Hello everyone and welcome
to the Path of
Positivity Challenge Blog! It is the first Monday
of the
month and it is time for our latest challenge to begin! We hope that you
and your families continue to stay healthy and safe out there.
Since we are not
your typical challenge blog, it is important for you to
understand how things work in order to be sure you are eligible to win
any of the prizes offered. If
you are new to this unique challenge, you can find out the impetus
behind why I started it under the 'Introductions' tab and you can find out 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). For your convenience, a
summary of the most important rules can also be found in the right
sidebar under the heading 'General Rules'.
Right now, it is time to get down to the business of our latest challenge. Here is what you need to know...
Challenge #131
Anything Goes POSITIVE with the Opt. Twist of
Embracing The Unexpected:
Make An Unexpected Design
This year's goal is to
Embrace the Unexpected in our lives (
click here if you'd like to read more in depth about our overall theme for 2025).
No matter how much planning we do throughout our years on this earth,
we're going to come across circumstances that we can't plan for. These
unexpected things may be small or they may be huge and life altering.
The only thing that we can control is how we react to these events. So
this
year, instead of BRACING for the unexpected, we are going to flip that
and get in the habit of EMBRACING the unexpected. This will help us to
train
ourselves to look at these types of events in a different light.
To help inspire you on this journey, each month we will
be doing things such as creating fun unexpected projects, working with items we
might not typically work with, taking approaches that are different from
what we normally do, offering up the unexpected to someone in our
life, etc. So, let's get to the details for this month's challenge. This month's activity should prove
interesting. When putting together a project we usually go through our
supplies and grab items that have coordinated colours, textures, and
flattering embellishments. We expect that our projects will look
pleasing and make sense. Many of us want to create the 'perfect'
project. This month we're flipping that concept on its head. We are
going to make something that may not look nice and something that might
not make much sense at all. Rather than expecting perfection from
ourselves, we are simply going to fully acknowledge and appreciate our
best efforts.
To
start, gather some of your supplies. This is a good time to go through
your different scrap piles and use up the bits and bobs that you have.
Now, obviously the supplies that you grab will depend on the project you
are making. For the purpose of explaining the task, I'll use card
making as my main example.
When
making a card you usually have a base layer (your card stock colour),
some patterned papers or embossing folders, possibly an image or
sentiment you've chosen, and some embellishments (such as brads,
buttons, flowers, washi tape, etc.). I want you to grab a bag or box
that you can't see through. Then you are going to grab a few different
card stocks for your base layer and put them into the bag/box. Mix them
about, reach in and choose one, then set it aside. Empty your bag/box
and this time put in a bunch of different patterned papers and/or
embossing folders. Once again mix them up a bit and choose one or two,
then set those aside with the card stock you chose. Continue this
process with your images, sentiments and embellishments (or any other
category of item you are using), making sure that there are at least
three choices for each of them. When you are done you'll end up with a
mixture of items. Now create your card from that. Here are a few other
ideas:
- If you are a painter you can do the same type of thing just
mixing up your bases (canvas, wood, etc.), paint colours, design ideas and even your
brushes!
- Just want to do some colouring? Choose an
intricate image that will keep you busy (for ex. a zentangle piece would
be good for this). Throw a bunch of markers or pencil crayons into a
bag/box and randomly choose colours for each section of the drawing.
- Throw a bunch of random pictures into the bag/box and choose five to create a collage.
It
is probably going to look ridiculous but that is okay. It is time to
set aside our typical expectations and just be creative and embrace
whatever we end up with. This activity should allow us to be fully
present to opportunities and possibilities that we may not otherwise
have considered.
Remember,
the twist is completely optional and you don't need to follow it in
order to win. However, in order to be considered eligible for this
month's goodies, remember that general types of projects/posts will not
qualify for the honours and prize UNLESS they are also positive, inspirational,
motivational or encouraging in some nature. Additionally, even if a project may qualify as positive, if your post
promotes negativity, hatred or anything of an abhorrent nature, your
project will be disqualified. Honours and Prize include:
- $6 worth of images from Scribbles Designs, for a person chosen in a random draw based on all qualifying entrants.
- A badge for the following honours: Top Pick, Most Inspirational, Random Winner, DT Delight.
Now check out what my awesome design team came up with to inspire you.
Carole is taking this month off and will hopefully be back with us in June. Clicking on each team member's name will take you to their blog where
you can check out the details for their inspirational creations.
My wonderful design team continues to astound me each and every month! They all have
their own approach and deft insight into the twist. Even after all this time, I continue
to be astonished by the purview of greatness in their work! Each of these artful conceptions has showcased the
notion of
Embracing the Unexpected: Make An Unexpected Design admirably and I hope we have
inspired you to commence on your own exploration of creativity. Be sure to go and visit each team member so you can see how her
project further connects to the twist.
So
what are you waiting for? Create a project and/or post that is
positive, inspirational, motivational or encouraging in some nature
and join our link up. How about stretching yourself by also opting to
follow the twist?! While it isn't mandatory, we'd also love to find out
how this month's twist affects your own life. How do you typically deal with the unexpected in your life? Do you view
it with trepidation or take it on as a challenge? This month it is time
to make something completely unexpected. It is time to set aside our typical expectations and simply strive for productivity instead of perfection. Be sure to check above for some specific ideas if you aren't sure how to get started. If you want to share your process on how you decided your project, you can write a
sentence or two in the
body of your post, write a sentence at the bottom of your post
next to the link up for this challenge, or simply leave a comment on
this post if you'd like. Finally, remember that we're trying to create a
Path of Positivity so if
you have some time, please visit other people participating throughout
the month.
Please join us again next week when we will [hopefully] post the
Top Picks for Challenge #130.
Then, be sure to join us again on
May 19th when we'll be back
with
our midway featuring more great projects.
If you ever have any questions be sure to send an email to
decossesdynamitedoodles {at}
yahoo {dot}
ca (don't forget to replace {at} and {dot} with the appropriate symbols), or just leave me a comment.
We look forward to seeing you participate!
Link Up Below:
If you have any problems linking up, please be sure to let me know by leaving a comment
on this post.
Ch. #131--Anything Goes POSITIVE with the Opt. Twist of Embracing the Unexpected: Make An Unexpected Design
This is the place to link up something that you have created during the
month that you consider
positive, inspirational, motivational or encouraging in some nature. Entries for this challenge will be accepted from
May 5th until 11:59 p.m. (ET) on June 1st, 2025.
SEVEN entries MAX. Please click on the 'Challenge Details'
tab located at the top of the blog to see all the rules. A
summary of the most important rules can also be found in the
right
sidebar under the heading
'General Rules'. If you would like to be a Guest Designer in a future challenge, please add the letters GDT after your name.
Anesha, you are also
entitled to a neat and unique personalized badge for your blog as the Random Winner for Challenge #130 which you can find below... 
