This month, I accidentally deleted the tick boxes that go beside the listings on the first two pages of Grape Vine. I didn't notice until they came back from the printers, and I thought you wouldn't want to wait another couple of days while a new batch was printed, so I sent the magazines out box-less. And it made me wonder..... does anyone use them? Would you miss them if I didn't bring them back?
So I've set up a poll on the Grape Vine Facebook page, and I'd be very grateful if you would have a look at your June magazine, decide whether the lack of boxes leaves a hole in your life or not, and then pop over to the poll and tick your preferred option.
Thursday, 6 June 2013
Win a water carafe
YouAndYourRights are giving away a
Water Carafe courtesy of Dream Icons.com. To enter simply go to www.youandyourrights.com, click on the competition section on the bottom right of the page. One
entry per person. Closing 3 July.
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Win a £2,500 holiday
The Holiday Discount Centre are giving away a £2,500 holiday of your choice. Simply enter through their Facebook page - closing 15th June.
Win a year's supply of Millies Cookies
Here's a really fun new competition for you from Millies Cookies. The prize is
a year’s supply of Millie’s Cookies, consisting of a box with 12 vouchers
each of them valid for a box of 12 cookies
a year’s supply of Millie’s Cookies, consisting of a box with 12 vouchers
each of them valid for a box of 12 cookies
All the instructions are in the illustration below - good luck!
Monday, 3 June 2013
Who won the Winn Sommor limerick competition?
Last month I ran two competitions, each with a prize of a year's membership to the Winnin Post club. One was in the May issue of Grape Vine magazine and the other here on the blog.
Creative competitions always have fewer entries than draws, and this was reflected emphatically in the number of entries. The competition on the blog had only 26 entries while that in the magazine had just 13! Compare that to the Cheeky Shoes competition, which also ran during May and had over 1,000 entries.
For the subscriber-only competition, I gave a lead-in line, "I long to be first past the post" and the winner, chosen by a panel of experienced compers, is Jane Chand whose limerick was
I long to be first past the post
In Grapevine I'm always engrossed
So at the prize dinner -
Maybe I'll be the winner -
Who is raising her glass for the toast.
I gave rather more scope here on the blog, asking you to write any limerick as long as it had something to do with comping. This time the panel chose the entry from Stephy Buckridan - if the scansion puzzles you, try reading it out loud and you'll see that it needs to start with the first syllables run together, a technique often used in limericks.
A comper's thoughts were clouded by fog
So comping was becoming a slog
Then she had an idea
That was perfectly clear
She'd better start reading Jane's blog
Jane and Stephy have each won a year's membership of the Winnin Post club.
I'd also like to say a special thank you to Chris Hunt, who supplemented her entry with an extra limerick that isn't fit to publish here but made me laugh out loud!
Creative competitions always have fewer entries than draws, and this was reflected emphatically in the number of entries. The competition on the blog had only 26 entries while that in the magazine had just 13! Compare that to the Cheeky Shoes competition, which also ran during May and had over 1,000 entries.
For the subscriber-only competition, I gave a lead-in line, "I long to be first past the post" and the winner, chosen by a panel of experienced compers, is Jane Chand whose limerick was
I long to be first past the post
In Grapevine I'm always engrossed
So at the prize dinner -
Maybe I'll be the winner -
Who is raising her glass for the toast.
I gave rather more scope here on the blog, asking you to write any limerick as long as it had something to do with comping. This time the panel chose the entry from Stephy Buckridan - if the scansion puzzles you, try reading it out loud and you'll see that it needs to start with the first syllables run together, a technique often used in limericks.
A comper's thoughts were clouded by fog
So comping was becoming a slog
Then she had an idea
That was perfectly clear
She'd better start reading Jane's blog
Jane and Stephy have each won a year's membership of the Winnin Post club.
I'd also like to say a special thank you to Chris Hunt, who supplemented her entry with an extra limerick that isn't fit to publish here but made me laugh out loud!
Sunday, 2 June 2013
Win Every Week With PayPal
A super new promotion has just started at PayPal - every time you make a payment, you will be entered into a draw. And what a draw! Every week there are 100 prizes. This week, up to June 7th, the prizes are iPad minis, and coming up shortly there are £250 Top Shop gift cards. New prizes will be announced each week - and what's more, all entries will go into a final draw to win one of EVERY prize featured throughout the promotion - a prize worth around £5,000!
Each weekly draw closes at midnight on Friday, with the final weekly draw closing on July 12th, although entries between then and midnight on the 19th will also go into the draw for the Grand Prize. You will only be entered into each week's draw once, however many transactions you make, so if you are planning some shopping, spread it out over several weeks!
I know there are HUGE numbers of transactions made with PayPal every week, but remember you have to be in it to win it, and I have known people who have won in earlier similar promotions they have run even though there were far fewer prizes.
Stuck for something to buy using PayPal? How about a subscription to The Competition Grape Vine? If you like this blog you will love Grape Vine - 24 pages every month packed with comps to enter, with advice on what products you need to buy, if any, tips about tricky rules, answers to competition questions and even a link-finding service to help you enter those links that vanish from websites long before the closing date. There's usually a mid month update, too, sent by email, with even more competitions to enter, many of which are those short-lived ones that give you an extra-good chance to win.
You'll find full details about subscribing on the How To Subscribe page - and if you already subscribe, I'm prepared to accept extensions to your subscription to enable you to enter the competition.
And now, since I can't really subscribe to my own magazine, I'm off to treat myself to some craft goodies!
Each weekly draw closes at midnight on Friday, with the final weekly draw closing on July 12th, although entries between then and midnight on the 19th will also go into the draw for the Grand Prize. You will only be entered into each week's draw once, however many transactions you make, so if you are planning some shopping, spread it out over several weeks!
I know there are HUGE numbers of transactions made with PayPal every week, but remember you have to be in it to win it, and I have known people who have won in earlier similar promotions they have run even though there were far fewer prizes.
Stuck for something to buy using PayPal? How about a subscription to The Competition Grape Vine? If you like this blog you will love Grape Vine - 24 pages every month packed with comps to enter, with advice on what products you need to buy, if any, tips about tricky rules, answers to competition questions and even a link-finding service to help you enter those links that vanish from websites long before the closing date. There's usually a mid month update, too, sent by email, with even more competitions to enter, many of which are those short-lived ones that give you an extra-good chance to win.
You'll find full details about subscribing on the How To Subscribe page - and if you already subscribe, I'm prepared to accept extensions to your subscription to enable you to enter the competition.
And now, since I can't really subscribe to my own magazine, I'm off to treat myself to some craft goodies!
How to comment on a blog that uses Disqus
If you use Internet Explorer, you've probably tried to comment on a blog and got a message along the lines of:
"Disqus does not support your version of Internet Explorer. Please upgrade to version 9 or above"
So you go to check what version you are using. Yes, you are using version 9 or even 10. You try again - still the same message. You shout at the computer, "Look, it says it there in black and white, I AM using the right version!" You refresh the page. You clear cookies. Still it stubbornly refuses to let you comment, and you eventually give up, leaving your comment unsaid, or the competition unentered. You might even go and leave the blog owner a sulky message on Facebook or Twitter.
Sometimes there is a little symbol, like a sheet of paper torn in half, in the address bar next to the refresh button. Clicking on this takes you to "compatibility view" which sometimes helps. The trouble is, if you ARE already using a compatible version, and Disqus can't see it, you won't be offered that option!
The most common answer to the problem is "use another browser" and if you have access to one, like Safari or Chrome, then that's great. But not everyone has one or wants to download one, and many compers aren't familiar with anything but Internet Explorer. So what can you do?
Actually there is a really easy solution!
When you do that, a box pops up. Look at the top right of the box - it will say something like "Browser Mode IE 10 Document Mode IE8 Standards" Click on where it says Document Mode and a menu appears. Choose "Internet Explorer 9 Standards" from that menu and the page will refresh, and the comments box will magically appear.
Disqus seems to have started trying to make you register and log in every time you comment, and so far I haven't found a way to make it keep me logged in - but when I do, I'll add that to this post!
"Disqus does not support your version of Internet Explorer. Please upgrade to version 9 or above"
So you go to check what version you are using. Yes, you are using version 9 or even 10. You try again - still the same message. You shout at the computer, "Look, it says it there in black and white, I AM using the right version!" You refresh the page. You clear cookies. Still it stubbornly refuses to let you comment, and you eventually give up, leaving your comment unsaid, or the competition unentered. You might even go and leave the blog owner a sulky message on Facebook or Twitter.
Sometimes there is a little symbol, like a sheet of paper torn in half, in the address bar next to the refresh button. Clicking on this takes you to "compatibility view" which sometimes helps. The trouble is, if you ARE already using a compatible version, and Disqus can't see it, you won't be offered that option!
The most common answer to the problem is "use another browser" and if you have access to one, like Safari or Chrome, then that's great. But not everyone has one or wants to download one, and many compers aren't familiar with anything but Internet Explorer. So what can you do?
Actually there is a really easy solution!
PRESS THE F12 KEY
When you do that, a box pops up. Look at the top right of the box - it will say something like "Browser Mode IE 10 Document Mode IE8 Standards" Click on where it says Document Mode and a menu appears. Choose "Internet Explorer 9 Standards" from that menu and the page will refresh, and the comments box will magically appear.
Disqus seems to have started trying to make you register and log in every time you comment, and so far I haven't found a way to make it keep me logged in - but when I do, I'll add that to this post!
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