Well, I hope everyone that celebrates had a Merry Christmas!

This is a final notice to all members that signed-up to participate in the Week 265: Holiday Gift Exchange and have not yet turned in your icon, that you only have less than 24 hours to do so. It's ok to be a last minute shopper, just make sure to comment with your present at this submission post by tomorrow Sunday,December 26th at 8:00 PM EST in the night. Remember it's not me you'll be letting down if you don't, but the person you were assigned who will miss out on the fun and excitement of the event. Also, I have it on good authority that Santa will return to your house and replace all your stuff with coal!

This is a reminder to everyone who signed-up for the Holiday Gift Exchange that you have until Saturday, December 26th at 8:00 PM EST in the evening to submit your icon by leaving a comment at the submission post, where more information is also available.

There are still quite a few participants left so please remember to get your present in on time. If you didn't receive the email with your assigned member's information, you need to let me know asap.

Check out this post for some galleries. Also, each icon you enter earns you one ballot for December's Submitter of the Month contest as well as a set number of cards for TCG Exchange if you choose to participate there.

I've sent out the emails, so all participating members should have received one. If not, please check your junk folder first, then contact me through this post asap and I'll re-send it. Now it's time to get started!

The theme for Week 265 is Holiday Gift Exchange. Everyone who signed-up must submit one icon featuring the listed favourite CLAMP series of their randomly assigned member, as a gift for that person. You've also been provided with their favourite character and image from that series, so optionally you may utalize this information in the creation of their gift, but this is not necessary and is completely up to you.

NOTE: Please do not put the member's name or username etc. on the icon itself. I appreciate the desire to personalize it, but this is to try and maintain as much anonimity in the voting post as possible for the sake of fairness. And on a similar topic, please keep yourself a secret from them until the scheduled reveal, it's more fun when the present is a suprise :)

Check this post for a list of some CLAMP gallery links. And remember that each icon you enter earns you one ballot for December's Submitter of the Month contest as well as a set number of cards for TCG Exchange if you choose to participate there.

Please submit your icon by uploading it to an outside host that allows direct linking, then leave a screened comment to this post with your icon, url, series and character names (or object/location description instead, if applicable) as well as the member your icon is intended for. Also include any additional information and/or specific resource credits that you may have used.




Character: Chii/Atashi & Sakura/Kero
Series: Chobits & Cardcaptor Sakura
Recipient: wildmusings
URL: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/wildmagic/jedisakora_clamp.png

[additional information or specific resource credits if applicable]

Community icon by jedisakora


Submission Rules
Do's
- Only those who originally signed-up at this post may enter this challenge
- You must be a member to participate, one icons per person (excludes multiple accounts)
- The icon must be made by you, this includes not stealing icons or copying tutorials
- Your icon must feature imagery from a CLAMP series (anime/manga) or artwork
- It must meet LJ requirements (100x100 and 40 kb or less, gif/jpg/png format)
- It should be recently made to fit the theme and kept anonymous/secret throughout

Do Not's
- Do not use/distribute/advertise your submission publicly/reveal your identity
- Doujinshi/Fanart/Cosplay images are not allowed, you must use official art only
- Refrain from using any sexually explicit imagery or overly coarse language

Other's
- Please credit outside sources (e.g. brushes, textures, bases, lyrics, quotes)
- You may provide translations/definitions (e.g. foreign languages, tiny text, large words)
- If submitting an icon variation to a current & anonymous icontest, check with both mods
- If you change/edit your submission let me know so I can replace/upload the right one

If something is amiss with your submission I will reply/inform you of it and give you a chance to either resubmit the icon or fix the comment depending. It is at my discretion to disqaulify you for failure to follow these guidelines.


You have until Saturday, December 26th at 8:00 PM EST in the evening to submit. All icons will be handed out as gifts to each member after voting is done and winners have been announced.


If you have any questions about this challenge or there was an error in your email, just leave a comment here. Otherwise, be creative, have fun and best of luck to you all!

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You can suggest themes here at the contact post. Also if you haven't already done so, please read this and let me know your answer.

This is a reminder that there is still a bit of time left to sign-up here for the upcoming Week 265: Holiday Gift Exchange. We currently have 13 participants but the more the merrier as I want everyone that is able and interested to be able to join in on the fun!

You have until tonight at Midnight EST, but since I will probably be passed out by then (long day at work was long) this deadline will more than likely be extended until tomorrow morning whenever I wake up... so come give the gift of an icon and get one in return :)

First of all, don't forget to check this post to see if you were one of our recent Submitter/Voters of the Month and claim your prize! Now that we're a bit more caught up, you can expect the last couple month's results to be posted shortly... just need to find more free time in between work and sleep >.>

Week 264: Justice is behind us, thanks to all those who submitted these lovely icons and/or took the time to cast your vote! A wonderful job by everyone but special congratulations to this week's winners:

( without further ado )

If you have placed (1st, 2nd, 3rd or MC) this week and would like a banner, please go to custom_banners and request one as this community no longer maintains a staff of bannermakers. If you are interested in volunteering to help make banners for this and other icontests, then submit an application here with some samples of your work as they can always use the help.

If you are a member of tcg_exchange then don't forget to claim your cards over here for participating this week! More information is provided in that post.

Sign-ups for the upcoming Week 265: Holiday Gift Exchange have already been posted. You have until Wednesday, December 16th at Midnight EST to sign-up, but please do not do so if you will not have the time to participate.

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My apologies for the delay but we have 11 wonderful icons for the Week 264: Justice theme, thanks to those who were able to submit! Now it's time for all available members to cast their votes. Please vote if you can, whether you submitted an icon or not, as the more votes we receive ensures more accurate results. Every last vote makes a difference so I'd really appreciate it if you could take the time to cast yours.

caterfree10, as September's Voter of the Month (see results here) you are entitled to pick this week's Moderator's Choice. It will be based in order of your actual vote unless all three selections happen to place in which case you can comment on the results post instead. You're welcome to list reasons if you wish as well.

And remember that the vote you cast earns you one ballot for December's Voter of the Month contest as well as a card at TCG Exchange if you choose to participate there.

To vote leave a screened comment to this post with the numbers of your 'first, second and third' choice icons that you feel are best overall, in that order because that is how the points will be awarded. Here is an example of the proper voting format. Just make sure I can differentiate which of the three chosen icons are first, second and third:

First: 45
Second: 72
Third: 36

Or like this:

45,72,36


Voting Rules
'Do's'
- You must be a member to vote, one ballot per member (excludes multiple accounts)
- You must vote for a total of three icons (no more, no less) or your vote will be discarded
- Vote for the best/most appropriate icons overall, not your favourite series/character/etc.

'Do Not's'
- Do not vote for your own icon or feel obligated to vote for your friend's icon
- Don't vote for an icon more than once... I'm not sure why you would, but just in case
- Do not reveal your entry until voting is closed or pressure people to vote for you
- Do not create multiple fake accounts to cheat, I check IP adresses and account status

If you accidently vote for the wrong number of icons, vote for the same icon twice or vote for a non-existant entry then I will reply to your comment asap and give you a chance to revote. Otherwise if you break one of the rules chances are your vote will be discarded and/or, depending on the offence, your icon may face disqualification. It is at my discretion to discard suspicious votes.

( They say justice is blind )

Voting will close Monday, December 13th at 8:00 PM EST at night and no late votes will be accepted afterwards, so please vote by then. A public comment will be appended to the voting post as close to the deadline as possible to signify this. Once voting is closed, you are free to publically display/distribute your entry as it will have no impact on the results. Winners will be announced sometime after depending on my schedule.

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Sign-ups for the new challenge has already been posted here, we will be holding a special Holiday Gift Exchange.

For the upcoming Week 265 theme we shall be holding a special Holiday Gift Exchange, which I've seen done in other contests before and think will be a fun activity to try given the season :)

How it works is everyone that signs up will randomly be assigned the information of another participant and need to make an icon featuring their favourite CLAMP series. You will also be provided with their favourite character and image from that series if you want to further personalize it/need more specifics, but it is not necessary to do so. All entries will be submitted and voted on as usual, the only real difference is when results are posted along with the winners each icon will be handed out as gifts to their intended recipients.

This is the sign-up post, if you wish to participate then simply leave a comment here using the form below. Please note that when you sign-up you are required to make an icon and submit it before the deadline, so do not sign-up if you will not have the time to follow through as this will mean someone else fails to receive their gift. In the case of odd numbers, I shall be taking part in order to even things out.

<b>Username:</b> <b>Email Address:</b> (to send you the information) <b>Series:</b> (your favourite CLAMP series) <b>Character:</b> (your favourite character from the above series) <b>Image Link:</b> (your favourite image from the above series, keep quality in mind)

EDIT: The image you provide must be of your favourite series, but it does not need to be of your favourite character unless you want it to be, my apologies if this was not clear earlier

You have until Wednesday, December 16th at Midnight EST to sign up, which should give me enough time to organize things and get everything sent out so that the submission post can be up by Saturday giving you the standard week to submit. This means all icons will be due by Boxing Day.