Challenge #8 Top Seven: Voting Open December 9th to December 16th, 2013

Welcome to the Challenge #8 PoP ToP!

Incredibly, we had 44 entries in our challenge on THANKFULNESS.  It was wonderful to see so many creations and posts reflecting on the theme of gratitude.  While it is easy to be grateful during a month when Thanksgiving is celebrated in the United States, it is important that we try and remember to express thankfulness, each and every day of our lives.

Having so many incredible entries has made choosing our top seven all the more difficult but we did manage to come up seven that touched us in particular.  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.  Seeing as I am already two hours late in getting this post out, I'd better get a move on it, so please let me introduce you to the Top Seven for Challenge #8 (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 #8 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 and in line with the concept of thankfulness.  In fact two of our top seven don't have any creations at all but they do have beautifully written posts expounding on the concept of gratitude.  Please let us know who your choice is by placing your vote below using the Inlinkz feature. 

Voting open for 7 days:
December 9th to December 16th

Please note that the voting week has been reduced down from ten days to seven.  I am doing this in hopes of being able to provide our design team more time to discuss our choice for most inspiring creation for the winners post.  So, come have your say in determining the Voter's Choice for Challenge #8!  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).   Now, one of our lovely readers tried things out last time for me and let me know that you can indeed visit the entries in the linkup below, before you vote.  Thank you Edwina for taking the time to check this out for me.  So, 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 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:

Challenge #9--JOY: December 2 - January 5, 2013

It is the first Monday in December and that means it is time for the next challenge to start. This time around, for Challenge #9 the theme is "Joy".  Show us your interpretation of what JOY 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.  While it is easy for us to be joyful in a month filled with joy, as many people get ready for their various celebrations throughout the season, it is just as important for us to remember to be joyful the remainder of the year as well.  I hope that after the holidays are over, that you will remember the feeling of joy and carry it with you in your heart through each month in 2014 and beyond.

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 joy 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 joy in order to be considered eligible for this month's prizes.  While you may easily see how joy 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.

This month we are fortunate enough to once again have the ever fabulous Fresh Brewed Designs (FBD).  Here is a refresher on what FBD is all about...

If you are looking for some freshly brewed inspiration, then you have come to the right place.  Fresh Brewed Designs (http://www.freshbreweddesigns.com) is a small on-line company that has been offering a wide variety of digital images and rubber stamps since November 2010, designed to meet the needs of paper crafting addicts everywhere.  With over 30 categories to choose from and several new additions to the store monthly, our range of products is expanding all the time. Whether you are looking for one of our uniquely designed coffee inspired images or something entirely different, you are sure to find something to please.  We'd also love for you to visit us over on our blog (http://freshbreweddesigns.blogspot. com) where inspiration is always percolating.  We have a digi release at least once a month and other events as well.  Come see us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fresh-Brewed-Designs/139388879447210) too.  You never know what other goodies you may find there.

Owned and operated by Heather Dennis, loving wife and mother to two home-schooled children, you can always expect personalized service.

At Fresh Brewed Designs we always have a fresh pot of creativity brewing. So stop by and join us for a cuppa whenever you want!

 Look at the beautiful images the team got to work with this month.  Clicking on any of the image watermarks will take you to their location in the FBD store...

This snowman is just so precious.  It is called Have a Tweet Christmas and is the perfect accompaniment to all your Christmas cards.  Everyone loves snowpeople!!! Decorate your own snowmen up with a few baubles and you have another Christmas decoration, only this time for the outdoors.

Let me introduce you to Holly.  She is just who you need to come in and get the house all spruced up for the holidays.  The holly boughs on her hemline continually regenerate so she never has to fear running out of it.  If you'd like to bring Holly into your own home to help you out with the decorating, the image is called Christmas Holly.

Totally adorable, right?  Kitten in a Mitten is wonderful, not only for any of your Christmas cards but for any winter themed creation.  You could also use it simply to let someone know that you are thinking of them.  The winter can sometimes be a very difficult season for some people and a card with this image on it is sure to bring a smile and a little joy to anyone's face.

Now, check out what my amazing Design Team 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 Donna from Creative Smiles joining us this month...

Thank you PoP designers for allowing me to join you this month. My name is Donna Ellis, also known on line as “de” (from my pottery throwing days). Short n Sweet - I am married to the love of my life in “rural” Central Florida. Stamping became my craft of choice as health concerns caused me to give up other crafting mediums. Though I’ve worked in stores, taught classes, and presently work on Sparkle N Sprinkle’s Staff in a number of capacities, I am currently home-bound and there is nothing more rewarding than sharing artwork with my on-line friends. I’d love for you to visit my personal blog Creative Smiles. I promise to visit your blog in return :-)

Here are the stunning cards that Donna created for us...

To check out Donna's joy filled creativity, click HERE.

Once again my design team came through with simply incredible creations all conveying a sense of JOY within them.
 
So what are you waiting for?  Create a project and/or post that is positive AND relates to joy, 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, December 9th when voting will start on the Top Seven for Challenge #8.

MOTIVATIONAL QUOTE ON JOY
If you need some motivation to get you started, I've provided a freebie for you...

Credit Notes For This Creation:
© 2013, 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.

Font Information:

• Tanglewood Tales font created by Nick's Fonts
• WW Flakes font created by Windwalker64

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.

CHALLENGE DETAILS 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 December 2nd to January 5th.
• Link up your inspirational post below using Inlinkz. You will be able to submit your link up to 11:55 p.m. on January 5th.
• 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 Digitals, 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 Fresh Brewed 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 Fresh Brewed Designs, our guest sponsors for the month, we also have our regular sponsors:

 

 

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

We look forward to seeing you participate!

 

Link up:

Design Team Delights for Challenge #7

I am pleased to say that we had a good turnout for Challenge #7 and it is time for my fabulous Design Team to share their choices with you, regarding their favourites of the bunch.  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.  That is why we have a special DT Delights post just before we launch the new challenge.

Once again, thanks to all of you who took the time to join along our Path last month for Challenge #7.    While it was definitely a difficult decision, there were three creations in particular that really stood out and inspired us this month...

Julie Gleeson--chosen by Ike and Suze...

Ike said this:

"I loved the colours, the beautiful face was so serene and I could look at it for ages trying to figure out what she was thinking. I especially liked the crumpled flowers and beautiful sentiment.  A very calming and uplifting creation."

This is what Suze had to say:
"I chose #28 as my favourite for the following reasons.  I loved the way the quote tied in with the music paper she used on the project.  I also liked how she built up the face image from something plain to something that is so beautiful.  The idea of using Tyvek for the flowers was such an inspired choice and created a lovely end result."

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

Annie--chosen by Vicky, Desíre, Samara and Sandy...

Vicky had this to say:
"My favourite is Annie's and it's because of this paragraph, she reminded me with this the biggest reason why we hope... In this case she's had so far another 10 years with her dad.  And of course she also is hoping for a better world for all of those suffering... which is so important":  

"I guess some of us in one way or another have had the horrible experience of cancer, whether in ourselves or our loved ones or friends. My dad, whom you must all know by now, had bowel cancer at the age of 91. As his  MPO I had to make the decision as to whether we operated and took the risk of him dying or let him die with pain within two weeks. I chose the  operation and well, you all know he is alive, happy and relatively healthy, body and mind and is nearly 101. So HOPE is always with us. That's why we all unite on cyber space as Blogging Buddies...it keeps us alive.  Here is my contribution to some challenges in HOPE that those who are suffering get peace of mind, body and soul."

Desíre chose the card because she was moved by the exact same paragraph that Vicky was.

This is what Samara had to say:  
"I  felt Annie showed a brilliance of vulnerability in her post and by doing that really exposed the depth of HOPE to all those who came to comment on her card, and to all those who read her post through entering The Path of Positivity Challenge.  Annie shared her personal challenge with her dad and the challenge she herself faced as his decision maker in the situation.  She not only highlighted the story of one with cancer, but she also highlighted the angst one can go through as a family member of one who is faced with cancer.  She also shared how cancer can journey through to a success story and I felt this was eternally important to see, particularly on our Challenge.  She brought such Positivity to us, in the midst of such a grave initial situation.  That spoke volumes.  Not only did she create a stellar piece of art, without any doubt, but again, she let us into her personal journal with it.  She took us on her map of each piece of her art, her embellishments  etc. by telling us what each piece meant to her.  I could really visualize the art as it was created, not only look at a gorgeous creation.  At the end of reading her piece and seeing her piece, I felt like Annie shared her soul with us, epitomizing the depth of the meaning of HOPE.  A pretty outstanding experience sojourning with her!"

Here is what Sandy had to say: 
"Annie said it all by sharing her story of Hope…her & her family didn’t give up Hope – pretty darn cool…"

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

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

I found Mimi's album of hope, not only incredibly beautiful but also incredibly inspiring. The recipient, who will obviously be dealing with probably the greatest battle in her life, is sure to be comforted by the amazing amount of detail and love that has gone into the creation of this project.

To see the details of Mimi's project 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 October.  You all did a wonderful job.  The time and energy that went into each of these creations is evident.  Now if you were chosen as a DT Delight, then we have a special treat for you.   Not only are you eligible for a special DT Delight badge, we will also be having a draw at the end of our first year for a special package of digital goodies.  So, if you are chosen as a DT Delight during any of our challenges, your name will be entered into the draw.  You get one entry per choice; so, if two members picked your card, you will earn 2 entries, three members 3 entries, etc.  The draw will take place around the anniversary of when the Path of Positivity came into existence which will put the draw date sometime in April 2014.  The winner at the time will be notified by email.  In the interim you are more than welcome to copy your framed card above and add it to your blog to share with all your readers; and, don't forget to EMAIL ME for a copy of the special Challenge #7 DT Delight Badge.

Thank you for stopping by today.  We hope that you will join us again tomorrow to learn what the newest theme for Challenge #9 will be.