I may be missing but I'm planning a comeback!

It's been a fun, memory-filled few months and I know that all you creative peeps will understand that it's been hard to find time to create.

But I'm planning a comeback - think Elvis '68 but less rock and roll, far less black leather and much more sitting!

I'm sitting here writing up some prompts to get me back on the creative wagon and back on the challenges here in my own little corner of the internet.

I'll be back with fresh motivation at the beginning of September - the 2nd to be precise - and I hope you'll join me.

So far, we've had a total of 331 different prompts and I seem to have managed only 144 layouts relating to them - and some of those are multiple layouts for the same prompt! In fact, I've only made layouts for 133 prompts. So there's a long way to go.

But I think I'm up for the challenge. Are you?

Join me on 2nd September and we can see where we take it from there.

In the meantime, enjoy the rest of August and go out and make some memories!

Here are just a few of mine from the last months - several trips both home and abroad, concerts, dance performances, visitors, weather, life on balconia and generally celebrating life!

Challenge #315 - week of 21st January 2019

Morning! I hope you're having a great start to the new week and I'm happy to report that we've had some simply wonderful winter weather round here - blue skies with a warming, bright sun and thick frost that stays all day! I think the ducks outside where we live are a little confused, as always, as to why the water is totally frozen over suddenly!

But I'm up and out early this week because I have a check up at the doctor's which gave me the idea for this week.

I'd like you to be inspired by checks.

Checking off items from a to-do list 

Checking progress on health and fitness goals

I can hear you scratching your head from here but let's think about how you could interpret this:

• doctor's check - this could include an update in a baby book through to a regular yearly routine that you'd like to record. It could be a funny anecdote, something that you'd been dreading that turned out fine or if you are recording a difficult story or journey, something from that timeline. 
• a check list - this might include any kind of list making such as Christmas lists, present lists, Monday to do lists, yearly goals and everything in between.
• quirks - we all have them and sometimes they include regular checks that you do at certain times or at regular intervals or before you do something else. Maybe you check that you turned off the iron five times before you leave the house, or like me, check that you have your passport with you every five minutes on the way to the airport.
• travel - travelling is full of checks. Packing lists, places to go, planning the trip with a guidebook, airport security checks, checking off the things you've done throughout the trip.
• household - part of running a household is having checks - mental or written down. Regular checks of equipments, supplies, things to do. Winter checks, summer checks. Clothing, cleaning, gardening, storage.
• paper supplies - I've seen many supplies which include check lists which could be interesting to  include on your project this week - paper, journalling cards and embellishments. Sometimes there are even full collections based on this style - Daily Grind from Simple Stories back in 2013 for example! Or how about a checked paper design - gingham, plaid, grid, geometric.
• general checks - I'm sure you can think of stories where something needed to be checked. Maybe even checked twice!

I hope you've got ideas churning and maybe that will turn into a page which I'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.

Happy Monday everyone, let the games begin!

Challenge #189 week of 26th October 2015

Here in Europe, we just turned our clocks back for winter meaning dark evenings and a few more days of not so dark mornings, although that will soon turn into very short days indeed in the run up to the Winter Solstice on 21st December. I happen to love it when I see that the days are getting shorter and the extra hour over the weekend was a welcome win.

It got me thinking about turning the "clocks" back and how many I have in the house that actually have to be changed manually. So far, I've managed four and will have to tackle the wall clocks in the days to come. It's a bi-yearly routine and something which is so normal for those of us who do it, but when you think about it, it's pretty strange - trying to change time. But all those clocks in my house and the act of making them all one hour earlier seemed like something we should talk about...

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

I had a quick search on Pinterest and found these beauties that could easily appear on any wish list of mine - especially the moonscape one! But I thought they might be a nice trigger for a page - design or story-wise - too.

Pinterest find here

Pinterest find here

Pinterest find here

Pinterest find here

Pinterest find here

I hope you find some inspiration her for your own project. I can think of a few stories relating to turning the clocks back or forward or how I feel at this time of year, or a particular clock, or there are several special watches I could write about. Or how about the design of a clock - this could easily be translated into a page design, or the colour scheme of any of the clocks featured here or one you find yourself.

I think this is a rather wide prompt!

It would be lovely to see you over at our Whimsical Musings Flickr gallery with the tag WM#189.

Hurry now, and don't be late!

Challenge #174 week of 22nd June 2015

The year is flying by and we are officially in the part of the year where, here in the northern hemisphere, the days are getting shorter again! When did that happen?

And then this morning, my Timehop app reminded me of this photo from Midsummer's Night last year where we sat outside with friends until it got dark - this photo was shot at 11.14pm - and enjoyed the balmy air that signalled the beginning of summer.

(Oh yes, and there might have been some football involved too if I remember rightly, it being the middle of the FIFA World Cup at that time...)

Now, while I may not be the biggest fan of summer - shock horror - I do love to note the passing seasons and the markers throughout the year that signal those changes. Summer Solstice is one of those and that is what I'd like to inspire you this week.

Be inspired by Midsummer's Day... or however you want to recognise/name 21st June

You could take the prompt literally and just feature what you were doing on any 21st June, or broader about the summer in general. You could talk about sitting outside in the long summer evenings, or maybe you went along to a Midsummer Party at some point. This day and night is celebrated in a big way in Sweden so that could drive your inspiration - holidays, Scandinavia or even Ikea. I think there's a lot of scope to find something that fits.

As always, we love it when you share your creations so be sure to head over to our Whimsical Musings Flickr gallery and upload your projects with the tag WM#174.

#87 inspired by being late

I promised to try and catch up on all the missed prompts and here is my first one.

As soon as Pam gave us the prompt of being late I had this photo in my head. I have literally thousands of photos of my time in the Philippines and I'm always amazed when I can remember one photo exactly! But this was the one. Because in all my life, I have never been so late as often as I was in Manila.

And that was mostly down to the traffic. Gridlock was something I got used to dealing with and always had my laptop, my mobile and a pen and paper with me in the back of the taxi to while away (literally) hours.

There are a whole book of stories I could write around this topic from my time in Manila but I thought I would start with just an overview as an introduction. I will have to write up my list of memorable lates to write up in more detail.

I'm still LOADing and wading my way through my Counterfeit Kit May kit, Excursion, and was happy to find some products that would fit my story. I added a little bit of blue paper and the little veneer cars as well as the mists.

I tried to make the design a bit chaotic and the lines reminded me of the traffic as well as incorporating the red blue and yellow featured in the Filippino flag.

Any time I capture a snippet of my time in Manila I find myself smiling. Good times. Happy page. Job done.

Thanks for being patient with my inability to keep up with our own prompts! :-) I promise to try harder.

#87 inspired by tardiness

like most weeks I had a simple and whimsical approach to this ... and a dark, deep one. So I chose the happy, easy one for this and I'm glad I did it.

I knew who my "late" subject would be and I even knew what photo I would use... but the page design sort of struggled. Anyhow, I stuck to colors that remind me of Gaby (red and teal after a quilt I made her) which are not necessarily easy colors  for me. But I like flipping through and seeing pages that reflect her personality.

I also delved into the world of clusters... yet again... It really isn't natural for me, but I did ok here. 

using Glitter Girl concepts of triangles and clusters I found elements to repeat in each one to carry it through the page and It worked out nicely. 

I also got to use some older stash which is always a plus.

So there you have it. Were you inspired by tardiness this week? Did you have any stories about being late that you had to share? I hope you do!

xo,
Pamage

Challenge # 87 Week of April 23, 2013

So this week's challenge is a little late... 

So is Spring actually.

Which got me thinking. And you know what happens when that happens.

So yes, the prompt this week is a little out there. Maybe not so much. But Time is something I feel happens to all of us - and maybe there is a story or two you need to tell about being late.

Perhaps, an obsession with the White Rabbit... or about how you felt when you found out you were "late" ... or your prince charming coming in later in your life... or just how Spring seems to be running behind schedule this year... Or that pesky personality flaw in yourself or a loved one of always being late. 

There you have it. Your "better-late-than-never" prompt. :) Have fun with it. 

We will post by next Sunday... or maybe we will be late. You'll just have to wait and see. Whenever it is you post, please remember to tag it WM#87.

xo,

Pamage

#25 Inspired by time

Pam asked us to think about the phrase "I spend most of my time..." which was inspired by a long, unscheduled day at work.

I considered doing something about how I talk ALL day long. Talking English to non-native speakers, making small-talk, talking business English, discussing news or current affairs, going over about grammar rules or common mistakes. That would have made an interesting layout I think but I couldn't think of a photo off the top of my head.

So instead I went with a direction relating to the past which ties in with LOAD that we are both doing right now concentrating on our past stories.

I'd seen this cute little photo once or twice this week while trying to decide which to scan and use but hadn't really come up with a reason to scrap it. But today I looked at it again and realised that it reminded me of long, summer holidays where we went out on our bikes all day, just hanging out and having fun. We lived in a different time without any sort of communication (our mums had no idea where we were all day!) and no sense of real danger. We lived in a quiet, village-type part of town and the roads were quiet and all my school friends were just a bike ride away. A few years later we moved to another part of town which was nowhere near my friends and bike unfriendly. I think I stopped going out on my bike on the day we moved :-(

Anyway, just a mix of products for this great prompt.

I have high hopes of coming back to many of our prompts again in the future so that I can do them again, taking them in different directions and this is certainly one for the list.

Which way will you take this prompt? Can't wait to see :-)

# 25 Layout about Time

Hello lovely ladies!

I am back with another completed layout. As you may remember, I was a little late posting last week's challenge due to a very hectic schedule {and/or poor time management}, which inspired me to tell the story of how much time I spend at work.

And so I challenged us to explore past or present times where most of our time has been taken up by a certain activity and our feelings about it.

I wasn't sure where this would take me. All week my heart was set on making a page about a time when I used to be able to sleep all day. Perhaps I will visit that inspiration again. But the page that resulted was a combination of some of the prompts from Lain's LOAD which Lisa and I are both participating in right now.

I was inpired by 1. things I miss, 2. school days and 3. a time when I used to spend most of my time doing ______. And this was the result.

I am particularly happy with this layout. These are some of my favorite pictures with the people that for a long time where my everything. {isn't it funny how you fall out of touch with your high school friends}.

I have an entire scrapbook about my high school days, but I made it fairly recent after highschool, so the perspective of having time pass is a welcome addition to my collection.

I hope you were inspired to create as well. Can't wait to see what Lisa made. {please remember to tag your layout WM#25 in the gallery}.

Until next week,
Pamage

Challenge #25 week of 6 February, 2012

Hello again! So a little late is better than never. Real life has once again gotten in the way of Whimsical Musings. {and that is ok}. In all honesty, I really love that about our blog. Lisa and I are both a testament to how scrapbooking really can play an important part in your life if you make time for it.
True, neither of us have small children {heaven bless those of you who do and still find the time}, but we each have busy, busy lives, families, jobs, hobbies, etc. The list of excuses is endless.

But we still make time.

I love that! Sure, sometimes it can feel a little overwhelming, but it is such a relief and delight when a page is completed. We hope that is why you are playing along too. So this week I have a story prompt that was inspired by the fact that I am posting this prompt late!

I thought to myself - "Man, I spend too much time at work". And it's true.

 This little cubicle is where I spend most of my week. Not my bed, as I would love. Not in the family room sharing with my family. Not even my creative space where I create layouts for this blog.

And that's a story I've never told.

If you created a layout based on the story "I spend most of my time ______". What would you fill that blank with? How would your tone sound? Would you sound happy that you spend most of your day at home with your toddlers? Would you sound a little bitter that you spend most of the week doing laundry? Would you sound frustrated at all the hours you spend on the treadmill? Would you romanticize about all the cuddly time you spend with your significant other?

Challenge: Take the line "I spend most of my time _____" and make it yours. Tell the story about a time, present or past, where one activity took up all of your time. 



I know I have several ideas floating around - (in fact I am working on a layout about work right now). Consider a compare and contrast between what you used to do and what you do now. Or a pie chart representing the breakup of your day. The possibilities are endless. I hope you are inspired to create and play along.


You will be glad you told this story. Be honest with yourself and examine your life. Write down those feelings. Don't feel bad thinking someone else will read your journaling and judge you. You are/were already spending all of your time doing XYZ. Why not scrap about it? (As a side note, I am little jealous of any of you that gets to make a page that says you spend most of your time scrapbooking).

Can't wait to see where this prompt takes you. We will be back sometime this week with our layout. Remember to peruse our flick'r gallery for additional inspiration.

Sorry again about the delay. I spend most of my time at work.

xo,
pamage

ps: thank you for understanding and supporting us. we appreciate every single one of our readers!