October Afternoon

FLY A KITE Fabric Spotlight - Winner

Congratulations to Angie Simonet!  She posted the following on our bog last week about the Fly A Kite Fabric, to win the fat quarter bundle:

Oh my goodness are these eye candy or what? Love them! I would make a layered skirt for my 2 year old with a matching purse! I would also create a home decor piece by adhering the fabric to the back of a glass plate! So many possibilities! ~ Angie Simonet

Angie please email staff@octoberafternoon.com with you full name and address within 30 days to receive your prize. 

OA

Thursday Sketch Challenge

Hey everyone!  Roree here, and I have this week's Sketch Challenge for you.

While trying to come up with a sketch idea, I thought it would be fun to use up those scraps and embellishments that we all have laying around our craft rooms.  Here is what I came up with:

Perfect for those little odds and ends pieces, right?

I created two cards using the sketch as a jumping off point.  Because they are on a smaller scale than the layout, I adjusted accordingly.

For my first card, I used the Sasparilla collection. 

I used bits and pieces from the Flower Sack and Miscellany packs, plus some stickers from the Word Sticker sheet.  They are perfect for this type of sketch.

And I just love the wood grain and colors in this collection!

For my second card, I used the Sidewalks collection along with the new Washi Tape from the 9 to 5 collection and a few leaf stickers from the Fly a Kite collection.

I used the Flower Sack flowers and banner, leaf stickers, and sun in place of the squares in the sketch. 

Two totally different cards inspired by one sketch.

I hope you enjoyed today's sketch.  There are definitely lots of different directions you could go with it.  If you get a chance to play along, don't forget to post your project in the OA Flickr group.  I can't wait to see how you interpret it!

Thanks so much for stopping by! 

~Roree

 

FLY A KITE in the Spotlight . . . Now in FABRIC!

We are very happy to announce that October Afternoon's 'Fly a Kite' line has been released in fabric!  This line of fabric is manufactured and distributed by our wonderful partners at Riley Blake Designs.

If you liked the paper, you're going to love the fabric!  We are so excited to launch this collection.  We love seeing our designs made into quilts, clothing, bags and so many other creative sewing projects.

Here is a fun summer shirt that DT member Vivian made for her beautiful daughter.

You can purchase the "Fly a Kite" fabric patterns at Fat Quarter Shop, other online stores, or in a local quilting store near you. 

 

If you would like to be the WINNER of this 'Fly A Kite' October Afternoon fat quarter stack, please leave a comment telling us about the fun projects that you will make if you win the stack!

October Afternoon

 

Monday Challenge: 5+ Photos

Happy Halloween!  Roree here, and I have a challenge for you today. 

Now a lot of you know me as a card maker.  Cards are my favorite things to create, and they are what I am most comfortable creating.  I do layouts, mini albums, and altered project too, but not nearly as much.  When I was thinking about what kind of challenge to post, I really thought about what would be challenging to me.  The first thing that came to mind was layouts.  While I do like to take photos, I am not great about doing it.  I take a couple here and there, but for the most part I always forget to take my camera with me wherever I go.  I never seem to have enough photos to put together a story on my pages, so I stick to one or two photo layouts.  Maybe three photos if I am lucky. 

So with that in mind, my challenge for you today is to create a layout with 5 or more photos.   For some of you this may not be as much of a challenge so for you, try and get more on a layout than you have ever done before.  Because it really is about challenging yourself, isn't it?  

Here is the layout I created for this challenge:

I really had to dig through my photos to find a day that I took a lot of pictures.  Luckily, I found a day that fit in with a fall/pumpkin theme in honor of Halloween.

I kept my design simple to really focus on the photos.  (I think this is the most photos I have ever used on one page.  LOL)  I love the Print Multiple Photos feature on Photoshop Elements.  It prints all of my photos at one time, and has multiple sizes to choose from.  I printed out all of my photos in two sizes, and then mixed and matched them. 

And I created some fun, little pumpkins to spruce up my title and play on the theme.

 

Collections used:  5 & Dime, Rocket Age, Campfire, Farm Fresh, Fly a Kite

Lexi played along with my challenge this week.  Here is what she came up with and what she had to say about the challenge:

"We just came back from our first true family vacation and, as you can image, took LOTS of photos. I am actually embarrassed to say how many, but I am a scrapbooker so you KNOW it was a lot ;) I knew Roree had the 5+ challenge coming up and it was a perfect way to scrap several of the photos I had just taken. These are pics are of the boys seeing the ocean for the first time. I printed them all out at 2.5x3.5" and added a little bit of a white cardstock mat. I added the bit of journaling with the title on the tag, which left me room to play with some paint, ink, and lots of patterns, without it feeling too crazy.

Collections used:  Sidewalks, Farmhouse, Sasparilla, Rocket Age and Seaside

So are you up for the challenge?  If so, make sure to upload your finished layout to the OA Flicker Gallery.  We love to see what you all create using OA products!

Hope you have a safe and Happy Halloween!  Thanks for stopping by!

A Halloween Bouquet

I made using two different sizes of star punches and paper from Fly a Kite and Thrift Shop. For each "flower," I punched a large and a small star in the same color, and a second large star in another color. I layered the stars using small pop dots, angling the stars to create "petals." I glued the "flowers" to skewers, and stuck them in a bottle filled with orange and black jellybeans and tied a bow around the bottle. Thanks for sharing this halloween creation with us, Vivian.

Have a great Halloween!

Monday Challenge: Celebrate "October"

Good Morning OA fans, it's Danni here with a fun, new Monday challenge.

I love October in so many, many ways. We just celebrated my youngest son's October birthday. October means we're in the middle of a high school football season. October means the colors are changing in all the amazing trees in the Sierra Nevada mountains, swoon. And don't forget the scrapbooking world, "October Afternoon", good grief, they were destined to be my favorite manufacturer.

So, let's celebrate "October". Create layouts/cards/projects with "October" or "Oct" in the title or sentiment.

Joining me this week is Marcy and she created this amazing layout featuring one of the October Afternoon strips as her title.

 I chose to create a set of 3 cards for this challenge using "October" or "Oct" in different ways.

On this card i used the negative alpha stickers to create the sentiment. i cut out the negative from the sticker sheet to create a fun "alpha outline"

On this card i used the OA strip for my sentiment and the leaves from Campfire sticker sheets







On this card, i used the journaling strips "go, see, do" from the Boarding Pass sticker sheet and punched leaves from various OA pp





Do you love October? Will you play along with us? If you are able to participate, please link up your work in our October Afternoon Flickr gallery so we can see your creations!


happy creating♥
danni

Monday Challenge: Mix and Match

Happy Monday! Vivian here with this week’s Monday challenge. Today we’re keeping it simple with a challenge that asks you to create something using three or more October Afternoon product lines. If you haven’t already noticed, one of the great features of October Afternoon products is that the colors coordinate across lines, making it easy to mix and match products with success.

Becky played along with the challenge this week and came up with a fantastic and fun layout that combines products from several different lines, including Sidewalks, 5 & Dime, Modern Homemaker, Fly a Kite, and Thrift Shop. Note how the yellows, pinks, and aquas combine across the paper lines.

After declaring this a simple challenge I went in a more challenging direction, as I decided to see whether I could use something from every October Afternoon line ever created, from County Fair (the first October Afternoon line ever) through to Sidewalks (in stores now). It was hard, but I did it! Note how the greens, reds, yellows, oranges, and aquas combine across lines and how the alphas coordinate.

I started with a strip of paper from County Fair (the aqua at the bottom) and then cut ¾” wide strips of patterned paper, choosing one paper from each line and gluing the strips to a 12” wide scrap of cardstock to form my own striped paper. I cut the striped paper in half once I was done and used a strip both above and below my photos. Product lines not represented in patterned paper include Schoolhouse (scalloped border sticker), Modern Homemaker (apple punched from patterned paper), Boarding Pass (taller letter stickers), 5 & Dime (Red Wagon sprINKler), Rocket Age (Comet Tail sprINKler), and Sidewalks (label sticker).

If you are an October Afternoon blog reader but don’t visit the website, I encourage you to check out the products section. You can click on each line to look at thumbnails of each product and can click on those thumbnails to get a closer look at products, including the A and B sides of the patterned papers. I’ll let you in on a little secret – I use this section of the website often to help plan my projects. It’s quicker and easier (and less messy!) than pulling out all my papers and embellishments, especially when I’m looking for certain colors, patterns, types of stickers, etc.

Hope you’ll participate in this simple (or not so simple, depending upon how you interpret it!) challenge that’s also a good stash-buster. If you do participate, please link up your work in our October Afternoon Flickr gallery so we can see your creations!

Happy mixing and matching!

Tutorial: Design Principles

Hi! It's Wilna here with today's tutorial on some design principles.  Now, we all know the basics more or less but i want to talk about repetition in scrapbook design today. Repetition is one of the most important design principles along with colour, line, shape, texture etc. What makes repetition so appealing in scrapbook design is because of the fixed size in which we mostly scrapbook. (For me it's 12"x12").  Using repetition in variations is not only interesting, but necessary to avoid monotony. When Variation is introduced (using the same shape or colour even) it intrigues the eye and create some fun and exciting possibilities. The individuality of each element will be considered. But most importantly, the whole will still be more then the sum of the parts… and is that not our ultimate goal when creating a scrapbook page? We don't want someone to say… "wow, that's an awesome square of patterned paper…" but rather " wow, that's a beautiful page!".

So for this tutorial on repetition, i created this page using squares. Believe it or not, but in this single page, there are 26 actual squares and another few visible squares. See how the title and journaling creates a visual square within itself.
 
 
 
On a different note, i got an iPhone this week and it has the most amazing camera. So the page is about Chase Jarvis' philosophy that the best camera is the one you have with you. Let's use them much more!! happy summer!

love and a kiss
wilna furstenberg

Color Splash! Challenge

Hi Everyone! It's Amy here today and I have a bright, and fun inspiration challenge for you. One of my favorite things about October Afternoon has always been the COLOR. Bright, bold, fun and incredibly cohesive between collections. Today I thought I would bring you a post FULL of color, bright and vibrant, showcasing how all the different collections work together brilliantly when you want to put together a card, layout or mini album that focuses all of it's "umpf" on COLOR, glorious color!!
 
*Spring by Amy Heller*

OA Collections used: Rocket Age, 5&Dime, Campfire, Seaside, Modern Homemaker, Fly A Kite, Thrift Shop, Farm Fresh, Roadmap, Cherry Hill, Ducks in A Row

SprINKlers: Paper Doily, Buttermilk
 
*First Grass Stain Season by Amy Heller*

OA Collections used:  5&Dime, Campfire, Modern Homemaker, Fly A Kite, Farm Fresh,  School House, Report Card, Cherry Hill, Roadmap, Good Cheer
 
*Nothing But Blue Skies by Amy Heller*

OA Collections used:  5&Dime, Campfire, Thrift Shop, Fly A Kite, Weathervane, Thrift Shop

Mini Markets:  Mini Markets (Rocket Age) Light Blue, Sticky Keys (Playtime)

As you can see, I think I've used most of every collection in the OA line up to create these cohesively color-themed projects. Now let's take a look at Roree's incredible favorite pictures mini album!
 
When I presented the challenge to Roree, I told her we were doing a monochromatic challenge. When she finished her project and presented me with this beautiful tag album, I decided to mix up the focus of the challenge a tad to feature exactly what her project shows, that is that every collection you posses in your October Afternoon stash can work beautifully together! And her mini encapsulates that message in such a fun, creative way!

Lets take a closer look:
 
This is what Roree had to say about her album:

It is a little 'Fave Photos' pocket tag mini. There is a tag for each person in my family. We all got to pick our own favorite photos from the past year to put in our pocket, so it is personalized for each person. I am not crazy about doing monochromatic projects, so I got around it by doing each individual pocket tag as a monochromatic but putting them together to be a rainbow of color.
 
 
 
*Fave Photos Mini Album by Roree Rumph*

OA Collections used: Rocket Age, 5&Dime, Campfire, Farm Fresh, Modern Homemaker, Fly A Kite, Thrift Shop

Mini Markets:  Sticky Keys (Playtime)

So what do you think!? Are you up to digging through your OA stash of goodies and creating a super COLORFUL project? We would love to see your takes using all of your creative takes on OA Color!! Simply upload them to our Flickr gallery and let us all see your wonderful creations! I hope you are inspired to use a BIG splash of color in your next projects!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Have a WONDERFULLY colorful Monday! ;D

Challenge: Scrappy Scavenger Hunt!

Hello, it is Jill here today!  Yesterday the kids went on an Easter egg hunt and found all sorts of colorful treasures in the most unexpected places.  Why should they have all the fun, though?  Now it’s YOUR turn!   This week’s challenge is to “hunt” for the following items in your stash, and  to fill a layout with as many of them as you can.  

(1)  Your favorite October Afternoon paper.
(2)  Your favorite October Afternoon alphabets.
(3)  An October Afternoon tin pin and/or a button.
(4)  An October Afternoon wild card and/or a playing card.
(5)  At least one October Afternoon label sticker.
(6)  An O and an A.
(7)  A photo of yourself taken within the past month.
(8)  A piece of paper with your handwriting on it.
(9)  An excerpt from a poem that you love (since it is National Poetry Month, after all).
(10) Your favorite color.
(11) A list you have made recently.
(12) A number that holds some significance for you.
(13) Ribbon, thread, string, or cord.
(14) A postage stamp.
(15) A stamped word or image.
(16) Ink, paint, or mist.
(17) A dictionary definition that describes you or relates to you in some way.
(18) A ticket stub or a receipt.
(19) A drawing or doodle.
(20) A symbol that represents you in some way.
(21) Something folded.
(22) Something shiny.
(23) Something springy.
(24) Something that brings a smile to your face.
(25) A hidden message.

While not all of the items are required for the challenge (just as you don’t need to find all of the eggs in order to have fun at an egg hunt), the first ten are must-haves!  Feel free to be crafty and combine items on the list.  

This challenge can be adapted to fit all styles and interpretations, as Vivian Masket and I learned when we set out on the hunt.  Initially, when Vivian saw the list, she realized that this really would be a challenge: “I normally put maybe three of these total on any layout I do!”  Still, she found a way to make the list work with her individual style, and this lovely layout was the result:

 
Vivian’s layout incorporates fourteen items from the list, one of which is a much-loved Shel Silverstein poem that relates to the heart of this layout, Vivian’s love for her beautiful children.   As for the other items from the list, here they are, in Vivian’s words:
 
As for me, I set out to tackle all twenty-five items from the list, and had a ball going a-huntin’ through my October Afternoon goodies.  Can you spot them all?

 
It’s been awhile since I stepped out from behind the camera, so the self-portrait (#7) proved to be the most challenging item on the list.  Here’s how I incorporated the other items:
 
Here is a peek at some of the hidden elements, including an excerpt from one of my favorite poems, “Susqueh anna,” by Liz Rosenberg, which works perfectly alongside all of the ticking clocks on the layout.
 
I also included a “lucky list”, counting my blessings:
 
Now it’s time for you to get hopping!  We would love to see your take on this challenge, so please, share your layouts with us in the October Afternoon Flickr gallery. Who knows, there may just be a prize in it for you too!  Happy hunting!