October Afternoon

Announcing Daily Flash - Eggnog

Daily Flash^TM is shipping to stores now!  Here is one of the new Mini-Collections coming to a scrapbook store near you:  Eggnog—a holiday collection featuring a non-traditional, retro color palette. 

Celebrate a kitschy Christmas with Eggnog’s gingerbread men and candy pieces.  Don’t forget about Santa Claus and his elves, all keeping an eye out for the naughty and the nice.  In Eggnog you will find these and more classic images done up in a fun and spunky style.  Eggnog is perfect for documenting Christmas past, present and future!

 

If you love Eggnog, be sure to check out our Very Merry December Kit!  Featuring many exclusive items designed to complement our Eggnog collection.  Perfect to use on its own, or to combine with our Eggnog products to capture all your holiday memories.

Comment below for a chance to receive a beautiful selection of products from this Mini-Collection!

 

It's going to be a Very Merry December

Hi everyone, Mou here and the Very Merry December kit inspiration starts here today! Please join Mandy, and me for cover ideas for your Very Merry December album! As I'm typing this post up, Mandy is putting finishing touches on her cover. So, I'll go first :)

As you might already know, paints are a staple in my projects. This one is no exception. Let me show you the simple steps for my cover.

I colored parts of the cover mint green and red. When those paints dried, I created a moderately thick whitewash with white acrylic paint. Next I took a palette knife and applied some cream paint which pulled some of the white paint and subtly revealed the colors underneath.

I lay the Hello December card and traced around it. I sketched a scalloped frame and painted it light blue.

I tore off a bit of gold mesh washi tape, notched one end, and attached it to the Hello December card, and stitched it. I attached it inside the frame. Next, I added some details with pencil like outlining the frame, drawing an arrow across the cover, and attached the kit exclusive Tin Pin '2013'.

Now let me share Mandy's beautiful cover.

Mandy says: "There are so many possibilities when it comes to creating the cover of this album especially with all the awesome items included in this kit. I actually thought I would do something a little mixed mediaish but in the end I decided to keep my cover pretty simple. The "Hello December" journal card was one of my favorites from the Very Merry December kit I knew  it would be great for my cover.I added a few embellishments: the stamp, 2013 badge, and ribbon. I'm happy with my cover and I'm really excited to create the inside."  

Be sure to check back on Saturday for more cover ideas by Alex, Danni, and Laura using the Very Merry December kit. And I hope you'll join us every week on Wednesdays and Saturdays as we work on our albums throughout December and into the New Year :)

Tuesday Tutorial: Can-Do Holiday Album Pages

As the holidays approach, the scrapbooking world is abuzz with chatter about holiday albums. There are so many creative approaches out there, and I am sure that we will be seeing proof of this in the weeks ahead, especially as October Afternoon fans begin to share what they've created with their Very Merry December kits! 

Still, for some people, the idea of a holiday album feels like the Everest of scrapbooking projects, especially since December can be quite busy. Today I'd like to share an idea for taking the spirit of a daily album and condensing it into two -- just two -- album sleeves, with a little help from Daily Flash. 

Step 1. Gather your supplies, including a variety of holiday-themed papers and accents (such as those from the Silent Night collection), mists and ink (if you'd like to add more color to items), and two 6" x 8" Daily Flash album sleeves with 2" x 2" squares.  

Step 2.  Using a die-cutting machine, cut a series of numerals.  Space them apart if you wish to use the negative space, and not just the positive.  As I arranged the numerals, I opted to stop at number 24, since my album pages will serve as an Advent countdown (Advent runs from December 1 to December 24 this year).  If you don't have a die-cut machine, don't worry -- letter stickers or a number stencil could work, too!  You could also just go wild with a date stamp, stamping each date repeatedly to fill one of the squares of the album.  
Step 3. If you want to use both the die-cut numerals as well as the negative space left behind after cutting, trim around the negative spaces to create 2" x 2" squares. Step 4. Tuck the numbers in the sleeves, alternating rows to leave room to add photos and journaling above and below the numerals. Step 5. Trim a series of 2" x 2" patterned squares to tuck into the pockets behind the die-cut numbers.  Some of these may also be used to house journaling and accents, and others may be used to mat photos. I used papers from the Silent Night collection. I love the range of colors and patterns!  Step 6. If you wish, modify the papers and die-cut numbers by misting or inking them. Add a few accents as well, for starters -- you can always add more as you count down the days until Christmas. Thanks for visiting today!     

-- Jill 

2013 Santa Sack Sale - Week 2!

Our first week of Santa Sacks sold out in a flash! Be sure to get your hands on Week 2 before they are gone!

Each Santa Sack contains assorted products from a variety of October Afternoon lines up to, and including, Travel Girl. Get over $100 retail value of merchandise for the bargain price of just $39.99 plus shipping.

 See PayPal button below...

Week 2 is now SOLD OUT!

Santa Sacks ship within 2 business days following receipt of order.

To combine shipping, please e-mail us at [email protected].

All sales are final.

Monday Challenge: Winter Fun

Hi OA fans! Alex here today bringing you this week's challenge.

Mandy and I wanted to show you the wintry side of the Silent Night collection. This collection can work for so many different occasions other than Christmas. Winter is definitely one of them! Here is the layout I created for you.

I am usually a very slow scrapper, but this layout came together pretty fast. I have used O' Holy Night and Midnight Clear as my base. I love the Tin Pin snowflakes and I wanted more of them, so I cut huge snowflakes out of white cardstock and spread them across my page. With them in place, my background was done. I then adhered my photos and added little bits and pieces such as stickers, chip 'n sticks, brads, tidbits and doo-dats around them. I wanted to incorporate more patterns into my design, so I added the fun and pretty sew banners above my photos.

I decorated the back side of the journaling card from the doo-dats with a "snow day" sticker and used it to document this fun day. The amount of snow we got last year was insane! To the delight of our daughter, we could even dig a tunnel in our backyard!

And here is Mandy's beautiful winter fun layout:

I just love the huge photo! Here is what Mandy had to say about her project:

"When Alex mentioned we were going to do a winter fun challenge I knew that I had a bunch of photos I could use. My family has a tradition where we all get bundled up and go sledding for the day sometimes even our dogs go too. It's fun for all and we all look forward to it every year. I love that the Silent Night collection has some fabulous B-sides and embellishments that work with many occasions besides Christmas. My layout is pretty simple and came together quickly with my go to large photo along with bits & pieces of the Silent Night Collection. Thanks Alex for a great challenge!"

Thank YOU, Mandy! I adore your layout!

I hope you feel inspired to play along with us. Be sure to share your wintry projects by uploading them to OA's Flickr gallery. 

Thank you so much for stopping by today!

♥

Guest Designer Anna-Maria Wolniak - Post 3

Anna-Maria Wolniak here! This is my third Friday meeting with October Afternoon readers. This time I decided to show my dear readers one of the possibilities how to use October Afternoon SPRINKLERS!

One of my favourite techniques is to use them the same way as custom watercolours. Here is a short tutorial with step by step photos how to work with colours to get the watercolour effect on your
project.

Here is my ready project made with OCTOBER AFTERNOON 'SILENT NIGHT' collection and my favourite SPRINKLERS:

First I create a simple composition using two bright pattern papers with some green elements. I added the main focus of this project - christmas trees (the focus suits to the theme of the photo
I chose for this layout). I applied some gesso here and there all over the composition using an old credit card, and I left it until it completely dried up (this is very important information; gesso has to
be completely dry before you start working with Sprinklers or other media).


Now take a brush and put a huge drop of water on the gesso surface. Before it dries, open the Sprinkler bottle and apply the paint using the Sprinkler's applicator or smooth brush. Put the drop of colour into the drop of water...


... work at the same way with other colours of your Sprinklers. Try to mix them a little bit. Avoid using a lot of colours. To start, I recommend you to use different shades of one colour or mix, or just two colours like I did here.


Apply more and more colour untill the effect how you want it. When your painting dries you can add some opaque white splashes–then you will get an effect of snowy weather :)

See you next week!

Anna-Maria Wolniak

Very Merry December Kit 2013 - Shipping Now!

 

 

Our Very Merry December Kits are flying out of the warehouse.  They are bursting with product to help you capture this or past years’ December stories. Featured in the kit is the new Daily Flash^TM Binder and Pocket Sleeves for fast, easy and creative daily memory keeping.

 

Each kit contains NEW product from our Daily Flash^TM "Eggnog" collection – which is shipping to stores now – as well as many EXCLUSIVE products designed specially just for this year’s kit!

 

There is a lot of excitement surrounding our FOUR exclusive stamp sets available only in this years kit and add-on.  See the pictures above for a better look at what you could be stamping with this holiday season!

 

For those of you who receive our e-mails, watch your inbox for a free Very Merry December cut-file!

 

If you are not on our e-mail list and would like to receive this free cut file, sign up below...

 

 

♥ Sketchy Thursday--Perfect for Thanksgiving ♥

Good morning OA friends, Danni here with you today to share a new sketch and some card inspiration from myself and Mou.  

 

Here is this week's sketch

And here is the card I created using this sketch as my inspiration using the new DF Apple Cider line, loooove it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's what Mou had to say in her own words:

Here's my take. Thanks for the lovely sketch  :)

"I decided to take the general idea of Danni's sketch and interpret it my way. I used October Afternoon Daily Flash mini collection Apple Cider for this card. I made the base layer out of Harvest paper and added a layer of vellum to mute part of the background pattern without interfering with the sketch. I replaced the circle with a tree I cut out from the Hayride paper. In keeping with Danni's idea of using leaves, I cut out leaves from the Harvest paper and arranged them on and below the tree. I added a handwritten sentiment to finish the card. Thanks for a fun sketch Danni!"

 We hope the sketch and the card inspiration will inspire you to create a Thanksgiving card or two for your friends and loved ones.  If you do, we'd all love to be inspired in our OA FLICKR Gallery

 

happy creating♥

Danni & Mou

 

Announcing Daily Flash - Milk Money

Daily Flash^TM is shipping to stores now!  Here is one of the new Mini-Collections shipping this week:  Milk Money.

Whether you are capturing your child's schoolroom adventures or reminiscing about your own school years, you can find something in Milk Money to help tell your story.  Featuring iconic classroom images from grade-school through high-school, Milk Money is great for capturing memories for students of all ages.

Look for Milk Money and other Daily Flash^TM products at a scrapbook store near you!

Comment below for a chance to receive a beautiful selection of products from this Mini-Collection!

Tuesday Tutorial: Christmas Countdown

Hi, OA fans! Mandy Koeppen here with this weeks Tuesday Tutorial. Have your kids started counting down to Christmas? Maybe you have yourself? Well I can say I'm not counting down yet but I'm sure as soon as turkey day here in the US is over my whole family will be counting down. Today I'm going to share a fun and pretty quick Christmas Countdown decoration I made to put on our fireplace mantel.

Let's get started.

Here is a look at the supplies I used to create my decoration as always you can switch out, adjust, substitute whatever you like. Dig in that stash if you're like me you probably have an older October Afternoon Christmas line in there if you haven't already picked up the new Silent Night line. As you can see everything I used is from the Silent Night line. 

Besides your favorite OA Christmas line you will need your favorite adhesive(tacky glue & glue gun come in handy)and a wood circle(found mine at Wal-Mart for less than a dollar) or frame(you could do something similar with a frame).

STEP 1:Adhere your background pattern paper to wood piece.

STEP 2: Cut excess paper off with scissors.

STEP 3: This step is optional. Sand edges of circle. I like to do this to make sure the edge is even and I love the distressed look it gives too. 

STEP 4:  This is where your tacky glue or glue gun come in handy. Adhere ribbon or lace across your circle.

STEP 5: Adhere mini clothespin to middle of lace/ribbon. 

STEP 6: Create title. I used this chipboard piece for my title then layered on several different pattern papers.

STEP 7: Adhere your title to the circle. I placed mine at the bottom but you can put yours wherever you like.

STEP 8: Embellish the circle. Leaving a space in the middle for your daily countdown number card.You could also do this step last but I decided not to wait. 

Step 9: Depending on how you choose to display your circle this is the step where I added ribbon to the back because I thought I would hang it but then decided to use a mini easel stand i had in my stash. You could hang it with ribbon, you could put a magnet on the back to hang it on the fridge, or you could get a mini stand like I did. 

STEP 10: Cut out one 12x12 sheet of the October Afternoon journal cards. Each sheet has 24 cards(12 on both sides) enough cards if you start your countdown on December 1st.

STEP 11: Cutout 1-24 using die cutting machine or use number stickers for each of the 24 days.

STEP 12: Adhere numbers to each side of the cards. You can also embellish the cards with washi and stickers if you like. Here are a few on side A

Clip on your number remember start with 24 and go backwards.

Thanks for joining me for today's tutorial! I hope I've inspired you to create a Holiday Countdown.

Have a great day~Mandy