Monday, October 26, 2015

The People Have Spoken: Winners From Challenge #30

Apologies for running a bit late with posting.  It was another dreaded afternoon at the dentist but I'm back and now it is time to announce the winners from Challenge #30.  Who are all the lucky winners? 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 #30 is....

Deanne, you will be getting a cool and awe inspiring personalized badge for your blog as the Voter's Choice for Challenge #30.
In the category of Most Inspiring, our winner is...

Pippa, that means that you have won $15.00 worth of digital images from Sparkle N Sprinkle, our sole guest sponsor during Challenge #30.

SNS Blinkie

Pippa, you will also be getting a lovely, one of a kind personalized badge for your blog as the Most Inspiring choice for Challenge #30.
The Random Winner for this challenge (chosen by Random.com), based on all eligible participants is:

Jackie, you have also won $15.00 worth of digital images from Sparkle N Sprinkle, our sole guest sponsor during Challenge #30. 

SNS Blinkie

Jackie, you will also be getting a neat and unique personalized badge for your blog as the Random Winner for Challenge #30.
We also have a prize available for a voter who left a comment.  Anyone who left a general comment on all the posts related to Challenge #30 (excluding winners post and DT Delights post) is eligible to receive the prize.  So, if you have commented on the start or midway posts for Challenge #30, Pat's Pondering on Dedication, or on the Top Picks post for #30, you are eligible.  The more you comment, the more the chances of winning!

While we had two people comment during the challenge, one is on our design team so choosing our winner this time round was an easy task.

Our winner this challenge chosen by MiniwebTool.com...

Pippa who left this comment on the Top Picks post:
Thank you for picking my entry as the top pick. I feel honoured as all the entries are wonderful. What a pity there are so few of us this time. I shall be thinking of ways to spread the word, this is such a great challenge. x
Pippa, along with your prize from Sparkle N Sprinkle, you have also won a selection of digital designer papers from Décosse's Dynamite Doodles.

Big Congrats to...

Deanne, Pippa, & Jackie

Please click HERE to send us an email with the subject, "WINNER PoP Challenge #30" to make arrangements to receive your prize and badge (where applicable).  Please note that it may take me several days to get back to you.  Thank you for your patience. 

All entrant's in Challenge #30 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 #30 and would like to receive a free sentiment based on the theme for Challenge #32, which starts Monday, November 2nd, please click HERE to send us an email with the subject line, "PoP#30 Entrant Quote Request for #32".

There is still one week left to enter into our challenge on RESILIENCY.  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.  We look forward to seeing you all again soon.
 

Monday, October 19, 2015

Challenge #31--RESILIENCY: Midway & Voting Reminder

Hello everyone! We have reached the midway point of Challenge #31. The theme for this challenge is all about RESILIENCY.  If you are looking for some introspection on the topic of resiliency, be sure to check out Pat's Pondering which was posted on Friday (click HERE to find it).  And of course, you'll also find some interesting thoughts on resiliency over on my Design Team's posts.

Anyway, it is time to get on with our midway!

Here are the watermarks and links for the wonderful images that the team worked with for the midway.

 
http://thestampingboutique.com/


 From Ike's Art...



Pagoda image from the Japan Bundle--World Tour (available in the 'my latest designs' section)


My New Shoes  (available in the 'people' section)


Winter Robin  (available in the 'animals' section)
We are fortunate and blessed to have the chance to work with all these fabulous images during the midway.  Thanks so much to our amazing sponsors.
To help inspire you down the path of RESILIENCY, check out the wonderful projects most of my Design Team had the opportunity to create...


patacakespages.blogspot.com/







http://muddypawsandinkyfingers.blogspot.ca/


http://taylormadecards4u.blogspot.ca/


http://scrappyhorses.blogspot.ca



Hanne, from Handmade by Hanne, who is our guest designer this month, shared this wonderful card with us...

So if you haven't entered already, what are you waiting for?  Create a project and/or post that is positive AND relates to resiliency, 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 #30.  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 on a selection of the active posts from this month, you have the opportunity to walk away with a selection of digital paper. To check out all those eligible and cast your vote, click HERE.  Winners for challenge #30 will be posted next Monday.


LOOKING FOR ANOTHER MOTIVATIONAL QUOTE ON RESILIENCY?
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:
© 2015, 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:
Click on the font name to take you to a download location.  Patchwork Alphabet is a free font and was listed as free for commercial use at the time this project was made. Aliva is one I purchased as part of a bundle.  You can buy it through the designer by clicking the link above. This font was purchased with an extended commercial use license.  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 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...

http://thestampingboutique.com/


Our regular 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!

Friday, October 16, 2015

Ponderings Along the Pathway...RESILIENCY

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 RESILIENCY and PAT is here to share her thoughts on the subject...

Resiliency is the ability to change or adapt to our circumstances. This doesn’t mean you just trip lightly down the path and hope for the best. Your destination is not just survival but true happiness. So, being resilient means to seek paths that lead you toward positive change. It means analyzing where you are, reflecting where you want to be, and choosing to lean toward opportunities for improvement. You must be aware. You must be courageous. You must change your thinking from “there is no choice” to “how can I turn this around.”

Looks great on paper, but how does one become resilient?

The first step is to be aware that life is full of choices. Then CHOOSE! Good or bad, making a choice is better than making none at all. Refuse to choose and you’ll become a prisoner of your own life. For instance, after a multitude of recent changes, I find myself after 15 years at my job to be in danger of losing hours and benefits. I carry insurance for my family. I now have the choice to “wait and see” or I can CHOOSE to look at my options. Am I still employable? Are the pay/benefits the same or better elsewhere? I can make the choice to step over my fears and comfort to blaze a new path for myself.

The second step is how you choose to feel and react in the stresses of everyday life (I call it strife). For weeks, I chose to let the fear and worry make me physically and emotionally sick. And then the AH-HA moment struck. I had the choice to make my situation into an adventure and discover things about myself that I either had never known before, or had just forgotten. I had skills, I was a hard worker, I was a people person. I stopped worrying when or if the axe would fall and signed up at an employment agency. I updated my resume (that was a real confidence booster). I search the web to see what positions are out there. But mostly, I stopped feeling sorry for myself and for having to leave a job I loved with people I loved. I realized that those people went before me, and I no longer loved the job. Choose the path toward taking your life in your own hands, for better or for worse. Choose to make a choice. 

The last step toward being resilient is focusing on what makes you happy. You can’t feel and maintain confidence in your choices if you aren’t positive. The glorious colors of the changing leaves and the smell of wood fires make me happy. Holding my new grandson makes me happy. Cooking a meal and sitting down to a conversation with my family makes me happy. Be mindful of the things that make you happy. Keeping a smile on your face and laughter on the tip of your tongue will keep you from wallowing in negative feelings.

Finally, let's look at our success rate. That’s right, so far we’re at 100%. Here we are, on the path together, all with different life experiences, stresses and fears. Yet we are walking together, kicking those obstacles off our paths and moving toward our goals. Keep going. There will always be others to help you up when you stumble. You can give them a hand as well when they need it. All you need to do is CHOOSE to change or adapt, to be resilient.


Happy trails!
 
Please be sure to pop over to Pat's personal blog, Patacake Pages, for more inspiration.

Well folks, that is it for today but please be sure to join us on Monday for the midway.

May you always have the ability to be resilient in whatever challenges you face.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Monday, October 12, 2015

Challenge #30 Top Picks: Voting Open October 12th to 19th, 2015

WELCOME TO THE CHALLENGE #30 POP TOP!


It is time to get on with showcasing the top picks for Challenge #30.  Unfortunately, we only had 5 entries in this challenge.  The sad thing is that I think some people get bogged down in the word rather than the concept and don't realize just how many situations where the theme will apply.  With this challenge it was all about Dedication--that could have covered any type of creation featuring 'love or devotion' and of course 'encouragement' cards for living the dream and so much more!  Thankfully though at least a handful of you had the opportunity to join us.

Since there were so few, we will only be having one top pick.  We will also be opening up the voting to everyone who submitted a creation that followed the theme.  We do this any time we have less than 14 participants.  Thus, without further ado, please let me introduce you to our Top Pick for Challenge #30...



Congrats Pippa...

As a participant who has been chosen as a Top Pick, you are 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 #30 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.
Now as I mentioned earlier, each of the participant's who entered Challenge #30 AND FOLLOWED THE THEME & RULES is eligible to have their project and/or post voted on.  Here is a list of those participants.  Each of the entrant's names is linked up to their blog post (order is reflective of how they entered the challenge and nothing else).

J Atterbury Creations 

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 DEDICATION.  Please be sure to go and check out the entries first and not just make your choices off of the thumbnails.  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:
October 12th to
October 19th

Come have your say in determining the Voter's Choice for Challenge #30!  Don't forget to leave a comment after you have voted.  There will be a prize for one lucky person who leaves a comment on on one of this month's posts (chosen randomly--excluding the winners post for #30).  If you haven't had the opportunity to visit each of the entries 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 five images below on which to vote. As soon as they are all are uploaded, I'll enable voting to begin. If there are less than five, 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:

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Introducing Our Latest New DT Member

Hello all!  I hope that your Path has been a good one this past week.  Mine was a bit rough but I've made it through to the other side.  

You may have noticed that there was a new name listed among the Design Team features in the Challenge #31 post.  Well that is because, I have been very fortunate to procure a wonderful new designer for the team.  She was our GDT in the month of September and some of you may recognize her name from being a past Top Pick and also a past Voter's Choice AND a past Most Inspirational Winner.

Yup, I have been lucky enough to be able to get Katrina Brown from Scrappy Horses as our latest DT member!  Having recently lost two members, it was the perfect time to bring someone new on board.  Katrina has a wonderfully optimistic perspective on things and a wonderful way with words as well.  Of course, her design skills are excellent as well so we are very happy and blessed with our fortune!  Let's get to know her a bit, shall we?

http://scrappyhorses.blogspot.ca
I am so excited to be a designer here at Path of Positivity ! I only recently happened upon this site, but I have truly enjoyed the posts and the creativity here. I love the idea of posting projects following such uplifting themes and it gives me an opportunity to share some stories and stretch my writing skills! In my spare time, I enjoy watching crafting videos and making scrapbooking layouts, cards, mixed medium projects, sewing, home decor, etc. My scrapping photos come from my “real life” as a mother of two grown children, therapeutic horsemanship instructor of several beautiful kids, and a nana of a lovely little girl named Lucy! I am blessed with a supportive husband of almost 30 years. I work as a freelance oboist and private instructor as well as in the therapeutic horsemanship field. I adore my family, friends, photography, horses, music, and paper! When I can combine two or more from that list, I’m ecstatic! My favs: periwinkle, bread, ice cream, coffee, flip flops, jeans, Brahms, Donny Osmond, and a day without a clock———you can fill in the categories!

Thanks again for this wonderful opportunity!

http://scrappyhorses.blogspot.ca/
I hope that you will join me in welcoming Katrina to the team.  To visit her, just click on her blog badge or name above. 
Please join us again tomorrow to find out the top picks from our latest challenge.

May your days be filled with warmth and love as you travel down life's path!