Jan 2, 2010

Craft or Bust 2010: The Official Rules

Proclaimeth the Quicksilver Crafter: All info on Craft or Bust 2010 shall be set down here for posterity, yea, verily, and it was good.

What the heck are you talking about?

The Craft or Bust Project is a weekly creative endurance challenge*. The rules are simple:

1. Join whenever.
2. Stay as long as you like.
3. Create, check in, be inspired, show off your craftigoodness, feel good.

Any art or craft (with one exception) counts: knitting, sewing, wire wrap jewelry, mail art, writing ... Heck, if there are creative bakers, gardeners, or sky-writers out there who want to play along, join up! If you have something creative you'd like to do every week, I'd be happy to have you. :D

You can work on any art/craft projects you want. You can work on a different one each week, or the same one the entire way. The heart of this challenge is to learn to craft regularly; finishing stuff is icing on the cake (and a fairly likely side effect even without trying too hard, I think).

The exception to "any craft counts" is blogging, by itself. While blogging can be a creative act, my intent is not to turn the weekly update into a list of who posted what to their blogs. ;) There are other places on the Internet solely dedicated to that sort of thing, so I don't need to redo it here.

You can blog about your CoB projects, though, and I'll happily link to that. And redesigning your blog template or layout would also be a totally fine CoB project, if you're doing it yourself and you're going to be doing it over more than one week.

Why should I play this silly crafty game?

If you're like me, you should do it because sharing your progress with other people is fun, and will make you at least a smidge more likely to work toward your goal. If you're not like me, maybe you should do it anyway: for fun, for pride, to challenge yourself, to keep yourself accountable ... or even to promote your own talents, blog or crafts business. (But please no soullessly spammy advertisement-like behavior. Be a person first and let the business promo come naturally, fellow crafty business-owners.)

How to join:

Go to the original sign-up post and post a sign-up comment with the following information:
  • Your name
  • The link/URL to an Internetty place of your choice that will identify you as you, like your Twitter account, your Web site, or your blog, etc. This will be linked to your name whenever it's mentioned.
  • Your Craft or Bust goal: This can be anything, e.g., "craft for 12 weeks straight," "finish my grandma's sweater," "complete 10 paintings," "try a new crafty technique every week," or even "feel like a real creative person." Whatever inspires you!
Your information will be posted to the public CoB roster, so make sure you want it where everyone can see it. If your goal is private, you can always say "My goal is private." ;)

How to participate:
  • Be creative. For each week you're doing Craft or Bust, do something crafty. It should probably have to do with your goal, but if not, no worries — the point is to just craft, already!
  • Check in every week. On Sunday, there will be a weekly roundup and check-in post here on Quicksilver Crafter. Leave a comment on this post with your name, your identifying link (so your participation gets credited properly), an update on what you did in the previous week, and any related links you want to be included in the next week's roundup (blog posts, pics in the Flickr pool, etc.).
  • If you blog about Craft or Bust, please tag your posts with "Craft or Bust 2010" and link back to the CoB rules page (located here) on your post — or even add the link somewhere on your blog, if you feel so inspired. Include links to any CoB-related posts in your weekly check-in.
  • If you take pictures of your Craft or Bust projects, add them to the CoB Flickr pool, tag them "Craft or Bust 2010," and include a link to the related Flickr page(s) in your check-in.

Check-in format

Kindly format your check-in comments something like the following, to help save me-the-organizer some time while doing the weekly summary:
Name: Crystal
ID link: http://quicksilvercrafter.blogspot.com
Week 2 check-in: This week I crafted lots of stuff. I knitted two blankets and saved an old lady who was crossing the street from a rampaging tangled ball of yarn. You can read about it here: http://quicksilvercrafter.blogspot.com/saved-that-lady.html.
What happens next:

Each week's Craft or Bust roundup and check-in post will include your updates, links, pics, and whatever other crafty stuff you guys post in relation to CoB. Come back every Sunday to read and enjoy the plethora of crafty updates (I write hopefully — that is, I hope you'll join me in testing your craft endurance so I have something to talk about aside from myself ;)). I'll also keep a tally of the number of weeks you've participated by your name in the roster.

If you've set a finite, reachable goal, make sure you note when you reach your goal in your weekly check-ins, so I can update your status in the roster and put you on a list to receive any special goodies that come up for CoB winners. ;D

What's that about special goodies?

I'm thinking stuff like free craft project instructions, patterns, tutorials, e-books, and coupon codes. I'll probably donate some myself, for anyone who happens to be following along while I craft or bust. And if anybody crafts-or-busts along with me, I'll make sure there are extra goodies just for you. :D

If you want to donate some giveaway goodies for The Craft or Bust Project, send an e-mail to crystal@starncrossbones.com and let me know. (I promise I won't keep them for myself.)

Speaking of goodies...

It's the Craft or Bust RAK List!

Not a traditional giveaway, but a way to get goodies nonetheless!

RAK = Random Act of Kindness, and in this case that means sending of wish-listed goodies to each other. If you send someone something, it's out of the goodness of your heart, no strings attached. :D The idea of RAKing is to spread general positivity and enable other people to do things they wouldn't have been able to do without your help.

If you want to be added to the Craft or Bust RAK List, do the following:

  1. Make a wish list of things that would help you achieve your CoB goals. It can include crazy and extravagant items (you never know) as well as "easy" stuff.
  2. Fill out the short and snappy RAK List registration form below.
  3. Send your form and wish list to crystal@starncrossbones.com.
  4. Check the RAK List (which will be linked here as soon as it actually exists), and get RAKing!
  5. Every month, you should get an e-mail and/or a reminder on the CoB check-in post, to update your wish list/contact info. Keeping things current makes RAKing better. ;)

Further notes:

  • I, Crystal the Organizer, pledge to personally send at least one RAK a month. Just FYI. If I slack, get on my butt. ;)
  • Just to make sure this is clear: This isn't a swap, so it's not one-for-one. You send people stuff because you're just that darn nice (or in the interest of destashing, or whatever ;)), and they can choose to send stuff back, or pay it forward, or do whatever they choose with your gift.

CoB RAK List Registration Form

(We're doing all contact by e-mail since it's more secure than just posting all our information on our blogs. Cross your fingers and maybe we'll have something fancier and more convenient soon ... ;))

Name:
Contact E-mail:
Wish List URL (if you have your wish list on your blog):
Your Mailing Address (if you want people to be able to RAK you by surprise, or you just want me to take care of giving out the address):
RAKing Preferences (pick one of the below):
1. I want people to e-mail me personally for my mailing address.
2. I want people to e-mail the organizer for my mailing address.
3. I want to let my RAKers have the option of e-mailing me or e-mailing the organizer, depending on whether they want to surprise me.
Wish List: (Insert your wish list here. It can be an actual itemized list, or a paragraph, etc.)
Other Notes (allergies, etc.):

Related Links

Pssst — all the CoB links are officially collected on the Craft or Bust page here. Check it out for CoB graphics and an index of all the roundups so far!

Craft or Bust Flickr pool
Craft or Bust roster

*And I'll do this by myself regardless, but I thought I'd open it up to everyone in case there are people out there who, like me, think a little group encouragement might be a good motivator.
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