October Afternoon

♥ Thursday Sketch ♥

Good morning!  Danni here with you today with a new card sketch for you. As I was going through the new Travel Girl line,  I was inspired to create a sketch this week that would leave lots of room for interpretation.  I love all the label stickers, word stickers, Tid bits and Doo Dads and thought this type of sketch would be perfect to highlight these fun bits to the line.

 

Here is the sketch i created for this week

(I used different colors in the sketch to indicate different patterned papers or bits of various Doo-Dads, Tid-Bits and Stickers.)

 

                                                     sketch by Danni Reid

 

And here is the card I created inspired by the sketch using the new Travel Girl line.  This line is more than just a "theme-y" line, this is more than just a "travel" line as Laura Craigie and I will share with you today.  The "B" sides are incredible and have the most fun patterns for cards and layouts alike.

 Go, Do Not Disturb card

(retirement card)

Go, Do Not Disturb!

inside reads:  I am re-tired!

And joining me today is Laura Craigie with her awesome interpretation of the sketch this week.  Using many of the patterns, a hexagon design, and awesome sentiment placement.  Check out her amazing Father's Day card.

 No 1. Dad card

 

Here is what Laura had to say in her own words:

"As soon as I saw this great sketch by Danni I knew I had to make those circles into hexagons.  It's almost fathers day and I need to make a couple of cards this year so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to do that.  I kept pretty close to the sketch, just turned it on it's side and brought the sentiment down a bit.  I decided to use papers from the 8x8 pad since the hexagons I was cutting out were fairly small, this way you see more of the cute patterns than if I'd used the full size papers.  I used a label sticker to visually anchor the sentiment and wrapped the rest of it around to the inside of the card."

 

 

 

Amazing right?

Now we're excited to see what YOU come up with using the sketch.  If you play along this week, please link us up in our FLICKR Gallery, we'd love to be inspired!

Thanks for joining us today!

Happy creating♥

Danni & Laura

Travel Girl Blog Hop - Travel along and win!

October Afternoon’s  Travel Girl has been zooming into stores and homes all over the world. She has been flying out of our warehouse to find new friends in places like Australia, Germany, and Japan. Featuring some fabulous, travel-themed images, the Travel Girl collection is perfect for all your travel-themed projects. But wait, that's not all! Travel Girl also features a gorgeous color palette, and fabulous patterns making it ideal for all types of projects with any theme.

 If you haven’t fallen in love with this collection yet, join us on a hop around the globe to visit the blog’s of our fabulous design team. Their project will be sure to inspire you and get you excited about Travel Girl.  Just to get you even more excited – there will be a chance to win a prize at each stop!

Once you have visited everyone’s blog be sure to stop back here and leave a comment for a chance to win the GRAND PRIZE. Tell us your favorite part of the collection or what you plan to do with it and you could win a “Travel Girl” Collection Kit!

Comments will be left open through Tuesday, June 18, 2013. The grand prize winner will be announced on Wednesday, June 19, 2013. The Grand Prize winner and all blog prize winners have 30 days to claim their prize after receiving notification.

Your first stop is Amy Heller’s blog. Just to make sure you don’t get lost we will leave you a map! Here is a list of our participating Design Team members to keep you going the right way:

 Amy Heller

Vivian Masket

Alex Gadji

Danni Reid

Laura Craigie

Jill Sprott

Mandy Koeppen

(Click images to enlarge)

PP-1001 - Guide Book	PP-1002 - Postcard	PP-1003 - Directions
PP-1004 - Subway Token	PP-1005 - Stamp Book	PP-1006 - Mix Tape
PP-1007 - Journal	PP-1008 - Train Case	PP-1009 - Plane Ticket
PP-1010 - Passport	PP-1011 - Camera Bag	PP-1012 - Room Key
PP-1013 - 8x8 Paper Pad	SS-1017 - 12x12 Shape Stickers	CB-1025 - Chip 'n Stick - Variety
SS-1018 - Word Stickers	DC-1015 - Journaling Cards	SS-1019 - Label Stickers
SS-1020 - Border Stickers	SS-1016 - 12x12 Alpha Stickers	SS-1021 - Mini Market Stickers
EM-1026 - Tin Pins	EM-1030 - Designer Brads	DC-1033 - Sew Fun Banners
ST-1023 - See the World	ST-1022 - Traveler	ST-1024 - Streets of Paris
EM-1031 - Doo-dads	EM-1027 - Buttons	EM-1032 - Tidbits
EM-1028 - Airmail	DC-1014 - Miscellany	EM-1029 - This Way

Happy hopping!

Congratulations to Jo Nevill...

...the randomly chosen winner of the Travel Girl Journals made by Lowri McNabb! She won with this comment:

Wow, what an amazing album and I adore all the supplies. Love your button too - I love making my own buttons !

Posted by: Jo Nevill | June 03, 2013 at 06:08 AM

Jo - Lowri will be in contact with you regarding mailing you your prize.

Nicole Makes This Adventure Stand Out

Hello again, OA fans!!
You don't always need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to your supplies...but sometimes rethinking how you use them helps get you out of a rut. ;)

For example, take this 'adventure' sticker I used for my title. I wanted it to stand out, so I used foam adhesive on the back:



Problem being, when you slide this page into your album, chances are the sticky parts of 'adventure' without the foam adhesive will get matted down. To prevent that from happening, all you need is some baby powder (or corn starch) and a paint brush.



Just add baby powder to the back of the entire sticker to 'deactivate the stick'...then peel off the backing on the foam adhesive and adhere the phrase to your page.



You can see that the foam adhesive is doing it's trick, while the baby powder does as well!

I let the rest of this page come  together by using various die cuts. I clustered them together with the 2 photos I had, keeping a few basic rules in mind: clusters work best with an odd number of elements, and the visual triangle concept keeps things balanced.



Odd elements: 3 die cuts + 2 photos = 5 total elements.
Visual triangle concept: orange (bracket label, journal card & DC alphabet) as well as blue (flair button, 'must see' word bubble & adventure sticker) die cuts/stickers all draw the eye toward the photos.

After adding a few phrases from the new roller stamps, I called it quits. ;)
Love how this turned out, and just remember to turn back to the basics if you get stuck at the beginning!

Monday Challenge: Just Horsing Around

Today's inspiration piece challenge is brought to you by me (Vivian), Jill, and a horse:

Jill and I took this inspiration piece in different directions. Jill, inspired by the shapes in the design, created this stunning layout about motherhood:

Jill had this to say: "My first reaction to seeing the challenge inspiration piece was curiosity tinged with bewilderment. Vivian definitely presented me with a true challenge!  The more I looked at the piece, the more I realized that it would be fun to create a layout working in pieced-together geometric shapes, which is what I did. I trimmed triangles and trapezoids from the Travel Girl and Daily Flash lines, aligned them on the page, and tucked in accents such as labels and tags. The "My Big Adventure" sticker served as the inspiration for the journaling, as I reflected on the amazing adventure that motherhood has been for me."

Let's take a closer look at Jill's layout:

I took inspiration from the contrast in the original horse image, as I loved how the black details really made the brightly-colored pattern pop. I die-cut black shapes and used them to set off some of the clean, colorful, graphic patterns from the Travel Girl and Daily Flash Snapshots lines in this photoless layout:

How will this horse inspire you? Share your projects inspired by this image by posting them in our October Afternoon Flickr gallery. We can't wait to see what you come up with!

"My Great Adventure" album from Debby Schuh

Check out this amazing album our friend Debby Schuh put together for some of her upcoming classes with tons of October Afternoon Travel Girl:

 

Here’s what Debby has to say about it:

 “Life is an adventure – whether traveling far from home… or venturing out on a road trip… or enjoying getaway time with girlfriends, there are so many stories to tell with the photos and “stuff” you collect along the way. This adorable 7” x 8 ½” album using the new Travel Girl collection from October Afternoon features their versatile new Daily Flash page protector assortment for a modular “daily life” approach to documenting your adventure.”

We are so excited to see our new Daily Flash page protector’s paired with Travel Girl on such a wonderful project.

Interested in making one of these bad boys for yourself? Hop on over to Debby’s blog to check her class schedule. Can't make it to a class? You can buy a kit from a store and have it sent directly to you! The kits include directions and color photos to help you create this wonderful album in the comfort of your own home. Or your friends home. Or your local scrapbook shop workroom!

A big thanks to Debby for letting us share this awesome album!

Introducing our Guest Designer for June: Lydia Jackson

Today, October Afternoon invites you to join us in welcoming Lydia Jackson as our Guest Designer for the month of June!

Lydia says she is "ecstatic" about being a guest designer for OA and that when she discovered scrapbooking through a friend 15 years ago, she never dreamed it would turn into such an incredible journey.

Lydia has had the pleasure of working in local scrapbook stores and has taught classes across Canada; in Los Angeles and Anaheim, California; and Brisbane, Australia. The best part of her journey, however, has been the incredible people she has met along the way.

She resides on Vancouver Island in Canada with her husband and three sons and writes a blog called Scrap Notions (http://lidibids-scrapnotions.blogspot.com/).  Over the last few years she has designed for Core'dinations, Imagininsce, 2 Scrappy Boys, Sketchabilities and My Little Bit of Whimsy.  She's also guest designed for many others and her work has been featured in such magazines as Creating Keepsakes, Scrapbook Trends, Scrapbooks Etc., Canadian Scrapbooker and others.

When we asked Lydia to tell us a little about herself, she provided these interesting (or strange, depending upon your perspective) tidbits:  She knows how to operate an excavator and considers one of her "happy" places to be at the controls of a big digger.  When she cleans, she sings ... and not a humble, quiet song either. She sings her heart out to the soundtrack of Burlesque.  She starts listening to Christmas carols in October, which drives her husband a little nuts. And she loves hats ... all sorts of cool, funky chapeau's, from fedora's to fascinators ... she loves em' all!

We posed a series of questions to Lydia in hopes of getting to know her even better:

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

I am both. Originally, I didn't like doing cards, but when my kids started school they were invited to a ton of birthdays and they really wanted mommy to make a "special" card. I learned to love creating these mini canvases.

What is on your scrap desk right now?

Coffee, a toy moose, my camera, my i-Pod, a wholebuch of cardstock and the October Afternoon Farm Girl collection.

What is your favorite October Afternoon line or product ... and why?

This is a really tough one for me. I have loved October Afternoon since their first collection.  In fact, Night Light was the first collection that I ever bought twice. But since I have to choose one, it would be Campfire.  I love the earthy yet playful colors, the critters are adorable and every time I see the animal tracks paper it takes me back to my childhood, reading Winnie the Pooh.

What can you NOT scrapbook without?

I cannot scrap without my paper trimmer, adhesive, my sanding block sewing machine and pearls.

What is your favorite source of inspiration?

I love cruising through blogs, Two Peas, Pinterest and a fabric site called Spoonflower, and if I am really stumped a sketch challenge never fails to get the creative juices flowing.

What is your favorite move, TV show or book?

My favorite movie is Pirates of the Carribean ... who doesn't love Johnny Depp? My favorite TV show is The Big Bang Theory because it makes me laugh. My favorite book is The Red Tent. I enjoy books that are told from a strong female perspective.

What is your favorite food?

CHEESE ... anything cheese! You cannot name a food that cheese does not go with. I dare you to try!

Besides scrapbooking and papercrafts, what do you do for hobbies or enjoying during your "free" time?

Ha ha ha ... free time ... that is a good one! Right now I'm building my own house and raising three kids, so really there is no such thing as "free" time, but I do try to make time to stay fit by playing slow-pitch softball during the summer and dodge ball in the winter. I find bliss in the garden, it is inexpensive therapy you can eat and I enjoy cooking and getting creative in the kitchen. I love getting out my camera and capturing memories and, late at night when all is quiet, I read myself to sleep.

If you were a superhero, what power would you possess and why?

I know it sounds a little lame, but I think I would be Sharp Tongue (LOL) and my super power would be to be able speak and communicate in any language. I would love to be able to travel and talk to anyone in their own language, and read ancient texts and understand them. I think that would be incredible.

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

My dad. He was a wonderful man and I would love for him to see how I turned out and just talk to him and hug him again.

 

 

 

Thursday Sketch: Pinterest Inspiration

Hey everyone!  Roree here with today's Thursday Sketch Challenge.

Almost every time I need a little inspiration for a sketch, I head to Pinterest. With so many images, how could you not find inspiration there? I found this cute image while I was looking around:

My main inspiration was the window and with that in mind, I created this sketch:

I kept the general look of the window but offset the squares/rectangles for a bit of a staggered look.

I decided to create a card using the sketch:

I stayed pretty true to the sketch, adding just a couple of extra panels to fit the space.

I used the new Travel Girl collection, using the patterned paper and label stickers for the background of the card. I filled in the labels with alpha, word, and shape stickers, designer brads, and a tidbit.

I stayed with a gray, blue, red, and cream color scheme (love it!) and added a little machine stitching to finish.

Mandy played along with the sketch this week and created This amazing layout. Here is what she had to say about it:

"As you can see when I sat down to create with Roree's sketch, my layout kinda wandered off to become something totally different than planned. I really like that this sketch gives you that freedom to make it your own, which was a great way to start this layout using an outtake photo from our Jessie's senior pictures.  I grouped products like the labels, the tabs, and added some layering while keeping the blocked look from the sketch in mind. My favorite piece right now from the Travel Girl collection is that "Not all those who wander are lost" sticker on the bottom of my layout. It's one of my favorite quotes and was perfect for this photo. To create this layout I used mostly product from the Travel Girl line along with products from the Daily Flash (alphas), 9to5 (label), and Midway (star strip) collections."

Isn't that just the wonderful thing about sketches? They really are just meant to give you a jump start until your creativity kicks in.

Well, I hope you enjoyed today's sketch and the samples Mandy and I created using it. If you get a chance to play along, don't forget to post your project in the OA Flickr group. We can't wait to see how you interpret it.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Tuesday Tutorial | Map Stamp

Hi everyone! It's Amy here today with a fun little tutorial on a couple different ways of using the super new stamp set from the Travel Girl collection, called Streets of Paris. 

Streets of Paris, Rubber Stamp

First off, I thought I would show you how to apply the very trendy technique of watercolor to this stamp giving it dimension and color. 

First off, it's important to stamp your image using a solvent ink, so that when you go to use water on your stamped image, that it doesnt' smudge or smear. It acts like a permanent ink and works beautifully for this application.

Next, I used water color pencils, which makes it easy to apply your color directly and in small spaces. I simply drew a line, somtimes a little wiggly, along the top edge of the open spaces in between the streets on the map. I trew them all along the top edge, just so it appeared that the sun was coming from the same direction throughout the image.

Lastly, I used my soft brush and water, to pull the color away from my drawn line with the pencils. I filled the rest of the space with that watery color, giving it a beautiful verigated color in each space.  

Next up, again I used my solvent ink, because I would be touching my map quite a bit with this technique and I didn't want any smudging. 

For this technique, I simply used my hole presser gadget to create a path through-out the map. I wanted something that wasn't even, showing a path, so I just followed the map. When my holes were punched. I simply used a needle and embroidery thread to follow the path with an over-under pattern to recreate the path with my stitching. 

When I finished my stitching I used my Travel Girl brads to create a "start" and finish to my path. This helps to define the path further.

Here is my completed stitching project, a card, which I thought would be a very fun graduation gift for this time of the year.

And here is the layout I create with the watercolored map.

I started out by creating a small vignette with my map, the girl on the bike and the explore flash card. Then I built the entire page around it as a background and corner interest for my page. The little hint of green from the water color really brings out the green from the other elements on my page and adds just a little more warmth, which I love.

Here's a closer look at the original vignette that I started with. I really love how both projects  turned out and how the map stamp took on a new look in each project.

I hope if you have the chance to try out these techniques that you share them on our Flickr gallery for us all to see. They are really fun and provide that extra customized element to your projects. Thanks so much for stopping by today! Have a wonderful day!

Monday Challenge: Colors

Hi everyone, Mou here with today's challenge. I'm fond of colors and so I have a color challenge for you!

Found this at Design-seeds.com.

The palette is close to the new Travel Girl collection from October Afternoon. So I picked these papers from the collection to make my layout

Passport

Camera Bag

Mix Tape

Train Case

And here's my layout:

I punched hexagons from the above papers and arranged them on a white cardstock. Some paint splatters, some stamping with See The World  heart stamp, photo, and journaling later, my layout was finished. Here are a few closeup shots

 I have Alexandra Gadji with me today and here's her take on the challenge.

This is what Alexandra had to say: "Mou's color scheme and the Travel Girl are a perfect match. As soon as I saw her inspiring picture, I was good to go.

I created this layout to tell the story about how much my daughter loves visiting her grandparents. She loves to sleep over. Especially without us, her parents. Usually, we have to nag and nag and nag in the morning for her to get ready for preschool. But not when she is going to her grandparents. This morning she was all happy and bouncy. She put her clothes on in no time and she even packed her bag all by herself. She insisted to carry her bag even though it looked pretty heavy. It's not often you can see her standing outside the door waiting and nagging us to hurry.

I stamped a lot of "go" in different colors, punched them out and used them as embellishments. At first, I wanted to stamp directly on my layout, but this felt safer. It also adds a little bit of dimension to the page. I wanted my stamps to feel a little grungy and not so clear and crispy, so I used water based distress inks. 

I love all the bits and pieces that come with each October Afternoon collection. Here I have used cards from the miscellany pack, alphas, shape and word stickers, tidbits and a brad. All those fun embellishments make scrapping so easy. I had to add a little touch of blue to Mou's color scheme. I wanted to pick up and match the blue in my photos. I tried not to, but the layout didn't feel 100% complete that way... I hope that Mou will forgive me for "cheating" ;-)"

Alexandra you are excused :)

You could take the challenge too! When you do, please share your creations with us on the October Afternoon Flickr gallery.