2012 EFA CHALLENGE THEMES-at-a-GLANCE

EFA's Challenge Leader, Heather of the TheBlueWindmill, & I are happy to announce our Challenge Themes calendar for 2012. Thanks to our membership for their suggestions and after much exciting deliberation, we've come up with a list that will inspire any of our members to enter our Challenge month after month during the year. We look forward to seeing your entries throughout the calendar !

2012 EFA CHALLENGE

THEMES-at-a-GLANCE

January 2012

Winter Whites and Icy Blues...

... show us a wintery white or icy blue product

Tag your listing: teamefawinter

February 2012

I Love Animals...

... enter a product that depicts your love for animals or something with a heart

Tag your listing with: teamefalove

March 2012

House Pets...

... show us a house pet or something made for a pet

Tag your listing with: teamefapet

April 2012

The Green Earth...

... pay homage to our planet by depicting a landscape, something green or eco-friendly

Tag your listing with: teamefagreen

May 2012

All Things Garden...

... enter something that relates to gardens, plants, herbs, or insects

Tag your listing with: teamefagarden

June 2012

Summertime...

... enter anything that relates to summer, the ocean, the water element or creatures that live in it

Tag your listing with: teamefasummer

July 2012

Beautiful Sky...

... pay homage to all things sky, birds or the air element.

Tag your listing with: teamefasky

August 2012

Anything Goes...

... show us one of your favorite products

Tag your listing with: teamefaanything

September 2012

Autumn Colors...

... enter a product that celebrates autumnal colors or something relating to the element of fire

Tag your listing with: teamefafire

October 2012

Spooky Artsy Black or Orange...

... enter a product poetically or musically inspired; or a Halloween item in black and/or orange

Tag your listing with: teamefaspooky

November 2012

Creatures of the Earth...

... show us a creature that lives on the land; something earth tone or made with an earth element

Tag your listing with: teamefaearth

December 2012

Festive Holidays...

... enter a festive gift item in red, green, gold or silver

Tag your listing with: teamefafestive

Click HERE for directions on

HOW TO ENTER the MONTHLY CHALLENGE !

December Monthly Challenge Theme: Treats and Toys

December Monthly Challenge Theme:

Treats and Toys

... what the animals want for the holidays !

Pet Treats Pouch

by TheDogHouse

It’s holiday gift-giving season and there’s no better time to honor our fabulous, faithful fur friends (& hopefully make some sales in the process) so promote your wares and share your crafty talents with your teammates by entering this month’s challenge… Treats and Toys: what the animals want for the holidays!

Here are some fun examples...

Fish Bones: Organic catnip Toy

by Rendachs

Sweet Potato Wooffles

by ShortysGourmetTreats

A cookbook for canines

by ScrappyRat

So what are you waiting for… enter today!

To participate in this wonderful challenge, simply tag your entries “teamefatreats” without the quotation marks and convo jessicalynneart.

Remember, when we've received sixteen qualifying entries they will be entered in our Challenge Competition where the winner will get a free one month advertising slot on either the EFA website or the Challenge blog, winner’s choice, for the following month!

Here are the specifics on how to enter a monthly challenge:

If you are an EFA member & would like to submit an entry, please convo our Challenge Volunteer, Jess of jessicalynneart,with the following information:

1. PROViDE the link to an item in your shop that fits the theme or has been created for the theme.

2. EXPLAiN how you think the item fits the monthly Challenge theme

3. TELL US a bit about your work/donations/volunteer work with animals or animal charities

4. TiTLE your convo with the name of the MONTH and the word CHALLENGE, for example: DECEMBER CHALLENGE.

One more important step:

5. TAG your Etsy listing with the monthly Challenge theme tag (this month = teamefatreats) (see the Themes-at-a-glance list here for other tags). Be sure to ALSO keep your regular team tag in place, either 'team efa' or 'team efa cotm'

When we've received sixteen qualifying entries they will be entered in our Challenge Competition where the winner will get a free one month advertising slot on either EFA's Challenge Blog for the following month.

Challenge entries are promoted on Etsy Teams, EFA's Yahoo Groups, Twitter and Facebook... so get your entries in right away !

Looking forward to seeing your animal treats

Heather of TheBlueWindmill

Monthly Challenge Leader

September Monthly Challenge Theme: On the Farm

September's Monthly Challenge

Theme is... On the Farm

Happy Pigs

Original Watercolor by TheBlueWindmill

September's theme is “On The Farm”... feature farmland or animals that can be found on the farm such as pigs, cows, goats, horses, ponies, chickens, chicks, roosters, geese, ducks, cats, dogs, rats, mice, etc.

Be inspired by colors, sounds, or textures such as bright red barns, vivid green crops, quacking ducks, mooing cows, oinking pigs freshly plowed fields, or gently rolling hills that might be found on the farm.

One can think of what might be found in a farm house such as plates, bowls, rugs, wall décor, etc inspired by farm lifestyle.

An entry may include animals, barns, farm houses, farmland, or the countryside on which farms are built. One can think of the different types of crops that farms produce such as corn, apples, squash, pumpkins, etc. Think of containers that are used for farm produce, such as buckets, barrels, baskets, sacks. One could enter something related to Halloween or Thanksgiving such as crows in a cornfield or a scarecrow or pumpkin or sweet potato treats. It just needs to be farm-related in some way. And if that’s not enough inspiration, here is a lovely poem to further inspire you.

My Farm Animals

© Linda Harris

On a sunny day, I sat on my porch swing

And watched a cool fresh summer rain

Everything then seem to come so alive

Birds flew to birdbaths to take a dive

My horse started galloping with glee

Putting on a show to entertain me

The donkey, he was hee-hawing so loud

Trying to get the attention of a crowd

The cows and goats stepped up to see

What all the commotion seemed to be

Chickens were making clucking sounds

Even little bunnies were looking around

Simon, the cat, awoke, puzzled over this

Fell back to sleep for his daily rest

My farm animals so joyful and free

Well, no one to see, but only me!

Simply tag your entries “teamefafarm” without the quotation marks and send in your entry by September 7th.

Remember, when we've received sixteen qualifying entries they will be entered in our Challenge Competition where the winner will get a free one month advertising slot on either the EFA website or the Challenge blog, winner’s choice, for the following month!

Here are the specifics on how to enter a monthly challenge:

If you are an EFA member & would like to submit an entry, please convo our Challenge Volunteer, Jess of jessicalynneart, with the following information:

1. PROViDE the link to an item in your shop that fits the theme or has been created for the theme.

2. EXPLAiN how you think the item fits the monthly Challenge theme

3. TELL US a bit about your work/donations/volunteer work with animals or animal charities

4. TiTLE your convo with the name of the MONTH and the word CHALLENGE, for example: SEPTEMBER CHALLENGE.

One more important step:

5. TAG your Etsy listing with the monthly Challenge theme tag (this month = teamefafarm) (see the Themes-at-a-glance list here for other tags). Be sure to ALSO keep your regular team tag in place, either 'team efa' or 'team efa cotm'.

THANKS !

Heather of TheBlueWindmill

July Monthly Challenge Theme: In the Deep Blue

July’s Monthly Challenge Theme
In the Deep Blue

This upcoming month’s theme is “In the Deep Blue, so choose an entry from your primary EFA shop with an ocean or sea influenced theme and enter, enter, enter !

There are many wondrous creatures in the ocean to inspire us...

“Tails Away” by PoSHGallery

Sea Creatures
anonymous

Come along, come with me,

Take a dive in the deep blue sea.

Put on your gear, let’s explore

All the way to the ocean floor!
See that snail wrapped in curls?

Look! An oyster wearing pearls!

Watch the octopus oh so dark,

But don’t you dare to pet the shark!
Dive on down, seaward bound,

Motion in the ocean is all around!

Dive on down, seaward bound,

Motion in the ocean is all around!
Now we’re very far below,

The lantern fish are all aglow.

Is that a tiny shock you feel?

You just met an electric eel!
Giant blue whales start to stir,

Bigger than dinosaurs ever were!

Wave good-bye to the squid and sponge,

This is the end of our deep-sea plunge!
Dive on down, seaward bound,

Motion in the ocean is all around!

Dive on down, seaward bound,

Motion in the ocean is all around!

So what are you waiting for ?

All entries need to be tagged “teamefadeepblue” without the quotations and sent to Jessicalynneart.

Remember, when we've received sixteen qualifying entries they will be entered in our Challenge Competition where the winner will get a free one month advertising slot on either the EFA website or the Challenge blog, winner’s choice, for the following month!

We are now taking entries for July's 'In the Deep Blue' and will accept entries until July 7th!

For further instructions on entering the challenge, check out this link:
http://efaartistshelpinganimals.blogspot.com/2010/12/how-to-enter-efas-monthly-challenges.html

For further instructions on how to tag your items, check out this link:
http://efaartistshelpinganimals.org/about.htm#n

THANKS !
Heather of TheBlueWindmill

COMPANiON'S CORNER: FEB 2011 Monthly Challenge theme

February's Monthly Challenge theme:

Companions Corner

February's monthly challenge theme is "Companions Corner"; please tag your listing "teamefacompanion", without the quotation marks.

For EFA members when someone says the word "companion" we do not always and immediately think of a human; instead we think of our furry (scaly, feathered, etc) friends who are often much more to us than can be described in words.

For your "Companions Corner" Monthly Challenge entry: "pay homage to your non-human companions and family".

I hope that you will find that in all of the following definitions of "companion", our friends are the best representation of the word:

1. Somebody to be with: somebody who accompanies or shares time with another.

2. Somebody whose job is accompanying another: somebody employed to live with [or help] another person.

3. Matching article: an object or item that goes with another to make a pair.

http://www.bing.com/Dictionary/search?q=define+companion&FORM=DTPDIA&qpvt=definition+of+comapanion

***

"Ode to Companion Animals"

By Margaret Loris, Pet Healer

http://www.sunhealer.com/ode.html

"Have you ever felt afraid, hurt, anxious, or lonely?

Did you ever feel you were alone in the world?

That noone could understand you.

There was noone to help you.

And even if there was, you were so badly hurt that your voice could not even ask for help.

That you felt so much pain that you were afraid to cry.

Because the tears might just never stop.

And then, from nowhere, you get the best gift in the universe.

An animal, no matter what kind, comes ever so gently to comfort you."

***

I am looking forward to seeing all of your entries and all the ways that our team defines "companion" with or without words. Happy crafting everyone!

P.S: Submit your entries asap... remember that the first 16 qualifying entries will be automatically entered into our Monthly Challenge Competition where the winner is awarded a free advertising slot with EFA !

For more information on...

EFA's Monthly Challenge- click HERE

Monthly Challenge Themes-at-a-glance HERE

Entering the Monthly Challenge- click HERE

The Monthly Challenge Competition- Click HERE

THANKS

Heather of thebluewindmill