October Afternoon

Tuesday Tutorial: 3D Christmas Ornament

Hey everyone! Roree here with a Tuesday tutorial.

With Christmas just a week away, I thought it would be fun to create an ornament for the Christmas tree. This project uses mostly paper, so you if you have a few sheets of patterned paper, you can create multiples very easily. I used the new Eggnog collection along with a few patterned papers from the Very Merry December Kit. 

Here is my ornament:

I decide to give my ornament a patchwork feel, so I could use as many of the awesome patterned papers by October Afternoon as possible.

To create my patchwork design, I started with 1/2 x 4" and 1 x 4" strips from nine different patterned papers. I adhered the strips in rows, alternating the widths of the strips and offsetting the patterns.

After I finished laying out the strips, I cut out six classic round ornament shapes using my Cricut Expression® 2 machine and the Joys of the Season cartridge. I zigzag-stitched along each strip of patterned paper and straight-stitched along the outer edges of each shape.

Then, I folded each shape in half.

I adhered each shape back to back creating a 3D circle ornament. (I used some clips to hold the shapes in place until the adhesive dried.) I then cut out some holly leaves and stitched along the outer edges.

I attached the shapes together and sewed two red buttons where they overlapped.

I finished the ornament by adhering the holly shapes to the top and adding some baker's twine for hanging.

Now the ornament is ready for the Christmas tree!

You can simplify the ornament by using solid sheets of patterned paper instead of creating a patchwork background, or you can make it fuller by adding more pieces. How simple or detailed the ornament is completely up to you.

I hope you enjoyed today's tutorial, and I hope you get a chance to try making one of your own.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you have a Merry Christmas!

2013 Stamp Sack Sale!

The First-Ever Stamp Sack!

Here it is ... the first-ever October Afternoon Stamp Sack!

What is a Stamp Sack?  Like our ever popular Santa Sacks, our Stamp Sacks contain over $100 (retail value) of October Afternoon product, which, in this case, means stamp sets!  Each sack will include seven high quality rubber (and possibly some clear) stamp sets ... and it's all yours for the incredibly low sale price of just $39.99 plus shipping!

Because this box weighs less than our regular Santa Sacks, the shipping is less too!  Quantities on the Stamp Sack are very limited, so don't wait!

Get the gift of October Afternoon product for yourself or a friend!

 

Click the Paypal button below to buy now...

 

SHIPPING RATES:
Continental USA/APO $9 | Hawaii/Alaska $12
Canada $18 | All Other Countries $25
ALL SHIPPING COSTS ARE PER SACK.

Sacks contents may vary (different stamp sets).

Monday Challenge | Weather

Happy Monday, everyone! It's Amy here today with this week's challenge here at October Afternoon. We've had a lot of winter weather here in New England this past week, so I thought it would be time for a challenge using your local weather as a starting point for your page. I was able to capture this adorable pic of my son early one morning on our deck trying to measure the depth of the overnight's snowfall, and I thought it would make an adorable page using the beautiful wintery mix of colors from Silent Night and Eggnog.
I just love the Flash Blurbs and Snap Caps from Eggnog, shown here (above). They make creating little vignettes easy and quick, and I was especially tickled that there was a speech bubble with "Snow!" as a title - worked perfectly with my photo. Here I mixed in some buttons from previous OA collections and used my die cutting machine with some coordinating cardstock to create a title that ground the layout on the light background. For additional interest, I used a patterned paper behind the letters that had closed openings. Lastly, I added hidden journaling with two tags that I tucked behind my screenshot of our weather that day from my iPhone. Because my layout is not entirely about the weather, but about my beyond measure love for my son, I wanted those words to be kept private and something that my son would discover years down the road. Right now, he'll just see himself measuring the snow. 

Are you having winter weather right now? Or are you celebrating the *winter* in the sun this year? Whatever your particular situation is, documenting the weather, or using it as a jumping off point can make for an interesting page. If you decide to take us up on this weeks challenge, make sure to share your creation with us in the October Afternoon Flickr gallery for us all to see! 

Thank you so much for joining me today! I hope you have a wonderful day! ~Amy 

Very Merry December Kit Inspiration

Good morning, Danni here with you to share some more December Kit inspiration with all of you, using the Very Merry December Kit.  Today, I am sharing pages eleven and twelve of my album and the journaling page. 

 

page ELEVEN

 I wanted to "label" some of the embellies included in the kit that I have been really happy to use.  They are perfect for so many ideas and the cut outs, cut aparts, label stickers and felt, make creating so much fun

 

 

Journaling page on vellum

 

 

page TWELVE

 

 

I knew I wanted to create a snowglobe for this pic of my two middles.  You can see the picture of them through the vellum IRL

 

 

 

The one thing I've learned this year doing this album, is that it's truly preserving this very special time for my family and design should be fun, not pressure-filled, not perfect, just fun.  I love that all the cut outs and patterns and embellies allow you to embellish as much or as little as you want to on any given day.  I can't wait to see your pages start to fill our OA Flickr Gallery

happy creating♥

Danni

Very Merry December Kit Inspiration

Happy Saturday!  Laura Craigie here to share some page inspiration for your Very Merry December Kit.

There are so many ways to do albums like this, and there are no perfect, or better ways, it's what works best for YOU! :)  I know this will be the first year I actually finish one of my December albums.  I have started so many, but l tend to lose steam half way through, or even worse was the year I only made the cover!  I got so worked up about it being "perfect" that I couldn't even start the insides, and just kept putting it off till eventually I gave up.  I don't want that to happen to you because it still makes me sad about all the memories I could have recorded and didn't.  

This year I am doing things differently, simpler, and not allowing myself to worry about things being perfect.  It's more important to me to record these memories while they are fresh!  I will share a secret with you guys too.  I don't go 100% in order!  Sometimes I shift days of the week, sometimes I skip days because nothing happens, and I don't beat myself up over it.  I'm simply having fun, and that's okay :)

We had lots of snow this week, and I was so thankful for it, especially since it allowed me to use this incredibly cute snowman card! :)

My next spread is one of my favorites.  I love using the page protector with all the 2x2" pockets!  I had 6 pictures that I wanted to use so I resized them in photoshop and was able to have them perfectly fit on a 4x6print that I just cut apart to fit in the pockets.  Then I went to my dollar store and picked up a pack with multi colored green sequins, and filled the extra pockets with them and sewed it shut.  I also grabbed a sticker tab from the Egg Nog line and used it at the top of the page.
The blank card in the upper left will have a picture of our entire Christmas tree, but our photo lab somehow missed that picture and I need to reprint it.

 

I chose to print all my journaling in this album in a gray ink.  I love the look of it in real life, it's less harsh than black, but does make it more difficult to see in pictures, so I apologize for that.

I had lots of pictures and the two cards I wanted for this week wich didn't leave me much room for journaling, so I printed a strip of it and was thankfully able to make a cute banner that can cover the negative space in my two photo's on the right side of the spread.  I also love how the December stamp looks in navy!  I'm going to try to keep it as a running theme throughout the album.

 Okay, so moving on I have the pleasure of sharing some of Alex's pages with you guys! :)

Alex says... "Keeping up with a December Daily album is not always easy. I've learned that it works better for me to scrap 3-4 days at once than to work on it daily. But every day I think about it and decide what I want to make and I take photos and make mental notes. These are my days 5-10."

Day 5-6:

"My daughter has learned to ride a bike a month ago and she loves taking it to preschool. But this day we had to put it away. She even fell because it was too slippery outside. Her last ride for this year was worth a page. I stamped the date directly on one of the photos. I used a piece of a page protector and golden presents that I cut using my Cameo as a divider to the next page which is about shopping. I buy 90% of all presents online. Shopping AND drinking coffee at the same time... it doesn't get better than that."

Day 7:

"December 7th was a big day for my daughter since she had her first gymnastics show. I love the stamps and cut-outs from the kit!"

 

Day 8:

"This spread is about our Christmas photo shoot. For the first time, I had to take a picture of two kids. Like if one wasn't hard enough... As you can see, I am keeping my album photo-heavy. After all, that's what matters the most. The white alphas are also Daily Flash but they are not included in the kit."

 

Day 9:

"I tried to make ginger snaps with both kids, but the little one got too mad because I didn't want to let him eat the dough. Issues. I stapled my little felt tree to a piece of transparency before inserting it to one of the pockets."

 

Day 10:

"On December 10th we got a tree! Yay! I really like to use that big arrow "December" stamp together with tiny alphas."

 

That is is for today, thanks so much for joining up today, we hope you are having a merry December too!

 

Laura & Alex

Guest Designer Malika Kelly - Post 2

Thanks again for welcoming me (Malika) on the October Afternoon blog.  Here is the first layout that I have to share with you. 

I used a sunburst die cut shape from my Silhouette to make this background.  I love how this cut makes things pop out from the page.  I started with a patterned paper behind my sunburst but decided that the harsh contrast made my layout too busy.  So, instead, I took a second piece of white card stock and layered it under my white sunburst.  I really like a lot of white space on my layouts, but I wanted to have a little more than just a flat white background.  I machine stitched through the sunburst.  The white thread gave my page some texture and depth, but it didn't take away from the main focus, the photos.  Cutting photos into circles is a little out of my comfort zone. I really like how they turned out though.    I used the Very Merry kit along with some papers and embellishments from the Daily Flash Egg Nog collection for this layout.  The little circle die cut embellishments  and a tin pin were perfect for high lighting my circular photos.

The main photo is the a picture of the gingerbread house we made.  It is the largest photo on the page and I used gold thread to hand stitch around this picture to help it stand out.


I love the little star stickers and used those to sprinkle around my photos.

The recipe card was the perfect place for me to add my journaling.

I love all the little bits and pieces in these Daily Flash collections.  Perfect for a white space type of scrapper, like myself!  I will be back next Friday with a couple more projects for you!  Hope you are having a Very Merry December!

Thursday Sketch: Diagonal Lines

Today's sketch is a very basic design that can be taken in many directions. It features two bold diagonal lines that divide the canvas (card, layout, etc.) into four uneven quadrants:

I (Vivian) created a 4.25" x 5.5" card-sized Silhouette cut file to accompany the sketch, which you can download here: Download Diagonal Lines Card Cut File

I chose four different patterned papers from the Silent Night and Daily Flash Eggnog collections and ran each through my Silhouette with the cut file. I took all sixteen pieces and arranged and rearranged them until I was happy with the way the patterns mixed. I glued each to a card base and embellished. It was fun to take this design in four different directions!

1. Clean and Graphic

2. Elegant

3. Cute

4. Festive

Please share anything you create inspired by this sketch! We'd love to see your work in our October Afternoon Flickr gallery.

Very Merry December Album pages

Hi everyone, Mou here with Jill and Mandy for more pages ideas from our Very Merry December albums.

There's so much to share, I'll just go straight to the photos. First up are my pages...

It was so much fun to print this mini 2 x 2 photos for these pockets. I cut a square from the green felt and added my stamped date to it.

And of course, many businesses have special holiday bags... I put one from Panera Bread here and treated it as a baclground page.

Feel free to use stickers/packages. I used one from the cookie packet here.

 Next, I have Jill's pages

Jill says, "As I work on adding more pages to my album, I am finding that the Very Merry December kit, paired with the Daily Flash protectors, facilitates a simple yet festive approach to scrapping the holidays. Filling the pockets is never a challenge! 

 

Even the bags containing kit accents have been put to use in my album. I trimmed one of the glassine bags to fit a pocket, added a swatch of fabric and some punched confetti to the bag, and then stitched around it. Over it, I layered some die-cut trees and one of my daily Advent words, "notice." 

 

And last but not the least are Mandy's pretty pages.

 

 

 

 

 

Mandy says, "I have to say it again I LOVE the pocket pages that are included in the Very Merry December kit. I think one of the things that is really making this project work for me is that I am keeping this book totally me instead of doing what so and so or the other girl does I still keep it me, my style. I've added bits and pieces from my stash(like older OA numbers, glitter paper, vellum) which will be listed on my blog tomorrow. Right now my book isn't looking very Christmasy yet, it's more day to day stuff because we are just starting to get into the spirit. I finally have my shopping started, the tree is going up this week, and maybe a trip to see Santa Paws for my boxergirls. Next week I'll be sharing how I'm including the daily craziness of our 2 elves Bernard and Eddie in this book."

 

Loving how everyone's albums are coming together in their own unique styles! Hope your Very Merry december albums are coming along beautifully this year :)  

 

Christmas Tree x 2

Hi OA fans! Alex here to share two simple christmas trees that you can make with your Very Merry December kits.

The first one is this washi tree.

I have used washi tape "Gold Mesh" that comes in the main kit and the washi tape "Holly Jolly" and the stamp set "Christmas time" that come in the add-on kit. I have made THIS tree pattern for you to download if you would like to play along. You will also need a 6x8 piece of a clear transparency and an ink pad.

Start by taking a 6'', a 4'' and a 2.5'' stripe of the "Gold Mesh" washi and stamping words of your choice on them. I chose to stamp "The magic December" on mine.

Fasten your transparency on top of the tree pattern using the washi tape which will be easy to remove or/and magnets if you have a magnetic mat. Take your roll of the "Holly Jolly" tape and start filling up the pattern.

Use the stamped washi stripes when it's time to add them to your tree and cut them to follow the pattern.

Continue until you have filled the whole tree. I chose to make my trunk much thinner than I initialy thought that it would be.

This is how the tree looked like when it was done.

You can use it like this or cut it into 2x2 squares if you want to use the same page protector design as I did for mine.

To make the star, I covered a piece of a cardstock with "Gold Mesh" washi and sent it through my Silhouette. You could just punch the star out of it, too.

I then carefully removed the washi from the cardstock and reassembled the star on my transparency.

The second tree I would like to show you is this one made of felt:

I have used the green felt and the tinzel twine that comes in the kit, as well as a cookie cutter, white gel pen and a two pink buttons from the Travel Girl collection. Simply trace your cookie cutter on the felt and cut it out. I like the white on the green, so I cut on the outside of the traced line leaving it visible.

Thread the tinsel twine through the button, adhered it high up on the tree and start wrapping it around.

I want to use my tree on a transparency, so I need it to look good on both sides. Therefore, I threaded the other end of the twine through a button too and adhered it on the bottom on the oposite side.

This is what the tree looks like on both sides.

I still haven't decided how and when I want to use it, but when I know that I am probably going to hand stitch it on a piece of a transparency.

That's all what I had to share with you today. I hope you feel inspired to make one of these cute little trees :-)

Thanks for stopping by!

♥

2013 Santa Sack Sale - Week 5!

The best one yet!

Here it is ... the fifth and final Santa Sack of 2013!

This is your last chance to get your hands on a wide variety of October Afternoon products at a huge discount ... including some of our new holiday line - Silent Night^TM!

Like the previous four Santa Sacks, this one is loaded with products that were hand-picked by our designers and staff.  It contains more that $100 (retail value) of merchandise ... and it's all yours for the incredibly low sale price of just $39.99 plus shipping!

Remember, there are no duplicates from week-to-week!  Get the gift of October Afternoon product for yourself or a friend!  And don't forget about our new Stamp Sack available for the first time next week!

See Paypal button below

Click the Paypal button below to buy now...

To combine shipping, please e-mail us at [email protected]
(prior to placing your order).

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 P.O. Box numbers.  Also, please allow additional time for delivery due to holiday shipping traffic.)

Be sure to come back next Monday for our first ever Stamp Sack!  It will include seven rubber stamp sets.  All are made in the USA with high quality rubber and fantastic designs and images.  This Sack will keep you stamping over and over again!  All for only $39.99 plus shipping!