Have you finished your shopping, yet?  Wrapped your presents?  Written the cards? Made and decorated the cake?  Not to mention the 1001 other things which need to be done this month.  No?  I thought not!  We all have too much to do this month to think about design challenges, so this month is turned over to your children - or grandchildren, nephews and nieces, the kids next door.  Anyone under the age of 11.  

This month, it's the turn of the children to create a fabric design on the subject of Things I like To Do.  This might be going for a picnic with the family, playing with friends, or imagining a strange new world - in fact, pretty much anything!  The designs can be drawn, painted, photographed, a collage, etc etc - any method of creating a picture is fine.    Your child's imagination is the limit.  You may help with such things as providing a space and encouragement, choosing the best size for the design and so on, but the work should be your child's unaided work.  It can be a 'picture' suitable for a cushion, tea towel and so on, or a smaller design which will repeat.  It doesn't need to be a seamless repeat, it can repeat at intervals.  You can just submit a picture - we can deal with how it will repeat later.

Because it's for children, we will run this competition slightly differently.

The closing date will be Tuesday, January 9th, so your children can create their design over the school holidays.  You can upload the design to your account if you have one, in which case, please email me at admin@printmepretty.co.uk.  (See details below)  Alternatively, you may just email the design to me, so that, if you know children who may be interested (nephews & nieces, grandchildren, the neighbours' kids) they can still enter even if they don't have an account.  The designs will be displayed on our web site and Facebook, but we will not vote on them.  (Please let me know what name you would like me to use on the internet, or if you would prefer no name at all.)  The winners will be chosen by a guest judge. Three winners will each receive their design printed onto a metre of fabric, plus a certificate.  We may sub-divide the entries according to age, depending on the number of entries. 

EMAIL

If you upload your design, please email me at admin@printmepretty.co.uk.  Alternatively, email the design to me at the same address, or, if you can't scan it, post it to Print me Pretty, Unit 7 Glebelands Centre, Vincent Lane, Dorking, Surrey, RH4 3HW.    In all cases, please include the name and age of the child, the title of the design, and, if he or she knows, what the child would like it to be used for.   Please also include a statement to the effect that this is the child's unaided work.  We retain the right to ask for further proof (eg a photo of the child holding the picture, or, better still, actually creating it) if there is any doubt about the authenticity of the design.

RULES

So, the competition is: A design by a child aged 11 or under with the theme Things I Like To Do.

Technical matters:

If possible, your design should be at a resolution of at least 150 dpi, but not more than 300, using RGB colour space.  (If you scan or take a photo of your child's design, that should be fine.)  If a winning design is not suitable for printing, we will do our best to make it so, in consultation with the child and child's parent.

To enter:

Upload your design onto our website by Tuesday, January 9th, giving it a title.  Email me at admin@printmepretty.co.uk, telling me the title of your design and the name of your account.  If you don't have an account, email the design to me at the same address, or post it to the address above.  See above for additional information required.  Remember to add that it is your child's unaided work.

The closing date for receiving designs is midnight on Tuesday, January 9th.  The designs will be judged by a guest judge.  The winners will be announced on Monday, January 15th.

The official bit:

By entering, you agree to our competition terms and conditions.

Each child may only submit one entry, which must be your child's own work and based on the theme Things I Like To Do.   ‘Your own work’ means any form of art work, photography, etc which your child has produced.  For this competition, no 'clip art' is allowed.  More than one child in a family may enter, so there may be more than one entry in an account.

All entries may be displayed on our web site or Facebook page.  Copyright will remain with you, but by entering the competition, you give us the right to use your design in any way we wish on our web site and social media, for advertising purposes.

The winning designs will feature on our web site. 

Happy designing!