Challenge #48 week of 16th July 2012

Happy Monday!

I hope everyone is happy and feeling ready for another week.

Here in Germany, we are having a pretty terrible summer. It's cold, it's rainy, there are thunder storms, I can't remember the last time the sun shone all day :-(

So today's prompt is an attempt to bring a bit of summer feeling into my life.

Pinterest find

We have a lot of wonderful ice-cream parlours in Germany and it's a summer thing (and also a winter thing to be honest) to go along and have one of their amazing home-made creations.

And my brother just arrived this weekend to spend a month with us and a trip to our local ice-cream extravaganza is on the agenda every year. I can hardly wait!

Pinterest find here

So, this week, I'm asking you to be inspired by ice-cream.

Pinterest find here

However you want to take that :-)

I'll be posting my creation for last week's prompt as soon as I can.

See you on the Flickr board (here) and don't forget to use the tag WM#48.


Have a great week everyone!

#47 inspired by large photos

I don't use large photos often enough which is sad as I really like the effect of them. But I tend to be lazy and I have a pile of 4x6s that I have sitting around and I tend to go there first. So Pam's prompt this week was a refreshing change for me that had me sitting here considering which photo would be special enough.

And while I was looking for inspiration for this week's challenge, my eyes were drawn to my magnet board next to my desk and there was a large photo that I love and which I had recently taken out of a frame. It was fate! And the story with it is just another little story that might not have been told. And really, there's not much story - more of a "you had to be there" type of thing. But it's another piece of our Nova Scotia adventure and one that makes me happy.

The main thing is that I remember that moment when I look at this photo, so now it's on a page, that's perfect!

I used my Counterfeit kit, Beach-house which seemed only appropriate and I've just noticed that I forgot to put the date and place on that little tag to the left. I'll do that right after I finish this :-)

Excuse the not so good photo - I was in a bit of a hurry to get this done and up!

A simple story told with a large photo that takes centre stage on this pretty beachy colour paper. It didn't need much added for decoration and the journalling was short and to the point.

This week was a great reminder to get out those larger photos and make them shine. And for me, that often means a simpler, quicker page than usual and that's a double win!

Don't forget to show us how you handle your oversize shots and share with us over in the Flickr gallery - use the tag WM#47 so that we can find it :-)

#47 Inspired by large photos

well, like I said, I have no problems using large photos. I think is a useful story telling tool and I turn to it from time to time.

However, I love enlargements so much that they hardly sit in my "to scrap" pile for long. I knew making this challenge that I would have to print a new picture for this. 

I like my pictures to be really large and good quality. So I usually don't print at home. Even if I can overlook the quality issue, the largest my printer can handle is 8x10. The new challenge for Simple Scrapper called for a freestyle grid and I used that Template/Sketch provided by Simple Scrapper (which will be posted the first week in August).

 That gave me the idea that I could use this tutorial by Elise Blaha from {enJOY it} to print my own 9x9 photo.

titi pam loves u 2 pieces

I thought the title fit the page quite nicely, because the picture was all cut up. You can still appreciate the main parts of the photo despite the cuts. Granted, this technique  works best with divided page protectors... but for the perfectionists out there, you can really line up the photos better and still get a seamless look. I just preferred the puzzle look.

I took an uninteresting corner of the photo off and replaced it with a smaller photo which I printed and cut with my large round punch. this draws the eye around the page.

I balanced it all with the title placement on the bottom left corner which creates diagonal interest - a little design tip I picked up from Shimelle's video.

i also added the journaling right on top of another uninteresting corner of the photo. 

i am so glad this story is in my books and i know that little smile will make me grin every time i flip through those pages.

Thanks for joining us for another week of Whimsical Musings. We are getting so close to our anniversary! If you joined in, we would love to see your work on our gallery with the tag (WM#47).

xo,

Pamage

Challenge # 47 - Week of July 9th, 2012

This is Pam here again with another (hopefully) fun challenge for you this week.

First, I have a few pages from my archives to show you. What do these pages have in common?

Well, besides the round elements, I hope the most obvious element were the Oversized Photos. Often large pictures scare us into a corner since it is such a large element to incorporate that the task may seem daunting. However, it is not much different than having a large block of photos. In fact, that is a tip I often use when creating my pages with oversized photos based on a sketch. I look for blocks of photos I can combine into one image.

Yes, you guessed it, the challenge for this week is to use an oversized picture. I consider anything larger than 4x6 "oversized" - You will notice I work with a variety of sizes and some of them irregular. So, go ahead, pull out your 5x7, 6x8, 8x10 or any other combination thereof and get to playing. This is the perfect excuse to finally use up all those professional shots we always order enlargements of and then have in a folder collecting dust. Or go ahead and print up a picture you just adore specifically for this challenge.

And why don't you add a few more pictures in the process? I don't limit my oversized photo use to single photos layouts. The page above used 7 photos without looking too crowded. You are welcome to use as many photos as you like, just make one of them larger. It is a strong storytelling tool and I think you'll enjoy it. If you need extra help along the way, here is a recent Glitter Girl adventure which tackled this topic {here}. And of course, we are always on the message boards to discuss and chat with you and how you are taking on the challenge. 

Remember to share with us on the gallery which is linked above with the tag WM#47. Until next week.

xo,

Pamage

#46 inspired by thinking

As you might recall, there's been a major change in my life over the last few months and I have to admit that I find myself again and again sitting there at my desk pondering these changes. Wondering how on earth I've ended up where I am, in another country, in another job, speaking another language. Makes you think ;-)

And so my layout was born.

The company colour is orange where I work now so my July Counterfeit kit, Beach-house, was perfect with it's rich summer tones. I added in a couple of orange tags for my journalling and tucked them behind the photo block for a little privacy. The photos are a little abstract but they represent a lot, as do most of the elements I've added to the layout. 

And I couldn't resist adding a little orange glitter to the layout to add more sparkle to my misting.

Where did your thoughts take you this week? We'd love to see!

Don't forget to link up over in our Flickr gallery (here).

#46 inspired by thoughts

This week Lisa challenged us to think a little or a lot.

Well, I am thinker, so this was easy. And I am usually aware of my thoughts. More than recent photos, or products, or prompts, my scrapbooking is mostly guided by thoughts that come up and drive a story. But I was more aware of my thoughts this week and listened carefully for story ideas.

A thought that kept coming up is how much I love my closest girlfriends and how lucky I am to have them. While I have hoards of pages about my relationship with each of them and our adventures together, I had never scrapped about them collectively. 

I am sure I would have eventually arrived at this story anyway, but this week allowed me the opportunity to get it told in a meaningful way. And the fact that three of my favorite people are on it makes me happy. 

The important thing here was the story so I just chose photos from my pile that didn't have an actual story. I have loads of those and layouts like this are my favorite way to use them up rather than trying to force a story about them.

my embellishments were pretty loud so I kept them to a bare minimum. I think they are so cute for a page about girls. Also my typed journaling is covering my initial handwritten journaling which was crooked and full of misspellings. Rather than trash the entire page I just created a text box in the size of my area on Word and then I treated the cardstock to green splats like all the other elements to make it fit in better.

Thanks Lisa for making us pay attention to our thoughts. We hope you will join us in adding your layout to our gallery. Just remember to tag it WM#46.

xo,

Pamage

Challenge #46 week of 2nd July 2012

 

I think. A lot. I find myself staring into nowhere and letting my mind wander all the time. Now that's all very well and good if you're sat at home having a quiet moment, but not so good when you're at work
(shhh... don't tell!) ;-)

But my thinking got me thinking. Like it does. And I decided that's what we need to do for our next challenge.

So, I'd like you to take 5 minutes out of your busy day and just sit. Quietly. Don't try to think of anything in particular. Just let your mind wander....

Where did you go?

• Did you find yourself making shopping lists or thinking about the laundry?
• Or did you gaze out of the window and marvel at the beauty right outside your door?
• Were your eyes drawn to a dust bunny sitting in the corner of your room, mocking you (well, they do round here anyway!)
• Or maybe you found yourself suddenly caught up with a memory from the past?

Whatever it was, be inspired by where your thoughts took you and capture something of that on your creations for this week.

Short and sweet for today because I know this this time of year is busier for many of you.

Don't forget to share over in our Flickr gallery (here) with the tag WM#36.

In the meantime, have a lovely summer week everyone and take your time to just "think".

#45 Inspired by social media

I really related to Pam's prompt this week once I'd given it some thought. Does that happen to you?

At first, I just thought that I don't really engage on FB (I'm a serious lurker) and I stopped tweeting some time ago so it would be hard to really fulfill this prompt. But then I started to think about my own blog and of course Whimsical Musings, and Flickr, and Instagram, and What'sApp and realised that I am totally and utterly engaged, just not on the minute by minute tweet/update kind of thing. And I need this connection or I'm lost. If I don't have online access, I feel helpless! Silly I know.

Pam is such a huge part of that connection these days. I am always amazed at how close I can feel to her and yet we've never even spoken to each other :-)

So the subject of my layout was suddenly clear. Our mutual creative endeavour and the reason you are here reading this and sharing your creations!

It's not a deep and meaningful layout. I will make one of those but today I was in the mood to play a little with my CKC June kit, Subtlety and to use some inspiration I found over on Pinterest (here).

I'm a bit disappointed that the banner isn't really diagonal enough and now just looks a bit wonky! But anyway!

I'll be getting the next post up for the morning but in the meantime, don't forget to share your creations (with the tag WM#45) over at our Flickr gallery (use the page link at the top of the blog here - did you notice that Pam has given us a bit of a facelift!?!).

Until then, Happy 1st July!

# 45 ~ Inspired by Social Media

Hello, hello.

I have a ton of stories to tell about this particular part of my life that seems oddly missing from my pages. But as always, when I posed the challenge I knew I'd struggle to come up with the story I wanted to tell. One kept coming to the forefront above all others as I discussed on the discussion board but I wasn't sure how I wanted to present it. Eventually, with a little nudge from Lisa today, I felt ready to tackle this story. In the end it came together quite quickly and to my surprise, I love it.

Because this was mostly story driven, I started by typing out the journaling, which is an approach I hardly ever take. Journaling, even when I make the space for it, is usually the last step for my layouts. But with this, I wanted to make sure I got all the details and I could edit it until I got it right, so I decided to type it. Next came the pictures which are screen captures from my phone's Instagram application. Lastly, once all these elements were in place, I looked for a design that would fit these nicely but still give me a bit of white space.

If you are not familiar with Instagram, it is my preferred time-sucker these days and a great way to document the moment and share with all your "followers". I have a ton of more ideas for this prompt, but I think this page got me off to a good start documenting this aspect of my everyday life. If I end up completing future pages, I will upload them to the gallery and tag them WM#45. I hope you will join me and do the same.

Lisa will be posting her page soon and remember to come back on July 2nd when the new challenge will be posted.

xo,

Pamage

Challenge # 45 - Wek of June 25th, 2012

Hello my lovely ladies. Another Monday is here. Can you believe it?

This week we are going to talk about something that invades all our homes and takes up a lot of our time and that we all have in common... Can you guess what it is?

It's Social Media.

 Although we are miles apart in different countries and speak different languages (well, we all speak English of course, but know other languages) we are all brought together by our love of scrapbooking, yes, but also through Social Media.

 Whether you blog, tweet, Instagram, text, Facebook, upload to our flick'r gallery, make YouTube videos, pin your favorite recipes, or all of the above you are partaking in a whole new technology that didn't exist in as recent as my lifetime. 

You can go in many directions with this and here are some suggestions:

- make a page about all the different sites you belong, follow or participate in

- make a list of bloggers you follow and feel like you know

- make a page celebrating people you only know online

- document your blog

- document "a day in the life" through social media, like: wake up and read blogs, photograph my outfit and load it to Instagram, check Facebook by lunch, tweet about the long day I've had, look up a Pinterest recipe to make dinner, make a scrapbook page and upload it to flick'r, then blog about it.  or something like that

- talk about your dislikes, fears and feelings about this rising trend

- compare and contrast how we communicate and keep in touch with how your parents did or grandparents

Most of all, have fun. Enjoy. Make a page you love that tells a little more of your story. Don't limit yourself to my suggestions. Take this prompt and tell the story you need to tell. And after you are done, upload it to our flick'r gallery [wink] and tag it WM#45.

With all the choices out there for social interaction, we are glad you have made Whimsical Musings a part of your week. Have a great week and see you all next Sunday.

xo,

Pamage