October Afternoon

Tutorial: gift envelope ideas

Good Morning! Becky here today with a simple envelope tutorial. I have gifts on my mind right now, with both Mother's Day and graduation celebrations coming soon. I like to give gift cards and money, but I don't like to give them without some flourish. Creating custom envelopes is SO quick and easy! 

For your template, the easiest idea is to use an envelope you have as a template. Carefully, take it apart.

Forgive the first two not so great images.

After you cut out your envelope, use a bone folder or ruler to crease the folds.

Then put a little adhesive on one flap that overlaps the other two. So easy!

After you have your envelope put together, it's fun to customize it with simple premaid embellishments.

It's not just a girly project. I made a more masculine version for a graduation gift.

I used a larger envelope as a template, so that a little wad of cash would fit.

A simple pattern paper strip made a perfect band to hold the cash together. Office supply tags provided a place to write a few sentiments and sign our names.

I tucked one tag behind the cash and one in front. 

The Mother's Day envies are little more feminine with a few more embellishments.

One of my very favorite October Afternoon papers is this floral. 

The sticker embellishments are perfect for this. As well as a simple little vintage flower bunch with OA ribbon...these little flowers are getting harder to find, so I hope Mom feels special.

You can't go wrong with adding a few buttons, right? 

I hope this simple gift idea tutorial inspires you. I'd love to see what you make, so please share your take on the OA Flickr group! 

Mother's Day Accordian Album

Spring seems to fly by over here.  Maybe it's because we have a big yard to tend to as soon as the weather warms up?  Maybe it's because my kids all seem to get cabin fever as soon as April hits. Whatever the case I find that it's in my best interest to plan ahead and get cards and gifts planned before I forget about them.

 So, today I have a quick and simple little tutorial for you on how to make a quick, little accordian album brag book.  This one's going to my mom.  :)

 Start by determining what size you want to work with.  I knew I wanted to use one of the October Afternoon journaling cards so I determined my length and width from that.  Take your desired width and cut a few pieces of cardstock to size.  Score a line representing the height of each piece and fold.  

 

 Now, unless you only want two to three pages you'll have to glue those cardstock strips together... so do that now.  Trim off any extra pieces if you have any.  Now you'll have one long accordian fold card.

Select your patterned papers and trim so that they're slightly smaller than your pages.   I thought that the spring-y vibe from the Sidewalks line would be perfect for this project. 

Close your accordian book so that you can decide which flaps going to be the cover and the back.  Adhere a patterned paper to the back flap.  

Open your accordian book and adhere papers to ALL the pages on the opposite side. 

Now, back to the cover.  Take a piece of ribbon and position it so that when the book is closed you can tie it evenly along the opening.  Adhere your cover papers over the ribbon.  Sew in place if desired.  

That side should now look like this.  

The other side has patterned paper on every section.

 

NOTE:  Keep in mind, that if you're sewing you may want to do that before the papers on the other side are adhered.  Unless you like messy sewing (like I do).

Decorate your cover and add your photos on the inside.

I'm hoping that my mom either carries it with her or hangs it up in her house from the ribbon at the top.

See... super simple... easy peesy.  But perfect for Mother's Day.

What projects are you tackling for Mother's Day?  If you're making something we'd love to see it!  Share your creations in our Flickr gallery and you may find yourself featured on our blog!

- Marcy

 

 

Thursday Sketch Challenge :: A Creative Burst

Hi OA fans! It's Amy here today with your Thursday sketch! Have you noticed the trend in sunbursts lately? I have! They are so fun! There are so many ways to interpret them, too! I've seen them created using mists, patterned paper, taking up small portions of a layout, or even over the entire page! They certainly add a lot of energy to any layout! Today, I thought I'd incorporate a sunburst into our weekly sketch. Up until today, I hadn't given the sunburst a try yet, so I thought what better way to give it a go, than to include it in our sketch and see what others come up with, too! Here is my take on the sketch, I rotated it 90 degrees and flipped the sunburst so that the large beams were closer to my photos. I used a variety of October Afternoon papers ranging from Modern Homemaker, Five & Dime, Farmhouse, and even from our upcoming Cakewalk collection to create my pink burst of energy pointing to the fun photos of my daughter just playing and being silly.  

I asked Marcy to join in on my sketch with her own unique rendition. I have to say I was SUPER anxious to see what she would come up with! And I LOVE how her page turned out!

This is what Marcy had to say about her project.

"I stayed really close to the sketch... I love sunbursts.  :)  I substituted the three photos for four and moved the title up."

I just love the rainbow effect that she created, don't you!? It's gorgeous, and yet still "SUPER" hero cool! SUPER job, Marcy!

Well, that's going to do it for me today! I hope you got a creative BURST with our sunburst themed sketch this week! I hope you decide to play along and upload your gorgeous creations to our Flickr gallery found here. Thank you so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day!!

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: Happy Birthday!

Hi everyone, Vivian here with today's challenge. About a month ago, when I started to plan for my January challenge blog post, I realized I'd been assigned my son's 10th birthday. Immediately, I knew that the challenge would have to be a happy birthday challenge! Little did I know then that one of the new lines released at the CHA (Craft & Hobby Association) trade show this week would be Cakewalk!

Today's happy birthday challenge can be interpreted any way you want as long as you create something birthday-related.

You could, as Stacey did, create a layout about a birthday:

I love how Stacey combined so many of the fun and colorful Cakewalk patterns and products on this layout documenting her Grandma Ruby's 87th birthday! I especially love the fun banners at the top, which Stacey handcut from one of the patterned papers and further embellished with staples, baker's twine, and some of the new Cakewalk brads:

Another take on this challenge could be to build up your stash of birthday cards and tags so that you're ready at a moment's notice. I made this quick tag with the Cakewalk line:

(If you missed yesterday's blog post here, be sure to check it out for more ideas using Cakewalk.)

A third way to take on this challenge is to create birthday party decorations. I am usually terrible about birthday party decorations. I'm so busy planning for the party itself that decorations usually consist of a bouquet of helium balloons picked up at the last minute from my local grocery store. I decided this year to get ahead and do something a little more unique for my son's birthday party. I had never thought of the new 9 to 5 line as birthday-ish, but my now-10-year-old was really drawn to the colors and patterns and wanted me to use 9 to 5 for his party decorations. I made pinwheels and a banner with some of the more basic patterns from 9 to 5:

So, get out there and create something birthday-ish! We'd love to see your birthday creations, so be sure to share anything you create in our October Afternoon Flickr gallery.

Happy (birthday) creating!

 

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

Tuesday Tutorial: Gift Bows

Hello and thank you for joining us for the Scrap-Mart Holiday Blog Hop. Scrap-Mart has teamed up with these fabulous manufacturers to bring you a week long blog hop dedicated to Christmas-themed projects!

Boss Kut
October Afternoon<----Hey that's us!
The Rubber Cafe<----head here next!
Canvas Corp
Heartfelt Creations (Dec. 7th)
Want2Scrap
LaLa Land Crafts
Sizzix
JustRite Stampers

Each of the generous manufacturers will have prizes for you along the way so be sure visit and complete the hop each day from Dec. 5th through Dec. 10th to be eligible to win. If you are just joining in, be sure to head over to the Scrap-Mart blog to start the hop from the beginning.

 

Hi everyone!  Roree here, and I am back again with another Tuesday Tutorial for you.   Today, I thought I would share a fun way to add a little pizzazz to your Christmas gifts this year. Add a gift bow! 

Now I know you can buy these at the store, but your selection there can be limited, and they don't always have one that matches.  Especially if you are creating a tag or other kind of packaging item for your gift. 

Gift bows are pretty simple to make and just take a little time (and a strong adhesive) to create yourself. 

To create a regular size bow (about 3.75 x 3.75 x 1.25"), you will need thirteen 0.75 x 4" strips of patterned paper.  Fold and adhere the ends together on twelve of the strips.  On the last strip, adhere the ends together creating a loop.

 Layer and adhere four of the folded strips together.  Do this for the other strips as well, creating three seperate layers and the center loop.  Layer and adhere the layers together, turning the top layer slightly to fit in with the layer below.  Finish by adhering the loop to the top center.

 You can adjust the size of your bow by adjusting the size of your paper strips. 

Also, try punching a border or using decorative scissors along one edge of each of the strips for a fancier look.  (Note: If you are creating a gift bow with a decorative edge, you will need an extra paper strip to add to the center loop, so that each side of the loop has a decorative edge.)

Now all you need to do is add the bow to your package. and your gift will be read to go! 

 

Let It Snow Gift Bag & Bow by Roree Rumph (Holiday Style)

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

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Tuesday Tutorial: Frosted Glass Ornaments

Hey everyone!  Roree here.  I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and got to spend lots of time with your friends and family. 

Now that Thanksgiving is over, we can put all of our focus on Christmas.  Yay!!!  I just love Christmas time, and I thought a tutorial with a Christmas theme would be in order. 

Today, I have a set of ornaments to share that I created with some clear glass ball ornaments, some Sprinklers, and some of the new Holiday Style embellishments.

First off, I started with a clear glass ball ornament.  I got mine at Target.  They were $6 for a set of 9.  I know you can find these pretty much anywhere that sells Christmas decorations.

Next, I carefully removed the metal cap.  These glass ornaments are somewhat fragile, so be careful not to hold them too tight. 

(I happened to have a Starbucks coffee sleeve handy, so I used it to hold the ornament for photo purposes.  I actually held the ornament in my hand for the next couple of steps.)

Hold the Sprinklers Paper Doily Mist over the opening of the glass ornament. 

Spray one or two times, until the glass looks frosted.  (Any more than that, and you will have a pretty big puddle at the bottom and your drying time will take a lot longer.) 

Make sure to keep the ornament upright to avoid the excess mist from pooling on the sides of the glass.  Light swirl along the bottom to even out the pool of mist.

Place the bulb back in the container to dry. 

Note:  You can use a hair dryer on a low speed to help speed up the drying process, if desired.

Lastly, add embellishments.

Here are a few close-up shots of each of the finished ornaments:

 

 

It ended up being a pretty easy project that you could make as Christmas gifts or a project to do with your kids.

Hope you enjoyed today's tutorial.  If you get a chance to make your own, make sure to share it with us in the OA Flickr Gallery.   We would love to see your creations!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Tuesday Tutorial: Simple Gift Tags

Good Morning! It's Becky here with a very simple idea for creating custom gift tags. I am always thrilled to use scraps and making gift tags is a great way to do that. I also find it more gratifying to make a custom tag than to go buy a $5 birthday card. In my opinion, the key to actually creating your own tags and gift wrapping embellishments, is to keep it simple. Once in a while, creating a masterpiece gift tag is fine, but typically, I like to keep it quick and easy! 

In a little over an hour, I had these ten little projects done:

I like to keep premade tags and embellishments in a suitcase near my wrapping supplies. 

I gathered a few office tags, a glassine envelope that I had leftover from another project and a couple of 5x7 gift boxes, along with a stack of October Afternoon papers and embellishments. 

I then began to let the supplies and my ten grandchildren inspire me-

I prestitched 3 lines to attach the chipboard bunting pieces to. Then I added a few OA stickers from past collections. I think the colors intermix beautifully!

Yes, that's my foot in the background : ) I used a strip of tiny prints of Eli and then handcut his initial and added a bit of stitching.

I like to use punches to add dimension when I'm making tags too.

I used a lot of pieces from the Sidewalks collection and especially the Flower Sack pieces. Such a timesaver!

It doesn't get any easier than this. I used a journaling tag as the base and simply punched a photo of Harper and tied a ribbon around. I like the simplicity. 

The sweet stitched butterfly and heart are both in the Sidewalks Flower Sack pack. I already need another pack-so practical and fun!

Another journaling tag. The Sidewalks trims were really perfect for this project too. 

Simple! Nothing too fancy for the boys. 

A label sticker, initial and a little tied twine. 

I used a border punch for the scalloped edge and then layered another strip of pattern paper, then a label sticker. After I finished putting this together, I thought it would have been fun to use a little Sprinkler action on the scalloped paper. Next time!

I hope this inspires you a little. It's really so simple...anyone can do this! 

Tutorial Tuesday: Computer-Monitor Birthday Banner

Good Morning OA fans, it's Danni here with a fun way to surprise your co-workers, spouse, children or loved ones on their birthday with a computer-monitor birthday banner. Imagine their faces when they go to log-in for the morning, and a birthday banner awaits them.

 

The OA Sidewalks line is perfect for these fun, happy banners. The line is filled with fun colors, the cutest images, packed Miscellany items, chipboard and Little Flyers.

So, let's get started.

 

Here is a close-up of all the parts:

 

If you create one of these monitor banners for a celebration for one of your loved ones or co-workers, we'd love to see it in our flickr gallery. You never know when the next Flickr feature is going to pop up here on the blog.

happy creating♥

danni