It's All American ...

We have an email entry from Donna Seamon who tells me this is her first ever entry for any challenge !

 

I love the glowing birthday candles against the dark backdrop of the inspiration photo. Nothing speaks to me more of a birthday celebration than candles glowing in low light.

Our adult daughters were responsible for the Eagle Cupcakes for my husband's birthday this past June. I let that Eagle (he has an extensive eagle objects collection) carry a theme near and dear to his heart; America. Along with that...Harley Davidson, which he's owned and ridden since the early 1970's.

The map of the USA depicts his city of birth; San Diego, California, & the city we currently live in Michigan.

Since we were singing Happy Birthday when we took the shots, I added a white tile, on which I embossed a Treble Clef as a reminder of the song being sung.

I'm not sure if you can see them, but I used an eagle rubber stamp with a VersaMark inkpad to create watermarks on the plain red background page.


Thank you so much for playing along with us here on Pixels and Paper, Donna.

It's prize time ...

It's time to announce our September winners.  I wish I could give each and every entrant a prize because your layouts were absolutely fabulous - so big hugs from the DT and I for your wonderful efforts.

Our winners for this month are MARY BENNETTS and a  RAK from me goes to LEANNE.

Thank you so much ladies for your delightful pages - if you could email me your postal details I will see your prizes get out to you.

It's October on Pixels and Paper ...

Our October inspiration is one I think we can all relate to.  What do you see here ... the obvious birthday cake, icing, flames, darkness, eleven items or the colours of red, yellow, blue, white and black?

This one is super easy - hope to see lots of entries this month :)

 

This is what our design team came up with ...

Alicia

 

This month the inspiration photo got me to finally start on my 9 year olds 1st birthday pages! I loved making the page but most of all I loved looking back in time at the pictures of the celebration and my notes from the day in my journal. I adore this messy face picture, it reminds me of how he started out eating so careful and gingerly, not sure if eating this sweet stuff was really ok. Once he got encouragement from all of the adults he really dug in and there was no stopping him. I stuck with a classic birthday theme relying on the paper, photo, and embellishments to make the occasion obvious. As always I included a big of my own handwriting in the title.

 

Di

 

For this month's inspiration I knew I had to scrap some old birthday photos, taken at my son's 4th birthday. We had afternoon tea with his Nan and Pop... and there were 2 birthday cakes. The one I made was decorated with a clock face ( straight from the Australian Woman's Weekly Children's Birthday Cake book). Nan made a chocolate cake decorated with glace cherries. These were a firm favourite with my son at the time, and as you can see from his plate, many of them ended up there before the cake was cut.

 

 

Tone-Lill

 

The candles inspired  me to scrap a photo of my 12y old daughter from last summer when she was 11 and had her birthday in Norway. My mom had baked a big chocolate cake and she tried to blow all 11 candles in one go :)

I used gesso, stencils, stamps and ink sprays to create a colourful background to match to colours in the photo, and a bit of splish and splash is fun to do :)

 

Jane

 

I've used the birthday cake with candles theme, pulling out the red, blue and black to create my page. 

 

Please upload the DIRECT link to your actual entry with the link tool on the LEFT by 11.55pm on October 31st,  2013. We'd love to see what you can make of  this photograph. 

Please stop back later in the week when we will announce our September winners.

 

Announcing our August winners ....

We've decided to do things a little differently - the DT will vote on the main winner each month and there will be a randomly drawn RAK taken from those remaining entries.  This will be dependant on the amount of entries we get each month as we need sufficient to make voting a viable proposition.

Congratulations go to Julie Short our main winner with Julene Matthews receiving a small RAK from me.  Well done ladies!!

Spring is in the air ....

Spring is here and we are on the downhill run to Christmas - both exhilarating and yet depressing in the same sentence!

This month we have what I think is a really delightful inspirational photograph.  It is simple yet really can produce so many thoughts. 

 

What do you see when you gaze at this image?  A beautiful little boy, amazing soulful eyes, a mop of curls, a hand knitted jumper, flowers, a hand extending friendship or love, an age gone by  ......

 

so many things from a simple picture!

 

 

Our team have some wonderful takes on this inspiration ...

 

ALICIA

This month I was inspired to choose a picture that was as solemn as the inspiration photo. From there I included white and yellow flowers and used a floral page with writing under a sunflower vellum page to create the background. For details on products used I have everything listed at my blog. I hope you find fun inspiration from this page.

 

 

DI

 

When I first saw the image of the small boy holding flowers in his hand, I felt a strong connection, as this was often the look on children's faces when they brought flowers to me when I was teaching.... an unspoken question; would I like them? and of course I did. I loved nothing better than being given flowers.

 

I've gone with a special event idea. The day that P & P is due for posting, is  my 40th Wedding Anniversary. The photo I have used for my layout is of my 2 bridesmaids and self showing off our beautiful bouquets. The flowers in these featured orchids, grown by my dad, so they were extra special.

 

 

TONE-LILL 

 

I had big ideas to use big flowers like sunflowers on my page but as I started the small yellow flowers on the inspiration photo really got my attention. I still have a few photos to use to fill in my nephew's album and I just love the cute tiny sunshine buttons I have used so this is what I made and those tiny smiling suns looks so cute on this. My nephew is now aged 15 and is on the recruitment team to the Norwegian national swimming team. No problem at all to keep him in the water ☀🌻

 

 

 JANE

 

I was drawn to the eyes in this inspiration photograph - they say that the eyes are the window to the soul and I have always felt that you can see well beyond the surface when you look into someones eyes.  I have used a vintage photo of my husband as a young boy - he probably won't like me saying he's vintage but I'll counter the slight with a comment on how beautiful and expressive his eyes are. 

 

 

Please upload the DIRECT link to your actual entry with the link tool on the LEFT by 11.55pm on September 30th, 2013. We'd love to see what you can make of  this photograph. 

 

Please stop back later in the week when we will announce our August winner.

 

It's time for another challenge ...

... here on Pixels and Paper but firstly I want to send my appreciation to those who entered in our first ever challenge - thank you so much for your support.  Mr Random.org has come up with the number 3 which means Margaret C you are our very first winner.  Please email me your details and I will put your prize into the mail for you.


Our inspiration photograph this month is one I think you will all enjoy ...

 

so many ways to interpret this gorgeous photograph.  Use the colours, use the fashion, go vintage, highlight the hair or the legs or the shoes.  Work on a pageant theme or visit the beach ... the choices are endless and I can't wait to see what you all come up with.

 

My talented team have some wonderful layouts to inspire you this month.

 

ALICIA

DI

 

I adored the beautiful ladies and first thoughts were of: Beauty Pageant, then beach competition and the colours of the costumes and shoes. I also looked at their expressions and how much their eyes seemed to be a focal point. I hope this has come across in my layout.  I have also concentrated on a beach theme, using colours reflecting those of the costumes.

 

 

TONE-LILL

 

The ladies all in swimsuits in a row inspired me to use a photo of the beach huts in Torquay (south west England).  I used beach related papers and embellishments from Tilda.

 

 

 

JANE

 

I knew I had the perfect photo from probably the same era in a lovely picture of my MIL in her younger days whilst on holiday in Skegness, England.  I then let the colours inspire me.

 

 

Please upload the DIRECT link to your actual entry with the link tool on the LEFT by 11.55pm on August 31st, 2013. We'd love to see your interpretation of this photograph. 

 

Introducing our final design team member ...

I'm delighted to introduce you to the final member of the Pixels and Paper design team, Alicia Somers.

Hello, I’m Alicia,

I am predominantly a paper scrapbooker, but I am a huge photo editing geek. I love how just a few clicks with my mouse can completely change the focus of a shot, add to the story of a moment, or enhance the mood of the photo. My style is tailored, although I have been branching out recently and adding more “stuff” and over embellishing some layouts just to try my hand at the style that is so popular right now. I began crafting as a kid with my mom, and have been scrapbooking since the 90s when we only had 8 ½”x 11” printed paper. I have a vast variety of techniques that I have picked up over the years from things as simple as creative layering to complex and time consuming quilling pieces.

In the case of the DT call inspiration photo I saw three girly girls who love each other and animals. I saw them living on the edge of the outback on a ranch where they were free to roam the gardens after chores, playing together all day long. I was drawn to the wrought iron chair the youngest was sitting on, which inspired me to use the metal looking corner pieces that I die cut. I wanted to bring focus to the three girls so I cropped and created another photo to use on the page that shows each girl better, and I tinted it pink to bring out a more feminine feel than the black and white shot allows. I kept embellishments to a minimum so that the focus remained on the photo and the story I created for them about how important and close they are to each other. I titled it “Together” because as a girl who grew up in a rural area myself I know nothing is more important than family being together. Journaling reads: Growing up on the ranch at the edge of the wild outback my sisters and I had only each other and our animals for playmates. Our animals are like family, and my sisters and I are the best of friends. Helping out on the ranch, or exploring the gardens we did everything together. I can’t imagine a more perfect way to grow up.

 

 

Here is some more of my work ..

 

 

 

 

 

The close up photos of the baby layout is of a metal foot I handmade, and the other is a tiny foot I drew.  I believe wholeheartedly that I am creating art to leave behind for the future generations and so I do a lot of personalized things like this. I like to put pieces of me into every layout, and even though my handwriting is nothing special I know one day someone will cherish all the handwritten stories I include.

 

Please visit me on my blog http://taylordscrapncraftreview.blogspot.com/