Path of Positivity Challenge #34: Prosperity

I am absolutely thrilled to have been asked to join the DT at The Path of Positivity. Those of you who are regular visitors will know that I have been plugging this challenge for a while now.

This month the theme is Prosperity and the sponsors are The Stamping Boutique, Glitterbabe Stamps and Limited Runs. For my first post I chose to work with an image from Limited Runs Digis - Jingle Bells.

From the world's view prosperity is a matter of wealth. Every where you look the message is 'If you want something, why wait, buy now pay later.' The number of adverts on the television for loans is increasing and people get sucked into taking on loans without reading the small print where the interest rates are hidden. I saw one the other day and the interest rate was 700%! The problem is even more acute this time of year with parents wanting to buy bigger and better toys for their children without the finances to cover the cost. Come January and the bills come home to roost bringing misery to a lot of families.

Would it not be wonderful if the message of 'buy, buy, buy' were replaced with 'love, love, love'. As I get older I have come to realise more and more that prosperity is not about how much money we have or how much 'stuff' we own, it's much more to do with how much we love and are love. True prosperity is found in a loving heart, contentment and peace with God and the world.

The reason I chose the image of the bell was that it brought to mind a book by Jostein Gaarder 'The Christmas Mystery'.

Elisabet Hansen had been standing staring at the big pile of teddy bears and furry animals while her mother was buying Christmas presents for the cousins who lived at Toten. All of a sudden a little lamb shot out of the pile. It jumped on to the floor and looked around. It had a bell round its neck, and the bell started to jingle in competition with all the cash registers. . . . . . 

Perhaps the reason the lamb had come to life and run away from the big store was that it could no longer bear to listen to the cash registers and the talk about buying and selling. And perhaps that was why Elisabet was following it. She had never enjoyed shopping.

Gaarder, Jostein , The Christmas Mystery (Kindle).

If you have not read 'The Christmas Mystery' I suggest you give it a try, maybe next December. We read it as a family when our girls were young for several Christmases in a row and they loved it and still do, even though they are all grown up and moved away now. The story of Elizabet Hansen's journey back in time to the first Christmas is woven into a very special Advent Calendar and is split into 25 readings one for each day in December up until Christmas Day.

So onto my card with the jingle bells on.

Materials used:
Limited Runs Digi Stamp - Jingle Bell Set
textured green card
designer music background paper
blending card
red ribbon
small jingle bells
glossy accents
Copic pens

Method:
Print out the image twice at the required size and print the verse onto the designer paper.

Make a DL card blank from the green card. Cut a piece of the designer paper to fit the front of the card.

Colour in the bell images with Copics. Cut out one full image and just the bell and ribbon knot from the second image. Shape the second image with an embossing tool and stick to the top of the full image with 3d glue or foam pads, sandwiching a piece of red ribbon between the images.

Cover the bell with glossy accents and leave to dry.

When the image has dried thread 3 small bells onto the ribbon and tie loosely to keep them together. Attach the ribbon to the back of the designer paper and then stick to the front of the card blank so that the image is dangling.

I used this card for my husband's Christmas card so added a stamped 'Happy Christmas' to the front underneath the bell.

So why not give it a go yourself. You have until the 31st of January to make your project and link it to the Path of Positivity Challenge blog. If you need more inspiration pop along and take a look at the amazing projects from the rest of the team.

Thanks for looking  in. Take care.

Pippa

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:
Creative Corner Challenges - Anything Goes
Jingle Belles - Something Old and Something New (old bell embellishments, new bell digi stamp)
That's Crafty! - Anything Goes
Not Just Cards #28
Happy Little Stampers - Jingle