Hello January ...

A hearty welcome to 2016.  We hope you had a wonderful festive season and are back eager to start another brand new year with us on Pixels and Paper.  We have more wonderful inspiration, fantastic prizes and guesting opportunities for you this year.

Let's start with this delightful bright and happy photograph.  This year we are introducing a criteria to each month - don't worry they are all super simple but are designed to just give you a little more challenge in the challenge :)

CRITERIA is to use PAINT on your entry

Lets see how our design team tackled this ...

LYNNE

 I was inspired by the feeling of freedom in the photo so I decided to create an art journal page with a quote I love about being free; the butterflies echo some of the colours in the photo as well as the feeling of freedom. The background was created with sponge painting and I extended the dress and hair in the image with paint.

KAREN

 I loved the colours in this month's inspiration photo... what a wonderful way to start the year! I used watered down acrylics and a pipette to create the background for my layout.

REBECCA

I was inspired by the bright beautiful colours, and the smear across her cheek. I painted the background, then got really messy with inks and sprays over the paint.

DEB

This month's image prompted me to use a photo of my daughter and her friend with facepaint on from 5 years ago. I created my fun background using various watercolour paints and stencilling. I also wanted to show how much they have grown up, using a photo from their dancing together this year. "LUV these girls!" 

REGINA

I was certainly inspired by the colours in this image, so I created a custom made background firstly using a stencil and texture paste and then adding watered down paint. So get out your paints and experiment by mixing them and adding some H20. Looking forward to seeing your bright projects this month!

PHILLIS

I was inspired by the colors that reminded me of a rainbow. Thus there is rain. I chose my photo from a day when it was raining while we were on vacation last summer. Both my daughter and husband were using their devices when free wi-fi at a coffee shack. They were both feeling deprived since there was no wi-fi on the ship.

DI

A very special welcome to Di who rejoins Pixels and Paper after a break - so happy to have you back with us :)

I've used acrylic paints, including metallic gold and silver, to daub and swirl  the background for the layout, using some of the colours from the inspiration picture. The zingy green really appealed to me so this has been featured.

JANE

I loved the colours but was mostly drawn to the theme of being covered in paint and have done a cheeky layout about this :)

NOW IT IS UP TO YOU ...

Whatever your inspiration we would love to see your take on this photograph - please share your work with us this month.

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

You are welcome to submit traditional paper layouts, art journals, divided page protectors, smash books, a mixed media canvas. 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.

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 our winners for December.