Ponderings Along the Pathway...AN EXPRESSION OF LOVE

Welcome to this month's edition of Ponderings Along the Pathway, an exclusive feature over here on the Path of Positivity. The purpose of this column is to continue with the goal of this blog which is to create a space "designed to inspire, nurture and provide support for the soul by creating a positive path to follow, one project or post at a time". Providing some motivational introspection on the themes we cover each challenge period is one way of achieving this goal.

This month it is all about AN EXPRESSION OF LOVE and PAT is here to share her thoughts on the subject...

Have you ever read the short story “Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry? It’s a story about a young couple just married who are too poor to buy Christmas gifts for each other. So, he pawns his father’s watch that he holds most dear to him, in order to buy combs for his wife’s beautiful hair. Unknowingly, she cuts her hair short in order to buy a chain for her husband’s pocket watch. Imagine their surprise when they each open their gifts! What a unique and wondrous expression of love they showed for one another! You can read the full story HERE.

My husband and I have been married for forty years. I love him and he loves me. Yet I can count on two hands the times he’s actually said the words, “I love you.” It used to bother me, but not anymore. I know he loves me for all the non-verbal ways he’s expressed his love.

Years ago, when his lack of those three little words still hurt me, I started a journal of sorts. It was a book of lists – things for which I am grateful, places I would like to travel to, people who have touched my life in a positive way, etc. Whatever popped into my head, I would make a list. I am a list-driven person and find I can get more things cleaned, organized, created or finished by making lists.

So I picked up my handy dandy notebook (Blue’s Clues fans will get the reference) and created a list of all the ways my husband expressed his love without saying those three little words, things like taking out the garbage, ordering takeout on my busy days, popping into the craft room out of the blue and giving me a hug.

There were so many ways that screamed ‘I LOVE YOU” that I got to the end of the page and could still think of more!

Expressions of love can be spoken, felt, written, wrapped, or baked. They can be subtle, like the Post-It note with positive affirmations that my daughter left for me on the bathroom mirror, or the decorated chocolate cookie cake I had made for hubby, telling him he was going to be a daddy for the first time. They can also hit you on the head like a bouquet of flowers, a romantic getaway, or a marriage proposal. Expressions of love can be anything you think of that lets the other person know that he or she is loved.

I like to create little expressions in my craft room to let my loved ones know how much I care for them. I have created journals for my daughter, cards for my husband, photo and scrapbook albums for my mom and canvases for my sisters. My friends have received homemade treat boxes filled with cookies or fudge I made.

I left one of my expressions of love until last – the love I have for my fellow citizens of the world. I appreciate what I have and share it by donating canned goods to my local food pantry. From 5K Walks (there is no way I can run even 1K without passing out) to serving up dinner at my local soup kitchen, I remember to express my love for all people. Of course, pets are “people” too, and I volunteer at our local Buddy Foundation and donate when I can to No-Kill shelters.

But enough about me! Have you been frustrated by the absence of those three little words, too? Or do YOU have trouble saying “I love you”? What are some ways you have expressed your love or have been on the receiving end? Everyone loves inspiration, so please leave a comment and tell us the expressions of love you have experienced.

And know that we love to have you visit the Path of Positivity. Enjoy your journey!

Pat has shared a great reminder that there are many ways that one can express their love. Try to find new and unique ways to express love to the people most dear in your own life and may you receive back 100 fold, the love you share with the world around you.

Well folks, that is it for today. Enjoy your weekend everyone and please join us again on Monday when we announce the Winners and DT Delights for Challenge #45!

Challenge #46--Optional Theme: AN EXPRESSION OF LOVE...Midway

Hello everyone! Happy Family Day to my fellow Canadians living in Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta (British Columbia celebrated last Monday).  For those of you living in Manitoba, Happy Louis Riel Day. For those of you in Nova Scotia and the Yukon, Happy Heritage Day and for those residing in Prince Edward Island, Happy Islander Day. To all of our readers in the States, Happy President's Day.  Wherever, you may be, I hope that you are spending your time today, or at least a portion of it, in the loving embrace of family and/or friends.

Right now, it is time to get on with the midway for Challenge #46. Just a reminder that our challenges have changed.  Be sure to check out the start post found HERE, for all the rules and details you need to know.

Here is a refresher of what this month's theme is all about:

Challenge #46

Optional Theme: AN EXPRESSION OF LOVE

How do you express love to those people most important to you? There are so many different levels of love and there are even more ways to express it. Do you tend to show your love in small simple heartfelt gestures or do you happen to go the extravagant route? It doesn't really matter how you express love, only that you do! Love is what connects us to others in this world.

In order to have a chance to win the prize for the Most Inspirational Creation, be sure to explore this idea of An Expression of Love. One way you can show your love is by sharing a card with your partner, your close family members and/or your special friends. Perhaps, there is something you can make by hand to express your love. One Valentine's day my hubby and I exchanged a list of the things that we loved most about each other. Whatever direction your expression of love takes you, we'd love to part of that journey.  If you do follow the optional theme, be sure to add FT after your name so that we include you in the draw for the prize for Most Inspirational.  We also ask that you let us know how your creation relates to the concept of love if it isn't readily clear within the design itself or clearly written somewhere else in your post. While you may easily see how the concept of love 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 in a comment on this post or in your blogpost. You can simply write a sentence at the bottom of your post next to the link up for this challenge, if it would be easier. We just need to know how your project ties into the theme. Letting us know, clears up any ambiguity that may exist.

Remember, in order to be considered eligible for this month's prizes, ALL creations must be positive, inspirational, motivational or encouraging in some nature. You don't need to follow the optional theme if you simply want to have a chance at the Random Draw prize of a $10 gift certificate from Imagine That! Digistamp, one of our sponsors this month. You only need to follow the theme if you want a chance to win this month's sponsored prize of the same three digis used by team members, provided by Mari Digis.

Talking of our guest sponsors...

To learn more about this month's guest sponsors, be sure to check out the START post; and of course, also visit the individual sponsors themselves. Below you will find the watermarks and links for the wonderful images that the team worked with for the midway.

From Imagine That! Digistamp™... 
 

Lighthouse

 Love You 2 Pizzas

From Mari Digis...

B60-Beethoven

 

M38-Casal Kiss

M23 – Amigas

 

Thank you so much to both of these wonderful companies for allowing us the opportunity to work with such incredible images during the midway!

To help inspire you further down the path of AN EXPRESSION OF LOVE, check out the wonderful projects my Design Team had the opportunity to create. Clicking on the team members' name will take you to their blog where you can check out the details for their inspirational creations...

Thanks again to my incredible design team! As always, each of them have their own unique styles and ideas which amaze me to no end. Each of these projects has showcased the concept of an expression of love in various forms and manners and I hope we have inspired you throughout this challenge. Be sure to go and visit these talented ladies so you can see how their projects tie in to the theme.

Why not join us, if you haven't entered already? Create a project and/or post that is positive, inspirational, motivational or encouraging in some nature and join our link up. If you've opted to follow the theme of an expression of love for the chance to win the Most Inspirational prize, 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. Also, don't forget to leave FT after your name so we know to include you in the running for the prize. Easy, peasy! You can enter our latest challenge by clicking HERE.

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 is just by leaving a comment on an entry from someone who has touched you somehow with their project and/or post!

Don't Forget...

You have until 11:55 p.m. tonight to vote on your favourite entry for Challenge #45.  Voting is quick, easy and painless so I hope you will consider casting your vote if you haven't already. Winners for challenge #45 will be posted next Monday if everything goes according to plan. You can find the Top Picks post HERE.

LOOKING FOR ANOTHER MOTIVATIONAL QUOTE

ON AN EXPRESSION OF LOVE?

If you need some additional motivation to help inspire you, I've provided another sentiment on this month's theme (the first is available HERE), free for you to download.

Please be sure to click on it to bring it up into the lightbox in its proper size before saving it.

Credit Notes For This Creation:

© 2017, Lisa L. Décosse. PUO. However, you are allowed to use the sentiment on handmade projects that you intend to sell on a small scale basis provided credit is given. You also need to include a credit note and a link to this blog or my personal blog, Decosse's Dynamite Doodles, should you use any of my images in your creations and post them on your blog. Please be sure to familiarize yourself with my full terms of use found in the 'Download Instructions & T.O.U.' tab at the top of this page. Of important note:  Please do not share my images with family, friends, etc. Additionally, do not post any images to file sharing services like Box®, 4-Shared®, etc. Instead, please direct people to my blog(s) so they can grab the image for themselves. If you would like to post a watermarked version of the image, please contact me to obtain one.

Additional Credit and Font Information:
 

Fonts used

• Nouradilla Script font created by Mikrojihad

Click on the font name to take you to a download location. This font was purchased with a premium commercial use license. It is my understanding, that I am within my rights to use this font in my creations and offer them to others for free or for sale. Always check to make sure the terms haven't changed before using the font on something you sell.

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.

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 find out the impetus behind why I started this challenge 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, though please note that the newest challenge details still need to be updated). Additionally, you can find a quick summary of the details related to this challenge, towards the bottom of the start post. 
 

 Click HERE to head to the current challenge post & link up!

GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY...

Please show your support to our wonderful guest sponsors by going over and checking out their work and saying hi if you have the chance.  As mentioned above, this month our guest sponsors are...

Our ongoing sponsors include...

 

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

We look forward to seeing you participate!

Challenge #45 Top Picks: Voting Open February 14th to 20th, 2017

WELCOME TO THE CHALLENGE #45 POP TOP!

Hello everyone! It is time to get on with showcasing the top picks for Challenge #45. This time around we had ten entries. So once again, each of the entrants have the opportunity to be chosen as the Voter's Choice. We do this any time we have less than 14 participants. And, while we may not have enough participants to have a top seven, we certainly have enough to have a top three. Therefore, it is time to get on with showcasing the projects and/or write-ups that touched the team the most.

Thus, without further ado, please let me introduce you to the Top Picks for Challenge #45...

AJ

EDWINA

SHARON

Congrats AJ, Edwina & Sharon... 

As a participant who has been chosen as a Top Pick in this challenge, 

you are entitled to a special Challenge #45 Top Pick Badge.

Please feel free to grab a copy for your blog...

HAVE YOUR SAY!

Now as I mentioned earlier, each of the participant's who entered Challenge #45 AND FOLLOWED THE  RULES is eligible to have their project and/or post voted on. 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 be sure to go and check out the entries first and not just make your choices off of the thumbnails. Then, let us know who your favourite choice is by placing your vote below using the Linky Tools feature (order is reflective of how they entered the challenge and nothing else). Once you have made your decision, why not go back and let them know how they inspired you.

Voting open for 6 days:
February 14th to February 20th

Path of Positivity--Challenge #45 Top Picks
Please click "like" to vote for your favourite entry for Challenge #45 out of the entries listed below.  One vote per IP address please. Please note that you can get a better idea of what the project/post looks like by visiting each participant first. To do so, simply click the names below the thumbnails to be taken to the person's blog. 

---

1. AJ

2. Edwina #1

3. Edwina #2

4. Deanne

5. Sharon

6. Donna

7. NanaConnie

8. AJ

9. Hélène

10. Hazel

This linky list is now closed.

Linky Tools  |  Linky Blog 2013

Good luck everyone!

Winners & Design Team Delights for Challenge #44...BLESSINGS

Egad! I forgot about the winner announcement for challenge #44. Apologies folks! I was supposed to post this last Monday but got super swamped. Then, I had planned to post it Wed. or Thurs but plum forgot. Oopsies! So, I'm popping in today to share it before any more time goes by!!!

As I mentioned when we came back from the holidays, we are now combining our winner post with our DT Delights post. First, we're going to start with our winners from Challenge #44. Thanks to those who took the time to vote. Once again, our Voter's Choice and Most Inspiring Choice turns out to be the same person. Who are all the lucky peeps? Well, let's find out.

Without further ado, here are the choices...

Drum roll, please....BBBbbbrrrrrrrrr pish

 The people have spoken and their choice for Challenge #44 is....

EDWINA

Edwina, you are entitled to receiving a cool and awe inspiring personalized badge for your blog as the Voter's Choice for Challenge #44.  Please feel free to copy your badge below...

 In the category of Most Inspiring, our winner is once again...

EDWINA

Edwina, you have won EITHER the Holiday Hoopla Digital Scrapbooking Kit OR five different mini kits (of six papers each) from the Christmas and/or Winter section from Décosse's Dynamite Doodles, one of our guest sponsors during Challenge #44.

Edwina, you are also entitled to a lovely, one of a kind personalized badge for your blog as the Most Inspiring choice for Challenge #44 which you can find below...

The Random Winner for this challenge (chosen by Random.com), based on all eligible participants is:

IKE

Ike, you have won A $10.00 gift certificate from Imagine That! Digistamp™, the second of our guest sponsors during Challenge #44.

Ike, you are also entitled to a neat and unique personalized badge for your blog as the Random Winner for Challenge #44 which you can find below...

Big Congrats to...

  EDWINA & IKE

If you have won a prize during this challenge, please send your message to popwinners {at} gmail {dot} com (be sure to replace 'at' and 'dot' with the appropriate symbols), or click HERE to bring our email up in your program, with the subject heading, "WINNER PoP Challenge #44" to make arrangements to receive your prize. Please note that I am rather behind these day so it may take me a while to get back to you but I promise I will. Thank you for your patience.

Now it is time to announce our DT Delights from this challenge. As always, in each challenge you, the readers, get to voice your opinion by voting for your favourite and so it is only fitting that my Design Team get to do so as well.

Thanks to the twelve people who took the time to join along our Path during the month of December for Challenge #44. Check out the entries that really caught our attention...

Ike--chosen by Katrina and Pat...

Katrina said this:
"My DT Delight is Ike. These earrings are just adorable and we all know what a blessing kitties are! ;)" 

Pat had this to say:
"My DT Delight is also Ike. I love those earring and wish I'd thought of this kind of project before now!"

To see the details of Ike's creation and read more of what she had to say click HERE. 
 

Edwina--chosen by Pippa and Julie...

Pippa said this:
"My DT Delight is Edwina. I love the angel image and the variety of textures she has used with embossing, glitter and flocking and her thoughts on blessings."

Julie had this to say:
"My DT Delight is also Edwina. I love the image and her embossed cloud background. I also found her blog post very inspiring.

To see the details of Edwina's creation and read more of what she had to say click HERE. 
 

Creative Congratulations to all of you!

Thank you to those who played on our Pathway during the month of December.  As always we greatly appreciate you sharing your incredible talents with us.

For our DT Delights chosen for this challenge...

Ike and Edwina

  You are both entitled to one image of your choice from our on-going sponsor...

Please click HERE to check out the image previews. They are arranged into general categories; although, due to the nature of some of these images, they have been repeated in certain applicable categories. Be sure to click on the watermarks to bring them up into the lightbox for better viewing.

If you are interested in claiming a digi, please send me the name of the one image you want and let me know which section it came from. Send your request to popwinners {at} gmail {dot} com (be sure to replace at and dot with the appropriate symbols) or by clicking HERE to bring the address up in your email program, with the subject, "PoP#44-DT Delight Digi Request". I'm always running rather behind these days, so your patience is appreciated.

Additionally, each of you are entitled to the special Challenge #44 DT Delight Badge which you can find below...

Our special yearly prize package will also still be taking place. Remember, if you are chosen as a DT Delight during any of our challenges, your name will be entered into a draw for some digital goodies. You get one entry per choice; so, if two members picked your card, you will earn 2 entries, three members 3 entries, etc.  The winner at the time will be notified by email.  The next draw will occur sometime in the summer or fall of 2017.

A new challenge just started yesterday and the optional theme is AN EXPRESSION OF LOVE. Click HERE for details. I hope that you will consider coming over to play with us. As always, we'd love to have you join our Path!