Super Secret Santa Swap Turbo REDUX (see update)

ATTENTION!!!


UPDATE!!--
Your secret santa gifts are due January 19th! We've extended the deadline a little bit, since we got started so late.
You need to note us (LAN0RA or Back-Off-I-Bite) by January 19th if you need more time to make your gift.

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SIGN UP FOR SECRET SANTA IS CLOSED!!! Sorry!

**Secret Santa assignments have been handed out! Check your notes! If you didn't get a note, please contact LAN0RA or Back-Off-I-Bite

There is only 0 Days left to sign up as a secret santa!!!
(December 17TH is the final day EST -11:59 PM )
Don't be shy, it will be great fun! Hurry and sign up before you miss your chance!

Hello again all!!!

Alright, let's try this again

If your're reading this, you must be suspecting that we're planning something sneaky that involves all of you...
As if the decorative icons and journal title wasn't obvious enough


Well you suspected right my friend!!!


It's no SECRET (again) that this was coming to make your Christmas bright!


Ahem....


Anyways, we think that you'll be happy to see the return of our annual

Super Secret Santa Swap!!!

Now new and improved to cut out on all the chaos of the holidays

As you all know, this is the special time of year where Winter is creeping nearer and nearer, and so is Christmas
(or whatever holiday you're on board with )

So, to get into the holiday spirit, we're bringing back an old favorite to make things super extra special for everyone!!!!

For those of you who were not around for last year's event, I think you'll find that you're in for a real treat!
Now, since we're all very creative here in THE ART REALM, we're putting a little twist on the traditional way a Secret Santa is done! It's a little tricky to explain, but just stick with us for a bit and we'll try to straighten this whole thing out for all of you!!!

Let's be clear that this is NOT a contest!
This is a very special event we're putting together to try and get everybody into the holiday spirit!
And what better way to do that than exchange some awesome art

So, T'is time to ask yourself: What kind of gift-giver are you?
A Secret Santa? Santa's Little Helper? or a Polar Bear? Only one way to find out-- keep reading!

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HERE'S HOW IT GOES (AKA da RULES)

As usual, we expect all participants to follow the rules of DA and THE-ART-REALM, respectively.

:thumb392674858:  :thumb485252066:

Failure to comply with the rules can result in disqualification and being banned from the group!

Moving on to the important stuff though!

You are not allowed to make more than 2 Secret Santa requests. You must fill out the questionnaire each time in case you have any changes to make on your second request if you choose to do one.

Once you've committed and signed up, you must do the gift. If you cannot, you must let us know as early as possible. This goes for EVERYONE who signs up whether you are a Secret Santa, Santa's Little Helper, OR a Polar Bear.
*The penalty for signing up and then not doing a gift that you are assigned to is: one calendar year of exclusion from ALL of The-Art-Realm's events and contests all the way through the next Secret Santa which you will also not be able to participate in, as well. It is only fair that we should be able to rely on you to do as you say you will do and complete the request.

Nothing of your request (or your gift) is allowed to be against our rules nor anything you make for someone else is allowed to be against our rules. Please get familiar with the rules before you decide to participate.

No Sore losers. If you didn't get a gift, do not be uncivil to anyone who participated or didn't participate. The founder and co-founder will deal with the people it concerns. The late period (January 13th through January 19, 2016) exists for those who may not have been able to complete the request in the time allotted. If the late period arrives and you have still not received your request, you may note the group and allow us time to research the issue and who your secret Santa was. You secret Santa will be contacted and asked if they intend to finish your gift by the late period. If the answer is no, they will be penalized and not allowed to participate in any of our events/contests for a year, including the next secret Santa. A Santa's Little Helper will be assigned to you and, hopefully, the matter will be fixed. If the Santa's Little Helper fails in making you a gift, a Polar Bear volunteer will be assigned to you then and any who failed to do the gift will be excluded from all events/contests for an entire year.

You ARE ALLOWED to be both a Secret Santa AND a Santa's Little Helper if you sign up for both early enough. However, you must complete both of your entries to get the Santa's Little Helper prize. You may also be a Secret Santa twice if you choose, but that is the maximum. 2 Secret Santas and one of these two: as a polar bear OR Santa's Little Helper. This means you are allowed to make 3 secret Santa gift requests on the journal in total IF you do the combination of 2 Secret Santas and once as a Little Helper (the request that is made for you will come from LAN0RA if you choose the free sketch and not the points when becoming a Little Helper). For Polar bears, you have chosen to make a gift without expecting one in return, so you can't make a request in that instance, but you may be a polar bear up to two times, if you wish.

Your request for the gift you want your secret santa to bring you MUST be reasonable. Do not ask for more than three characters in a drawing request nor should you ask for more than 1,500 words for a short story. If it is deemed that your request is unreasonable by the founder or co-founder, you will be asked to make your request less grand. If you refuse, you will be excluded from the secret Santa exchange. This is about giving and receiving and we'd like to make it as fair as we possibly can. This is why you need to fill out the Questionnaire when you sign up.

The gift you make MUST stay on deviant art after the event is over. It isn't very nice to delete a gift that someone may not have seen or enjoyed. If you delete it less than a month after the event is over, you will not be able to participate in any of our events or contests for a year.

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How to Join

This year we're doing things a bit differently.

Sign up starts.......NOW! (December 10th)

Unfortunately, due to some issues we've had in past events, you will not be allowed to choose your own request this time. Instead, the admins will be pairing you together with someone based on how your request meets another artist's particular set of skills. Sorry guys, we wish it could have worked out any other way, but without enough structure in the past, the buffet style requests became too much of a free-for-all for us to handle properly

In order to qualify for the Secret Santa this year, you must complete the following questions in your request comment for a secret Santa gift. Remember, by making a request, you are agreeing to become a Secret Santa or Santa's Little Helper.

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QUESTIONNAIRE:

Please answer the following questions.  You may also make a request for your gift if you are a Santa's Little Helper should you wish to have a gift of a quick sketch with color from LAN0RA rather than splitting the points from the points pool. Make no request on your questionnaire as to what you wish for if you only want points to be a Little Helper.

1) What have you chosen to be?
Please answer with one of the following: Secret Santa, Santa's Little Helper, or Polar Bear

Secret Santa

You have chosen to be a Secret Santa; a giver with compassion and hopes to be rewarded with as much from your fellows.
===>This means that you are only a regular participant in the swap and are only stopping by to fill our your questionnaire and detailing what exactly you would like for your request to the best of your abilities.
=====> You are only allowed to ask for 2 requests MAXIMUM (make a separate comment/questionnaire answers for each), as well as you will be expected to complete the 2 requests that we pair you with.

Santa's Little Helper

You have chosen to be one of Santa's Little Helpers because of your love of making gifts for those who were unfortunate enough to not receive their Christmas wish and you will be rewarded as such for going the extra mile.
===>These are volunteers who help fulfill a request for someone who did not receive their gift request by the end of the event.
====>There is a points pool of 1,000 points which will be used to pay 100 points to each little helper (maximum of ten helpers) or you can choose to receive a free quick sketch with color from LAN0RA for completing your assigned request. You must complete the gift to win any compensation.
=====>You may only sign up as a Little Helper once, since there are only ten spots available.
======>You may sign up to be Santa's Little Helper at any time from now until February 1st, 2016. This means you aren't competing in the regular secret santa, but rather making sure those who didn't get gifts will now get one. The late period is from January 13th to January 19th. On January 19th, we will assign you to someone's secret santa gift that was not done. Be aware that we will only assign you to someone if their gift was not done for them by the end of the late period. If there aren't enough gifts to be done, you may not be assigned to someone's gift and, as a result, you may not win anything for signing up as a Little Helper.
You will have 30 days (Jan 19th-Feb 17th) to complete your gift. Any submissions by Santa's Little Helpers after February 17th will not win any points or prizes.
One Last thing... If you choose the color sketch gift from LAN0RA instead of the points, you may not receive your gift until after the event is fully over (February 17th).
*If you are never assigned to someone's gift as a Little Helper (if we get enough participants that do their requests), the points and the sketch prize will not be awarded to you. Obviously, you have to DO something to be awarded one of them at all.
**It is entirely possible that you may not have to do a request as a Santa's Little Helper in the event that everyone does every request and there are no leftover requests. If that is the case, you may choose to take a request from LAN0RA and trade with her something she requests and which you request of her.  If you choose this option, you will get no points. Otherwise, if you are assigned to another secret santa request, you will do that one and you will get your choice of points or a color sketch from LAN0RA

Polar Bear

You have chosen to be a noble, brave polar bear who gives up the pleasure of getting a gift to bring great joy to someone by giving them a gift of your making.
===> These are volunteers who make a Secret Santa gift for anyone who doesn't get one. You will not get to make a secret santa request. We will allow you the choice of becoming a contributor in our group, The-Art-Realm until the next Secret Santa event in 2016 for completing a gift request as a Polar Bear. Contributors are allowed more submissions to the group than the regular group limit. You can sign up to be a polar bear at any time from now through February 1st. You will have from January 19th until February 17th (30 days) to make a gift for the person who is selected for you.
=====>You may be a Polar Bear up to 2 times at most, if you want. You MAY participate in the Secret Santa by giving a gift if you so choose. *Please indicate that you wish to participate in the secret santa as a Polar Bear and whether or not you wish to become a "contributor" of the group.
We will make you a contributor upon you finishing all of your secret santa gifts (if there is more than one that you were supposed to do). If you are unable to be paired with a request, as in, all requests get done like they should, we thank you for offering your services and hope that you will do so in the next Secret Santa or other event that may require a volunteer.

Please note that you may request to be in more than one category, however participation can't be MORE than 3 times TOTAL.

2) What would you like your Secret Santa to bring you?
Please answer in as much detail as possible, remembering to keep your request reasonable. If you are asking for a drawing, ask for no more than 3 characters on one request maximum. If it is a story you want, ask for no more than a short story. If a photo, keep in consideration of how difficult the subject matter may be to capture... etc. We will tell you if the request is too grand and you will be asked to reduce it.

3) Please list in order of 1 to 4 of what you judge to be your best and/or preferred skill for creating a gift in the Secret Santa Exchange.
(1 being the strongest/ most preferred of your skills, 4 being the weakest/ least preferred)
Examples:
1-Drawing/painting, 2-writing, 3-photography, 4-origami
or
1) writing, 2) 3d and fractal work, 3) drawing/ painting
*You might not have a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th skill. We have given you the option of listing up to four total.

4) Please List anything undesirable for you to do as a gift for another person.
Examples would include listing things you would hate to draw or write or other such thing you would never want to do, i.e.; if you don't like to draw Anthropomorphic characters (Animals with human-like characteristics) or if you don't like writing romance, you should mention things of this nature.

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SIGN UP as a Secret Santa: December 10-15th EXTENDED Until December 17th!
Requests/sign up for Secret Santas are open from now (December 10th) through December 15th December 17th. You will not be able to make a request as a secret santa after December 15th December 17th EST (11:59 PM). If we still have slots open for Santa's Little Helpers, you can still make a request until Feb 1st, 2016 and sign up as one of those.

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SECRET SANTA ASSIGNMENTS: December 16th CHANGED To December 18th!
We will give everyone their secret santa assignments on December 16th December 18th. Anyone making a request after this period will have to be a "Santa's Little Helper" and there are only 10 slots for it. *If we run out of Little Helper slots, you can only sign up as a Polar Bear after this date, but only if we run out of Little Helper spots. Otherwise, Feb. 1st is the last day for Little Helpers and Polar Bears to sign up.

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SECRET SANTA GIFT EXCHANGE DUE DATE: JANUARY 12TH 8:00PM EST 2016

We know things get a bit hectic the closer it gets to Christmas, so we're giving you a little  leeway about getting your gifts submitted.  We are giving you until 8:00PM EST on Jan 12th at the very latest to make sure you get your gift/s turned in (please submit entries to the Super Secret Santa Swap Turbo Redux folder). Don't procrastinate!!

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LATE PERIOD for entries: January 13th through January 19th, 2016 EST.

You must note the group during the late period or before if you can, should you realize you won't be able to complete your gift at all or by the time it is due. You will be given from the 13th to the 19th of January to complete it before you are put on the *naughty list* and you are excluded from all future events for a year (list will not be public). AS LONG AS YOU NOTE US during the late period or before.
On January 19th, You may send a note to the group inquiring about your secret santa gift if you have not yet seen it made or had not yet been notified of it having been made. We will look up your partner and if necessary, contact them about it. Other actions may take place to ensure that your gift is made, but do not harass any secret santa participant or you will be banned from The Art Realm.
*Extenuating circumstances may allow you some additional time to complete your gift, but you will need to discuss it with the founder of the group.

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NOW THIS IS WHERE IT GETS A BIT TRICKY

If you ask for more than one request, you must commit to creating that many requests for someone else.
Maximum number of requests is 2 as a Secret Santa (you must make a separate comment for each and number them so that we know which one to cover up, if you do want to participate three times and take care to remember to answer the questionnaire) You can get one extra request (after the first 2) if you also sign up as a Santa's Little Helper and choose "color sketch".

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NOW THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT!!!!!

If everything goes alright, your Secret Santa Request should look something like this with some probable changes in the abilities depending on who it is making the request:

"1) Secret Santa
2) I'd like a drawing of my OC, Sara. Here's a link to a pic of her: (link to an image) You can draw her doing something action-y if you want, but I'm not too picky, so however you want is okay too. If you could color it a little, that would be nice, too
3) My abilities: 1-Drawing & Painting, 2-Writing, 3-photography
4) I don't like to draw realistic things. For example, I don't want to draw a real person, but fantasy or sci-fi characters are fine!"

We hope that the example above helps you understand what we'd like to see for sign ups
Obviously, you'd change it to Santa's Little Helper for # 1 if that's what you'd like to be or Polar Bear for # 1 if that's what you will be.

BTW:
Participants can NOT reveal who they are making an artwork for or reply to a comment that was made by any participants in the journal. If you reveal who you are making an artwork for, you will be disqualified and excluded from all events for a year. This is supposed to be secret!!!

You may voice a question/concern in the journal and a founder will answer you.
If you have a question about the event, please also feel free to note our group about it or
note the founder, or co-founder,

DO NOT LINK TO YOUR FINISHED WORK IN THE EVENT JOURNAL!!!!
Participants can "mention" by using the @ symbol and the username for who it is for in the description when uploading the gift, that way they will be informed about their surprise when it's done!

ALSO, don't forget to mention in the title or description that it is for the Secret Santa Event, and it must be submitted to the Super Secret Santa Swap Turbo Redux folder for the event.
Please check the group rules before submitting an entry to the folder for the Super Secret Santa Swap. Your work can be declined from the Secret Santa folder if you don't mention what it is for. C'mon everybody, at least give us hint!

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OKAY, I HOPE THAT WE'VE GOTTEN THAT ALL STRAIGHTENED OUT FOR YOU!


PHEW

Okay then, I think we've covered all the bases there!
Now lets get festive people! We're all really pumped up about this, and hope that you all get in on the fun with us!

Well, that's all for now. Have a happy Winter!





Admins of

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SIGN UP LIST

(Only The-Art-Realm Members may participate)

Secret Santas:

1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)

(will add more if we get more sign-ups)

Santa's Little Helpers:

1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)

(Only ten lucky people may be a Santa's Little Helper)

Polar Bears:

1)
2)
3)
4)
5)

(Will add more if we get more sign-ups)