Challenge #67 - Week of November 26, 2012

Here in the states we are recovering from a long weekend of eating, family and holiday traditions. 

I know a lot of you [those who can cook, unlike me] were busy making delicious dishes over the weekend... following treasured family recipes.

And in that spirit, your challenge for this week is a bit of a recipe. A scrapbook layout recipe.

Ingredients:

A journaling card

Two fonts for the title

buttons (3)

Four photos

Five coordinating patterned papers

A sprinkling of six brads

A dash of an optional supply

Process:

Mix well. Create a layout. Photograph, chill and serve to our group {here} with the tag WM#67.

Of course, as in all of cooking, feel free to make your own variations to this list of ingredients and adding your personal flavor or substituting ingredients for what you have on hand.

And go ahead, feel free to be inspired by recipes and cooking if you'd like.

Can't wait to see how your delicious creations turn out. *wink*

xo,

Pamage

#66 inspired by star signs

I have to say that Pam knocked this prompt out of the park! She never fails to impress and once again I adore what she did this week.

And by the quality of her creations, she pushes me to try harder :-)

So this week, I had a bit of an direction of what I wanted to do with this prompt but I had a few ideas and it took until today for the one to come to the fore.

I'm a cusp girl and this gives me Sagittarius characteristics along with the strong Scorpio and is probably one of the reasons I clicked with Pam so strongly and also the reason it works so well with my husband. Water and fire is not always a good combination but this time it works!

So the cusp side of things was the direction I wanted to go and to highlight one or two of those personality traits from each side of the line.

Sorry for the poor quality, electric light toned photos - I'm really fighting with the light now that winter is coming.

But my November Counterfeit Kit Challenge kit, Dempster is giving me the warm autumn colours that make me feel great right now. We've had some beautiful November weather recently and I was even lucky enough to have blue skies on my special day - now that makes me smile!

Where will the stars take you this week?

Hope you'll share and let us know where you are on the signs.

#66 Inspired by Star Signs

Hoping everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday {for our U.S. readers}. There is just so much to be grateful for these days in my life. I knew my week would be full so I had to get right to work on this challenge by Lisa.

When I read the challenge I knew I didn't just want to do a page about being a Sagittarius, but rather what makes me such a good one. So I searched for quotes, descriptions, traits, etc.

It didn't take long in my search to come across this wonderful quote which in a nutshell is me. I have done several pages about the fact that I am single... but never talked about the fact that I am happily and willingly single. {This theory} that it may be tied to the stars makes it even more magical and interesting.

For the title I decided to play on the nickname for my sign: the Archer. I feel it adds another dimension to the story and how I feel when paired with the quote.

one of the coolest new things I tried here was printing on a tag, which I decided to try after {this tutorial by Aimee Maddern}

  I also decided to make my own little archer embellie by stamping my initial, an arrow and adding a bracket from the title alpha. I think it's pretty cute and totally fitting to the story. 

It was really fun to make and come up with the page. Definitely outside of the box for me. Thanks Lisa for this wonderful prompt.

xo,
Pamage

ps: Oh and Happy Birthday, Special girl. We love you so much! 

Challenge #66 week of November 19th 2012

Pam and I have a lot in common. Even though we are so different! And we just fit.

Such a good friendship... :-)

And one of the things we share is November birthdays.

My November birthday has always been special to me even in the years when I didn't like November all that much because I always knew that it was special to be a Scorpio. I'm not fanatical about star signs but there's something to it that intrigues me and a lot of truth to be found in the characteristics of each sign. My ascending sign is Sagittarius and so there's a lot of that sign in me too, even though the good (and bad!) parts of Scorpio are stronger. Maybe another reason why Pam and I fit (she's on the other side of the cusp!)

Anyway, you might remember this layout from LOAD earlier this year and I was surprised to find that I hadn't talked about being a Scorpio on my pages before. Sometimes the best layout subjects are right under our noses.

So this week, I'm asking you to be inspired by Star Signs. Your own, someone you know, serious or light hearted.

Be inspired by your rising sign.

Don't forget to share your creations with us and our merry band over at Flickr (here) with the tag WM#66.

And if you go back and look at older prompts (and we LOVE that too!) let us know which one by using the corresponding tag too. We love it when you share.

#65 Inspired by album covers

A quirky prompt from Pam this week that got me thinking back an awful lot of years to when I was a teenager.

Music was the driving force of those days. It was what you talked about. What you pored over in the music magazines (NME or Smash Hits in the UK). It was the topic everyone discussed on the bus to school the morning after Top of the Tops (Thursday evenings - always!). I can remember the feeling, the passion, the excitement of that time when your favourite band or singer brought out a new single or 12" album and you had to wait to get it for your birthday because they were expensive and there was no downloading the songs just because! Sometimes you only heard it once or twice as you had to wait for the radio to pick it up and start promoting it. But you knew it was going to number 1. You just knew. It had to. And you had to have it. Even if it cost you all your weekly allowance.

Those were the days.

So this was the time when music was so much more to me that just music. Right from when I was really really young, music was important to me. And none more so than David Bowie. And a musical turning point was the release of Ashes to Ashes followed by the album Scary Monsters.

So that was my starting point.

I remember the thrill of this album cover when it first came out. It was the very first album I thought of when I read Pam's prompt and I loved the strong design. For a scrapbook page, it was challenging but I wanted to tie in the design with the memory.

I really liked this a lot more before I covered the centre with journalling, but this was a double challenge for me and I wanted to get down some of the feelings I had at the time this album came out. So I filled it with writing and lost the somewhat cleaner lines of the original design. Something new for me. And one I might try again sometime with a different approach to the journalling!

An interesting prompt Pam and one I hope to come back to!

Thanks for taking me back in time :-)

(oh and I've just realised that the "l" in always is actually a "j" so I'll be changing that out asap!

#65 Inspired by Album Covers

Hope you had a great week. At the time this post goes live I will be strolling about in the nation's capital. Just a little weekend getaway. So I had to hurry up and get to work this week.

As you know last week I decided we were due for a quirky prompt - and I finally challenged you to use Album Covers as your source of Inspiration. This has been on my wishlist for prompts for a while... 

So of course I was excited to try it myself.

And in true quirky fashion I added tons of doodles, mists, markers, sequins, confetti, punches...

I used {this} album cover as my inspiration and although I took a few liberties with the design I think it is easy to see the concept and in my opinion it translated nicely to this layout. I don't think it feels forced or like a CD cover at all - and yet that was the starting point.

There were a few others I wanted to try but time didn't allow for much this week. So there you have it - my whimsical layout.

xo,

Pamage

Challenge # 65 - Week of November 12, 2012

Phew! Here we are again.

Here at Whimsical Musings we try to change it up with the prompts - sometimes driven by color combos, other times by design elements, other times by story prompts or sketches. 

We hope you enjoy that aspect... but often times when deciding the next prompt, I try to find a balance. And in this case I think we are due for a quirky inspiration source.

I am a lover of music. I spend more time listening to music than any other activity. So it didn't take long for the scrapbooker in me to realize that Album covers are square - just like 12x12 layouts. Now unconsciously, I can't help but see sketches whenever I see an album cover. 

And here are a few interpretations from my own collection.

Inspired by THE SUBMARINES - HONEYSUCKLE REMIXES

inspired by THE SUBMARINES - HONEYSUCKLE WEEKS

inspired by THE IN CROWD - THE ULTIMATE MOD COLLECTION

I've curated a board on pinterest {here} with a few pieces to start you off. But you can create your own version of one of the pieces above; or you can find an album cover that speaks to you. Either way, be inspired by album art this week [and link us back to the source so we can appreciate how you were inspired].

As always, we encourage you to stop by the flick'r gallery and share your work with us with the tag WM#65. Also, feel free to join the chatter on the message boards. We are always there to help or cheer you on. 

Have a great week and I really can't wait to see what you come up with. 

xo,

Pamage

#64 Inspired by Babies

Every once in a while you create a layout you just LOVE.  I mean, you just want to look at it and share it with others and not put it away just yet...

Well, at least that happens to me. Sometimes. And that happened with this layout. 

I will confess that I am intimidated by all things pastels. Especially pale pink and pale blue. Together they are even more of a nightmare for me. I don't even own any baby product lines. So I was a little skeptical of how I could make this prompt my own. It is NO secret that I love babies. Although I don't have any of my own, I have plenty of little ones to scrap. But how to make the topic fit my style? I have scrapped plenty of babies before with no problem, but I felt this prompt required an especially baby-feeling page. 

Well, the scrapping muse must have been feeling friendly this week because I did it. And this has become one of those pages I just adore. 

that's right. Only one page this week. 

The color scheme came from the 6x6 paper from the new Dear Lizzy collection. From there I was inspired to recreate those polaroid frames to hold my pictures and washed them with watercolors in the same colors as the frames. This allowed me to better define the groups of photos in the collage since they are grouped by color. The washi border allowed me to inject some bolder shades of the same colors to add that touch of my style. For the title, I layered a bunch of scraps in my colors for a bit of dimension and mixed some fonts in bold colors and some tone-on-tone fonts. To finish it off I sprinkled hearts and glass stars. 

My favorite thing about the page is that I got to tell a real story about my life this year and summarize a big part of 2012 in one page. Plus, I have all those adorable pregnant bellies/baby pictures. I dare you not to smile. 

Hope you were able to be inspired by Lisa's invitation to scrap babies this week. We would love to see your layout on our gallery. 

xo.

Pamage

#64 inspired by babies

Hi again.

I'm still playing catch up with scrapping stuff, moving in stuff and stuff in general! I know that you all know what I'm talking about :-)

So once again, I'm keeping this short and sweet today.

I asked you to be inspired by babies this week in honour of the new little bundle who arrived in our family recently. *sigh*!

I really wanted to be unpredictable and do a layout that would have surprised you but in the end, the predictability won out and I just went with the layout I've had in my head all week. Just an expression of feeling towards our new niece. I kept it light and pretty and feminine and everything you might have expected.

And I love it!

So, I'm sorry if you were hoping for something a bit more clever. Sometimes you just have to go with what's in your heart. :-)

I know that Pam has already shared her super clever layout full of little scrumptiousness so make sure you check hers out - I love that she's always giving these layouts such clever directions. When my head is a little clearer, I hope to be able to do a bit more of that too.

If you've been inspired by babies this week, please don't forget to share over at our Flickr gallery with the tag WM#64.

And the same applies if you go back to older prompts and get inspired - don't forget to share those either and use the tag for the week you've chosen. That way, not only can we find them more easily, we can also connect the layouts to the inspiration you've taken.

Thanks for playing along every week. We appreciate each one of you!

Challenge #64 week of 5th November 2012

Hopefully by the time you are reading this I'll be settled back into normal life in our new home and I will have managed to get back to the UK for a few days to see my baby sister and her new addition to our family.

I adore my baby sister and I'm writing this post way ahead but I know already that I am going to fall head over heels in love with her little baby girl who is due at the beginning of November.

So that is the prompt for this week. Be inspired by babies.

We were all babies ourselves a long time ago. Or many of you have little ones or grandbabies. Or like me, nieces and nephews. We all know or have known babies so dig into your past and come up with some baby stories. Or just be indulgent like I most certainly will be, and just create a pretty baby page!

Eta:

Yes, I was back in the UK, as you know. Yes, the little bundle of joy arrived, safe and healthy and the most beautiful baby in the world (Oh, be still my heart!) Yes, I fell more than head over heels. Yes, I'm glad/sad to be home and missing her so much.

We'd love to see your creations over in our Whimsical Musings Flickr gallery {here} with the tag #WM64.

Have a great week everyone!

#63 inspired by random photo collections

I love the way Pam's brain ticks and this week's prompt was no exception to the funky direction she takes us. This was the perfect prompt for me and I could probably repeat it every week with all those random photos I know that I have if only I tracked them down. I know that many of you have seen some layouts over the months with some of them - sky, clouds, trees, flowers, selfies... I have them all!

And so it was quite tough this week to limit myself to one set. And I only skimmed through a few months worth of photos too. In the end, I printed this set of autumn 2012 and another set which I'm hoping to use this week too. But you won't be surprised to see that autumn won. You just KNOW that it's my favourite time of year and these photos just make me HAPPY!

I used a design I'd seen on Pinterest but at the time I came to make it, I couldn't get to it so I just went with the look I could remember. The sunburst design is very popular right now and I'm glad I gave it a go although I'm not convinced with the result!

But it was fun to try it out and test a new technique to see how it fits. Not bad for a first attempt although the photo is pretty bad - these darker days are proving problematic already!

After such a long time out of the habit of regular paper stroking, it's great to be back. It may be a bit of a slow start, but I have high hopes that I can keep up the pace. Internet or no internet!

So, thanks Pam for giving me something great to work with this week! Can't wait to see what she thrills us with.

Don't forget to share your creations over at Flickr in the Whimsical Musings gallery (here) using the tag WM#63 (or whichever week it is that you are using for inspiration)

Have a great week everyone, the new prompt will be up in the morning.

#63 Inspired by Random Photo Collections

Sooooo happy to be here today - with power and heat restored. In case you didn't know, I live in Northern New Jersey. And although I wasn't directly affected by the ravaging Hurricane Sandy, I live on the periphery and suffered from the side effects (such as having not heat, electricity or internet for a few days).

Anyway, it has been a very long week, but I gladly bring you two new layouts for this week's prompt of random photo collections.

If you stopped by the discussion board this week you know that I had many options to choose from. In end I narrowed it down to two, which incidentally were related. I guess I can always go back and make some of the other pages.

My first layout focuses on my knack to photograph my feet. I find that it is a quick and easy way to document where I am. Or what is going on around me. Also, my feet never have bad hair days, or need makeup, or have blemishes. *wink* so they are always at the ready. This page now documents that. Even though I have used some of these photos before in the context they were taken in, I think they tell a whole different story when paired together like this.  

The second page covers a peripheral story to the last - part of the reason I walk so much is because I don't drive. And spending so much time in the car (or bus) I have developed a habit for photographing my lap. I usually have my camera at the ready or my ipod hooked up or a drink in my hands. I really enjoy this page as well. 

Although you can't see my face in either of these pages, they are so me and I love how much of my story they tell. There's a tip for you, self-portraits don't have to include your face... and you can make pages about yourself without it too. 

Hope you all had a good week and if you were in the path of this storm that you were able to stay warm and dry.

xo,
Pamage