October Afternoon

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

I dare you....

to create a page using only 4 products! Becky and Amy here today with a challenge for you. Here are the "rules":

We're giving you a few freebies: scissors, writing pen and adhesive. You pick 4 additional products to make a page. 

From Amy: Becky’s challenge was just that for me - a challenge!! I never knew I relied so heavily on so many different types of product/mediums when creating a page. I didn’t even sew on this page (gasp!) and for me that’s a big deal. I didn’t thread my buttons or anything. 

The four “things” I chose to work with were patterned paper, ribbon from the Miscellany packs, buttons and alpha stickers. I found myself really struggling to make my page flow in a way that I thought it needed to. Finally after lots of experimentation, I was able to get a design I am happy with. I’m especially happy with the how the colors work together. Both the ribbon and the buttons became integral elements in the design, both in creating attention and in toning down attention (as in the yellow ribbon over the plaid paper in the bottom left corner) which is something I’m really happy with. I didn’t need to sew on it after all. :)

Here's her awesome page!

I adore the color mix! 

So pretty! 

My 4 items were: 

sewing machine

pattern paper

paper distresser

alpha stickers

I hope this challenge pushes you to try something new! We'd love to see your projects on the OA Flickr gallery.  Thanks for participating!

Tuesday Tutorial: Flowers

Hey everyone!  Roree here, and I have a Tuesday tutorial for you.

If you know me or my work, you know that I LOVE to make flowers.  All kinds, really.  Kim, the owner of October Afternoon, told me that she got some comments at CHA about the flowers I made on this layout, featuring Cakewalk...

Happy Days by Roree Rumph (using October Afternoon's Cakewalk collection)

so I thought I would share with you how I made them.

To make one complete flower, I cut out four individual flowers (cut at 0.25" increments, for example one each at 1.5", 1.75", 2", and 2.25" ) with my Cricut Expression 2 and Sweet Treats cartridge.  (Any kind of die-cut machine or punch will do, as long as you can cut the same flower in multiple sizes.)

I then sanded the edges of my flowers (totally optional), and curled the ends of each petal.

I added foam adhesive to the center of each flower except the top one.  I then layered and adhered the flowers together from smallest to largest. 

I pierced holes at the center of the flower, using the button that I wanted for the center as a guide.

I hand stitched the button onto the flower, and I finished by fluffing the petals back up.  And voila!  My finished flower!  Pretty easy, right?!

I made a couple more, along with some mini ones, cut out a few leaves, and created this card full of flowers.   

My Forever Friend by Roree Rumph (using October Afternoon's Farmhouse, Sidewalks, Campfire collections)

I added cross stitches to the center of the mini flowers instead of trying to find a bunch of tiny buttons. 

If you love flowers, texture, and dimension on your projects, you might need to give this a try.  ;) 

I hope you enjoyed today's tutorial.  If you get a chance to make some flowers of your own, make sure to share them with us in the OA Flickr Gallery.   We would love to see your creations!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

sketchy thursday!

Hi! It's Becky here today. Are you ready for another sketch? I know that if I'm having a hard time being creative, a sketch usually gets me back on track. This week rather than coming up with a sketch, I took a lesson from Roree and was inspired by a catalog page in the new Madewell catalog. 

My partner this week is Jill and she KILLED it! Love her take. 

Here's what she had to say about this project:

"This sketch really challenged me, in a good way.  I kept thinking about how to translate it spatially, and in the process, I ended up being inspired by the image itself, too.  I decided to "catalog" a few of the items that define my daughter's style, and present them in a similar format, including captions with each photo.  

Initially I was going to use die-cut letters, but when I saw the negative space left behind after I cut the letters, I decided to work with that instead.  I sprayed a variety of Sprinklers on the background and then adhered the title over the area using adhesive dots."

and a detail shot-

Would it be completely silly for me to do a lift of her layout about myself? I think I may!

My take on this inspiration piece was quite literal. I'm happy with the outcome and it was pretty effortless!

I handcut the title, keeping it pretty imperfect. I simply stitched the letters down, using no adhesive, so it isn't flat on the page. 

So whether you use this literally or maybe just use one element as a starting point, we would love to see what you come up with! Please join us on the OA Flickr Gallery and post your take! Thanks!

Farmhouse Mini Book Tutorial

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!

Friday Guest Post

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!)

She Reads:

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 

 

  Hi there!  Mandie here for my first guest post.  I am so excited to be here this month!  (& a little nervous too! lol!)  I've made a couple of layouts to share with you all this week.

 The first one uses several lines from my stash.  If you are like me, you have a TON of lovely October Afternoon product lurking in your stash.  Waiting to be used, but you just love it so much you haven't cut into it!  

I used product from Schoolhouse, Report Card, Holiday Style, Campfire, Sidewalks & a smidge of Farmhouse.  I love how all of the lines coordinated nicely with one another.  Bust those papers out and use them!

 

My second layout uses Sasparilla (oh my heart, this line is ADORABLE!  can't wait to use it some more!) and a bit of Farmhouse.  Again, the patterns in these 2 lines mix so well!  I encourage you to mix them up a bit!  They yellows, blues and greys just mesh together so well!

This is a very simple and quick layout.  But, the photos just steal my heart.  I found them the other day when going through some boxes of photos that had not been scrapped yet.  (Seems like I've been doing that a lot lately.  And there are a ton in those boxes!)  My little guy in those photos is 7.5 now!  Yikes!  (and how funny is that second photo?  I mean, that is classic Noah!) 

I am totally loving the blues and greys in Sasparilla!  They are such a pretty shade!

That concludes my post for this week!  Until next time... Have a great weekend!
Mandie 

Tuesday Tutorial :: SprINKlers = Custom-Colored Embellishments

Hi everyone! It's Amy here today with your Tuesday Tutorial this week! I thought that I would do a couple things for this week's tutorial. 

1) Feature some of our BRAND NEW collection papers intermixed with some of our current collections to show you just how seemlessly they work into your current stash, 

2) Create some Valentine's cards for the upcoming holiday - which is now just 2 weeks away

and

3) Show you some new, fun ideas for using our absolutely fabulous product line, SprINKlers.

I love the look of misting. I ADORE the look of paint droplets and splashes. However, I have yet to master either of these wonderful techniques. BUT there are some things that I have experimented with and LOVE using my SprINKlers for. Today I'm going to show you 7 different materials that you could use your SprINKlers on, that you may not have thought of before. So let's get started!

Above, I've gathered all the different materials that I have used my SprINKlers, and without fail, they have been successful!!

1) The obvious - patterned paper, or cardstock - but have you thought of using them on our Flour Sack pieces?

2) Canvas embellishments - all the rage

3) Paper doilies - inexpensive and plentiful for mass producing those fun Valentines

4) Crocheted doilies - I purchased mine at a local big box craft store for 50¢ ea.

5) Wood - Here I have clothes pins, but it works on ANY of the various wood embellishments out there on the market - LOVE that!

6) Bare Chipboard - SUPER way to spruce up those pieces of chip in our Miscellany packs!

7) Cotton Ribbon - such as the one in our Farmhouse Collection

When applying your SprINKlers to ANY of these materials, there is no real technique involved, simply spray until you achieve your desired look. All of these materials take and hold the ink perfectly and dry relatively quickly. Let's take a look at what these pieces look like after being inked.

I chose a Valentine's palette to make my samples and went straight into spraying (inside a corrugate box, so as not to get any ink where I didn't want it). Once I acheived the color I wanted, I removed my pieces from my box, and let them dry, probably for about 10-20 minutes depending on the material.

Below I have written out all of the colors that I used for my materials.

1) Large Clothespin - Hopscotch (Sidewalks), Small Clothespins - Buttermilk (Art Box)
2) Flour Sack Piece LG - Santa's Hat (Holiday Style), Flour Sack Pieces Small- Ice Box (Farmhouse)
3) Canvas Flag, Left - Brown Bag (Art Box), Canvas Flag, Right - Screen Door (Farmhouse) 
4) Chipboard Frame - Santa's Hat (Holiday Style), Chipboard Ampersand - Tin Type (Art Box), Chipboard Cameo - Tinsel (Holiday Style)
5) Paper Doily - Hopscotch (Sidewalks) 
6) Cotton Eyelet Ribbon - Strawberry Cream (5 & Dime)
7) Cotton Crochet Doily - Frequent Flyer (Boarding Pass) 

Really neat, right!? I just LOVE using my SprINKlers on these other types of materials to help them match my papers and other OA embellishments perfectly!

So, here's what I created from these fun custom- colored embellishements! A full array of Valentine's cards using papers from the BRAND NEW collection, Cakewalk, and current collections, Farmhouse and Sidewalks. 

SprINKler'd Pieces (Paper Doily, Small Clothespin, Canvas Tag, Chipboard Frame, Chipboad Cameo)

SprINKler'd Pieces (Large Clothespin, Flour Sack piece-masked)

SprINKler'd Pieces (Small Clothespin, Cotton Crochet Doily) 

SprINKler'd Pieces (Cotton Eyelet Ribbon, Canvas Tag, Chipboard Ampersand)

I hope you've enjoyed learning about some new ways you can use your SprINKlers! I've had fun getting them out and playing with all these materials all at once! Thank you so much for stopping by and have a wonderful Tuesday!

Monday Challenge-Scraplift yourself....

Scraplifting yourself is just the beginning of this challenge. Becky here today, with a multi-faceted challenge. Every year in January, I challenge myself to create a layout and then duplicate it for each of our grandchildren. You can interpret this as you wish...I would suggest a couple of ideas. Maybe you could recreate layouts for each of your children, or perhaps you have a great photo (or more than one) of a group of friends or family members who you could create a page for. This year we added two new grandsons, so last year I made 8 layouts based on one design and this year, I made ten! 

The second aspect of this challenge is to convey something across the board. Something that is important to you. Something you can communicate in a page. 

And the third aspect is to use past collections and scraps. I still adore many of the past October Afternoon collections and wanted to use them and not just hoard them : ) 

Take any part of this challenge and make it your own. Spin it, turn it, interpret it as you like! It's just a starting point. I've enjoyed challenging myself to do this for the past several years and there is something extremely gratifying and freeing to me about it year after year. 

This year, I assembled all of my photos and had a design in mind before I started. Once I began, it went very quickly. This is not my usual creative process. I normally have a mindset of doing something very fresh and of masterpiece quality! But for this challenge, I allow myself freedom. No pressure to create something completely fresh or new, no pressure to make it just right. It's more an exercise in creating and conveying a sentiment. 

On a sidenote, I make a lot of pages for my grandchildren. My goal is not to make albums that document their lives. They have parents who can document their lives if they choose. My reason for creating pages about them is to document my feelings for them and my memories about them from my perspective. I keep a book (or more) for each child that they will be able to take someday if they want. Right now, it's fun for me to do. A creative outlet.

So here are the ten layouts based on one design:

I don't know if I've ever made ten layouts in a day and a half before! But using this process really did work. If I were going to a crop, I think this would be a fun approach. 

Wilna joined me in this challenge and I asked her to interpret it as she liked...and I like how she chose to do it! She went back and found a layout she had made in 2005-

From this layout, she created this beauty-

I think it's great! kind...smart...important. LOVE. 

So please take up this challenge, any part or all of it and share with us what you make! Please post your take on the OA Flickr group! 

Thanks!