Challenge #202 week of 29th February 2016

Well, it's a special day today. It's not often we get extra time given to us but of course 29th February is just that. An extra day once every four years. So any of you out there with a 29th February birthday who only gets to celebrate it on the correct day every four years - today is YOUR day! Enjoy it.

In honour of 2016 as Leap Year, I'd like you to be inspired by extra.

You might think this one a bit tricky to come up with a good layout topic but as usual, I think there are many routes to take this week.

Maybe you could take it literally and talk about that magic extra day, or how you received something extra sometime - a scoop of ice-cream perhaps or something more "important". You could make a page about going the extra mile, that extra gesture of kindness you gave or received. A job where you had to work a lot of overtime or maybe one where you got a great bonus. How about doing without the extra portion of something unhealthy during a diet or a new health and fitness regime. That extra ounce of strength that came out of nowhere one day when you least expected it. Or how someone particular makes you feel extra special.

I found these layouts which could fit the challenge and offer some visual inspiration.

An extra special friendship.

A layout that made me go that extra mile with all the detail involved!

And a gift that was truly extraordinary.

We'd love you to be inspired by this prompt and hope you will share your creations - there are now two ways to do this! You can either upload your layout into the Whimsical Musings Flickr gallery with the tag WM#202 or you can post it in our Whimsical Musings Facebook group. There should be an album in the photos section of our group WM#202 for you to use.

And wait, there's more....

I promised details of the winners of the giveaways and here they are!

We had a total of 72 comments on our Monday to Saturday posts during our celebratory week and 23 layouts uploaded to the Whimsical Musings Flickr gallery or the new Whimsical Musings Facebook group in the period 8th to 21st Feb. Wow - that was a lot of activity!

So the first two prizes were pulled from all those names. Once again, I just cut up and folded the papers and my DH pulled two lucky winners.

First up is Jemma who wins this scrummy set of Heidi Swapp goodies. Congrats to you Jemma!

Second to be drawn was Kathy and she'll be receiving this swoon worthy set of My Mind's Eye On Trend 2 items. Way to go Kathy!

And then the third draw was for those who left a comment on Sunday's post telling me which previous Whimsical Musings prompt was their favourite.

Susan - your addiction to chocolate WM#170 wins the exclusive Scrapabilly Schnick Schnack Sack. Herzlichen Glückwunsch!

Ladies - please send me your snail mail addresses and I will get these items into the post as soon as I can!

Thanks to everyone for joining in with comments and layouts and commiserations to those of you whose name didnt get pulled :-( You know I'd send you all something if I could :-)

Don't forget that just because the celebratory week is over, there's still plenty of inspiration to be found in the previous prompts and the new one posted each Monday. There's quite a lot of activity over in the Whimsical Musings Facebook group too which is a lot of fun to see. So come on over and join in. We'd love to see you there - or the Whimsical Musings Flickr gallery of course if that's better for you.

Challenge #201 week of 22nd February 2016

Trying to get back to some sort of normality round here and let's start with a new prompt.

We missed the Valentine's Day week last week for a prompt but that doesn't mean we have to miss out on it altogether.

So this week, I'd like you to be inspired by hearts.

Let's face it, we've all made layouts featuring hearts - I'm sure I could list a dozen here right now of mine ... I found a few!

But when I looked on Pinterest, Paige Evans' name came up over and over again with her amazingly detailed heart layouts usually featuring some serious die cutting so I thought you might be inspired by these below.

Paige Evans - see her blog here

Paige Evans - see her blog here

Paige Evans - see her blog here

Paige Evans - see her blog here

As always, the way you interpret the prompt is entirely up to you. Heart products, a heart design, heart printed paper, a Valentine's Day subject, someone who's got your heart, even a broken heart! I think the choice is pretty endless so why not pick one and give it a go?

The giveaways from the Whimsical Musings WM#200 celebrations are now closed! We had a lot of comments and layouts so I will get to pull some names later in the week when I get a minute. Winners will be announced sometime before the next prompt. Don't forget to check if you are a lucky one.

Just to remind you that if you are inspired to make this week, don't forget that we love it when you share. You can upload your layout to the Whimsical Musings Flickr gallery here with the tags WM#201.

We now also have a Whimsical Musings Facebook group (come along here to join in) where you can join your Whimsical Musings friends and upload your layouts to the photo albums there.

We're delighted to see so many of you already there so why not come over and join in the fun?

Let's Celebrate - WM#200 a week of inspiration!

What a fantastic week we had celebrating Whimsical Musings' 200th prompt. 

Before we get back into the regular routine of new challenges, I thought we'd just take a second week to recap on the inspiration offered to us by our Guest Designers and remind you of the giveaways!

What I thought was particularly fantastic was that I didn't check with any of our guests about which prompt they would be using and yet, they each took a different favourite to work with. Serendipity at its best :-)

So, here's the week in review.

I kicked things off here in Germany on Monday with a layout inspired by the Midas Touch WM#105

See the blog post here

Then we travelled to Alberta, Canada (we travelled all over this week!) for Sherrie's page inspired by the trend of ombré WM#84

See the blog post here

On Wednesday we headed across the border to the US for Leslie's creation inspired by meeting someone for the first time WM#158

See the blog post here

Day four was back to Canada but the east coast this time to see Ali's layout inspired by connections WM#3 and also inspired by life's turning points WM#20

See the blog post here

Friday took us back to the US (all this back and forth and east to west was purely coincidental!) to bring Kathy into the Whimsical Musings fold with her layout inspired by maps WM#14

See the blog post here

Day 6 was headed up by Lynnette back east in New Jersey where she was inspired by reunions WM#135

See the blog post here

Last and definitely not least, we came full circle back to Germany where I was delighted to include Sylvia whose layout was inspired by a relationship not yet scrapped WM#32

See the blog post here

There are two giveaways just for commenting on Monday to Saturday's blog posts or creating layouts using previous prompts and uploading to either the Whimsical Musings Flickr gallery OR the new Whimsical Musings Facebook group. Open until 21st February.

Find out about the giveaway here

Find out about this giveaway here

And for commenting on Sunday's post (Sylvia's layout here) with your favourite previous Whimsical Musings prompt, you could win this limited edition Schnick Schnack Sack from Scrapabilly! Also open until 21st February

Find out about this giveaway here

Come and join in the fun either at the Whimsical Musings Flickr group or the brand new Whimsical Musings Facebook group. Let's keep the flurry of activity from the last week going!

And here's to the next 200 prompts. See you back here next Monday.

Let's Celebrate - WM #200 Guest Designer Sylvia

Yippee! Day 7 of our Whimsical Musings 200 prompt celebrations 

We are going international today - well at least international for most of you! Not for me because I live here - ha ha!

I'm excited to have Sylvia from Scrapabilly (my LSS) to be our Guest Designer today.

This is one cool chick! She has the Rockabilly vibe down to a fine art and when you go to her shop, you'll be singing along with Elvis just like the rest of us! Her shop is awesome and I'm lucky enough to be on her Design Team for her monthly kit. She has become such a good friend and has welcomed me in to her inner circle who have also become good friends - and I get to go a real, live crop every week. Sylvia is thoughtful, kind, witty and savvy. And she makes gorgeous pages! We are complete opposites in how we scrap and I love her pages because I know I could never make a page like hers. We have a good mutual appreciation society.

(Just a note, she kindly wrote this for me in English so that I didn't have to translate it for you all - isn't that wonderful!)

Let's see what she has to tell us.

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WM#32 - inspired by a relationship not yet scrapped

This layout is inspired by Whimsical Musings prompt #32: a relationship not yet scrapped. After the death of our 17-year-old cat „Jerry Lee“ our house was so empty and cold. So we decided to adopt two little kitties some weeks later. And this was the best decision we could have made J. The cats are called „Holly“ & „Cash“ and they seem to enjoy living with us. And we do so, too. Especially our daughter Saskia is cuddling the cats whenever she can. This layout shows her kissing „Cash“ and I am sure you can see the love between those two. It is my first layout about our new cats which are growing quickly – they are 6 months now.

My layout is based on a sketch by Elle´s Studio and I used Crate Paper´s „Little You“ collection for it. The soft colours fit perfectly, I guess.

Who Am I?

My name is Sylvia (38) and Scrapbooking makes me happy since 2006. In 2007 I decided to start an online shop called "Scrapabilly" – that´s a word combination of scrapbooking and Rockabilly – my favourite music and lifestyle. Since 2010 I additionally own a retail store near to the "Ruhrgebiet" (the Ruhr Area) in Germany. A lot of work – but a lot of happy people, too :-)

Find Sylvia at Scrapabilly here!

Scrapabilly.de

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I am so happy that Sylvia agreed to be on the blog. I couldn't be more lucky to have her as a friend and to have her shop as MY LSS! 

Now, Scrapabilly had a major kit redesign this month and now there's not just one awesome kit to collect, there are now three to choose from. A scrapbooking kit - the Kit des Monats, an embellishment kit - the Schnick Schnack Sack, and a planner kit - the Pretty Planner Pack.

I happen to have a Schnick Schnack Sack as one last giveaway this week. Look at those goodies. This is a super kit and I'm tempted to keep it - ha ha! So, if you'd like to be in with a chance to win this bag of schnick and schnack then leave a comment on TODAY's blog post and tell us YOUR favourite previous prompt. I'll give you until the 21st February to comment for your chance.  You can find details of the other two giveaways in the blog posts earlier in the week.

Just to remind you that if you are inspired to make this week, don't forget that we love it when you share. You can upload your layout to the Whimsical Musings Flickr gallery here with the tags WM#XX as well as WM#200 for a chance to win.

We now also have a Whimsical Musings Facebook group (come along here to join in) and I've set up an album there for any layouts that you'd like to share for our 200 celebrations. There's a whole load of friends over there already and you will be given a warm welcome - don't be shy!

Let's Celebrate - WM #200 Guest Designer Lynnette

Can you believe it's already day 6 of our Whimsical Musings WM#200 celebrations?!?

Today I'm so very happy to have sweet Lynnette join us as our Guest Designer.

As I sit here writing this, it is one year exactly to the day since I met Lynnette for real! We'd been friends for so long and when I made it across the ocean to NYC for the second time, we were determined to meet. Such a wonderful, sweet, kind person and I feel honoured to call her my friend. When she travelled to Germany on her way to Poland and spent three days here, we really cemented this friendship and I loved really getting to know her. She's loyal, funny, clever and talented. And so much more besides. I feel very grateful to have her on my "team" over here at Whimsical Musings and she has proved to be a wonderful support and someone to rely on for this blog, our other shared scrappy activities including the Counterfeit Kit Challenge and just because. 

Please welcome her to this week's celebrations:

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#135 - Inspired by Reunions

It is so exciting to be here to celebrate the 200th post of Whimsical Musings.  Lisa always provides such thoughtful and beautiful inspiration to use in our creative endeavors each and every week.  While re-visiting the many prompts, it felt like a walk down memory lane...a chance to REUNITE with some familiar posts and some that I still need to connect with.  It seemed fitting to choose prompt #135 "Inspired by Reunions" for my layout to share with you today.

The family reunion I documented isn't one of those huge parties that one might think of when referring to a family reunion.  

This one included a simple lunch between my cousin Cathy, my sister and me. It had been nearly 30 years since we had last seen or spoken to one another. There had been no hard feelings or any kind of disagreement, but just circumstances, distance and busy-ness that kept us apart. Long story short, once my Dad passed away and my mother remarried, the motivation to get together faded. 

It was only after my trip to Poland this past summer that I really started to think about my Wiater heritage. This side of my family has the closest ties to Poland with my paternal grandmother and grandfather coming from Poland in the 1920's. My cousin Cathy grew up in the same house as Grandma Wiater so I thought she may have some stories that she could share. Grandma passed when I was only 7, so while I remember her, my memories are limited.  

Love it or hate it, it was Facebook that helped me make the connection with her and she was thrilled to hear from me. We arranged a midway point to meet for lunch and included my sister in the plans.  t was a lovely afternoon filled with memories, photos and tears. It felt so good to be reunited with her. There was a certain closeness felt, as if my grandparents and my father (who passed away when I was 6) were with us. We vowed that our next gathering would not be 30 years from now and that next time we MUST meet at a wonderful Polish restaurant in the area to celebrate our shared heritage. It was a beautiful autumn day and I'm so glad I didn't forget to get a photo of the 3 of us together.  

Our reunion can be summed up by the note my cousin Cathy wrote in the Christmas card she sent to me..."getting together was a blessing of the year and I have you to thank."

Who Am I? 

I'm a busy mom of 2 wonderful children and wife to a supportive and loving husband who makes candy for a living.  It is a sweet life! 

Even though it is sometimes hard to juggle it all, I love to scrapbook, decorate my home and cook (even though I don't like to admit it).  I'm on the Design Team at Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog where I'm known for my staged kits each month.  That candy making job of my husband's has its sweet advantages as it afforded my the opportunity to visit Lisa in Germany and the land of my heritage, Poland this past summer.  Sweet blessings abound!

Find Lynnette on her blog, The Sassy Scrapper, here.

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How could you not be delighted with this wonderful lady? Such a sweet layout. Thanks Lynnette for joining in our special celebration and for helping out so much behind the scenes.

Just a little reminder to you all about the Whimsical Musings Flickr group here and the Whimsical Musings Facebook group here. Upload your creations to Flickr with the tags WM#XX and WM#200 or to Facebook in the album called "WM#200"! Blog comments all this week and uploads to either location will earn you entries to the prize draw for prizes which were featured earlier this week!

Check back tomorrow for more fun. 

Let's Celebrate - WM #200 Guest Designer Kathy

Welcome to day 5 of our Whimsical Musings WM#200 celebrations!

Today, I'm thrilled to have Kathy as Guest Designer.

I know Kathy through Scrap Happy and via LOAD. We connected. I do that a lot! We chatted via email, exchanged cards, admired each other's work and generally became firm internet friends. So imagine my delight when she informed me that she was travelling to Europe and could we meet up? What can a girl do? Travel to London to spend two days together of course! We had an incredible time and chatted away for what felt like days and days, as if we'd been friends for years. It was a wonderful time and really sums up for me what strong relationships we build through this hobby. I've long admired Katyh's pages which often feature her extensive travels - I live vicariously! I was happy to persuade her to join in with our 200 prompt celebrations with an ulterior motive of initiating her into the WM family! Join me in welcoming her today:

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WM #14 - be inspired by maps

So many interesting prompts to choose from but this one jumped out at me. I love maps of any kind but have actually never made a LO using one. However, I found it to be challenging as I didnʼt want to cover up the map at all. Hence, all the tiny photos. This prompt was also perfect for the upcoming LOAD theme of travel and also a little nod to Valentineʼs Day with the addition of the heart.

My hubby and I took a road trip to Lake Louise/Banff in October 2013. Perfect time of year to do that with all the fall foliage. It was one of those vacations where you arenʼt expecting anything and it turns out to be one of the best. It is beautiful country... if you havenʼt been, put it on your bucket list!

Nothing too fancy about this LO. I used the Tim Holtz Adventure Thinlits for the title, Basic Grey Carte Postale flair button and the Tim Holtz Dot Fade stencil for the background.

Journalling:

Banff and Lake Louise...Honestly, I cannot think of a prettier place than Lake Louise. The stunning aqua color of the lake against the snow covered mountains. No words. I have always wanted to go there so when Bruce got a week off it was a perfect destination.

Who Am I?

When Lisa asked if she could “feature” me on the WM site, I was quite surprised (but honored) as I have only lurked and never participated. But, being a big fan of Lisaʼs, both personally and scrapping wise, how could I say no???

So, here goes...My name is Kathy and I go by codaKathy on the boards. I live in the Pacific Northwest part of the United States, am married (28 years), have 2 sons in their 20ʼs (both have jobs :) ) and have one cat (would have many more if there wasnʼt such a stigma to being a cat lady). I have many loves...birding, reading, quilting and Xstitching, traveling, dancing, music. And, of course, scrapping.

Iʼve been scrapping for a long time but Iʼd say that participating in LOAD (Layout A Day) in February 2012 was a turning point for me. It was the first time Iʼd participated in an online group and it did 3 things for me. One, it introduced me to so many inspiring scrapping styles, to so many creative ways of scrapping...at that point, I had no idea what flair or bling was or layering, oh, my!). Two, it made me think about and write about my story more. And three, it introduced me to the world of online friendships that even sometimes turn into in real life friendships, to the people who really ”get” why I scrap!

I am a slow scrapper, I over think EVERYTHING (in real life,too). I am definitely techie challenged (I would love a Silhouette but that is connected to the computer, better not!). I have way too many supplies (scrapper disease). BUT I do love this obsession...and I am happy to be included in this group of Whimsical Musers! 

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I'm so happy that Kathy agreed to join in and with a page about Lake Louise including maps, how could I not be in love with this layout?!? Having spent my Sugarmoon there, I can only concur with her love of the place.

Thanks Kathy for jumping on board for me! You made me a happy girl.

Don't forget to check out the other posts this week and join in over at the Whimsical Musings Flickr group here or the Facebook group here. We'd love to see you there!

Let's Celebrate - WM #200 Guest Designer Ali

Here we are at day four of our Whimsical Musings celebration.

Today, I'm delighted to welcome Ali as Guest Designer.

Where did I first get to know Ali? Again, it's been a long time and I'm not sure any more but I know I found a connection with her because she lives in Nova Scotia which I fell in love with when I was fortunate enough to spend a holiday there in 2006. Ali joined Whimsical Musings a long time ago and started back at the very beginning of the prompts which was fun to see. I love it when a long forgotten prompt inspired layout pops up in my feed and Ali is someone who really puts her heart and soul into the words she writes on each of her layout. The love she feels for those she features on her pages is clear to see and I love that authentic part of her style. I'm so happy she agreed to join in with her take on a favourite prompt.

Let's see what Ali has to say:

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So happy to be here at Whimsical Musings during this extra special week!

I love the past WM prompts and frequently browse through them. I appreciate the convenient list found here  because I can go back and forth deciding which prompts best fit the photos I have on hand.

There is a pattern for me, though. The LOs I have created using Whimsical Musings prompts are frequently about Connections - prompt #3 and Life's Turning Points - prompt #20.

I often say that my life is all about communication. Communication ties those two prompts together for me, explaining why these themes come up so often in my scrappin'. My job is to create and nurture critical connections and build bridges as we face life's turning points. Pete and I have four kids: two are grown.  Together we have faced LOTS of unexpected bends in the road! We will be grandparents soon, too, and our daughter Kate and her partner Nathan will become parents. More scrap-worthy turning points- wow!! Three of our kids - all boys - are still at home. Bryan has almost completed his post-secondary education, and Daniel is in high school - so more directional changes are coming. Our youngest child, Noah, 13, has special needs, and will likely always be beside us. :)  We build a LOT of bridges and connections as we work toward assuring the happy life Noah deserves, and that our family deserves. Strong connections and bridges make life better, and ease our navigation through life's turning points. All of this hinges on good communication.  

Journalling

We were absolutely thrilled with how well this "at home photo session"  went.  Pete and I needed new pictures of this happy duo and Noah obliged with camera-worthy smiles; he and Argo snuggling up beside one another as though a photo shoot was an everyday occurrence.

Pete snapped so many beautiful photos that it was difficult to choose just a couple to use on a scrapbook page. These were my choices.

We so value the teamwork between our son and his Autism Assistance Dog Guide, Argo. Our family is forever indebted to the incomparable Lions Foundation of Canada and the work they do in the Autism Assistance Dog Guide program.

Bravo Noah and Argo!
Photo by Daddy, Mar. 2015
Journaling by Mom, Jan. 6 2016

Who Am I?

In my "spare time," I love to journal, scrap and make cards for charity. Pete and I also do speaking engagements as a team.  I'm planning to tweak and submit more of my written work to publishers this year - I write non-fiction articles for children.  

In the realm of "playing with paper," I just received the good news that I am on the DT for Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge!!  I've committed to sharing more projects on my blog this year, and so far, so good. I would love to have you come visit. You can find me at Lovingly Created here

Thanks again for having me as a Guest Blogger at Whimsical Musings this week- it warms my creative soul.  Remember in the midst of a busy life to be creative,  communicate clearly, foster those connections and build those bridges. :)  "You got this!" ~ Ali  

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Thanks Ali for joining us this week! Such a great reminder to us all about how important it is to make connections in our stories and pages.

Just a reminder to you all that there are prizes to be won - you can see the posts on Tuesday and Wednesday for enticing piccies!!

Comments here on any of the WM#200 blog posts as well as any layouts uploaded to EITHER the Whimsical Musings Flickr group or our brand new Whimsical Musings Facebook Group here!