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.

#159 Inspired by what's making me happy

Thanks to Leslie for last week's challenge and for prompting me to make the following layout right away while I was thinking of it. I'm generally what I call a delayed scrapper! I have a lot of ideas but it takes me a long time to get those photos printed out and then the layout made. I think it's a bit like when I have new product and don't want to cut into it right away. Strange but true...

I made this layout last night as part of LOAD and using up the last pieces of the Scrapabilly February kit. I adore the colours of this collection and they are so sweet and pretty that they just felt right to use for a layout about my gorgeous gift that our WM friend and inspiration, Lynnette gave me when I met her.

I actually decided to make a few changes since I made it last night which entailed reprinting the photo and replacing it. But I realised that I'd been trying to fit in another challenge for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge on the layout but that the kit wasn't my Counterfeit one so it couldn't really count for that too! I get confused sometimes with all the prompts I'm trying to match at the same time. Anyway, I'm much happier with this page now that I've made changed out the title as well as adding a few extra die cuts from the Dear Lizzy Serendipity line.

So, after all that waffle, here's the layout for WM#159 - Inspired by what's making me happy.

You can find a couple more detail shots over in the Whimsical Musings Flickr gallery

And just to continue, I love the fact that Leslie sneaked in that happy photo of Pam and me on my first night over in NYC - I've already scrapped that as part of LOAD as well, and let's face it, that makes me VERY happy so I'm going to add that here too. My whole trip made me happy but this first evening was very special as we found our groove again after our time apart.

You can find a couple more detail shots over in the Whimsical Musings Flickr gallery

And one last one for now, this is the first page I made while I was staying with Pam. She had bought us both the same Studio Calico kits to work with and then we just sat down and got crafty. I couldn't resist this happy photo of her surrounded by her bits and pieces as she prepared to get immensely creative! It was such a thrill to have this chance to share scrapping time together.

You can find a couple more detail shots over in the Whimsical Musings Flickr gallery

Yes, there's a lot to make me happy right now.

How about you? We'd love to see your creations for this prompt over at our Whimsical Musings Flickr gallery with the tag WM#159.

Challenge #159 week of 16th February 2015

Standing in for Lisa this week as she is winding down 

her visit to The Big Apple to see our Pam in the States! 

Isn't this just the picture of happiness?

I have just returned from visiting my 

sweet granddaughter & her mama, my baby.

THAT made me VERY happy!

It's LOAD month & I've been trying out some digital pages to keep up.

I fully intend to make the paper versions next month but was

 happy to be able to stay inspired & on track with the prompts. 

We got to sample a lot of Southern barbecue, which made my husband happy!

I got these coffee sleeves downstairs at our last hotel & they made me happy!

(Maybe you are having a cup of your favorite beverage 

while you are reading this, and it makes YOU happy!)

Show us what gets your happy on & upload to 

the  Whimsical Musings Flickr gallery using the tag WM#159.