October Afternoon

Happy New Year!

Hi everyone, Mou here wishing you all a very Happy New Year on behalf of our October Afternoon family!

New Year is a time of fresh beginnings and resolutions. My creative resolution this year is to try new things, to try to think outside the box, to stretch beyond my comfort zone. In keeping with that idea, I created this New Year's greeting card using the Farm Girl collection. While the collection is not particularly geared toward celebrations, I wanted to use elements that would let me express my sentiments for the occasion well.

I started with pieces of Almanac and Pickling Crock papers.

Next, I cut out the little farm girl from Milk Pail paper and layered it on some Wooden Crate paper.

and attached the layered piece onto the card

Then, I had to convince myself that not every card has to say "Happy New Year" to send best wishes to a loved one. So, I took Front Porch Mini Market alphabet stickers to spell out 'Abundance'.

Next, I added a Licorice Label sticker to the left of 'Abundance' and penned in 'Wishing you', so the whole sentiment would read 'Wishing You Abundance'.

Finally, I took a couple of Farm Girl Tin Pins to add finishing touches to my card.

Yes, that's my wish for you: May this new year be filled with abudance of creativity, joy, and everything else you wish for!

More ideas and inspiration from our guest designer, Suz Mannecke

Hello everyone! Suz here again with my final guest post here at OA. Before I get to my creations, I want to thank OA Creative Director Kim Denton for the lovely invitation to guest. It has been such a pleasure and fun experience!! Another special shout out to Social Media Director/Design Team Coordinator Jon Flatland, who was very helpful behind-the-scenes in the technical aspects of my posts. Thank you both!

I hope everyone has been enjoying the onset of winter (or summer in the other half of the world) and that the man in the big red suit placed a few lovely OA goodies beneath your Christmas trees or into your stockings.  I have been scrapping from the road on family travel. I enjoy the creative outlet "Scrap Travel" provides me; with the challenge of creating with less tools and supplies. Thankfully, I have had an abundance of OA goodness to help me along my way though!

First off this week, is a layout I created of my oh so merry "Sir" Hugsley, who is always up for spreading some Christmas spirit and cheer. (Ahem...yeah, right!) Bah humbug is more like it!

Hence the title for my layout, which I created on my Silhouette before leaving home. Loved layering up little bits of OA sew fun banners, Tin Pins, brads, washi and patterned papers here.

As promised, here are a few pages from my "25 Days of December Merry" Mini Book; the majority of it being made with the Very Merry December Mini Book Kit. As you recall, here is my front cover:

On the inside, I placed a few of the fabulous OA red snowflake rub-ons and lined them up with the Hambly snowflake transparency.

I centered an OA starburst label sticker over the large snowflakes and added the "JOY" Tin Pin and flipped the page to place the Zing (leaf green) embossed OA chipboard numbers over the large snowflake.

My intro page  incorporates the "It only happens once a year" page from the mini book kit as well as some OA Make it Merry washi tape, spearmint Sticky Keys, and Make it Merry patterned papers.

Next up are a few of my sectional pages for each week in December. I kept these pretty simple as I wanted to give the eye a visual break from some of the "busier" pages in my album.  A little spray mist, the OA chipboard numbers, and an embellishment or two and finished.

And here are a few pages from my album. I plan to add some full page photos when I get home as my travel printer Canon Selphy ES40 (newer models are out now) prints up to 4x6 and I want a few 5x7s.

This is just a sampling of pages, I will be posting the rest of my "25 Days of December Merry" on my personal blog should you wish to see more as well as my "December Instagrammed" mini album.

Thanks so much for following along with me this month! I really appreciate the kind comments that have been posted on my designs. Here's hoping your 2013 is full of lots of scrappy fun and filled with much October Afternoon goodness on the pages of your albums!

Suz

Nicole Harper shares pages from her Very Merry December Mini-Book Kit!

Hello OA fans... Nicole here to share a few of my Very Merry December Mini Book pages with you. Just because the holiday is over doesn't mean you have to put away your book... I'm sharing some ways to still keep the feel of the season going, even though the madness and mayhem have probably passed. :)



I adhered one of the insert pages to my chipboard cover and then started decorating from there. I wrapped the doily around the edge of the cover, then began layering bits and pieces until it looked just right. The gold star is from the Sew Easy banners that are exclusive to the kit...I just stamped embossing ink on it, then used gold glitter embossing powder on top. The snowflake rub-ons are one of my favorite pieces from the kit, so they had to make an appearance on the cover.

I kept the cover fairly simple, but using the graph paper as a base allows for LOTS of variation!



For my introduction page, I used one of the tags included.



This post focuses on decorations, and I used the tabbed dividers to separate things that way in my album. Here I snipped a piece of the eyelet trim and sewed it down to the divider...these rub-ons will stick to just about anything and I LOVE how fun they look on the fabric!



The back of the tabbed divider was perfect to jot down our favorite holiday tunes, and the second page focuses on my crazy tradition of removing half of the branches from our Christmas tree to make room for my vintage ornament collection.

How fun is that chipboard tree with some confetti thrown onto it?!



Since this next page shares photos of my table top tree collection, I thought it would be fun to use more of the snowflake rubons to make a tree on the second page.



On the left page I cut off an inch of the base paper and used the snowflake rubons and stamps to make a border.

And on the right, I began with a large snowflake rubon in the center of the page and just kept adding others around it to make a 'tree' shape. The trunk was made with 2 of the stamps from the kit...all I needed to add was a quote at the top.

As a reminder, as Jill and Mou have mentioned before: We would love to see what you are doing with your own Very Merry December mini-book kit! Simply email photos of your pages, along with your name and the state in which you reside to jon.f@octoberafternoon.com.  We’ll add them to a Very Merry December Mini-Book Kit photo album that will appear on the October Afternoon Facebook page.

Keep the holiday spirit going this weekend and share your work with us!!

Wednesday Designer challenge--leftovers anyone?

Good morning everyone.  Danni here along with Marcy to share some ideas for quick, easy cards using up leftovers over the Christmas papers you've been scrapping with or small embellishments after a full layout design. 

 

Today, Marcy is sharing this gorgeous card created with the new OA Farm Girl line.

 

 

As you can see, she used die-cuts, stickers, a brad and a scrap piece of paper and has an absolutely amazing card in no time at all.  Amazing!

 

I decided to create thank you cards with my cards before putting scraps away for the season.  I have a couple of tricks to keep these quick AND inexpensive to mail as well as pack a big punch.  I tried to select a die-cut or busy patterned paper scrap, sprayed them with adhesive and added some glitter, I then adhered them to my card and voila a thank you card that shines in very little time and a scrap put to good use.    

 

 

(sorry for the poor photo quality, we are in the Sierra Nevada mountains and are in the middle of lots of snow storms)

 

 

 

On the next couple of cards, I picked a scrap of patterned paper to use and used dies and my Silhouette to cut a fun shape and then add a quick thank you sentiment

 

 

 

 

 

We hope we've inspired you to look at those scraps before you pack them up or throw them out.  Every hand made card is better than a store bought one, especially for thank you cards...wink.

 

We hope you had the most beautiful holiday celebration with your loved ones!

Danni and Marcy

From the October Afternoon family to your family ... Merry Christmas!

May the good times and treasures of the present become the golden memories of tomorrow. We wish you love, joy and happiness.

Merry Christmas from October Afternoon!

2012 OA Christmas Card created by Vivian Masket

The October Afternoon offices will be closed from Dec. 22 through Dec. 30 to allow our employees time to spend with their families during the holidays and for routine equipment maintenance.  We will continue to maintain and monitor our Facebook page and blog during this time ... questions and concerns may be sent via Private Message on the OA Facebook page and we will make every effort to be of assistance.

  Happy Holidays!

 

 

Easy-peasy holiday crafting ideas!

BY SUZ MANNECKE, Guest Designer

Hi All! Suz here with a few more holiday crafting ideas for you.

As the time approaches for the big man in the red suit to make his way down the chimney, I find myself simplifying things in my home, my life, and in my scrap studio. Mostly, because time is at a premium! (I am sure you understand!) So, the majority of the next few projects are easy-peasy and can be completed in a short amount of time.

First is this altered gift basket (from Hobby Lobby …half off) transformed with a doily, the adorable shaped kitty & pup sticker, and the "Season's Greetings" stamp from the OA Very Merry December mini-book kit.

I simply stamped the sentiment on the shaped sticker, added a bit of Stickles (Glitter Glue) to the die, glued all items to the basket and called it good. (If you notice, one of last week's projects is tucked into the basket too.)

Next is a simple home decor project made with an inexpensive embroidery hoop from Hobby Lobby.  I cut a small piece (10 x 10 inches) of buffalo plaid flannel and centered it in the frame. Then I cut up small amounts of the lovely white OA lace trim and layered it at the base to form the snow drift.  I placed the adorably handsome buck die cut sticker from the Make It Merry shape stickers sheet and placed him on the plaid fabric.

I cut out my sentiment "Make it Merry" with my Silhouette Cameo, added some silver Stickles to the lettering, and glued the sentiment down (Aleene's Tacky Glue). I then hand-stitched a few primitive snowflakes with silver embroidery floss and adhered the polka-dotted bow to the top. I placed the winter scene into the hoop, centered the design and clamped the hoop shut. Then I carefully trimmed the excess fabric and trim from around the perimeter of the hoop. Easy-peasy and done!

Following up here with a repurposed item … what I call a "yo-yo ornament."  I enjoy finding ways to repurpose household and crafting items into pretty little things, and at the heart of this ornament is an empty cardboard ribbon spool.

I simply wrapped ribbon around the spool (1 time) and glued in place. Then I adhered a doily with patterned paper to the spool and fussy cut the cute little Christmas scene from the Make It Merry 8x8 paper pad, added some Stickles /glitter glue and adhered with 3 dimensional adhesive.

I grabbed a bit of baker's twine (6 inches), looped it together, and tied a knot at one end and glued it to the inside of the ornament so it was ready to trim the tree with. Quick and simple but a lovely little vintage ornament to place on the tree or to give as a gift. And repurposed!

I decided to make a few quick cards using the exclusive stamp set in the Very Merry December mini book kit.  First up is this simple little card. (I embraced my inner minimalist here.)

I used some American Craft stamp markers and inked up each little word one at a time for the sentiment. A little spray mist, a teeny bit of red Stickles, stitching, and done!

For this second stamped card, I played with the adorable little waving Santa and created a repeating ombre (colors or tones that shade into each other) effect by stamping off three times to get the gradation in color. I plan to make several of these cards as thank you notes. Simple and fun as well.

And another card I made with pretty OA Make it Merry paper as the base, machine stitched with silver thread, misted, and then embellished with pearls and baker's twine sewn through the doily.

Lastly, the cover to my "25 Days of December Merry" album (aka the Very Merry December Mini Book). I used a little bit of washi, some acrylic white paint and woodgrain contact paper as the base of my cover. I love that it is more durable for little/big hands that will peruse it over time. I added glossy accents for dimension to the sticky keys alpha and used an exacto knife and small scissors to fussy cut out the "merry." For the chipboard "25" I embossed with silver Zing.

So, that's it for this week! I had hoped to get some photos of the inside of my album for you, but the weather just wasn't cooperating. Not to worry, I will be posting plenty of photos from it next week, along with a layout or two.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all who celebrate the season!! May there be peace on earth and goodwill towards men.

To view Suz's blog click here: http://www.livealifeextraordinary.blogspot.com.

Santa Claus is heading to Seattle!

Thank-you to everyone who ordered Santa Sacks over the last five weeks! For each Santa Sack you purchased, your name was entered into a drawing for the Ultimate Santa Sack ... a box containing more than $200 (retail value) of October Afternoon goodness!

We are pleased to announce the winner of this year's Ultimate Santa Sack is Constance M. of Seattle, Washington!  Congratulations Constance!

Her Ultimate Santa Sack, shown below, has already been shipped and hopefully will arrive in time to take its place under Constance's tree before Christmas.

Once again, a sincere thank-you to everyone who participated in the Santa Sack sale and Happy Holidays from October Afternoon!

 

Product Focus: Tin Pins

Hey everyone! Roree here along with Jill. Today we wanted to share a couple of projects with you using the awesome Tin Pins from the Make It Merry collection.

Aren't they the cutest?!!  Tin pins are just perfect for any type of project and Jill and I are going show you two fun way that we used them.

First, I created some little paper gift bags.



They are just the perfect size for two hot chocolate packets and candy canes.

I added a sticker from the Shape Sticker sheet to a panel of patterned paper. I added a strip of Washi Tape along the bottom of the panel. I cut out the word JOY using my Cricut machine and Create a Critter 2 cartridge, and then layered a Label Sticker/Tidbit and a Tin Pin over the O. I finished with some baker's twine from the Holiday Style collection before attaching the panel to the front of the bag.

Those Tin Pins sure do add a nice touch to the project, don't they?

Jill created this amazing layout and here is what she had to say about it:

"Using papers, stickers, and tin pins from the Make It Merry collection, I created a layout that shares a peek at my family's approach to celebrating the holidays. After printing the photos in a grid, I placed them over a cluster of Make It Merry postcards, which are atop a sheet of striped patterned paper that I "funked up" with mist. After creating the layout's foundation, I sewed around the photo grid and embellished its borders with buttons, brads, and tin pins."

I just love it!

Well, I hope you enjoyed today's projects focusing on Tin Pins.  I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

See you next year!  :)

tuesday tutorial: gift card holders

Hello, OA fans! Lexi here with you today. A week from now most of us will be opening presents and enjoying time with family and friends. I try to do my best with gifting meaningful items that I know the recipient  will enjoy, but let's face it...I often default to a gift card. I love a good gift card and I would think most people do too. Nothing says "You are thought of" more that a gift card to Target, right? ;)

So our focus today is gift card holders. Vivian joined me and came up with this beauty...

And here's how she made it:

"I combined papers and embellishments from Make It Merry with embellishments from the Very Merry December 2012 Mini-book Kit to create this gift card holder and insert. I thought the bold subway art print on the A side of the Make a Gift paper would make for a fun and eye-catching gift card holder.  I used my die cutting machine to cut two holders, one from the Make a Gift paper and one from cream cardstock. I glued the two layers together and then folded the holder and glued it together. This created a sturdy holder with a bold text-print exterior and a neutral solid-colored interior. I added some embellishments to the bottom and top of the holder, using pops of green for contrast. Next, I used my die cutting machine to cut the insert, which has two semi-circle notches to hold the gift card. I added a grid-print label card to the front so that I could add a message before popping in my gift card and placing the insert in the holder."

I went with a little more of a homespun version. I couldn't resist the burlap with gold dots at the fabric store the other day and I needed a gift card holder for a teacher...today. So you know this won't be complicated ;)

 I cut the burlap pieces at roughly 3x9 and 3x5. I truly just eyeballed it, but measured it after I was finished so you would have an idea. I zigzagged in red thread around the longer piece first.

I zigzagged the top of the smaller piece by itself then zigzagged the three sides to the back piece. A button hole would have been perfect here, but I didn't have the patience for that. Keeping it real here. I tied on a button from the Make it Merry miscellany pack and called it good. Very homespun and totally fine to stop here...

...but I had this little guy staring at me...

I added some sparkle and then he thought he deserved the spotlight. A little more of an embellished look.

One more idea. I've been wanting to try this since I saw this background stamp at CHA.

You know what's coming, right?

How simple is that? I tried silver ink. Not good. I like this dark charcoal, but a more colorful look would be great, too. You can add a little sentiment or top it off with this week's focus, a tin pin. This snowman goes perfect with the snowy background. 

I hope a few of these ideas come in handy if you happen to be in need of a gift card holder! Because really, who wouldn't love a fancied up gift card? ;)

Enjoy our Tuesday!  

 

Week 5 Santa Sack is available now!

Here it is ... the fifth and final Santa Sack of 2012!

This is your last chance to get your hands on a wide variety of October Afternoon products at a huge discount ... including some of our new holiday line - Make It Merry!

Like the previous four Santa Sacks, this one is loaded with products that were hand-picked by our designers and staff.  It contains more than $100 (retail value) of merchandise ... and it's all yours for the incredibly low sale price of just $39.99 plus shipping!

And remember, every time you order a Santa Sack you are registered for a drawing to win our Ultimate Santa Sack ... which contains $200 (retail value) of October Afternoon goodness that will ship out before Christmas!

Shipping and Handling charges are as follows:
Continental USA/APO -  $10.00
Hawaii and Alaska -  $16.00
Canada -  $18.00
All Other Countries -  $32.00

SOLD OUT!

Once you place your order, October Afternoon will ship your Santa Sack within 2 business days*. All sales are final.

(*To help speed delivery, when placing an order for delivery within the U.S., please provide a physical shipping address and avoid using PO Box numbers.  Also, please allow additional time for delivery due to holiday shipping traffic.)