Challenge #114 week of 16th December 2013

Another week and another delightfully lovely Guest Designer.

We are so, so lucky here at Whimsical Musings to have a very close, tight community and I value my WM friends so very much. Lynnette is extra special to me and once again, needs no introduction. If you have spent anytime at all over here, you'll have seen her lovely layouts and no doubt experienced her sweet, kind, thoughtful comments on your pages. And if you want a giggle then you MUST go over to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog and check out her kit reveal posts. Her creativity in presenting her kits blows us all out of the water!

**************************************************************

City sidewalks, busy sidewalks
Dressed in holiday style
In the air there's a feeling of Christmas
Children laughing, people passing
Meeting smile after smile
And on every street corner you hear

Silver bells, (silver bells) silver bells (silver bells)
It's Christmas time in the city
Ring-a-ling, (ring-a-ling) 
Hear them ring, (hear them ring)
Soon it will be Christmas day

Well, hello there and Merry Christmas from the Big Apple!  I am thrilled to be featured as a guest at Whimsical Musings and inspire you with our whirlwind trip to New York City.  Bing Crosby truly captured the essence of Christmas in a bustling city with his song, "Silver Bells". Let's take a look at Christmas in New York!

We visited Macy's Herald Square on 34th St. (yes, like the movie "Miracle on 34th Street") to mail a hard copy of our requests for the season.

We were also fortunate enough to arrive at a "slow time" and only had to wait 35 minutes to see the big man himself and to put in a good word that the kids should be on the "nice" list this year.

A "must-see" attraction is the tree at Rockefeller Center.  Wish we had seen it at night, but the weather was too frightful the night prior.

The storefront windows are always fabulous.  Here's a replica of Rockefeller Center at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Store.

So, there's just a sampling of our 24 hours in the big city.  Even though we only live an hour away, we don't always get there and especially not at Christmas, so it was quite a treat to have an overnight trip to savor all of the hustle and bustle.

This week, be inspired by Christmastime in the City.  Whether you have had the opportunity to visit a big city or stay in your own little corner of the world, show us how the spirit of the season comes alive around town.  Be sure to share your layout in the gallery and tag it #114.

Silver bells, silver bells
It's Christmas time in the city
Ring-a-ling, hear them ring
Soon it will be Christmas day!

Challenge #113 week of 9th December 2013

This week, I'm thrilled to have Leslie (check out her blog here) join us here at Whimsical Musings as Guest Designer. She of course needs no introduction as I'm sure you are more than familiar with her fabulous creations over at our WM Flickr Gallery (here) as well as over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge.

************************************************************

'Tis the season to be jolly!

 

It seems that everyone has something special planned at this time of year.

For me December is the season of my Saviour's birth, 

 

but also the month of my wedding anniversary 

& my first grandson's birthday.

What things other than the obvious make this month joyful for you each year?

 Is there something you always do while you have the extra time off?

A special place you always go? Some way that you pamper or spoil yourself?

It doesn't have to be about the season!

Make a page about JOY!

And be sure to link up over at our Flickr gallery with the tag WM#113.

#100-5 Inspired by heading to 100 years old

I am determined to have a go at each of the wonderful prompts offered by our marvellous Guest Designers during our Prompt 100 celebrations and the first one that "got" me was Sherrie's idea of heading to 100 years old. It may take me a while to get through them all, but I promise that I will share as and when I get to them. And I recommend you have a go too - they are all so very inspiring.

I hadn't planned to scrap anything but I had printed out this blurred, out of focus photo during the week with the intention of possibly sending it to my Granny because I just think it's a fun, happy photo. It was sitting on my desk and in a moment of sentimentality (and I'm missing him loads right now) , I suddenly knew what I wanted to do with it.

Yes, the photo is bad - but it's perfect in how it sums up the truth of us.

WM#100-5 using CKC June kit, Personality

I love how the layout turned out. It didn't need much journalling because the title says it all. Just a few layered papers and elements from my Counterfeit Kit Challenge June kit, Personality, and a few extra colourful sequins were all it needed.

Sometimes, you don't need to make things complicated to say what needs to be said. Maybe that should be my lesson today for LSNED! A double win perhaps.

So, how does heading to 100 years of age resonate with you? Make sure you share over at our Flickr gallery (here) with the prompt WM#100 and for this prompt in particular, WM#100-5.

Let's Celebrate - WM#100 Guest Designer Sherrie

It's Friday which means it's time to present Sherrie.

Sherrie is a prolific scrapper when she is on a roll and can easily create dozens and dozens of pages in a very short period. Always impressive. And she is so much fun, making me smile with her pages and her comments. She also provides me with tangs of envy as she's lucky enough to live in Canada - my dream destination in case you didn't know! I am secretly planning to descend on her one day for a weekend of scrapping and chatting in her scrap space which is big enough for the two of us as well as a few more of our WM friends!

She dragged herself out of the garden where she spends most of those long, long days to create a page just for us so let me hand you over to her.

********************************************************************************* 

Slouching Towards 100! part 1

Hello friends, and welcome to day 5 commemorating Whimsical Musings' 100 weeks of prompts.

My name is Sherrie Breese and I have been seriously scrapping since 2006. I love the paper, the ribbons, buttons, bits and bobs. The pleasure of playing with tactile products is what pulls me in and can hold my attention to the exclusion of all else. Sometimes I get so immersed in the design process, it surprises me when I look up from the desk to see that the afternoon has turned to evening or even night. I wonder how that can happen, yet it only feels like I have been working for an hour or two.

Lisa and Pam became a part of my life when I joined  up for LOAD1011. Their design sensibilities had a major influence on me and I can say with certainty that they have had a huge impact on my scrapping style.  From Pam, I learned to use white cardstock and to (sometimes) allow some negative space. From Lisa, I learned to turn my random collages into clusters with focus. Through them I have also learned many fun tricks, like doodled borders, wrapping pages with string and twine, using paper doilies, tiny slivers of curled paper, photo collages with picasa, and I am sure a few more.

In celebration of their 100 weeks of prompts, I created a layout that is a retrospective of my first 50 years on my way to 100. I used my June Counterfeit Kit, Country Cousins Mel & Sam. The photos are representative of each decade. The idea came from the lineage of longevity afforded to me by the women in my family.  Hopefully I will be able to complement this layout  with part 2 in another 50 years or so.



 

Don't you just love the idea of using a whole "lifetime" of photos on one layout. And the idea that this is just part 1 is such a great take on the idea of a full and happy life as well as paying homage to the older women in her family.

Typical Sherrie to combine so many different elements, colours and patterns - it all works so well

Love the green dymo labels - that's the second layout this week to remind me to get my dymo out !

In the meantime, the WM party continues at my blog (here), where we will peruse the BBC's "must read" list of 100 Books. How many have you read?

Scrap "sis-stars" Lisa and Pam, thank you for all the work you do bringing us inspiration and challenges for the past, (almost) two years.

********************************************************************************* 

So, Sherrie is expecting to reach 100 which is certainly something I suspect many of us can hope for too. So think of a life full of living and... 

Be inspired by... heading to 100 years of age. 

Whether you are half way there or even just 25% of the way to 100, think about heading to that wonderful number and make a page about some aspect of it. Please share your ideas and creations over at the Flickr Gallery (here) with the tag WM#100-5 - we'd love to see where you go with this today.

When Sherrie isn't out enjoying her garden and grandchildren, she can be found on her blog (here), as well as over at the Whimsical Musings Flickr group (here) or the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog (here).

ETA: Congratulations to Lynette who was the first to share her WM#100 layout over at Flickr. A little extra surprise will be winging its way across the ocean to you for being the first to join in :-)

Let's Celebrate - WM#100 Guest Designer Lynette

Today it’s time to introduce someone who is sweet and kind and thoughtful. Lynette. I just know we’d be really great friends in real life just as we are in the virtual world.

Another fellow LOADster and now a member of the Counterfeit Kit Challenge team as well as a more than regular contributor to the Whimsical Musings prompt, Lynette is always there to offer supportive comments or to impress with her perfectly executed layouts.

And if you want some giggles, you just have to check out her Counterfeit kit reveal blog posts every month – she wins the prize for best kit presentation each and every month. I never fail to laugh out loud when reading her reveals.

Here's Lynette.

************************************************************************************************************

Happy 100th Prompt Whimsical Musings! One hundred is certainly a monumental milestone. Back in my elementary school teaching days, we would always celebrate the 100th Day of School with counting, writing, singing and movement activities all based around the number 100. To a child, that number may as well have been one billion! My young students always felt such a great sense of accomplishment to reach that day mid-way through the school year.

Even as followers of the Whimsical Musings Challenge blog, we should feel a great sense of accomplishment for reaching the 100th Prompt. Whether you’ve followed from the very beginning or just started…whether you’ve created one or 100 layouts…whether Pam and Lisa’s inspiration even just made you think differently about life, 100 thought-provoking, artistic-inspiring prompts is worth celebrating!

Now, for my celebratory prompt, I’d like for you to think of your life in terms of a timeline. Are you familiar with the Five for Fighting song, “100 Years”? It’s a poignant journey of a man throughout his different stages of life. The events stream by faster and faster and while 100 years seems like a long time, life often moves along quickly “when you only have 100 years to live”. Most scrapbook to hold onto to those moments that seem to race by us. 

Having children certainly has sped up the pace of our lives. Seems like just yesterday when my son was born and now he just turned 12 last week! Take a look at the timeline layout I created focusing on the evolution of our family starting with my marriage to my husband to the birth of our 2 children.  I decided to print the photos of our past in black and white and our current family photo in color. This helps to cut down on the distracting colors and draw the focus on the present. I used my “old school” Dymo label maker to highlight the important details, just as you would see in a timeline in a history book and anchored all of the photos on a thick black strip of paper creating the actual line. Certainly, this is not necessary, but felt it drove home the timeline feel. It brings a smile to my face to see that young couple getting married, to having children, to the present day. We’ve come a long way and it’s interesting to see our growth on this page.

  

The use of black and white photos for the supporting photos really helps the main photo stand out. And the use of frames and elements really directs your eye down the page to the different elements to take in. A happy, but totally meaningful page.

Lots of dimension and small details to take in 

Love the multi-coloured title. It catches your eye and is a fun element on the page

This makes me want to get my Dymo out and get stamping!

Think about a period of time in your life and create a layout showing a timeline. It doesn’t have to be from birth until now. It can even be “A Day in the Life” type memory documenting the everyday events. Whatever you decide, I hope it helps you slow down your life for just a bit and take stock in all of the changes and blessings in your life.

About Lynnette…

I met and became inspired by Lisa and Pam through the Layout A Day scrapbook challenge. Both women were so encouraging to a scrapper just trying to find her style and groove. After completing a LOAD challenge and feeling like I needed something else to keep my mojo going, I decided to check out Whimsical Musings. I was immediately hooked by their approachable style that alternated between story-based and technique-based prompts. I enjoy the small, grassroots community here and the encouraging environment that carries no ulterior motives. I certainly will always have more to learn and room to grow as a memory keeper, but Whimsical Musings has helped me flourish and become a confident scrapbooker.  

Thank you for your encouragement and dedication, Pam and Lisa.

************************************************************************************************************

And there you have our second Whimsical Musings prompt of the week:

Be inspired by... the song “100 Years”.

For those of you (like me) unfamiliar with the song, you can find the song lyrics here (or on YouTube here).

Where will you take this prompt today? We’d love you to share at the Flickr Gallery (here) with the tag WM#100-4.

Lynette can be found keeping us smiling and happy over at her blog (here), at our very own Flickr group (here) where she is helping to moderate the message board, and as part of the Counterfeit Kit Challenge design team (here). Don't forget to check out her kit reveal posts every month. Guaranteed to make you smile.

Let's Celebrate - WM#100 Guest Designer Michelle

Today I'm thrilled to introduce another of our WM friends, Michelle. We initially connected through LOAD and then Michelle was the second to join in on our prompts over at Flickr. Her first prompt was WM#13 which is a very long time ago! She has been a regular ever since and I'm so happy she agreed to contribute to this week's celebration with her very own 100 prompt. 

*********************************************************************************

Hello, Michelle here.

Excited to be a “behind the scenes” part of WM for a change! I have been scrapbooking since about 1994 - was introduced to it by a co-worker. Loved the idea of creativity AND photos combined. One of my first layouts was in a spiral album about a trip my husband and I took to Arizona – lots of stickers, die cuts, and colored marker journaling back then! 

Michelle must be so happy to have the story and photos in this album, even if her style has changed "a bit" since then.

During one of the LOAD challenges, Lisa mentioned the Whimsical Musings blog she and Pam had with the weekly challenges. I thought it sounded fun, and had admired Pam and Lisa's work during LOAD. So I started following it. I'm not sure if this was the first challenge I actually tackled, but the “triad color scheme” inspired a whole mini-album of my oldest daughter and her stuffed bison, Buddy, during our Yellowstone trip. My favorite part is that the “triad” jumping-off point was just the spark I needed to start AND complete the album. I loved that about WM.

I remember when Michelle first shared this album with us over at Flickr - we all loved it. You need to go back to the beginning of the gallery entries to find it, but it's worth it. Such a cute album.

When Lisa asked me to contribute to the 100 celebration, I was thrilled. I always have to think for a bit about the challenge. But this one came to me pretty quickly, as it was something my daughter mentioned a couple weeks back. 

When she was little she LOVED the book Barbie 1 2 3. We would read through it many nights, looking to answer the questions on each page. But her favorite part was the last page, number 100. It had a collage of different items that combined together to represent 100 items. She had a little box with her “collection” of some of those items, and would get the box out and lay the items on top of the similar ones in the book. In fact, in 3^rd grade she even brought the book and her collection to our Brownie Girl Scout meeting about Hobbies & Collections. She (now 12 years old) grumbled to me a couple weeks back that she can't believe I talked her into giving up that book. When I started looking at this layout, she was reminiscing with me. I love that we have a permanent memory now of her childhood personality.

A perfect colour combination for this girlie, Barbie page. 

Michelle sprayed this background paper herself. The colour scheme is so well carried through across both sides of this layout.

Pink was chosen to represent the girliness of Barbie and green because it's one of Michelle's daughter's favourite colour. A perfect combination. I especially love how she has used strong black accents with the title and washi tape. It works so well as a contrast.

Michelle told me how it was pure coincidence that she came across this green bling which had been hanging around in her craft room for YEARS to dress up her chipboard flower. Not planned in any way,  you would think that the flower came ready blinged. What a lovely surprise.

*********************************************************************************

So our next prompt for this week is:

Be inspired by... 100 items. 

Can you find a way to include 100 items on your page? Michelle did this by referring to it in her journalling and making the simple but eye-catching 100 title. She has also included misted number background paper that she made herself (don't you just love that!) as well as washi tape with numbers and even the photos are full of numbers. Extra brownie points to Michelle for all those great ways to get numbers on her layout and the clever way to make a layout that really is about 100 things! And I have to admit to being ever so slightly in love with that bold "100" title. 

Don't forget to post your creations over at the Flickr Gallery (here) with the tag WM#100-3

Be sure to check out the Whimsical Musings Flickr Gallery (here) for more of Michelle's creations. She is a regular contributor and you have to make sure you look at the rest of the Buddy at Yellowstone mini-album!

Let's Celebrate - WM#100 Guest Designer Cathy

I'd like you to join me in extending a very warm welcome to the lovely Cathy.  

Cathy was the first visitor to post a layout in response to our blog prompt and it is always great to see her beautiful layouts - always perfectly designed and full of lovely photos and gentle journalling. 

I've "known" Cathy the longest of all my WM friends, having attended many Big Picture Classes together over the years. I think our beginnings go back to 2006 or 2007 when I first started my 12on12 project and she was also a part of the group. Her sense of scrapbooking style caught my eye immediately and we've stayed in touch ever since. 

I was delighted that she agreed to come back to help us celebrate. 

Over to you Cathy. 

*******************************************************************************

I live in San Anselmo, CA with my husband Michael and my cat Lucky. It is a quiet community called Sleepy Hollow. It's not really a scary place - the streets are named after characters and places from Washington Irving's books, though it is in a hollow. When I'm not swimming or hiking the hills around my home, you will find me creating in my craft room.

I felt very honored when Lisa asked me to contribute to the 100th Whimsical Musings challenge week. Honestly, I have not been doing much scrapbooking lately. I’ve been card making, taking artsy fartsy type classes and enjoying the summer with a trip home to Minnesota and camping in the wine country. This gave me lots of material for scrapbooking and so Lisa gave me the push to get me started. 



Lately, I have loved Nichol Magouirk's work. I love the layers and little scenes she creates. She uses one of my favorite tools - The Silhouette. I also love how she stamps and stitches to add to the layers.

I decided it was time to try to create a scene of my own and I love the results. 

So, my challenge to you is to create a page about (or using) your Top 100. Or like me, just your Top 1!



Look at all the detail Cathy has added to this page using her Silhouette. Personally, I'm totally knocked out by all the tiny elements that fit and support her design so perfectly. This is such a typical Cathy page - perfectly designed, full of carefully thought out elements and just overall gorgeous.

The journalling on the clouds here is really perfect - what a great idea.

Cathy feels that the title gets a little lost but I love how it's all mixed up and each of fonts fits the page so well.

Keeping with the 100th challenge, I would bet that there are at least 100 pieces on this page - if not more. I had almost finished when I realized I hadn’t saved a space for my journaling. I thought “Why not add it to the clouds?” I am thrilled with how the journaling is now part of the scene. The only thing I am not entirely happy about is the title. I feel it gets a little lost. 



I am so happy to be part of this celebration. Thank you Lisa for thinking of me. I am a big fan of yours and Pam's work. You two amaze and inspire me.


*********************************************************************************

And there you have our second Whimsical Musings prompt of the week:

Be inspired by... your top 100.

We'd love to see how you take this prompt and whether you decide to list a full 100 faves or just the top one. Don't forget to share over at the Flickr Gallery (here) with the tag WM#100-2

Cathy can be found in many a Big Picture Classes group - just look out for something pretty and perfectly designed in the gallery, and you are sure to be on the right track, as well as over at the Whimsical Musings Flickr Gallery (here) when she's not caught up with cards and artsy paint :-)

Want to know what's coming up next week?

We will be celebrating all week long... so don't forget to come back every day to see what the inspiration is.

There might even be some giveaways along the way :-)

In the meantime, let me tempt you with a few sneak peeks of what's to come...

The fun starts on Monday 19th August so don't be late!