Challenge #317 - week of 4th February 2019

Ah! February already.

Last Saturday was Groundhog Day which got me thinking about this week's challenge so... yes, you guessed it...

I'd like you to be inspired by Groundhog Day.

Let's have a look at a few ways you might take this prompt:

• Groundhog Day is when Phil tells us if there's going to be 6 more weeks of winter weather - if he sees his shadow - or if spring is on its way - if it's cloudy and there's no shadow to be seen. So you could talk about your own weather predictions or feelings about winter and spring at this time of year. 
• Maybe you've even visited a Groundhog Day event - of course, one of the most famous of which is Punxsatawny Phil in Pennsylvania. This might be the time to write about that trip.
• You can find out more about this day over on Wikipedia and I was interested to find that it seems to have its weather lore origins in Germany where badgers would predict the end of winter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog_Day
• And what about the famous movie? I'm sure you've seen it and also had that feeling of living the same day over and over and over again! This could be the way to take the challenge this week.
• Weather stash and products would also work for this prompt as well as any product featuring groundhogs, squirrels (they come from the rodent/squirrel family), badgers or any such creatures.
• Or maybe you just want to celebrate something that happens on that day! The choice is yours.

Last year, I spent Groundhog Day in this gorgeous French hotel as it happens to be the same day as my bestie's birthday - love the layout I made of this sweet French village on that day.

Do you have somewhere to go with this? I hope so. However you interpret Groundhog Day this week, we'd love to see! You can connect with us in our Facebook group here. Tag your entry with #WMXX so we know exactly which inspiration you've taken.

Have a great day everyone!

Challenge #252 - week of 20th March 2017

Well, I wanted to get a prompt out there that wasn't related to a specific day on the calendar but when it's International Day of Happiness, it's just a no-brainer, isn't it?

Therefore today, I'd like you to be inspired by International Day of Happiness.

Apparently, this day was created back in 2012 by the General Assembly of the United Nations and is said to have been inspired by the Kingdom of Bhutan who consider national happiness an important indicator in the "wealth" of the country. (Incidentally, there's a wonderful Ted Talk about the wonderful Kingdom of Bhutan which is sure to bring a smile to your face if you'd like to check it out here which discussed them being the first carbon neutral country in the world. Another reason to be happy.)

Happiness is good for us - we all know that - and as scrapbookers, I know that we often record the little, and big, things that make us happy.

And I know that we've had prompts around happy and happiness before, so how could we take this prompt in a different way today?

Well, you could talk about what you do to bring happiness into your home. Perhaps you are fan of the Danish concept of "Hygge" which is thought to be the reason that they have been the happiest people on earth the last few years (Norway has just knocked them off the top spot for this year!). The top five happiest countries in the world include 4 northern countries - Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Finland - so why not think about being inspired by these lands - cold on the outside but clearly warm on the inside! Perhaps you'd like to create your own happiness index as in Bhutan and record that on your project. Perhaps there's something in your life that brings you much happiness but it's something that others don't really understand - surely a snippet of you to bring to the page. Hopefully, you can find a jumping off point right here for your happy page!

We'd love you to use 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#252 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#252 in the write up text so that we can find it.

Challenge #251 - week of 13th March 2017

This week, so many places will be celebrating the infamous St Patrick's Day and it will feel like the whole world has turned green.

Being English, I don't celebrate myself but let's see if we can find some way of bringing this celebration into a Whimsical Musings prompt.

A couple of years ago, I asked you to be inspired by a green colour palette (#127 here) so I'm not going to go down the colour route - but feel free to head back to this prompt if it talks to you!

How about we go with one of the most Irish of all symbols, the shamrock?

Yes, this week I'd like you to be inspired by clover, aka the shamrock.

Said to represent the Holy Trinity (the Son, the Father and Holy Ghost) as well as hope, faith and love, it was used by St Patrick as a visual aid to teach the Pagans his message.

I don't have a connection with the three leaf clover personally, but here in Germany the four-leaf clover is used at New Year to represent luck so that is a way I might head. But you might want to take the literal route this week and create a project about your own St Patrick Day celebrations, the number 3 (or four if you go with my extension of the symbol) or fields full of clover.

You could talk about another day of special meaning to you with its own symbolism. You could remember a trip to Ireland or just an eponymous Irish Bar. How about those of you with Irish roots? So many directions to take this.

We'd love you to use 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#251 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#251 in the write up text so that we can find it.

Challenge #219 week of 4th July 2016

Happy Independence to my friends over there in the US! I hope your celebrations were happy and memorable.

And that seemed to me to be the perfect segue-way to this week's prompt.

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

This prompt can be as wide or as narrow as you wish to make it. Make a page all about your own Independence Day celebrations - possible for many countries around the world. You could talk about the first time you tested out your own independence or someone you know. You could make the jump to the independence of time alone. What about your love of Independence Day - the film? Or a layout about some element from a typical Independence Day celebration such as fireworks, bbq's or a family get together. Make it fun, make it meaningful, make it you own!

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#219 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#219 in the write up text so that we can find it.

Challenge #207 - week of 4th April 2016

A little on the run here and a day late but here I am again.

Mixing it up today, I took a look at the week to come and found out that Saturday 9th April is "Name Yourself Day" which seems like a lot of fun. Now, I did find a previous prompt WM#49 which was also inspired by names but this Name Yourself Day seems too good to miss so I'll change it up a little.

I'd like you to be inspired by names you give yourself

So many directions to take this one. The shortened version of the name you give to others to call you, the fact that you chose a new name for yourself or that you decided to use a middle name. How you refer to yourself to others around you - mum, Mrs... , Ms... , clumsy etc - or the name you actually would give yourself given half a chance!

This was the layout I made for that original prompt about the name I wanted to give myself when I was at school, inspired by The Merchant of Venice and my love for Simon Le Bon (Duran Duran). This still makes me laugh.

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#207 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#207 in the write up text so that we can find it.

#38 challenged by Mondays

I've been singing this song all week. I woke up singing it, went to sleep with it going round my head. Such beautiful voices. Such a beautiful song. I think it's gone into my top 20 :-) Makes me happy.

Monday Monday, so good to me,

Monday morning, it was all I hoped it would be

Oh Monday morning, Monday morning couldn't guarantee

That Monday evening you would still be here with me.

Monday Monday, can't trust that day,

Monday Monday, sometimes it just turns out that way

Oh Monday morning, you gave me no warning of what was to be

Oh Monday Monday, how yould cou leave and not take me.

Every other day, every other day,

Every other day of the week is fine, yeah

But whenever Monday comes, but whenever Monday comes

You can find me cryin' all of the time

Monday Monday, so good to me,

Monday morning, it was all I hoped it would be

Oh Monday morning, Monday morning couldn't guarantee

That Monday evening you would still be here with me.

Every other day, every other day,

Every other day of the week is fine, yeah

But whenever Monday comes, but whenever Monday comes

You can find me cryin' all of the time

Monday Monday, ...

Which is more than I can say for Monday mornings round here! I tell you, morning person I am NOT! And Mondays? Not good. Personally, I think we have it wrong. The weekend should be five days long and the work week just two. And the week should start with a Wednesday as then the week would be almost over before it had begun!

Only joking... a bit ;-)

I knew that I wanted to mark the change in routine I'm about to have in the next few weeks and decided to go with a text heavy page using my new favourite (just one amongst many!) 6x12 extra page to fit on all those words.

As it's LOAD right now, it uses the Sketchy Sunday sketch and also my Counterfeit kit for May, Whispers.

Each of my work days are individual and different and have been since I started teaching business English as a foreign language 11 years ago so I could actually do a layout like this for each day. I did a page some years ago where I recorded all the different companies I work for which was interesting and I can still think of one or two directions to go with this prompt before my job really changes. Another list of layouts to add to my inspiration list I suppose. Who knew that a single day could give me so many ideas?

Where has it taken you this week?

It would be lovely to see your creations in our Flickr gallery (here) with the tag WM#38

Challenge #38 week of 7th May 2012

Hello out there? How are you all doing today? Another Monday, another week and we are delighted that you are back and hope to see you joining in whenever one of our challenges takes your fancy!

Now I'm hoping that the link below works for all of you - I know there are some licensing issues for music around the world and I can't view a lot of what is linked up in blogs from the US for example.

Anyway, if you can, just take a minute to listen to the song below. Truly one of my top faves of all time.




(And if you can't watch it, perhaps you should pop over to YouTube and watch it there instead.)

Take a deep breath, close your eyes and just listen to some of the most wonderful harmonies... ever. LOVE IT!

So, what is this all about then?

Well, I thought it was about time we had a "Monday" challenge, as in...

Found on Pinterest but the linking page seems to have been spam and has been blocked. But it's lovely anyway, isn't it?

And this one seems to be linking to the Silhouette site so I guess this is a die-cut download. LOVE IT!

How do you feel about Mondays? Hate it, love it, feel tired before you even start the week or do you feel reenergised at the thought of another week full of possibilities?

This week, I challenge you to create something that tells us how you feel about Monday (or let's face it, another day is fine too!)

Can't wait to see how you take this challenge. Don't forget to link up over at Flickr (here) with the tag WM#38