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Giddy Up!
With Sasparilla arriving now in stores, we'd like to do a little giveaway.
Hey everybody! We hope you're as excited about Sasparilla as we are. Please share with us which product you like best from the above selection. We'll be randomly picking a winner on Monday, March 5th.
Happy Tuesday! Stacey here, with a tutorial (using the term "tutorial" very loosely today) about organizing a creative space. I shared some photos of my space a few months ago and received some questions about what I had in all of the different containers, so here's a run-down of what I have going on in my happy little space!
The room that I use for my scrapbooking and other crafty endeavors is the "formal dining" room in our home. I cannot imaging having an entire room devoted to something that we already do at our big table in the other room next to the kitchen (the informal dining area?), but I am sure that there are people who think it's crazy to fill up an entire room that is designed for eating with pretty paper and glue and stickers, etc.
A little history...The first dedicated creative space I ever had was in a tiny hallway where the washer and dryer were supposed to go in the first house we ever owned. I loved having that little place of my own for sewing and scrapbooking, and I rearranged my meager crafty possessions with as much regularity and passion as I do today. I always feel creatively "fresh" after a little session of moving my stuff around...
So. The next creative space I had was much larger because it was part of our finished basement. I set up about six 6-foot-long tables and organized my scrapbooking supplies and some homeschool materials. I think that this is about the time I began to love my labelmaker so much.
But then we moved again. And again. And again. Every time we moved, I had a little better idea about what worked for me and what didn't. I learned that no matter how much space I gave myself to work in, I'd always end up with a little 12" X 12" square cleared on the table and supplies everywhere else. I learned that no matter what I did, a "school room" set up in my house would soon turn into a "resource room," and then it would finally become a "storage room" where rejected curriculum went to die. I finally let go of the guilt associated with having a creative space for myself but no school space for my homeschooled kids. I needed my space and they just did not need a school room. (FYI: I think it took me a solid seven years to figure that out.)
Okay, so here I am. Occupying the very first room in our house - I mean, when you walk in the door, you are immediately knee-deep in scrappiness - it cannnot be ignored. Usually a man will pretend to ignore it (and hope that his wife somehow doesn't notice a ginormous space completely dedicated to craftiness because then he might have to give up the security of his own unused "formal dining" room at home). A woman will usually exclaim over it in some way and proceed to tell me that she loves scrapbooking (or cardmaking, stamping, sewing, etc.) or that she is completely not creative.
Sometimes I wish that my special room could be revealed only to people who I want to share it with - instead of everyone. Even the delivery people (bringing more October Afternoon goodies!) will comment. I did almost put doors on this room back in 2007, but it's a sad story, and I don't really want to share it again today.
Okay, so on to the organization!
I am a fan of plastic drawers. They make life just so compartmentalizable. I think that they can be ugly, though. As much as I like shabby, vintage stuff, shabby, vintage drawers just cannot be cute. So I opted for my second favorite visual approach: ROY G. BIV. Love Roy: Red. Orange. Yellow. Green. Blue. Indigo. Violet. The day that I realized that I could do ROY G. BIV on my drawers, I was on Cloud 9. Cloud. Nine.
But what's in the drawers?? The top drawer in each column holds alpha stickers in that color. The bottom drawer in each column holds solid, whole cardstock in that color. The second-to-bottom drawer in each column holds colored scraps for that color. The rest of the drawers have patterned paper, wooden stamps, hand-stitching supplies, and completed layouts that haven't made it to the albums yet. Some of the drawers are even empty! An empty drawer means that I am not "maxed out" spacewise, and that's a great feeling!
A word about paper storage: I have newer papers, along with the coordinating rub-ons, stickers, journaling cards, and embellishments sorted by manufacturer and then by collection in my drawers. The front piece represents the collection, and because I am quite visual, this really works for me. I keep October Afternoon scraps in a drawer maked "OA Scraps" and all other scraps get thrown together in a drawer or thrown away. The vertical paper storage containers hold older (but still beautiful!) papers, also stored by manufacturer. When papers get moved to vertical storage, their coordinating accessories and embellishments get placed in a drawer for like items.
On the top shelf near the end, there are some accordian files. There store memorabilia for each child in our family. I also have one for my husband and one for myself. The ribbon tied on each handle tells me whose memoribilia is in each container.
The canning jars make me happy, so they stay. They have very small embellishments inside, sorted according to color. If I need something from one of these jars, I just dump it, sift through the contents, and dump it all back into the jar. Simple.
I made a little work space under the shelves - my first like this one. I am still trying to decide if I like it or not.
My sewing spot is just that. There are bobbins, thread, and sewing stuff in the little drawer in the table I have the sewing machine on.If I don't leave the sewing maching completely out and ready to go, I won't use it, so out it stays.
I've been doing some research about painting concrete because I'd like to tear up this carpet and experiment with painting the concrete floor. I am thinking a checkerboard patter. If I do, I will definitely share!
Happy Monday! It's Jill here with a challenge that invites you to set that stamping ink to the side and pull out your Sprinklers instead. Wilna and I both decided to have a go at this challenge, and we both loved the painterly effects that our Sprinkler-stamped images created on our layouts.
We each took different approaches to applying the color to the stamp. I sprayed color directly on the stamp (a cute little cloud from the Fly a Kite clear stamp collection), and stamped the image over patterned paper.
I varied the colors and the patterns that I used, but I worked mainly with blue, gray, and white. The Sprinklers that I chose included Robot Blue, Tinsel, Set Sail, Night Sky, Miss Mary Mack, and Tin Type. I cut out some of the stamped images and mixed them with images that I had stamped directly to paper. I also shook off some of the color prior to stamping, to create droplets.
Rather than spray directly onto her stamp, Wilna uncapped her Sprinklers and poured a little of each color she chose (Hopscotch, Buttermilk, and Brown Bag) into a paint tray. She then painted the colors on the stamp with a brush, and applied the stamped image (from the Farmhouse rubber stamp set) to a series of scalloped circles.
As a finishing touch, Wilna stitched over the images and around the layout using silver thread. She also backed the layout with a sheet of 9 to 5 chevron patterned paper, and she incorporated accents from the Sidewalks collection, demonstrating just how easy October Afternoon's lines are to mix.
All in all, both Wilna and I both got a kick out of this challenge. "Stamping with Sprinklers is fun," Wilna claims, "and the textures and effects one creates are really lovely." I definitely agree!
We would love it if you would join in the challenge this week and share your own approaches to mixing Sprinklers and stamps in the OA Flickr gallery.
Hi, October Afternoon readers! It's Mandie here with my last post as the February guest. Am I the only one who can't believe February is nearly over?! Holy cow! That went quickly. I just have a simple layout today. (I have more but didn't get a chance to photograph them this week due to kids being out of school all week and an out of town mister. Will share on my blog in the next week.)
For this layout I used Sasparilla and a cut from my Silhouette (incase you haven't noticed, I really love using that machine!) I cut the pattern out on a few different pieces of paper. (I actually used the woodgrain negative for another layout along with some Farmhouse because I couldn't bear to part with it - one of the unphotograped layouts!) I arranged the different patterns until I got the look I wanted and then used mini glue dots to adhere them. I considered not putting a photo on it and just framing it because I loved the way it looked. But, I decided to add a photo but keep it super simple since there was a lot going on in the way of pattern paper. I used a favorite photo of my little guy... one that didn't have a "story." I think maybe I will still hang it on the wall after all! :)
Wow! Thank you, October Afternoon, for having me as a guest. It truly was a pleasure. October Afternoon continues to be one of the brands I look forward to seeing and using! It was truly an honor to be your guest. Thank you, OA fans, for being welcoming & making a nervous girl feel not so nervous! Have a great weekend!
Mandie
Hi Everyone! It's Becky here with the Thursday sketch. It's a simple 12x12 design-
Hi there everyone. Marcy here today with a little tutorial for you.
It's no secret I love Farmhouse. Grey, yellow and blue? Sign me up. Another secret... I love Instagram. You had no clue right? Yes, I love the instant gratification of Instagram. How I don't have to run for my SLR and worry about missing what I'm trying to capture. I just grab my phone, shoot, and share. Perfect.
Some of these photos end up in my Project Life. Some don't. But I thought it might be neat to see a shot for everyday of the week in a mini book format. So here's what I did to make this little mini.
Start by cutting your papers. I wanted my mini to be 4x4 so I trimmed my cardstock pages to 4x8 and scored them down the middle. You're basically making a bunch of cards.
After this place them back to back and glue them together. You now have the basic form for your book. Simple.
I like to sew (another surprise) so I sewed the edges of my pages together. I was hoping that along with adding to the aesthetic of my book it would also help secure the pages together.
Now, here's where it gets fun. I took a patterned paper and covered the front of my book. I also took some of the October Afternoon fabric, trimmed off a strip, placed it over the spine and sewed it in place.
To decorate the cover I cut out a frame from chipboard. To do that I normally cut a square, draw an "x" corner to corner and draw lines from line to line. Cut the middle out and you have a perfect frame.
I covered the frame with woodgrain paper from Sasparilla and started layering. You can see some of the start of the layering here...
... which ended up like this...
I love using tags on the covers of mini books because they also offer a simple solution for keeping minis closed... by tying on a string and wrapping it around.
On the inside I went simple. I wanted a photo with the date on the right side and a strip of patterned paper and journaling on the left.
And this is what I ended up with.
So, what do you do with those everyday phone shots? We'd love to see how you use your instagram shots... so head on over to the Flickr gallery and link us up!
Hi everyone! Vivian here, along with Danni, bringing you this week's challenge. Today we are going to explore possibilities and ask you to think outside of the box.
Every October Afternoon product line has a theme. For example, Boarding Pass is a travel-themed line, Holiday Style is a Christmas-themed line, etc. Regardless of the line's theme, one of the fantastic things about every October Afternoon product line is that many basic and beautiful patterns are included that make each line incredibly versatile. With that in mind, today we are challenging you to choose one product line and use it to make two projects - one focused on the line's main theme and the other focused on thinking outside of the line's main theme.
Danni decided to take on this challenge with the new Woodland Park line, which has a spring-y, outdoors-y theme. This is what Danni had to say, "I absolutely love the Woodland Park line. I can see creating lots of spring cards, birthday cards, mother’s day cards and beautiful friendship cards." Danni did just that, creating this gorgeous spring card:
Danni went on to say, "But when I saw the cuuuute bunnies on this journal card, I just had to create a baby card. There are so many uses and possibilities and 'thinking outside the box' will be so much fun with this new, fabulous line."
Don't you just love those cute cottontails Danni added to the journaling card? Here's a closer look at those:
For this week's challenge, I chose to work with the new Cakewalk line. Cakewalk is a birthday-themed line so I started by making a birthday card showcasing the main theme of this line:
Next, I put on my "non-birthday lens" and looked for the possibilities with this line. The fun pink patterns and cute animals jumped out at me so I grabbed my heart punch and a couple of stick pins and this love-themed card was born (I think this would be fun to sneak into my daughter's lunchbox sometime this week!):
We'd love to see your "theme/un-theme" projects! If you take on this challenge, please post your work to our October Afternoon Flickr Gallery for all to see!
Hi! Mandie here for another Friday guest post! I hope everyone has had a good week!
I have a couple of layouts to share with you guys today.
The View From Here:
I know! I know. The title is incredibly corny with the ViewMaster reels! I couldn't help myself. Fot this layout I used Sasparilla (plus a couple of cream buttons from Holiday Style.) I made the ViewMaster overlay on my Silhouette and started layering on little bits and goodies from the collection. I would like to put it out there now - I could use a ton of this gingham pattern. I LOVE gingham, and the blue on this pattern is so gorgeous! One of my favorite patterns from the Sasparilla line. I had to force myself to use it because I just wanted to hoard it!
(I adore that flower style button in the button packages. Seriously. Was so thrilled when they started putting that shape into the button packages, as well as the miscellany!)
My girl LOVES to read. I love that about her. She devours books. Lately it's been anything by Rick Riordan. Last weekend she started the 1st book in the Kane Chronicle series. She read the book in the car on the way to church, on the way from church to lunch, at the restaurant, at the park and in the craziest (& most uncomfortable looking positions!) I have ever seen.
I loved the die cut sticker sheet from Farmhouse. And, I especially loved this bookplate sticker. It was the inspiration for this layout. When I saw it, I knew I needed to use it for a layout about my little (or not so little, as it turns out!) book worm!
Well.... That's it for today! Thanks for joining me. I look forward to my post next Friday! I hope you all have an awesome weekend!
Mandie
Source: asewingjournal.com via Amy on Pinterest
Hi everyone! It's Amy here this week for our weekly Thursday sketch challenge. Last week I had so much fun using Pinterest finds for my sketch inspiration, I headed back into my boards and found this gem of a layout starter! I just love the variations of grids, and the swatches of patterns had me thinking straight away!
Let's take a look at the sketch I came up with for this week's challenge.
I used a combination of the inspiration piece and the sketch. I created a chevron background with my Sihouette and then used the grid design from the sketch. I used three photos to represent the larger 4 photos on the right and then used patterned paper blocks (which I tucked under the photos) to represent the smaller squares on the left.Things were getting a little busy on my page and I like my white space, so the chevron and the title are more tone-on-tone to help reign in the colors and design.
Such a gorgeous layout, Marcy!
Would you love to play along with us this week? We'd love to see your work! Simply upload your fabulous creation to the October Afternoon Flickr Gallery and let everyone see your gorgeous take on this week's sketch!
That does it for me this week. Thanks so much for stopping by today! Have a fantastic week!
Boy there have been a lot of WONDERFUL projects added to our Flickr site. I found this mini album from Carrie Stedt.... AMAZING!!!!!!
You can add your projects here! You never know if you'll be featured!
