#86 inspired by foreign words

Ha ha! Stumped by my own prompt. Funny how that happens to both of us!

I put it down to being a little out of mojo right now but I did have a go and flipped through my photos until one caught my eye. One I've been wanting to scrap for a while and the look on the sheep's face just kind of said to me, "Yes, what do you want?!" Two words in German just summed that up and there, I had my base.

Turning to my Counterfeit April kit, Opposite, I picked out some natural colours as well as a hint of pink to pick up the fact that she had such a pretty face.

I managed to keep to my kit exclusively with just three tiny strips of washi being added in along with a few mists. Not bad for this mismatched kit so far.

I truly wanted to come up with something more creative - bringing in something in French maybe (yes, I USED to be able to speak that. It feels like an awful long time ago but I know it must be lurking in my brain somewhere), or bringing in some of those words from German that I find perfect for the job - better than English, or the fact that I'm losing my English a little.

But this will have to do for now. After all, this sheep wouldn't have spoken to me in anything than German would she?!?

Apologies for the late-at-night, slightly-shiny-glare-from-electric-light, colours-a-bit-off photo.

Counterfeit Kit Challenge April kit #3

Loving trying to make these old BG papers look fresh and new. And looky there, a piece of that tricky to use glimmer glass. Success. :-)

Hope you were inspired by foreign words yourself this time around. Don't forget to share over at Flickr (here) with the tag WM#84. Can't wait to see what you create.

#65 Inspired by Album Covers

Hope you had a great week. At the time this post goes live I will be strolling about in the nation's capital. Just a little weekend getaway. So I had to hurry up and get to work this week.

As you know last week I decided we were due for a quirky prompt - and I finally challenged you to use Album Covers as your source of Inspiration. This has been on my wishlist for prompts for a while... 

So of course I was excited to try it myself.

And in true quirky fashion I added tons of doodles, mists, markers, sequins, confetti, punches...

I used {this} album cover as my inspiration and although I took a few liberties with the design I think it is easy to see the concept and in my opinion it translated nicely to this layout. I don't think it feels forced or like a CD cover at all - and yet that was the starting point.

There were a few others I wanted to try but time didn't allow for much this week. So there you have it - my whimsical layout.

xo,

Pamage

#64 Inspired by Babies

Every once in a while you create a layout you just LOVE.  I mean, you just want to look at it and share it with others and not put it away just yet...

Well, at least that happens to me. Sometimes. And that happened with this layout. 

I will confess that I am intimidated by all things pastels. Especially pale pink and pale blue. Together they are even more of a nightmare for me. I don't even own any baby product lines. So I was a little skeptical of how I could make this prompt my own. It is NO secret that I love babies. Although I don't have any of my own, I have plenty of little ones to scrap. But how to make the topic fit my style? I have scrapped plenty of babies before with no problem, but I felt this prompt required an especially baby-feeling page. 

Well, the scrapping muse must have been feeling friendly this week because I did it. And this has become one of those pages I just adore. 

that's right. Only one page this week. 

The color scheme came from the 6x6 paper from the new Dear Lizzy collection. From there I was inspired to recreate those polaroid frames to hold my pictures and washed them with watercolors in the same colors as the frames. This allowed me to better define the groups of photos in the collage since they are grouped by color. The washi border allowed me to inject some bolder shades of the same colors to add that touch of my style. For the title, I layered a bunch of scraps in my colors for a bit of dimension and mixed some fonts in bold colors and some tone-on-tone fonts. To finish it off I sprinkled hearts and glass stars. 

My favorite thing about the page is that I got to tell a real story about my life this year and summarize a big part of 2012 in one page. Plus, I have all those adorable pregnant bellies/baby pictures. I dare you not to smile. 

Hope you were able to be inspired by Lisa's invitation to scrap babies this week. We would love to see your layout on our gallery. 

xo.

Pamage

#54 Inspired by stitching

I love stitching on paper and bought a new sewing machine recently that has yet to spy a piece of fabric! And that from someone who used to design and make evening gowns and wedding dresses for a living!

But as soon as I started scrapping I knew I wanted to add stitching details though it took a long time for me to take the leap. I love sewing a few hand-stitches when I have time, or these days whipping out the machine and trying something new. Often, I just make it simple but every now and again I go to town and find it very therapeutic - the embroidery layout featured in the prompt post is just such a layout. I love the texture and dimension it adds to the page and the detail it adds always makes me happy - if it#s a line of running stitch or a sprinkle of french knots.

Pam uses stitches for borders, for words, for titles and I always love that look whenever I see it - adding that to my list to try out sometime.

If you've been wanting to have a go at sewing on your layouts - in a simple or more extravagant way, I recommend you checking out Pam's layouts in the Flickr gallery (here) or the Stitching on Paper free class I was talking about over at Obstinate Pursuit.

As for me this week, I was still feeling the grid groove from last week and decided to stitch a grid to fill with little bits and pieces.

With some light pencil lines to follow, this came together in no time, using my CKC August kit, Olympiad in the process.

I hope you've enjoyed stitching this week as much as I have. And don't forget to add your creation to our Flickr gallery (here) with the tag WM#54.

Have a great week everyone!

#48 Inspired by Ice Cream

This would have been hard for me since I am not a big ice cream fan. But being that it is summer and that we have my niece here for the summer, of course we had to have ice cream. We happened to be on our way to Serendipity in New York City last Monday when this challenge was posted. So these photos are spanking new.

I tried to keep to ice cream colors and simple design. 

Serendipity

the sketch came from Studio Calico {here}. I created two 6x6 photo collages and added a pioneer woman action for a seventies effect. this allowed me to create a 6x12 photo area. (yes, I had to print photos at home which isn't my favorite). 

the crate paper banner with the strawberries was the perfect addition to this page.

I also scattered little elements of teal/magenta punches, pale yellow butterflies and pale pink brads around the page.

I also pulled out and dusted my quickutz to cut out the title since i wanted a deep pink alpha and didn't have anything like it in my stash. (plus, it would be impossible to find an alpha with multiple e's and i's).

And that's it from me this week. It's been a few weeks since I have been able to manage multiple layouts in one week, but I haven't had a lot of time this summer. 

I hope you have been able to get out and enjoy ice cream. Keep this little inspiration in your back pocket for future pages. And if/when you do, remember to post it for us to see on the flick'r group. 

xo,

Pamage

# 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

#42 inspired by celebrations and Jubilee

Lisa challenged us to be inspired by celebrations this week. And to be honest, I was stumped. I have no ties to the Bristish Jubilee so that wasn't an option. And I was pleased to find that almost all other celebrations in my life had at leas been documented once. 

But I was determined to do this great challenge justice. So I just thought harder. And when the idea finally came, I was surprised it hadn't occurred to me before. Of course, there where the awful pictures from the disposable camera that had probably prevented me from scrapping this event... or the fact that it happened on not such a happy time in my life. But still, the pictures where there, the celebration had happened and the story needed telling.

and here is my layout

jubilee @ 15

to emphasize the celebration, I kept to pretty muted colors with splashes of coral and orange. What I did highlight were all the different textures: ruffles, stitching, doily. The page was just full of tiny little details I kept adding that reminded me of feeling like a princess and just pure girlishness. 

  of course, what jubilee layout would be complete without some glittery fun? this little strip of glitter tape somehow snuck it's way into this layout. 

 i added a little envelope just at the last minute to write some of the more personal thoughts about this day. 

and one of my favorite things for sure was using the sewing machine to add details to this page. although the thread was white, i feel it adds so much to the page.

I hope you were reminded of past celebrations or found new ones to document. There really is so much to rejoice about - we just have to look for it. And sometimes it comes in the form of some old, not-so-good pictures. I hope I am teaching by example that we must use those photos!

I will be back shortly with a new prompt. Thanks again for joining us on this inspiration adventure.

xo,

Pamage

#29 Inspired by Dr Seuss

Those of you who have been reading the Flickr thread Pam started off over in our group know that I found this one hard! In fact, the prompt isn't hard at all. I just made it hard for myself and took myself round in circles concentrating on all the wrong things.

This isn't what scrapbooking is supposed to be like ladies! It's a hobby. It's fun. It's an escape. If you experience what I did, then you need to step away from the scissors and go and have some chocolate (or a gin and tonic - whatever does it for you!) and calm down.

I realised I was getting all whiny on the message board because I was caught up with the idea of scrapping my own personal experience of Dr Seuss but couldn't really come up with an example of something specific. I never owned any of the books though I read them with a passion while I was at the library and just loved them to bits. But even my mum couldn't come up with a specific memory of me and the books. I drove myself crazy trying to pin down a memory - ANY memory.

And then I stopped, had some said chocolate and relaxed. I imagined Pam sitting next to me, laughing at me getting all het up over nothing and smiled at myself. I could do this. What was I getting worried about!

First off, I decided to spend some time on the site that Pam had directed us to for inspiration and went through some of the titles, the book covers, the characters etc and decided to pick up the colour scheme for The Cat In The Hat - red, white and blue/aqua. And also to pick up on the quirkiness of the characters and his books. And I was off.

Except, scrapping at night under electric light can distort colours and my "blue" was way too green! I only saw this when I scanned it.

So I took off the green and searched around for something a bit more blue. And added that.

Next day, I took some photos and realised that it was still off, but better. The quirkiness was still there though with my splats, the slant to everything, the silly title, the odd selection of items and the original 1970's (scanned) photobooth photos.

In the end, I LOVE this layout! I think it's such fun. I rarely use red and I love the wow factor it brings to this white base.

The blue paint splats were actually the perfect colour - who knew!

And this is the original I made with all that gorgeous green! Still lovely but WRONG!

While I had been browsing the site, I came across the most perfect quote that got me thinking about the photos of us at the Northwest Territories border. The photos have been used before (what a surprise!) but this as another angle to the story.

The quote is, "I'm a North-Going Zax and I always go north. Get out of my way, now, and let me go forth." If that isn't perfect for the fact that we have been working our way further and further north through the holidays we've taken over the last years, I don't know what is!

I've made this using my CKC March kit, Soothe and while not a total favourite, I still like it. The photos are fun and I can remember standing there as if it were yesterday, when in fact it was August 2007!

So the moral of this story is - never forget to have fun, don't worry if you make a mistake - it's only paper! - and beware of taking it all too seriously!

I still have several other ideas from my brainstorming Dr Seuss session and only one directly relates to the books themselves :-)

Thanks Pam for really stretching me this week and for sitting here beside me when I got a little out of control!

#29 Inspired by Dr. Seuss

Well, I have to say that I have been blown away this week by the response from you, our readers. I have browsed our gallery and loved the projects you have come up with this week. They have exceeded my expectations of where I thought this inspiration could lead us... And as such I have been inspired to create as well.

I have to say I had to narrow down my choices of story. I really felt there was a lot of material I could explore with this. Ultimately the three stories I told feel real to me and go right along with my style and have a home in a albums.

I Do Not Like
This layout was inspired by "Green Eggs and Ham" - something I posted in the Discussion board on flick'r sparked this idea, since my name - Pam, rhymes with "Sam, I am" and "Ham". We often do pages about our faves, but I thought how fun it would be to also make one about our dislikes.

 I chose to use quirky whimsical shapes to replicate the Seussical feeling. And I added other little lines from the book to reinforce it.

 The stamped flowers were from a technique I picked up this week from Studio Calico Blog {here} of embossing an image and then coloring it in with markers.

 Oh The Places*
This layout was born of a strong memory I have attached to this book and the boy in this picture. I had never told this story and I really wanted to remember it. I recently received a care package from him {don't you love snail mail...?} So I thought it was perfect to document him/us/this memory while the feelings were fresh on my mind.

 I tried to use color, shapes and patterns that resonated with the theme of going places. The book is filled with graphics of flowing mountains and these travel papers were perfect for it. I started with the bottom paper and then worked myself up from there choosing coordinating papers.

 I have been focusing less on embellishments these days, so it was hard for me to come up with something to add to this corner, but I found a little flair button with a seuss-like creature and the ever present butterfly and buttons to round things off.

 A&P
Not a lot of journaling on this one. it doesn't need it. This one is all about fun. In looking for quotes to use, I found the one below and immediately I knew which pictures to use. This friend brings out the child in me. The layout I featured on the Challenge post was also about her. She is like a big child and when I am with her, I am too. This quote was perfect for us.

 Again I used colors that reminded me of the books and with the quirky stamped letters mixed in with my handwriting, I think I achieve the playful and whimsical look of a children's book. Simple page under 20 minutes straight out of my scrap bin. Just the way I like things.

Thank you so so much for playing along this week. If you haven't already, please upload your Seussical creation to our gallery with the tag WM#29. {which is coincidentally my favorite number}.

Have another great week and see you soon on the message boards.

xo,
Pamage

Challenge # 29 Week of March 5th, 2012

Hello there and Happy Monday. 

We are delighted that you are joining us again for another week of fun. Believe it or not, this is Whimsical Musing's challenge number 29 {and curiously my favorite number}.

As I roam the internet and read blogs and browse sites I am constantly awed by all the opportunities to find inspiration. Such inspiration came to me this week on March 2nd. As you may have become aware, it was the anniversary of Theodore Seuss Geisel's birth. It was also opening day for the new movie {Lorax} here in the States. 

It seemed the internet was a-buzz with the commemoration of his 108th birthday. And as I read more quotes and saw more images and remembered more stories I couldn't help but associate it with scrapping.

Consider these points of layout inspiration:

- use a quote from one of his books for title or journaling 

- Be inspired by a color scheme from seussville.com. His books were filled with happy, bright color combinations. Get in touch with your childlike side and play with these colors.

- Or browse the {characters section} for inspirational characters and compare these characters to characters in your life. Characters such as "The Grinch" or "Thing 1 & Thing 2" can lead to some great stories.

- Mimic the whimsical patterns and objects with your elements and design (my layouts often look seussical) . Don't be afraid to doodle free-hand. 

- Lastly, you could tell a story about your favorite (or your child's favorite) Dr. Seuss story or movie.

I want to see where inspiration takes you this week. There is plenty here to choose from. 

Lisa and I will be back with our layouts next week. I am looking forward to keeping my mind open to where this inspiration will lead me. If you are inspired and create something, please share it with us on our Flick'r site with the tag (WM#29). We love to see your work. 

xo,

Pamage