Challenge #259 - week of 27nd May 2017

Well look at me and my three or four prompts in a row - on time even!

Welcome back to another week of inspiration. It's great to see you here and I hope you've been creating recently.

I try to change up the prompts from week to week, moving between more random inspiration to scrapbook specific and this week, I decided to pull out a technique prompt because I don't think we've done one for quite some time.

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

I'm not a big technique girl but once I'd got the hang of fussy cutting, I found that I loved it. This is definitely a way for me to use some of the more difficult, large patterned papers and it never takes as long as you think it's going to take. I go through phases where you find it on almost all my pages, but then I might go some months with nothing at all, until I remember it and off I go again. But I always love the result.

Here are just a few from over the years.

Use a tiny piece of fussy cut paper to embellish your page or make it a main feature. Get bold with that paper that you find hard to use and see if just a single cut out element can make it easier to scrap. Pick a word, a single flower or the whole sheet - it's never as difficult as you think.

Once you've fussied your way onto a scrapbook page, please share - you know how much I love that!

Remember that you can either upload your layout into the Whimsical Musings Flickr gallery with the tag WM#259 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#259 in the write up text so that we can find it.

Challenge #258 - week of 22nd May 2017

Yeah! I managed to get last week's prompt done within the week. I'm amazed at myself.

I haven't found time to get good daytime photos so I haven't posted it here yet, but you can find it over at the Whimsical Musings Facebook Community if you're interested!

Let's see if we can come up with something new for this week now...

We haven't had a sketch in ages so off I go to Pinterest to see what I can find. Ah yes, this is a good one.

This week, I'd like you to be inspired by this October Afternoon sketch.

Original Pinterest source here / October Afternoon sketches here

What I really like about this one is the large area reserved for journalling which is always something I struggle with combining in the design of my own layouts, the strip of uneven elements across the middle and the open to interpretation off the page areas. I think you can do a lot with this one!

Will you use 5 photos across the middle or replace some of these elements for journalling cards, paper, embellishments or pocket page cards? Will you have a multi-word title or just keep it simple? Will you use the space for journalling or use that area for more embellishments? Will you keep the design simple or really fill up the areas? I love sketches that offer all these different takes. However you change up the sketch or stay faithful to it, I'd love to see what you do.

Remember that you can either upload your layout into the Whimsical Musings Flickr gallery with the tag WM#258 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#258 in the write up text so that we can find it.

Challenge #257 - week of 15th May 2017

Ok, better late than never! Somehow the beginning of the week slipped away from me but here I am and I've got a hot prompt for you :-)

Here in the west of Germany, we had a scorching hot day yesterday - it felt like the middle of summer. Everyone was out soaking up the rays and enjoying life outdoors. Just for one day! Today, it's overcast and wet, but yesterday gave everyone hope of better days to come.

Now I found it almost too hot - after just a few hours - but it reminded me of the Palm Beach by My Mind's Eye collection I just picked up from Scrapabilly and a prompt was born.

Now, we've had pineapples (WM#167) and even flamingos (WM#231) but this week, I'd like you to be inspired by palm trees!

Isn't this paper gorgeous with the gold leaf palm trees and look at that gold sticker! I love it and hope that you will join in on the tropical feeling this week.

I might well be using this paper line as my response to the kit and if you had something similar, you could head that way. Or maybe you've had a holiday somewhere tropical at some point? What about your dream tropical beach holiday where you'd be heading the moment you won the lottery? Or perhaps you've had a themed party that needs recording. I'm sure you can think of other ways to take this hot and steamy prompt this week and whichever way that is, don't forget to share!

You can either upload your layout into the Whimsical Musings Flickr gallery with the tag WM#257 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#257 in the write up text so that we can find it.

Challenge #256 - week of 9th May 2017

The world is in voting fever right now. Or so it seems. And while this blog is not the place to talk about politics, I'm more interested in the results around me than ever before.

Alongside Brexit last summer, the US in November, and my adopted home country of Germany's General Election for Chancellor this coming September, we also have a Federal State election here in North-Rhine Westphalia next Sunday. And today, France went to the polls to elect Emmanuel Macron as their new, and youngest ever, President of France. It was a monumental election as were each of the others I mentioned. I'm sure there are many more happening around us right now but these are the ones that seem to mean the most to me for one reason or another.

As always, today's result got me thinking about the changes that may come but also about the national motto of France that I'm sure you're all familiar with and a prompt was born.

For this week's prompt I'd like you to be inspired by "Liberté, égalité, fraternité".

France used to be where I thought I would end up living. I used to be able to speak fluent French. The French culture is all its own and one that I loved. The land itself is beautiful and Paris is a dream. So there's always been a connection for me with the country and maybe that's the direction I will take my project this week. You might have been to France, learnt French or even have a thing for vintage French black and white art films you'd like to record.

But maybe I'd like to think a little deeper and consider the meanings of the infamous motto of freedom, equality and fraternity. If you'd like to find out a little more about the motto and its origins, head over to Wikipedia here. We've tackled some of the more serious prompts such as civil rights (WM#119 here) or even woman power (WM#199 here) before but this might be a time to really go deep about what these mainstays of society mean to you.

But whether you go light or deep, join me in a little je ne sais quoi this week and get creative with your projects.

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#256 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#256 in the write up text so that we can find it.

I headed over to Flickr today and found a bunch of layouts there that I'd missed - I'm so sorry for that. I had assumed that most of you joined us on Facebook but now that I know you're still there, I'll check it out more often!

And many thanks for your sweet comments about continuing the blog. I want to. Really I do. And I will continue as long as I can. But it makes me sad that somehow I don't even get around to making my own prompts. And I know that I've said this sort of thing on a regular basis over the last couple of years. Let's see how we get on ongoing and I will make more of an effort!

Challenge #255 - week of 1st May 2017

Ok, enough!

Enough of the missed weeks. Enough of not completing my own prompts. Enough of blog neglect (both here and my own blog). Enough. I have to do better...

If you are reading this, then you haven't given up on me and for that, I'm grateful. Thank you for being here.

So, how about a new prompt for this new month and my new resolutions?

How about enough?

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

How could you interpret this prompt? Well, you could take it literally as always.

What do you have enough of in your life - in a positive or even a negative way. What is enough? Or maybe what isn't enough? It could be physical things or emotions, feelings or thoughts.

You could establish what is enough for your page in terms of supplies, words, photos or colours - set a goal before even thinking about the topic of your page and see how you get on.

You could use products that you have more than enough of - ahem... my BasicGrey collection is just such an idea!

And here's something I can never get enough of... fresh flowers in my home.

Some ideas to get your May Day brain whirring.

I'd love it if you were still playing along.

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#255 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#255 in the write up text so that we can find it.

If you are still reading, and still playing... let me know!