Challenge #116 week of 30th December 2014

2013 is almost over and 2014 is just a few hours away which evokes different feelings for many of us.

I find it all a bit sad and depressing but I know that many of you see it as a very positive new beginning!

So I made myself a little reminder that the new year is nothing to feel bad about....

We've had a few different prompts around this time over the last few years - life's turning points; goodbyes; new beginnings.

So let's get a little more traditional and think about goals for the year.

I make a point not to have resolutions. Instead I have a mix - I set myself goals or objectives as well as choosing a word (á la Ali Edwards' One Little Word) and sometimes manage to make a layout for Pam's concept of "The List" of things to complete between one birthday and the next. How about you?

I hope you will share your goal inspired layout or project with us over at our Whimsical Musings Flickr gallery (here) with the tag WM#116.

Here's to a great 2014!

Challenge #115 week of 23rd December 2013

Wow, it only seems five minutes since we celebrated prompt #100 and here we are at #115. Time flies for sure. And slowly, 2013 comes to an end. Just a few more days before we celebrate Christmas and welcome in the New Year.

But just for now, let's all take a breather and relax for a minute or two .... better!

At this somewhat crazy time of year, it's important to just stop for a second from time to time and take a few moments to take it all in. The tree, the lights, the advent candles or calendar, the presents piled up, the list of things still to do - all evidence of fun and magic at this special time.

I'm especially pleased with my tree this year. I've used pale pink and gold with literally hundreds of tiny fairy lights. It sparkles with abandon! It's hard work to get it done, but it's always worth the effort. My tree is always a highlight for me.

Which got me thinking that I'd like you to take inspiration from the Christmas Tree.

There are so many ways to take this prompt. Here are just a couple that spring to mind:

• a story about your childhood Christmas trees perhaps
• your family tradition to drive into the wilderness to cut one down, Griswold family style
• how you come up with your colour scheme
• your favourite bauble
• who decorates the tree and maybe how harmonious that procedure is (or isn't!!!) when you are struggling to get the tree fixed and straight and then fighting with multiple, knotted up light strings
• maybe just how you're a real or an artificial aficionado (reference to the Paperclipping Round Table the other week)
• how about when you put it up - for example, many families here in Germany put theirs up on Christmas Eve and are horrified to find that I have mine up for weeks before the big day

I know that there will be something in this prompt to motivate you to get a little piece of your Christmas magic captured on paper, and we hope you will share your creations over at our Flickr gallery (here) with the tag WM#115

Challenge #114 week of 16th December 2013

Another week and another delightfully lovely Guest Designer.

We are so, so lucky here at Whimsical Musings to have a very close, tight community and I value my WM friends so very much. Lynnette is extra special to me and once again, needs no introduction. If you have spent anytime at all over here, you'll have seen her lovely layouts and no doubt experienced her sweet, kind, thoughtful comments on your pages. And if you want a giggle then you MUST go over to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog and check out her kit reveal posts. Her creativity in presenting her kits blows us all out of the water!

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City sidewalks, busy sidewalks
Dressed in holiday style
In the air there's a feeling of Christmas
Children laughing, people passing
Meeting smile after smile
And on every street corner you hear

Silver bells, (silver bells) silver bells (silver bells)
It's Christmas time in the city
Ring-a-ling, (ring-a-ling) 
Hear them ring, (hear them ring)
Soon it will be Christmas day

Well, hello there and Merry Christmas from the Big Apple!  I am thrilled to be featured as a guest at Whimsical Musings and inspire you with our whirlwind trip to New York City.  Bing Crosby truly captured the essence of Christmas in a bustling city with his song, "Silver Bells". Let's take a look at Christmas in New York!

We visited Macy's Herald Square on 34th St. (yes, like the movie "Miracle on 34th Street") to mail a hard copy of our requests for the season.

We were also fortunate enough to arrive at a "slow time" and only had to wait 35 minutes to see the big man himself and to put in a good word that the kids should be on the "nice" list this year.

A "must-see" attraction is the tree at Rockefeller Center.  Wish we had seen it at night, but the weather was too frightful the night prior.

The storefront windows are always fabulous.  Here's a replica of Rockefeller Center at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Store.

So, there's just a sampling of our 24 hours in the big city.  Even though we only live an hour away, we don't always get there and especially not at Christmas, so it was quite a treat to have an overnight trip to savor all of the hustle and bustle.

This week, be inspired by Christmastime in the City.  Whether you have had the opportunity to visit a big city or stay in your own little corner of the world, show us how the spirit of the season comes alive around town.  Be sure to share your layout in the gallery and tag it #114.

Silver bells, silver bells
It's Christmas time in the city
Ring-a-ling, hear them ring
Soon it will be Christmas day!

Challenge #113 week of 9th December 2013

This week, I'm thrilled to have Leslie (check out her blog here) join us here at Whimsical Musings as Guest Designer. She of course needs no introduction as I'm sure you are more than familiar with her fabulous creations over at our WM Flickr Gallery (here) as well as over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge.

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'Tis the season to be jolly!

 

It seems that everyone has something special planned at this time of year.

For me December is the season of my Saviour's birth, 

 

but also the month of my wedding anniversary 

& my first grandson's birthday.

What things other than the obvious make this month joyful for you each year?

 Is there something you always do while you have the extra time off?

A special place you always go? Some way that you pamper or spoil yourself?

It doesn't have to be about the season!

Make a page about JOY!

And be sure to link up over at our Flickr gallery with the tag WM#113.

Challenge #112 week of 2nd December 2013

Well, it was Thanksgiving last week for those of you stateside and I feel as though this should be part of our prompt this week. But not the usual "thankful for the blessings in your life" kind of way. You know that's not how we roll round here. We like to take a new direction on familiar ideas.

For example, you will no doubt remember prompt #15 where Pam asked us to be thankful for something about ourselves. What a great idea to take a few minutes to think about ourselves in a positive way at this time of year when the focus is very often on others.

Therefore, I'm going to ask you to think about something you are very thankful/grateful now but for which you haven't always felt that level of affection/gratitude/thankfulness.

It could be something that you didn't want to happen but it had a great, positive outcome. Something you used to dislike, but have learnt to genuinely love. Maybe something quite negative but that opened you up to something new that you could never have imagined.

This layout is in response to prompt #78 - Missing someone or something. It would fit for this prompt too with its positive result that I am thankful for, coming out of a difficult situation over the last 18 months.

And I know exactly what I will be trying to make this time around....

We hope you are inspired by our take on being thankful to create. Make sure you share over at our Flickr gallery (here) with the prompt WM#112

Challenge #111 week of 25th November 2013

It's our birthdays this week!

Well, mine was at the end of last week and Pam's will be at the end of this week. As fate would have it, we are exactly a week apart (eh hem and a "few" years! LOL).

I've tried to come up with a birthday prompt but with a whimsical touch the last two years. After all, as you know, we are ALL about the whimsy round here ;-)

So let me think. We had prompt #16 - be inspired by an aspect of your birthday not usually considered, and prompt #66 - be inspired by star signs....

Now, I happen to know that Pam will be celebrating a particularly noteable birthday this year so that is where I am going to take you with this prompt.

Be inspired by a "special" birthday - be it a round number; one that stands out in your memory from your childhood; finding out you share your birthday with someone famous or exceptional; a birthday when you received an extraordinary present; the year your day fell on a particularly rare date combination.... I could go on but the choice it yours. But it has to be especially remarkable!

We'd love to see your birthday creations over at our Flickr gallery (here) with the tag WM#111.

Challenge #110 week of 18th November 2013

I'm not doing very well at the actual creation of layouts right now - even my own prompts!

But I hope you can forgive me. I will get better... soon. That's the plan anyway.

Welcome to another Monday and another challenge.

We've been going a little deeper the last few weeks so why don't we change things up a bit and be inspired by something gorgeous!

Every month I put a mini-round up of internet inspiration together for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge. This month, I decided we needed a little sparkle. But I'm saving sparkle for a particularly dark and dreary Monday so not this week :-)

Instead, I'm going to suggest you be inspired by this stunning, glimmery image I found:

I don't know what I love more. The whimsy, the colours, the design, the fact that it's a wreath! I love every tiny square centimeter of it! I'm not sure it would go down too well on my own front door, perhaps a little girlie for that, but I love it and find it all so inspirational.

I hope you do too.

If this gives you the nudge to create this week, I hope you will share over at Flickr (here) with the tag WM#110. I'd love to see you over there. :-)

Challenge #109 week of 11th November 2013

Today, across many parts of the world, people took a moment (2 minutes in fact) at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month to reflect and remember those lost through conflict. Remembrance Day has become more important to many of us over the years and today I wore my red poppy with pride and carried out my own little act of remembrance even amongst the hustle and bustle of my regular work day.

Of course, the poppy reminds us of one of the most famous poems from the time of WW1 by John McRea:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

This week, I'd like you to be inspired in some way by Remembrance Day. If that's a little deep for you, take inspiration from the beautiful poppy, its delicate design or its intense deep red colour.

A somewhat more serious prompt for us this week but yours to take in whichever direction you'd like.

If you'd like to share, be sure to link up at the Flickr Gallery (here) with the tag WM#109.

Challenge #108 week of 4th November 2013

Having missed another week :-( I want to get this week's out early enough and keep it short enough that I have a chance of starting and finishing the post before I need to get up and made dinner. Yes, I'm having "one of those days" LOL.

You know that we like to change things up here and going through my Pinterest pins, I came across this fantastic Etsy listing {check out the original listing here} - I LOVE Etsy and am happy these days to find many shops listed that are this side of the ocean. Funny that the one I pick out today is in fact, ALL the way over there in Australia. Even the name "TheLoveShop" is perfect.

Such a simple concept, so beautifully made and perfect for a bit of everyday dreaming. I'd order this if the shop was local. And I love that it starts with sleep - yes, I can relate to that one.

So, this week, let's be inspired what what "more"s you'd like in your life and get creating. Whether it's more scrapping, more BasicGrey (oh sorry, that's just me!), more time to think, more inspiration, more smiles, more product on your pages, more light in the day now that most of us are moving into winter. Just more.

Don't forget to share over at the Flickr Gallery (here) with the tag WM#108.

Check out the Whimsical Musings Pinterest board here and my boards here for an eclectic look into what's catching our eye at the moment.

#107 inspired by non-standard celebrations

I didn't remember to take any photos of our recent "15 years since the day we met" celebration so I was a little stuck for myself as to what to do with this week's prompt. Of course, I had left it to the last minute to get it done and wanted to tie it in to LOAD as well. At times like these, I can be really lazy and just want to get the layout made! To get cutting pretty paper.

And then I realised I should use the photo that I had used for the prompt post last week and make it a bit of a more general layout about the fact that we celebrate these "odd" days rather than one day in particular.

In the end, the layout ends up covering both ideas and I'm happy to have found a use for this below par photo of this strange little anniversary!

What non-celebration are you capturing on your page this week? I'm looking for some new anniversaries to add to my list so I can catch him out with a few surprises!

Make sure you share over at Flickr (here) with the tag WM#107. 

Challenge #107 - week of 21st October 2013

There's been a lot of product based challenges recently because we've all been busy. Not to say that these prompts can't be challenging and thought provoking but on the whole, they tend to be a little easier on our creative thinking.

So, I'd like to change it up a bit this week and give us something that might give you a little more food for thought.

I recently celebrated 15 years since the day I met my husband. Yes, I know the exact date as it was the first day of our MBA course and a pretty life changing moment on many levels.

I made sure we celebrated it, even if it was in a small way with 15 somewhat silly presents and dinner out. I make a point of remembering and celebrating these milestones and believe that it's important to mark the small things as well as the main events.

So this week, I'd like you to be inspired by a celebration or anniversary that isn't one of the standards. No birthdays, weddings, Christmas or Valentines allowed for this one! :-)

A celebration of 3,000 days of marriage! Silly, inexpensive but meaningful!

And if you need some help in calculating days between two dates, you can enter them on this website (here) or if you need to see when a special date might land, you can try this (here) - Ps. don't you just love the internet? I used to calculate these things by hand!

Don't forget to link up in our Flickr gallery here with the tag WM#107.

#105 inspired by gold

My Counterfeit Kit Challenge October kit, Stargazer featured mostly blues, pinks and golds this month and I have been attacking it almost each day for LOAD1013 and I have to admit that I'm a little addicted to the gold look. There is a selection of (not so good) photos in the Flickr gallery most of which were taken at night. But I've taken some better photos of some of them and I'm just going to show you what different looks I've created this week with gold. Warning: This is a very photo heavy post!

Gold doilies (Scrapabilly Kit)

(Scrapabilly Kit)

Gold mist, tag painted in gold mist and gold ribbon (Scrapabilly Kit)

(Scrapabilly Kit)

Yellowy gold papers, twine, sequins, doily, washi 

Gold spotted letters, doilies, washi, sequins and a gorgeous gold glitter paper

Gold glitter paper, mist and doily as well as wood veneers pained with gold mist

Gold embossing, washi, twine, ribbon

Subtle gold sequins and spotted letters

A bit of it all - god washi, dotty letters, glitter paper, mist, thread

Phew! That's a lot of gold and a lot of scrappy fun. You can be sure that I'll be using gold more in the near future - I really have a touch of gold fever.

Hope you'll share your creations over at the Flickr gallery with the tag WM#105

#106 inspired by transparencies

LOAD is taking up a lot of our time right now but it does give the chance to build in these challenges to our daily creations. So why did it take me to today to do that? 

Lynette made up her wonderfully elegant page right away and here am I creating last minute as usual!

This page was driven by my scrap box. I had a good rummage and was delighted to find this gorgeous piece of map paper and the rest developed from there. More scraps in the same tones, then a few travel products and a small cluster top and bottom just seemed to come from that first piece of paper.

It was only then that I remembered our Whimsical Musings challenge and as luck would have it, there were two perfect scraps of transparency in my box that fitted the theme and colours of the layout.

Of course, I've made a mistake in the journalling which will have to be fixed but that's only to be expected. I think I correct almost every layout in some way, be it spelling, journalling, title work, wonky photos etc etc

Please excuse the quality of the photos - it's dark so early these days!

There's the Hambly off-cut. Wish I could track down some more of this.

And here's the Heidi Swapp travel themed luggage tag. Yes, there's the journalling mistake!

Now, these two small bits of transparency haven't made much of a dent in my huge pile and I wasn't especially creative with how I incorporated them onto my layout but I'm hoping that I am now reminded to include some of the other scraps on pages. Let's see how I get on with that now...

Please share your transparency creations with us over at our Flickr Gallery with the tag WM#106.

Challenge #106 week of 14th October 2013

Keeping it short and sweet today, my fellow scrappers with this week's creative challenge.

I spent some time sorting some of my stash this weekend. I have a bag in the corner of my room into which I throw in any items I don't necessarily want any more and when it's FULL it'll be handed over to my niece. She goes crazy for all that glitter and I bet you know that there's a lot in there already.  But back to my de-stashing. I went through some of my baskets, the paper trays and several random boxes of bits and pieces, sorting, throwing or reorganising, only to come across this pile of beauties - transparencies.

Yes, you've guessed it, I'm challenging you with another product prompt this week - be inspired to use transparencies of some sort of your project this week.

There's lots of new, trendy photo overlays and loads of small transparent elements out there right now so you could go modern and trendy, or you could do what I'm going to do and go retro and fish out some of those Heidi Swapp, Hambly or Rusty Pickle to find a home for.

I have created lots and lots of gold layouts for last week's prompt which I will load onto the blog and our Flickr gallery really soon but in the meantime, don't forget to share what you have created.

Challenge #105 week of 47th October 2013

Ok, so we missed a week there somewhere along the way. Whoops! But, I hope you will forgive me :-) I warned you that this might happen from time to time. And that was this time.

But I'm back to entice you with a new (or not so new really) trend that has me in its grips right now.

I want you to be inspired by the Midas Touch.

Yes, go for gold in your creative endeavours this week. There is plenty of inspiration out there for gold right now as well as lots of products featuring the colour and I am struck with it.

Just in the last couple of days, I made a layout for LOAD featuring my counterfeited gold polka-dot vellum and a layout just for me highlighting a flurry of gold, gitter die-cut stars. And the gold Mr Huey I got recently has been making an appearance on a regular basis since I got it as spray, splats or as a background wash. Then there's the three different sizes of gold sequins which have found their way into my stash and onto my pages. And don't even talk to me about the über-cute gold doilies I picked up that have been sneaking in more and more!

Need more inspiration - check out our Pinterest board (here). I'd love to have that cute widget in our side bar and here but for the life of me I can't get it to work! But we'd love you to drop by our board to see what's inspiring us - why not follow us too? And if anyone can help me with my widget problem, I'm all ears!)

Don't forget to link up in the Flickr Gallery (here) with the tag WM#105. Go for gold today and shine!