Challenge #322 - week of 11th March 2019

Hello hello!

A little late but still here. A lot of activity over in the #Calvinball2019 community - hosted by Scrap Happy this year after the closure of Get It Scrapped - means that several of you have completed one or two WM layouts - insert happy dance here! Go all of you!

I'm up to about 20 points which consists of a grand total of three layouts and that means I'm rather behind the others :-) WM friend Leslie for example is up to 247 at time of writing! Ha ha. But it's all good stuff and if you haven't checked it out yet, it's never too late to join in the fun! You can find out more info over at the Scrap Happy FB group here. Just jump right in - it's chaotic anyway so there's no way to not do it right!

But in the meantime, I'm back with some hope to get more scrapping done this week and a new prompt for this week.

I'd like you to be inspired by tassels.

Has this trend ever really gone away? I wonder. They seem to pop up from time to time and I love them. I mean, I really love them! If I get hold of a pack from a scrapbook manufacturer, I tend to use them up right away but I've also been noticing that they are appearing in other types of shop too.

Look at these luscious versions attached to the most gorgeous pouches in a local shop? I really need at least one if not all of these bags. Saving pennies!

Or maybe I should just treat myself to a single, luscious tassel to hang somewhere?

And I couldn't resist picking up these in a local home decor shop. I am totally using these for scrapping!

How about this colourful chipboard element on a page I made last year?

And last summer I picked up a pack of Crate Paper tassels that got put to use on pages immediately.

So, these are some ways you could use tassels on your pages:

• product - think paper, chipboard, die cut or real twine or thread tassels such as these I've showcased above. I know that the Simple Scrapper line Mama Llama (was that the name of the collection?) has a full patterned paper with banners covered with tassels - so much fun.
• make your own - you could definitely make your own and I've done that in the past too. I was surprised just how simple they were to make even if they were a bit fiddly. You can find my FOF post on my blog with mine here
• travel stories - I think that tassels are an integral decoration that you might find on your travels. Do you have a photo from a journey where you can see tassels or something you brought home with you that you could base a page around.
• clothes - many clothes have tassels on them so maybe you have a story about an item of clothing or a photo that features someone wearing something with tassels. How about combining clothes and travel with something like a belly dancer or traditional clothing from somewhere you've been. These are my favourite types of pages!
• home decor - think Paris, luxurious hotels, soft furnishings, ski chalets or bedouin tents! They probably all feature a tassel or two!

I think that gives you some ideas of how you could take it literally as an embellishment on your page or a direction to take a story. Where will you go this week?

Wherever you go, I really hope you'll share. It would be great to see what you make.  You can connect with us in our Facebook group here. Tag your entry with #WMXX so we know exactly which inspiration you've taken.

Have a great day everyone!

Challenge #321 - week of 4th March 2019

Those of you who've followed here for some time will know that as far as celebrities go, my love of David Bowie goes a little beyond the "normal" from time to time. It's been three years and I'm still sad and I still miss him. In fact, I've realised that I've made so many layouts about my love for him and his music that he needs his own album! Yes, I'm that crazy.

Anyway, at the time of his death, I clearly remember telling people that I had three heroes in life - David Bowie, Karl Lagerfeld and the Queen. And you may or may not be aware of the fact that we lost the genius that is Kaiser Karl two weeks ago. And yes, that made me very sad. He was an incredible artist, an eccentric and someone I've been fascinated with almost all my life - since before he took over Chanel in 1983 in fact.

So, for this week, I thought about different ways of using our prompt to honour him in some way - a roundabout way perhaps. But then I thought that he is surely inspiration enough.

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

I was lucky enough to get to an exhibition of some of his work back in 2015 here in Bonn and was in heaven, creating this layout as a result.

I guess it's an inevitable part of getting older but it still hurts.

How could you take this prompt if you're not such a crazy fan as I am?

• Again, life heroes, fascinating famous people who you've followed in your life, celebrity crushes - all are fair game for this.
• He was known for only wearing black and white so maybe a B&W photo or a monochromatic layout could be perfect.
• He was a workaholic - I'm sure we all know stories about workaholics (both in a good and a negative way) that could feature on our pages.
• He lost a huge amount of weight some years ago so that he could fit into the slim fitting suits by designer Hedi Slimane - perhaps you have a weight or fitness story that fits into this category.
• He was eccentric - personalities, family members, outrageous actions could all fit into this idea.
• He designed incredible clothes for Chloe, his own label Karl Lagerfeld, Fendi and of course, Chanel all of which could drive your design this week through patterns, lines, colours or textures. 
• He sketched incessantly - include drawings on your layout, your own or maybe one of those school drawings that are sitting in your children's memorabilia box.
• He was infamous for his white ponytail which could inspire a hair story of your own - style or colour.

Wow, I think that's quite a list and I could have gone on and on.

I know that it's unlikely you are as much as a fan as I am and are probably sitting there wondering who this crazy woman is but I'm sure you can find some inspiration in my prompt this week if you take it as an open interpretation!

Whichever way you decide to go, I really hope you'll share. It would be great to see what you make.  You can connect with us in our Facebook group here. Tag your entry with #WMXX so we know exactly which inspiration you've taken.

Have a great day everyone!

Challenge #240 - week of 5th December 2016

And suddenly December is upon us.

It's St Nicolaus in Germany tomorrow, 6th December, which is a chance for kids round here to get some pre-Christmas chocolate and goodies to keep them going until the big day. St Nicolaus fills boots left outside the door and in some parts of Europe, this is the main day of the season.

Taking the boot motif as inspiration, along with my passion for pretty footwear, I'd like you to be inspired by shoes.

I made a layout about a particular pair of much loved, and still longed for shoes I spied in the window of the Chanel shop in Singapore a few years ago. The layout itself needs a rework as I really don't like how it turned out and those shoes are still in my dreams so this might be the way I go this week.

Do you have a favourite pair of shoes to include on your project this week. Or maybe like me, a pair you'd like to own - no matter how unlikely that is. Maybe you have a passion for shoes or even the opposite. How about your baby's first pair of shoes or memories of the new school shoes at the start of the school year. This one is really a prompt to take in any direction you like.

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#240 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#240 in the write up text so that we can find it.

Challenge #203 - week of 7th March 2016

This week, I'm picking up a trend that was highlighted by Sherrie over at our Whimsical Facebook group page.

A few weeks ago, she linked to this article "The Edgy Trend You'll See Everywhere This Year" which forecasts that eyelets or grommets are going to be hot news in the fashion world this season.

This kicked off a bit of a discussion followed by a wonderful layout by Jemma who decided that she could use up a few of the millions of the little things she has left over from back in the day! You can find that layout in the FB group.

So this week, I'd like you to be inspired by eyelets

Now this will prove a little difficult for me as I got rid of every single one of my eyelets in one of my stash purges, so I might have to get my thinking cap on for how to take this inspiration. But I'm sure that you will be able to take this concept and really run with it.

Fashion trends, scrapbook trends, your stash adventures or really just using up some of your supplies of the little blighters!

We'd love you to be inspired by 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#203 or you can post it in our Whimsical Musings Facebook group. There should be an album in the photos section of our group WM#203 for you to use.

Challenge 58 week of 24th September 2012

Today is F Scott Fitzgerald's birthday. He was born on September 24th 1896 and in his short life wrote just 4 novels (along with many short stories), now considered to be the great American novels of the 1920s.

I adore "The Great Gatsby", the film of which I saw as an impressionable teenager and promptly fell in love with Robert Redford. It's a long time since I last read the book and am now tempted to run out and get a copy to dive right in.

I could have decided to make this week's prompt about your favourite book but instead, I'd like you to be inspired by the glorious age of the Flapper, the Charleston or Art Deco.

Be inspired by the Roaring Twenties!

We'd love to see your creations over in our Whimsical Musings Flickr gallery {here} with the tag #WM58.

Have a great week everyone!

#54 Inspired by sewing

Well, you all should know by now that I LOVE sewing on my layouts. Most times I am too lazy to do it, but whenever I do I end up loving my pages.

So I save this technique for special pages.

This week I turned to Studio Calico's Design Team gallery for some inspiration. If you are not familiar with the work of {Kinsey Wilson} and {Sasha Farina}, I recommend you take a look. They take sewing to a whole other level. 

you love ice cream

for this layout, I used {this} layout from Kinsey as my inspiration. I drew the loops on cardstock from my discard pile and cut out the inside of the loops to make the template for my real patterned papers. Once I pieced all my papers together, I poked holes with my paper piercer and used some embroidery thread to outline the shapes.

I also used sewing on my title with some baker's twine...

and a little detail of blanket stitching

I added a few details in red once I chose my photos, to balance out the red that is peeking through in the photos.Overall this page took me longer to create than I usually take, but it is certainly worth it. It just makes me smile to look at it.

sew fast sew easy

i didn't use a sketch or an inspiration piece for this one. I just laid down some papers I really like.

 I stitched on my title and I added a few sewing related embellishments to reinforce the theme, such as the felt sticker from Amy Tangerine.

 I also added a clothes hanger clip from Amy Tangerine, a scrap of fabric, some buttons and the tape measure washi. It was a story I had been meaning to tell but hadn't found the time or photos. This challenge pushed me to get it done. 

Hope you had a chance to play this week.

xo,

Pamage