Happy New Year! Welcome to my weekly round up of what's been going on here...

So......what's been happening?

Contents:

• News and updates
• New Members
• Forum
• Galleries
• Blogs
• Fairs
• Tutorials
• Articles
• Medals and Awards
• Raffle
• Business Directory
• Polls
• Newsletter
• Next Week

News and updates...

• This week we asked you for your suggestions and feedback on the site. Some of the improvements already noted and altered:
  • Removal of the peel banner in the top right of most pages as its a distraction when reading.
  • Alteration to the welcome email to encourage new members to add a post in the forum introducing themselves.
  • Putting all miniature threads into one section rather than seperate to tidy it up a bit.
  • Many more..click here for a full list.
• *MAINTENANCE WARNING* - We shall be shutting down the site for a couple of hours over the weekend to perform an upgrade on the forum. A date and time will be published on a Post-it Note on the front page soon.
• A big thanks to Hazel for sponsoring icklebits again recently. Please take a moment to visit her site at http://www.hazel-dowd.co.uk
• *New way of earning icklepoints*
• Earn 1 point for each video tutorial rated. (Need to be logged in first)
   

New Members...

• Welcome to jaynine, VRPRODUCTIONS, elly, zacthesnail, phred, viooltjes18 and pjlucy! 

Forum...

• (You need to be logged in first to view)
• New topics in forum:
  •  "Introducing Hazel"
  • "Is this a tongue twister?"
  • "Happy New Year 2011"
  • "Mag Articles"
• Plus new posts in other areas of the forum.
• If you've not already introduced yourself, please pop a line or two in the "Welcome Mat". Just click on "New Thread" and tell us a little bit about yourself. 

 Galleries... 

• New Gallery:
  • PhredsFriends
• New photo in McQueenies gallery. 1 new photo in Furniture.
• We now have 26 Member Galleries
• NOTE:  Some people when registering are ticking the "Enable gallery" box but not putting what name they want. Without the name I'm afraid we can't set it up. If you are one of those people then please email me at gallery@icklebits.co.uk with your username and preferred title. Gallery will be set up within 48 working hours.

Blogs...

• No new blogs 
•  We now have 20 Blogs
• To read the latest posts go to www.icklebits.co.uk/blogs then you will see the latest posts by each member.
•  Also if you join us at twitter you can see the lasest posts via tweets! (see twitter window to left of website or bird at top left)
• It's been brought to my attention that people are setting up their blogs but not posting in them! You all clearly need an incentive to get posting...any ideas welcome. Please email us at blog@icklebits.co.uk  

Fairs Coming Up...

• ***January 2011 Fair Dates added!!!*** 
• 8th January -  Dollhouse Miniatures Flea Market
• 9th January - Dolly's Day Dreams - Brentwood Fair
• 9th January - Doreen Jeffries - Stafford Fair
• 15th January - "For The Birds" - NAME Region E-3 Annual Retreat, GA, USA  
• Click here to view all 19 fair dates for January 2011

New Tutorials and printables...

• Tutorial links:
  •  Molded Ball Mask
  • Click here to see all new tutorial links for January 
• Video Tutorials (you must be logged in first)
  •  Lollipop by Garden of Imagination
  • Popsicle by Garden of Imagination
• We now have 698 tutorials listed on icklebits (including videos)!!!

Articles...

• New articles:
  • We Want Your Suggestions!
  • Victorian Era Dollhouses - What to Know Before You Start
  • Have You Seen Our Forum?
  • Why Can't I View Video Tutorials?
  • How do I view the latest posts on blogs?
• We have 440 articles to date. Click here to read...

Medals and Awards...

• Medals and points to be awarded for 2010! 
  • Most Active - most active in 2010 (not including custom points which are prizes etc) - Lynxes (awarded 100 points)
  • Most Loyal - awarded to the person who achieved the most daily logins in 2010 - Lynxes (awarded 50 points)
  • Top Poster - awarded to the person who posted the most replies in the forum for 2010 - Hazel (awarded 50 points)
  • Top Inviter - awarded to the peson who successfully invited the most new members for 2010 - lisalou (awarded 50 points)
  • Top Rater - awarded to the person who rated the most articles in 2010 - Judy (awarded 50 points)
  • Honour Medal - Awarded to Hazel for all her contributions to the site. Hazel has spotted errors, posted loads in the forum, offered suggestions, submitted news and more importantly ideas! Thank you to Hazel (awarded 250 points).
• To view all medals click here.  

Raffle...

• FREE for January!
• You can enter as many times as you wish!
• Prizes:
  • 1st = 300
  • 2nd = 200
  • 3rd = 100
• Winners for December Raffle:
  • 1st = Hazel
  • 2nd = Smjozwiak82
  • 3rd = Kweeny

New Entries in Business Directory

• Click here to view the all of latest entries in our business directory. 

Polls...

• No new polls this week. Why don't you suggest one? Email us at admin@icklebits.co.uk with your suggestion.
• 100 icklepoints awarded for any published poll!

Newsletter... 

• Would you like these FREE weekly updates sent to your inbox?
• These are just brief updates of new tutorials, galleries, blogs etc for that week to save you searching the website. We now offer that to your inbox for FREE!
• If you would like that then after logging in, click on Newsletter in the User Menu. Then go to My Subscriptions and tick "Yes" and Save. If you would rather we do that for you then email us at newsletter@icklebits.co.uk with your username and request and we'll do it.

Next week...

• More video tutorials and hopefully a competition!

See you next week!

Donna

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