Challenge #341 - week of 6th January 2020

Image from rawpixel.com

Happy New Year to you all and welcome to Whimsical Musings in 2020. 

Did anyone notice I was missing these last weeks? 

I'm guessing not at this busy time of year ;-)

Anyway, back here this Monday with a new prompt for you. I have another prompt that I actually started writing back in November but seems to have got lost in the hectic of the season, so I'll hold onto that for next week. 

But I like to mark the beginning of a new year with a prompt that doesn't directly refer to resolutions themselves but looks at the topic of a new year from a slightly different perspective. I had a look around on Pinterest which I still love so much and from time to time, forget to go there for inspiration. This time though, I came across such beautiful motivational quotes that I thought would be good for today that I went down a rabbit hole and came up with this beautiful image below.

Source here

This week, be inspired by intentions.

How could you take this prompt for your page?

• intentions for this new year or any period in the future
• intentions you had in the past and how successful they were
• are there any scrapbook products with the title of "intention"? I'm not sure but I know there was a Photo Play Paper collection called "No Pun Intended" so there could be!
• talk about the why behind intentions for the future, giving the back story rather than just the plan
• compare and contrast how your intentions have changed over the years
• do you have a story where you had the best intentions but it didn't quite work out as planned?
• perhaps you intended to say something but something totally different came out instead?!?
• make a list, a plan, a record of goals, targets or objectives

Just for interest, here are our previous new year prompts incase you'd like to go back and try a different perspective:

• WM#20 - turning points
• WM#71 - goodbye
• WM#116 - goals
• WM#151 - possibilities 
• WM#194 - countdowns
• WM#195 - things that have never been
• WM#244 - fresh starts
• WM#274 - when one door closes...
• WM#313 - plans

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 #WMXXX (with the number of the prompt instead of the XXX) so we know exactly which inspiration you've taken.

Have a great day everyone!

Challenge #195 - week of Monday 4th January 2016

Happy New Year!

Welcome back to Whimsical Musings and I want to really get things moving here again in 2016. I really hope you will join me and be inspired.  :-)

A new year, new beginnings, a time for goals and resolutions and one little words.

I found this quote and want to offer it to you as our inspiration this week.

So please be inspired by things that have never been.

Time to dream a little or set the goals for your own 365 days ahead. This can really cover anything you want it to.

I'm excited for the new year and am busy making plans. How about you?

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#195.

And not to forget - there is an open giveaway that I mentioned on the blog post forWM#193 (see post here). Blog comments here or on that blog post will qualify for an entry and a layout in the gallery anytime up to January 11th will qualify for an extra entry - the more the merrier.

#79 Inspired by "Born to be ----"

Hey there!

I can (and want to) do a page like this for every member of my family... but since I've been so introspective lately, I decided to focus on myself. 

I searched pinterest for the right quote and came across the cutest print by Rachel {here}. That was my inspiration piece. I also tried a new technique I saw on 2peas - stamping with mists using a mask. It added the right flair of whimsy to my page and I adore it.

i wanted the focus to be on the words and I didn't want the page to feel overwhelmed, so I treated the photo to have a washed out faded look and printed the same photo twice. The second and smaller one then pulls your eye to the edge of the page, but the focal point stays on the quote. I love that.

I kept the embellishings really simple - just a few wood veneer accents. And presto!

What story did you tell this week? Did you dig deep or keep it light?

Can't wait to see.

xo,

Pamage

#76 Inspired by instant pictures

Hey there!

I wanted to go the hard route and not use my instax for this one... but for once I had a hard time coming up with a story. Shocker.

Does that ever happen to you? I know there are hundreds of untold stories and yet I have a block. So I visited a few inspiration sources. Not pinned scrapbook pages or "favorites" on flick'r, but actual story starter ideas I've collected. And I ran into a quote which inspired my page and story.

  I made my frames from plain cardstock. I cut out the square for the photo using an exacto knife and then I added splats, watercolors, embossing and stamping for a total custom look. 

 the quote served as my title. since it was long and I wasn't sure what fonts I would be using, I added each word to a separate piece of cardstock. This also helped me play with placement. This is the one tip I would offer anyone trying their hand at mixed-alpha titles. This way you can move things around until they are pleasing to the eye (which is usually when they are really close together). Having to commit to adding all the words straight to the background when you are not sure of the final result seems scary.

 I also added some pop dots and chipboard pieces in the mix to create some dimension and movement.

something cool happened. When I finished this page, I showed it to my grandma - and she complimented me on the photos. She said she really liked all these shots because they showed her natural personality. She wasn't posing for any of them and yet they are all photos I love. Sometimes it pays off to be constantly behind the lens capturing every little detail.

Did you get your instant photo fix this week? We would love to see.

xo,

Pamage

#66 Inspired by Star Signs

Hoping everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday {for our U.S. readers}. There is just so much to be grateful for these days in my life. I knew my week would be full so I had to get right to work on this challenge by Lisa.

When I read the challenge I knew I didn't just want to do a page about being a Sagittarius, but rather what makes me such a good one. So I searched for quotes, descriptions, traits, etc.

It didn't take long in my search to come across this wonderful quote which in a nutshell is me. I have done several pages about the fact that I am single... but never talked about the fact that I am happily and willingly single. {This theory} that it may be tied to the stars makes it even more magical and interesting.

For the title I decided to play on the nickname for my sign: the Archer. I feel it adds another dimension to the story and how I feel when paired with the quote.

one of the coolest new things I tried here was printing on a tag, which I decided to try after {this tutorial by Aimee Maddern}

  I also decided to make my own little archer embellie by stamping my initial, an arrow and adding a bracket from the title alpha. I think it's pretty cute and totally fitting to the story. 

It was really fun to make and come up with the page. Definitely outside of the box for me. Thanks Lisa for this wonderful prompt.

xo,
Pamage

ps: Oh and Happy Birthday, Special girl. We love you so much! 

#51 - Inspired by Live Colorfully

hey there gals. Posting a little early this week as I have a weekend of "living colorfully" ahead of me. I am still waiting for those photos of you guys wearing bold colors. But in the meantime, I will share the layout I created for this prompt.

I am sure more stories will come down the road for his one, but in the end I decided to make a page about how I embrace this motto in my own life. I love making pages that gather random photos with no story and tie them together with a title and some simple journaling. To me, these stories are more significant than event pages because they paint a more complete picture. The pictures used on this page span 4 years and yet they fit together nicely. 

Enough chatting, though, let's get on to my page.

 
I kept the colors and patterns to a minimum because I didn't want to overwhelm the photos as I really wanted the story to shine. With a prompt like "live colorfully" you would expect me to use bold and bright colors. And while the page is quite happy, the colors take second plate to everything else going on.

 
I knew I would never find an alpha with 4 l's, 2 o's and an e, so I didn't even attempt it. Plus, I was starting to miss my watercolors. I drew up my words with pencil and then traced over them with a brush, mixing colors as I went to create this ombre look. I then outlined it with my precision pen and when i realized my pencil marks wouldn't go away {embracing imperfection}, I added my white gel pen.

 

I added my journaling straight onto the cardstock {being bold} before I realized that it didn't really tie in to the title, so I added the little yellow strips to bring the two together. 

 I hope you enjoyed thinking of ways to interpret this prompt. I really do hope you are all finding ways to live more colorfully. If you create a page we would love to see it, so please remember to share on the gallery and tag it (WM#51). Check back for a new prompt soon.

xo,
Pamage

ps: did anyone notice? no splatters. I wonder if that phase is over for me. probably not! ;)

#41 - Inspired by Superheroes

Hello my beautiful ladies. This post was scheduled ahead of time, because I am glad to report I finally had a weekend away. I am probably eating some Maple Candy in Boston.

Anyway, let's get to the juicy part of this post - my layouts. I couldn't decide if I should go the serious or silly route so once again I created two layouts interpreting this challenge.

super pam

yes, believe it or not, that superhero is me. It was a few days before Halloween 2010 and I realized I didn't have a costume for the festivities, so I quickly pulled together this ensemble from my personal wardrobe (who else owns black leather pants but me?!?) only adding the wig, cape, mask and belt buckle. My favorite part of the story were the details in the "highlight" section. I didn't take a single worthy picture of my get up all night, but I was able to make the most of this bad iphone selfie by covering the clutter with patterned paper and washi tape, leaving just my crazy costume as the front and center part of this page. I chose bold prints and colors to emphasize the superhero feel (and let's face it, because they make me happy). Because there wasn't much story and the photo wasn't showcase worthy I took a cue from Lisa's book and made it 6x12. Overall, I am thrilled I made this page and told this funny story of how I had a wedding reception to attend before the party and so I wore this under my dress and at the end of the party changed quickly in a bathroom and exited in costume. I felt like a total super hero.

[hero]

when i sat down and thought above who the brave and courageous are in my life, my brother immediately popped into my mind. The picture doesn't really portray him as such, but I just picked one from the file and went with it. I like that he looks ordinary in it because it fits the quote I found so well. I kept the journaling, which was very personal, hidden. But i wanted to give readers a clue of the reason for the page, so I stamped the quote (which was very time consuming) and added a short line of journaling up one of the sides.

I also was inspired by the colors in the photo, so I pulled papers and products that matched those colors and I love the results.

I hope you all had a fun time creating if you played along with us this week and I look forward to seeing your creations in the gallery (tag WM#41). Lisa will be back tomorrow with another great challenge to get us started in June. 

Until next week,

xo

Pamage

#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

#11 a little about my frogs

Well, we are finally up and running and of course I had a very difficult time meeting my deadline - which you can read about over at my personal blog. 

Like Lisa, this prompt had me thinking in all sorts of directions. I thought about making a layout based on my list of qualities I'm looking for, or discuss every "frog" that has come my way... In the end I went with a simple layout just talking about how I feel about my frogs. It is where I am right now. A real part of me.

I apologize for the poor quality of the photos. I will try to replace them as soon as I am able. maybe then the journaling will be easier to read.

I am excited by the prospect that some of you will be playing along. Don't forget, if you did create a layout inspired by this prompt to post it to our flick'r group and tag it WM#11. 

I am curious to see where Lisa will challenge us to go next. 

xo,

Pamage

#11 Inspired by past frogs and the hope of princes

This week Pam challenged us to think about Prince Charming or maybe the lack of! Pam's still looking for her Mr Right and it got her thinking and therefore, us too!

So she prompts us to create a layout inspired by the quote:

"You have to kiss a lot of frogs in order to find your Prince."

I had so many ideas for this one. I could have made a dozen different layouts with different journalling starting points. I thought about it all week. What I had always thought I wanted. Who were my ex's. What they had in common. Who I was in those days. Who I am today. What have I discovered since I got married. There's a lot to say and this is a prompt I will be returning to over and over again.


In the end, one thought kept coming back to me. A line that seemed to be ever present. And one that sums up what happened to me when I met my husband over 13 years ago.


I created my layout around this and kept the title as the journalling. There was nothing more that needed to be said except, "Sometimes you don't know what you're looking for until you find it."

Too smushy? Hope not!


I'm looking forward to seeing what Pam comes up with - I'm guessing it will be more soul searching than mine might have been but I really intend to return to this at a later time. When I do, I'll link it up.


We are so excited that we seem to have some readers who are interested in joining us! Looking forward to seeing who creates this week.

#2 Inspired by Words

I took the easy way out and chose to just be inspired by the words and not the big picture. 


Here is my take on this quote:

all the little elements came together so well. I was pleased with the prompt and where it took me creatively. Thank you Lisa for a great challenge.

xo,

Pamage

Challenge #2 week of 8th August 2011

Week 2 was my turn and I decided to jump right out of the box by offering up a quote and life motto from the US Polar explorer Norman Vaughan:

“Dream Big and Dare To Fail” 

I read a lot of non-fiction and one of my favourite  subjects is polar exploration - from the era when exploration really meant  just that - early 1900's. I have quite a collection of books on the subject.  One day, when I was walking to work, I was listening to a National Geographic  podcast featuring a famous Antarctic explorer Norman Vaughan who was talking  about his upcoming 100th birthday when he was planning a trip back down to the South Pole to the mountain that had been named after him. The guy was so interesting but the bit that captured my imagination the most was when he started talking about his life motto. Right there, in the middle of the street I knew that I had discovered a life motto I could relate to... 

So, take this motto and see where it leads you, both on the page and in your life.

(If I can work out how to upload the podcast here, I will. You have to hear him. So full of life.)

Lisa

x