The Etsy Community is constantly dreaming up new ideas.  Some of these ideas are for improvements on the site, some are inspiration for getting out of a creative slump and some are just plain fun ideas  for projects to work on with or get to know other members of the Etsy Community. 

This is a series spotlighting Etsy Community Projects initiated and run by the Etsy Community.  Many of these projects originate in the Forums and some happen completely there.  Some involve mailing packages to other Etsy members, some involve posting on other sites, like Flickr.  All are fun ways to interact with other members of Etsy, be it for a short period of time or on a regular basis.

It's safe to say that people on Etsy generally like making things.  Sometimes ideas come easy, but sometimes a little inspiration is helpful.  That's where the Weekly Challenge is a great thing.  Each week on Monday a new theme or idea is posted in the Etc. Forum to inspire the creation of a new item. The rules are simple: post in that week’s thread a link to something new that you have created for the challenge. That’s it! It's hard to imagine not wanting to get inspired and participate!  Here's a little background on the Weekly Challenge from Jewelstreet, the initiator and organizer of the project.

What inspired you to start the weekly challenge?
Inspiration behind the challenge: the challenge actually started quite accidentally. I had noticed I was in a color rut that I was constantly listing and making things with the same color. I posted something about that on the forums and lots of others said the same thing. We all agreed it would be fun to have a little themed thread that would keep us from getting in our ruts or at least help us out of them.

How long has the Weekly Challenge been going on?
Oh, goodness. May 22, 2006 was the first challenge which was only about a month or so after I started here on Etsy.

Do you have a personal favorite challenge so far?
I think my personal favorite challenge would have to be the challenge we did involving our favorite games, and a close runner-up would have to be the first one with black and white.

About how many people participate regularly?
It varies from week to week. We've had 15-20 people some weeks and some weeks we only have 6.  

Is there any one aspect of the Weekly Challenge in particular that you enjoy?
There's nothing really in particular. I think it's interesting to learn about the other sellers participating. I've learned some sellers' favorite books, games, flowers. I just like the fact I can get to know the people participating like a crafting circle just over the computer.

Jewelstreet's piece for the India Challenge .

Are you organizing a project within the Etsy community, outside of an Etsy Team? Use the Storque Pitch Form to tell us about it or mention it in the comments!