Announcing: The ULTIMATE DIY Competition!!
Yes, friends and faithful readers…you voted, and I listened. Back in April, I asked all of you what you wanted to see here on Chic Steals in the coming months. And out of those who responded, over 66% of you said you wanted a DIY Contest!
Well here it is…it’s been over 2 months in the making but I am pleased to finally announce…
I am so excited to be partnering with CutOutandKeep.net to bring all of this worldwide competition, open to everyone over the age of 18! Here’s a little teaser:
Do you live and breathe fashion – and how to get it for less? Do you often find yourself crafting the looks you see on the runway, in street style photos, and in stores? Do you have creative ways of cutting corners and re-creating, modifying, upcycling, re-fashioning, embellishing, and distressing pieces to create items all with your own personal style? If so, we want to see what YOU can do!
Enter an original DIY project – made entirely by you – in The Ultimate DIY Competition! The theme is “Inspired DIY” – and you need to submit a photo of your inspiration (a designer garment, an item you’ve seen on someone, a beautiful photograph of nature, an illustration or piece of artwork etc.) AND create something based on this photograph. Submit at least 2 photos of your project during the creation process, write the step-by-step tutorial to share with all, and finish off with at least 2 photos of your final DIY piece! Make a Wearable (item of clothing), piece of Jewelry, or an Accessory, for anyone, any age. Five fashion Bloggers at the forefront of the online DIY style movement serve as the Judging panel: Carly J. Cais from Chic Steals, Suzannah from Adventures in Dressmaking, Tessa Stephensen from Apparellel, Maegan Tintari from …love, Maegan, and Outi Pyy from Outsapop. One Winner in each category will be chosen – and we’ve got some FABULOUS sponsors offering up gift certificates to online craft and DIY materials stores as prizes! Encourage your friends and family to “Heart” or “Like” your project too – the project with the most “Hearts” + “Likes” also wins a prize!
Submissions close Sept. 5. Winners announced September 15, 2010. Competition open worldwide, to anyone over the age of 18.
Check out The Ultimate DIY Competition homepage for the Official Rules, Like us on Facebook, and Follow us on Twitter to stay in the know. In the meantime, start DIY’ing and getting those projects ready for submission!
Prizes up for grabs: Gift Certificates to M&J Trimming, FireMountainGems.com, and New York Design Shop; a BurdaStyle t-shirt; a Gift Subscription to VenusZine.

Tempting, right? I can’t wait to see what all you guys come up with!!
xoxox
Carly