#312 - be inspired by friends

I had a bunch of layout share blog posts half written up which I seem to have forgotten so here I am again in an attempt to catch up. Story of my life!

This layout, very surprisingly, hasn't been made with a Counterfeit Kit Challenge kit! I think I had some new product and just decided to use it right away. However, it has been made for my Simple Scrapper Creative Team using a new Story Starter™ as well as a recent sketch.

It's another layout recording details of our Scrapabilly Advent Present Swap which has now been extended to include Easter and summer (as well as autumn which we are currently in the middle of). The main focus is really the pretty packaging with fun content and with a group of crafty types, you can guarantee that the presents looks as pretty as can be. Yes, we really get each other - I'm so lucky to have been taken into this fabulous group of women. They make me happy every week.

These scrummy letters are actually a fabulous shade of rose gold.

With the gorgeous background paper and the sprinkle of mist, I really didn't think it needed much embellishment.

And I picked up these letters too in the summer from the UK and I love that the foam is a shade of aqua.

As always, I love it when you share too and if you've been inspired to create, don't forget that you can add your own creations to our Facebook group here. Please don't be shy! Tag your entry with #WMXXX (replacing the XXX with the prompt number) so we know exactly which inspiration you've taken. 

Or simply tell us in the comments where to find you... :-)

** This post includes promotion for Simple Scrapper's premium subscription membership for which I am on the Creative Team.

#62 - be inspired by home

Another catch up layout post today and a layout about a trip over the summer "home" to the UK. It's funny, Germany is most definitely "home" for me but of course, the UK will always be "home" too. It can be complicated for people to understand where I'm talking about when I use the word because it could be either and could refer to the location I'm currently in or the "other"!

This is another layout that was also made for my Simple Scrapper Creative Team assignments using a new sketch as well as a recent Story Starter™. Simple Scrapper offers a premium subscription membership where you can find hundreds of sketches and Story Starters™ as well as many further resources inspiring you to create beautiful pages and tell meaningful stories in a supportive, communicative community environment. You can find out more information here.

The sketch appealed to me as it featured five photos with space to write out a good chunk of journalling. As usual, I tweaked it a little to squeeze in that top right photo into a title space which allowed me to fit in my top 6 photos from the weekend - three portrait and three landscape. Of course I took quite a few other photos this trip but it's a good overview of this short three-day trip from start (flying over the pretty fields of England) to finish (back at the airport and a quote that rang true for me) with all the bits in the middle including a family party, brunch on the High Street with my mum and a stroll across a typical English park complete with bandstand!

The sketch was interesting in that it included a whole bunch of circular embellishments and I decided to get happy with the Big Shot and cut out a whole lot of different sized circles from the papers that I found in my Counterfeit Kit Challenge kit (July 2019 - Mingle).

I was very brave and decided to stamp directly onto the background paper. I'm a terrible stamper and am terrified of really messing things up so I rarely attempt such a brave step. But I went for it and used a fun hashtag stamp from SC or Kelly Purkey I think and then a cheap no-name set for the days of the week. It turned out so well and I was thrilled. Maybe this will encourage me to do it more often!

A mixed-font title was needed because I wanted such a long one and it would have taken up too much space and definitely would have left me very short of various letters if I'd only used Thickers.

And there you have it. A layout for my Creative Team assignment which used up a Counterfeit Kit Challenge kit and fulfilled a Whimsical Musings prompt at the same time. That's a success in my book.

As always, I love it when you share too and if you've been inspired to create, don't forget that you can add your own creations to our Facebook group here. Please don't be shy! Tag your entry with #WMXX so we know exactly which inspiration you've taken. 

Or simply tell us in the comments where to find you... :-)

** This post includes promotion for Simple Scrapper's premium subscription membership for which I am on the Creative Team.

#166 - be inspired by Paris

Inspired by my wonderful online friend Clair, I set up a spreadsheet to monitor which prompts I've completed here at Whimsical Musings - it shows that I need to do better! However, I was shocked to see that I hadn't actually made a layout specifically for my WM#166 - be inspired by Paris. How is that possible? It's one of my favourite cities in the world and I have a gazillion photos from many, many trips. Time to fix that.

This is another layout that was also made for my Simple Scrapper Creative Team assignments using a new sketch as well as a recent Story Starter™. Simple Scrapper offers a premium subscription membership where you can find hundreds of sketches and Story Starters™ as well as many further resources inspiring you to create beautiful pages and tell meaningful stories in a supportive, communicative community environment. You can find out more information here.

My sweet friend Kathy told me she was headed across the ocean to visit Paris for the first time and should we meet up? I don't have to be asked twice to go to Paris so I headed over by train and we had a fun four days together. As she'd done a lot of the big ticket sights before I met up with her, I tried to come up with a good mix of some "not to be missed" places such as the Musée de L'Orangerie where we sat in awe of the Monet water lily pond paintings, my favourite place to eat whenever I'm in Paris (Bofinger) and wandering around, just taking in the atmosphere!

On our last morning together, we decided to head inside the Opéra and I was thrilled to find that she was more than impressed with this incredible building. I have a bunch of beautiful photos from this short trip but I knew that these deserved immediate attention.

This time around, I needed to use a current sketch with an older Story Starter™ so I went with the sketch that had multiple photos and tracked down a topic that spoke to me - in this case it was a time that I was speechless. I interpreted that as being speechless from the beauty of a place and the Opéra was the first place that came to mind!

Again, I sat and wrote out the story I wanted to tell before I looked for photos. The original sketch was 8 1/2 x 11 so I stretched it out to 12x12 which gave me a lot more spaces on my grid for both photos and journalling. Using a very recent Carta Bella travel themed purchase made this page come together so quickly and the design needed just a hint of embellishing - I was delighted to find a space to use the 3x4 Eiffel Tower card.

I loved the strip down the left hand side on the sketch which I adapted into a pastel sequin filled pocket underneath one of my favourite pieces of paper of all time - the star printed vellum from Studio Calico. I bought all the sheets I could get my hands on at the time and my supply is slowly reducing :-(. I use every single scrap of it and wish so much that I had a whole pack of them - it's a perfect design for so many pages.

As always, I love it when you share too and if you've been inspired to create, don't forget that you can add your own creations to our Facebook group here. Please don't be shy! Tag your entry with #WMXX so we know exactly which inspiration you've taken. 

Or simply tell us in the comments where to find you... :-)

** This post includes promotion for Simple Scrapper's premium subscription membership for which I am on the Creative Team.

#327 - be inspired by water

Alongside the restart of new prompts and inspiration here on Whimsical Musings, I've realised I have a bunch of layouts to share that I've made to fit multiple prompts and design teams. So as well as trying to make up pages from the current prompts, I'd like to share those on a regular basis. I've scheduled them here on Wednesdays for the next few weeks so I hope you'll also feel free to share any layouts you make for any of the WM prompts. Sometimes an older prompt speaks to you directly and I say, go for it! There's no such thing as being behind on challenges here - any prompt and layout is good to go.

Here is my first to share today.

It's a layout for WM#327 - be inspired by water.

I made this page for my Creative Team over at the wonderful Simple Scrapper using a sketch from a few months ago as well as a Story Starter™ for the current month. Simple Scrapper offers a premium subscription membership where you can find hundreds of sketches and Story Starters™ as well as many further resources inspiring you to create beautiful pages and tell meaningful stories in a supportive, communicative community environment. You can find out more information here.

My story was inspired by a water based prompt and as I was thinking of what story to tell, my eye fell on this classic 1986 photo from my time living in the South of France. I can almost feel the wind in my hair and the memories came flooding back. A great water-based story.

The sketch I used was simple with just a few tags sticking out from behind the photo. I know you know me well enough now that I needed a couple of layers at least, so I headed to my scrap box and grabbed a couple of pieces that provided good contrast between the photo and the wonderful October Afternoon sunburst paper that I've been saving for that "special" page.

The sketch called for journalling along the sunburst lines which was perfect as I knew that I had quite a lot of story to tell. In fact, this time around, once I'd identified the photo I wanted, I spent about 30 minutes recalling the details of this day/weekend and wrote it all down. I then knew that I needed a sketch with a bunch of space for a lot of journaling but that I only wanted to use a single photo. This helped me narrow down the sketch to select. The sunburst paper was integral to the sketch and it all fell in place. I keep a section in my paper storage just for sunburst papers so it was easy to find a suitable pattern. Unfortunately, I only have one of this design - I'm sure I could use it a dozen times for different pages!

Minimal embellishments were needed so I added stitching detail to give it a little more dimension. interest and texture.

And there you have it. Simple and easy to pull together. This took me very little time and makes me happy. When I looked through my albums for this part of my life, I realised that I've only told one or two stories so far which makes this all the better. What stories have you been holding off telling? Just imagine all those pool, lake or ocean-based memories needing a place in your albums. Is this the week to tell one of those?

As always, I love it when you share too and if you've been inspired to create, don't forget that you can add your own creations to our Facebook group here. Please don't be shy! Tag your entry with #WMXX so we know exactly which inspiration you've taken. 

Or simply tell us in the comments where to find you... :-)

** This post includes promotion for Simple Scrapper's premium subscription membership for which I am on the Creative Team.

#321 - be inspired by Karl Lagerfeld

This is another layout that I was inspired to make due to a Simple Scrapper Story Starter™ prompt on the topic of "Language" and one that I've been meaning to make for some time - for many years in fact.

Yes, I was really (and I mean really) sad to hear that Kaiser Karl had died but I was also grateful that I'd had the chance to understand him here in Germany in his own language. He had a very specific way of talking - in French, English or German - but hearing him and understanding him in his mother tongue was a bonus of learning the language that I'd not foreseen. And it made me very happy. 

I'd been a fan of Karl since the 80s and learning more about him during my time here has been something that I have really relished. Living in another culture and learning this language that is so difficult has been a challenge over the years but I wanted to record this realisation that had occurred to me several years ago but had not recorded up to now.

I used my Counterfeit Kit Challenge January 2019 kit "Sigh", (lo #6) due to the soft colours that I thought would work really well for everything that reminds me of Chanel. I picked out whites, blacks, greys, soft pinks and blues making sure I had a splash of red too. I used a sketch from the Simple Scrapper premium membership and was happy to try this layered waterfall effect. It was a lot of fun and I love how it turned out. Simple and what I hope is elegant.

A story I've been meaning to tell for such a long time, down on paper at last. That gives me such a sense of achievement.

What's a story you've been wanting to record? Why not check out my list of previous prompts to find one that works for you and get it told. You'll feel so good when it's done. This is something I'm learning from the very inspirational Susan who is focusing on untold stories this year and I love it so much. Looking through my albums, I know that is what I want to do more of. Watch this space.

As always, I love it when you share too and if you've been inspired to create, don't forget that you can add your own creations to our Facebook group here. Please don't be shy! Tag your entry with #WMXX so we know exactly which inspiration you've taken. 

Or simply tell us in the comments where to find you... :-)

#320 - be inspired by butterflies

Oh my word! I've done a prompt layout!

A free weekend, plus Creative Team (Simple Scrapper) motivation and an additional layer of fun courtesy of Calvinball2019 (hosted by Scrap Happy and to be found on FB here). Add in a bunch of Counterfeit Kit Challenge kits that have been neglected as well as a desire to get some WM prompts completed and here you have a layout :-)

In fact, I finished two layouts this weekend but this one was specifically decorated with butterflies to match this week's WM prompt.

Counterfeit Kit Challenge November 2018 kit, Scorpio lo#4

This layout uses an upcoming sketch matched up with an older Story Starter™ from the Simple Scrapper premium membership where I am on the Creative Team. It tells the story of the silver lining to be found in a difficult situation.

I also used my beloved Counterfeit Kit Challenge November 2018 kit, "Scorpio".

With glorious photos such as these, it was an ideal chance to use a bunch of pretty papers. I love the result and how pretty it's turned out.

I punched a whole pile of butterflies and hearts and then came up with the idea of layering the butterflies up with stitching through the middle. I'm really pleased with how they look with that hint of dimension.

As always, I love it when you share too and if you've been inspired to create, don't forget that you can add your own creations to our Facebook group here. Please don't be shy! Tag your entry with #WMXX so we know exactly which inspiration you've taken. 

Or simply tell us in the comments where to find you... :-)

#306 - be inspired by strip journalling

When is the last time that I managed to make a Whimsical Musings prompt right there in the week that I posted it? It feels like a long time. But this week, I managed the seemingly impossible :-)

I promise you that the prompt came first and then this Simple Scrapper Creative Team assignment followed and not the other way around. But does it really matter anyway? I've made a page that I love and that's all that matters at the end of the creative day.

This layout was created using a sketch and a Story Starter ® from the Simple Scrapper premium membership. I loved this sketch (from September 2017) when it first appeared and knew that I wanted to use it so I was particularly happy to realise that I could make it work this month. The fact that it had journalling strips was the icing on the cake to fulfil this Whimsical Musings prompt WM#306 - be inspired by strip journalling.

The Story Starter ® was all about gifts and I knew this was a chance for me to capture my love of matching, over the top, frilly packaging!

I went with my standard form of journalling in this way. I wrote up my story on a 6x4 template, printed it out at 1.15 spacing in American Type font and then cut it up into strips and trimmed the ends so that most of the strips are different lengths. And then I adhered them loosely so that there is some dimension. Perfect!

I also added some texture to this simple sketch by stitching round the edge of the page and also along the bottom edge of each cloud, leaving the threads messy.

Last of all, I picked out some enamel dots, veneer elements and some glittery elements to sprinkle across the page in colours that sum up all that is fun about my packaging and Easter itself!

*sigh* I love my Silhouette when I take the trouble to get it out and use it! And I think I love my sewing machine even more :-)

As always, I love it when you share too and if you've been inspired to create, don't forget that you can add your own creations to our Facebook group here. Please don't be shy! Tag your entry with #WMXX so we know exactly which inspiration you've taken. 

Or simply tell us in the comments where to find you... :-)

Challenge #302 - week of 10th September 2018

Yep, life gets in the way. But that's ok, right? Let's just pretend I didn't miss a week and move on!

Whimsical Musings friend Leslie has been scrapping up a storm recently and has worked her way through many prompts which makes me bow my head in shame AND feel motivated to get going - both at the same time! If you haven't caught her wonderful layouts you can see them over at our Facebook group - Whimsical Musings here - or over on her own blog - Out of the Mire here. You'll be inspired to pick up paper and scissors and get going for sure!

But onwards and upwards.

This week I'd like you to be inspired by the hashtag #watchmesmile

At this time of year, I find myself smiling - it's MY time! My favourite time of the year and everything just makes me smile. The cooler temperatures, the misty mornings, the dull, rainy days, the scattering of conkers on the ground, that autumn smell, the leaves turning colour and falling, the arrival of pumpkin decorations, the shorter days and darker nights, the low lying sun, the anticipation of winter in the air. Yes, you know that autumn is my favourite time of year but honestly, I smile every day! I started using the hashtag #watchmesmile and just using it made me happy. I've looked online and it would appear that I'm absolutely not unique and now it's rather full of posts from a West End show which definitely do NOT make me smile but I don't mind - I feel that it's my hashtag to use for what makes me happy at this time of year - I just ignore all the others!

Both of these layouts were made about "my" hashtag. The first a bit more obviously! I am going to have to come up with a new way to interpret the prompt this time around. Well, let's see.

Both layouts were made using Story Starter prompts and sketches from the Simple Scrapper premium membership community. Fabulous prompts and great sketches :-)

You might take the hashtag as it is and base your layout around it. You might have a hashtag that you use for specific situations. You might have come up with a unique hashtag that no-one else has yet caught on to (I just discovered that two of those I sometimes use are unique to me... so far!) You might hate hashtags and scrap a project about that. You might have a list of them that you use and want to record this modern part of life. You could follow my lead and just find stuff that makes you smile and make a happy page. Perhaps autumn is also your time and you could use that as your jumping off point. Or maybe you have social media themed products that need dusting off and using this week!

A few different directions that I hope inspire you this week!

And if you are inspired, I hope that you'll share. You can do that in our Facebook group here. Tag your entry with #WMXX so we know exactly which inspiration you've taken. 

Or simply tell us in the comments where to find you... :-)