Challenge #16 Week of 28th November 2011

It's nearly the end of November. Eeek! Are you ready for the holidays yet? I know I'm not. No decorations up or out, no cards written, no presents bought/made/thought of, no plans firmed up. Guess I have a lot to do and Advent has already started. Double eeeek!

But my job today isn't to scare you, rather to (hopefully) inspire. And this week was a hard one for me. It only dawned on my late last night what the challenge needs to be and now I don't understand why I didn't realise sooner.

This week, I want you to be inspired by your birthday. Well, I'd prefer it to be YOUR birthday but I guess anybody's birthdays will be ok if you add a whimsical twist to it *wink*. But of course, I don't just want you to create about "it was my birthday and we went out to dinner and I got X, Y and Z." Oh no, that would be too easy. I want you to think a bit deeper. Maybe there's a birthday from the past that stands out for a particular reason. A present that was the BEST present you ever got. A special number (you know, the round ones) that was especially spectacular. I think you get the idea.

The reason this is so pertinent to us this week, of all weeks, is that tomorrow is Pam's special day (29th)! And last week was mine (22nd)! Which means that Pam and I are only separated by 7 days (ok, and a few decades but who's counting?) and that makes us November twins ;-)

The BEST birthdays happen in November, let me tell you!

Pam created a wonderful birthday "to do before 28" list layout for her last birthday and blogged (here) about the achievements last week in preparation for what I hope will be a new list for this birthday.

Isn't this gorgeous? (Pam: hope you don't mind me posting this here!!)

And I have to say that I don't think I've ever created more than one or two layouts that are directly about my day. Only one springs to mind and is one I was asked to make for a magazine so it was very specific. I chose my 40th as that really was a wonderful occasion. But it's more of an "on the surface" layout because of the fact that it was commissioned. I think I need to go back to this particular celebration and try again. Maybe this is the week.

Whether it's this year's birthday or one many moons ago or even one way in the future, find a different way to scrap it this week.

Don't forget to share your creation with us over at our Flickr gallery (here) with the tag WM#16.

Have a great week everyone.

Lisa

xx

#15 Inspired by gratitude

This week, Pam challenged us to be grateful as befitting Thanksgiving weekend. But not to just be grateful in general, but to be grateful for something about ourselves.

I had an idea as soon as I saw the prompt but let it percolate the whole week to see if anything else came to mind. Things came and went. Vain it may sound, but I love my hair. I like the colour of my eyes. I like that I have a good sense of humour. I am happy with my will to learn. But the one thing that came back again and again was my pragmatism.

Over the years, my ability to handle the good and bad, the ups and downs and the unexpected in a down-to-earth, pragmatic way has helped me to deal with whatever life has thrown in my way. I know it's not exciting, or glamourous, but it's certainly something I see as part of who I am. I just kind of get on with it.

I see that Pam has written about her positivity and that's certainly something that I've been working on for the last years as I'm most definitely a glass half empty kind of girl :-) But my pragmatism helps me to make the best out the situation even if I don't have a positive spin on it!

Anyway, I took my inspiration from a style of layout I've been seeing a lot of recently and wanted to try out the style. Another Pinterest find by Ania-Maria (see it here). I kind of like my take though it felt a bit "off" for me and I want to try it again. I've added my journalling in a envelope attached to the back of the layout but with the flap on the front. I thought this would be an interesting way to "see" the hidden journalling somewhat.

I'm looking forward to seeing what you are grateful for this week. Don't forget to link up in our Flickr gallery (here).

The next challenge will be posted early tomorrow (my time!) as it's late, I'm recovering from a cold and I've been told to "go to bed"! So, until the morning! :-)

Lisa
xx

#15 Inspired by being grateful {for us}

I really wanted to take this opportunity to take my own challenge to heart and create a meaningful layout. Last week I challenged us all to create about one thing you are grateful about yourself. I took my time all week really examining my life.

Then on Wednesday I started noticing a theme - I am a positive person. I find the silver lining in almost every situation. It all began with 2 birthday cards I got from co-workers. They each mentioned how I bring sunshine/happiness to those around me. I thought it was funny that they decided to highlight this and it left me thinking. Then as the pressures of the busy Holiday weekend built up and tempers flared and traffic kept me from getting to places on time... I noticed that I was able to maintain my general cheeriness and find a positive spin to place on everything.

But enough about me! Here is my creation based on my introspection -

I really do hope this week gave you the opportunity to reflect a little about those things that make you YOU-nique. Even if you were too busy to create, I hope you keep this prompt with you and re-visit it at a later time. It is important to document our gratitude and it is also important to realize what makes us great. And trust me, we are great. Whenever you do create, remember to add it to our flick'r gallery with the tag WM#15

And I guess I'll close with another statement of gratitude - So very grateful for this little community of online friends that encourage and inspire me to create. Thank you sincerely.

xo,
Pamage

Challenge #15 Week of 21st November 2011

This week we are celebrating Thanksgiving here in the states which is the perfect excuse to scrap about the things we are grateful for.

There have been some gorgeous layouts popping up all over Pinterest {for example here and here} with people listing what they are grateful for and even why.

But consider this:

We really are blessed. This week I want us to take the time to acknowledge it. But there is a twist... I want you to be grateful for you.

I challenge you to create a layout featuring one thing about yourself you are grateful for.


This can be something physical, such as your eyes, legs, hair, etc. Or it can be more abstract, such as your health or your education. It can be a personality trait, such as your cheeriness. It can be sincere, romantic, sarcastic or even ironic. Stretch your mind and find that thing about yourself you are grateful for and make a layout about it. And remember to have fun doing it! 


Lisa and I will be posting our take on this challenge by next Sunday. I challenge you to do the same... and in case you are not the type to follow through with deadlines, I guess you can make a layout about your gratitude for your ability to procrastinate. *wink*

xo,
Pamage

#14 inspired by maps

I truly love Lisa and where her creativity takes her. This week she challenged us all to be inspired by maps . And while I was just that, inspired, I had a hard time turning that inspiration into a layout.

A few elements conspired to my block:
a) I "pinned" too many ideas
b) my printer ran out of ink to print the maps needed for this ideas
c) the maps in my stash of memorabilia didn't have corresponding pictures

Ultimately, I was frustrated and against the Sunday deadline with no layout. Then today I just decided to raid my grandmother's "map" collection. She loves maps and collects them from everywhere we go. She also buys them and saves them and uses them. Someday I will put that story down on a layout. But for now I will stop babbling and show you what I came up with.

In the end, I don't think the map was necessary to the story, but it inspired the page and got a story told that I have been meaning to tell. At first I had a postcard picked up as the companion to this page (these photos are from a time when I was a little chunkier and I avoid using them} but then I remembered these pictures and my face says it all. I am glad I went with the pictures for this one.

This layout was more true to my original inspiration, except I couldn't find a map that really showed off Dominican Republic well... However, I like the meaning added by it being such a small point in the map. It compliments the journaling. I wish I could take credit for the sketch and the ingenious use of the leftover chipboard background, but that is the genius of Shannon Tidwell at work.

Another week and another 2 layouts done. Thank you Lisa. I love all the creations I saw over on the gallery this week. Remember if you completed a project based on this fun challenge, please add it to our Flick'r gallery so we can all ogle over it.

Stay tuned for this weeks challenge.

xo,
Pamage

#14 Inspired by maps

This week, I challenged everyone to use or be inspired by maps on their projects. I can lose hours just sitting with a world map on my lap checking out where places are, or where I'd like to visit, or where I've been so this challenge was always going to be one right from the start of our time with Whimsical Musings.  

But, will you be shocked if I tell you that I nearly didn't get this one done today? And there's me choosing maps because I LOVE them and find them so inspiring that I'm overflowing with ideas...

However, I got caught up with some other scrapping for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge and something else I can't share yet and then felt a bit scrapped out. I'd even bought a sheet of OA Boarding Pass (Amsterdam) specifically to do the challenge too. I did not feel good about myself :-(

So, I pulled myself together and got creating again.

The result isn't exactly what I'd had in my head and to be honest, it's not nearly as lovely as I'd imagined but the idea with the brads appears to have worked quite well which is a good thing. Unfortunately, Europe is always pretty small on a world map so I didn't have enough space for some of the pins that needed to be on there and I think I might even have made a few holes and not managed to use them - I might need to investigate this a bit more in daylight...

I was firstly inspired by the layout I shared with you last week (by Rahel Menig) and also by a layout I did last week where I listed all the countries I'd visited. So I combined the two and tried to identify not only the countries but also the main places I've visited. There should definitely be a few more locations in France, Germany and UK but you get the idea!

If I were to make this layout again, I would leave out the cluster in the bottom left corner and keep it simple but it's all stuck down a bit too well to remove so it'll have to stay!

I guess I should make one to show the places I'd like to visit. There's not so many these days but it could be interesting.

Where are maps taking you this week? I'm looking forward to seeing.

Don't forget to share your layout in our Flckr gallery (here) with the tag WM#14.

Pam will be here later with her creation and then again tomorrow with the next challenge. And so another week comes to an end. :-)

Challenge #14 Week of 14th November 2011

I've had the idea for this challenge for a long time because I'm fascinated by maps and atlases.

There's a radio programme in the UK called Desert Island Discs where celebrities select 8 tracks to take with them to a desert island but they also get to take a book and every time I listen to the show, I'm amazed that no one chooses an atlas to take with them. That's such a given for me! In fact, I don't even own an atlas but when I win the lottery, this will be the one I get for myself and then I will just sit and pour over it for weeks and weeks!

Now, you might have noticed that Pam and I are a "little" fixated by Pinterest at the moment. I find myself losing far too much time moving from pin to pin and checking out new blogs or products. Oh, to have the time to follow up on ALL that inspiration ;-)

So when I found this stunning layout on Pinterest I knew that this was the week for my map challenge. I'm unsure about whether it's ok to post the photo of the layout here on our blog so PLEASE check out the pinterest link (to this layout on her blog) and then go check out Rahel Menig's blog where you will be overwhelmed by her beautiful creations (Swiss Girl Designs).

I know that this is a very long-winded introduction to my challenge but just to clarify:

Whimsical Musings Challenge #14 is to incorporate, or be inspired by, maps. 

I've done this a couple of times but here is one I haven't shared before using an actual map to represent the theme of the layout with real places.

And I've shared this before on my blog, but here is a wonderful, surprise gift I received from my sister which uses maps to tell a story even without words:

So where will this week's challenge take you?

Share your creations with us over at Flickr using the tag WM#14. See you there!

#13 Inspired by Triadic colour combinations

Last week Pam challenged us to get out the colour wheel and have fun with triadic combinations - three colours equally spaced around the colour wheel.

You might remember that last year - about this time - I participated in Nic H's "Colour! or is it Color?" class over at BPC and we created a cute little colour book which I blogged about over on my blog here. It's such a lovely little mini-book but since I made it, it's been sat on my window sill, sorely neglected.

Well, this challenge was the perfect excuse to get it out and check out the wheel and think about colour in a more structured way which is something I don't really do so often. And as you know, Pam is the Queen of Colour so I knew I had some (friendly) competition this week :-)

I love using bright colours and mixing them up but more often just go by feeling rather than anything more design specific but it was interesting to see what I could combine one I my eye had fallen on a bright pink piece of BG Sweet Threads paper. But I also remembered what Pam had advised that one colour should be used in a stronger way than the other two and I gave myself a second challenge to resist the Power of Pink and make another of the two colours the predominant one! Everyone knows the power pink has over me so as you can imagine, this was "interesting" for me.

In the end, I picked what appeared to be an aqua sheet of paper and then needed a yellow to complete the triadic combination. Looking at the colour wheel, I was taking the primaries but moving slightly to the right of each one to get the shades I wanted. So, blue-green aqua, creamy yellow and bright pink. Perfect.

Now, in the light I was working on my main colour looked more blue aqua but now in daylight it's far more green aqua so I hope you'll forgive me. Guess that's what you get for scrapping at night. But the idea was there.

Anyway, let me just share what I made and stop waffling on :-)

I was thrilled to have been able to get the sewing machine out and stitch on my layout - oh the joy of a new machine. Now THAT makes me happy!

I kept the layout simple and just added a few bright coloured brads as decoration on my little banner.

I had printed this photo out during LOAD last month and it takes me right back to that fantastic resort in the Philippines. Good times :-)

Don't forget to share your triadic colour combination layouts over in our group at Flickr (here) using the tag WM#13. We'd love to see what you created.

Stay tuned for the next challenge which will be posted early tomorrow.

#13 Inspired by Triadic Color Combinations

Eeee! I love me some color combinations. This challenge wasn't really a challenge at all, but more like a good excuse to have some fun.

I again made two layouts for this prompt and both were inspired by pins {I can't seem to get enough of pinterest}.


The first is an ode to Thanksgiving, and thought this pin was perfect for it.

It is about how Thankful I am to be a sponsor to these two special little kids. {I am a sponsor through Children International and Save the Children - in case you are interested}. I went with the basic colors for this one, going for the pink instead of the red. I think it makes the page happy and childlike.

For the next layout, I took a cue for this pin.

My friend April made the perfect subject for this quote because she is the quirkiest, weirdest, most individual girl I know. Plus, I have tons of personality shots like this and this allows me to combine pictures from different events and times that have been left over from other pages. For this page I went for the blue-green, yellow-orange, red-violet triad and used mostly the yellow for a happy feeling with accents of the other colors.

I hope you were inspired by the prompt. If you played along, please remember to add your creation to our flick'r group with the tag WM#13.

Curious about what Lisa has in store for us this week? Don't forget to stop by Monday.

xo,
Pamage

Challenge #13 Week of 7th November, 2011

Hello again and welcome to another fun (hopefully) challenge from Whimsical Musings. I am mostly inspired by color. Are you the type of person that walks into a Home Project store and get drawn to the wall with paint chips? Do displays of markers arranged by color make your heart beat faster? Are you instantly made happy by the sight of a rainbow?

Well I am that type of person. Perhaps one of the best things I learned when I took my art classes where color harmonies. A Color Wheel is something I keep in my work space to draw inspiration from. One of my favorite color harmonies is the triad.

Triad - color scheme created by placing an equilateral triangle on the color wheel. Or three colors that are the same distance from each other on the color wheel.

The result? A scheme that is full of life. At www.tigercolor.com they have the following to say about Triad combinations :


Triad 

A triadic color scheme uses colors that are evenly spaced around the color wheel.Triadic color harmonies tend to be quite vibrant, even if you use pale or unsaturated versions of your hues.To use a triadic harmony successfully, the colors should be carefully balanced - let one color dominate and use the two others for accent.

Here are some examples:

This one should look familiar and you've probably used it before. It is also the most vibrant of the bunch which is probably why it is associated with kids and toys.

This is another example (and one I use often). You can see that again it is a vibrant combination and already looks happy.

This combination is a tricky one for me. I am not a big fan of purple on my pages - but when grouped with other colors that I love, it takes on a whole new life. I often do this when I am challenged to use purple and love the results. How fun is that?

So that is your challenge for this week:  Create a layout using a triad color scheme. If you are feeling really adventurous, try basing it off of your least favorite color (like I do) and see if that makes a difference. If you are intimidated by bold, vibrant colors you can try to use the muted tones of those colors. You will still end up with a happy layout. And don't forget, the key to balance is to use one of the colors as your main color and accent with the other two colors.

Remember, as always, Lisa and I will post our take on the challenge by next Sunday. If you play along, remember to post your creation on our flick'r group with the tag WM#13. Can't wait to see what you create!

xo,
Pamage

#12 inspired by "scary" and Halloween

So Lisa's challenge this week instantly had me thinking... and scared. I hardly ever take on "scary" topics on my pages. I have never made a Halloween page and even when I talk about my challenges or struggles I find a happy, ironic way to portray it on a page.

But eventually I sat down at my table and made a page about what really scares me.

Now I realize this isn't very whimsical, but I just wanted to show you that it is ok {even necessary} to scrap those tough topics. It tells a more complete story. I wanted the focus to be on the topic so I used minimal product. And as I usually do when I take on a hard subject, I got super artsy and messy with some mod-podge, magazine scraps and gesso.

Don't worry. I did also create a playful layout that is more my style. I figured with this prompt I had to finally get some of those Halloween pictures scrapped.

Since I had no theme product I improvised with some punches and colorful patterned papers. Maybe not "scary" but definitely fun. Thank you Lisa for pushing me {or more like nudging me} to tell two types of stories I never tell.

Did you play along too? If you did, I hope you will add your layout to our flick'r group with the tag WM#12.

xo,
Pamage

#12 Inspired by "scary"

In honour of posting this challenge on Halloween, this week I asked you to be inspired by:

And I know this prompt was a little "out there" if you didn't take it at Halloween face value but I hope that you found a way to make it mean something for you.

I had lots of ideas but decided to go with a little-known fact about me.  I used my new Counterfeit Kit Challenge kit, November Glory which just coincidentally had a die-cut sheet printed with numbers. I totally didn't plan that! But I liked the more muted colours of the background and decided to pep it up a bit with some fussy cutting from an Urban Lilly sheet.

I'm looking forward to seeing what direction Pam took with this prompt and don't forget that the next challenge will be up tomorrow. 

Knowing Pam, it'll be another winner! ;-)