October Afternoon

Monday Challenge: Scribble It!

Happy Monday! If that greeting makes you cringe because, well, it is Monday, then it's time to loosen up with this week's challenge: scribble on your next layout!  

With a gold pen in hand, I did just that, repeatedly circling my photo, and then adding some extra scribbling to the right of the page. 

I even added some machine-stitched "scribbles" to the title and around the photo...

as well as up the page and over the gathered patterns from the new October Afternoon Apple Cider collection. 

Nicole Harper joined me for this week's challenge, and she interpreted "scribbling" in her own creative way on a layout that pulls together papers from the Public Library collection.

She "scribbled" with twine!  Ha! 

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

Thanks for stopping by today! 

-- Jill 

Laura Vegas shares a Daily Flash album for her last post!

Hey everyone! It's Laura Vegas here again, as I'm back to share my final layout with you as this month's guest designer. I really went back and forth with myself on this project. I really wanted to use the Milk Money collection, along with the fun 6x8 album. But I have designated school albums for both my girls that I started years and years ago, so I knew that I really didn't have a need to put together any sort of actual school mini album. I knew I could make it work for something though.


I've been teaching at Creating Keepsakes University this year, otherwise known as CKU. The event definitely has a "school" type theme to it, so I thought I could make the Milk Money collection work with a few photos I've collected along the way. I quickly realized that I haven't been taking many photos at these events, so I'm hoping to snap quite a few more photos at the last CKU in October to finish out the album. This is definitely a work in progress.

I printed out whatever photos I could find, many of which came straight from my Instagram and some even borrowed from other teachers at the event, dug out one of my badges, and started pulling out all of the journaling cards and accent cards that I thought would tie in nicely with my photos and the event. I thought the little graduate girl was really cute, and it ties in since the students "graduate" on the last night of the event.


Very rarely do I ever use my own handwriting for my journaling, but I was trying to save myself some time and decided to put pen to paper. I was reminded very quickly why I don't like to use my own handwriting, as I didn't think about what I wanted to say before I started writing and I made plenty of mistakes. I always journal better when I take my time and type it up, plus I can fit more since I tend to write a little big. The "Pick me!!!" card reminded me of the giveaways that we do in the classes. Everyone loves when it's giveaway time and I pull out the little papers with their names on them to draw from.


I thought the "What's for lunch" card was super cute. But I could only find one photo of food from the events, and it wasn't the best representation of the meals that were provided for the teachers. I really need to get a photo of the bacon at the next show, since I do believe that's our favorite part. Tons of bacon every morning. Loved it! But that's the beauty of a work in progress. I can get a few more photos when I go in a few weeks and add them right in here.

There's a story that goes with this last group photo, and the "remember that time" card was a perfect match to go with it. That story isn't quite one to share with everyone in the class though, so I will be adding that in later! I included those last four photos that I snapped while traveling to the last show. That's when I tend to take the most photos. Not at the event, during the event, or in classes, since everything is always so hectic and busy. No, I take them while I'm traveling, since I have way too much downtime than I know what to do with.

Thanks for stopping by today and letting me share my projects with you. And I want to give a huge "Thanks" to October Afternoon for inviting me to be their guest designer for September! I have loved working with their new Daily Flash collections, and I already have some more ideas floating around in my head with everything I have left!

Thursday Sketch: Squares & Rectangles

HI, OA fans it's Mandy bringing you the Thursday sketch today. When I'm assigned a sketch post I usually search through ads to find my inspiration.This time my inspiration was found on Pinterest with this really cool ad seen HERE. 

As you can see the sketch is made so you can put your pictures anywhere you'd like. You could use the large half circle like I did or maybe you want to have lots of photos on your layout it's totally up to you. Have fun with it! 

When I first saw this ad I knew it would be perfect way to use the new Milk Money coolection and those back to school photos. I didn't know I was going to create a 2 pager when I first sat down but as I started moving product and photos around a single 12x12 or 8.5x11 just wouldn't work for me. I'm really happy with this fun 2 pager! 

I had enough room to include all the kids on this layout and a layout like this could easily be duplicated for each childs album if needed. One thing I did notice is unfortunately the only shots of my Mav were blurs of him running to the bus or this shot that you can barely see him giving me the a-OK sign but it all worked out since the squares and rectangles are all different sizes. I also loved that big half circle for an enlarged photo that doubles as a pocket to add some tidbits from school. 

Roree joins me today with this beautiful fall card.

Here's what Roree had to say about working with today's sketch:

"As soon as I saw Mandy's sketch, I couldn't wait to start creating! I have been dying to try out the new Apple Cider collection, and I thought it would be perfect for a seasonal card. The square and rectangular elements drew me in right away, so I started by adding buttons from the Midway collection to the B-side of the Bonfire patterned paper. I added a strip of paper from the 6x8 Paper Pack, I used a Memory Card in place of the circle element, and then I added a sentiment from the 6x8 Paper Pack and one from the Flash Blurbs, a Tin Pin, and some white twill tape to finish. It is such a fun design and I just love the way it all came together. Thanks, Mandy!"

I hope you enjoyed today's sketch and the samples Roree 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: Plastic Frames

Hi OA fans! Alex here today, bringing you a fun tutorial. How many of you have tried to shrink an empty plastic bottle in your oven? My daughter loves that little experiment. That's what we are going to do today; we are going to shrink plastic. Not bottles though ;-)

I had this sheet of shrinking plastic laying around and I wanted  to make something fun of it. I am loving the frame trend I am seeing everywhere around me, so I decided to make one. This is what you'll need:

A sheet of shrinking plastic (transparent or white), your favorite OA stamps and StazOn inks. 

Start by cutting your sheet to a frame. I used my magnetic mat to keep it in place while cutting. I slipped once with the knife, hence one edge is not perfectly straight. Next time I am going to try to use the trimmer. But honestly, I don't mind that it didn't turn out 100% perfect. It makes it even more unique ;-) Use the whole sheet. It will shrink down to approximately 40% of it's size.

Next: start stamping on it! I have used the tiny little heart from the Travel Girl collection.

I stamped hearts in several different colors.

I also punched out couple of circles and made a few extra embellishments.

The pointing hand stamp is also from the Travel Girl collection.

When you are done decorating, it's time to put it all in the oven. You could use a heat gun, but the result is much more even when you use the oven. Especially with large designs. Preheat the oven to 275-300 degrees F, place your frame on a non-stick baking sheet and put it in the oven.

Pretty fast the edges will start to curl up and then go down again. After couple of minutes, the frame will lie flat. Flat means done. My frame happened to curl over itself, so I had to use a wooden skewer (after burning my fingertips!) to help it uncurl. This is what it looked like while in the oven (sorry for the bad picture!).

To help it keep flat, place a book on top of it when you take it out and let it cool.

And voila! Here is the result:

Needless to say, I had to use it right away! This is the layout I made:

Here is a close-up of the frame:

And another one...

Cute, don't you think? I have mixed papers and embellishments from the Daily Flash Summertime and Girl Talk collections. Oh, and I am soooo in love with the new Daily Flash roller stamps!

I hope you feel inspired to make your own plastic frames! If you do, please share them with us! Upload your work to OA's Flickr gallery.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

♥ 

Monday Challenge: Patterned Paper

Good morning OA Fans, Danni here with you today to share a new Monday Challenge.  Today's challenge is all about patterned papers.  We love them, we use them, we frame them, we hoard them, we can't wait until the newest releases and I can't wait to share several of the newest papers from this line

 

I.am.in.love. 

 

Today's challenge:  Use at least 7 or more different patterned papers on your layout, card, or project (make the patterned paper the focal of your design)

So I challenged myself to share the patterned papers in the line with you ON ONE CARD.  This was a challenge because I really wanted to share so many patterns and did not want to cut flags, squares or back a die-cut shape. I didn't want someone receiving the card to know I had used a ton of patterns on the card, I really wanted to be able to seemlessly draw the eye around the sentiment. I truly used only one embellishment, a tin pin, the rest is patterned paper.

I used this paper

 

 

 

Aren't they all fabulous?  I love all the patterns so much it was hard not to use every single sheet of paper in this line with you.

 

And here is the card I created with all those patterned papers and my tin pin.

 

I really love this sentiment and all the rich navy blue and browns in this line.

 

 

And joining me today is Mou with her faboulous take on today's patterned paper challenge.

 

And here's what she had to say about her gorgeous card in her own words:

"I loved Danni's challenge but it was hard to pick just eight papers! I settled for these 8

Public Library: Library Card, Story Time, Children's Section, and Librarian

Daily Flash Girl Talk: Giggle and Dish and Floral from 8" x 8" paper pack

Daily Flash Summertime: Blue Skies 

I cut out the sentiment and embellishments from the papers as well. Thanks for a fun challenge Danni!"

And we can't wait to see what YOU will do!

Thank you so much for spending time with us today.  If you take the challenge, or have taken the patterned paper challenge at your desk recently, we would love to be inspired by your creations in our October Afternoon Flickr Gallery

Happy Creating♥

Danni and Mou

Paper and Washi and Sprinklers Oh My!

Paper and Washi and Sprinklers Oh My!  That is just the beginning of what you find when you enter into the October Afternoon Warehouse Sale.  Our employees have been working tirelessly to insure that you have a successful visit to our sale.

Excited and early would describe the line of people waiting to get into the October Afternoon Warehouse Sale on Thursday evening.  We had visitors from as far away as Washington state.  The first people in line were a wonderful couple from Kansas City.  Many brought chairs and snacks and made friends with those around them.  All were more than willing to wait in line to be the first ones to get their hands on all of the great deals.

It was great to see the generosity of our shoppers who donated a truckful of food (669 lbs. to be exact) to be donated to Shephard of the Valley/Our Daily Bread Food Shelf. 

This is just the beginning of the sale.  We have 3 more days of deals and fun and we can't wait to see you.

 

Guest Designer Laura Vegas is back another project!

Hey everyone! It's Laura Vegas here again, and I'm excited to be back here guest designing for October Afternoon and sharing my second project with you. Last week, I mentioned that I knew I was going to use the 12x12 divided page protectors for this next project, but that I wasn't sure which Daily Flash mini collection I was going to use. The truth is, I really did know. The moment I saw the All Boy mini collection, I was immediately drawn to it. I love a good boy collection, even though I have two daughters. Luckily, as an in-home daycare provider, I have plenty of boy photos to scrap!
While I knew I wanted to use the divided page protectors, I also knew that my plan was to use one as an insert page in between a traditional two page spread. As I was working on this project, I did all of my planning knowing that the divided page protector would be in between the 2 pages of the spread. In the end, I realized that if I simply removed the divided page protector, my two page spread actually looked pretty cohesive on it's own. That was pure luck, since the only time I placed these two pages together was when I added my journaling.
Here's a look at the spread, with the divided page protector mixed in. This is how I had it laid out as I was working. You'll notice that instead of having a full 12x12 divided page protector, mine is a bit smaller. I wanted it to be obvious that there were 2 pages to the spread, with the divided page protector in the middle, so I choose to trim one row off the page protector. So instead of four rows of four 3x3" pockets, I ended up with four rows of three 3x3" pockets.
I LOVE the woodgrain pattern on the No Girls Allowed patterned paper. It's gorgeous! But I knew I wanted to create a die cut background from it, so it was a little less overwhelming on my layout. I used my Cameo to die cut the circle background from the full 12x12" sheet, cut it half to make two pieces, and then adhered a piece to each page of my two page spread. I love a good circle background, as those little openings are really fun to fill up with embellishments.

I added the 3x3" and 2x2" square cards to the top corner of the first page. I knew I had to use the "dude" piece, as I call all of my daycare kids "dude". And I teach them to say "dude" when they're really young! 
I had such fun digging thru my files to find some favorite photos of three of my absolute favorite daycare boys. I knew I had photos of each of them in Mr Potato Head glasses, or random sparkly glasses meant for the girls ;)

The Words & Arrows washi tape was perfect for adding a touch of that darker green to my page.
 

I printed out 3x3" photos to add to the pockets in the divided page protector, and filled in the remaining pockets with the 3x3" cards. I added some journaling strips to a few of the cards, but pretty much left them all as-is, without any extra embellishing.

Here's a look at the second part of the spread, after you flip over the divided page protector. I love having the die cut woodgrain paper on the outer edges of each page of the spread, as you still see the darker brown no matter which way the divided page protector is flipped.

This is the backside of the divided page protector. Just like the front side, I filled the pockets with either 3x3" photos or 3x3" cards. I ended up with four photos of each of the three boys, ranging from when they were just little babies, up until they were little boys.

On the first page of the layout spread, I choose photos of the boys in the silly glasses. For the second page, I dug up photos of the boys and myself. Most of the photos I end up capturing just show a child hanging on me or climbing on me. But I still love them!

The Tin Pins and Snap Caps made for perfect little embellishments to add randomly to the circles of the die cut woodgrain paper.
 
Thanks for having me back here today to share this fun project with you. It's been a while since I've created a layout about my daycare kids, and I love that the Daily Flash collection inspired me to create this page that definitely means a lot to me. Just like these three boys do! I hope you'll stop by next Friday, when I share yet another project with you!

The 2013 Annual Warehouse Sale Is Here!

We invite everyone in the Twin Cities Metro area and beyond to join us for our Annual Warehouse Sale!

We have loads of great deals on all lines still in stock up to and including Farm Girl. You can find pattern paper, stickers, Miscellany, buttons, Tidbits and Doo-dads, washi tape, and more!
(Quantities are limited. Shop early and often to get the best selection!)

The sale opens at 6pm TONIGHT and goes through Sunday. See flyer below for more details.

(Click to enlarge)

Just a reminder, please bring a bag of non-perishable foods as admission to the pre-sale tonight only. All donation will go to the Shepard of the Valley/Our Daily Bread Food Shelf.

If it happens to be storming, we will provide umbrella escorts. (Looking good so far. Fingers crossed!)

Hope to see you there!

Thursday Sketch: In Layers

Hi everyone, Mou here with today's sketch. 

Usually when I use patterns that are rich in color and bold in design, I like to keep the basic scheme of my page linear and simple. For example,

I used October Afternoon Daily Flash Apple Cider mini collection on this layout. I chose a white cardstock for background to create a blank canvas for the beautiful warm colors of the Bonfire, Corn Maze and Harvest papers with which I made the base layers. A little washi tape, few Tin Pins and some splatters of paint later, I added the photo, title and journaling. For me the hardest part of this layout was choosing just three papers from the collection. Here's a close-up view

Today, I have Amy playing along with me and here's her take on the sketch

Amy says: " I really loved the layers in Mou's sketch and decided it would be a great one to create a card with. I used buttons in place of the circles in the sketch. Instead of using a single photo, I used the main space for my sentiment and image for my card, cut from the adorable paper from Apple Cider, called Pumpkin Picking (http://www.octoberafternoon.com/show_product.php?line=DFAC&num=02)"

Isn't the card adorable? Thanks Amy!

You can play along too! Just follow the sketch and make it your own, use any OA papers and goodies you want, and share your project with us on the OA Flickr Group.

Thanks for stopping by :)

Tuesday Tutorial: Washi Tape Ruffles

Happy Tuesday! It's Laura Craigie here with a simple, and fun tutorial for you.

To get started you simply need a roll of your favorite washi tape!  I'm making two different cards today and chose these tapes.  The gray stars are from Daily Flash, and the green floral is from the Public Library line.

Then you want to tear, or cut off two fairly long lengths of tape depending on how long you want your ruffle to be.

Take the two lengths and adhere them to each other sticky sides together.  This will give the ruffles some thickness, and not have the pieces sticking together where you don't want them.  I try to line up the patterns as best I can when possible.

Next you want to grab a stapler, and simply fold over a little section and staple it as close to the top as possible, and repeat it over and over creating a ruffle.  You want the staples to be as close to the top so that you have lots of the ruffle showing since we will be hiding the stapled part under some patterned paper.

Then you just keep going till you have the length you desire.  

Isn't that just so easy?  And it looks ridiculously cute on projects and helps make a dent in your washi tape stash, which I'm sure you guys are collecting too, right? :)

Here are the two cards I made with their washi ruffles.

The first is made with the Milk Money Daily Flash line, and Travel Girl Alphabet stickers.

And one more with the floral tape I just made, and the Girl Talk Daily Flash line.

Thanks so much for stopping by today, I had so much fun making these cards and I hope you feel inspired to try this technique on your own projects, and if you do, don't forget to share them in our Flickr Gallery.

Laura :)