PoP #40: Confidence Midway Post

I cannot believe we are in the middle of August already! Any regular visitors will have noticed a distinct lack of action on my blog over the past few weeks and that trend is set to continue for a few weeks more. Sometimes life is so busy you just don't know where to start. I think I may have mentioned before that we have a lot of family 'happenings' coming up. In less than two weeks our youngest daughter is getting married so there are all the preparations that have been ongoing for months and are now reaching the end rush. She also is moving out of the family home so there are boxes to sort and repack all over the house and we are moving in the middle of September so there are our boxes starting to gather as well! Just to add to the fun we are also decorating our new house ready to move in so any 'spare' time is spent painting. I think I do have a genuine excuse for taking a break from my usual challenges so for the next few weeks will only be posting DT posts and Progressive Freebies.

On now to today's offering. This time I have focussed on the idea of being confident in who you are. So often, and I am guilty of this myself, we long to be accepted so much that we start to imitate those from whom we seek approval even if it means adopting behaviour that goes against our own personalities. This is a recipe for disaster and just leaves us not really knowing who we are. The only person we should be imitating in Jesus as we develop  our relationship with him, not to gain approval but to learn more about who we are in Christ and what God's plans are for us. God made each of us unique, no one, not even identical twins, is exactly like another person and he loves each of us just the same and as we are. In that knowledge we should have confidence to be the people God is making us.



Materials used: 
Scribbles Designs - Tropical Fish #5
Imagine That! Digi Stamps - Satin Fabrics
acrylic foliage stamp
archival grey ink pad
printer paper
X-Press It card
Copic pens
blue card
white A5 card blank

I used the aqua Satin Fabric paper as my background as I thought it looked quite watery, and printed it out  with the Bible verse before stamping some 'seaweed' onto it.

The fish have been printed out on X-Press It card and coloured with Copics then fussy cut. The 'different' fish has been attached with gel glue to raise it slightly and the other two stuck down flat.

Please do come and join us, the challenge is open until September 4th so there is plenty of time. You do not have to make a card, anything goes. The only thing we ask is that you make it clear how your project relates to the theme, just a sentence will be enough it does not need to be an essay, unless you want to write an essay on confidence for your entry. There are plenty of prizes on offer so why not take a look at our sponsors images for inspiration.

SPONSOR & PRIZE INFORMATION:$10 worth of digital stamps from Scribbles Designs, one of our guest sponsors this month, for the post or project that deems most inspiring of the bunch.

$15 gift certificate from Ike's Art, one of our guest sponsors this month, for a person chosen in a random draw based on all entrants.

There will also be:A small selection of digital designer papers from Décosse's Dynamite Doodles for one lucky person who leaves a comment on posts published during the challenge time frame.

One digital sentiment for every single person who enters the challenge.

If you still need inspiration please visit my team mates blogs for some great samples and inspirational ideas.

Thanks for dropping by. Take care.

Pippa

Christmas in August With Dragons Lair Designs

It's the start of a new challenge at Stamping With Dragon and this month the theme is 'Christmas in August'. I have made a 12 x 12 scrapbook page although it would work just as well scaled down to an 8 x 8 card.



Materials used: 
Dragons Lair Designs: Holly Days Elements
Dragons Lair Designs: Holly Days Papers
white 12 x 12 card

The whole layout has been put together using papers and elements from the Holly Days sets to frame a photograph of one of the Christmas floral arrangements in our church a couple of years ago. I have used Craft Artist to do this, adding some shadows for depth.


So why not pop over to the Dragons Lair Designs Challenge Blog and join in with our challenge to make a creation on the theme of "Christmas in August" this month.  There's a prize of a voucher to spend in the Dragons Lair Designs store for a winner who'll be chosen by a random number generator.

You do not have to use a Dragons Lair Design to enter but it would be lovely if you did. There are lots of goodies to discover at the store to get you going. Here are some useful links for you.

• Dragons Lair Designs Store- A fantastic range of digital downloads


• Dragons Lair Designs Inspiration Blog- Bookmark us and come back regularly for inspiration


• Dragons Lair Designs Challenge Blog- Challenges starting the 1st Friday of every month with different themes, please come along and take part


• Dragons Lair Designs Fan Group- Even more inspiration, challenges, freebies and fun activities


• Dragons Lair Designs Facebook Page- Please do pop over and "Like" our page


• Dragons Lair Designs Etsy Store - Another location to get hold of our range of digital downloads


• Janette Padley's Creations on craftsUprint- Yet another location to get hold of our digital downloads


• Dragons Lair Designs Crafts Group- selling buttons and bits and bobs

We'd love to have you join us in our Fan Group and post up some pictures of any creations you make using any DLD items.

Thanks for popping in. Take care.



 

Path of Positivity Challenge #40 - Confidence

After the summer break it is time to launch a new challenge at the Path of Positivity and this month the theme is Confidence. I don't know about you but I lean more towards lack of confidence myself! However I have discovered that nothing can boost confidence as much as positive affirmation. One of the things that being on a design team has done is to boost my own confidence in my work. There is still plenty I am not happy with but I am learning to be easier on myself. The fact that people leave lovely affirming comments still amazes me and I hope always will. At no stage to I want to leap into the murky waters of over confidence and 'stuffed up pride'.

Confidence also features in my faith, in fact God is the only one in whom anyone can have 100% confidence. There are loads of Biblical references to confidence but one of my favourits is: Hebrews 4:16  Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. 



Materials used:Ikesart - KT Swing
X-Press It card
black, red and blue card
white A5 card blank
Copic pens
Décosse's Dynamite Doodles - Rainy Days Patterned Papers

The super image from Ikesart so reminded me of my two girls when they were young, fearless explorers of the local park, that I had to use it. Being of a more timid nature myself, rope swings did not feature in my own childhood so much! She has been printed on X-Press It card and coloured in with Copics.

The quote is one I found on the internet and thought it fitted the card perfectly. I printed it out over the top of some rainbow paper from DDDoodles Rainy Days set.

The quote and image have been matted and layered on black, red and blue card.
Please do come and join us, the challenge is open until September 4th so there is plenty of time. You do not have to make a card, anything goes. The only thing we ask is that you make it clear how your project relates to the theme, just a sentence will be enough it does not need to be an essay, unless you want to write an essay on confidence for your entry. There are plenty of pizes on offer so why not take a look at our sponsors images for inspiration.

SPONSOR & PRIZE INFORMATION:$10 worth of digital stamps from Scribbles Designs, one of our guest sponsors this month, for the post or project that deems most inspiring of the bunch.

$15 gift certificate from Ike's Art, one of our guest sponsors this month, for a person chosen in a random draw based on all entrants.

There will also be:A small selection of digital designer papers from Décosse's Dynamite Doodles for one lucky person who leaves a comment on posts published during the challenge time frame.

One digital sentiment for every single person who enters the challenge.

If you still need inpiration please visit my team mates blogs for some great samples and inspirational ideas.

Thanks for dropping by. Take care.

Pippa

Love To Craft Challenge #1

Today sees the launch of a new craft challenge, Love to Craft. For my first project I have chosen to showcase the gift basket I made to contain an end of school year present for the teacher I work with. It was just large enough to hold a special mug.

                    

Materials used:
Dragons Lair Designs: Earth Tones Mini Kit
printer card
2 vintage buttons
scrap of ribbon
circle die

The box base is made up of printed off sheets of paper from the kit. The handle uses two elements and the circle decorations use a collection of elements put together to form one image using Craft Artist 2 and cut out with a circle die.

For the tag I used the tag and a flower from the kit putting them together in Craft Artist before printing out.

I added two vintage buttons, one at the end of each end of the handle and used ribbon to die on the tag.

I do hope you will come and join us in this new venture. We welcome all kinds of handmade projects - from cards, tags, ATCs and scrapbook layouts to 3-D projects, mixed media canvases and altered projects - and even knitting, crocheting and jewelry! We want to see whatever you're working on!

You may enter up to five different projects and combine our challenges with as many other challenges as you'd like! Winners and Top Picks are chosen by our design team and announced on the 10th of the month following the close of the challenge!

As an added incentive, should you need it, there will be a giveaway when we reach our first milestone of 100 followers.

We can't wait to see what you create! Hope to see you there.

Thanks for dropping in. Take care.

Pippa