Let's Celebrate - WM#100 Guest Designer Lynette

Today it’s time to introduce someone who is sweet and kind and thoughtful. Lynette. I just know we’d be really great friends in real life just as we are in the virtual world.

Another fellow LOADster and now a member of the Counterfeit Kit Challenge team as well as a more than regular contributor to the Whimsical Musings prompt, Lynette is always there to offer supportive comments or to impress with her perfectly executed layouts.

And if you want some giggles, you just have to check out her Counterfeit kit reveal blog posts every month – she wins the prize for best kit presentation each and every month. I never fail to laugh out loud when reading her reveals.

Here's Lynette.

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Happy 100th Prompt Whimsical Musings! One hundred is certainly a monumental milestone. Back in my elementary school teaching days, we would always celebrate the 100th Day of School with counting, writing, singing and movement activities all based around the number 100. To a child, that number may as well have been one billion! My young students always felt such a great sense of accomplishment to reach that day mid-way through the school year.

Even as followers of the Whimsical Musings Challenge blog, we should feel a great sense of accomplishment for reaching the 100th Prompt. Whether you’ve followed from the very beginning or just started…whether you’ve created one or 100 layouts…whether Pam and Lisa’s inspiration even just made you think differently about life, 100 thought-provoking, artistic-inspiring prompts is worth celebrating!

Now, for my celebratory prompt, I’d like for you to think of your life in terms of a timeline. Are you familiar with the Five for Fighting song, “100 Years”? It’s a poignant journey of a man throughout his different stages of life. The events stream by faster and faster and while 100 years seems like a long time, life often moves along quickly “when you only have 100 years to live”. Most scrapbook to hold onto to those moments that seem to race by us. 

Having children certainly has sped up the pace of our lives. Seems like just yesterday when my son was born and now he just turned 12 last week! Take a look at the timeline layout I created focusing on the evolution of our family starting with my marriage to my husband to the birth of our 2 children.  I decided to print the photos of our past in black and white and our current family photo in color. This helps to cut down on the distracting colors and draw the focus on the present. I used my “old school” Dymo label maker to highlight the important details, just as you would see in a timeline in a history book and anchored all of the photos on a thick black strip of paper creating the actual line. Certainly, this is not necessary, but felt it drove home the timeline feel. It brings a smile to my face to see that young couple getting married, to having children, to the present day. We’ve come a long way and it’s interesting to see our growth on this page.

  

The use of black and white photos for the supporting photos really helps the main photo stand out. And the use of frames and elements really directs your eye down the page to the different elements to take in. A happy, but totally meaningful page.

Lots of dimension and small details to take in 

Love the multi-coloured title. It catches your eye and is a fun element on the page

This makes me want to get my Dymo out and get stamping!

Think about a period of time in your life and create a layout showing a timeline. It doesn’t have to be from birth until now. It can even be “A Day in the Life” type memory documenting the everyday events. Whatever you decide, I hope it helps you slow down your life for just a bit and take stock in all of the changes and blessings in your life.

About Lynnette…

I met and became inspired by Lisa and Pam through the Layout A Day scrapbook challenge. Both women were so encouraging to a scrapper just trying to find her style and groove. After completing a LOAD challenge and feeling like I needed something else to keep my mojo going, I decided to check out Whimsical Musings. I was immediately hooked by their approachable style that alternated between story-based and technique-based prompts. I enjoy the small, grassroots community here and the encouraging environment that carries no ulterior motives. I certainly will always have more to learn and room to grow as a memory keeper, but Whimsical Musings has helped me flourish and become a confident scrapbooker.  

Thank you for your encouragement and dedication, Pam and Lisa.

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And there you have our second Whimsical Musings prompt of the week:

Be inspired by... the song “100 Years”.

For those of you (like me) unfamiliar with the song, you can find the song lyrics here (or on YouTube here).

Where will you take this prompt today? We’d love you to share at the Flickr Gallery (here) with the tag WM#100-4.

Lynette can be found keeping us smiling and happy over at her blog (here), at our very own Flickr group (here) where she is helping to moderate the message board, and as part of the Counterfeit Kit Challenge design team (here). Don't forget to check out her kit reveal posts every month. Guaranteed to make you smile.