Contest The Great Triathlon Challenge Three: Angel's Lore

I know that it won't affect anything in terms of the results if you discuss your entries once the voting has closed, but let's let the winners have their moment in the sun and wait until Sunday evening.

 

I have voted! It was so hard @_@ Seriously, everyone did beautiful work. I was so impressed by everyone's stories. It was easily my favorite contest to go through the entries in. It was so hard narrowing it down to five! Getting it down to my top 10 was difficult enough, I had to cut a few I really loved.

I too can't wait for all the results to be posted so we can all chat about our projects and find out who did what! Best wishes and good luck to everyone who got this far

 

In the end, I ran out of time to vote. I made it about 1/3 of the way through the entries earlier this week, but between work and school starting up, I just didn't have the brain capacity to thoroughly read through all of the entries, and I didn't want to vote without reading ALL of them. Oh well... hopefully the ones I already know I like got votes already.

 

I thought the last part of the challenge would be the easiest for me, seeing as my affinity with books is that much greater than with wings or aeries - but it ws sooooo very hard not to give up on this one. I ran out of time to vote in round two, because I needed all the time I could find in order to complete the third challenge. Well, I do get now why this is called a triathlon; I'm completely exhausted.

I made my first ever pair of wings. I made my first ever display, using wood, a material of which I have always been a little bit scared, and my first cushions, which I had been putting off since forever. I bound my first ever book, in the process of which I broke my calligraphy pen, my awl and my needle, and stabbed my fingers more than I did the book. I made my first ever gif. I did a whole lot of things I had never done before, and in much less time than I thought possible (I am very, very slow). I now know that given a little more time and a bit of experience I can do these things better.

Also, this was my first time ever taking part in a DOA contest. I'd never dared to before since I know I am not cut out for this sort of thing - but I think it was Baakay who said somewhere that not taking part just because you know you won't win is a teensy bit pathetic. So I thought, let's give it a go just for the heck of it. I received no votes at all in rounds one and two and fully expect not to have got any in the last round either, but I gave it my all anyway.

That said, contests cleraly aren't my thing. Am I the only one who kept being surprised by the questions on the voting form? I think I must have a special talent for creating things that comply with all the rules and yet are completely off from a voting point of view. I'm not talking about quality here, just about the criteria - like in the last round, where there are some gorgeous books for which I didn't get to vote in the end because, lovely though they were, they weren't my number one reply to the questions. Is this a lack of contest experience on my part, or is it juat a total lack of competitive sense? I don't know.

Anyway: I take off my metaphorical hat to all of you who do know how to do this and created the most stunning, inspiring entries - and also to everyone who put in the effort for the sake of the game. This has been an exciting experience and I am just stunned by everyone's creativity and skill.

 

I am so excited to see the results of the voting! I haven't been this jazzed since the World Cup.

 

You're not the only one! I know that wasn't the only reason for my low scores but it probably helped. I think for me it was mostly about the way I approached the challenges. I followed all the rules but in the end I made something that I liked and wanted to keep and use, then I'd look at the criteria and think "oh well..." I think my main difficulty is with being really imaginative and coming up with a great idea for the challenge. There are some really creative people here! I can't wait to see who wins :-)

 

I agree - my main goal was also something I loved and would keep, which didn't necessarily line up with the voting categories. Which is totally OK, because in the end I did end up with things I love and will keep, so while winning something would be nice, I've already got three good things here that came out of this contest!

I'm excited to see the final results. And so is my dad! After watching over my shoulder for the majority of the creation of the wings and aerie, he's gotten really interested in the contest. He called me already today asking if they'd announced the winners, yet. I may go over to visit tomorrow and show him the winning entries!

 

Sigune, you are definitely not alone! I was caught off guard by a few of the voting questions as well. In particular, the inclusion of the wing motif in the aerie. O_o My first thought was, "wait, was that in the rules?", followed shortly by "well, crapped out on that one!" O well.
It was indeed, fun and exciting, and I did a whole slew of things for the first time as well. And learned a whole lot along the way! (Translated: I made a whole lot of mistakes along the way!)

I'm trying to keep myself going on the overabundance of projects I had already. This contest has really gotten me going on those, so if nothing else, I'm completely thankful for that! A body at rest really does tend to stay at rest.

And definitely! We all got our own handmade prizes! ^__^ Congratulations, everyone!

 

minimoon, AmyAngel and aernath - I hadn't thought of putting it like that, but yes, I did that too: make something I could use and keep, and with which I am ultimately rather happy. I'm going to work on the display thing further; I had been playing with the thought of making one for a while, but I'm not sure if and when I would have got around to it without the stimulus of the contest. Plus, the contest was very inspiring in terms of recycling. If I had been working entirely on my own, I probably would have bought lots of things whereas there were perfectly good materials at hand but of which I just wouldn't have thought. The recycling part is one of the things I enjoyed most about the whole concept .

Like you say, now we have handmade prizes. That's so true!

 

Sigune, I felt the same way too! I'd look at all the criteria for voting, and didn't feel like my entries fit well either. And I entered knowing I was extremely unlikely to have a shot at winning anything, but still decided to go for it. And I'm super happy with my wings, aerie, and book. I'm going to find a place on the wall to hang the aerie, do some more photoshoots with the wings and book, and just enjoy that I actually succeeded at making all of them. I've never entered before, either, but now that I've run the triathlon in all its exhaustion, I think I might enter something again next year, even if I still don't stand a chance at winning. The stuff I got out of it is totally worthwhile to me.

 

Are you guys interested in starting a new thread where we can freely discuss our experiences, techniques, trials and epiphanies? I would really like to discuss/share our entries because I know feedback is so important. There are so many wonderful entries I'm sure we'd all love to discuss!?! Too soon? I dunno... I'm open

 

I would love this ^^

 

I'd love to discuss, and to ask questions about some of the awesome projects people put together!

 

You are welcome to carry on right in this thread or the all encompassing contest thread if you want to discuss all three challenges at once.

 

I love the main thread idea, i'm dying to talk about so many of the entries that I just didn't get a chance to vote for.

 

I think the main triathlon thread sounds like a great place to chat about entries that we might have been curious about since it's already there and everything.

I was also wondering when the vote totals for the last round will be posted 'cause curiosity is getting the best of me and I'd like to know what I ended up with xD

 

I wouldn't say I'm curious to see how badly I did. . . but I'd kind of like to see how the people I voted for did.

 

I just posted the third round results HERE.

Go ahead and chat about any and all things Triathlon HERE.