Challenge #305 - week of 1st October 2018

Wow, it's October and the year is flying by. Of course, you know that I'm smiling every day because it's autumn and simply the best time of the year. I seem to be more organised, more energetic and get more done - (well, within reason ha ha!) - with the longer evenings and the full feeling of autumn in the air that seems to feed me.

But it's at this time of year that our social calendar fills up even more than in the summer as dinner arrangements are made and squeezed in before crazy season starts with birthdays and Christmas in November and December.

Which got me thinking about this week's prompt. I'd like you to be inspired by dinner parties.

Now, we call them dinner parties round here but you might have a more relaxed name for them - I'm talking about simply getting together with friends around the dinner table. You might cook together with friends and then sit around the kitchen island nibbling and chatting together. Or it might be a more formal occasion where the cooking is done behind closed doors and presented on your best wedding dinner service with fancy napkins and crystal glasses. The latter is more me because a) I'm chaotic and untidy in the kitchen which means I don't want anyone to see it! b) we are foodies and c) I'm more old-fashioned and still get a huge kick from getting out our porcelain and crystal and using it. :-)

You might want to talk about dinner with friends or with family. For special times on the calendar such as Easter, birthdays or Christmas. Or relaxed events where it just sort of happened unexpectedly. You might have silverware, dinner service or glasses with a story to capture this week. Or you might want to recall a particular dinner with a special meaning or story behind it.

For example, once we invited friends for an English Bonfire Night dinner for them complete with a menu and theme! We even had flower arrangements on the table created in English Wellington boots which were quite the eye catcher! It was a lot of fun, and explaining the whole story to them, with the history of Bonfire Night and what English elements we had included, was all part of the evening. I wonder if I've made a layout about this? Perhaps this week is the week!

I really feel that food, drink, eating together and spending time with friends and family are at the core of a happy life and recording these times in my albums is very important. I hope you agree and find a way to take this inspiration for yourself this week.

And if you are inspired, I hope that you'll share. You can do that in our Facebook group here. Tag your entry with #WMXX so we know exactly which inspiration you've taken. 

Challenge #304 - week of 24th September 2018

Welcome back to another week of inspiration and I have to say that I've done a couple of pages recently that I need to share so watch this space for proof that I actually DO make layouts from time to time - even using my own challenges!

This week I'm going old school. Back to a product that I loved - and actually still love - to use on almost every single layout. It's an everyday product from almost all of our gardens or kitchens and that found a lovely way of embellishing our pages and I soon had a huge variety of different colours, thicknesses and textures.

Be inspired by twine.

There was a time when I got through yards and yards and yards of cream or white or natural twine every month as I wrapped it around every page and scrunched it up and made big floppy bows! These days, not so much but I really like the look of it. I just forget to use it.

I use it for my banners,

and for threading through buttons for more detail and texture,

and of course, wrapping around the whole width of a page or an element. 

It's also perfect on small formats too

You might have some coloured examples, thick, thin or metallic to use on your pages. You might want to thread it though buttons, wrap it round an element, tie a knot at the top of a tag or make a messy bunch as a feature. Maybe you want to use it to lace something up or join things together. Perhaps you have some product that features twine in printed form. You could have a story about something getting tied up with twine or string or what about something that's being strung along! I think you can find ways of talking about twine even if you don't want to use it as a product itself.

I'd love to see where this takes you this week and of course, if you are inspired, I hope that you'll share. You can do that in our Facebook group here. Tag your entry with #WMXX so we know exactly which inspiration you've taken. 

Or simply tell us in the comments where to find you... :-)

Challenge #303 - week of 17th September 2018

I'm a sight-seeing type of girl and I've been doing a whole lot of it right here in Germany in the last few months. And of course being a scrapbooker, I take a lot of photos and try to capture some of the details that catch my eye.

This last weekend I was visiting a local Schloss (stately home) and the sun streaming through a stained-glass window gave me one of the best photos of the weekend.

So, this weekend I'd like you to be inspired by stained-glass.

Here are just a selection of just the most beautiful examples of coloured glass...

The library at Schloss Herrnsheim

The stately home of Schloss Drachenburg

The domed ceiling at Galleries Lafayette in Paris

Les Invalides in Paris

The Cologne Cathedral 

Windows can be difficult to capture well on a photo so I try to find different ways of showing their beauty and they are to be found everywhere - not just in churches and cathedrals.

You might have a set of sightseeing photos you'd like to use this week or maybe you'd like to use them in a metaphorical way to talk about something different. You could use a die-cut background backed with coloured paper which looks like stained glass or do you have products which feature these effects? I think there are different ways to take this prompt in a stash direction or photo driven layout or even for your journalling - plenty of scope for interpretation.

I'd love to see where this takes you this week and of course, if you are inspired, I hope that you'll share. You can do that in our Facebook group here. Tag your entry with #WMXX so we know exactly which inspiration you've taken. 

Or simply tell us in the comments where to find you... :-)

Challenge #302 - week of 10th September 2018

Yep, life gets in the way. But that's ok, right? Let's just pretend I didn't miss a week and move on!

Whimsical Musings friend Leslie has been scrapping up a storm recently and has worked her way through many prompts which makes me bow my head in shame AND feel motivated to get going - both at the same time! If you haven't caught her wonderful layouts you can see them over at our Facebook group - Whimsical Musings here - or over on her own blog - Out of the Mire here. You'll be inspired to pick up paper and scissors and get going for sure!

But onwards and upwards.

This week I'd like you to be inspired by the hashtag #watchmesmile

At this time of year, I find myself smiling - it's MY time! My favourite time of the year and everything just makes me smile. The cooler temperatures, the misty mornings, the dull, rainy days, the scattering of conkers on the ground, that autumn smell, the leaves turning colour and falling, the arrival of pumpkin decorations, the shorter days and darker nights, the low lying sun, the anticipation of winter in the air. Yes, you know that autumn is my favourite time of year but honestly, I smile every day! I started using the hashtag #watchmesmile and just using it made me happy. I've looked online and it would appear that I'm absolutely not unique and now it's rather full of posts from a West End show which definitely do NOT make me smile but I don't mind - I feel that it's my hashtag to use for what makes me happy at this time of year - I just ignore all the others!

Both of these layouts were made about "my" hashtag. The first a bit more obviously! I am going to have to come up with a new way to interpret the prompt this time around. Well, let's see.

Both layouts were made using Story Starter prompts and sketches from the Simple Scrapper premium membership community. Fabulous prompts and great sketches :-)

You might take the hashtag as it is and base your layout around it. You might have a hashtag that you use for specific situations. You might have come up with a unique hashtag that no-one else has yet caught on to (I just discovered that two of those I sometimes use are unique to me... so far!) You might hate hashtags and scrap a project about that. You might have a list of them that you use and want to record this modern part of life. You could follow my lead and just find stuff that makes you smile and make a happy page. Perhaps autumn is also your time and you could use that as your jumping off point. Or maybe you have social media themed products that need dusting off and using this week!

A few different directions that I hope inspire you this week!

And if you are inspired, I hope that you'll share. You can do that in our Facebook group here. Tag your entry with #WMXX so we know exactly which inspiration you've taken. 

Or simply tell us in the comments where to find you... :-)

#295 - be inspired by skylines

Of course when I created this prompt, I knew exactly which city skyline which was likely to feature on my page. And I'm sure it won't surprise you either.

It had to be New York from my most recently trip and it was wonderful to pick out two of my favourite views from this time around and bring them together on a page for the Simple Scrapper Creative Team. I used a sketch from the Simple Scrapper premium membership (find out more here) as well as a Story Starter from Simple Scrapper - Favourites.

I have a selection of supplies that I use for all my NYC layouts and I find myself adding bits and pieces to that kit as time goes on but the layouts all have a similar look to them which makes me happy - when I finally get around to filing away the hundreds of layouts I have sitting on my Kallax, that New York album will really have quite a few layouts in there. I've realised though that I need to get more organised with recording the stories I want to really capture rather than just doing random moments!

Anyway, here's my layout.

I got happy with the floral paper and spent half an hour or so fussy cutting a bunch of pretty florals and leaves to layer up. I love how all the elements look good together even though they are different collections.

Do you have a skyline to feature? It doesn't even have to be a city view - I have several ideas from my trips around Germany so I may revisit this prompt again when I have time and inspiration.

As always, I love it when you share too and if you've been inspired to create, don't forget that you can add your own creations to our Facebook group here. Please don't be shy! Tag your entry with #WMXX so we know exactly which inspiration you've taken. 

Or simply tell us in the comments where to find you... :-)

Challenge #301 - week of 27th August 2018

It's hard to believe we're coming to the end of August now and after the many many weeks of hot, summery weather, I'm happy that it's cooling down and we even have rain this morning. Everything feels fresh again and I have renewed energy - let's see if I can use that for getting through chores and even some creativity!

Last week, I was busy showing my mum around a part of Germany that she hasn't been to before and therefore missed my WM meet up here on the blog but I'm back again with a prompt close to my heart!

This week, I'd like you to be inspired by supplies that you just HAD to have!

As you know, I'm lucky enough to have a LSS in the form of Scrapabilly just a short drive away. We have a crop there most Thursday evenings which is wonderful for my creativity and crafty friendships but not so good for my ability to resist a little scrapbook supply therapy from time to time!

Sometimes it's just a piece of paper or two. Sometimes it's something important like adhesive or cardstock and sometimes - and you know what's coming! - it's just something I HAVE to have! And sometimes that means that I might take something home that is out of my usual scrapbook repertoire.

These days, I like to think that I pick my supplies carefully so that I know that I will use what I buy. In the early days I bought a lot that caught my eye but never used it and these items have since been donated to schools, friends and my niece! I know what I like, I know what I will use and I know what type of things are gorgeous or sweet but not really "for me". I'm not a cutesy scrapbooker and tend to be attracted to more graphic or floral designs. In some collections, I will just pick up one or two sheets of paper having learnt my lesson over the years.

So when I saw the "Dream Big" collection by Simple Stories, I knew it wasn't for me. I picked up the puffy stickers to take home with me and thought that was it! But the others in the group had the die cuts or various sheets of paper in their hands and I commented at how lovely these were. So of course, I had to go and have a closer look. Tikki girls in grass skirts, mercats, unicorns, cupcakes, rainbows... lovely but not really my style. Yes there were stars, stripes and florals which I loved and words that were fun as well as hearts and super sweet mini stickers that would be great for cards.

And then the whole collection was in my hand and suddenly, it all belonged to me. I just couldn't bear not to bring it with me! I needed it all. And I have no idea how I'll use it. Which is where today's prompt comes in.

Your own "must have" supplies might be like mine - something out of character - or they might be just sooooo special that you've been afraid to make the first cut. Maybe it's something that you can't get anymore or just something that you saw and resistance was futile! Whatever type of products you have that fit into this category, fish them out and try to make something with them this week - you know you'll be glad when you do because you'll have a page made with products you love. How could that not be a win-win?


I hope you can find somewhere to take this this week and that you'll share! You can do that in our Facebook group here. Tag your entry with #WMXX so we know exactly which inspiration you've taken. 

Or simply tell us in the comments where to find you... :-)

#300 - be inspired by the power of three

Well, look at me! I made my layout as soon as I'd finished writing up the blog post which is definitely something that rarely happens. But it's a special prompt and that deserves some special treatment.

It helps that I'm also playing along for a few days in the LOAD mini: Out of this World challenge (the mini challenge is just a week) and so I was fired up and inspired to get going straight away.

The LOAD prompt was to include white space or use space as the theme of the page so of course, I managed to do both!

It seemed a perfect combination to make a page about our Whimsical Musings bestie Pam, my trip to New York to see her, a LOAD prompt and a WM prompt all on one page.

I used my New York kit of supplies which was inspired by Pam herself and which features some products bought there (the gold leaves and the gold and green paper that is matting the photos) and all in all, I think this ticks all the boxes I wanted it to.

Of course, those of you who've been around some time will remember that it was a little challenge that Pam and I gave ourselves that gave birth to Whimsical Musings and over the years, we attended many LOADs together. I feel like she really is my scrapbooking twin.

Even though I was unable to reduce the photos to three, there are plenty of other threes to discover.

Three journaling cards, three little paper heart embellies, three stars at the bottom, visual triangles, three gold leaves, three dots of gold elements and three stamped phrases. And even though you can't see the third person on the photo, I can just about spot a certain young man (on the bridge waving!) who I had the pleasure of getting to know while I was there, and the three of us had such a fun weekend together. So, threes all over the place!

I'd especially love it if you shared this week! 

Help us celebrate this major milestone with a layout of your own. 

Don't forget that you can add your own creations to our Facebook group here. 

Please don't be shy! Tag your entry with #WMXX so we know exactly which inspiration you've taken. 

Or simply tell us in the comments where to find you... :-)

Challenge #300 - week of 13th August 2018

300! 

This is our 300th challenge - whoop whoop!

Who would have thought that we would still be going - 300 prompt down the line - when Pam and I set up this little corner of the web all those years ago. 1st August 2011 to be precise, so just over 7 years.

Just the two of us to begin with - challenging each other with little prompts which we decided to turn into a mini community. Over the years, I've become less than regular, although I do try my best! And I really need to get creating - all the prompts I come up with are ones that I have ideas for but somehow, my scrappy life is less than it used to be and I struggle to make the time to create all that often.

But here we are, 300 prompts on and hoping there is someone - anyone - out there reading and finding inspiration!

This week, I'd like you to be inspired by the power of three.

Three photos, visual triangles, groupings of three items, repetition of threes, stories featuring three in some way, three papers or even three pages! Let's make sure we embrace the wonderful world of three. I know that I use it in my clusters, and visual triangles are really something that I work with often so I'm sure you can also find a way to bring three into your life this week.

Here, I added two groups of three stars as well as a group of three circles. There's also a visual triangle.

Again, three stars and a visual triangle. I also used that paint chip die cut featuring shades of pink which is a strong use of "three".

Three photos here which feature on a Simple Scrapper Creative Team page - Story Starter and sketch are both part of the Simple Scrapper premium membership.

How long have you been playing along with Whimsical Musings? We'd love to hear from you and how we've inspired your creative memory keeping!

I hope you can find somewhere to take the prompt this week and that you'll share! You can do that in our Facebook group here. Tag your entry with #WMXX so we know exactly which inspiration you've taken. 

Or simply tell us in the comments where to find you... :-)

Challenge #299 - week of 6th August 2018

We are still burning up here in Europe with a serious heatwave and it can be hard to sit here working while most of the people I know head off on their holidays. I know that I've had some trips already this year but there is really something special and exciting about packing your bags and heading off for faraway adventures for more than just a few days. Yes, I'm a "hint" envious!

But that got me thinking about this week's challenge and I'd like you to be inspired by passports.

I love my British passport and take great care of it - I don't want to find myself living in a foreign country with a missing passport, worrying about the wait for a new one to arrive! You might also have a strong connection to your own passport that you'd like to tell.

Think about telling a passport related story - the stamps we used to receive when we travelled, when you got your first one or even when you lost it, losing it just before you travelled or arriving at the airport to realise that you'd forgotten it. Perhaps you have a funny story about the awful photo that everyone seems to have these days in there. What about passport related stash - papers, washi, die cuts. Personally, I have a serious "thing" about travel themed collections. Or you might just want to make a more general travel related page - bucket list destinations, trips you've made, tours you're planning or maybe trips you won't be making!

Again, as always I think there are many ways to take the prompt so why not give this one a go?

I hope you can find somewhere to take this this week and that you'll share! You can do that in our Facebook group here. Tag your entry with #WMXX so we know exactly which inspiration you've taken. 

Or simply tell us in the comments where to find you... :-)

Challenge #298 - week of 30th July 2018

This week's prompt was brought to my attention by our Whimsical Musings friend, Leslie (find her blog here).

I have to admit that I often just skim through Instagram and probably wouldn't have noticed this photo and especially the text below it. I find the photo itself terribly inspirational but the quote is so perfect. Especially for us as memory keepers and tellers of our stories. I always find myself justifying why I scrap so many layouts about myself with: "If I don't, then who?" I am part of a bigger story. My current will be the history of the future. I am what my history has made me. I can see my own history in that of those around me. It's all so intertwined and I'm so grateful to Leslie for highlighting this so that I didn't miss it!

Source: screenshot of Crate Paper on Instagram

Therefore, I'd like you to be inspired by history.

I don't think I need to tell you that there are a million and one ways to take this prompt - one of your own stories, your direct family, your ancestors. Your love of history, learning, historical fiction. Be inspired by this beautiful photo, the colours, the layout or the tree die cut.

I hope you can find somewhere to take this this week and that you'll share! You can do that in our Facebook group here. Tag your entry with #WMXX so we know exactly which inspiration you've taken. 

Or simply tell us in the comments where to find you... :-)