October Afternoon

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

Thursday Sketch...

Hello! Wilna here today with a sketch I found on Scrapbook Ect's website. What I loved about it is the flourishes. I always love flourishes.

Here is the sketch:

 

Roree played with and made the most beautiful card:

This is my page with the same sketch:

If you want to participate in this challenge, please link us up in the OA FLICKR gallery, we'd love to be inspired!

thanks for joining us today

happy creating♥

Wilna and Roree.

 

 

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

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!!

Thursday Sketch: Collaged Elements

Looking for a fun way to use lots of embellishments? If so, today's sketch is for you! Brought to you by Vivian, with added genius from Danni, today's sketch features collaged clustered elements topping a photo and journaling/title block:

I used this sketch to create a layout with the Boarding Pass line, collaging pieces from the Miscellany pack with chipboard embellishments, a sticker from the 12 X 12 sticker sheet, and a bit of patterned paper:

Danni used today's sketch to create this fun card featuring the Sasparilla line:

I love how she scaled the collage to work on a card by using label stickers and word stickers along with three-dimensional embellishments. Here's a close-up of that portion of the card:

Adding a rub-on in place of the title in the sketch is also a fun way to interpret the sketch for a card:

So...get out all of those embellishments you've been hoarding and create a collage! We'd love to see your interpretations of this sketch, so please post your work to our October Afternoon Flickr gallery if you create something!

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!

Thursday is Sketch Day!

Happy Thursday to you! Stacey here, bringing you a fun, new card sketch. I drew this one on cardstock:

I sent it to Roree Rumph and she used it to make this adorable card: 

I love how she stitched the grid background! Here's a closer look:

I used the sketch to make Easter cards. On this one, I created the grid background with squares from two alternating Sasparilla papers.The grid was so easy to put together, and I made sure to keep it a bit on-purpose-imperfect - mostly because it would be hard to make all those squares line up perfectly!

Here is my card:

I would love to see what you do with this sketch! Please post your creations in the October Afternoon Flickr gallery...

Have a fantastic Thursday!

Thursday Sketch

Today's sketch is pretty adaptable to many styles and interpretations.  It features a row of photos or patterned paper blocks across the middle and a diagonal swoop of circles.

I left the orientation of the sketch alone for the most part.  I chose to use a photo for one of the blocks and patterned paper for the others.  I also substituted triangles for the circle embellishments.

I sent the sketch off to Lexi and this is what she did with it.

She switched the journaling and title, but kept most of the rest of it the same.

So, if you're going to tackle a sketch do you leave it much the same?  Do you feel free to move elements around?  Turn it?

We'll be checking the OA Flickr gallery, so please share if you do.

Thursday Sketch Challenge

Source: asewingjournal.com via Amy on Pinterest

Hi everyone! It's Amy here this week for our weekly Thursday sketch challenge. Last week I had so much fun using Pinterest finds for my sketch inspiration, I headed back into my boards and found this gem of a layout starter! I just love the variations of grids, and the swatches of patterns had me thinking straight away!

Let's take a look at the sketch I came up with for this week's challenge. 

I kept the sketch pretty literal, but also very open to interpretation. I didn't assign firm photo spots, journaling spots or patterned paper spots, so this should be a pretty versatile design and one that can serve many needs. 

For my page I swapped the orientation of the larger rectangles from vertical to horizontal and rotated the sketch 180 degrees, placing my verical rectangles on the right of my photos. As I was working with my layout I found that I preferred my title on the top of my page rather than the bottom.  

For the vertical rectangles to the right of my photo grid, I mixed Rocket Age and 9 to 5 patterned papers. They created the deep, dense color saturation I was looking for, so that my photos would pop right on off the page.

For my embellishments, I mixed in some Sidewalks, Boarding Pass along with Rocket Age. I LOVE how they all work so beautifully together, even with 9 to 5!

This week, I sent my sketch over to Marcy, and true to her beautiful style, she came up with a super fun take on the sketch. 

Here's what Marcy had to say about her project:

I used a combination of the inspiration piece and the sketch.  I created a chevron background with my Sihouette and then used the grid design from the sketch.  I used three photos to represent the larger 4 photos on the right and then used patterned paper blocks (which I tucked under the photos) to represent the smaller squares on the left.

Things were getting a little busy on my page and I like my white space, so the chevron and the title are more tone-on-tone to help reign in the colors and design.

Such a gorgeous layout, Marcy! 

Would you love to play along with us this week? We'd love to see your work! Simply upload your fabulous creation to the October Afternoon Flickr Gallery and let everyone see your gorgeous take on this week's sketch! 

That does it for me this week. Thanks so much for stopping by today! Have a fantastic week!

Thursday Sketch Challenge

Hi everyone! It's Amy here today with this week's Thursday Sketch. Recently, I've been very inspired by Roree's method of creating sketches - by taking an inspiration piece that she's found, and basing a sketch around that inspiration. So today, I thought I'd dive into my own inspiration board on Pinterest and take a piece that I've found inspiring, and base a sketch around that. Here's the artowrk that I found inspiration in:
Source: ffffound.com via Amy on Pinterest

And  here is the sketch that I created using this album cover as my inspiration

I love how the dots overlapped all the stripes in the album cover, so I decided to have them intrude just slightly into my photo area on my sketch. I was really excited to tackle thics project, and I think this is definitely a method of sketching that I am going to use in the future. 
Once I completed my sketch, I decided I really wanted to try and create a similar yet different palette to my inspiration piece as well - a rainbow of color with soft neutrals. The result was a mix of using three separate October Afternoon collections - the NEW Cakewalk collection, Holiday Style and Sidewalks. All the colors teamed up perfectly and I really love the result!

For the dots in the sketch, I used the numbers that I cut with my Silhouette then sprayed with Tin Type (Art Box) and Tinsel (Holiday Style) SprINKlers, and layered amongst chipboard and sticker snowflakes, inked circles using Miss Mary Mack from Sidewalks as well as a buttons which are a must on just about all my projects. :)

Stacey played along with my sketch this week and she made this darling card:

Here's what Stacey had to say about her project:

 I love this sketch! I usually approach a sketch one of two ways: either I stick with the design pretty rigidly (I love boundaries), or I use it for a jumping-off point and go way off on my own. On this sketch, it's funny because I started out with a really "just like the sketch" design, but ended up with a card that doesn't look much like the sketch at all!  

If you'll look closely, the main elements are there:
1. The Almanac journaling card is the main piece (like the two photo pieces in the sketch). 
2. The pink doily pieces above and below are the patterned pieced from the sketch.
3. The banner pieces are the elements that flow off to the left.

I could have put the sentiment where Amy placed the title...but I didn't.  :) I think I'll use this sketch for a layout next - and probably follow the sketch design exactly! I'll let you know...

There you have it friends! Do you think you'd like to give this week's sketch a try? If so, we'd love to see it! Simply upload your creation to the October Afternoon Flickr gallery for us all to admire!

Thank you so much for stopping by today and have a fantastic Thursday!