October Afternoon

heritage scrapbooking

Hello everyone, it's Heather here with one last guest designer post for this month. I have thoroughly enjoyed putting together some projects to share with all of you this month.

I have pretty much just shared projects using the Holiday Style line, but since the holidays are wrapping up, I pulled out the Farmhouse collection and put together a scrapbook page using a photo that I scanned at my grandparents house while I was there for my grandfather's funeral this past November.

I was put in charge of doing up the photo boards and in doing so, ran across pictures of my grandfather's family that many of us hadn't seen before. 

Here's a look at the journaling for this page...

I have been working on some family tree history and so being able get access to the pictures was awesome. I spent a lot of time scanning in photos in the time I was there and know that I need to make time to get back to scan some more.

The Farmhouse collection conveys that perfect nostalgic look and feel. Perfect for pages like this.

That's all from me for now! I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday and wish everyone a very happy new year!

Thanks so much, October Afternoon!

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

Winner Winner Wednesday!

Thanks everyone who entered the Glue Arts give-away. We have a winner of the OA and Glue Arts package. And that person is.....

Carly Ptashnick

Carly e-mail your mailing address to:  [email protected] and we will get your package out to you.

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.  

gift card pockets

Hi everyone, it's Heather with another designer guest post. With Christmas right upon us, you might be picking up some last minute gifts and one of the most convienient things to choose is a gift card. It's nice to present the a gift card in something a little bit more than just an envelope. I made up some using the Holiday Style line. Let me share my process with you that includes one of my all time favorite closures...

First off, I used and envelope type of die cut - this one is a "seed packet" die. I die cut several to make up a bunch of envelopes at once. I wanted a little stitching on the envelope and I added that at this point. Have the stitching go where you want it to show on the finished envelope.

I am adding a little closure to my envelope that uses some 1/2" circles punched from kraft cardstock that I will attach to the envelope with an eyelet. One will go on the flap of the envelope and then the other will go straight down on the main part of the envelope. Punch the holes to set the circle and eyelet with a 1/8" circle punch (or whatever size the eyelet you are using requires.) You will also need to punch the same size hole in the center of the 1/2" circles.

Use eyelet setting tools (setter, small hammer, and mat to protect your work surface) and set the eyelets and circles where you punched the holes on the envelope. Make sure that you include the 1/2" circles right behind the eyelet.

Next you are going to assemble your envelope using a super sticky tape so that everything stays together.

Next, take a piece of string or twine and tie one end underneath the envelope flap circle. It will take a bit to ease the string under the circle, so take your time and be patient. Trim the tail so that everything is neatly under the circle piece.

After the twine is attached to the envelope flap piece, wind it around the bottom circle, back around the top and repeat like in the photo above to close up the envelope (after, of course, your gift card is inside!)

Once you have everything assembled, it's time to have some fun adding some embellishment to the envelope. You could, of course, use the envelopes as is too.

I added some cardstock stickers and buttons. I think my favorite stickers are the Santas!

I love this little collection of gift card pockets that I now have ready to go if/when I need them!

Have a wonderful holiday weekend everyone!

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.

 

Tuesday Tutorial: Quick & Easy Tags using the Silhouette

Welcome if you are visiting from Glue Arts, we are glad you are stopping by to visit us this week!

Hey everyone! It's Kinsey here with a fun way to make quick gift tags using your silhouette (or any die cut machine)...If you procrastinate (like I do every year) with the gift wrapping but love the look of custom tags & decorative pieces on your presents, then this will be right up your alley!

Here's what I'll be showing you today...

It only takes a few things to make them...silhouette (or die cut machine with similar cut files), wrap pack (I used the grey baker's twine for this example), a few October Afternoon: Holiday Style patterned papers, kraft cardstock, Glue Arts Glue Glider Pro (I use the perma tac refills on everything), large eyelets & setter.

The cut files I used for this were downloaded from the silhouette site: star border, 5 piece gift tag set, and the to from tag.

Using my silhouette software, I combined the gift tag and the to/from tag and it's so easy to do...just open the files you want to use. When there are several images in one file, you can right click on the images and select "ungroup". This step seperates each image so you can delete the ones that you don't want to cut and keep what you do want. On the to/from tag, the image has a hole in the top for string or ribbon which won't be used because the shipping tag already has one, so this method works for the tag holes as well.

Once you have your tags the way you want them, you can select everything by using your mouse pointer to click and drag a box around everything that you want to stay together and then right click and select "group". This combines everything into one cut file so that you can copy and paste as needed to cut an entire sheet of tags in one go...easy right?!

In the picture above, you can see that I cut the combined to/from & shipping tag out of my kraft cardstock, and then the shipping tags only out of the Holiday Style: Toyland paper by ungrouping the tags in the software, deleting the to/from text, and then cutting the tag only. 

Once all of my pieces were cut, I used my Glue Glider Pro to adhere the Toyland paper the back of my kraft tags and then added a large eyelet to the top.

Using my silhouette and Holiday Style: Holly Jolly paper, I cut several strips of the star border (I'm using the stars on a few different gifts) and then used my zyron to make the borders into stickers that I just adhered directly to the wrapped gift. Add some OA bakers twine and I have fun, pretty, and easy gift wrapped goodies under my tree!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and be sure to stop back in tomorrow for more projects made using Glue Arts products! 

Happy Holidays! Kinsey

 

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!!