Wednesday 22 April 2015

Team Training for April ..

Welcome to our April edition of Team Training brought to you this month by our delightful y team member Lynne Joncas.

Each month one of our team will inspire you with a little tutorial, tip or trick to help you in your scrapbooking pursuits. 



SHABBY FLOWER TUTORIAL by Lynne Joncas

I couldn't find any flowers that complemented the colours in my heritage page, so decided to make my own, and I'm sharing the steps I used here.

I traced a flower I had for the larger ones and free handed the smaller; precision is NOT all that important as they will be distressed, crumpled and layered. My larger flowers are about 1 3/4 across.


Cut 3 larger shapes and two smaller ones (punches or diecuts are fine too!)

Crumple each one and then unfold, to add yummy texture and creases!

Ink the edges and run the ink over the creases for further colour and dimension; here I used a soft tan, but for the flowers on my layout I used a bright teal for more contrast.

Pinch the edges of each petal  to create further texture and dimension, but leave one of the small ones as is, since you will be using it for the flower center 

Turn the unpinched small layer over so the wrong side is facing up, then fold the petals inward to form a cone shape. Secure with hot glue or a fast-drying adhesive such as Glossy Accents or Matte Medium.

Layer the petals, with each layer turned a bit so the petals fit in between the ones on the layer below, finishing with the small pinched one, then add the cone shape to the top,

Make as many as you like, using different sized petal layers to create a pleasing arrangement for your project-fun and easy!


I just love these Lynne - they look so effective and are really simple to make.  Hope you all give them a try!


Don't forget to have your entry in for our challenge this month.  Some lovely prizes on offer - one prize by vote, another completely by random draw and a guest designer spot with RAK to offer one lucky entrant.  You have until 11.55 on the final day of the month to have your submission linked.










Wednesday 15 April 2015

Welcome to our guest for April ...

Merry Braehlerwith her wonderful interpretation of our image this month - can you guess what inspired her?  ....



My name is Merry Braehler, born Hamsah. I'm an Indonesian who lives in Germany. I love scrapbook but since last year, I joined one of the class from Anna Dabrowska, my interest of Mixed Media started to grow and you could see it more in my projects. When I started to have blog, it was meant to be for both of us (me and my sister). We're making chipboards and sell them (most only in Indonesia though) that's why you'll see a lot of them used in my projects. Well, that's about me and hopefully you pop up on my blog called "Sistersart Creation" to see more of my creations."



our Facebook 

And here are some more lovely pages by Merry ...



Thank you for joining us this month Merry and sharing your stunning work with us. 

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

Next week we have something special to share with you from a member of our design team.  Please call past on the 22nd for some Team Training.

Wednesday 8 April 2015

March winners ...

Some wonderful pages in our gallery for March.  We certainly had some very keen and inspired entrants this past month, many thinking about red shoes and packed suitcases!  Thank you everybody for playing along with us. 

We were working from this photograph ...



While two of our monthly prizes are selected by creative team vote, one of our monthly prizes is completely done via random draw so anyone, regardless of style or years of experience can be a winner here on Pixels and Paper - you just need to have an entry in :)

Our MAIN winner for March is  Renee Johnson with this totally delightful page.  We all loved your layering and how you incorporated the colours of the photograph onto your page. ( And your subject matter was pretty cute too! )

We would like to ask Giorgia Rossini to guest with us for May and will send her a small prize for her efforts.
P1100552

and our random draw winner is #14 - Jacqui McCully


Ladies, please email me with your address and I will make sure your prize gets away to you.

Please pop back on the 15th when we introduce you to Merry Braehler , our guest designer this month with her take on our challenge image.

And don't forget you have until the end off the month to play along with us with our challenge.  Details can be found on the left sidebar. We'd love to see how you are inspired by our photograph this month. 

Wednesday 1 April 2015

Welcome to April ...

This month we have an image I think you can have a lot of fun with and will lend itself really nicely to those masculine, outdoorsy types of pages.


 You could go with clouds, twilight, silhouette of anything, grey, white and black, playing sports outside, riding bikes anywhere. Or you could work with the spokes as in a pie chart, or use chipboard gears and cogs or use the circles as a feature. Use your imagination - we'd love to see what you come up with.

This is how our team was inspired ...

TONE-LILL
 
It it such a cool inspiration picture this month so I wanted to make a masculine card inspired by the bike.  I have had this vintage chipboard bike for quite some time and this was the perfect moment to use it. Here is a detail photo and a photo of the inside, using vintage inspired paper with an old bike in the pattern. Just perfect for the background on the inside of my card.

How did you get inspired? Card, tag, LO or off the page. We would love to see your creations :)

KAREN
The bike had me thinking about wheels and gears and circles. I raided my stash to see what I could find to work with, and I then I rummaged through my photo envelopes to find some suitable pics. This isn't how I envisaged scrapping these photographs, but I am pleased to add another layout to our 2014 family trip album.

LYNNE
 
 I was inspired by the bike silhouette surrounded by  the sky and trees, and the inspiration photo made me think of this wonderful image from the movie ET, which to me is a story about friendship and loyalty.

REGINA
 I had lots of fun with this one. I knew what photo I wanted straight away, but it took me a while to find it amongst the 100's! I'm amazed the chicken was happy to stay in the basket, and the dog was almost asleep! So I have taken the bike theme and the colours from the inspirational image. Lots of stamping, embossing and inking on this page, and the mesh and brads gave it more texture. Looking forward to seeing how you all interpret this month's image.

HEIDI
This months challenge for April ,I took inspiration with the bike the cogs and colours...It was a fun page hope you can join us this month.

DI
This month, I rode with the theme of bikes and also used some of the darker hues of colour from the inspiration photo. I knew I had the perfect paper in my stash, just sitting there waiting for these photos of my son, riding his bike around the front and back yards.  I've also added cogs, embossed and diecut from foil shim.

JANE
I was definitely inspired by the theme of bikes.  My dh was a champion track cyclist in his younger days and when the Masters Games came to Sydney in 2009 he decided to put in some training and enter a few of the races.  He didn't win anything but he enjoyed the experience and achievement of being a part of this special event.

PHILLIS
I was instantly drawn to those wheels of the bike in the inspiration photo. With the dark background the photo made me think of a page for a boy. For my page I used a photo of my husband playing volleyball. This photo made me think of the spokes in the wheels of the bike. I used some dark background paper and then some scraps of patterned and volleyball papers. The metal and cardboard gears just seemed to be needed on the page.

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 April 30th.

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 don't forget to tell us how you were inspired. International submissions are welcome.

This year we will have two main prize packs - one will be selected by Creative Team vote and the other purely by random draw - so anyone could be a winner, no matter your style or your level of experience.  All these prizes will be available to anyone, no matter your country of residence.  We will also offer one entrant a chance to guest with us for the following month and they will also receive a small prize.

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