Still plenty of time ...

Still have lots of time to join in with our December challenge.  This photograph is gorgeous.

You don't have to do wintry snow scenes, or the northern lights.  You don't have to do Christmas. Just interpret this any way you like.  Use the colours of pink, blue, green and white or just use one of them.  Use the trees or the twinkling lights in the background.  Anything goes really - just tell us what inspired you when you enter.

We'd love to see your creations.

November winners and our December GDT ...

Thank you for joining Pixels and Paper and Child's Play for our joint challenge last month. It was fu to see the different interpretation from both teams along with some terrific entries.

We were working from this photograph and this set of criteria ...

gold

animal

use something that is older than a year

3 patterned papers

bling

Our MAIN winner for October is  Giorgia Rossini with her fun and quirky page.

We would like to send Rebecca Daly a small RAK and ask her to guest with us for January.

Ladies, please email me at jjjustjane@bigpond.com with your address and I will make sure your prize gets away to you.

This month we welcome Renee Johnson as our guest designer with her take on our challenge image.

My name is Renee Johnson, and I live in the outer suburbs of Sydney, Australia. By day I coach gymnastics and look after my three adorable children, whilst my nights are mostly for scrapbooking. Whilst I have always been into journalling and trying to record those precious moments and hilarious comments the kids come out with, I fell in love with scrapbooking whilst trying to find a gift for the family member who has absolutely everything. When I saw how much better the photos looked rather than drably sitting I my album I became very hooked, and am still on a crazy mission to get through those albums and piles (and piles and piles) of photos.

I was inspired by this photo to dust off my very well used Stardust stack (by DCWV) and pull out a background which was almost the replica of the photo. I have hoarded this paper for years, not having any clue what to do with it but decided to force something to happen! After a play around I decided to stick with the yellows and greens from the background and finished it off with some offcuts and a whole lot of green from Graphic 45s Wizard of Oz collection. I really love when a challenge pushes me out of my comfort zone, and to use hoarded items Im not sure what to do with....

Please drop by my blog if you get the chance.

Thank you so much for joining in with us this month Renee.

You have until the end off the month to play along with us with our December challenge.  We'd love to see how you are inspired by our photograph this month.  Thank you for your continued support.

And then somehow it was December ...

Welcome to December.  I am sure you must be asking yourself the same question I am - where the heck has this year has gone - wasn't it only January yesterday?

This month I thought I would do something just a little different as I am sure we will be bombarded with Christmas theme challenges across the web.  One member of our design team lives in the north of Norway and when I was searching for photographs to use this month I came across this one and just knew I had to use it as a tribute to those who get to see the aurora borealis (Northern Lights) this time of year.

So use the snow theme, or the gorgeous colours in the image or perhaps find inspiration in the patterns and swirls of the sky.  You might be inspired by the pine trees or the stars in the night sky.

Just look at the very different takes from our design team - all inspired from this one photograph.

TONE-LILL

This months inspiration picture showing the Northern lights, made me think of this Pion Design paper called "winter in Swedish Lapland" from last year. I final managed to get one my self and used it together with a winter photo of my niece with similar sky colours, taken a late winter afternoon, years back when she was a little girl.

This is your chance to scrap some winter photos, come and join in and have some fun  :)

HEIDI

This month the beautiful colours inspired me,I did some texture paste background on to canvas paper and some spraying .hope you come along and join in this month great colours.

REGINA

Beautiful inspiration image this month courtesy of Mother Nature!  So I followed the nature theme and showcased another joy of nature-snow. This is Dove Lake in Cradle Mt Tasmania in winter. I'm looking forward to seeing all your entries this month.

LYNNE

I was inspired by the magical feel and the swirls of the northern lights.

ANNA

I was inspired by the green in the sky.

PHILLIS

I had no snow photos to scrap so I concentrated on the sky. I used mists on my background paper to give it the colorful shimmering look. I used the photo of our family about to go up in a ferris wheel this summer. Then I added some colorful paper and the hot hair balloon. I used the string to give the page texture.

DI

From December's inspiration I took the clean, crisp colours from  the blues and whites. The photos were taken from the top of Mt Wellington in Tasmania after a light snowfall and a very heavy coat of frost and ice. This made all of the flowers on the plants look like crystals.

JANE

I was very fortunate to see the Northern Lights shimmering in the sky over Edmonton many years ago.  It was a dazzling spectacle and at the time I likened it to seeing a rainbow at night.  The image has stayed with me all these years.

We also bid farewell to one of our team this month, Anna Volker.  It has been lovely having you part of Pixels and Paper - we wish you all the best and please do pop back and see us when you have a spare minute.  

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

You are welcome to submit traditional paper layouts, art journals, divided page protectors, smash books (etc). Digital entries are welcomed and encouraged.  All entries must be new for this challenge and no back-linking please.

  I am happy for you to combine with two other challenges but the essence of the Pixels and Paper inspiration must be clear in your work. Combining with a sketch and technique/product challenge would be preferred. Please include our inspirational picture as well as provide a link back to Pixels and Paper on your blog post and tell us how you were inspired. International submissions are welcome.

Please come back on the 8th when we will announce the winners for November and welcome our guest designer for the month.

Some October winners and we welcome our November guest designer ...

Again some delightful layouts for October and selecting a winner was extremely difficult.  Thank you for joining us on Pixels and Paper and supporting our little challenge blog.

We were working from this photograph ...

Our MAIN winner for October is Donna Broussard with this lovely page.

 

We would like to send Renee Johnson a small RAK and ask her to guest with us for December.

and our random draw is #11 (email entry) - Jacqui McCully

Ladies, please email me at jjjustjane@bigpond.com with your address and I will make sure your prize gets away to you.

This month we welcome Shazza Bishop as our guest designer with her take on our challenge image.

And here is her page ....

I took my inspiration from the old toys, so I dusted off Gerry Gee, Panda and Sister Belle and had a photo taken together :)

gold somewhere = arrows

3 patterned papers = strips

something you have had in your stash for more than a year  = red chipboard scalloped button

animal somehow = panda

bling = green sequins

Hi Shazza from Australia here. I have had a passion for crafting since I was a little girl. Papercrafts have always been my favorite.  I started card making and slowly progressed to scrapbooking. I find scrapbooking very therapeutic, its a great way to chill from the day to day grind of our busy lives. I want to leave my children with their own albums so they can have a lasting record of their and my life over time. I love finding old family photos from days gone by, these help in documenting my family history.  My latest passion is mixed media and I try to combine it on my background layouts. I love joining in challenges as they make think outside the square, and a lot of my pages have a quirkiness or whimsy feel to them. Thanks Jane and team for allowing me to Guest Design for Pixels and Paper this month. I loved the photo and added criteria and I hope I have done it justice. :)

You can find my blog at Shazza's Craft Connection = http://shazzacraft.blogspot.com.au/

You have until the end off the month to play along with us with our November challenge.  We'd love to see how you are inspired by our teddies and toys and the criteria from our combined challenge with Child's Play.  Thank you for your continued support.

Hello November ...

Welcome to another month on Pixels and Paper.

This month we are doing something a little different and  holding a joint challenge with Child's Play Challenges.

We have provided the photograph to inspire you ...

and Child's Play Challenges have provided some criteria in the form of a recipe:

gold

animal

use something that is older than a year

3 patterned papers

bling

 We would like you to use this photo AND incorporate these items onto your layouts.

The beauty of this is you can do one layout and then submit it to both challenge blogs and be in the running for monthly prizes on both sites.

So what inspires you from our photograph?  Is it the teddy bears or the Christmas theme on the bear in the box?  Are you drawn to the car and the truck or perhaps you just like one or some of the colours used.  Whatever the inspiration we would love to see your pages.

Our team has some fantastic layouts to show you ...

TONE-LIL

I think the first thing I thought of looking at the inspiration picture was children playing, and since we have a joined challenge this month with Child's Play Challenges , I chose a photo of my daughter and friend playing with the guinea pigs, as "animal" is one of the criteria selected by Child's Play. I also used paper with chickens.

Gold; paper used with hexagon diecut and brads.

3 different pattern paper: Background paper, bottom border and paper under photo.

1 year or older : Everything except brads, half pearls and string.

Bling: half pearls, brads

HEIDI

The challenge this month was great I loved the vintage colours.

This my grandma at 3 years old she was very special to me as a child.

I added pearls as the bling a gold flourish,and 3 patterned papers and the teddy bears as the animal, the thing that is a one year or older is the flowers on the page, this is part of Novembers challenge. 

Cant wait to see the entries this month hope you can join us ....

REGINA

This month gave me a great opportunity to scrap my hubby aged 4 waiting in line to see Santa. They all are eating sweets. Child's Play criteria 3 p.papers, old photo, gold trim on Santa's suit ,red stickles on the holly berries for the bling and the animal is the bird.

LYNNE

The vintage colours, stuffed animals and green truck inspired me. The flourishes are antique gold although they look silver in the photo, and there is sparkly bling mixed into the flourishes as well. The flourishes and the "buds" title transparency are old from my stash, and there are several animals , as well as 3 patterned papers (one was used for fussy-cutting)

PHILLIS

I used the truck as my inspiration. I really wanted to do something with the Christmas theme. It just wasn't working for me. So I thought about my son being a Fire Fighter and o I used the photos of him with his certificate from Fire fighter I Class. Well there is green for the truck on my page and the journaling about his class. I used gold circle, 3 patterned papers (1 has journaling on it), the black circle transparency is over 1 year old,I used a journal card with the birds on it for my animal, and bling.


DI

 I took the lace, teddies and blue from the inspiration photo. The little dog is one of Julie's (Time To Create) gorgeous little divas. For my 1 year old (older) I've used some papers as well as a prima resin flower ( which also covers bling and gold). I've also made an iris folded teddy as an embellishment.


ANNA

Anna has done a special page for a friend special person who's baby was born sleeping.

JANE

I took inspiration from the teddy documenting my son's love of all things bear related as a little boy.  The gold is in the brads I have used as well as in the colours of the three patterned papers, black rhinestones are my bling and everything here is older than one year.

and now it is your turn ....

Please upload the DIRECT link to your actual entry to the link tool on the LEFT by 11.55pm on November 30th.

Don't forget to also submit your page over on Child's Play Challenges

You are welcome to submit traditional paper layouts, art journals, divided page protectors, smash books (etc). Digital entries are welcomed and encouraged.  All entries must be new for this challenge and no back-linking please.

You may combine our challenge with a sketch and a product/technique challenge (so two additional challenges).  

  I am happy for you to combine with two other challenges but the essence of the Pixels and Paper inspiration must be clear in your work. Combining with a sketch and technique/product challenge would be preferred. Please include our inspirational picture as well as provide a link back to Pixels and Paper on your blog post and tell us how you were inspired by it. International submissions are welcome.

The team from Child's Play Challenges will post their pages through our Mr Linky so you can see their lovely pages but will not be eligible for any prizes. 

Please come back on the 8th when we will announce the winners for October and welcome our guest designer for the month.

Some September winners and our October guest designer ...

Time once again to make some ladies happy with our monthly winner announcement.  Thank you everyone for all your totally amazing entries last month - they were all truly gorgeous.

 Our MAIN winner for September is Cathi O'Neill with this absolutely beautiful page.  We all felt you captured the true essence of the photograph.

We would love to send Shazza a small prize and ask her to guest with us for October.

and our random draw (courtesy of my son) is #11 - Karen B

Ladies, please email me at jjjustjane@bigpond.com with your address and I will make sure your prize gets away to you.

We welcome Karen Findlay as our October Guest Designer ...

Hi, I'm Karen and I live in Canada, not far from the majestic Rocky Mountains. I have been married to my hubby Richard for 20 years this year. We have two labradors who fill our home with a lot of tail waggin and love.

I started paper crafting when I joined a stampin up class in 2005. I was hooked. I have always been creative in some way shape or form but paper crafting has been my true love. I began with card making and then after a couple of years tried scrapbooking. Of coarse after I tried scrapbooking I never looked back as it combined my passion of being creative and geneology. To me, documenting life whether it be new life, old life, days gone by life, it's all important to me. Adding colours, themes, embellishments to those photos of life are just icing on the cake to me.

Please visit me on my blog ...

I was by the lovely color combination and the roses.

You have until the end off the month to play along with us with our pretty October challenge.  We'd love to see how you are inspired by our tea and roses inspiration.  Thank you for your continued support.

And then it was October ...

And welcome to another month of this super fast year.

I think you will all like our inspiration photograph for October.  What fun ways can you come up with to interpret this image.  Using the colours of pink, blue and green perhaps.  Or using lots of flowers on your page.  Maybe you like the idea of highlighting a teapot or drinking tea or a collection of glass jars in your kitchen.  Perhaps this image conjures are memories of family traditions or a specific family heirloom - a treasured teacup or teaspoon possibly.

Whatever the inspiration, we would love to see your work.  Please don't forget to tell us what it was that caught your eye from the above photograph.

Here is how our design team was inspired ....

HEIDI

I loved this challenge this month as the pastel colours were beautiful to work with.

I hope you join in this month with P&P.

ANNA

 I was inspired by the beautiful pink and blue and had lots of fun with this colour palette.  I made the flourish using a die cut and then gluing string pearls onto it 

TONE-LILL

How can you not love this gorgeous inspiration picture this month. To me it says English Tea Room, so with a few photos of the most delicious Cornish Cream Tea I have ever had, at the famous pub (from Doc Martin in "Port Wenn") by the harbour beach in Port Isaac, it just  had to be a page with these photos.

LYNNE

I was inspired by the tea theme and the pink roses; this was my grandmother's teapot and cup. Many of my family and friends enjoy bonding over a cuppa.

DI

From this month's inspiration photo,  I have used the idea of a cuppa, in my background papers and have also taken the colours from the teapot  and the glass teabag container and used these in my embellishments. The flowers have been diecut from vellum, lightly sprayed with Perfect Pearls .

REGINA

I was inspired by the colours, my favourite combination.

PHILLIS

 I was first drawn to the flowers and the blue of the teapot. I found a photo of the dress with flowers on it. Then I used the blue as my accent color.

JANE

I was drawn to the concept of tea - I love a good "cuppa" and both my children know this which is why tea featured heavily in my birthday gifts from them this year.

and now it is your turn ....

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

You are welcome to submit traditional paper layouts, art journals, divided page protectors, smash books (etc etc).  Digital entries are welcomed and encouraged.  All entries must be new for this challenge and no back-linking is allowed.  I am happy for you to combine with other challenges (maximum of 3) but the essence of the Pixels and Paper inspiration must be clear in your work. Combining with a sketch or colour challenge would be preferred.  International submissions are welcome.

Please come back on the 8th when we will announce the winners for September and welcome our guest designer for the month.

August winners and our September guest ...

I love announcing our monthly winners and have the pleasure of sending out lots of happy mail to those lucky ladies and we sure had lots of delightful entries last month from which to make a selection. 

 Our MAIN winner for August is  Heather Robinson with this gorgeous page.



We would love to send a small prize to Karen and ask her to guest with us for October.

and our random draw (courtesy of my son) is #1 - Margaret Crawford

Please email me at jjjustjane@bigpond.com with your addresses ladies and I will make sure your prize gets away to you.

This month we are delighted to introduce you to the amazing work of Miyake from Korea.

My name is Hee Sun Kim and Korean. (MIYAKE called)

I live in Seoul, Korea with my father, mother and an older brother. My mother and brother are pastors!

It was 2009. I found such a beautiful handmade card on the Internet while searching for collage techniques and images I could use to decorate my personal planner. I was very much surprised to find out that there were so many people in the world making cards. I am enjoying this craft to this day!

I am seeking a unique and vintage mixed media. To express the feeling, I have used many materials and made various attempts. I am continuously seeking inspiration, making an effort to share it, teaching students every day and making works.I always enjoy finding new inspiration and sharing what I found. Above all, I found a joy of my life through this crafts so that I am happy to share it.

My blog link is...
http://takakomiyake.blogspot.kr

Here is her take on our inspiration photograph this month.  You'll agree it is stunning!

You have until the end off the month to play along with us with our September inspirational photograph. 

We'd love to see how you are inspired by this beautiful image.  Thank you for your continued support.