Welcome to April ...

It's April and Easter month and we are taking a trip back down memory lane to when Easter meant dressing up and wearing bonnets and gloves were the normal thing to do.  Do you remember those days or have photographs in the family album of your parents or grandparents looking like these three darling little girls as they celebrate Easter.

Yet this photograph isn't all about Easter, it's about fashion from another era, it's about being outside on a cool day.  It's about green, manicured lawns and orderly gardens.  It's about a neighbourhood of houses and middle class families.  It's about having sisters (siblings) and spending time with them.

What is this photograph about to you?

HEIDI

The photo of the girls gave me the inspiration to do a vintage shabby page using the colours of the dresses.  Lots of  the elements on the page including die cutting and inks and stamping - it was so much fun.

DI

From this month's inspirational photo, I have used the idea of Easter, but combined it with showtime, as this is a major event in Sydney at this time of the year. While the photo I've used isn't showing us in our Sunday best, we were certainly dressed in the fashion of the time... those hats!!! I'm in the left of the photo and the other two, sisters, were the granddaughters of my mum's best friend.

I've used a number of techniques again, including: gelli pad printing, stencilling, quilling and doodling (around the edges of the page and the title).

TONE-LILL

The April "Easter" inspiration picture got me to look for these photos from Easter 2012, when on holiday in Lax in Wallis/Valais in Switzerland. Early Easter morning Tirill had opened her Easter bunny egg, munching it and watching kids TV. When she spotted me, she ran outside onto the veranda to show me the fantastic weather we woke up to.  Happy Easter everyone :)

ALICIA

This month I was inspired by the pretty pale colors and the '50s (I think) style of the girls outfits. I had this whole plan to go retro this month in my mind...but then I came across this photo again and just had to scrap it. Since we decided to color our eggs neon colors in 2006 and I had this really cool photo of my son's reaction to seeing them all together; I decided to keep color my focus- but in neon shades not pastels. I had to really dig into my stash to find bright papers, it's not something I work with a lot. The vellum background was very busy. I made sure to cover lots of it with solid bold colors that matched the eggs in the photo, and the leaves in the background. I of course had to add in my own handwriting for the journaling section, my son loves to read the stories I put in the scrapbooks. The eggs I made myself. I did them in a word document, printed them out, fussy cut them, and used them as templates for the ones on the page. I had fun decorating them and making each one special, but it was a time consuming process. Especially since I made a few I decided clashed with the background- so then I made more. Now I have extra eggs for the next layout I do, and a page I am very happy with. I hope you will join us in our challenge this month, and show us your Easter/spring memories!

JANE

I can remember dressing up for Sunday church - frilly white dresses with fancy petticoats, hair curled, neat and tidy with bow attached and fancy polished shoes with cute white ankle socks.  I'd carry a little handbag, inside a clean, pressed handkerchief and a token coin for me to drop carefully into the collection plate.  In winter I had a bright red coat my Mum would button me into and off we would go to meet the aunts and uncles for morning service.  My layout reflects the colours in the photograph - the olive, tan and blue tones of the girls coats and the lace trim for the sweet little bonnets the girls are wearing.  

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

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 later next week when we will announce the winners for March.