October Afternoon

Another round of December Daily

Hi everyone, Mou here! Hope your New Year is off to a great start. I'm still tying up a few loose ends from 2012, one being my December Daily journal. I did start with the wonderful intention of working on it everyday through December, but it didn't quite work out that way. So, here I am still working on it and savoring the last little flavor of the holiday season. And I have for you another round of December Daily pages before you finish up your January 2013.

Hope you enjoyed and found some inspiration you can use on your December Daily journals.

A Little Farm Girl Inspiration

Hey everyone! Roree here today. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday and are off to a good start this new year. 

Now that the holidays are over, I am finally getting a chance to create some non holiday-themed projects. I have been dying to play with the new Farm Girl collection, and so that is what has inspired my project today.

With a farm theme in mind, I created this fun little berry basket:

I used my Cricut Expression 2 and Spring Cottage cartridge to cut out the basket (cut at 9 1/2") using Midway's Main Gate patterned paper and little strawberry favor boxes (cut at 3 1/2") to place inside the basket using Farm Girl's Barnyard and Milk Pail patterned papers for the boxes and the leaves.

I added Farm Girl Buttons and Holiday Style baker's twine to close and embellish the tops of the strawberry favor boxes.

They would be perfect for small trinkets or candies.  

I finished off the basket with Farm Girl's Tidbits tag, Shape Stickers, and Miscellany ribbon.

This is such a beautiful collection, and I can see myself using it on any number of different projects. 

Hope you enjoyed today's project, and I can't wait to see how this collection inspires you. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Christmas gift wrap ideas for you!

Hi Everyone! It's Becky here today along with Jill. We have a few simple ideas for gift wrap using your OA products. I had a GREAT time putting these ideas together and I got more and more excited as the product inspired me! Looking at Jill's amazing ideas, I'm fairly certain she felt the same way. 

Here are Jill's beautiful packages:

 

Top left:  I arranged four strips of Make It Merry washi tape horizontally, and tied a green bow from the Make It Merry Miscellany over the top.

 

Top right:  In a variation on the usual red-and-green holiday color scheme, I used pink and mint green. I coated two Make It Merry chipboard numbers with pink glitter, and placed them over a Sprinklers-splattered background. 

Bottom left:  I sewed two rows of Make It Merry Sew Fun banners and wrapped them around the package, along with some hemp twine. 

Bottom right: I gathered together some odds and ends from the Make It Merry collection, including buttons, stickers, tidbits, and brads.  I added pop dots to the large "25" so that it would stand out even more. 

Here's a detail shot:

The gift wrap ideas I put together were based on my plan for my own gift wrapping this season. I purchased the deer head motif sihouette cut almost a year ago with the intention of using it on my scrapbook pages, but never had a spot that seemed appropriate. As the holiday season approached, I thought the deer head would be a great design to use throughout my gift wrapping details. 

Top left: A simple kraft box (5x7) with diecut (Silhouette) deer heads. The alpha sticker is from the Make it Merry collection. The red/cream chevron paper is from Holiday Style. One of my favorite papers ever!

Top right: A simple kraft gift bag with a large diecut deer head. The tag is handcut using an office supply tag as a pattern. The label sticker is from the Make it Merry collection. The mini alpha stickers are from the Farmhouse collection.

Middle left: The cash paper holder is cut from a Silhouette file using pattern paper from the Make it Merry Collection. I realize that the paper is upside down. Since it will be used for one of our grandsons, I thought they might get a kick out of it, so I left it this way. 

Bottom left and middle bottom left: I am showing the front and backside of this diecut box. Simple diecut box and deer head motif. Alpha stickers to identify who it's for. A little twine from Make it Merry to finish it off. 

Middle: Another money holder with simple stickers from Make it Merry to embellish. 

Middle right: A tag that you don't need a Silhouette to make! I simply layered up the buttons from Make it Merry to create a Christmas tree. Washi tape from Make it Merry to identify to and from. So simple!

Bottom right: Another money or gift card holder embellished with the deer head again, label sticker, washi and a little vintage red rickrack. 

I want to share one little tip about putting together diecut boxes and envelopes: use E6000 adhesive. It works so well for these projects! 

We hope we've inspired you to create some custom wrapping details for your packages this holiday season!

 

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!

Thursday Sketch: One Sketch, Seven Interpretations

good morning.  danni here with today's sketch challenge for you.  today we'll present one sketch and offer several different interpretations from that one sketch.

 

here is the sketch we'll be using today

 

 

 

joining me today is lexi.  lexi created this incredible tag that is such a fun interpretation of the sketch.

here's what Lexi had to say, "Christmas came and went without any snow for us so we still have the white stuff on our wish list! I am loving the simplicity of using standard office tags and dressing them up. I sprayed with background with Tinsel SprINKler (LOVE the subtle shimmer!) and punched 2 snowflakes. The negative space was backed with paper from Holiday Style, while the middle snowflake is part of an older paper doily with a Holiday Style sticker. Sequins complete the snowflakes with a stitched sentiment in the form of a Little Flyer across the bottom. The pom pom trim at the top is also from Holiday Style and worked perfect with the "snow" theme :)"

 

 

 

 

 

 

love the sprinklers on here and the use of an ordinary office supply, so amazing!  thank you lexi♥

 

i often get asked how i am able to create so many cards in a relatively short period of time, and i will share the answer with you today...giggle.  i create a sketch or use ONE sketch to create about 10 different cards before moving on to a new sketch. when choosing a sketch, or creating my sketch, i always choose a fairly simple "CAS" sketch so as to be able to have lots of room for interpretation.  sometimes i will use the same papers/elements, other times i will create each card with a completely different line, it really depends on the occasion.  let me explain with pictures and words so as to be a little clearer.

 

 for my first set of cards, i chose to use OA Holiday Style and create three different thank you cards (yes, i still need some and hope you might also)

 

thank you snowman card 

(click pics to enlarge)

 

 

on this card, i chose to use the three 'heart elements' as blocks for my  snowman.  i cut out the three blocks from the Holiday Style pp and then backed the blocks with white cardstock before stitching around and adding the details to the snowman.

 

 

 

 

 

december thank you card 

 

for this card i used the same sketch but interpreted the '3 heart elements' as layered die-cuts, snowflakes and chipboard.

 

 

 

holiday thank you card

i decided to interpret the three 'heart elements' as snowflake chipboard pieces, element chipboard and for the twist on this card, added three Little Flyers as the strips of pp.

 

 

 

after creating these three cards, i decided to play with some of the Farmhouse line on my desk to create three different cards

hello friend card

 

 

on this card i interpreted the three 'heart elements' as buttons and a center-focal.

 

 

i LOVE all the Farmhouse miscellany

 

 

 

happy birthday card

 

for the 3 'heart elements' i used two rounded blocks of pp and a layered center focal

 

 

 

 

love you card 

 

for the 3 'heart elements' on this card i chose to layer tickets/ hearts

 

 

 

 

i hope these card and tag ideas have inspired you to see this sketch and all it's possibilities on your next projects.  we would love to see your creations in our FLICKR GALLERY.

 

happy creating♥

danni

Monday Challenge-Document it now

Hi everyone, it's Becky posting today with a Christmas and holiday related challenge. I hope everyone enjoyed Christmas to the fullest this weekend! My challenge for you is to create a layout about your holiday this week, while the story is fresh in your mind. It's probably not realistic to document the whole experience, but I think just creating at least one page might help if you have holiday letdown or the blues. Plus, I know that as the busy days of this season go by, sometimes the little details will be forgotten if we don't get it done soon. 

Wilna created a pretty page for her December journal for this challenge-

If you haven't checked out her blog this month, you should go take a look at all of her beautiful December journal pages. So inspiring! Feel free to take today's challenge as a challenge to complete your December dailies and journals too!

Since our pages were due so quickly after Christmas, I didn't do as much journaling as I would encourage you to do now that you've experienced the big day. I am planning to make another page this week with more solid journaling with my memories. It was a sweet, sweet weekend! 

Lots of Holiday Style featured here. I mixed up the title work, using some Holiday Style, Rocket Age and a few of the early collections alpha stickers. I think it's always a good sign when you go back to products that were released a few years ago and still want to use them and they mix well with more recent products. 

I look forward to seeing some great holiday pages with your stories and photos! Please share them with us on the OA Flickr gallery.  

Thursday Sketch: Simple Holiday Design

Happy holidays, everyone! This week we're teaming up with Glue Arts to bring you some holiday fun along with a chance to win some October Afternoon and Glue Arts products. I (Vivian) am a huge fan of Glue Arts' Glue Glider Pro - I love how easy it is to use and to refill! My six-year-old daughter loves it as well, so I have to keep my eye on it or else it disappears! :)

Today's sketch offers a quick and easy design for holiday cards and layouts:

I shared the sketch with Roree, who came up with this adorable holiday card:

I love how she interpreted the three photo slots across the center as trees and the lines of journaling as stitching. In fact, let's get a closer look at that fabulous stitching detail!

I took the sketch and mirror-reversed it to create a layout showcasing a piece of holiday art my son created:

I stretched the artwork across two of the photo slots and placed my journaling in the third slot. The sticker at the bottom left takes the place of the lines of journaling in the sketch. I had a lot of fun using the pipe cleaners from the Holiday Style Miscellany to create my title letters:

If you create anything using today's sketch, please post it to our October Afternoon Flickr gallery - we'd love to see your creations!

Glue Arts is offering up a wonderful prize package if you go and visit their blog...

We'd like to give you a bit of Holiday Style too! Along with our GlueArts products! Just post a comment today...we really do enjoy hearing from you...and we'll enter you to win a collection kit from October Afternoon's NEW Holiday Style along with a GlueArts Embellishment Kit!!! ( Includes (1) Roll Ribbon Adhesive, (1) Roll Extreme Adhesive Squares, (10) Sheets Vellum Adhesive, (1) Sheet U CUT IT Foam, (16) Squares Raisen's, and (300) Micro Adhesive Squares.) We'll select one random winner and post their name on Christmas Eve!!

Glue Arts Day!

Hasn't the week been wonderful with all the wonderful projects form Glue Arts. We have a few more for you to see today. So we thank you for visiting from Glue Arts!

Danni has this super cute card:

And this from Lexi:

"Not gonna lie--this is just a corner of my desk where I create...and most often I create on the floor. It is always a mess, but the one thing I do always have handy is my Glue Arts Glue Glider Pro. Love that thing! It is so simple to change the adhesive, but that doesn't seem to happen much unless I am crafting up a storm, because there is lots of adhesive on each roll. I also like that it is the right amount of sticky for adhering vintage papers, like the old dictionary paper on the card I created here, without tearing the paper."

This one from Amy:

I used the 3D U Cut It Adhesive Foam blanks for my entire "ho, ho, ho!" sticker to give it dimension and it worked like a charm. I am also a HUGE fan of the Adhesive Squares. They are so thin and their tack is fantastic for a variety of applications including for different mediums such as ribbon and wood, as I've used in my card. I love them!

Glue Arts is offering up a wonderful prize package if you go and visit their blog.

We'd like to give you a bit of Holiday Style too! Along with our GlueArts products! Just post a comment today...we really do enjoy hearing from you...and we'll enter you to win a collection kit from October Afternoon's NEW Holiday Style along with a GlueArts Embellishment Kit!!! ( Includes (1) Roll Ribbon Adhesive, (1) Roll Extreme Adhesive Squares, (10) Sheets Vellum Adhesive, (1) Sheet U CUT IT Foam, (16) Squares Raisen's, and (300) Micro Adhesive Squares.) We'll select one random winner and post their name on Christmas Eve!!

 

Glue arts also gave us a product pack to give away to our customers too, and we had to add a little OA to it!
Look at all this great stuff!

I tried the new Ribbon Glue....it is truly amazing! I love how easy it was to apply and the stick is amazing. It is relly thin and comes on a roll, so you can cut it to any length. A tip I have is when you apply it to a bumpy ribbon (like the pom pom ribbon below, press it really good into the ribbon).

Don't forget to leave a comment here to win the wonderful prize from Glue Arts and October Afternoon.

 

Monday Challenge - A Mix of Photos.

Are you all counting down?  It's the last full week before Christmas.  I don't know about you, but I'll be wrapping gifts and paying close attention to my to-do list this week!

Over here at October Afternoon we've teamed up with Glue Arts this week.  So, be sure to take some time for yourself this busy holiday season... grab a cup of hot chocolate and enjoy what we have for you here on the blog.  :)

I'm (Marcy) up first and I have a challenge for you.  Earlier Amy issued a black and white photo challenge.  I wanted to see if we could take it a step farther and mix black and white photos with color photos.

I dug out Holiday Style and got to work.  

I decided to work with photos of my oldest boy building a snowman with the muddy, leafy snow from a first snowfall.

 

Clearly I'm still enjoying banners!  ;)  I'm madly in love with the chipboard buttons.  Also, when I want to use stickers on a banner I stick them to my jeans and pull them off a few times to get rid of the stickiness.

I tossed this challenge over to Jill and this is what she came up with.

I just adore all the handwriting samples!  Here's what Jill had to say.

"Looking at these photos of myself at sixteen prompted me to go back through the journals I kept as a teenager.  They are stuffed with memorabilia, including letters and old calendar pages. I incorporated a few of those items here on the page.  To enhance the page's theme, I worked in bits and pieces from the Farmhouse line Miscellany, journaling cards, and letter and label stickers. The page itself uses Farmhouse along with some Boarding Pass and Sidewalks -- they actually coordinate really well!  I also used some OA fabric behind the photos."

So there you have it.  I can't remember the last time I mixed color photos with black and whites! If you're up for the challenge please post your layout in our gallery and link to it in the comment section!  We'd love to see what you do.  :)

 

Glue Arts is offering up a wonderful prize package if you go and visit their blog...

We'd like to give you a bit of Holiday Style too! Along with our GlueArts products! Just post a comment today...we really do enjoy hearing from you...and we'll enter you to win a collection kit from October Afternoon's NEW Holiday Style along with a GlueArts Embellishment Kit!!! ( Includes (1) Roll Ribbon Adhesive, (1) Roll Extreme Adhesive Squares, (10) Sheets Vellum Adhesive, (1) Sheet U CUT IT Foam, (16) Squares Raisen's, and (300) Micro Adhesive Squares.) We'll select one random winner and post their name on Christmas Eve!!

December journal Sketch.

Hello! Wilna here! I absolutely adore the month of December! Coming from sunny South Africa to live in Canada, we now have a white Christmas every year which makes it more magical every year! I have been doing Ali Edwards' December Daily for the past 4 years and love it so. So for today's sketch, I am doing a layout that will work with your demeber daily (and any other aspect ratio). There is still one Afrikaans Magazine that I love and read every month on Zinio called Sarie. It's a gorgeously designed magazine and the sketch for today comes straight from it's pages:

 

 

So, translating this sketch to my December Daily album:

The lovely Becky played along and this is what she did. I mean... seriously? She is a.m.a.z.i.n.g. the end.

Merry Christmas!

love and a kiss