Challenge #271 - week of 9th October 2017

Oh dear! It's been weeks - literally - since I managed to post here.

I'm not going to try to offer excuses, just know that it's not because I don't want to!

I have actually tried to work on the last prompt here (WM#270 - be inspired by an unexpected stash find) and was somewhat totally unsuccessful so that's still on my scrap table to try to rescue - I'll share it when I do. In the meantime, let's just carry on where we left off and take it from there.

Last Friday, I ventured out alone to a small, club-venue concert to see Justin Nozuka. It was fantastic and I loved every minute of it - he's an amazing artist. I can't remember the last time I went to such a small intimate concert and it definitely made me feel a bit old! But I wasn't the oldest there so that made me feel a bit better. I've been a huge fan for a very long time (first single purchased and fell in love with back in March 2007) and have only come across one other person who has even heard of him (WM friend Pam over in NYC) so it was great to be among fans of his songwriting and unusual voice. I'm still on a bit of a high.

Which got me thinking to our prompt and this week I'd like you to be inspired by concerts.

I recently (gulp - it felt like recently but was actually December last year!) made a layout about a particularly memorable concert when I had the ultimate luck to get to see David Bowie on his Serious Moonlight tour back in 1983. In fact, I need to update this layout because I came across the precious concert ticket which I'd like include on the layout in some way (perhaps just a scan, not sure right now!).

I've also recorded several Elton John concerts over the years - my husband and I have limited mutual middle-ground music but I have learnt to totally love Elton since the early days and we get to see him whenever we can! Of course I can't find a picture of a layout right now but if I track it down, I'll be sure to share!

So you could follow my lead and record a momentous concert you got to see at some point in your life. Or you could scrap about any concert - pop, rock, classical, school, brass band, choir, whichever takes your fancy! - that you have attended. Maybe you didn't get to see a concert that you wanted to or is there someone you'd like to see in concert one time in your life that's a total bucket list item. You might be a proud mummy who attends plenty of school concerts of varying quality which might bring  back fabulous, emotional or something less than positive memories! How about participating in a concert if you're a musical genius? I think there are several different ways to take this prompt.

Anyway, if you're still here and still following along, I'd love you to be inspired by concerts and to share any creations that you make.

You can add your photos to our Facebook group here and I promise to try to keep up with the prompts! It's LOAD month so I might even get a layout or two done with WM prompts. Watch this space. :-) 

Challenge #260 - week of 5th June 2017

Happy Monday and Happy June! Here's to another month full of sunshine, inspiration and hopefully, some creating too.

Last week I had the pleasure of spending some time in Spain and while I was there, I had a little time in Barcelona. Now I promise you that the trip to Barcelona was planned and booked first but imagine my overwhelming joy when I heard that a certain exhibition about a certain musical hero of mine that I'm still obsessing about was going to open on the day we arrived. Of course, I had to go online on the first morning of ticket sales to secure a ticket for myself for the first opportunity I could get there - early on the very next morning!

As you can imagine, it was fabulous and I'm still overcome with joy and sadness and hero worshipness - again.

So this week, I'd like you to be inspired by the poster for the exhibition.

The poster features just one of the many iconic images of this incredible man as his alter ego Aladin Sane, by Bowie photographer Duffy.

There are several ways you could take this inspiration and maybe I need to make a layout for each one! There's the lightening flash which could be incorporated into your design, or maybe just the colours. There's the layout design or the font - several to choose from. The exhibition originated from the V&A Museum in London and the current one is is Barcelona so a travel layout could make an appearance. The music direction is an obvious one as is the subject of the great man himself. Or perhaps, you'd like to take the "David Bowie is... " idea and adapt it to a subject of your own. The exhibition is a retrospective which gives a further option. See, I told you there were several!

Whichever way you see the inspiration this week, I'd love you to share and as always you can either upload your layout into the Whimsical Musings Flickr gallery with the tag WM#260 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#260 in the write up text so that we can find it.

Challenge #253 week of 3rd April 2017

And another week somehow slipped away from me.

But I really don't want to let the blog go and so I'm going to try better. Perhaps I could manage to get a set of posts written ahead of time. Making the pages would even go one better!

Let's see.

Yesterday evening I had the joy of going to a Nigel Kennedy concert. If you don't know who he is, he's an unbelievably talented British violin player who has earned the reputation of being a bit of a rebel. He's a bit older now but has always been the bad boy of violin, thought of as a punk or a rebellious unconventional and yet has true classical credentials, studying as a child under Yehudi Menuhin for example. He doesn't play conventionally, nor does he look like a classical violin player. Last night was no different. Mixing a traditional instrument, with an eViolin he made incredible music ranging from Vivaldi's Four Seasons, for which he is most famous, to a truly psychedelic Jimmi Hendrix Crosstown traffic. It's not for the faint-hearted nor the purist. I loved every. single. second.

Which got me thinking about this week's prompt - better late than never. I'd like you to be inspired by genius.

As always, I think there are many ways and directions to take this prompt -

• a genuine genius you admire - yes, Kennedy might be making a reappearance in my album again
• a skill that you or someone you know are especially good at - genius skills!
• someone you know who is classified as a MENSA genius
• something you find amazing, incredible, wonderful
• copy the style of a scrapbooking genius you admire
• something you wish you were a genius about

I made this page about meeting up with Kennedy after the last concert I saw him at back in 2013. A life dream come true.

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#253 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#253 in the write up text so that we can find it.

Challenge #224 - week of 8th August 2016

I've been doing a lot of clearing and tidying the last couple of weeks. I need to clear some space - this is definitely an ongoing project - and I need to tidy up so that we can be ready to receive guests the week after next. This is exciting, even if the tidying is less so! But to keep me occupied and entertained while I clear, I've been listening to Podcasts. BBC podcasts to be precise.

One of my favourites is Radio 4's "Desert Island Discs" which has been running now since 1942 if you can believe it. The concept is simple, a well-known (or sometimes less well-known) guest is invited to pick 8 discs to take with them to a desert island. These should represent their life and help them through the hard times of being deserted. Then they talk about the discs and their life before being "cast away" with the tracks. At the end, they have to pick one that they would save from the waves. I particularly love trying to come up with my own 8 discs at the same time as listening to details of lives that I might not have heard before or discovering interesting people I didn't previously know.

You can find the website here: BBC Radio 4 Desert Island Discs and there is a archive of  almost 1,500 guests. The older ones are wonderful with the plummy accents and a different approach to life but very often, it's the people who are less well-known to me who are the most fascinating and people who have particular skills or work in humanitarian files who make me stop and think. However, I can recommend some recent episodes such as the wonderful Tom Hanks, Hugh Bonneville (well-known these days for playing in Downton Abbey),  British Polar explorer Ben Sanders, a hilarious Dame Judi Dench or a particularly emotional Kylie Minogue.

Anyway you might have guessed it, I'd love you to be inspired by Desert Island Discs this week.

You could make a layout featuring your own 8 discs, your favourite piece of music, how a particular piece of music says something about your own life, perhaps how much you'd love to be stranded on a desert island - if only for a while - or maybe feature one of your own famous or unsung heroes. Which way will you take this inspiration? I can't wait to find out.

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#224 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#224 in the write up text so that we can find it.

Challenge #222 - week of 25th July 2016

I am inspired this week by a Whimsical Musings liebling, Lynnette, who has been posting wonderful videos and photos of her daughter's recent Annie experience. I've never been a performer - way too shy and introverted for that - and only sing when I'm alone in the car (but then, what a performance!) and am totally tone deaf! So I'm always in awe of those who can.

Anyway, this week I'd like you to be inspired by musicals.

Some time ago, I took my best friend to London for a special birthday weekend and we went along to see Wicked in the West End. It wasn't planned and was all the more lovely for that. We really enjoyed the show, the stage setting, the songs, the costumes, pretty much everything! I included this event in  a small mini-book I made about our weekend but of course, it's a total taboo to take photos during the show itself. Therefore, I had to make do with a shot of the stage before the curtain went up and then added in the ticket.

I love this little capture of our time in London and that's certainly one way to take this inspiration this week.

You might be lucky and have photos of a musical (I'm sure Lynnette had hundreds) if it's not Broadway or West End for example! You might have stared in a show yourself at some point. It might be something on your bucket list. Maybe you'd like to compare your life to a musical or one of the numbers.

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#222 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#222 in the write up text so that we can find it.

Challenge #196 - week of Monday 11th January 2016

A sad day today. My musical hero, who accompanied me through my whole life, died yesterday. David Bowie was a genius and words cannot express how very, very sad I feel.

But there's a quote online right now that I particularly love and seems to sum up some of my feelings so well:

"If you're ever sad, just remember the world is 4.543 billion years old and you somehow managed to exist at the same time as David Bowie."

Yes, he's that important.

So this week, I'd like you to be inspired by YOUR musical hero.

I've made a Bowie page before using the album inspired prompt WM#65 but I feel another page coming on. And I need to find that t-shirt - there's a page there too.

We love it when you share so don't forget to upload your wonderful creations to our Whimsical Musings Flickr gallery with the tag WM#196.

I'll put a name out of the hat for the winner of my little giveaway later in the week. And I want to remind you that there is something special coming up next month to celebrate our 200th prompt - you are going to want to hang out with us and play along  - there might be more giveaways available!