Welcome to 2017 ...

Welcome to 2017 - may this year be wonderful, filled with fun, family, good health and lots and lots of crafting !

Just a little housekeeping before we get started with our first challenge and some general information for those who aren't familiar with how things work around here.  

This year we will have two main prize packs - one will be selected by Creative Team vote but due to the high cost of international postage it will only be available to Australian/NZ entrants.  The other prize is purely by random draw and available to everyone regardless of country of residence - so anyone could be a winner, no matter your style or your level of experience.  We will also offer one lucky entrant a chance to guest with us for the following month.

Our monthly inspiration will normally go up on the 1st of the month and winners will be announced on the 8th of the month so please if you entered in the previous month do check and see if you are a winner - so many prizes were forfeit last year purely because they remained unclaimed.  Our guest designer will be introduced on the 15th and then on the 22nd of the month we introduce "Focus On' where one of our Creative Team will highlight a product, technique or tool they particularly like to use - you will need to pop in on the 22nd of each month to see what we have to show you.

We accept any form of papercrafting and digital entries are welcomed and encouraged.  All entries must be new for this challenge and no back-linking please.

  You may combine with a sketch challenge only - no other combining will be accepted. Please include our inspirational picture as well as provide a link back to Pixels and Paper on your blog post and don't forget to tell us how you were inspired. International submissions are welcome. Please read our RULES for further information.

And now our very first challenge for 2017 ...

January is our middle month of Summer and traditionally vacation time here in Australia.  The kids are out of school and very many of us head to the coast for family holidays or visit our local beach for days of sun, surf and sand.

CRITERIA - A SUMMER theme

What inspires you from our photograph?  It is the ocean waves, the sand, children playing contentedly or the bright happy colours of summer in their clothing?  Are you more drawn to the blue of the ocean or the gold of the sand?  Does this image remind you of sun filled vacations or time spend at the beach or in your own backyard pool?

Team inspiration ...

ELAINE

 My summer themed layout features my Granddaughter Amber enjoying the beach.

SHAZZA

Drawn to the ocean colours ..

KAREN

I took inspiration from the beach scene. For me, summer and the beach go hand in hand! I'm making a mini album about my recent trip to Rockhampton and this page features some photographs of the main beach at Yeppoon.

PHILLIS

I was inspired by the girls and the flowers. So I used an old photo of my daughter and used flowers for my embellishments.

REBECCA

I made my own stencil to make the clouds.

DI

The crashing waves, vivid colours and the pose of one of the children drew me towards my photo selection this month. An idyll hour at one of my local beaches was spent taking shots of a couple of pelicans as they continually flew and landed oblivious to everything else that was going on. One of the landing poses reminded me of Tai Chi movements. To the background papers, I added stamping, alcohol inked strips of paper and diecuts. 

LYNNE

The inspiration photo made me think of the peaceful feeling I get being near water; I used a photo I took of a heron at our local park late this past summer.

JANE

Inspired by the basic colour scheme and the idea of summer in a waterside location.

Hope you can come and join in with us this month ...

Please upload your entry to the link tool on the LEFT by 11.55pm on January 31st.

We can't wait to see your summer themed pages.

Please come back on the 8th when we will announce our winners for December.