Monday, September 23, 2013

The People Have Spoken: Winners From Challenge #5

It is time to announce the winners from Challenge #5.  So, without further ado, let's get on with it...

Drum roll, please....BBBbbbrrrrrrrrr pish

The people have spoken and for the first time ever, we have a tie.  So for challenge #5, in the category of Voter's Choice the people have chosen....



 and also...


The team decided the fairest thing to do was to split the prize down the middle, so Pat and Donna, you each have won your choice of five images from Creative Bug Digital Stamps.
Pat and Donna, you will also be getting a cool and awe inspiring personalized badge for your blog as the Voter's Choice for Challenge #5.
In the category of Most Inspiring, we also have another first.  The same person has won for both the Voter's Choice and for the Most Inspiring creation as chosen by our design team.  So our winner is...

PAT


Pat, in addition to the first set of images you have won, you are also entitled to your choice of three images from Ike's Art.
Pat, you will also be getting a lovely, one of a kind personalized badge for your blog as the Most Inspiring choice for Challenge #5.
  The random winner for this challenge (chosen by Random.com), based on all eligible participants is:



Jo Ann. you have won your choice of three images from Fresh Brewed Designs.


Jo Ann, you will also be getting a neat and unique personalized badge for your blog as the Random Winner for Challenge #5.
We also have a prize available for a random voter who left a comment.

 The random winner for this challenge (chosen by Mini Web Tool), based on all eligible participants is:

LINDA with her comment:
You have pulled together an outstanding selection. There is so much creativity and energy flowing from each design. All seven made me happy and put a big smile on my face.
Linda, you have won a Digital Designer Paper from Decosse's Dynamite Doodles.
 Big Congrats to...
  Pat, Donna, Jo Ann & Linda
Please click HERE to send us an email with the subject, "WINNER PoP Challenge #5" to make arrangements to receive your prize and badge (where applicable).

All entrant's in Challenge #5 are entitled to a special digital sentiment based on a quote related to the theme for the upcoming challenge.  So, if you were one of the individuals who entered Challenge #5 and would like to receive a free sentiment based on the theme for Challenge #7, which starts Monday, October 7, please click HERE to send us an email with the subject line, "PoP Challenge #5 Entrant Quote Request".
Don't forget, there is still two weeks left to enter into this month's challenge on HONESTY.  Click HERE for details.  If you haven't linked up already, I hope that you will consider coming over to play with us.  As always, we'd love to have you join our Path!

Monday, September 16, 2013

Challenge #6--Midway Reflection & Voting Reminder

Hello to all our wonderful readers and participants. It is the midpoint of our current challenge, where the theme this month is HONESTY. Today I am going to share a little introspection with you all that I am also presenting on my own personal blog in my regular, "Motivational Monday" feature. Hence, we are going to further delve into the concept of honesty.

Honesty is the Best Policy

If honesty is the best policy, then why is it so difficult for us to truly be honest? Last week I had the opportunity to visit one of the entries in our current HONESTY challenge. Deanne, from Little Bit ‘OPaper had a really great quote on her project:
“Honesty is more than not lying. It is truth telling, truth speaking, truth living, and truth loving.” ~Faust
Many people are under the impression that simply not lying makes them honest. However, truth encompasses so many other variables and being completely honest with others and even ourselves can be quite a challenge.

As children we learn all the different outcomes from lying or simply avoiding the truth. The act of lying itself may prevent a child from getting into trouble immediately but the consequences of when the truth is finally discovered may increase the punishment tenfold. Then there are those occasions when telling the truth itself will result in punitive measures. If a five year old realizes that telling the truth is going to cost him or her in some way, are they likely to speak up with sincerity? Then, what about those times when it just might be possible that the child’s lies aren’t discovered? The praise and reward received may propel the child down a slippery slope of dishonest behaviour in order to achieve desirable results. As the child grows and tests the waters of where their honesty or dishonesty lands them, the negative patterns of conduct may already be too far ingrained and subconsciously they may come to a point where they don’t even realize how dishonesty is impacting their life. Face it, as humans if we can avoid facing emotional pain, our tendency will be to fall back on dishonesty if we believe that it can preclude us from experiencing the ramifications of distress. Thus, we end up falling into the pattern of deceptive behaviour given our desire to stay in our ‘happy place’ and to effectively avoid conflict or responsibility and get what we want. However, time has taught us that patterns can be broken and in order to live authentically, we need to adopt an honest lifestyle.

The problem is that walking the fine line of honesty can be a very difficult road to travel. As the quote says, it isn’t simply about not telling lies, it is also about coming forward and being truthful when we have done something wrong. It is about having the courage to speak up and tell the truth though we may be afraid to do so. It is about living your life with honesty being an important principle that you follow. Finally, it is about embracing and loving this truthful side to your nature. For some people, this means that they must ready themselves to deal with the potential pain that telling the truth can lead to and also learn that life isn’t always going to be about getting desirable outcomes. It takes true strength to be honest and if individuals have spent years immersed in negative behaviour, their patterns will not be broken overnight. However, with time, practice and perseverance, patterns can be broken. For others, the difficulty of living a truthful life lies in not wanting to hurt those around them. Many of us would prefer to avoid bringing distress to the people we care about. In these circumstances, we need to approach the situation with tact, be sensitive to the feelings of others, and exercise political correctness while still managing to bring honesty into the equation. None of these are easy tasks.

My personal goal is to live a truthful life. Sometimes I am not always so successful. For myself it is more a matter of not wanting to bring pain to others, not wanting to show anger and if I am being truthful with myself, avoiding conflict. Living a truthful life as Faust has laid out in his quote, is not an easy task at all. It can be arduous, distressing, uncomfortable and confusing, yet exalting and liberating all at the same. It requires determination, introspective thought and commitment. Additionally, it requires an individual to be accountable for their own life. That is not an easy thing to do but I believe that the rewards for living a truthful life are worth the efforts—better relationships, trust, less anxiety from having to keep all the different lies straight, knowing that you have taught others through example. These are all ideals worthy of the struggle, are they not?

Honesty may be the best policy but it is one whose implementation does not come without cost. Are you willing to put the time and effort into living the principles of "truth telling, truth speaking, truth living, and truth loving"? I may not always succeed, but I personally, am certainly going to try.

To help inspire you down the path of honesty, check out the wonderful creations some of my Design Team had the opportunity to create...




Samara used the image that was rather popular among the DT at the start of the challenge, the beautiful rose called Flower 6, from our guest sponsor this month Scribbles Designs. If you are interested in purchasing this ravishing rose, click on the watermark to head to its location in the store.

 Next up is...



Vicky has used a sweet image from one of our amazing regular sponsors, Creative Bug Digitals
Finally, that leaves our...

Lynda from  Positive Force, who is our guest designer this month, created this precious project...
Lynda has used the adorable image Ballerina, also from Creative Bug Digitals.  If you are interested in purchasing this sweet young lady, click on the watermark to head to its location in the store.



Clicking on the team members name (or in the case of our GDT, the blog name) will take you to their blog where you can check out the details for their inspirational creations!
So if you haven't entered already, what are you waiting for?  Create a project and/or post that is positive AND relates to honesty, provide an explanation of how your project and/or post relates to the theme somewhere in your post or come over and leave a comment with the explanation.  Easy, peasy!

Also, I know that the participants would love for you to go and pay them a visit.  Remember we're creating a Path of Positivity to follow one project at a time and we'd love to see you somewhere on that route even if it just by leaving a comment on an entry from someone who has touched you somehow with their project and/or post!

If you are new to this unique challenge, you can find out the impetus behind why I started it under the 'Introductions' tab and all the details you need to know in order to participate, in the 'Challenge Details' tab (both tabs located at the top of the blog).

Don't Forget...

You still have 3 days to vote on your favourite entry for Challenge #5.  Voting is quick, easy and painless so I hope you will consider casting your vote if you haven't already.  Don't forget, if you leave a comment after voting, you have the opportunity to walk away with a digital paper created especially for you. To check out the Top Seven and cast your vote, click HERE.  You have until Thursday, September 19th at 11:55 pm to have your say in who walks away with the Voter's Choice prize.  If everything goes according to plan, the winners for Challenge #5 will be announced next Monday.

LOOKING FOR ANOTHER MOTIVATIONAL QUOTE ON OPTIMISM?
If you need some motivation to get you started, I've provided the Faust quote that I referenced above, free for you to download:
Font and Image Information:
Click on the font name to take you to a download location.  All these fonts are free for commercial use.

You will notice that the sentiment may appear huge depending on what software program you download it into.  You can always reduce the size without distorting the overall look. 

I've added a 'Download Instructions & T.O.U.' tab at the top of the page. If you use this image in your artwork and post it on your blog, please credit me and link your posting back to this site. NO sharing, or pinning of unwatermarked images allowed.  Please ensure that you familiarize yourself with my full terms of use before using.  

SUMMARY
Whether you are new and need to familiarize yourself with all the details,  or a returning participant and just need to refresh yourself, you can always find out everything you need to know in order to enter this challenge in the 'Challenge Details' tab at the top of the page. You can enter the challenge by clicking HERE to take you to the current challenge post where you can also find a quick summary of the details related to this challenge, towards the bottom of the post.

GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY...
Please show your support to our fabulous sponsors by going over and checking out their work and saying hi if you have the chance.  In addition to Fresh Brewed Designs, our guest sponsor for the month...
...we also have our regular sponsors:
 
 









That is me and I'd love for you to visit me
on my personal blog.


If you ever have any questions be sure to EMAIL ME or just leave me a comment.



We look forward to seeing you participate!





References:

C., Jared; P., Martyn, et al.. (Date Unknown.). How to Be Honest. Available: http://www.wikihow.com/Be-Honest. Last accessed 16th Sept. 2013.

Letchford, Belinda. (Date Unknown.). Character Notes - Truthfulness. Available: http://www.lifestyle-homeschool.com/Character-Notes-Truthfulness.html. Last accessed 16th Sept. 2013.

Mercer, Mark. (Date Unknown.). Don't Lie: Discussion and Criticism. Available: www.smu.ca/faculty/markmercer/documents/13_Don't_Lie.doc. Last accessed 16th Sept. 2013.

Tangient LLC. (2013). Honesty. Available: http://discoveringtherealme.wikispaces.com/9+-+Honesty. Last accessed 16th Sept. 2013.

Wells, Jonathan . (Date Unknown.). Do You Have the Courage to Be Honest?. Available: http://advancedlifeskills.com/blog/courage-to-be-honest/. Last accessed 16th Sept. 2013.


Monday, September 09, 2013

Challenge #5 Top Seven: Voting Open September 9th to September 19th, 2013

Welcome to the Challenge #5 PoP ToP!

The DT has been hard at work narrowing entries down for our Top Seven for Challenge #5.  Why seven and not the typical three, four or even five?  Well, we strive to be different over here on the Path of Positivity.  Additionally, seven is a spiritual number and thus right in the wheelhouse of the vibe we are looking to project; so, seven it is.  However, narrowing the field down to seven is not an easy task and I think it is only going to get harder as time goes by.

There wasn't as many entries as I had hoped there would be, about half the number of the last challenge.  I honestly thought last month's theme would have brought more people in as the concept of optimism opened up a number of different possibilities.   I'll be optimistic and just imagine that people were on holidays or getting into gear to get their kids back on track and that is what kept the entries low.

Well, enough of my ramblings, it is time to get on with it, so please let me introduce you to the Top Seven for Challenge #5 (in no particular order)...


Congrats Ladies...

As a participant who has been chosen in our Top Seven, each of you is entitled to a special Top Seven badge. Please email me by clicking HERE, with the subject "Challenge #5 Top Seven" and I'll email your badge to you. 

Have Your Say!

Now the really hard work starts.  It is time for you, our readers, to vote for your favourite entry.  Which participant most inspires you?  Remember, you are not necessarily voting on a creation that was made.  You might simply find what the person had to say in their post to be inspiring and optimistic.  Please let us know who your choice is by placing your vote below using the Inlinkz feature. 

Voting open for 10 days:
September 9th to September 19th

So, come have your say in determining the Voter's Choice for Challenge #5!  Don't forget to leave a comment after you have voted.  There will be a prize for one lucky voter who leaves a comment (chosen randomly).   You should be able to visit any of these lovely entries by clicking on the thumbnail or name in the linkup below, after you have voted.  Why not pay a visit to your favourite and let them know how they inspired you.

Good luck everyone!

Important  Note:

Please note that in order for this to work, I must add all the entries but I can only do this AFTER I have published this post.  So there will be some overlap time between when this post is published and when you will be able to vote.  Once I have uploaded the entries there will be a total of seven images below on which to vote.  If there are less than seven, it means that I am still in the process of adding the images and you should come back in a little while to make your vote.  Thank you for your patience!

Link Up:

Monday, September 02, 2013

Challenge #6--Honesty: September 2 - October 6, 2013

It is the first Monday in September and that means it is time for the next challenge to start. This time around, for Challenge #6 the theme is "Honesty". Show us your interpretation of what honesty means to you. You can make any sort of project and/or post as long as it is positive in nature and relates to the theme. Now I realize that this theme is definitely challenging but a little creative thought and I know you guys will come up with something awesome.

Don't forget when you link up your project and/or post, to please leave a comment letting us know how your creation relates to the concept of honesty if it isn't readily clear within the design itself or clearly written somewhere else in your post. Remember, the creation must be positive/inspirational/motivational AND adhere to the theme of honesty in order to be considered eligible for this month's prizes. While you may easily see how honesty relates to your creation, it may not be as apparent to me or the DT members. That is why we ask that you clarify it somewhere, whether here or in your blogpost. This way it clears up any ambiguity that may exist.

Now it is time to meet our guest sponsor for this month...

Looking for a unique image or sentiment? Well then! Head on over to Scribbles Designs and check out Sandy's world of her funky imagination and quirky characters. Sandy has loved art, drawing, water coloring and doodling for many years... and with the digital image world she can now share it with all of you. Brrr (Penguin) was her first main character and her other quirky images followed not long after. We hope you enjoy the endearing images available in the store and add Sandy's images to your digital stamp collections.

 It is so great having the wonderful Scribbles Designs back as our sponsor this month.  They have so many fabulous images to play with and here are just some of them.  Our DT was lucky enough to work with the following amazing digital images...



The beauty of this image lies in its simplicity.  A single rose can say so much.  Several of our team chose to use this pretty image and I can certainly understand why.
 Here are two sentiments used by one of the team members.  If these sentiments don't convey honesty, I don't know what does!
 Now here is one area where none of us want to be honest.  So Carla is the perfect image choice to challenge our honesty in this region.
This beautiful tangle was also used this month.  In fact it was used by the person who created it.  I'm very lucky that not only is the talented Sandy sponsoring our challenge, she is also on our team.  Double bonus!

If you are interested in purchasing any of these incredible images, clicking on the watermark will take you to their location in the Scribbles store.

Now check out what my amazing design came up with to inspire you.  Clicking on the team members' name will take you to their blog where you can check out the details for their inspirational creations...








 


We are also pleased to have Lynda from Positive Force joining us this month...
My name is Lynda Lindley and I have been crafting for over twenty years; starting out first stamping and then expanding into all areas of paper crafting.  I live in Washington state with my husband, two daughters and one crazy smart girl dog.  A self proclaimed challenge junkie, I do not feel grounded unless I am creating something. When I am not coloring, stamping, painting, knitting, or scrapbooking, I can often be seen with inky fingers volunteering at my daughter’s school in the library and teaching art in the classrooms.  You can find me online at http://positive-force.blogspot.com/.
 Here is the beautiful card that Lynda came up with for us...

 Aren't  all these creations just fabulous?  Each of them touches on the designers' own ideas as to what honesty means to them. 

So what are you waiting for?  Create a project and/or post that is positive AND relates to honesty, provide an explanation of how your project and/or post relates to the theme somewhere in your post or come over and leave a comment with the explanation.  Easy, peasy!

If you have some time, please visit other people participating throughout the month.  I've included the summary of the challenge details below.  If you are new to this unique challenge, you can find out the impetus behind why I started it under the 'Introductions' tab and all the details you need to know in order to participate, in the 'Challenge Details' tab (both tabs located at the top of the blog).

I hope to see you back on Monday, September 9th when voting will start on the Top Seven for Challenge #5.

MOTIVATIONAL QUOTE ON HONESTY
If you need some motivation to get you started, I've provided a quote for you, which you can find below.

Font Information:
Click on the font name to take you to a download location.  Both these fonts are free for commercial use.

You will notice that the sentiment may appear huge depending on what software program you download it into.  You can always reduce the size without distorting the overall look. 

I've added a 'Download Instructions & T.O.U.' tab at the top of the page.  If you download any sentiments please ensure that you familiarize yourself with my terms of use.

SUMMARY
Whether you are new and need to familiarize yourself with all the details,  or a returning participant and just need to refresh yourself, you can always find out everything you need to know in order to enter this challenge in the 'Challenge Details' tab at the top of the page. I've provided a quick summary below.  Please note that dates and times listed below are for this particular challenge only:
  • Each Path of Positivity challenge will remain open for approx. a full month.  Entries for this challenge will be accepted from September 2nd to October 6th.
  • Link up your inspirational post below using Inlinkz. You will be able to submit your link up to 11:55 p.m. on October 6th..
  • When you link up, leave a comment summarizing what it is about your post that you feel is inspirational  / positive / motivational and how it fits into the theme if you have not included this information somewhere within your post.
  • Don't forget to come back throughout the month and visit others that have participated.
  • Voting for this challenge will begin once the top seven have been determined.  There will be a separate post detailing the top seven.  You will then have the opportunity to vote on the creation or post that you have found to be the most inspirational of the chosen seven.  Be sure to leave a comment telling us what it was that inspired you or something in general if you uncomfortable disclosing any details of your vote.
  • This month, prizes will be the following:
    • Ten digital images from Creative Bug Digital Stamps for the person out of the top seven who receives the most votes during voting week.
    • Three digital images from Ike's World  for the post or project that the DT deems most inspiring of the bunch.
    • Three images from Scribbles Designs, this month's guest sponsor for a person chosen in a random draw based on all entrants.
    • One digital designer paper from Décosse's Dynamite Doodles for one lucky voter who leaves a comment.
    • One digital sentiment for every single person who enters the challenge.
GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY...
Please show your support to our fabulous sponsors by going over and checking out their work and saying hi if you have the chance.  In addition to Scribbles Designs, our guest sponsor for the month, we also have our regular sponsors:
 
 









That is me and I'd love for you to visit me
on my personal blog.


If you ever have any questions be sure to EMAIL ME or just leave me a comment.

We look forward to seeing you participate!

Inlinkz collection begins below: