October Afternoon

Thursday Sketch: Circles and Layers and Arrows, Oh My

Hi everyone! It's Mandy Koeppen bringing you the Thursday Sketch.

Thanks to some helpful inspiration from my favorite Aussie friend this fun and funky sketch is full of circles, layers, and arrows. It can be easily made to fit your scrapping style just like Jill and I have done.

Here is the layout I created using the sketch.

I kept the 12x12 format but decided to use a 3x6.5 inch photo and tucked the 3 smaller photos on the sketch under my main photo just to make it more me. Of course once I did that the whole layout changed but that's the great thing about sketches you can make it your own.

The photos I used on this layout are from a trip to the fair a few years ago which made grabbing the Midway line a no brainer when I was gathering supplies. Along with Midway I used a couple pieces from Travel Girl, Farm Girl & Witch Hazel lines to create this layout. 

Joining me today is Jill. She created this beautiful layout.

And here is what Jill had to say...

I went with an 8.5 x 11 layout for this sketch challenge, and used 

woodgrain-textured cardstock as a backdrop, since the photos were kind of earthy.

This sketch was perfect to use with the three photos I captured the 

other day of my dog rolling around in the fresh-cut grass. I could 

barely hold the camera still because I was laughing so hard -- these 

are the three photos that made the cut. When planning the layout, I 

took my color cues from the greens and yellows in the photos, and 

worked in some blues here and there, pulling together papers and 

accents from the Travel Girl and Daily Flash collections. One departure from the sketch was to back the horizontal photo mat with a series of vertical strips rather than just a single strip, adding to the light-hearted feel of the page. I also relocated the title block 

to the top of the page.

I hope you enjoyed today's sketch. 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!

Thursday Sketch: Staggered Elements

Hey everyone!  Roree here with today's Thursday Sketch Challenge.

I created this sketch just playing around in Photoshop:

It is not quite to scale for a 12 x 12" layout or a square card, nor is it to scale for a 8 1/2 x 11" layout or A2 card. It sort of landed somewhere in between the two. I apologize for that. Hopefully you can look past that and use the overall design or elements as a jumping off point.

I decided to create a card using the sketch:

I stuck with the general design of the layout, only replacing the flowers and a label in place of the photos and using a white twill bow in place of the journaling.

As for products, I used patterned paper from the Travel Girl collection, Shape Stickers, Chip 'n Stick, and Tidbits from the Woodland Park collection, and Buttons, Designer Brads, Shape Stickers and Washi Tape from the Midway collection.

Vivian played along with the sketch this week and created this amazing layout. Here is what she had to say about it:

"I loved the staggered photo placement in Roree’s sketch and used that as the jumping off point for my layout. I used Daily Flash Snapshots here, which were perfect for this series of photos. Two of the photos are matted on colorful polaroid frames cut from the Compose patterned paper. The third photo is matted on the Say Cheese! Memory Card. I poked a hole in the card behind where my photo would go and then cut up towards the flash, trimming the zigzag edges so that I could tuck the corner of my photo under the flash. I titled and finished my layout with various other elements from the Snapshots line. "

I hope you enjoyed today's sketch and the samples Vivian and I created using 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!

Sketchy Thursday : Angular Movement

Hi all! It's Amy here, and I'm thrilled to be back and sharing ideas with you once again her at October Afternoon. It's been several months since I've scrapped at all, so I'm really just starting to get my feet wet again, so I hope that you will bear with me as I get back into the groove again! :)

Today I've brought some inspriation that I found on Pinterest in the form of this super fun and movement-filled illustration. I really love how the triangular angles in the poster really move your eye to all the small vingettes throughout the entire piece, so I decided to use it as a jumping off point for my sketch today.

For my sketch, I figured, I'de leave it pretty open-ended. I can see it being used in so many ways. Perhaps with photos in the triangular areas. 

For my interpretation, I used the super cute new colleciton, Travel Girl, to create a page about my daughter. I love how she is walking so unassumingly, so I used the angles from the sketch as well as from the tilt of the frame of my page, to reiterate that motion. It also is very symbolic to a theme in our lives right now of moving forward and the next adventures that behold us in her (and our) lives.

I moved my journaling from underneath my triangular area to underneath my title, giving more space for my larger formatted photo with lots of negative space.
I really love the colors in this new collection. The sweet oranges, pinks and turquoises are just lovely and so soft, and yet still so striking and vibrant. They were the perfect colors for this soft and sweet photo.

Joining me today with her inagural October Afternoon post, is Aleksandra! Her page and interpretation is simply sensational!

Let's take a look and learn a little more about her process! 

"When I saw Amy's sketch, I instantly got inspired. Now, you may look at my layout and wonder how in the world did Amy's sketch turn into that. Well, take a closer look to the right of my photo. There, see? There is the pattern from the sketch. That's how it all started.

When I use a sketch, I take a good look at it and then I put it away. A good sketch for me, is the one that gives you a push in the right direction and then leaves the rest to your own creativity; a sketch like this one by Amy. I loved the pattern on the sketch so I created the same with these lovely Woodland Park papers. I started from there, added my photo to the left and then all the little details started to come in place. I also liked the idea of a journaling stripe in the bottom. I only made mine a little bit larger :-)" 

 

Just gorgeous, Alex, thank you!

We'd love to see your interpretation of this sketch! When you create your beautiful project, please make sure to upload it to our FLICKR GALLERY. We can't wait to see it!

Thanks so much for joining us today! I hope you have a super day! ~Amy 

♥ Sketchy Tuesday: Oh the Possibilities! ♥

Hi everyone, Danni here with you today with a new sketch, the new, fun Travel Girl line and several interpretations.  (I hope you'll look closely as I have shared almost every piece of the patterned papers from this new amazing line)

As I have shared with you, I love to create as many cards as I can with one sketch in a sitting. I love that it stretches my creativity and is a fun challenge.  So let me begin by sharing my sketch with you.

 

                                                     card sketch by danni reid.

 

As you can see in the sketch, I really wanted to be able to play with a lot of patterned papers and the "tilt design" that is so popular everywhere, giving a slightly different feel to cards and layouts.

  The Travel Girl line is absolutely ADORABLE and I love it for all it's travel-themed possibilities, but what to do with those scraps after a layout or PL page?  So, hopefully this sketch will inspire you not to stash, throw out or store those scraps.......

just waitin'

and waitin'

and waitin'

for the perfect time to pull them out again (if you're anything like me...smile)

 

So, let me share my variations of the sketch with you and YES, a whole lot of the patterned papers from the Travel Girl line.

 

 

smile card

 

 

hello card

 

 

 

hello sunshine card

 

 

 

 

you are a peach card

 

 

 

 

 

AND maybe, just maybe you have the perfect paper without adhering strips to your cardstock as i saw with this fun paper in the Travel Girl line

 

 

 

happy father's day card set

(fun notecards to send to loved ones for father's day)

 

 

I hope you will save the sketch for your scraps and give it a try.  If you do, please upload your creations to our FLICKR GALLERY

 

Thank you so much for joining me today!

Happy creating♥

danni

Tuesday Sketch: Banners

Hey everyone!  Roree here with today's Tuesday Sketch Challenge.

I was totally inspired by the Little Flyers flags and embellishment stickers in the recent collections. With those in mind, I came up with this card sketch:

Here is the card I created using the sketch:

The banners remind me of birthdays, so I thought Cakewalk would be the perfect collection to use with this sketch.

I used a Here & Now Chapter page for the base of the card, along with Little Flyers stickers, Miscellany, Chip 'n Stick, and Designer brads to embellish the banners.

Mou played along with the sketch this week and created this absolutely adorable card. (We definitely had similar ideas on how to use the sketch!) Here is what she had to say about it:

"When I saw Roree's sketch, I immediately thought celebration! With my son's birthday coming up, I'm in the mood for party invites right now. I used papers and accents from the Cakewalk collection in layers to make the card with a couple of banner strips at the bottom."

I hope you enjoyed today's sketch and the samples Mou and I created using 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!

Tuesday Sketch: All in a Row

Vivian here with our weekly sketch. Today's sketch lines photos up in a horizontal row, with the title placement and a few key page elements drawing attention to all the photos, with one focal point photo emphasized with a large chevron/arrow element:

Interestingly enough, both Roree and I interpreted this sketch as a card.

Roree rotated the sketch 90 degrees to the right and came up with this absolutely gorgeous card:

Roree had this to say about her card: "It is always so fun to see which direction a sketch will take you. Just by turning the sketch you can get a very different look. I just love that about sketches! I created my card using paper, stickers, and chipboard from the Farm Girl, Woodland Park, and Sidewalks collections. I decided to replace the photos/journaling boxes with a long strip of floral paper. I replaced the title with a scalloped edge along the paper strip. And I kept my sentiment towards the bottom like in the sketch and replaced the arrows with white twill ribbon that I misted using Comet Tail Sprinklers from the Rocket Age collection."

Let's take a closer look:

While Roree went in the gorgeous direction, I went in the whimsical direction. My card uses the sketch in its original orientation and combines patterned paper, stickers, and embellishments from the Midway line (including the fun Photo Booth patterned paper). A few white staples add the finishing touch:

We hope you are inspired by this sketch, whether you use it for a layout, a card, or any other project! We'd love to see projects inspired by this sketch, so be sure to post them to our October Afternoon Flickr gallery.

♥ sketchy tuesday--arrows, trim, stamps? ♥

Good morning OA fans, Danni here with you today with a new, fun sketch to the start of our spring colors and weather (fingers crossed)

Here's this week's sketch

 

How will YOU interpret today's sketch?  What stands out to you?  Do you see a row of arrows?  A row of distressed stamping?  Possibly sticker trim?

 

 

Here is the card I created from this sketch

 

 

 

I wanted to use some of the diamond-shaped stickers in the OA Midway Line and this sketch allowed me to do so in a fun way

 

 

 

And joining me today is the incredibly talented Jill with her amazing take on the sketch.  I am completely WOWED and know you will be too! 

Here's what Jill had to say:

One of the first things that stood out to me about Danni's sketch was the line of arrows at the top of the page. Initially, I thought of adding an accent line, but then it occurred to me that I could fill that space in another way, with stamps and mist! I used the clock stamp from the 9 to 5 stamp set, and stamped the image repeatedly with white ink. I then added spray ink -- Tinsel and Lagoon Sprinklers -- holding the nozzles close to the top of the paper and tilting the paper at an angle to allow the Sprinklers to drip down the page. I then pressed the whole page against some scrap paper (a large junk mail envelope, actually) to remove any excess and to allow the page to dry quickly.  I then gathered my papers, photos, and accents together, and stitched across the top. Without this sketch, this page may never have come into being, and I am so glad that it did! Thanks, Danni!

 

 

 

I KNOW right?  Amazing page Jill, thank you so much!

And, we can't wait to see how this sketch will inspire YOU.  If you are inspired to create a layout or card using this week's sketch, please share your creations in our OA Flickr Gallery

We'd love to be inspired by YOUR take!

Happy Creating♥

Danni & Jill

 

 

Tuesday Sketch: Simple Layers

Clean and simple, or lots of layers: who says you have to choose? This week's sketch features a marriage of two approaches that may seem quite different, but that can actually coexist in a single layout. 

Here's the 8.5" x 11" version...

and a 12" x 12" version. 

This sketch incorporates at least ten papers of varying sizes, making this an ideal opportunity to put those long-neglected scraps to good use. Although ten papers may seem to be anything but simple, the approach really is -- just trim the papers, overlap them, add a photo, a title, and some journaling, and that's it!

If mixing and matching so many patterns sounds a little too challenging, just use an already-coordinated favorite October Afternoon line, or choose papers with a similar color scheme, as Becky Novacek did:  

"When I received the sketch from Jill, I knew that I wouldn't change a whole lot...why mess with perfection? I did have a very specific color combo in mind, so that's where my focus was. Sometimes, I think it's a good creative exercise to let some aspect of what you normally focus on (like design) and focus on another. That's the perspective I went with. I mixed Midway, Farm Girl, Woodland Park and Farmhouse." 

I absolutely adore Becky's take on the sketch! The color combination is beautiful, and the mix of vintage book pages with the October Afternoon papers looks incredible. I also love how she added accents here and there, making the sketch truly her own and enhancing the overall theme of the page. 

Like Becky, I selected the papers for my own layout with a specific color scheme in mind. 

My usual style often includes lots of layers, so this sketch allowed me to do my thing in that respect, but I opted not to add any accents beyond a little bit of washi tape and some shading with a yellow-green watercolor pencil to match my kitty's eyes. Using minimal accents is fine -- the combination of different patterns and colors enlivens the page while also enabling me to keep it simple.  

With the exception of the cardstock, every single piece of paper here came from my stash of paper scraps. I pulled together papers from the Midway, Farm Girl, Woodland Park , Cakewalk, and 9 to 5 lines, and there is even some Witch Hazel included here! 

Whether or not you add accents, and regardless of how many different papers or patterns you choose to incorporate, you can most definitely find a way to adapt this week's sketch to your liking. We would love to see your projects, so be sure to share them in the October Afternoon Flickr gallery. 

Happy scrapping! 

-- Jill 

Tuesday Sketch: On the Diagonal

Recently, I (Vivian) have noticed a trend in billboard and sign design: a long rectangular element divided in two on the diagonal. That trend inspired this week's sketch. I decided to keep the sketch simple, adding just a title, journaling, and one other element:

Michelle and I both worked with this sketch and came up with very different interpretations.

I stuck pretty closely to the sketch, creating a layout combining wood-print patterned paper from Farm Girl and Midway with more Midway, Make It Merry, and some Modern Homemaker (using up that stash!):

I die cut my title from the Midway Main Gate patterned paper and then backed the negative space with a piece of the Farm Girl Wooden Crate patterned paper. I die cut a geotag from the same piece of Farm Girl Wooden Crate and filled the center with a label sticker from the Make It Merry line. I added strips of patterned paper and stars punched from patterned paper to finish my layout.

Michelle came up with a fun project using the sketch. Here's what she had to say: "When working with sketches, I like to see how I can incorporate them into projects that are on my to do list. Today we are taking 5 teenage girls to the big city for a little Spring Break shopping. It's a long drive so I wanted to make some fun treat sacks for the girls.  I used Vivian's sketch to create some whimsical treat sack toppers. All my products used today are from the Midway collection.  I simply trimmed my paper then stitched and stapled everything together. I used the sticker letters to identify each girl's sack."

"Each treat sack has a photo from the zany Photo Booth patterned paper. I picked out a photo for each girl and created a tag that I attached to the sacks with embellished clothespins. The girls will be given the fun challenge of having photos taken of themselves that resemble a pose in their chosen photo. I just 'had' to use the dorky guy photo for my daughter Jordan. She makes faces like that all the time so it was very fitting. When she saw her sack, she immediately commented, 'Why do I get the dorky guy?'. Ha!  We're heading to the mall and lots of fun shops so I can't wait to see what the girls come up with."

"The girls are all spending the night so I thought it would be fun for them to create a mini tag scrapbook of their photos. I'll have the girls email me the photos from their phones and then I'm planning to print them off into mini Instagrams. I have a basket full of Midway products for them to use. I'm sure we'll hear lots of laughter from the girls as they assemble their mini tag books. Be sure to check my blog soon for some photos of the finished mini tag books."

I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't wait to see what the girls come up with!

Michelle and I hope you are inspired to create something with today's sketch. We'd love to see your creations in our October Afternoon Flickr gallery, so please post projects there if you use today's sketch!

 

Tuesday Sketch: Pinterest Inspiration

Hey everyone!  Roree here with today's Tuesday Sketch Challenge. I am back at it with another inspiration piece from Pinterest. (I just can't see to stay away from that place!) Today's sketch was inspired by this image:

I just love this image and I thought the design of this piece would work well for a simple sketch. With it, I created this:

With this sketch, I created this card:

I used bits and pieces from Farm Girl, Woodland Park, Midway, and Sidewalks. We are so close to the beginning of Spring that I thought a happy, cheery spring card was in order. I just love yellow in my projects, so I used lots of it.

I did lots of layering for the butterfly and the sentiment.

Danni played along with the sketch this week and created this absolutely adorable card. Here is what she had to say about it:

"I absolutely love this sketch by Roree and look forward to using it again. I think this sketch is not only perfect for layouts and cards but would be ideal for Project Life and the new October Afternoon Daily Flash.

I have been cleaning my desk all weekend and this carousel horse from the Midway line needed a home. When Roree sent over her sketch, I knew I had the perfect sketch to give this beautiful chipboard a home.

I think the arrow at the bottom of the sketch makes layering fun at the bottom of the card, little tidbits or doodads are perfect with this kind of sketch. I can't wait to see what you all will create with her amazing sketch."

I hope you enjoyed today's inspiration sketch and the samples Danni and I created using 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!