Challenge #4--Caring: July 1 - August 4, 2013

To all my fellow Canadians, Happy Canada Day!  To all of you who have taken the time to come over and check out the newest challenge, I hope this day finds you happy, well, and thinking positively.

It is time for the next challenge to begin. This time around, for Challenge #4 the theme is "Caring". Show us your interpretation of what caring 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.

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 caring 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 caring in order to be considered eligible for this month's prizes.  While you may easily see how caring relates to your creation, it may not be as apparent to me or the DT members.  That is why we ask that you leave us a comment.  This way it clears up any ambiguity that may exist. 

Now it is time to meet our guest sponsor for this month...  

 South African crafters are new to the digital stamping world, with the first South African online digital image store launched in 2010 – Digistamps4Joy (or DS4J) http://www.digistamps4joy. co.za/eshop/ (clicking on the logo will take you to the store as well) .  In May 2012, Margy Kieser took over ownership of DS4J, and there are now two South African artists who contribute to the more than 600 images available. Margy has taken the store to new heights and the store now stocks digis that are cute, whimsical, artistic, sometimes serious, and sometimes humorous. The store has PAYPAL and EFT (South African) facilities.  Digistamps4Joy offers a monthly freebie on the first Friday of every month, and holds regular bi-weekly card challenges on our BLOG (http://digistamps4joy-sa.blogspot.com) that draws entries from all over the world. We are also active on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/DS4Joy) and Paper Craft Planet (http://www.papercraftplanet.com/group/digistamps4joy).

 The majority of the design team was lucky enough to get the opportunity to play with the lovey DS4J image called Merle...

Isn't she just beautiful?  If you are interested in purchasing this digital image, clicking on the watermark will bring you to her location in the store.

One of our team members, who is also on the DS4J team, worked with a different image.  The image she used is Punkette Petite...

She is just adorable!  You can find this image in the store by clicking on the watermark as well.

Now check out what my amazing design came up 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 a guest designer from DS4J joining us this month...

My name is Lynda Lindley and I have been crafting for over twenty years; starting out first stamping and then expanding into all areas of paper crafting.  I live in Washington state with my husband, two daughters and one crazy smart girl dog.  A self proclaimed challenge junkie, I do not feel grounded unless I am creating something. When I am not coloring, stamping, painting, knitting, or scrapbooking, I can often be seen with inky fingers volunteering at my daughter’s school in the library and teaching art in the classrooms.  You can find me online at http://positive-force.blogspot.com/.

 Lynda used the precious DS4J stamp called From Mom and Me (with girl)...

Here is the lovely card she came up with...

Aren't  all these creations just fabulous?  Each of them touches on the designers' own interpretation as to what caring means to them. 

So what are you waiting for?  Create a project and/or post that is positive AND relates to caring, 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, July 8th when voting will start on the Top Seven for Challenge #3.

MOTIVATIONAL QUOTE ON CARING
If you need some motivation to get you started, I've provided a quote for you, which you can find below.

Font Information:

• Foglihten
• Scriptina Pro

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. 

I've added a 'Download Instructions & T.O.U.' tab at the top of the page.  If you download any sentiments please ensure that you familiarize yourself with my terms of use.

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 July 1st to August 4th.
• Link up your inspirational post below using Inlinkz. You will be able to submit your link up to 11:55 p.m. on August 4th.
• 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 Digital Stamps 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.
• Five images from Digistamps4Joy, 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 Digistamps4Joy, our guest sponsor for the month, we also have our regular sponsors:

 

 

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!

Inlinkz collection begins below:

Challenge #3--Last Week to Submit Entries

Hi all!  It is the final week for submitting an entry into challenge #3 over here on the Path of Positivity.

My path over the past two weeks has had an inconvenient turn with a few obstacles thrown in the way but I am finally starting to get back on track.  It will just take a bit more time.  For those of you who don't follow my personal blog, I had a corrupt file in my main hard drive which caused the downfall of my entire system.  I lost three days on my computer so it could be wiped and rebuilt.  However, while extremely inconvenient it is just that--an inconvenience.  Things could have been so much worse.  Now it is just a matter of finding time to get everything back on track.

Unfortunately, this means that I didn't get a chance to choose a winner yet from challenge #2 nor create a project using a digi from our wonderful Creative Bug Designs sponsor.  I know she will forgive me as her own life is fraught with twists and turns.  It is all about having the strength to pick up and move on when we are confronted with obstacles in our way.  This could be another reason I chose 'strength' as this month's challenge theme.  Maybe my subconscious knew the challenges I would face this month and wanted me to keep drawing on the concept of strength to help me get through.  One never knows...

Anyways, while I didn't have the opportunity to create anything new to inspire you, my dear friend Ike, who will be coming on the DT in the fall and who is also one of the challenge's amazing sponsors, did have a little extra time on her hands and created this lovely project...

 Oh my goodness.  How true is this statement?!  Life certainly does present us with a number of challenges.  Unfortunately, some people must endure more than their fair share for some reason.  However, if we don't let life just take control and barrel right over us, we have the opportunity to grow, become stronger and more resilient, by meeting the challenges we face head on.

You can find out the details of Ike's inspirational piece by visiting her over on her blog, Ike's World.

Now this week, while visiting with one of our lovely entrants, Donna from Creative Smiles, I was inspired to create my regular 'Motivational Monday' post that I put out on my personal blog.  My post today also deals with the concept of strength and I have created a brand new sentiment for the following quote:

 “Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair but manifestations of strength and resolution”  ~Kahlil Gibran

 If you would like to read this post and/or are interested in downloading this sentiment, please visit me by clicking HERE.

I am happy that the number of entries we have for challenge #3 have picked up a bit.  You still have until Sunday at 11:59 pm to participate so I hope that I will see a few more of your lovely creations showing what strength means to you.  Just a reminder though, when you do enter, please leave a comment letting me know how your project relates to the concept of strength if it isn't readily clear within the design itself or somewhere else in your post.  This past week there have been five entries where I have had to seek clarification.  Remember, the project must be positive/inspirational/motivational AND adhere to the theme of strength in order to be considered eligible for this month's prizes.  While you may easily see how strength relates to your creation, it may not be as apparent to me or the other DT members (who you will be meeting very soon).  That is why we ask that you leave us a comment.  This way it clears up any ambiguity that may exist.

I am hoping to get the winners post for challenge #2 completed later this week.  Thank you for your understanding and continued support.  I told you all there would be growing pains and this past couple weeks has definitely reflected that.

Have a wonderful week everyone.  Whether the task is easy or the challenge difficult, may you continue to draw on the strength you need to get through each and every one of them.