts with multiple challenge entries, I can only think there must be a site or blog that lists them.

However that said I have entered challenges where it is obvious crafters are doing multiple challenges and often their entry doesn't qualify because it doesn't use the right product/company.

I have seen these too and wonder how they find the time to locate all of these challenges to enter one card into so many. I have also seen many that don't follow the challenge guidelines

I think Diane may have a good idea of just keeping track of the sites that feature products that I often buy .

[alicaz]

check out Paper Playful
it's a registry of hundreds of papercrafting challenged sorted by days - it's updated daily - I use it all the time

[Barbara Jay]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alicaz

check out Paper Playful
it's a registry of hundreds of papercrafting challenged sorted by days - it's updated daily - I use it all the time

Yikes this site is amazing! They have done all of the work of keeping the current list of challenges .
Thank you!!

Now all I need to do next year is push myself to enter some challenges. It is one of my resolutions for 2014

[RiverIsis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barbara Jay

Yikes this site is amazing! They have done all of the work of keeping the current list of challenges .
Thank you!!

Now all I need to do next year is push myself to enter some challenges. It is one of my resolutions for 2014

They really have done an excellent job and the codes are useful.

[quiltmum]

If you have Microsoft Excel ... that's how I keep all my swaps together and know what is going where, when it is due, any rules to follow etc ... Google has their own database you can use if you don't have the Excel .... I can also colour code ... so I know at a glance what is going on

[Kathleen Mc]

when I enter challenges I create links at the end of my post with a link to the challenge blog and to the actual post of the challenge. when I have published the post, I then copy the list and paste it into a word doc. this means that the links are clickable (ctrl + click in windows). I also make a note next to the links of when the challenge ends so I know when to start checking to see who has won/got top 3 etc.

also, if you use the PaperPlayful Blog you can see the huge array of current challenges and decide which ones to enter or which challenges fit the card you have already made. be warned tho, there are hundreds and it takes ages to go thru them all.

hth

[jenmitchell]

I bookmark my favorite challenge sites. I have a challenge folder for each day of the week and bookmark each challenge to the folder that corresponds to the day of that challenge. So on Monday I check out all the challenges in my Monday folder, etc. Works for me.

[Barbara Jay]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jenmitchell

I bookmark my favorite challenge sites. I have a challenge folder for each day of the week and bookmark each challenge to the folder that corresponds to the day of that challenge. So on Monday I check out all the challenges in my Monday folder, etc. Works for me.

I like this idea too!! Thanks.
Do most sites start their challenge on the same day of the week?

Since I am just starting I can set up the folders and then keep them updated as I find challenges I like.

[jenmitchell]

Most of the ones I follow always start on the same day of the week. Some post new challenges weekly, some every two weeks. There's one I like that posts a new challenge every month on the 1st and 15th. And another one is the third Sunday of each month.

[Barbara Jay]

Thanks again.

I want to just try a couple of challenges but I don't want it to become a full time job keeping track of the sites with challenges .
These ideas seem to simplify the organization process so I can spend my time making cards for the challenges

[Rebecca Ednie]

I subscribe to all the blogs whose challenges I like to enter. When they post new challenges, I save the photos of the challenges. If they don't have a saveable photo or icon with the challenge, I save a screen shot. I use my photo gallery in my iPhone but you could set up a folder on your computer too. If using your computer, if organize it by month so after that month is over you can erase the folder.

If the blog doesn't offer subscriptions, you can enter the URL here https://www.feedblitz.com/f/f.fbz#!Track and it will subscribe you anyway.

I also keep a list on my iPhone of the challenges I like most in case I want to combine them. I keep them as home screen short cuts. But on a home computer, you'd keep them as bookmarks. Then if I'm working on a sketch challenge for instance, I'll look up my favourite inspiration or colour challenge to try and combine them.