Challenge #70 week of 17th December 2012

Time is flying, the reindeer are warming up and this time next week, it will ALL be happening!

Especially where I am as Christmas Eve is the big day and therefore,  I get to have two big days which makes me happy. When I have time, I am a Christmas freak and love every single bit of it.

But as you know, we have slowed things down a bit here this month and are giving us all time to breathe but still engage in some creativity when time and energy allows. We hope you are enjoying the different pace here on WM and we aim to be back up to our usual brain stretching next month :-)

Now for something completely different.

This week's prompt is to be inspired by, "He's making a list, he's checking it twice..." Which is just one of my favourite songs for Christmas. I remember it from my childhood, the Phil Spector version, and whenever I hear the word "list", I say this phrase in my head (which can get embarrassing if I'm in a business meeting!)

It often makes its way onto Christmas cards:

But I've realised I don't make many layouts with lists and they are too easy a technique to miss out.

Pam makes a list every year of things to accomplish before her next birthday and I joined in last year. Ok, so I might have failed miserably and only managed half a dozen or so (am too ashamed to actually count up what I actually got to do right now!) but the principle is one I love. And one I intend to do again. And I have the excuse that my list is a LOT longer than Pam's and obviously, it gets longer every year.

And Pam has enchanted us with these over the months.

So what's so different about this prompt then, I hear you asking?!?

Well, we decided to ask one of our trusty WM friends to join us on this challenge and be our very first Guest Designer. We got our heads together, approached Tara and were thrilled when she agreed to play along with us this week. Tara is a more than regular contributor to our Flickr Gallery (here) and has gone back to older prompts and has delighted us with her interpretations of them again and again. It's lovely to see these previous subjects inspiring new layouts.

Let me allow Tara to give a short introduction:

Hello! My name is Tara Mensonides and I am thrilled to be the Guest Designer here at Whimsical Musings this week!  

I started scrapbooking after the birth of my first daughter 10 years ago. Then I stopped scrapbooking after the birth of my second and life was crazy. I started dabbling back into the scrapbooking world about a year ago and it was at that time that my dear friend Lynnette guided me towards the wonderful Whimsical Musings family.  Since joining, I have been motivated and inspired and am thrilled with all of the progress I've been making and the people I've had the chance to get to know through story telling and photos.

Tara made this layout for WM#44 - Thank Heavens For Little Girls

Tara has had a heads up on this week's prompt and now you REALLY have to tune in on Sunday to see how she has interpreted it. :-)

An extra incentive for you to come on over next Sunday (as if you need it!)! I know you will love where she took the prompt this week.