Design Team Delights for Challenge #20

It is time to share our favourite entries for Challenge #20.  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 everyone who took the time to join along our Path during the month of November for Challenge #20.  While it is always a difficult decision, several team member managed to find a particular entry that really caught their attention.  Take a look... 

Mimi----chosen by Vicky...

Vicky had this to say:
"My DT Delight choice is Mimi.  I never thought of sympathy cards as a thank you for the memories and it really touched me! This is a quote from her blog":

"I don't know about you, but I find, when somebody who has left an impression on you during their time on earth passes you are left with some wonderful memories to carry you through with your journey here on earth. That is the basis of this card, 'Thank you for the memories'".

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

Jo Ann--chosen by Pat...

This is what Pat had to say:
"My DT Delight choice is J Atterbury. She has a grateful soul and is appreciative of all she has, even when things aren't going her way."

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

Stephanie--chosen by Desíre...

Here is what Desíre had to say:
"My DT Delight choice is Stephanie.  She had this to say, which I am sure will resound with most of us":

"It's so easy to take those closest to us for granted. Our words have a tremendous power to encourage or discourage our loved ones. Just a simple, "thanks for taking out the trash" or "I appreciate all you do to provide for us" or "thanks for listening" can mean so much. It doesn't matter if it's their "job," appreciation is like food for the soul. This year, let's make a point to let our loved ones know that we do notice and appreciate the little things (as well as the big things) they do for us."

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

Hanne--chosen by Penny...

Penny said this:
"My DT Delight choice is Hanne. The card itself is a fabulous design; I love the neutral palette, the die cuts, the papers, the image, and the coloring. I think the sentiment, (I am grateful for my morning coffee!), is perfect for Hanne's feelings toward gratitude. To quote her":

"I personally try to be grateful every day all year round and I'm grateful for both the big things and smaller joys in life."

"What's not to love about that?  :^) "
  

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

Donna--chosen by Suze...

Here is what Suze had to say: 
"My DT Delight choice is Donna. I love the thought and effort she has put into recycling the container and her comments regarding gratitude summed up in this sentence":

"WE ARE GRATEFUL for all the people who have sacrificed and served in some capacity to help others and/or to serve our country."

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

Ike--chosen by Lisa (that's me)...

My choice this time around is Ike.  I really love the tribute that she made for her dad whom she has recently lost.  This beautiful memoriam is not only in tribute of the man himself but also of the service he did for his country.  There are so many service men and woman who put their lives on the line daily to protect us.  Many we have lost.  It is important that we show just how grateful we are to these incredibly brave individuals, any way that we are able to.

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

Creative Congratulations to all of you!

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

For our DT Delights chosen for this challenge... 

  Mimi, Jo Ann, Stephanie, Hanne, Donna and Ike

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

Please head to the Creative Bug Digital SnapShots store:  http://creativebugdigis.com.  Click to enter the digital snapshots area.  Once you are on the homepage for the digis, scroll down a little bit and you'll see a brown banner on the left hand side that says, "looking for digis".  There will be a Polaroid image right underneath it that says SnapShots (Digital Images).  Click on this.  You'll be taken to a page that lists all the categories of images available for you to choose from.  If you need to see the image a bit closer, just right click and choose 'view image'.  Once you've made your decision, please send me the name of the one image you want and let me know which section it came from.

Additionally, you are entitled to the special Challenge #20 DT Delight Badge. To claim both your digi and the badge (or just one or the other), send your requests 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#20--DT Delight Badge and/or Digi Request".   I'm always running a bit behind these days, so your patience is appreciated.

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 of 2015.

Thank you for stopping by today.  I hope to see you again on January 4th when we will be back with the start of Challenge #22.  We hope that you will join us then to learn what the newest theme will be.

This will be the last post until the new year.  On behalf of all of us here on the Path of Positivity, may you all have a blessed new year!

See you next year!

The People Have Spoken: Winners From Challenge #20

It is time to announce the winners from Challenge #20.  This was a tight race for both the Voter's Choice category and the Most Inspirational Choice.  One vote separated the Voter's Choice from the two projects tied in second place.  Just one more reason it is so important to vote. Every single one can help your favourite project.  Additionally,  the team also found it very difficult to decide on just one for the Most Inspirational category.  Three were running neck in neck there too, with our final choice edging out on top with just one vote as well.  So, without further ado, here are the choices...

Drum roll, please....BBBbbbrrrrrrrrr pish

The people have spoken and their choice for Challenge #20 is....

 STEPHANIE

Stephanie, you will be getting a cool and awe inspiring personalized badge for your blog as the Voter's Choice for Challenge #20.

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

NANACONNIE

NanaConnie, you have won a prize package of a $10 worth of images from DigiStamps4Joy, our guest sponsor during Challenge #20.

NanaConnie, you will also be getting a lovely, one of a kind personalized badge for your blog as the Most Inspiring choice for Challenge #20.

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

SARAH

Sarah, you have won your choice of three images from Ike's Art.

Sarah, you will also be getting a neat and unique personalized badge for your blog as the Random Winner for Challenge #20.

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:

Karen with her comment:

For some reason, there is no "little grey heart" appearing for me to click on and vote. Is there any chance that I can just tell you I'd like all my votes to go for Stephanie Wright's cards. Not only are her cards always BEAUTIFUL, but she is such an encouraging and beautiful servant of God who is always blessing others with her kind words and sweet spirit. She gets my votes!

Karen, you have won a selection of digital designer papers from Décosse's Dynamite Doodles.

Big Congrats to...

Stephanie, NanaConnie, Sarah & Karen

Please click HERE to send us an email with the subject, "WINNER PoP Challenge #20" to make arrangements to receive your prize and badge (where applicable).  Please note that it may take me a few days to get back to you.  Thank you for your patience.

 

All entrant's in Challenge #20 are entitled to a special digital sentiment based on the theme for the upcoming challenge.  So, if you were one of the individuals who entered Challenge #20 and would like to receive a free sentiment based on the theme for Challenge #22, which starts Monday, January 5th, please click HERE to send us an email with the subject line, "PoP#20 Entrant Quote Request for #22".

 

Since December has five Mondays, you still have two weeks left to enter into our challenge on FAITH.  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!

 

Don't forget to join us this coming Sunday for our DT Delights post.  And, from all of us here at the Path of Positivity, we wish you happy holidays!

 

Challenge #20 Top Picks: Voting Open December 8th to December 15th, 2014

Welcome to the Challenge #20 PoP ToP!

It is time to get on with showcasing the top picks for Challenge #20.  We were fortunate enough this month to have more than 14 entries so we are able to go back to showcasing the seven projects that the team feels were the best of the bunch.  In case you are new and wondering 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 (as long as we have a minimum of fourteen participants).

Now, without further ado, please let me introduce you to the Top Picks for Challenge #20 (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 Pick badge. Please send an email to popwinners {at} gmail {dot} com, or by clicking HERE to bring up the address in your email program, with the subject "Challenge #20 Top Pick" and I'll email your badge to you.  Please note that it may take me several days to get back to you, so I really appreciate your patience.

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 and in line with the concept of gratitude.  Therefore, please be sure to go and check out the entries first and not just make your choices off of the thumbnails.  You can also check out comments left by entrants on the Challenge #20 start post by clicking HERE and scrolling down to the bottom.  Once you have checked all the entries out,  let us know who your favourite choice is by placing your vote below using the Inlinkz feature.

Voting open for 7 days:
December 8th to December 15th

Come have your say in determining the Voter's Choice for Challenge #20!  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).  If you haven't had the opportunity to visit each of the top seven choices already, please go and check them out a little more closely before placing your vote.  Once you have made your decision, why not go back 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.  As soon as all seven are uploaded, I'll enable voting to begin. 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 Below:

Challenge #20--Midway Reflection & Voting Reminder

Hello everyone! We have reached the midway point of Challenge #20. The theme for this challenge is all about GRATITUDE.   As usual, I am going to share a little introspection with you all that I am also presenting on my own personal blog in my "Motivational Monday" feature.

 Give Thanks

The concept of giving thanks is a universal one.  We all have something in our lives which we can be grateful for.  The list differs for each of us because we all live in our own unique part of the world.  For some people when they get out of bed in the morning they can be thankful there is a roof over their heads.  For others not so fortunate, they can be thankful that no one came by and robbed them or worse, throughout a long cold night on the street.   And for many more, not hearing bombs go off during the night, can be what they wake up grateful for.  There are many people throughout the world that have lists and lists of things that they should be thankful for, but never are.  Then there are people who have so very little or are in pain or suffering great hardship, who make sure to say quiet 'thank yous' each and every day.

Regardless of your circumstances, I hope that there is still something, even if it is something very small, for which you are able to show your gratitude.  Being grateful is a mindset.  We can choose to show gratitude and take a more positive stance on things or we can choose to wallow and fixate on the negative. Being thankful, not just for the larger things but for the smaller ones too, allows us to fill our lives with love and appreciation.  It reminds us of all the good things that we have going for us. No, gratitude won't make the difficult things we are facing in our life go away, but it will help to provide us with a different perspective.  For example, I can complain about how painful and difficult it is for me to sit, stand and walk unassisted or I can choose to be grateful that I still have the capacity to do all three regardless of how long for the first two, or how far for the last.  Most days when I'm within my home, I can get by with the assistance of my canes.  While I have a wheelchair and scooter, I generally only need them when I leave my home or when I have a rather difficult day.  Under different circumstances I might be in that wheelchair permanently. For today I'm grateful that I'm not.

Whether the act of gratitude comes easy to you or not, it is definitely worth the effort.  Remember, everything in life that has any importance, takes hard work to achieve. There have been studies done that show the benefits of gratitude.  They indicate that people who demonstrate their appreciation on a daily basis, tend to be:

• more full of life,
• purposeful, 
• healthier,
• more creative,
• have better exchanges with their peers,
• more optimistic,
• able to deal with stress and personal challenges more effectively.

Sounds to me, like reason enough, to practice gratitude on a daily basis.  During my research, I came across this quote which summarizes some of those reasons nicely:

"In the face of demoralization, gratitude has the power to energize.  In the face of brokenness, gratitude has the power to heal.  In the face of despair, gratitude has the power to bring hope."  (Emmons, 2013, para. 2)

So, why not try giving thanks today and everyday?  With so many advantages to gain, what do you have to lose?!

References 
Adamski, Carol . (N.D.). The Value of Practicing Gratitude. Available: http://gratitudehabitat.com/be-grateful/. Last accessed 16th November 2014.
Emmons, Robert. (2013). How Gratitude Can Help You Through Hard Times. Available: http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_gratitude_can_help_you_through_hard_times. Last accessed 16th November 2014.

To help inspire you down the path of gratitude, check out the wonderful projects a few of my Design Team had the opportunity to create...

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, November is Lynda's last month with us, so this makes it her last official card posting for our challenge; although, you will still see her input in our DT Delight for Challenge #19.  Thank you so very much Lynda for all your great creations and insight during your time with us.  You will definitely be missed but we wish you only the best.

For Lynda's midway project she chose to use the image called Bella Picking Berries from our second regular sponsor, Creative Bug Digis.   Such a cute image.  Unfortunately, Naomi has had to close down the store; however, her images will still be available for DT Delight winnings and other sponsorship opportunities.  They just will no longer be available for sale in the foreseeable future.

Monica decided to work with the image called Lillies for You which was one of the images the team got to work with from our guest sponsor for the month, DigiStamps4Joy.  This image is another perfect way to express gratitude as the act of giving someone flowers is often done, for saying thank you of some nature. 

Pat decided to use images from the Female Troops Bundle, from one of our regular sponsors, Ike's Art.  This set showcases women of strength.  There are so many women (and men as well) that fight for each of our countries, that we should be taking the time to thank.  This image is currently located within the 'My Latest Designs' section.

Vicky worked with the same image that Monica did, Lillies for You.  You can find the watermark under Monica's project above.

Penny worked with the image called, KT Swings, also from Ike's Art.  Such a carefree loving image that works perfectly with the sentiment Penny used.  This image is currently located within the 'My Latest Designs' section as well.

Finally, that leaves our...

Once again a team member from DS4J will be our guest designer.  For the midway, it is Julie, from Muddy Paws, Inky Fingers, who we were fortunate to also have as a guest last month.

My name is Julie Odil, and I am thrilled to be guest designing again this month for the Path of Positivity Challenge blog. This time I am representing Digistamps4Joy. I just love this challenge blog and the philosophy behind it, so being able to guest design two months in a row is very exciting.

I love being creative. Whenever I have spare time, you will find me in my craft room, working on some project. While I like to use dies, paper (who doesn’t?), ribbon, twine etc. my favourite technique is stamping. I stamp on almost every project I make. On this project I used the Digistamps4Joy stamp “Diamond beauties”.

You can find out all the details about this card, and see what else I’ve been creating at http://muddypawsinkyfingers.blogspot.com

I’d like to thank Lisa and Path of Positivity design team for this great opportunity. I am filled with gratitude!

She created this sweet card...

As Julie mentioned in her bio, she used the pretty image called Diamond Beauties. Such a beautiful image isn't it?  I love that the flowers only go around the one side.  By adding a sentiment to the open area like Julie did, it creates a very balanced piece. 

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!  Clicking on the DS4J or Ikes's Art watermarks will take you to the section of the respective store that they reside in.

So if you haven't entered already, what are you waiting for?  Create a project and/or post that is positive AND relates to gratitude, 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!  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!

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 until 11:55 p.m. tonight, to vote on your favourite entry for Challenge #19.  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 selection of digital papers created especially with your interests in mind. To check out all those eligible and cast your vote, click HERE.  Winners for challenge #19 will be posted next Monday.

LOOKING FOR ANOTHER MOTIVATIONAL QUOTE ON GRATITUDE?
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.

 Left click to bring the image up into the lightbox in its full size and then right click and scroll down to 'save as'.

Credit Notes For This Creation:
© 2014, 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 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 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. 

This word art creation is in png format and published at 300 ppi. It is quite large in order to accommodate different programs that people work with.   If you are a card maker you can always resize it smaller without distorting the quality.

Font Information:

• Leafy font created by West Wind Fonts
• Scriptina Pro font created by Cheap Pro Fonts

Click on the font name to take you to a download location.  These fonts were listed as free for commercial use at the time this project was made.and as such, it is my understanding, that I am within my rights to use these fonts in my creations and offer them to others.  Please refer to my full terms of service for what you can and cannot do with this digital creation.

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 wonderful sponsors by going over and checking out their work and saying hi if you have the chance.  This month our guest sponsor is... 

Our regular sponsors include...

 

 

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!