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
• Raffle
• Business Directory
• Polls
• Newsletter
• Next Week

News and updates...

• **ERROR FIX**
•  Big apologies. It appears that none of the categories were working in the Tips and Hints section. All fixed now. Please let me know if you notice any more errors.
• **NEW FEATURES**
• New articles will show "New" animation for 3 days. Updated articles will show "Updated" animation for 3 days. Now you can see at a glance whats been changed on the site.
• Can now search the business directory within the main search box in the top right of the site. Previously could only use the directory search box.
• Donation
• We have had a couple of donations this week but we respect that they wish to remain anonymous. However we want to say thank you for contributing to our running costs in our effort to keep icklebits free.
• Members News
• Viola of Viola's Dolls would like to announce she has a new website if anyone wishes to visit: www.violasdolls.com Great website Viola! 

New Members...

• Welcome to kamamac and bigeyebetties! 

Forum...

• (You need to be logged in first to view)
• New topics in forum:
  •  Blogs - Opinions and ideas about blogs
  • Sad News  - The passing of a great miniaturist
  • Take a look - Woodwork! - An amazing video. If you can watch that without going "Wow!" Then I will be amazed!
  • Smaller Scales - Introducing us to a fantastic miniaturists website
  • Tips for making picture frames - very useful, why not try it out? 
• 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... 

• Big Eye Betties Gallery
• Terry
• No new photos.
• We now have 28 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...

• Big Eye Betties The Blog
• Diminutive Dwellings 
•  We now have 21 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...

• Fairs Coming Up...
  • 22nd - 23rd January - The Greater Southern California Miniatures Show - CA, USA
  • 29th January - Dolly's Day Dreams - Theydon Bois, Essex
• New events added...
  • 5th February -
    • Atlanta Miniatures Show - USA (2 day event)
    • 37th Nostalgia in Miniatures, CA - USA
  • 6th February - Sharnbrook Fair - UK
  • 12th February -
    •  Miniatures West Show & Sale, CA - USA
    • Miniature World of Central Florida Club's Fun Day
  • 13th February -
    •  Witham Fair - UK
    • Epsom Downs Fair, Surrey - UK
    • Orlando Miniatures Festival Fun in the Florida Sun
  • 19th February -
    • Southport Fair, Merseyside - UK
    • Thame Dolls House & Miniatures Fair
  • 20th February - Kelham Fair, Newark - UK
  • 26th February - Kelham Fair, Newark - UK
  • 27th February -
    • Letchworth Garden City Fair - UK
    • The Central New Jersey Show & Sale
  • 26th - 27th March Arnhem Poppenhuisstad Thanks for adding that one Hazel
• Click here to view all 19 fair dates for January 2011
• Click here to view all 14 fair dates for February 2011

New Tutorials, tips and printables...

• Tips:
  • Tips For Making Picture Frames
  • Securing Your Miniatures When Displaying
• Tutorial links: 
• Building Greenleaf's Tennyson Dollhouse
• Video Tutorials (you must be logged in first)
  • Strawberry Cake
  • McDonalds Happy Meal 
  • Hot Chocolate Drink
• Click here to see ALL new tutorials for January
• We now have 699 tutorials listed on icklebits (including videos)!!!

Articles...

• New articles:
  • Tips For Making Picture Frames by Terry
  • Securing Your Miniatures When Displaying by Hazel
  • Did You Miss The January Newsletter? by Editor
  • New Tutorials For January by Editor
  • Dollhouse Miniatures 101 by Therese Kuster
• We have 440 articles to date. Click here to read... 

Raffle...

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

New Entries in Business Directory

• Click here to view the all of latest entries in our business directory
• **New Feature**
  • Can now search the business directory within the main search box in the top right of the site. Previously could only use the directory search box.. 

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... 

• January monthly newsletter out! Click here to view.
• 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 tutorials no doubt!

See you next week!

Donna

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