Hello everyone and welcome
to the Path of
Positivity Challenge Blog! It is the first Monday
of the
month and it is time for our latest challenge to begin! We hope that you
and your families continue to stay healthy and safe out there.
Since we are not
your typical challenge blog, it is important for you to
understand how things work in order to be sure you are eligible to win
any of the prizes offered. If
you are new to this unique challenge, you can find out the impetus
behind why I started it under the 'Introductions' tab and you can find out 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). For your convenience, a
summary of the most important rules can also be found in the right
sidebar under the heading 'General Rules'.
Right now, it is time to get down to the business of our latest challenge. Here is what you need to know...
Challenge #136
Anything Goes POSITIVE with the Opt. Twist of
Embracing The Unexpected:
Unexpected Animal on a Holiday Card
This year's goal is to Embrace the Unexpected in our lives (click here if you'd like to read more in depth about our overall theme for 2025). No matter how much planning we do throughout our years on this earth, we're going to come across circumstances that we can't plan for. These unexpected things may be small or they may be huge and life altering. The only thing that we can control is how we react to these events. So this year, instead of BRACING for the unexpected, we are going to flip that and get in the habit of EMBRACING the unexpected. This will help us to train ourselves to look at these types of events in a different light.
Just like with colours, we often
associate certain animals with specific holidays and/or occasions.
Ground Hog Day (celebrated in Canada & the US) wouldn't exist
without the ground hog itself. Though the tradition itself came from
Germany, where a badger was used to predict the weather on Candlemas.
Easter brings to mind bunnies, lambs and baby chicks. The bald eagle is
associated with Independence Day in the US. Dragons and fish are popular
during Lunar New Year celebrations, and, of course, the Chinese Zodiac
is represented by 12 different animals. Bats and black cats are symbols
of Halloween, while cows, monkeys and elephants are part of many Indian
and Asian festivals. Then, of course, what would Christmas be without
reindeer, polar bears and penguins, or all of the birds listed in the
classic carol, The 12 Days of Christmas (partridge, turtle doves, French
hens, calling birds, geese, swans and technically the cows that those
maids are a milking). Regionally, other animals make an appearance with
kangaroos pulling Santa's sleigh in Australia, and robins and wrens
being symbols in the UK and Europe. Finally, there are the animals
associated with the birth of Christ: donkeys, sheep, oxen and the camels
that brought the visiting wise men.
So, for your optional project this month, we want you to create a card for any holiday, using an animal that IS NOT NORMALLY CONNECTED to the occasion you have chosen. With
Christmas ahead, and other holidays in the new year that will be here
sooner than you know it, it is good time to make a fun card.
Your choices are endless but here are a few examples to get you thinking:
- Create a Christmas card with one of the following: a hedgehog, a rabbit, an elephant, or a zebra.
- Create an Easter card with a lion or a tiger or a bear [oh my]!
- Make a dog or a cat the focus of a Halloween card.
Remember,
the twist is completely optional and you don't need to follow it in
order to win. However, in order to be considered eligible for this
month's goodies, remember that general types of projects/posts will not
qualify for the honours and prize UNLESS they are also positive, inspirational,
motivational or encouraging in some nature. Additionally, even if a project may qualify as positive, if your post
promotes negativity, hatred or anything of an abhorrent nature, your
project will be disqualified. Honours and Prize include:
- $6 worth of images from Scribbles Designs, for a person chosen in a random draw based on all qualifying entrants.
- A badge for the following honours: Top Pick, Most Inspirational, Random Winner, DT Delight.
My wonderful design team continues to astound me each and every month! They all have their own approach and deft insight into the twist. Even after all this time, I continue to be astonished by the purview of greatness in their work! Each of these artful conceptions has showcased the notion of Embracing the Unexpected: Unexpected Animal on a Holiday Card admirably and I hope we have inspired you to commence on your own exploration of creativity. Be sure to go and visit each team member so you can see how her project further connects to the twist.
So what are you waiting for? Create a project and/or post that is positive, inspirational, motivational or encouraging in some nature and join our link up. How about stretching yourself by also opting to follow the twist?! While it isn't mandatory, we'd also love to find out how this month's twist affects your own life. How do you typically deal with the unexpected in your life? Do you view it with trepidation or take it on as a challenge? This month it is time to switch up the animals we normally associate with various holidays and occasions. There are such of a variety of wonderful animals to choose from that you should not have too much trouble with the task for this challenge. Be sure to check above for some specific ideas if you aren't sure how to get started. If you want to share your process on how you decided your project, you can write a sentence or two in the body of your post, write a sentence at the bottom of your post next to the link up for this challenge, or simply leave a comment on this post if you'd like. Finally, remember that we're trying to create a Path of Positivity so if you have some time, please visit other people participating throughout the month.
Please join us again next week when we will [hopefully] post the Top Picks for Challenge #135. Then, be sure to join us again on December 15th when we'll be back with our midway featuring more great projects.
If you ever have any questions be sure to send an email to decossesdynamitedoodles {at} yahoo {dot} ca (don't forget to replace {at} and {dot} with the appropriate symbols), or just leave me a comment.
We look forward to seeing you participate!
Link Up Below:
If you have any problems linking up, please be sure to let me know by leaving a comment on this post.
Ch. #136--Anything Goes POSITIVE with the Opt. Twist of Embracing the Unexpected: Unexpected Animal on a Holiday Card
This is the place to link up something that you have created during the month that you consider positive, inspirational, motivational or encouraging in some nature. Entries for this challenge will be accepted from December 1st until 11:59 p.m. (ET) on January 4th, 2026.
SEVEN entries MAX. Please click on the 'Challenge Details' tab located at the top of the blog to see all the rules. A summary of the most important rules can also be found in the right sidebar under the heading 'General Rules'. If you would like to be a Guest Designer in a future challenge, please add the letters GDT after your name.