#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... :-)

#291 - be inspired by Sketch Savvy #179

Hey, I made a layout to a current prompt! Go me! I'm feeling a bit inspired right now and decided to take the chance to make a layout using really new photos, my most recent Counterfeit Kit Challenge kit, Sunkissed and the lovely Sketch Savvy sketch #179 from WM#291. A great combination.

Here's the sketch as a reminder.

And this is what I did with it. It's quite true to the original design although totally different at the same time. I wasn't really sure where to put the journalling as the sketch didn't have a specific place so just tucking it into the top of the middle section seemed the sensible place. However I have to say that it made my layout look far more blocked than the original. Anyway, no Disney ears for my layout so I just layered up my papers and embellies in those corners. Same, but different!

Counterfeit Kit Challenge June kit, Sunkissed lo #3

As always, I love it when you share too and if you're inspired to create this week, 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... :-)
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Challenge #291 - week of 11th June 2018

I was perusing FB the other day and saw a beautiful layout featured on Pebbles Inc which I then tracked down to their blog here. Such a gorgeous, soft, pretty layout based on a  sketch by Sketch Savvy - find their blog here

I didn't realise that they had a monthly sketch challenge and realised that it's quite some time since we did a sketch here. I love a good sketch and Sketch Savvy seems like a great sketch site even if they seem to have stopped a year ago.

Therefore, this week I'd like you to be inspired by this Sketch Savvy sketch #179.

Sketch Savvy blog - sketch #179

Stay true to the sketch, turn it, flip it, mirror it or swap out photos for other elements. The sketch was originally used for a Disney layout (spot those Mickey ears there behind the photo) but you can do whatever you want to make it your own. I love the way sketches give me a starting point that I can use as it is or really stamp my own design on.

It would be great to see your creations in our Facebook group here - we love it when you share so 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 #258 - week of 22nd May 2017

Yeah! I managed to get last week's prompt done within the week. I'm amazed at myself.

I haven't found time to get good daytime photos so I haven't posted it here yet, but you can find it over at the Whimsical Musings Facebook Community if you're interested!

Let's see if we can come up with something new for this week now...

We haven't had a sketch in ages so off I go to Pinterest to see what I can find. Ah yes, this is a good one.

This week, I'd like you to be inspired by this October Afternoon sketch.

Original Pinterest source here / October Afternoon sketches here

What I really like about this one is the large area reserved for journalling which is always something I struggle with combining in the design of my own layouts, the strip of uneven elements across the middle and the open to interpretation off the page areas. I think you can do a lot with this one!

Will you use 5 photos across the middle or replace some of these elements for journalling cards, paper, embellishments or pocket page cards? Will you have a multi-word title or just keep it simple? Will you use the space for journalling or use that area for more embellishments? Will you keep the design simple or really fill up the areas? I love sketches that offer all these different takes. However you change up the sketch or stay faithful to it, I'd love to see what you do.

Remember that you can either upload your layout into the Whimsical Musings Flickr gallery with the tag WM#258 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#258 in the write up text so that we can find it.

Challenge #184 week of 14th September 2015

I thought it was time to give us a sketch to use as it's been quite some months since we did that.

However, I was really disappointed to see that Creative Scrappers has closed their sketch doors. This was definitely one of my favourite places to go for sketch ideas - as well as Citrus Twist - as I think the designs that Kristine came up with were often very original and the DT was awesome.

So, I've decided to link up their last sketch #286 for us to be inspired by today.

I particularly love the strips of paper and how this can be interpreted in many ways - pp, journalling strips, layers, washi, banners, rows of die cuts etc. The blog post for this reveal has many different takes as well in case you'd like to take a peek at how others have used this design in so many creative ways.

Adding this to my must do list this week.

As always, we love it when you link up your creations over at our Whimsical Musings Flickr gallery and don't forget to tag your upload with WM#184. See you there!

#163 - inspired by a Citrus Twist scrapbook sketch

It was great to have this sketch to work with on Thursday when I needed to produce three layouts in one evening. The sketch gave me a structure as well as a starting point, and actually stretched me to get a little messier than usual.

Here's the Citrus Twist sketch I gave you on Monday

And here's what I did with it.

I followed the sketch pretty closely with the circular element and the paper behind the photo strip. I misted through a stencil instead of the mesh and splatted some mist across the page too before adding some stars and a few enamel dots.

My circle is very messy using first a pen to make the base and then using the mist sprayer a bit like a paint brush to wipe the gold and green Heidi Swapp mist over the top. It's certainly not perfect and could be a little bigger in relation to the photos but I like the effect. You never know, I might actually have a second try with the sketch.

I used the Scrapabilly April kit featuring Pebbles Happy Day collection and embellishments, adding in a little mist and some small Mini Market letters.

I see a few layouts in the Whimsical Musings Flickr gallery already for this prompt which makes me very happy so why not join in the fun over there and share your creation using this sketch? Don't forget to tag your layout WM#163 so that we can find it!

Challenge #163 week of 23rd March 2015

Happy Monday and welcome back to another challenge here at Whimsical Musings.

Trying to mix things up a little round here, I decided it was time for us to have a go at a sketch. It appears to be over a year since the last time we posted such a prompt so I went to my go to inspiration - my Pinterest sketch board - and picked out one of my favourites of recent months. I love Citrus Twist sketches so I hope you'll love this one as much as I do!

Citrus Twist Sunday Sketch here

I particularly love the row of three square photos and the super trendy circular element behind. I just need to decide which Instagram photos need that special treatment.

We really love it when you share and hope you will find time to give this sketch a go this week, and then post your creation to our Whimsical Musings Flickr gallery with the tag WM#163.

Have a wonderful week everyone and see you over at Flickr!

#120 inspired by Creative Scrappers sketch #258

I'm LOADing.

Which means there's a chance to catch up with some of the prompts I offer you each week but seem unable to keep up with in my own scrapbooking!

I was determined to give prompt #120 a go as I really, really liked the grid design of the sketch

Creative Scrappers source here

I like the possibility to pile up the little elements in the middle and decided that one way to deal with some of the papers that I liked but didn't love any more, was to cut and layer them up which matched the sketch exactly.

It also matched the LOAD prompt for day 5 to bust the Scrapbooking Myth: you need to use new product.

I created the layout with my second February Counterfeit Kit Challenge kit, Nostalgic which is full of older product and which I really wanted to see how much I could use. Everything on this layout except the Prima swirl (purchased last year) and the alpha (Thickers from the Scrapabilly Feb kit) come from the kit and are between 5 and 7 years old. New stuff? Myth. Old stuff can work well if you work it in to your current style.

Please excuse the appalling quality of these photos. Last night was horrible orange electric light and this morning was nasty not-quite-daylight-light. I tried to fix the ones from today but they are even worse than these. Mmmm. Will have to try harder!
Scrapbook Myth: You need to use new stash on your pages

Oh, just noticed something else newer. Those gems in the middle of the flowers were purchased earlier this year.

This was a very large unmanageable rub on that I cut in two to use here - I like how it works. The Prima swirl was again cut in half and I felt it broke up the stark black quite well. It feels good to see these items on a page. They were not cheap!

So, another myth busted, more old product used and inspiration from a great sketch. Win-win all round.

Have you given this sketch a try? Don't forget to link up over at our WM Flickr gallery (here) and give credit to Creative Scrappers #258.

Challenge #120 week of 27th January 2014

Let's change pace a little today.

We've had a few more subject / thoughtful based prompts the last couple of weeks and I know that at least a few of you are preparing for LOAD in February - whether that's official on your side or not, and you might appreciate something a little less demanding!

With that in mind, I'm going to offer you a sketch this week. It's a sketch which I absolutely love from Creative Scrappers. Ok, who am I kidding? I love everything that Creative Scrappers comes up with! I featured #259 on my 14 loves {January 2014} earlier this month and am in love with all the grid designs they are coming up with right now. So, here's another one!

Source - Creative Scrappers 

Look at that great block in the middle filled with all those little Instagram friendly squares and space for embellishments. Lots of journalling? No problem with the areas in the grid or even the emptier space either side of the grid. I love it. This is a sketch I will definitely be giving a go and I hope you will too.

Link up your sketchy interpretations over at our Flickr gallery (here) with the tag WM#120.

Prompt #103 week of 16th September 2013

Welcome back to another Monday and another prompt.

There's been a flurry of activity in the WM Flickr Gallery this week which might have something to do with the two great prize giveaways that I have to draw later today - he he! So, if you have made a layout for one of the 6 WM#100 prompts or maybe one of the previous 99 prompts but haven't yet uploaded your creation into the gallery, NOW is the time! It's not too late as long as this post is the top post. But the clock is ticking and once I start the draw, it'll be too late. :-)

Some of us are counting down to the beginning of the Scrap Happy members only LOAD in October and if I'm not wrong, our intrepid WM friends, Lynette and Leslie will be coming up with 31 amazing prompts.

Now, I've not completed a LOAD for the last three now but it's not a problem. I will join in and just have fun with it. But when I think about preparing for LOAD, there's a few strategies I have for helping myself along the way. And one is sketches.

So today I thought I'd share a sketch for our prompt.

There are so many sketch sites around and usually my go to inspiration is Page Maps - still producing great sketches every month. However, checking out my Pinterest sketch board (you can see it here) I noticed that there were a few from Citrus Twist kits. They have a nice, small collection of unusual sketches and so I thought that this one might be as inspirational for you as it was for me.

Find the blog post for this sketch here

Take it literally, or put your own twist on it. Use it as a spring board and take it in a completely different direction, turn it, flip it or change out the number of photos. Do what you do but be inspired by this.

Don't forget to share over at the Flickr Gallery (here) with the tag WM#103. Can't wait to see.

Tune in later to see who were the lucky winners.

Challenge # 53 - Week of August 20, 2012

Well, we are off to a late start, but a start nonetheless to our second year.

And to give you a chance to catch up with some of those older prompts (remember our drawing for a prize at the end of the month) I am keeping this week fairly simple.

What do these layouts have in common?

So have you guessed what it is? The challenge is to use a grid. You can really fit a lot of pictures this way and you can keep a clean look or embellish as much as you'd like. Lisa and I have very different styles, yet both of us make use of this tool to make layouts that pack a punch in terms of pictures. 

and in case you think all grids have to be square, you can visit this page by Lisa {here}. For that extra whimsical touch, try to come up with a grid that is not square - either in the shape of the photos or the resulting shape. Twist it a little and make it fit your story and needs. Can't wait to see what you come up with.

... so go on and give it a try. The gallery is already brimming with plenty of examples, but if you have one you always default to share it with us on the boards. Remember to share your layouts with us and tag them WM#53.

Have a great week.

xo,

Pamage

#52 Inspired by past challenges

I can hardly believe we have been doing this for a full year. Looking back I am amazed that this little venture has added 52+ stories to my efforts to document my life and that of those around me.

In clicking through each prompt I was again reminded of all the great challenges we had throughout the year... and some I wanted to take on again. I couldn't narrow it down, so I ended up creating 4 new pages! And that in itself should be cause for celebration.

dream big & dare to fail

for this layout, I took on Challenge # 2 to be inspired by Norman Vaughn's motto of "dream big & dare to fail". The first time around I had been intimidated by the boldness of his words and ended up making a trivial layout. This time I wanted it to have more oomph and true meaning to my dreams. But alas, I am still not daring enough to put them out into the universe, so they sit in a little pocket for my eyes only. The layout was also inspired by this recent pin {here}.

we go on the best dates 

For this layout I wanted to take on my own prompt, Challenge # 13 to be inspired by a triadic color combination. I decided to do one I hadn't done before, red-yellow-blue. When I think of those colors I think Elementary School and boy toys. So I was interested to see if I could pull it off with this goofy picture and I think I succeeded. The sketch came from October Afternoon's blog {here}.  Another cool element of this page is that I was able to use the menu from the restaurant right in the layout.

love life

I had been itching to re-do this prompt and do it justice probably since I first took it on. Challenge # 23 was inspired by my new room decor, but my initial resulting layout didn't have the feel of the room although it used the colors. I recently bought a 6x6 paper pad - MME's tangerine collection {here} and it had the perfect colors. (here's a little known secret about my work: I use a lot of 6x6 paper pads). I added a few more touches and turned out the perfect layout reminiscent of my room.

momofuku

for this layout I revisited Lisa's Challenge # 30 to be inspired by the current trend of geometrics. Although hexagons were all the rage a few months ago when this prompt first came out, these recent pins prove that the new trend is triangles {here & here} or maybe just coincidence.

Overall, I had a blast going over past challenges as looking at how I have evolved as a story teller. Thank you for all your support and I can't wait to start another year with tomorrow's prompt.

xo,
Pamage

ps: remember that you have until the end of the month to upload a layout to the gallery using the tag WM#52 for a chance to win a prize. 

Challenge # 43 - week of June 11th, 2012

Wow, is it just me or are these warmer weeks just flying by?

Today, I want to share with you one of the pages I recently created and love - and the source for inspiration.

if you know me by know, you know I almost exclusively scrap on a white background. Anything else feels cluttered and off to me. So you may wonder how it is I came upon this choice of background? I was inspired by the ad from a magazine photographed below.

you can easily tell that i picked up the layout composition, color pallete including the accentes in white and black, the title color and placement; even the little bobbles were inspired by the model's earrings. One of the smartest things I ever learned from Stacy Julian was this - media ad artists are paid to do this. They have gone to design school to make things that are visually pleasing to us. Why not use this free inspiration that is readily available to us?

Well, you may have guessed it, but that is our challenge for this week. But I know some of you may be saying, 'yes, but Pam, how do we find an ad we can easily break apart like you did?' or 'Pam, I don't even buy magazines'. I don't buy magazines either, but this is what I do while my nails dry at the salon - I flip through the magazines, not for celebrity gossip, but for future layout ideas. And lucky for you I have a few still sitting in my inspiration file on my computer that I haven't used. So to start us off, I have two inspiration pieces for you. 

Inspiration Option # 1

Banana Republic Ad

Inspiration Option # 2

Sally Hansen Ad

I hope you can draw some inspiration from these two ads and that is eases the process for you to create. Even if just lifting the color scheme or title placement of photo placement, try using these ads for inspiration and see where it takes you. 

If you do create based on these ads, please upload it to our flick'r gallery {here} with the tag WM#43. Lisa and I will be back next week with our results. Like always, thanks for playing along.

xo,

Pamage

#40 Inspired by clothes

Confession: I love clothes... and shopping... and my closet... and dressing up.

My personal style is much like my scrapbook style - lots of bold colors and whimsy and mismatched patterns, so as soon as I read the challenge I knew I would turn up with layouts I loved.

I ended up completing two layouts about two different aspects of "clothes" which I wanted to document.

Sister Style

 this first layout was born to document my sister and I's unique style and the fact that every time we go out, we don't just put on clothes... we put together outfits! Even a trip to the supermarket requires accessories and picture-worthy ensembles.

 Luckily, right before I sat down to do this, I received a knock on the door - UPS with a package from Amy Tan full of goodies from her latest American Crafts line. The line so fits in with my style and so it was perfect for this. I personalized it by adding some doodling and ink to the embellishments.

The long skinny alphas were difficult to line up but I like the look of the same alphas in different colors.

another way I personalized the Amy Tan line was by coloring in some areas of the b-side of that paper with a pink marker. And one of my favorite things to use, is the strip at the bottom of papers, and the one from that green/stars paper was perfect for this page.

outfit deconstruction

 this is one of my favorite layouts in a while. I struggled with how I wanted to portray this story... until it came to me this morning with LOAD's Sketchy Sunday sketch. Then I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I searched for the perfect pictures to deconstruct my outfits and I couldn't find the right ones. I wanted to crop them to focus on each elements but they were mostly too small to notice the details. So I did something I seldom do - take photos for a prompt. Whenever I do, I end up loving those pages the most, so maybe I should give in more often.

I used some more of the Amy products, with the confetti tag and colorful paper for my circles. Also, because the subject was clothes I felt the fabric paper was perfect for this. 

And I also created pleats (something inspired by Lisa's use of washi tape seen on a recent layout) with fabric scraps. I loved adding these textures to this otherwise flat layout.

I hope you enjoyed this extended look into my layouts for this week. Each week I am glad I belong to this community that inspires me so much. I love sharing with you and learning from you. And each week Lisa pushes me to create something I wouldn't have otherwise had in my albums.

If you were as inspired as I was, please share with us. I know I'll love it. (The tag is WM#40).

I will be back tomorrow morning with a new challenge, and it's a funky one. ;)

xo,
Pamage

#31 Inspired by Spring

I was worried that this week I would experience the same creative block I seemed to be under last week. Even though I supply the prompts, sometimes I struggle finding the direction I want to go in and often I struggle to be inspired!

So it is extra-refreshing when it happens. And this week it happened. I started off easy on myself by finding a layout I loved and scrap-lifting it. I feel that picking up a starting off point like that allows me to focus on adding the little elements that make a page my own, while taking the guess work out of the design elements.

Since I knew all the elements I needed I just focused on finding papers and patterns that reminded me of spring. I also added some butterflies and buttons in those shades. Overall, this page helped me feel inspired to create more. So I did!

 For this page I used a color combination provided by Lain for the Scrap Happy inspiration for March. It was the perfect color combo for this Julie FFB crayon-watercolor resist technique {here}.

 I also wanted to show you the drawbacks of journaling right on top of your carefully painted background - you can mess it up! But luckily I am the type of girl that embraces imperfection. {see those almost invisible little strips of paper that allow me to re-write the words i fudged. yeah, I spelled girls as GILRS.)

And since my first two pages weren't really Spring related, I felt I had one more story left in me. This time I used a pretty simple sketch, provided by Lain for Scrap Happy. The simple sketch allowed me to use creative license on the items I use in filling up the designated spots.

 One of the new techniques I tried this week was this gesso+stencil+paint technique. I rather like how it turned out even with all it's imperfections.

I hope you had some time to be outdoors this week and enjoy the simple pleasures of spring. If you had some time to play, we would love to see what you came up with, just add the tag WM#31. Lisa will be back tomorrow with surely a fun challenge for the upcoming week. And just remember we will be at the discussion boards all week to help you along with finding inspiration. So we will see you there!

xo,
Pamage