October Afternoon

What's coming in the Week 5 Santa Sack? Here's a little peek!

The fifth and final Santa Sack of 2012 goes on sale at 12:01 PM CST on Monday, Dec. 17th!

Make It Merry Give.Away.Day with Write.Click.Scrapbook.

We are here with a special Saturday post, and are sending you off to our visit our friends at write.click.scrapbook., with whom we've partnered for a special Make It Merry giveaway (or give.away.day. as they call it)!

Here's a sneak of what you'll see over there:

Please head on over to write.click.scrapbook. for a full look at this project, to see what's being given away, and to enter to win. Hurry, though - the give.away.day. is only open through the end of the weekend!

 

Happy H(OWL)idays all!

By Suz Mannecke, Guest Designer

I was beyond excited when Kim, Creative Director for October Afternoon, contacted me and asked if I'd like to guest design for the month of December.

Would I? Umm..yes please!!!!  I l-o-v-e crafting for the holidays! Pair that with all of October Afternoon's scrapbooking goodness and you have the perfect way to get into the Christmas spirit!

If you are at all like me, you have been anticipating the arrival of the holiday season and have been bustling around shopping for gifts, trimming the tree, sipping some cocoa ... and hopefully, setting aside some time for holiday merry “crafting!"

In the past month, I have been busy channeling my inner holiday s{ELF} in my scrap studio.  The bad news?  My studio has officially been categorized as being in a disastrous state of creative chaos; Category 5.  (My family will whole-heartedly concur with this categorization). The good news is, I will spare you the frightening photos of said space (eep!) and instead, show you the photos of the result of the perfectly imperfect creative storm. J

To start things off, I created this home decor mixed media owl canvas. I have an affinity for owls, so it only seemed logical that I would craft up an owl for the h{owl}idays. (*Now the blog post title makes a bit more sense, yes?)

This little fella was created with lots of Make It Merry and a bit of Holiday Style. I used a few Silhouette die cut designs to create him. I began with hand cutting a basic owl form from my favorite wood grain card stock and some pretty patterned paper for his beak, face, and wing.  Then I cut two leaf Silhouette dies, and trimmed off the stems for his "eyebrows."  For his eyes, I used the adorable rub-on OA red snowflakes to mimic pupils and irises.  I layered a die cut snowflake with a doily, patterned paper and that adorable holly Tin Pin.  A bit of machine and hand stitching was added for dimension. And for his tail feathers, I created a chevron pattern with my Silhouette Cameo, duplicated it three times, and then grouped them together and cut.  And here he sits, at his perch, on the wall of my scrap studio.

Moving on to a traditional layout.  First, I spray misted the background cardstock with a few whites to mimic snow falling. Then, I opened up my Silhouette library and found this design of nested circles.  Little bits from the Very Merry December Mini Book Kit were added into the circles. Silver Zing embossing powder was applied to the chipboard bell and number. And a touch of Stickles (glitter glue) was added to the snowflakes and gift in Santa's bag.  Love adding little extra touches like that. And lastly, a little hand embroidery in metallic silver thread finishes off this layout about my boys and their contagious holiday spirit!

Next up? Several gift wrap items. Many of which took only a few extra minutes to make but added a nice little handmade touch.

When I saw this little metal woodgrain gift box on Amazon, I knew I wanted to alter it. Here is what it looked like before alteration and most of the supplies/tools I used:
I simply cut a small piece of patterned paper to cover up the Amazon logo,(because I want it to be a bit of a surprise where the gift is from) adhered it to the gift box, and embellished. Quick, easy, and oh so merry!

I recycled and altered this fun wood grain gift bag as well. (Evidently, not only do I have an affinity for owls, but wood grain items too!)

Below is a fun and functional gift. A festive holiday-patterned chevron beverage container, chock full of some Dove Peppermint Bark Promises. Included in this design from the Make It Merry line is the flag, candy cane die cut, bow sticker, green ribbon and "Make It Figgy Pudding" patterned paper from the 8x8 paper pack.  I definitely will be making a few more of these!

Entering upon the aforementioned Category 5 Creative Chaos, my dear hubby asked if I would create some cards/envelopes for his reps/colleagues gifts. I got straight to work (as all good lil’ elves do) and opened up my Silhouette library to a gift card die, customized it with the "joy" text, grouped the design together, and cut.

I stamped the "Seasons Greetings" sentiment and adorably cute Santa (from the exclusive stamp set in the Very Merry December Mini-Book Kit) on some Project Life grid cards, and added Make It Merry washi tape to the bottoms of each card as well as to the back of each envelope.

Since my youngest son is completely engrossed with origami, my brain has been positively saturated with inspiration to draw from! This ornament was a result of that inspiration. I watched a You Tube Video of how this star pattern is created and set to work.  Then I added a doily, baker's twine, and Tin Pin from the mini-book kit, a bit of Stickles/glitter glue to some of the snowflakes and called it done! I’m definitely planning on making more of these and getting my boys involved! These would also make for a lovely bow atop a gift.

Next up? A quick card that was made using the Make It Merry banners to form the mosaic star. A bit whimsical, yes?

And lastly, a mini album of December Instagrams that I will be completing throughout the holiday season.  At the heart of this mini is the sheet of the "Make a Countdown" patterned paper cut into squares and backed with machine-stitched paper squares for added support. The cover of this mini is made from wood veneer shapes I spray misted and added a red book ring to. Each day I am adding one Instagram pic to the mini. I plan to have family members take a few pics to get them involved too.  Such a simple, totally doable, efficient way to document December (daily)in a "very mini" way!

So, that's it for today! I will be back next week with a post on the other mini album I am working on; the Very Merry December Mini-Book, as well as several cards, layouts and other home decor items.

(If you simply can't wait until then to see more October Afternoon scrappy goodness, follow  me on Twitter and Instagram (user ID "SuzMannecke -no spaces) for extra sneaks.

Happy holiday merry "crafting" to you all! See you next week!

- Suz

A Very Merry December minibook: Week 2

Hi everyone, Mou here for Week 2 of December with the October Afternoon Very Merry December 2012 mini book kit!

 

If you missed Week 1 with Jill, be sure to check it out here.

Here's how Jill continued with her mini book. She repeated colors and used the Very Merry December 4x6 clear stamp set (*kit exclusive) to add more spunk to her pages.

 And here are my pages... my pages are usually heavy on journaling!

And as Jill had mentioned in her post,

"We would love to see what you are doing with your own Very Merry December mini-book kit! Simply email photos of your pages, along with your name and the state in which you reside to [email protected].  We’ll add them to a Very Merry December Mini-Book Kit photo album that will appear on the October Afternoon Facebook page."

Happy Holidays :)

Our Farm Girl Blog Hop grand prize winner is ...

Hello OA fans! Today we are pleased to announce the grand prize winner of our Farm Girl Blog Hop! Thank you to everyone who participated.  It’s obvious from your comments that you love this collection, and that makes us happy, happy!

Without further delay ... (drum roll) ... the winner of a Farm Girl collection kit is ...

This is THE perfect line for me - I grew up on a farm, and now my 7 yo DD is growing up on the same farm!! I can't wait to get at it!!! Thanks for the chance to win!!

Posted by: Marie | December 06, 2012 at 12:06 PM

Congratulations Marie!! Please email your shipping information to [email protected] within 30 days and we'll ship your collection kit to you right away!

Also, don't forget to check out the blogs of our Design Team members as they will be announcing their individual winners as well!

A Very Merry Week Two!

It's Nicole and Becky (that's me) here today to share some ideas with the awesome OA Christmas products!

Nicole created this fun layout-

Here's what Nicole had to say about her layout:

This photo of my Dad and I is one of my very favorites...I love that it shows both of us totally engrossed in Christmas morning and completely unaware that my Mom was snapping photos. This layout started with that photo + the journaling card from the Miscellany pack...the rest of the bits were added here and there until I forced myself to stop. The title came right from the Make a Gift paper, and I added the button + twine to balance the bottom out a bit.

Love the layered up border below the photo and journaling.

I created a spread for my December Daily album-

I just have to say that the stamp set in this collection is awesome! I used one of the stamps for the embellishment on the bottom right, "it's the most wonderful time of the year". 

You can take a look at the Make it Merry collection here. I hope we've provided a little inspiration for your holiday pages and projects!

And don't forget to email photos of your Very Merry December Mini-Book to jon.f@octoberafternoon so they can be added to a photo album which appears on the OA Facebook page!

We made more of the Very Merry December Mini-Book Kits!

 

Due to the high number of requests we've received from fans, October Afternoon is producing more of its Very Merry December Mini-Book Kit, which features almost everything you will need to make a lasting keepsake of your reflections and memories during the Christmas season. 

A very limited quantity of this third run of the kit is available, so if you missed purchasing it the first time around, you’re not going to want to delay purchasing it this time around!  The kit includes more than $80 (retail value) of October Afternoon product and is available for just $56.99 plus shipping!

Besides popular products from previous October Afternoon holiday lines, the Very Merry December Mini-Book Kit contains items from our new “Make It Merry” collection, as well as several items that were created exclusively for this kit!

The Very Merry December Mini-Book Kit is only available on this blog and not sold in stores.

The Very Merry December Mini-Book Kit contains:

4x6 clear stamp set (*exclusive)

Make It Merry 8x8 Paper Pad

Make It Merry Chip Book with 15 grid pages

Make It Merry Chapter

Peppermint Mini-Market stickers

Licorice Label stickers

Make It Merry Washi Tape – Greetings

Make It Merry Tidbits

Make It Merry Doo-Dads

Die-cut Journaling Cards  (*exclusive)

Die-cut ready-to-sew stars (*exclusive)

Holiday Style Miscellany

Holiday Style Rub-ons

Red Number Tags Chip-n-Stick (*exclusive) (not shown)

6 Tin Pins (*exclusive)

3-yards Red Bakers Twine

1-yard Cotton Eyelet Trim

One 4-inch White Paper Doily

That’s over $80 worth of October Afternoon product … and it’s available now for just $56.99 plus shipping!

SHIPPING RATES
Contiguous United States ..... $7.00
Alaska, Hawaii and Canada ..... $9.00
International ..... $18.00

SOLD OUT!

 

We also invite you to follow along on the October Afternoon blog as our Design Team members use the kit every Thursday during the month of December. We also invite you to share your own Very Merry December! Simply email photos of your pages, along with your name and the state in which you reside to jon.f@octoberafternoon.  We’ll add them to a Very Merry December Mini-Book Kit photo album that appears on the October Afternoon Facebook page!

 

Week 4 Santa Sack is here!

Are you ready for some more OA goodness?! 

That’s right … it’s Week 4 of the Santa Sack Sale!  If you’ve read any of the on-line reviews of the previous three Santa Sacks, you know they are filled with a wide array of fantastic products and that the price is a tremendous value.

Guess what?  This week is no different!  

That’s right … Week 4 brings another box filled to the brim with more than $100 (retail value) of October Afternoon paper and products that have been hand-picked by our designers just for this sale … and none of it will duplicate what was in the previous three Santa Sacks! 

The best part? It’s all yours for the amazingly low price of just $39.99 plus shipping!

Plus, don’t forget that for every Santa Sack you purchase, you are entered into a drawing to be held at the end of the sale for the Ultimate Santa Sack … a box containing more than $200 (retail value) of October Afternoon goodies that will be shipped before Christmas!  It’s going to look great under somebody’s tree!!

Shipping and Handling charges are as follows:
Continental USA/APO -  $10.00
Hawaii and Alaska -  $16.00
Canada -  $18.00
All Other Countries -  $32.00

SOLD OUT!

Once you place your order, October Afternoon will ship your Santa Sack within 2 business days*. All sales are final.

(*To help speed delivery, when placing an order for delivery within the U.S., please provide a physical shipping address and avoid using PO Box numbers.  Also, please allow additional time for delivery due to holiday shipping traffic.)

Meet Suz Mannecke, our Guest Designer for December

October Afternoon is pleased to welcome Suz Mannecke as its guest designer for the month of December.

Suz has been papercrafting since childhood, when she would create homemade cards from her hand-drawn doodles and save all kinds of tidbits, notes and ephemera to paste them into what would loosely be called a “scrapbook.”

She currently spends much of her crafting time creating layouts, cards and doing her best to keep up with Project Life. She also enjoys creating December Daily albums each year, as well as working on other home decor projects.

When she’s not papercrafting, Suz enjoys playing tennis, working towards her black belt in taekwondo (she tests for “Recommended Black” in January), reading and spending as much time as possible with her family and friends at the lake.

She and her husband Michael, or “Mick”, have been married 17 years and are the proud parents of two sons, Ian, 14, and Ethan, 11. They reside in Nixa, Missouri (Yes movie buffs, the birthplace of Jason Bourne!).

Suz is a former optometric physician who turned SAHM after the birth of her youngest son. She has long carried the title of “family photographer and family historian,” and although she loves playing with pretty paper and embellishments, Suz finds the greatest joy in documenting stories with words and photos that capture life’s little details and extraordinary moments.

Suz’s scrappy experience has included designing for Freehand Scraps, and currently for Little Black Dress Kit Club. Her creations have been published in several issues of Scrapbook Trends, Create and Cards magazines.

Now, let's get to know Suz even better:

Are you a layout person, a card person ... or both? 

Both! I love creating layouts and making cards with the remnants of the kits or collections I play with.

What is on your scrap desk right now?

Besides my old (or new) reliables; a Mac computer, printer, and Cameo. I have the full collection of Make It Merry (swooning) and some of the lovely new Farm Girl collection as well. J

What is your favorite October Afternoon line or product?

Seriously? That question? It’s so crazy difficult to answer! I love everything October Afternoon creates, but to choose one line I would say Make It Merry for a holiday theme, with Witch Hazel a close second, and Midway for a non-holiday line.

What can you NOT scrapbook without?

This is such a tough question, but I guess if I had to narrow it down I would say pretty patterned paper, mist, lovely embellishments, stitching, and most definitely Cameo die cuts!

What is your favorite source of inspiration?

Pinterest is certainly a popular source for me, but my favorite source is when I am randomly inspired by something I see or hear. Oftentimes, I dream up scrappy stuff and rush to try to draw it out in a notebook I keep on my nightstand before I forget it.

What is your favorite movie or book?

Favorite comedy is What About Bob?. Favorite chick flick is You’ve Got Mail. Favorite motivational movie is Rudy. Favorite classic movie is The Wizard of Oz (minus the flying monkey and tornado scenes, which have caused a few nightmares and restless nights.

Asking me to pick a favorite book is like asking me to pick a favorite child! I really loved Harry Potter #7 and for a classic, To Kill A Mockingbird.

What is your favorite food?

I love chips and salsa from our local favorite Mexican restaurant, my mother-in-law’s homemade toffee recipe, my grandmother’s “Etta Chip Dip” and a candy apple pie recipe I make. Yep, that about covers the four good groups … or is there five now? If there is, I’m calling it the beverage group, and my favorite is Diet Pepsi!

What is your fondest childhood memory?

Hanging out with my sisters at our family’s lake resort. Swamping the canoe, having blueberry pancake eating contests (my sister Karen ate 14!), playing Tripoli with rocks for chips and candy for money, and using the porch screen door to catch minnows in the lake while singing “Crocodile Rock” are just a few special memories I cherish from that time in my life.

If you could have dinner with anyone, living or deceased, who would it be and why?

My sister, Linda or “Linny,” because she was taken from this earth all too soon and all too suddenly in March of 2011. I would have my niece and nephew that she left behind go to dinner in my place. I miss her. Every single day.

Watch for Suz’s blog every Friday during the month of December!

A Very Merry December: Week One

All this month, we are excited to bring you ideas for using the October Afternoon Very Merry December 2012 mini-book kit! 

The album itself is a Make It Merry Here & Now book, which can be easily personalized.  

Both Mou and I (Jill) got started with our albums by getting painterly.  Mou removed the chipboard letters from the album cover and painted the cover dark green.  She then adhered the letters above the word "Merry." 

"I I After staining the letters blue, Mou stamped them with the 'Fa la la" stamp from the exclusive stamp. She also stamped "December 2012' on a strip of "Make A List" paper.

The final touches include a stitched die-cut star and an exclusive "Very Merry" tin pin. Next week, Mou will share a peek inside this festive album. I can't wait to see more! 

My approach to the album cover was similar to Mou's. I, too, ended up with green fingers. 

I added a coat of gesso, and once it was dry, I sprayed it with mist. I then used a paper towel to smooth the color vertically across the cover.  I used a die-cut machine to create the title, and opted to trim around the negative space and adhere the resulting strips to the cover. 

I may add a few accents to the cover, but since I'll be opening and closing the album quite a bit over the next few weeks, I'll wait until the end of the month to add anything else.

The hints of red and yellow behind the word "Merry" are peeks at the first page of the album:

I like the idea of beginning the album with a holiday "greeting" of sorts. The colors on this page are repeated throughout the album, offering a sense of unity.

Since keeping up with a daily album can be tricky at this time of year, I decided to organize mine by weeks. I defined a "week" loosely, dividing the month into four parts rather than into specific seven-day increments. The tabbed inserts in the Here & Now book serve as dividers for each week. 

Within each section I record how the holidays are taking shape in our daily lives. Each page focuses on a different day or event.  The journaling is simple -- not to mention handwritten. The goal is capturing snapshots and snippets that reflect the spirit of the month, and a natural, organic approach works best for me. 

We would love to see what you are doing with your own Very Merry December mini-book kit! Simply email photos of your pages, along with your name and the state in which you reside to [email protected].  We’ll add them to a Very Merry December Mini-Book Kit photo album that will appear on the October Afternoon Facebook page.