October Afternoon

Kim Watson Guest Post - 9 to 5

Hi Kim here,

Today I thought I'd show you how you can look beyond the theme of a collection & use another point of inspiration for a completely different result.

I used the '9 to 5' collection which as you know has a funky, retro office vibe.

I chose to focus on color. By using a limited color palette like the one below, I was able to transform the collection from 'vintage stationery', to a cool beach inspired theme.

Sometimes thinking out of the box can really stretch your scrapbooking products. I hope you feel inspired to look at things a little differently.  If so, we'd love to see your projects! Be sure to post your layouts in our Flickr gallery so we can all admire your work and be inspired by your creativity!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Happy Friday and the weekend ahead!

Thursday Inspiration and a Sketch

I love Pinterest.  But, truth be told, I often forget about that wealth of inspiration. The other day I spent some time going through it and came across this pin that I thought would work perfectly for a sketch.

And here's the sketch that it inspired...

I invited the wonderful Miss Amy to lend me a hand and she created this awesome card based on the inspiration and sketch.

I love all of Amy's details!  Here's what Amy said about working with this sketch, "I just love Marcy's sketch and her inspiration piece is really fantastic. I love the grid of squares and decided this would be a fun sketch to use on a card. I stayed pretty true to the sketch, and simply offset the grid to the right on my card, and tucked my title up above it and off to the left. I used my brads in the center of some of my squares to give them some dimension, texture and added color." 

I decided to leave most everything how it was too.

I love the brads.  They work for so many different themes!

For the "Recorded" tag I simply removed the brads and adhered it to a piece of scrap paper. From there I could load it in my typewriter.

I hope you enjoy the inspiration piece and the sketch.  Let us know if you give it a try!

Marcy

Monday Challenge | Circles!

Happy Monday, October Afternoon, friends! It's Amy here today with your Monday Challenge.
All this week, we are featuring one of the latest and greatest product extensions for October Afternoon's wonderful line-up, our new Designer Brads! These brads are just gorgeous! The quality is superb and every single last one is just beautifully coordinated with everything in the 9 to 5 Collection.

So, keeping these fantastic brads in mind, I thought, wouldn't it be fun to create a challenge all about circles? And not just about some circles, but ONLY about circles! So, that is what our challenge is this week : create a project that ONLY uses circles (or very close to) as embellishments in your project!For my project, I wanted to repeat circles everywhere! To start, I cut nesting circles out of my new 9 to 5 patterned paper, from my Silhouette which I placed, in what reminds me of a "spirograph" from my childhood. Then, I used circle punches, the super new TidBits circular diecuts, 9 to 5's label stickers, I used buttons, a Tin Pin and of course, I used lots of Designer Brads on my page. I even used circular paint splatters using OA Sprinklers up in the top right corner of my page. Lastly, I brought in a circlular shape into the photo I chose; one of my darling daughter taking after her mom with a camera and snap, snap, snapping away at everything! I even placed a Designer Brad in the center of the lens directly in the photo itself. :D Super fun!Here, you can see, my circles are everywhere! :D

I enlisted Wilna to join me on this challenge, and here's what she whipped up! (Wilna's brads hadn't quite arrived to her in Canada yet, but as you can see she made due just fine!) ;DThis is what Wilna had to say about her project:

"I loved the idea of using circles as embellishments. I cut out the white circles with my Silhouette Cameo and filled them with various patterned papers and round embellishments." 

Gorgeous, Wilna! I love it! And how clever to place your Tin Pins, patterned paper and other embellies inside those circles! I just love it!

So are you up for the circle challenge? If so, we'd love to see your projects! Be sure to post your layouts in our Flickr gallery so we can all admire your work and be inspired by your creativity!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Have a terrific week! ;) ~Amy

Kim Watson Guest Post - 9 to 5

Hey! Hey! It's Friday! It's Kim here, and I am happy to be blogging again here at October Afternoon.

I have a page to share you today using some of the sexy new 9-5 products. I love how they are 'vintage office' inspired which is actually what sparked off the page theme I settled on. In my box of goodies, I found a bag of Here & Now Chapter sheets.

One of them has a great close up of a typewriter on the back which made me excited, then I had a look inside the Miscellany bag & found a bunch of cute cards with typewriter references on them.

I took it as a sign and had a ton of fun creating this page. (Collection by Kim Watson)

Notice how ones eye is drawn to the pattern that appears from the 'keys' of the photographs, then again from the yellow vintage card & also from the thin strips of the black chevron.


These repeated elements create a visual triangle within the page, but the page is busy is it not? Yet it is somehow not chaotic?


I created calm within the storm by using both horizontal & vertical linear elements.



Yes I love my typewriters, they hold a very dear place in my heart :) It went without saying that I would use one of them to add journaling to the page. My 'abc 2000s' has a smaller font size which allowed me to comfortably attach the journal blocks & strips to a plain piece of paper before typing my thoughts.

As a little bonus I created a title banner for you with the word 'Collection' on it.

I made it made for most die-cutting machines, you will find the links here. Feel free to use it for your own personal use. If you do get a chance to use it, remember to upload your page to the October Afternoon Flickr gallery for everyone to enjoy.

Thanks for joining me today. Have a GREAT Friday & weekend!

9 to 5 Chapter Sheets--Tuesday Tutorial

Good morning!  Danni here with today's Tuesday tutorial. I have had an idea for the incredible 9 to 5 Chapter Sheets and thought I would share that idea with you today in tutorial format.

The Chapter Sheets are new to the October Afternoon lines and they are fun!

 

My eldest son is graduating from high school this year and I wanted to share the wisdom of Dr. Seuss in my prayer and advice to him. 

 

Thoughts for You Baby On Your Graduation Album

(this album has the story Oh! The Places You'll Go typed on each page, letter from Mom and Dad)

 love, love, love the new washi tapes with the 9 to 5 line.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here's how I created my cover of the album

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here are some of the inside pages (click pics to enlarge and read)

(the note to my son has been blurred, because he hasn't seen it yet and i don't want him to see it before i give him the album)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will share the rest of the album and details on my blog in the next couple of days.  I have to finish editing pics first :)

 

I hope you will try a fun "out-of-the box" approach to this new mini album in the 9 to 5 line.  This line is so much more versatile than a work/office line might suggest.

 

If you create a mini album of your own, we'd absolutely love to see it in our OA FLICKR GALLERY

 

Thank you for joining us here today.

Happy Creating♥

danni

Tuesday Tutorial: Mosaic Flowers

With Mother's Day right around the corner, I (Vivian) thought I'd show you a quick and easy technique today that you can use on your Mother's Day cards. This technique was inspired by a quilt I saw in the Pottery Barn Teen catalog:

I love the black borders around each flower petal; the black makes the colors and patterns pop against the colorful background. The chevron rug next to the bed is a nice touch as well.

I decided to create a project inspired by this look by using elements from the Farmhouse Flower Sack:

In addition to the Flower Sack, I grabbed some black cardstock and patterned paper from both Farmhouse (the B side of Guest Room) and 9 to 5 (the B side of Coffee Break) and created this card, loosely inspired by the quilt:

As you can see, I decided to turn my flowers into trees against a polka dot patterned paper that looks like the night sky lit up with stars. I added a strip of herringbone patterned paper (this element mimics the chevron rug next to the bed in the image above) and a heart from the Flower Sack, which I also bordered with black. A phrase banner from the Flower Sack completes the card.

To re-create this look with Flower Sack elements:

1. Cut a Flower Sack element into "petals," using either scissors or a paper trimmer.
2. Adhere each piece of the cut Flower Sack element onto a scrap of black cardstock, leaving space between the petals.
3. Cut around each flower, leaving a bit of a black border around the outside edge.
4. Adhere black-bordered flowers to a patterned paper background and embellish as desired.

We'd love to see anything you create based on this idea! Please post projects to our October Afternoon Flickr Gallery so that we can take a look!

Monday Challenge - Design Team Scraplift

Hey everyone!  Roree here.  It's Monday, so it's challenge time again.  The girls on this team are so talented, and I admire their work so much.  They are always coming up with inspiring projects and fun techniques that I want to try.  So, I thought it would be fun to have a Design Team Scraplift Challenge. 

This is an oldie but a goodie from Marcy: 

Harvest Festival by Marcy Penner

(You can see it originally posted here.)

I just loved the chevron pattern that she created, and I have been wanting to try it for such a long time.  I decided to create a card using the chevron pattern for my background. 

Here it is:

Happy Times by Roree Rumph

I used the blue patterned papers from the Farmhouse collection to create this fun background. 

I added some machine stitching along the edges, because I just love stitching on my cards.

I also used some of die-cuts from the Farmhouse Flower Sack along with Label Stickers, a Button, and some Sidewalks Ribbon to create some soft and pretty flowers, because who doesn't love flowers?!

Marcy played along with my challenge this week, and she chose this layout by Becky to work from:

Add Such Joy by Becky Novacek

(You can see it originally posted here.)

Here is what Marcy came up with:

All Too Often by Marcy Penner

She played off of the argyle pattern in Becky's layout using triangles to create the fun background on her layout.  

Such a fun mix of patterns from the 9 to 5 collection, don't you agree?  I just love it!

Is there any of the OA designers' work that you just love and have been dying to try for yourself?  Well if there is, now's the time to try.  You have been challenged!  ;)

If you get a chance to play along with today's challenge, don't forget to post your project in the OA Flickr group.  We love to see what you are working on! 

Thanks so much for stopping by! 

~Roree

Sketchy Thursday

Time for your Thursday sketch, chalkboard style. That's just how I (Lexi) like to do it :) 

Nothing too fancy here...photo, title and journaling lined across the middle, with a scattering of embellishments floating from one corner to another. 

Here's how Vivian interpreted the sketch and what she had to say:

"I loved the simplicity of this sketch! I followed it pretty closely, combining papers and embellishments from the Sasparilla line. This sketch allowed me to use a variety of fun embellishments: a Tin Pin, Flower Sack elements, and stickers." That little posse is too cute! 

And for me, I used this sketch a little differently:

I turned the sketch into an 8.5x11 and mainly used the 9 to 5 collection, which I think has the perfect colors and patterns for boy layouts.

This 9 to 5 Date washi. Be prepared. It might show up on every project I create in the future!

Want to give the sketch a try? Load it up and share in our OA Flickr group or even link us up in the comments below.

Thanks for joining me today and have a wonderful Thursday!

9 to 5 Spotlight WINNER

Congrats to Michelle Brooks who left this nice comment:

I love this whole collection, and cannot wait to buy everything! My favorite is the sheet of paper called "shorthand", and of course the journal cards. October Afternoon, you just keep wowing me.

Michelle, email us your information within 30 days and we will get your
9 to 5 Collection Kit prize out to you. 

Happy Wednesday!

 

October Afternoon

sketchy thursday-- argyle love

good morning everyone.  danni here today with your thursday sketch! i wanted to create a sketch that would emphasize a background element and be versatile for layouts and cards alike.  i really love sketches that allow for the creative side to take over and i don't like to tell you where to place every last element, although i have :)

 

 
 joining me today is becky with her amazing layout inspiration for all of you. i absolutely LOVE this page (and her cuuuuute puppy)

 

 you add such joy layout by becky

(click pics to enlarge) 

 

  and this is what becky had to say:

This sketch brought an idea to my mind immediately and even though I interpreted it pretty literally, I enjoyed pulling it together and adding my own touches. That to me is the sign of a great sketch!

 

 for this sketch, the focal is the argyle background element, so i decided to make that the focal of all my cards and play with the various layering interpretations of it.

 hello card

(click pics to enlarge)

 

 

i rotated my argyle element on this card and layered the elements in the center instead of above the argyle.  i stitched through the centers of the argyle elements as you generally find with argyle patterns.

 

on my second card, i decided to rotate the argyle elements vertically so as to create a taller card

best friends card

 

 

 i layered the argyle pattern once again instead of above it to scale for the card size

 

(see the chipboard corners?  do you ever have some of those leftover or don't like to use them on lo?  these are really fun on the argyle pattern)

 

 

 i stitched through the centers once again

 

 

and to show you how easily you could use circle elements, like the ones that come in the 9 to 5 line, i created another secretary appreciation card for hubby to give to another of his secretaries.

 

what would i do without you? 

 

 

exchanging the argyle for circles, i stitched through the centers and then layered the elements in the corner

 

if you are inspired to give the sketch, argyle element or circle element backgrounds a go, please link us up in the OA FLICKR gallery, we'd love to be inspired.

thanks for joining us today

happy creating♥

danni & becky