October Afternoon

Busy Busy Busy

We've been quiet this week...but that's because we have shut ourselves in the warehouse, where we have been BUSY packing up boxes of products for stores!  The first of the shipments was shipped last week...and we've been buried under papers and boxes ever since!  We're sending everything out in the order it was received, so if you are a retailer who placed an order for Ducks in a Row or Cherry Hill, be on the lookout for your OA products shortly!

In the mean time, we want to celebrate!  And, the best way to do that is with a give-a-way, right??  We think so!  

So, we're giving away two of our 8x8 paper pads.  Just leave a comment below telling us what you would make with it if you won.  We'll pick two lucky winners to get one of these:

     

We'll announce the winners on Sunday May 3rd!  Good luck!!

Meet the Design Team - Jacqueline Yeo

Are you ready for another DT Monday?  Sorry it so late!   Today, we're so happy to introduce you to a wonderful designer who has been with from the beginning!  Lets say a big hello to Jacqueline Yeo...

What's your Name?
Jacqueline Yeo

What's your favorite OA paper line?
Ooo, that's a tough one, so difficult to pick only 1! But I've got to say that "Hometown"

What size do you scrapbook?
A mix between 12x12 and 8.5x11.5

1 page or 2?
mostly 1 but very occassionally 2

Do you make cards?
yup, quite a bit

Is your scrap area messy or neat?
messy! but i usually try to clear up after the mess :)

What camera do you use?
Nikon S70.

What is your favorite OA stamp set?
Turtle Power (especially that 'Happy' stamp!)

Your favorite Ink?
Versafine

Where do you find your inspiration?
My girls, online blogs and most definately - products!

What's your favorite scrapbooking color?
I'm a Kraft and glitter girl, any colour is fine with me!

What's your most-used scrapbook tool?
Most used tool will be the Sizzix diecut machine. I usually cut quite a lot of pieces and then use them on each LO. that way, i don't have to drag the machine out everytime i need something to be die-cut.

Are you a slow scrapper or a quick scrapper?
Quick. Sometimes i get about 4-5 LOs done in 1 sitting. It helps when I receive kits or if I come back from a major spree! :P

What's your favorite quote?
There is a silver lining in every cloud. (or an alternative - when 1 door closes, another opens)

Give us your favorite tip...
I love making altered items! I am also most keen on recycling (or up-cycling) disused items like packaging etc, which are not store bought. I'm usually really shocked at the prices of sb items (esp here in singapore!) so i've an inner thrifty fairy that reminds me to always reuse and recycle. For eg, magnets that are used in merchandising (usually freebies from companies promoting their services) are used to create my fridge magnets; Greeting cards from Xmas and New Year's form the base for my new cards..... etc.

Take a look at one of Jacqueline's favorite October Afternoon layouts:

Goodbye Card

It's never fun to move away from your friends, or have them move away from you.  Design team member Angie Hagist has a good friend who is moving to another state.  So to say goodbye, she created this super cute card using the Night Light collection die cuts.  She even included some directions so you could re-create this card yourself!

Directions:

1. Punch out both orange monster die cuts and the two hands from the sheet.  Cut the full-body die cut in half.  
2. Punch out two journaling die-cuts (one vertical and one horizontal.)  Write greetings on both.
3. Create 5.5"x3.25" card base.  Layer a smaller piece of cardstock and create a dotted border using a pen.
4. Attach the uncut monster behind the greeting for the front page.  Add the hands.  Attach the bottom half of the cut monster below so that he looks whole.  Flip his tail so that it overlaps the corner.
5. Use label maker to finish greeting text.
6. Cut small piece of cardstock for the inside greeting.  Round corners and add die cut journaling card.
7. Attach the monster behind the card, so that his head is popping out the side.

Meet the Design Team - Stephanie Howell

Here we go again!  Time to meet the next designer on our fantastic team!  She is such a fun, talented scrapper...so, if you don't know her already, let me introduce you to Stephanie Howell...

What's your Name? 

Stephanie Howell

What's your favorite OA paper line? 

Cherry Hill. I'm in love. It's pure vintage goodness. =)

What size do you scrapbook? 

Primarily 12x12 but I do 81/2x11 fairly often as well.

1 page or 2? 

mainly one pagers, but it's my new year's scrappy goal to do more two pagers!

Do you make cards? 

I want to, but I don't. I get stumped when it comes to cards.

Is your scrap area messy or neat? 

Neat. I obsessively clean my scrap space. I actually clean AS I scrap. Yes, I know that's kind of OCD

What camera do you use? 

Canon Digital Rebel xti

What is your favorite OA stamp set? 

Hmm. I am even worse at stamping than I
am at making cards. I have a strong desire to learn to stamp though. I think
the Night Light monster stamps are possibly the cutest thing ever.

Your favorite Ink? 

VersaFine or StazOn

Where do you find your inspiration? 

my children, the way my husband makes me feel.

What's your favorite scrapbooking color? 

teal or robin's egg blue

What's your most-used scrapbook tool? 

my border punches

Are you a slow scrapper or a quick scrapper? 

quick. it rarely takes me longer than 30 minutes to do a page.

What's your favorite quote? 

"keep calm and carry on"

Give us your favorite tip... 

Scrapbook what makes YOU happy. Don't get caught up in what everyone else is doing or what is the "cool thing to do". Just keep focus on what it is all about.

Take a look at one of her recent favorite layouts featuring the Cherry Hill collection:

Use your die-cuts and stickers!!

If you are like most scrappers, you probably have tons of die-cuts and stickers that are lying around your scrapbook area totally loved but nevertheless unused. Design Team Member Iris Babao Uy has the same problem! So, to give us some ideas on using them, she decided to create a quick layout having fun with her die-cuts and stickers! 

The page below is about Iris' daughter and her favorites at the age of four. The die-cuts are from the Weathervane collection and the stickers are from the Weathervane and Night Light Collections. She also used the stamps from the "Notobook Doodles Set". 

She says that the great thing about this technique is that you end up with a very detailed layout which looks as if it took a lot of time to finish - but in reality it was a pretty quick page to make! Try it! It is fun and it makes great use of your stash!

Wednesday Winners!

Thanks to all of you for showing us your fabulous cards!!!  Such great designs... if you haven't had a chance to check them all out yet, you really should!  I just know it will give you loads of ideas to fill up a box of cards to have on hand all year around!  Our design team members picked out these three fabulous cards to spotlight this week:

Grattis by k8an - featuring October Afternoon's Weathervane Collection

Happy Birthday by Anthea Peterson - featuring the October Afternoon Night Light collection

Hello Baby by Dana F - Featuring stamps from the Detours set.

These cards are so much fun - our designers just loved them!  Thanks for sharing them with us!!  But, I'm sure you're dying to know who was the big winner this week?  Right?  Did you remember that the winner gets some of our smooth-as-butter rub-ons??  A great prize, indeed!  So, who is it?

#33 - Samanta Sibbet

Congrats, Samantha!  Please send your mailing info to [email protected] so we can get your goodies to you in the mail!!  

Meet the Design Team - Tara Pollard Pakosta

It's Monday!  Are you ready to meet the next design team member?  But first, a little reminder that you still have a couple of days to enter this week's blog challenge.  Check it out.  Ok, back to the real deal... we are so excited to introduce you to the oh-so-talented Tara Pollard Pakosta!  She is such a fun girl...and so are her layouts!  Lets give a big hello to her this week...

What's your Name? 

Tara Pollard Pakosta

What's your favorite OA paper line? 

Daydreams

What size do you scrapbook? 

every size from 4x4 to 12x12

1 page or 2? 

usually only one page, unless it's an event then I sometimes do two pagers

Do you make cards? 

yes! I usually end up donating them to a church though instead of sending them out to relatives/friends.

Is your scrap area messy or neat? 

Neat. unless I am scrapping, but I clean it up between each layout.

What camera do you use? 

Canon 5d and Canon 30d

What is your favorite OA stamp set? 

Daydream (love the flower one)

Your favorite Ink? 

staz on timber brown

Where do you find your inspiration? 

from my photos

What's your favorite scrapbooking color(s)? 

kraft/aqua/red

What's your most-used scrapbook tool? 

stapler.

Are you a slow scrapper or a quick scrapper? 

quick! 15-20 minutes per page

What's your favorite quote? 

"the most important thing she learned is that there is no way to be a perfect mom, and a million ways to be a great one" ...not sure who it's by, but i LOVE IT!

Give us your favorite tip...

do what you love and don't try to follow what everyone else is doing and keep having fun scrapbooking

Take a look at one of Tara's recent favorite layouts featuring October Afternoon's letter stickers and die cuts:

Mother's Day Gift Box

Do you like creating altered items?  We hope to inspire you to create a wonderful giftbox with this photo tutorial from design team member Jacqueline Yeo.

This is a quick and easy way of creating a giftbox that is full of personalized touches. All you need is a raw cardboard box (or a recycled giftbox) to start. October Afternoon diecut tags are a great and easy way to start of embellishing any altered art. The diecuts are also the perfect size for a little minibook that can be attached to the top of the box, with journalling possible for the gift receipient. A perfect present for Birthdays, Mother's Day or Father's Day!

1. Start with a raw box.

2. Place your papers (October Afternoon papers are all color coordinated, so you can use the front or back of any OA paper for this project!) right side down, position the lid of the box such that there is a 1" allowance on all sides. Mark and cut out the paper. After that, place some tape or glue at the top of the lid and press down into position. Using a craft knife, cut a diagonal from the corner of the lid to the corner of the paper. This makes 4 separate "tabs" to be folded up to cover up the sides of the lid. Glue in place.

3. Cut a strip of ribbon the height of the lid, and adhere around the side.

4. For the box, take the dimensions of the height and cut up 2 strips from the same patterned paper (this time using the other side of the chosen patterned paper). Adhere to the box.

5. Cut up a length of ribbon. Shown here is a plain coordinating coloured ribbon, but you could use patterned ribbons too. Note - use a similar color scheme or pattern (ie, polka dots / stripes etc) Tie across the box and fix the ribbon at the top. Position the ribbon assymetrical to the box to allow more space for the embellishments. Add flowers and pins in the middle of the bow.

6. Now we start to embellish the box. The October Afternoon diecut tags are great as a base for the rest of the embellishments. Using 2 similar range tags - adhere one to the side of the box, and one to lid of the box.

7. Build up the embellishments by adding rubons, diecut shapes (i used the diecut monsters from the "night light" collection)

8. Write your note (Happy Mother's Day!) and remember to stick ONLY to the ribbon.

Lets see your cards!

This week when we saw these cute cards from design team member, Celeste Smith, we were immediately inspired!  And, we hope you will be too!

  

So, quite simply, for this week's blog challenge, show us your cards using our October Afternoon products!  They can be cards with our papers, our stamps, our stickers or rub-ons... whatever you have!  So, just post your projects to flickr, your blog, or any online gallery you use...and give us the link. 

 

Get post your links soon because next Wednesday, we'll pick one lucky winner to some of our fantastic rub-ons!  We'll also have our design team pick some of our favorites to feature on the blog!

Meet the Design Team - Tracey Odachowski

Over here at October Afternoon, we're excited - because today is another Meet the DT Monday!  This week you'll meet the designer with the distinction of having the longest last name of anyone on the team!  (And, in case you were wondering, it's pronounced just like it looks!)  Lets say hello to the talented Tracey Odachowski....

What's your Name?
Tracey Odachowski

What's your favorite OA paper line? 

That's tough! I really like all of them, but I find myself grabbing Daydream the most. :)

What size do you scrapbook? 

mostly 12x12, but I switch it up sometimes. :)

1 page or 2? 

both

Do you make cards? 

yes

Is your scrap area messy or neat? 

hahaha - messy doesn't even begin to describe it. It's pretty bad when my 8-year-old keeps telling me that I really need to clean up my 'playroom.'

What camera do you use? 

Canon Rebel XT w/ a ton of accessories

What is your favorite OA stamp set? 

Blossoms & Butterflies

Your favorite Ink? 

I usually use Stampin Up Craft and Classic inks

Where do you find your inspiration? 

Everywhere! I flip through magazines or search advertisements on Google

What's your favorite scrapbooking color? 

green - especially modern colors like kiwi

What's your most-used scrapbook tool? 

my Wishblade! Love that thing...

Are you a slow scrapper or a quick scrapper? 

depends on my mood.

What's your favorite quote? 

Never go to bed angry. - not so much a quote but words to live by.

Give us your favorite tip... 

To get a great, natural smile out of the wee ones, trim the feet off of a Pez dispenser and stick it in the hot shoe of your camera. Don't have an SLR? Use a temporary glue dot and attach to the top of the camera. It works every time!

  

Take a look at this clever project from Tracey.  It's one of her recent favorites using the Weathervane collection: