October Afternoon

Thursday Sketch: A Sketchy Springboard

Happy Thursday! It's Jill here, with this week's sketch: 

This sketch is perfect for a multi-photo, multi-patterned approach, but it can also be used as a springboard for other ideas.  That's the whole idea of a sketch, after all -- it provides a foundation while allowing room for innovation.  

The sketch inspired me to pull out last year's Easter photos and use them alongside the mint green, aqua, and pink papers in my favorite October Afternoon collections, including the new Cakewalk collection. 

I used the sketch almost literally, subtracting one of the photo blocks and integrating the title and journaling block.  To enhance the springtime theme, I also incorporated floral accents, which peek from behind the patterned strips and the photos, and I added some stitched "vines" across the page.  I also altered the title letters using Hopscotch, Miss Mary Mack, and Lemon Drops Sprinklers.  

Amy took the sketch and most definitely used it as springboard, reinterpreting the blocks in terms of paint, and attempting a new technique in the process.  It's brilliant!  

Here's Amy explanation of her process:

"I really enjoyed working with Jill's sketch. I decided to do something different by using Sprinklers (Sasparilla's Hitching Post and Cactus, Farmhouse's Ice Box, and Rocket Age's Comet Tail and Robot Blue) as the vertical layers in her sketch. I created a water wash with each of the colors, then with a fan brush painted the colors generously onto cardstock, then let it dry and used that as my background. The rest of my layout was a bit of a deviation from the sketch, but I'm really happy with how the Sprinkler wash turned out and how Jill's sketch inspired that new technique usage for me!" 

We'd love to see your take on this week's sketch!  Be sure to share your creations in the October Afternoon Flickr gallery. There is always so much to inspire there.  

Tuesday Tutorial: Flowers

Hey everyone!  Roree here, and I have a Tuesday tutorial for you.

If you know me or my work, you know that I LOVE to make flowers.  All kinds, really.  Kim, the owner of October Afternoon, told me that she got some comments at CHA about the flowers I made on this layout, featuring Cakewalk...

Happy Days by Roree Rumph (using October Afternoon's Cakewalk collection)

so I thought I would share with you how I made them.

To make one complete flower, I cut out four individual flowers (cut at 0.25" increments, for example one each at 1.5", 1.75", 2", and 2.25" ) with my Cricut Expression 2 and Sweet Treats cartridge.  (Any kind of die-cut machine or punch will do, as long as you can cut the same flower in multiple sizes.)

I then sanded the edges of my flowers (totally optional), and curled the ends of each petal.

I added foam adhesive to the center of each flower except the top one.  I then layered and adhered the flowers together from smallest to largest. 

I pierced holes at the center of the flower, using the button that I wanted for the center as a guide.

I hand stitched the button onto the flower, and I finished by fluffing the petals back up.  And voila!  My finished flower!  Pretty easy, right?!

I made a couple more, along with some mini ones, cut out a few leaves, and created this card full of flowers.   

My Forever Friend by Roree Rumph (using October Afternoon's Farmhouse, Sidewalks, Campfire collections)

I added cross stitches to the center of the mini flowers instead of trying to find a bunch of tiny buttons. 

If you love flowers, texture, and dimension on your projects, you might need to give this a try.  ;) 

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

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Negative/Positive challenge

Good Monday Morning OA fans! Lexi here today to bring you a negative/positive challenge. What do I mean by that? You know how when you punch a shape you have the positive shape you have punched out, but also the negative image with the missing piece? All right then...let's use both pieces on the same layout. Wouldn't our grandmother's be so proud we weren't wasting anything? :)

On the layout below I used my  Silhouette to cut out a star background. There actually wasn't a star background shape I liked so I made my own by filling a background. Every cowboy sheriff needs lots of stars, right? After putting the star background down I took a few of the stars that were cut out and flipped them over, filling up a few spaces. Simple, and a little more fun with the burst of blue color against the wood grain. 

I used the star circle chipboard piece as a mask for some misting and then used it on the layout misted a different color. Another way to use positive/negative. 

My littlest is in cowboy wear at least once a week and on this day was waiting for bad guys in some weeds. You never know when they might appear. The "sneaky" title was also cut with the silhouette. I used some kraft cardstock so the title would blend in too. See..sneaky ;) 

The fabulous Becky joined me and I loved her take: 

She used the celebrate today banner cut from her silhouette in a few different ways on the same layout. So adorable!

Of course, you don't need a die cut machine for this particular challenge. Any punch will do. 

I used a journaling card and butterfly punch to make a little tag. I backed the negative butterfly shape with some lacey ribbon and stapled the positive punched butterfly. 

Have you ever tried this? There's a link to our flickr group on the top left of the blog if you liked to share! It's a nice challenge and as an added bonus, you aren't wasting anything!

Thanks for joining me on the blog and enjoy your Monday!

Thursday Sketch

Hey Everyone! Kinsey here with your Thursday sketch challenge...check it out!

This week I got Danni to make a few cards using the sketch and I love how they turned out! Here's what she said about the sketch and her cards:

"I was really excited when I received Kinsey’s sketch because I immediately had two ideas for cards.   My first card, Just You & Me Pard’ner, is a more liberal interpretation of the sketch.  To start my card, I chose to play liberally with the strip banner and used the cute chipboard fence from Sasparilla, as my starting point.  The circle elements were easily filled with the star patterned chipboard circles and placed along the fence in good western fashion.    (My son is turning 12 this week and my husband bought him tickets to see his beloved Phoenix Suns play.  The adorable  “looks like it’s just you and me pard’ner” sticker was a perfect sentiment because it will be just my son and husband going to this game, their first big father/son game with seats on the floor, a very special celebration indeed.)  On my second card, You, I pulled out my Cakewalk box and began pouring through all the amazing and fun colors and patterns and created a more traditional interpretation of the sketch.  I really am longing for spring here, with snow all last week,  so I decided on a spring palette and butterflies to replace the circle elements."

I absolutely love how she made grass using the green patterned paper from Sidewalks and the sewing?! Don't even get me started!

For my take on the sketch, I switched things up a tiny bit by creating a collage of instagram photos from my iPhone for the large background photo. Since that piece was made of multiple small photos, I decided to put the title on the banner strip and then 'hinged' it so that it opens up to reveal hidden journaling about each photo...it's been a long time since I've done an interactive element on a layout and I forgot how much I love it!

It ended up being fairly simple but those are always my favorites...I love that this one is a month in review of all the 'little' stuff that went on. Brianna already told me it was her new favorite :)

So that's all we have for today! I hope you'll play along and I can't wait to see how you use the sketch so be sure to link us up in the comments!

Happy Thursday!

Kinsey & Danni

Happy String

Okay, yes, happy spring, too. :) Today's tutorial was inspired by an image I, Vivian, pinned on Pinterest a while back:

(Click on image to see source and directions for making these eggs.)

I love the simple yet bold look of these egg designs and wanted to replicate that look with paper. Today I'm going to show you just how I did that, using string to mask off cardstock prior to spraying ink over it. Let's get started!

 

Step #1: Materials

Grab the "ingredients" needed:

• White cardstock
• String
• Scissors
• Masking tape
• Sprinkler color(s) of your choosing

Step #2: Mask Off the Paper

Cut several different lengths of string that will be used to make your design. Make sure each length is a little longer than either the length or width of your piece of white cardstock. Tape one end of the string to the back of the white cardstock and stretch it across the front of the cardstock, taping the other end under on the back of the cardstock. Repeat with as many pieces of string as desired. Here's what this looks like, front and back:

 

Step #3: Apply Sprinkler

Put your string-covered white cardstock inside an empty box. Spray the ink directly over the top of the string-covered cardstock, let dry, and then remove the string. Here's what this looks like immediately after applying the ink and then after removing the string:

 

Step #4: Use on a Layout (or Card)

I cut three 3.5" squares from the masked/misted piece above and used it to create this layout:

The lines looked a lot like clotheslines to me, so I used mini clothespins to "hang" stickers, Flower Sack elements, and die cuts from the Sidewalks and Cherry Hill collections.

I used this string-masking technique on another layout, creating a mat for my photo and using the string lines to draw attention to the subjects in the photo:

This layout features the new Woodland Park collection and the Cactus Sprinkler from the Sasparilla collection (which coordinates beautifully with Woodland Park). In addition to spraying ink, I also dripped some bigger blobs of ink on the cardstock for a different effect.

If you give this technique a go, please be sure to post your creation(s) to our October Afternoon Flickr Gallery for all to see!

Happy String/Spring!

Sasparilla Winner

Here is the winner from the Sasparilla drawing.  Email your address to [email protected] within 30 days to claim your prize.

Everything in this collection is adorable!! You could do so many things with it because it's themed, but versatile. I'd I were to choose a favorite item from this line it'd have to be the cute little mini album! I have been waiting for the perfect line to scrapbook my Arizona trip and this is it!

Posted by: Emily | March 01, 2012 at 12:16 AM

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!

Sasparilla's For More Than Just Cowboys, Y'all :D

Howdy, OA fans! It's Amy here today with a little tutorial on how to look at Sasparilla for more than just cowboy/cowgirl or farm related projects. Let's get started!

We all know how adorable Sasparilla is for those country-themed projects. It's perfect for rodeos, pony rides, farm visits, and all things non city-slicker. BUT what you may not notice at first glance are the various other themes that can come together perfectly with this eclectic collection. 

WATER THEMEFor my page today, I chose to use the clouds in the Cattle Drive paper as the primary focus of my page. I paired it with the stripes from Pony Express, altering it slightly to cover up the red stripes, to give a rainy effect from below the clouds. The colors of the aquas, yellows, greys, creams and blues lend beautifully for water-themed projects, like this one of my daughter dancing in an early summer downpour. I bet there are some papers in here that would go great with Seaside or Boarding Pass, for example, even.Because many of the embellishments in Sasparilla are more "western" in flavor, I used my beautiful teal buttons, Alpha Stickers, Little Fliers and Wrap Pack to do most of the embellishments on my page along with my papers.

So, since my layout is primarily in the cool range of colors (blues) from Sasparilla, I thought I would go through the collection (minus the overtly "western-themed" pieces) with both of the projects I created and give you a little mix-and-match rundown of some of the ideas and theme's you could easily build upon using the papers I've shown. 

THE BLUES
Now let's talk about the BLUES in this collection. 
Left to Right: Rustler, Gold Rush, Tumbleweeds, Stagecoach, Wide Open Spaces, Cattle Drive, Giddy Up, Big Sky, Dash Dalton, Wagon Train

We have aqua, we have denim, we have sky blue, we have cobalt blue, we have nearly navy blue, we have grey blue and I'm sure there are a few more in there that are hidden so beautifully it all just becomes seamless! This palette right here, is so multi-functional and crosses over so many genres from kids to adults, feminine to masculine, you really can't ask for more!. You name it, the blues have it in this collection!

FISHING, FATHER'S DAY, CABIN THEMES
For example, in this selection we have Gold Rush, Stagecoach and Wide Open Spaces.This to me, looks like it would make an AWESOME fishing related layout, or what about a Father's Day card with a fishing theme? I LOVE it!

PRE-TEEN/TEENAGER THEME
And here, this one, I was excited to discover, Dash Dalton, Stagecoach, Pony Express.I can TOTALLY see this for a pre-teen/teenage boy birthday card, or layout. The jeans? Please! Yes. Totally works!

SUMMER, MEMORIAL DAY, 4th OF JULY, BBQ THEMES
Next up, this is a pretty obvious one, but I threw in the clouds to add a little more whimsy. Here we have Cattle Drive, Giddy Up, Pony Express, Dash Dalton, Pony Express.Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Memorial Day is coming up, sand that means summer! Summer means 4th of July, BBQs and all things Americana here in the states. Perfect! I can totally see an entire mini album created with just these papers, for summer - SO cute!
 

HOME THEMEThroughout this collection there is a warmth in all the pattern and color. But also a cozy warmth that resides in the "western" theme. It's a feeling of  "home". Maybe not your literal home, or mine, but that traditional old flavor, like a great patina. It's worn in and comfortable. This general "feel" lends itself beautifully to the theme of "home". 

For my card I used this theme to create a home related sentiment that could mean welcome home or you are home "here". I decided to stay very neutral with an emphasis on the greys, yellows, creams, and little bit of aqua, green. I used the map image to give the sense of  "here you are" and added the crocheted trim from the wrap pack, to further emphasize that feminine touch of "home" in my card.

THE YELLOWS
Now let's talk about the YELLOWS in this collection.

The blues and the yellows, I felt, were the standout colors from this collection, aside from the decidedly cowboy related papers. So here I've put together a couple swatch groupings using the yellows as the jumping off point for a couple more themes to try out with the Sasparilla collection.

FASHION THEME
To me, this group of papers screams "wear me!" all over it! And believe me, I wish I could! :D 

Dash Dalton, High Noon, and Gold Rush round out this trio of trendy colors that's made it's way beautifully into the Sasparilla collection just to make us all swoon. Ahhhh, yellow, grey, cream, and denim! I love it! I would love to see layouts or cards made with this group all about wearable fashion or even about home decor. Those are great things to scrap about!

EVERYDAY, TRADITIONAL THEME
Gold Rush, HIgh Noon, Gold Rush, and Tumbleweeds is a nice blend of current colors mixed with traditional patterns and textures.  This classic grouping of high, medium and low contrast valued papers would be just splendid for everyday or traditional-themed scrapping. This mix really reminds me of my grandfather's wool jackets, and I really can see this being an ideal mix for a theme related to similar stories.

YOU-NAME-IT THEME
Last up, I thought I would present my favorite mix of all the papers in the Sasparilla collection. Gold Rush, Tumbleweeds, Wide Open Spaces, Stagecoach and High Noon.
I believe you could do just about anything with this group of papers. The reason I feel this, is because its two most dominant colors are neutrals - the grey bandanna pattern and the wood-grain pattern. Then the lighter papers are all in the same color range with yellows, warm and light. The project could go masculine. It could go feminine. It could go young. It could go not so young. It could be about the outdoors, or the indoors. I really see this group of papers very versatile and a grouping that I am anxious to work with in the very near future!

That's going to do it here for me today! I hope that you've seen Sasparilla in a little broader fashion than you may have previously. It's such a fun collection and FULL of possibilities! Thank you so much for stopping by today and I hope you have a wonderful Tuesday! :D

♥challenge:celebrating dr.seuss♥

good morning.  danni here with today's new monday challenge.  when thinking up the challenge today, i thought it would be fun to celebrate Dr. Seuss, with the release of The Lorax in theatres this month. 

the challenge:  create a layout or card using one of your favorite Dr. Seuss quotes

 joining me today is kinsey and she chose one of my most favorite quotes by dr. seuss, sure to be one of yours too ;)

 

today you are you

that is truer than true

there is no one alive

who is you-er

than you

 and she created this wonderful cut file for your silhouette cameo for anyone that may want to use it {yeah, she's awesome like that}

 

 Download Kinsey lo cut file

 

 

layout by kinsey

 

 

 

 here's what kinsey had to say about her layout. 

"When I first read about Danni's challenge, my mind immediately went to "oh the places you will go" and I really thought that would be the quote I would use and I then I did a google search and the quote from Happy Birthday took first place. I love it. I didn't even feel like I needed to add any journaling to this one because the quote says it all. I created a silhouette cut file with the text and cut it out of the wood grain paper from 9 to 5."

 

 

 

this is such an amazing layout kinsey to go with that quote.  love all the stars, the amazing cut-file and what a fun pic!

 

for my layout, i chose a recent picture of my daughter reading her new favorite book and of course chose the following quote:

 

the more that you read,

the more things you will know.

the more that you learn,

the more places you'll go.

 

 

layout by danni

 

 

 

 i can not tell you how i love all the different colors and patterns in the Woodland Park line

 

 

 

 

 

thanks for joining us today!   if you participate with your favorite dr. seuss quote, we would love to see your layout/card in the OA Flickr gallery.  please leave us a link here in the comments section so we can check them out.

happy creating♥

danni

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!