October Afternoon

Creating a fun background with Woodland Park

Hi everyone, Mou here! Today I want to share with you a few tips about creating fun layered backgrounds with the Woodland Park collection.

Tip # 1: Start with a neutral background: I used an ivory cardstock.

Tip # 2: Use Sprinklers with a favorite stencil to create the first layer.

To avoid spraying in places you don't want colors on, put an extra piece of paper or two to cover around the stencil. Spray lightly.

Repeat in another area with another color of mist. Always keep in mind that you want to guide the viewer's eyes around the page.

Tip # 3: Use die cuts to add extra oomph!

In keeping with the circle pattern of the stencil, I die-cut Willow Path from the 8x8 paper pad into scalloped rounds and a 6" doily from Blue Sky, also from the 8x8 paper pad.

I layered the scalloped rounds onto the misted design. Then I cut up the doily diecut into parts and attached pieces of it around the page to look like this...

Tip # 4: Knowing when to stop - sometimes I get carried away and forget that I had set out to create a background! So, I'm going to stop right here and start focusing on the actual layout.

At this point, I matted my photo with pieces of Willow Path, Blue Sky, and Gooseberry Falls papers and attached it near the right edge of the page. I added pieces from the 12x12 Shape Stickers, Chip 'n Stick, and Miscellany to embellish. I journaled on a die-cut label from the Miscellany pack and attached it below the photo tucking it slightly under the scalloped round. 

 

Next, I added the title using 12x12 Alpha Stickers and Mini Market Alpha Stickers Mint & Creme.

I stitched a bit with my sewing machine to add some texture to my layout.

Finally, I add some splatters of pink and orange Twinkling H2O to finish my layout.

Hope you enjoy creating your own fun backgrounds with Woodland Park Sprinklers and other elements! Please share your projects at the OA Flickr Gallery.

Thursday Sketch: Tried-and-True Grid

Happy Thursday!  It's Jill here, with a sketch that makes use of a tried-and-true grid format while also allowing for a bold title: 

This design can incorporate up to sixteen (count 'em, sixteen!) photos. However, since it can be somewhat tedious to trim sixteen individual photos, consider resizing the photos using a photo-editing program (like Photoshop), arranging them in a grid, and printing them out, ready to go. That's exactly what I did here with the photos of my graduating seniors: 

One of the poems that my students and I studied in last year's senior English class was Robert Herrick's "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time." It was one of my students' favorites. The carpe diem message of the poem spoke to them, much as it did to the students in one of my favorite films, Dead Poets Society, in which the poem figures prominently. 

The first line of the poem serves as the title of the layout; it also influences the journaling as well as the use of the floral accents on the layout. 

Initially, I was going to use die-cut letters for the title, but when I noticed the negative space left behind after cuttting the letters, I decided to use it as a mask, and misted Cakewalk Crepe Paper Sprinklers over it.  I also misted over some Woodland Park number stickers to create the "2012" at the top of the page. 

The pink-yellow-gray color scheme has been catching my eye lately, and I love it how it looks here! 

I pulled the pink, yellow, and gray from the Midway and Woodland Park collections. 

I'd love to see your take on this week's sketch! Be sure to share your creations in the October Afternoon Flickr gallery. 

Thanks for stopping by today!  

a quick canvas art project

Good Morning! It's Becky here today and I have a simple project for you to try. I am a huge fan of creating one of a kind artwork for the walls of my home. I like to be able to customize the colors and the vibe that I want, so quite a few years ago, I started playing with stretched art canvases. 

Here's the canvas that I'm going to show you how to make:

I started with an 11"x14" canvas. The one I used wasn't perfect, it actually had some marks on it, so I painted the front and sides with a soft off-white acrylic paint. 

Then I did a little splattering with the Farmhouse Screen Door Sprinkler. I hadn't waited for the paint to dry completely, so it didn't have the look I wanted. Easy solution, I took paintbrush and ran the paintbrush over the sprinkles. It gave it just the look I like. I thought I would be starting over, but it ended up being a happy little mistake.

Then while the paint was drying, I took a simple secondhand frame that I picked up at an estate sale and measured the inside, then I cut a piece of ledger paper to fit.

I layered up a few fun pieces from the Woodland Park collection, including an oval sticker label that I had typed part of the sentiment on-

Lots of Woodland Park and Farmhouse Flower Sack pieces (my favorite!), as well as a little WP washi tape and an office supply tag, tissue paper and a little machine stitching. 

Here's the finished canvas again-

I attached the framed piece to the canvas and added a few butterflies from the Flower Sack collections. So quick and easy! This would be a great project to do with older kiddos. 

If this project inspires you to try something with canvas, or even copy this project, please share it with us on the OA Flickr group. We'd love to see your creations!

Monday Challenge: Colors

Hi everyone, Mou here with today's challenge which is all about colors!!!

Image from Design Seeds via Pinterest

Today, I have with me the very talented Danni Reid who created this lovely card...

Danni says, "I absolutely fell in love with Mou's color challenge.  It was really hard to choose between Cakewalk and Woodland Park for this challenge because the colors are so fun and festive.  I decided to play with the Woodland Park because I love the rich blue in this line.  Thanks for the inspiration Mou, these colors are so happy!" 

Thank YOU Danni for playing along and making this beautiful card!

And here's my take! .

I used the 8x8 paper pad from the Woodland Park collection for this challenge. The delicious blues, greens, and pinks seemed like the right choice for this challenge. Adding a few of the Chip 'n Stick chipboard stickers and Sherbet Mini Market alpha stickers helped me put the card together super fast. A little bit of stiching and a few splatters of Crepe Paper and Pink Lemonade Sprinklers, both from the Cakewalk collection, were all the final touches it needed.

I hope you can play along too! Please upload your creations to the OA Flickr Group so we can all be inspired!

Thursday Sketch

Hi everyone, Mou here with today's sketch!

Roree is playing along with me today and here's her take on the sketch.

She used the Woodland Park collection and a button from 9 to 5 collection.

 And here's my layout...

I used the Woodland Park collection as well.

 

If you want to play along, please upload and link us up in the OA FLICKR gallery, we'd love to be inspired!

Thanks for stopping by and have fun creating!

Three Giveaways, Three Winners!

We are jam packing today's post with WINNERS!!

First off let's get this post started with our latest giveaway, from last week's Kit Spotlight post for the giveaway of Studio Calico's Summer of '69 kit. What a turnout for this giveaway! WOW!

Congratulations goes to.....

 

April W!!! April see below, where to send your shipping information. 

 

Next up, We know you've been waiting and waiting. And your patience is much appreciated! :D

We have a couple drawings that we are late to the game on awarding, but we are thrilled to announce both our June 27, 2012, Miscellany Giveaway winner as well as our July 11, 2012 Woodland Park Blog Hop Grand Prize Giveaway winner, today! So, without further aideu . . .  

 

The winner of, her choice, the 9 to 5 Collection's Miscellany package, is: 

Kim Campbell! Congratulations, Kim!! 

 

We had a HUGE turn out for our Woodland Park blog hop and collection kit giveaway in our comments. Thank you, each and every one of you who left such sweet words about Woodland Park! We are thrilled that you love this collection as much as we do!

And now, the winner of the Woodland Park Collection Kit Grand Prize from the Blog Hop is:

Jamie Greene!!! Congratulations, Jamie!!

April, Kim and Jamie, please send an email to [email protected] with you full name and address within 30 days to receive your prize. Thank you so much!

Thanks, friends!
~October Afternoon

TuesdayTutorial: Clustering page elements

Hi everyone, Mou here!

Today I want to share with you my process of clustering elements together to create a layout. For this layout, I started with a 3.5" x 11" strip of Cakewalk Paper Straw paper and attached it to the right side of a grey 8.5" x 11" cardstock.

 

I chose Cakewalk Miscellany to build the page bit by bit from this point on. I attached the Bingo card.

Overlapped the photo slightly tilting it to the right.

Added a strip of patterned paper right below the Bingo card and photo.

Added the Miscellany word strip

Added the ticket strip next

Cut up the Party flashcard in to three parts... attached the first piece above the Bingo card, the second piece above the photo, and the third piece below the ticket strip to create room for journaling.

 Next, I added a few buttons

At this point, I felt that the layout needed a touch of blue and the blue seam binding from the Miscellany pack was just right! I stitched it into place.

Then I added the title using the 12x12 Alpha Stickers and Sherbet Mini Market stickers. To finish off the layout, I clustered a few pieces from the Cakewalk 12x12 Shape Stickers,  Tidbits, and Washi tape. Wrote my journaling and unified everything with a little bit of shimmery watercolors paint. Here's the completed layout...

and close-ups of a few details.

 Hope you enjoy clustering with Miscellany! Please share your projects at the OA Flickr Gallery.

Monday Challenge: Chipboard and Buttons and Word Strips (Oh My!)

Vivian here with today's Monday challenge. Some of my favorite October Afternoon products are the Miscellany packs. I am always drawn to the fun vintage images and the mix of die cuts and flash cards. However, there are other products in the Miscellany sets that I tend to neglect. Enter today's challenge: use the chipboard, buttons, and word strips found in the Miscellany sets.

Lexi played along with me today and created this fun card using the Woodland Park line:

Here's how Lexi used each of the three items for today's challenge:

1. Lexi covered the chipboard kite with patterned paper stitched together.

2. She used the button to anchor her greeting element.

3. She cut apart the word strip, using pieces from it as embellishments.

In addition to the challenge elements, I love the background Lexi created by punching strips of the Blue Sky patterned paper. Here's a closer look at it all:

My layout also features the Woodland Park line:

Here's how I used each of the three challenge elements on my layout:

1. I used the chipboard in two ways. First, I used the chipboard flower - in conjunction with a 2.25" square stencil cut from scrap cardstock - to create my own "patterned paper" using Sprinklers (from the Woodland Park, Cakewalk, and 9 to 5 lines). Second, I sprayed a piece of white cardstock and covered the chipoard flower with that once it was dry.

2. The buttons are used as the center of three of the flowers.

3. Like Lexi, I cut up the longer word strip into smaller pieces and used them as embellishments.

An added detail on my layout is the use of a Here & Now Chapter page for my journaling. I cut the butterfly's top left wing and tucked my photo strip behind it. Here's a closer look at it all:

We'd love to see your work if you participate in today's challenge! If you create something with the Miscellany chipboard, buttons, and word strips, please be sure to post it to our October Afternoon Flickr gallery for us to see!

Time for another sketch.

Happy Thursday everyone! Marcy here with a sketch for your Thursday.  It's all rainy and gloomy here... so what better way to spend the day than to scrapbook?  And if you've been blessed with warm weather I'm sure you can find some time in the coming week to play with paper!  ;)

Here's the sketch.

It would be easy to substitute multiple photos where the one photo sits... change the column of circles into stars... rotate it... whatever!

I asked Amy to play along and here's what she did.

I absolutely love how the cream paint softens the area where the patterned papers meet!  You can clearly see how her page is divided into two sections... just like the sketch.

From Amy. 

For Marcy's sketch I stayed pretty true to the original, just swapping some pieces around here and there. Instead of using circles up in between the two pieces of paper, I decided to use my Alpha Stickers from Woodland Park to fill that space. I also used my daughter's initial "L" in a couple different places on the layout, utilizing them as additional embellishments in my clusters. This is a great way of using up those fun alpha stickers we all love.

I decided to replicate the column of circles with the butterfly paper from the Woodland Park line. 

I left the banners as is and layered the rest of the elements on my page.

It was a lot of fun to mix up Woodland Park and Cakewalk :)  They worked really well together!

Thanks for stopping by today.  And if you use the sketch, we'd love to see your layout posted in our Flickr gallery.

Kit Spotlight -- GIVEAWAY!

This month the beautiful colors of October Afternoon's Woodland Park line set the tone for Studio Calico's "Summer of '69" kit.  And so, we have arranged a Give-Away of this SOLD OUT kit for one of our readers right here on the October Afternoon blog!!

To win this kit, leave a comment here by Midnight (CST) on Monday, August 20.  We will select a random winner next week.

Who better to help show off this kit than two members of OA's design team?  Studio Calico asked Lexi Bridges and Jill Sprott to work their magic with the kit:

LEXI:  I love a versatile kit. I love having products matched up for me and ready to go. And of course, I love me some October Afternoon ;)  For this "mustache" layout I used the more boyish colors and had fun with my Cameo. For the record: buttons don't have to stay round. You can cut them :)

 

JILL:  Working with this month's Studio Calico main kit, which features papers from October Afternoon's Woodland Park line, was such a thrill!  With its vibrant colors and lively patterns, it's perfect for creating layouts featuring summertime photos.

Don't forget, you must comment for a chance to win!