Challenge #252 - week of 20th March 2017

Well, I wanted to get a prompt out there that wasn't related to a specific day on the calendar but when it's International Day of Happiness, it's just a no-brainer, isn't it?

Therefore today, I'd like you to be inspired by International Day of Happiness.

Apparently, this day was created back in 2012 by the General Assembly of the United Nations and is said to have been inspired by the Kingdom of Bhutan who consider national happiness an important indicator in the "wealth" of the country. (Incidentally, there's a wonderful Ted Talk about the wonderful Kingdom of Bhutan which is sure to bring a smile to your face if you'd like to check it out here which discussed them being the first carbon neutral country in the world. Another reason to be happy.)

Happiness is good for us - we all know that - and as scrapbookers, I know that we often record the little, and big, things that make us happy.

And I know that we've had prompts around happy and happiness before, so how could we take this prompt in a different way today?

Well, you could talk about what you do to bring happiness into your home. Perhaps you are fan of the Danish concept of "Hygge" which is thought to be the reason that they have been the happiest people on earth the last few years (Norway has just knocked them off the top spot for this year!). The top five happiest countries in the world include 4 northern countries - Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Finland - so why not think about being inspired by these lands - cold on the outside but clearly warm on the inside! Perhaps you'd like to create your own happiness index as in Bhutan and record that on your project. Perhaps there's something in your life that brings you much happiness but it's something that others don't really understand - surely a snippet of you to bring to the page. Hopefully, you can find a jumping off point right here for your happy page!

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#252 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#252 in the write up text so that we can find it.

Challenge #250 week of 27th February 2017

Today is the main day for German Carnival (Rose Monday) and I wondered about finding a prompt around that before I realised that I'd kicked off the Carnival 5th season with prompt #237 so I'll save the big event itself for another year.

However, even though I don't personally celebrate Rose Monday or Carnival,  the day before Ash Wednesday is Shrove Tuesday in the UK which I most definitely do celebrate in its more colloquial form of "Pancake Day" .

This week, I'd like you to be inspired by pancakes or flipping!

I know I've made a page about pancakes before but I can't track it down anywhere!

You can read all about Pancake Day online including details of some of the more quirky aspects of this "all the pancakes you can eat" sort of day, such as Pancake races. These often have strict rules about flipping the pancake in the frying pan at the beginning and end of the race. When we were children, it was a highlight of the day to watch the varying success of our parents' flipping skills and when I make them for myself these days, there will be at least one attempt at a true flip!

Now, if you celebrate some sort of pancake day itself, this would be the ideal time to capture this snippet for your albums. Or maybe you have a thing for breakfast pancakes that needs to be recorded. How about some sort of food cooking technique which may or may not have been perfected in your house? You could take the "flip" into your design such as flipping a sketch around, mirroring some elements of your page, or scattering something. I'm sure you can find a way of being inspired by Pancake Day!

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#250 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#250 in the write up text so that we can find it.

Challenge #168 week of 27th April 2015

Every now and again, I like to look at the calendar to see what days are being celebrated either where I am, or in fact, anywhere else around the world.

And ... apparently on Friday 30th April, it's National Honesty Day in the US.

According to what I found online, "on this day, anyone participating may ask any question they choose and the opposing person should give a truthful and straightforward answer." Simple, huh?

So, this week, let's be inspired by honesty.

How could you interpret this prompt?

You could take the definition of Honesty Day above and ask someone some questions and note down their answers on your page. 

You could think about the things you know to be true such as my layout below that was created as part of LOADs some years ago.

Maybe it's time to tackle one of those more "difficult" topics, being honest with yourself for example. And for this, there are many ways of keeping those thoughts private such as under vellum or in a pocket.

Or would you like to give your child or someone you know some specific advice or your honest point of view on a "tough" topic.

You could make a "truth" list like my 100 little things I love about my husband

Or how about dealing with a topic that was a little sensitive in the past but has turned into a bit of an in-joke over the years. Again, no need to have all those words out on view if you don't want them to be.

Where will National Honesty Day take you this week?

We love it when you share, so don't forget to link up at our Whimsical Musings Flickr gallery with the tag WM#168

Challenge #144 week of 3rd November 2014

A few years ago I decided that I would change my attitude to what I'd always thought to be miserable November and think about it more positively. It works! November can be a wonderful month if you look for the good in it so I hope you will join me in welcoming what I'm calling "Incredible November"!

In honour of that feeling, I'd like to spend a few minutes thinking about the celebration of Guy Fawkes Night (Bonfire Night) on 5th November. If you don't know about this very British evening, Wikipedia can explain it to you here or the BBC site here.

Pinterest source here

Photo from the BBC here

While it's quite a grisly story and a nasty end to all of the plotters, especially poor Mr Fawkes, these days we celebrate this historical event with a cosy, warming bonfire; plenty of hot, delicious food; many glasses of mulled wine and lashings of fun fireworks.

Pinterest source here

Pinterest source here

As a child, a highlight of the night were the beautiful sparklers even though I was a little afraid of the little hot sparks I could feel through my gloves. Drawing shapes and words in the dark cold air was so much fun!

Pinterest source here

Now that I don't live in the UK, I really miss this über-British event and find myself a little homesick right now. I'll have to organise to go home at this time one year so that I get to celebrate it again - think of the photo opportunities!

So this week, I'd like you to be inspired by fireworks. I think that is broad enough to have something for everyone, wherever you are in the world! 

Don't forget to link up over at our Whimsical Musings Flickr gallery (here) with the tag WM#144.

We love it when you share how our prompt has inspired you to create :-)

Challenge #130 week of 7th April 2014

If you cast your minds back to the beginning of March, when I was like a child on Christmas Eve with my NYC trip just in front of me, I told you that 3rd March was "I Want You To Be Happy Day". I had wanted to use it as a prompt but first came the priority of being inspired by meeting someone for the first time and then the Big Apple itself :-)

So it may be a few weeks late but this week, I'd like you to be inspired by I Want You To Be Happy Day!

A message to a loved one, a child, a friend, maybe even to yourself.

Now the funny thing is that I know I have made at least one layout for this day over the years - no doubt a message to one of my beautiful nieces - but for the life of me, I cannot track it down. Or even find one that resembles a connection to this day!

But because I don't like to leave you without a picture of some sort in any of my posts, let me share a couple of layouts I made for other happy calendar days (which may or may not appear in future prompts... just saying'!)

International Moment of Laughter Day

Smile Power Day

We'd love it if you shared your happy layouts over at our Whimsical Musings Flickr gallery (here) with the tag WM#130

Challenge #121 week of 3rd February 2013

Welcome back to a week of creating and inspiration.

Participating in LOAD, I'm feeling full of inspiration and want to scrap all day long. Yesterday I finished two layouts and made three more! Ok, so I was against the clock with a deadline, but they came so easily and now I have five new layouts I love.

You all know that I love to look at the calendar and see what is coming up or has just passed to help us with our weekly prompts and this week is no exception. R is away in right now for a demobilisation trip but he was lucky enough to have it coincide with this event...

These photos are totally hot off the press having been taken down in Marina Bay, Singapore on Friday (31st Jan) which just happened to be New Year's Day for the Chinese calendar! Credit to him for getting sorting them out for me in the middle of the night yesterday so that I could post them here for you this morning!

Yes, it's Chinese New Year! We are now in the Year of the Horse and I was delighted to see these incredible photos of the wonderful colours and decorations over there in Singapore - just a bit sad not to have been able to be there in person!

Be inspired by

• the event itself
• that breath-taking horse statue
• the amazingly bright colours of all the decorations
• the ceiling of lanterns
• the fireworks which heralded in 12 midnight (sorry, no photos of that but you can see what this bay looked like here)
• Chinese or Asian culture
• a trip to Asia you've taken or always wanted to take
• or maybe you've even attended Chinese New Year in a Chinatown near you

I have to admit to being thrilled beyond belief with these photos. He was under strict instructions to get some for me to see what it all looked like and the photo of the horse at the gates literally took my breath away. I will be using these photos for sure although with colours as vivid as these, what on earth will I use for supplies?

If you are inspired to create this week, we hope you'll share over in our Flickr gallery (here) with the prompt WM#121.