Purposes of our Guidelines

We do have some specific guidelines that we ask our participants to follow and there are many reasons why. We are going to attempt to explain those reasons in this post.


#1 - Enter the permalink to your blog post (not to the home page of your blog)

This is an absolute "must do" for us. If you enter the link to the home page of your blog (instead of your permalink), ten months from now when someone is looking for inspiration for a "Wonder" photo will never be able to find your original entry. This is why it is absolutely imperative for you to remember to enter your permalink each week.


#2 - Your Mr. Linky username can only be 25 characters long (or less)

After our first week of challenges, we realized that we were going to get an enormous amount of entries every week. We also realized that if the Mr. Linky usernames were too long, it was almost impossible to even see any of the entries in the third column. Due to this, we ask that everyone keep their Mr. Linky name to 25 characters or less. If you use a name that is longer than that, we will either delete your entry or shorten your name for you. We have been shortening usernames for everyone for a few weeks now so that they can be considered for our weekly contest, but this is taking up an enormous amount of our time. Please use a short username so that you'll be considered for the challenge and so that we won't have to fix it for you!



#3 - Our Blog Button must be in your I ♥ Faces post

Our blog button is an immediate sign to anyone who comes to your blog that you have made an entry into our weekly contest. This makes it a lot easier for Angie, Amy and the weekly judge to know that your entry was a real one (we get a lot of spam and commercial entries every week that are automatically deleted.)



#4 - We ask that you link back to our website

We have found that a lot of bloggers and flickr users have no idea that our button is clickable (ie. if they click on it, it would take them right to our website.) Due to this, we ask that you also provide a link back to our website in your post (for an example - "Be sure to head on over to www.iheartfaces.com to check out all of the beautiful face entries this week!") or you need to indicate that if they click on the button it will take them to our website. We want everyone to be able to find us and join in on the fun each week!



#5 - Only one photo per category can be in your post!

One of the main purposes of our blog is that we can be inspired by one another. We want everyone to be able to visit each blog, focus on that one photo per category and to be able to remember it for future inspiration. If you have a bunch of other photos in your post, it really takes away from this purpose and makes it difficult to even remember what your original photo entry looked like.

If you have other photos that will explain "the story behind your photo" they cannot be in your post. They can be in a second post that you link to, but they can't be in your entry post if you want to be considered for the contest.

This goes for any other photos as well (ie. cupcakes, landscape, food products, historical figures, etc.) If there are any other photos in your post, you will not be considered for our contest!

You can use any of our I ♥ Faces graphics in your entry post (ie. buttons, Kids or Adults category badges, special buttons we make to explain the theme, etc.) Those are all absolutely fine to add to your post.



#6 - You must link to a blog or flickr site where other participants can leave you comments.

If you link to a blog or to a website that doesn't allow for comments, your entry will not count for our challenge. One of the most enjoyable parts of our website is that we can all encourage and congratulate one another on a job well-done. If your post doesn't allow for comments, it makes it impossible for other members of our community to interact with you.

*If you link to a private blog (one where only invited guests can see your posts)...we cannot see your entry! Your entry will be automatically deleted.**



#7 - Your photo can only be entered one time on our website.

After you enter a photo on our website, it can never be entered here again (not even if you convert it to B&W, Sepia, or alter the photo somehow.) We want to continue to be inspired by new photos...not to see the same set of photos over and over again.



#8 - You have to have taken your photo entry yourself.

We think this is fairly obvious...if you want to win the weekly contest, the photo has to have been taken by you! If your husband or wife took the photo, please indicate that and enter their name into the Mr. Linky so that they will be considered for being a Winner that week.

You absolutely cannot enter any photos that were taken by a friend, any other loved one or a professional photographer.



#9 - Your photo has to clearly have a FACE showing in it.

Our website is all about faces and the amazing emotions they convey. Due to that, a face has to be very clearly seen in your entry. :)

(This will not apply to special themes that we will have from time-to-time, but we will let you know well ahead of time when those themes will be.





Thank you,

Amy & Angie
I ♥ Faces Co-Founders