October Afternoon

Nicole Harper has joined the OA Design Team!

Kimberlie Denton, Creative Director at October Afternoon, is pleased to announce the addition of Nicole Harper to the OA Design Team.

Nicole, a medical professional from Northeast Ohio, recently served as a guest designer for October Afternoon and is a former member of the design team for Studio Calico.

Besides her career, Nicole is a wife and mother who spends her crafty time creating layouts and mini albums.

"We're very excited to have Nicole joining our design team," said Denton. "Her work was so well received by October Afternoon fans that she quickly became one of our more popular guest designers. We invite those fans to join us in welcoming Nicole to our design team and to watch for her blog posts in the future."

Welcome Nicole!

 

Tuesday Tutorial: Halloween Procrastinator's Edition

If you are a procrastinator like me (Jill), then you have been thinking about Halloween for some time, but are only just getting ready now...or you have plans to do so tomorrow (which is Halloween, I should mention).  It's time to pull out your October Afternoon Witch Hazel and get crafty, even if only to put together some fun little tags to add to treat bags or to string together as a garland. 

Begin by gathering your supplies, to include Witch Hazel stamps, Little Flyers, basic office tags as well as tags cut from patterned paper, Sprinklers, Miscellany die-cuts, chipboard shapes, modeling paste, and a palette knife. 

Now get to work altering those tags. Here is how I prepped the foundations of the tags you see above. 

Tag #1: Bat Tag

Tag #2: Black Crackle Tag

Tag #3: "Boo!" Tag

Tag #4: Green "Ooze"/Jack-o'-Lantern Tag

Tag #5: Combination/Die-Cut Tag

Once the base of each tag dried, I added accents, to include glittered chipboard pieces. They're easy to create! 

So there you have it -- a project that even a procrastinator can get around to trying this Halloween.  If you're a die-hard procrastinator, however, you can always switch out Witch Hazel for Make It Merry. :) 

I'd love to see any and all of your Halloween creations made with Witch Hazel, so be sure to share them in the October Afternoon Flickr gallery! Happy Halloween! 

A Monday Challenge - Repetition

Happy Monday everyone!  Hope you all had a great weekend.

It's Marcy here with you today to issue you a challenge for the week.  I want you to focus on repetition.  Repeating elements, colors... that kind of thing.

Here's what I came up with.

Two of my favorite things to repeat on my pages are color and pattern.  On this page for instance I repeated the same shape, a star, in a few places.  The green star paper along the bottom and also in the triangle at the top and the grey star paper at the top and then on the chipboard moustache.  

To tie those in together I added a punched star beside my new favorite tin pin.  So here the shape is being repeated as well as are some of the papers/colors. 

(Not intentionally... but as I was getting this post ready I noticed that I also began repeating the speech bubble shape... in the washi and the die-cut).

Along with the repetition challenge we'll also be focusing on the Little Flyers on the blog this week.  I used the Little Flyers from the Witch Hazel collection on my page by simply reversing the flags so any Halloween related text was on the back.

So, how are you going to tackle this challenge.  We'd love to see.  Share your layouts in our Flickr gallery and join in!

OA fans stepped up to help local food shelf

October Afternoon wants to thank everyone who turned out for the early-bird shopping opportunity Thursday night at our big warehouse sale. 

Admission for the chance to shop early was a bag of non-perishable food or household items for the Shepherd of the Valley/Our Daily Bread Food Shelf located in Apple Valley, MN.  Our friends did not let us down, contributing a total of 840 POUNDS of food and household items!

A huge tip of the hat to everyone who helped us help the food shelf!  Your generosity is overwhelming!

Here's a photo of October Afternoon Owner/CEO Jon Denton with just a portion of what was donated:

 

Don't let those embellishments sit unused!

By Nicole Harper, Guest Designer

Hello again!! Nicole Harper here to share another layout featuring the Midway line...this time though, it's all about the embellishments. After sharing a few projects here that were a bit more simple, I thought it would be fun to jam pack this one with Doodads, Tidbits and Miscellany!

   

I started with two 3x3 photos on the Photo Booth paper and built from there. This layout has lots of detail, but by spacing it out around the page, it isn't too overwhelming. I loved the 'Say Cheese' page from the Here & Now Chapter packet so I snuck it under the edge of the photos...and also used the '2' tabbed page as a place to type my journaling.

 

The die cut shapes on the Sew Fun Banner sheets are perfect to use all lined up...so I grabbed a few that had the same star print as my two larger pieces of paper (I would love to see that star print in EVERY color please...it goes with everything!) along with a label sticker and the green arrow sticker from the 12x12 Sticker Sheet. I placed them just under the photo mat and stitched them down. The 'admission' sticker may have been initially meant to refer to tickets for a carnival, but I saw it and thought it would be perfect to enhance the handwritten part of journaling I added at the bottom...kind of like a 'confession'. ;)



The top border literally 'fell together'...I had already placed a wide piece of the Carousel paper above my photos and was searching on my desk for the yellow word strip from the Miscellany packet. Naturally, the Doodads and Tidbits spilled all over my desk (since I was digging for something and knocked them over lol), and they looked kind of neat lying on top of one another. So I grabbed a few of them, tucked them under the edge of the Carousel strip and vowed to clean my desk.

The 'fun times' word bubble from the Word Sticker sheet seemed perfect for my title, so I added some of the Alphabet Stickers and added a few foam dots to the back for a bit of dimension. The photos here were taken at the County Fair this summer, but this page is more about the story for me.

The embellishment packets (Doodads, Tidbits, Miscellany etc) are always my favorite part of October Afternoon's releases...don't let them sit, waiting to be used!! Grab a handful next time you need a little something on a project and enjoy the big impact small die cuts can make when paired together!

News about OA's Warehouse Sale, Santa Sacks and more!

Hi everyone ... I'm Jon, the Social Media/Marketing Director for October Afternoon.  Amy was scheduled to be your blogger today but due to circumstances beyond her control, she was unable to do so.  That being the case, I'm pinch-hitting!

I'm here today to tell you about the big October Afternoon Warehouse Sale that kicks off this evening and continues through Sunday evening.  A copy of our sale flyer is below.  We've converted one of our three warehouses into a sales showroom filled with bargains galore, from some newly-released lines to some of the old favorites.  We've got paper, embellishments, collection kits and more and greatly reduced prices!  If you can't find a bargain at this sale, you're just not looking hard enough!

Now, I know from the number of questions I've received on the October Afternoon Facebook page that many of you are hoping this sale will be available on-line.  Unfortunately, it is not.  We are in the process of remodeling and expanding our office and warehouse space, shipping the new "Make It Merry" and "Farm Girl" lines and holding the sale, so in terms of time and logistics, it was impossible for us to offer this sale on-line.

To make up for that, however, we are extending the sale of this year's Santa Sacks to 5 weeks beginning Nov. 19th and continuing through Dec. 17th.  Each week's sack will be different from the week before and we're striving to make sure there is little or no duplication of products. I'll be posting information on the Santa Sack sale very soon on our website and our Facebook page and I encourage you to buy quickly when they go on sale, because our supply runs out in a hurry. 

While I'm on the subject of our Facebook page, I'd like to take this opportunity to invite you to "Like" us if you haven't already and to share our page with your friends.  The number of October Afternoon fans joining our page has grown significantly over the past two months and we're rapidly approaching the 13,000 fan plateau.  As we approach that number, I'm planning a great giveaway to celebrate the accomplishment that you won't want to miss!

The final post from our October guest designer Nicole Harper will fill this space tomorrow.  Nicole has done a fantastic job this month and we thank her for her great contributions to the blog.

Finally, I invite anyone who has any questions, concerns or comments relating to October Afternoon or our product lines to email me at [email protected] or message me on the October Afternoon Facebook page.  Good or bad, I'd love to hear from you!

Tuesday Tutorial: scraps & layers

Hi everyone! It's Becky here today with a little tutorial about using scraps for your layers on projects. I've heard lots of talk on scrapbook message boards about whether or not to save scraps. I have always saved my salvagable scraps. If I like a pattern paper a lot, I will likely save the smallest of scraps. Years ago, before I had my own punches, I would go to my local scrapbook store with a huge bag of scraps, and sit and chat with other scrapbookers, while I punched out shapes. It was so gratifying! 

So I thought it would be fun to share with you how I put together a really layered up page using my scraps. The only full sheet of cardstock/paper is the white background. Here are the scraps and tools I used:

I had some of my essentials for scrapbooking in place too, like my iced coffee and ipad : )

The two plastic containers (top right) are how I store my products. I like to store things according to collections. So the two containers on the table have two of my all time favorite October Afternoon collections-Farmhouse and Midway. They work beautifully together. I think all of the OA collections work well together. 

I went through each of the two containers and simply pulled out all the little bits and pieces. That's what is on the table in the paper pile.

I pulled out a few pieces from the farmhouse flower sack pack and a couple of label stickers to tuck between layers.

The way that I like to layer is building from the photo. So for this 5x6.5" photo, I layered a few papers under and then added a few pieces to the front. The arrow was simply cut from the Midway arrow paper and attached. I like to have one larger scrap of paper behind the photo anchoring it. In this case it's the gray gingham.

I've added a few more pieces to the back of the photo base.

I've added a few more layers and at this point, I'm adding skinny strips of scraps that I want to just peek out from under the larger pieces. I like to rough up the edges for texture and depth. 

I wanted to show the backside of the layered up base. As you can see, I've used scraps of papers that have been through my Silhouette Cameo and that I might have just tossed if not for layering. 

Here's the finished layout. I tucked little pieces in here and there until I felt like it was balanced and then I machine stitched the base before attaching it to the background. 

Here's a detail shot:

I want to share a couple of super simple tips that I have figured out about layering and creating this type of layout. 

• If you are going to be using standard page protectors with your layouts in albums, trim your background page to about 1/4-1/2 inch smaller than the standard size. So if you are a 12x12 scrapbooker, trim your layout down to 11.5"x11.5. This will allow a little extra space for the depth. 
• When you stitch on a layout, try to use the stitching to adhere pieces, rather than adhesive. If you use adhesive, it will build up on your needle and cause big problems! A little adhesive in a spot that you won't be stitching on, just to hold it together is fine, just be lighthanded with it. The stitching is a great way to hold the layers together. 
• Use a few different shapes and edgings so that it's not just a stack of papers. Tucking the circle shapes and scallop edge pieces adds interest and breaks up the straight lines. 

I hope that this inspires you to get more bang for your buck by using up your scraps to layer! We would love to see what you create, so please share your layouts and projects with us in the October Afternoon Flickr Gallery. 

Monday Challenge: Label Stickers in the Limelight

Happy Monday! Vivian here with this week's Monday Challenge. Today, we're putting Label Stickers in the limelight. Your challenge is to make the Label Stickers a main page element, rather then relegating them to the supporting role they usually play.

Long an October Afternoon staple, the Label Stickers have taken on a more streamlined office-supply-esque look as of the collections released this summer. Let's take a look at what I'm talking about.

Witch Hazel Label Stickers:

Midway Label Stickers:

Aren't these fun?

I shared this challenge with Danni, who came up with this super-cool Halloween card:

Here's what Danni had to say about this challenge: "I loved Vivian's challenge, to create a card or layout using label stickers as the main design element. Her challenge gave me a reason to pull out these incredible new label stickers (blank) from October Afternoon's Witch Hazel line that I had been hoarding. After adhering the various label stickers, I added some color with a sentiment sticker and some cutouts from the patterned papers leaving my focal with the label stickers. This made for a very fun, quick yet festive Halloween card in no time at all. This is a GREAT challenge for those extra stickers you may not use on projects otherwise."

Let's get a closer look at Danni's card:

I, too used the Witch Hazel Label Stickers as a main design element on my layout (can you figure out what I did? :)):

Did you figure it out? I left the label stickers on the sheet but pulled off the surround, which is essentially one giant sticker with lots of label-shaped negative spaces. I backed each negative space with a bit of Witch Hazel patterned paper, trimmed the product title bit off the top of the sheet, and used what I had created in the same way I would have used a piece of patterned paper. I printed my journaling on one of the label stickers and popped it atop its "home" using dimensional adhesive. A title cut from another Witch Hazel patterned paper provided a quick and easy title. (I left the copyright, date, and company info at the bottom, as it actually applied, given that this was a 2012 October afternoon! :))

Here's a closer look at what I did:

So, now it's your turn to give it a try! Feel free to use the technique Danni used, the one I used, or come up with your own technique to put Label Stickers in the limelight! If you do give it a try, we'd love to see what you've created, so please post your projects in our October Afternoon Flickr Gallery.

Happy creating with Label Stickers!

Have random photos lying around? Make a mini-album!

By Nicole Harper, Guest Designer

Hello again October Afternoon fans...I'm back to share a mini album I made with the Midway line this week!! As soon as I saw the 'smile' die cut chipboard cover that is included in the album, I knew just what I wanted to make this about. This turned out to be a perfect place to document those random photos that may not be 'page-worthy', but still have a fun story for my family. :)


I started by painting the chipboard with an off white acrylic paint. I knew that I wanted to use the Polaroid camera image from the Chip 'n Stick package, so I kept the cover pretty simple to let it stand out. I removed the chipboard 'smile' letters and set them aside for use inside the book...and just backed the negative space with my favorite yellow graph paper from  the Boarding Pass line.

I cut one of the Midway labels in half, using part of it just above the 'smile' cut out, and the other half at the top of the album. The blue seam binding in the Midway Miscellany was tied between 2 of the open holes along the side to add a bit more color.


I always use the inside cover of any mini album I do to kind of explain what it's about. I used some random strips of leftover paper on my desk: tilted them at different angles and adding more labels cut in half + banners from the Sew Fun Banner sheet under the top edge. (great way to stretch the value of those label stickers...I do this all the time!) I used one of the die cut Here & Now Chapter pages as part of the first page as well.


After I stuck down the papers inside the cover, I just added some of the Word Bubble Washi Tape, a brad and a button to finish it off.


Speaking of random photos...my 13-year old daughter texts me every now and then when I'm away from home to share her outfit for the day. It's a fun way to see what she's thinking, and I love that she connects with me with stuff like this. Here I printed out one of the photos from my phone and let it take center stage on the left page. On the right, I used the 'photo log' page that comes with the Here & Now book. You'll see in the following images that to keep my mini album simplified/easy to put together, I followed the same format for each of these pages that were used: piece of patterned paper with the corners rounded, and something to hide the border/edge of that paper along the words that are printed.


See how the pages are starting to add up? Easy peasy when you follow a format where an element is repeated! This time I used more of the seam binding from the Miscellany pack, and a photo on the right page.


I used another one of the pages from the Here & Now Chapter pack for the right page...I liked the sturdiness of the cardstock, but the image didn't quite fit with my album theme. So I grabbed another piece of paper from my desk and covered it up :) Here you can see the chipboard 'smile' letters from the cover...I just dabbed them onto my watermark/embossing ink pad , sprinkled some gold glitter embossing powder on them and heat set it. You can see the edge of the 'happy day' sticker from the 12x12 sticker sheet at the top of my photo...I just trimmed 'day' off and used it as a banner/flag.


Page 4 takes us back to the repeated element...right side of the page is the photo log paper, but this time I used a small photo with patterned paper. On the left page, I die cut the numbers with  my Silhouette Cameo and backed the circles with more scraps from my desk. The journal card was perfect for a quote I had saved on Pinterest recently ;)


The right side of this page is one of the tabbed pieces from the Here & Now Chapters, and I chose the '3' to represent the number of people in our family. I made my own border with pieces from the Sew Fun Banner sheet, Doo Dads and Labels. On the left page, I used buttons as my border to change things up.

Hopefully this album will give you some ideas on what to do with those random photos you have building up...please check back next week for another project!!

Sketch on a Thursday

Hey there, OA fans! Lexi here to give you a sketch today. 

I have this little owl wipe off board I recently hung in my room and, while I usually draw sketches out on a chalkboard, this spot under my sprinkler shelves is quite convenient for doodling ideas. Today's sketch has a classic grid with a sprinkling of embellishments and a piece on the right side. I purposely left the title and journaling off the sketch so you can incorporate that wherever you wish!

It's funny to me how I am the one making the sketch and then stray from it. I just go with it ;) I have a very loose grid here...one photo, one journaling spot, one stamped star burst "grid" if you will and an area with patterned paper and embellishments. This week on the blog is all about washi tape, which I think is perfect for layering.

I kinda love Midway :) Someday I really will use a different paper for a background, but today is not that day! For the piece on the side I went the length of the layout and then layered some die cuts with the date and a strip of washi. 

Michelle joined me with the sketch and stayed closer to the classic grid with beautiful results on a card!

Here's what she had to say: "I was immediately drawn to the 4 square grid pattern on Lexi's sketch. If you like to collect lots of items from one collection, like the cute office themed products from the 9 to 5 line, this is a great sketch to use for card designs. I was able to use four different patterned papers just on the squares alone. All of the little extras on my cards were easy to find from the sticker sheets, Washi tapes and designer brads. I have more detailed photos on my blog + I'm sharing my 1946 office find that I've been hoarding until today."

I hope this sketch has given you some inspiration today! As always, our Flickr gallery is a great place to add your October Afternoon creations :)

Have a wonderful Thursday!