Challenge #206 week of 28th March 2016

Well, yesterday was Resurrection Sunday!

  So much of the Spring/Easter seasonal decor & fashions
 showcase... Polka Dots!

I found a few past layouts featuring this classic pattern. I was surprised to notice
how much the size & order of the dots impacts the mood of the design.

The uber-orderly arrangement makes it read almost as a rainbow stripe.

Confetti-style = FUN!

GINORMOUS (and bright) is another way to say "fun"!

Sheer & orderly with a tear through to the image beneath - a mystery revealed!

Glittered edges really pops these dots!

As above, these dots with patterned centers add some extra interest.

A somewhat subtle color lends texture to the background.

The small size of these dots give a little movement to the page.

Document something from your celebration this past week & be inspired by polka dots!

Don't forget that there are two ways to share:

• the Whimsical Musings Flickr gallery here
• the Whimsical Musings Facebook group here

Tag your photo with the challenge number WM#206 so that we can find them. 

You can find all the previous prompts on the blog -

 more than 200 inspirational ideas to get you scrapping!

Challenge #205 week of 21st March 2016

It's Easter week and at least over here in Europe, that means a full four day weekend which is a lovely treat. I'll be back in the UK celebrating time with my family which I'm so looking forward to but in the meantime, let's get creative with today's prompt.

Easter is a time full of symbolism, especially if you follow the Easter story. It also marks the start of spring and many of the decorations we use bring together these two elements. Then there's often egg hunts for the children out in the garden if the weather is as good as everyone hopes!

So, to bring this all together this week I'd like you to be inspired by hidden symbolism.

This is a technique I use very often relating to colours. I often use flag colours although you might not notice it immediately, but also colours that represent something on the layout which I did in the following three LOAD216 layouts.

This first one features colours of the UK flag - red white and blue.

This layout uses the muted neutrals, creams, black and gold which reminded me of the Karl Lagerfeld designs I saw in the exhibition I talk about on the layout as well as the Chanel label itself.

And another one using stylised versions of the colours of the German flag - red, black and "gold".

Or it could be something that only you can see - something hidden or something with meaning that you see and understand but the regular viewer might not notice. You could interpret the prompt as including something hidden - photos or journalling - or the more obvious symbols relating to the subject of your layout. And no doubt you have different ideas that I haven't even thought about which is always something I particularly love".

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#205 or you can post it in our Whimsical Musings Facebook group. We've decided that we'll save albums for special occasions so just load up your photo to the group with the tag WM#205 in the write up text so that we can find it.

#175 inspired by graffiti

I do work through the Whimsical Musings prompts. Just not quite at the pace that I used to. And sometimes I forget to post :-( But I'm trying harder to be better.

But this is a layout I made a few weeks ago using this wonderful Instagram steal from my sister's stream (note to self: find out the date of the photo for my records) featuring my gorgeous nephew and three of my nieces. I adore how cool they all are and the colours in the graffiti covered wall behind them are a fabulous backdrop. It was only after I'm made it, that I realised that it would match the Whimsical Musings prompt WM#175 - inspired by graffiti.

This is layout #1 from my March Counterfeit Kit Challenge kit, Tangent and I was happy to combine these bright colours with the more monochromatic embellishment elements of the kit. I know the airplane vellum paper might seem a bit random but I think it somehow represents the future these children have in front of them.

Did this inspiration give you any ideas for layouts of your own? We'd love to see if you do.

Don't forget that there are two ways to share:

• the Whimsical Musings Flickr gallery here
• the Whimsical Musings Facebook group here

Tag your photo with the challenge number WM#XXX so that we can find them. You can find all the previous prompts on the blog - more than 200 inspirational ideas to get you scrapping.

Challenge #204 - week of 14th March 2016

I've been sorting photos this evening, ready for some Design Team kit work. And I came across this photo...

which went on to feature on this layout.

This in turn reminded me of going there in person - both times I visited Pam.

And while I was there, Pam and I were talking about possible Whimsical Musings prompts and we realised that I hadn't yet featured that famous blue as a prompt.

This week, I'd like you to be inspired by Tiffany Blue.

To really overload this prompt with the world-famous blue - I'm sure they have it protected - here are just a few images.

I follow them on Facebook and back around Valentine's Day, they featured these images

And just this week, for International Women's Day, they posted this which seemed rather sweet.

And this advertising from last year's Valentine's Day was a paper crafter's dream with fluttering paper hearts and airplanes and whole scenes made from paper. Just beautiful. With that famous blue in every shot.

Now, you may or may not be as obsessed with Tiffany's as I am but there are several ways you could take this prompt. Yes, there's the shop itself! With the widespread blue that is found everywhere in one of the most famous shops of the world which you might want to feature. Or you might just love this particular shade of blue (or green as most men seem to see it). You could talk about a particular colour that you've given a specific name to (for example we have "Dad's teacup green" which my sister and I know exactly the green we mean!). You could talk about jewellery you wear with an associated colour - birthstone etc. And for those of you who are the proud owners of a piece of Tiffany magic, maybe the sight of that first blue bag given to you as a gift - it's always a gift, isn't it? - could be the feature of your page.

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#204 or you can post it in our Whimsical Musings Facebook group. We've decided that we'll save albums for special occasions so just load it up to the group with the tag WM#204 in the write up text so that we can find it.

Challenge #203 - week of 7th March 2016

This week, I'm picking up a trend that was highlighted by Sherrie over at our Whimsical Facebook group page.

A few weeks ago, she linked to this article "The Edgy Trend You'll See Everywhere This Year" which forecasts that eyelets or grommets are going to be hot news in the fashion world this season.

This kicked off a bit of a discussion followed by a wonderful layout by Jemma who decided that she could use up a few of the millions of the little things she has left over from back in the day! You can find that layout in the FB group.

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

Now this will prove a little difficult for me as I got rid of every single one of my eyelets in one of my stash purges, so I might have to get my thinking cap on for how to take this inspiration. But I'm sure that you will be able to take this concept and really run with it.

Fashion trends, scrapbook trends, your stash adventures or really just using up some of your supplies of the little blighters!

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#203 or you can post it in our Whimsical Musings Facebook group. There should be an album in the photos section of our group WM#203 for you to use.