Big Changes for 2022...

Hello everyone. I hope that you are all doing well. Thank you so much for all the well wishes and prayers that have been left in regards to my parents. I am pleased to say that both are home and have started their journey back to health. Now they just need the time to get their strength back and of course deal with their other ongoing health issues. I truly appreciate your patience waiting for the challenge to return.

And with that, there will be some changes this year. These last few years, my mom and dad have had more health issues crop up or current ones exasperated. I too have a number of health issues. Most I am able to keep in check and others flare from time to time which affects the time I have available. These last two years I've been noticing that I've had less and less time to work on the computer. I can't imagine that this next year is going to be any different. Trying to maintain the challenge blogs that I do with the same degree of proficiency that I have in the past has become more and more difficult, and as a result, a lot more stressful. When I started out, creating these challenge blogs was supposed to be about connecting with others, keeping my mind active, and of course, having fun along the way. Unfortunately, the more stressed I become, the less joy I experience and it all is becoming a chore. 

 

I spent a lot of time during the second half of last year debating what to do with this challenge blog. It was the first challenge I created and at the time, there wasn't anything out there with the same concept of promoting Positivity. It actually spent its first month of existence over on my own personal blog before I developed its new home here. I couldn't bring myself to shut it down yet; so instead, for this year at least, I have made the decision to pare things back somewhat.

For the sake of my sanity, it is time to simplify things and make changes in an effort to reduce some of the time needed to take care of this blog. So, here are the changes that will be taking place this year:

• We will no longer have any guest sponsors. It takes a LOT of time to find and make arrangements to line up sponsors for this link up. Then, it takes even more time to get the team organized with images to use each challenge. Given the time factor, and the fact that less than a third of people ever write in to request their prize, I have decided to simply cut out guest sponsors. 
  
• There will no longer be a prize for the person chosen as our Most Inspirational.
  
• One random winner will win $6 worth of images from Scribbles Designs.
• There will no longer be a prize for those chosen as our DT Delights.
  
• For the time being, team members will continue to leave a comment on your blog but that may very well change. I currently only have three team members and that is a lot of work for each of them to keep up with. If I am unable to obtain new members or lose any of the current ones, we may have to cut out comments. If this happens, I hope that you will all understand.
  

 

So, in summary, our challenges for 2022 will be as such:

• Each month we will have a link up with an Anything Goes theme listing an optional twist for fun if participants want to challenge themselves. Players can continue to enter any type of project they would like AS LONG AS IT IS POSITIVE. If you need to refresh yourself, you can check out the Challenge Details tab at the top of the blog as to what counts as a positive project.
  
• We will continue to choose Top Picks each challenge as long as we get a minimum of four entries (the number of top picks will depend on how many entries are linked up).
• We will continue to offer a badge for the Voter's Choice project.
  
• A badge will be offered to the person chosen as our Most Inspirational.
• One Random Winner will win $6 worth of images from Scribbles Designs.
• A badge will be offered to anyone chosen as a DT Delight. 
  

 ***Note: the various Honours & Prize offered will be dependent on the # of entries linked to the challenge.***

I hope that you can understand my need for the changes. Hopefully, with these adjustments in place, it will free up a bit of time so that I don't have to give up The Path of Positivity completely. It is my fond hope that you will continue to join us each month linking up any Positive Creations you may make. It is always a pleasure to see the incredible design ideas you come up with!

 

If everything goes according to plan, we will return on February 7th with the first challenge of the year! We hope to see you then!

 

New Changes for 2017!

It is a new year and changes are something that always seem to walk hand in hand as one year unfolds into the next. It is no different over here on the Path of Positivity.

Unfortunately, this past year we have seen a significant reduction in the number of players. In an effort to hopefully increase participation, we've made a decision to change our themes from mandatory to optional. HOWEVER, ALL creations must STILL be positive, inspirational, motivational or encouraging in some nature. Participants must follow the theme in order to win the prize for Most Inspirational but all entries that abide by the general rules of the challenge, will be eligible to receive the random prize.

We also ask that participants continue to add a sentence on their blog (preferably) or in a comment on the challenge post, explaining how their project ties in with the theme. Also, we now ask that if you do follow the optional theme, that you add FT after your name so that we can include you in the draw for the prize for Most Inspirational.

We have eliminated the prize for leaving a comment and also for the extra quote for everyone who enters. Both these prizes were originally added to encourage participation but this sadly hasn't been the case. Rarely were the prizes requested so we might as well not bother with them at all. There will still be a free sentiment offered at the start and midway of each challenge.

 Finally, we'll also be eliminating one post a month by combining the DT Delights choices with the winner's announcement.

Along with changes to the challenge, there is also going to be a change to our team. I am excited to announce that we have a new Design Team member. Helen N. from Crafting Helen will be joining us. Helen has been a supporter of the blog throughout the past couple of years and I'm thrilled that her schedule opened up allowing her to take on some new design team work. We are so very lucky to have this talented woman join us. She will definitely be an asset to our little team. Let's get to know her a bit, shall we?

My name is Helen and I live in a small town called West Kirby which is in the north west of Britain - the nearest big city to us is Liverpool.  I work for an organisation called The Abbeyfield Society which is a world-wide charity providing care for older people.  I'm an Activities Coordinator and I work in a care home and two sheltered houses providing activities for the residents.  We craft, play dominoes, do crosswords and do chair exercises as well as enjoying music and films together.  I've been making cards for many years and love stamping, working with digi stamps and colouring with Promarkers. I also teach regular card making workshops and contribute to crafting magazine.

Please join me in welcoming Helen to the team. You will get to see one of her inspirational creations tomorrow evening as she officially comes on board for challenge #45. To visit Helen beforehand, just click on her blog badge above.

We hope that all of our regular players will be okay with the new changes. We also hope that these changes will help to encourage more people to join our Path each month. Please grab our badge and help to spread the word.

May this new year bring new beginnings, new possibilities and new choices for each of you to pursue!