October Afternoon

Tuesday Tutorial: Telling a story

Hi everyone, Mou here with today's post.

Did you know that April 27th is Tell A Story Day? So, in honor of this day, I want to share a little story about a family vacation we took over spring break last month. I'll show you the first spread today. To tell my story, I'm going to use

• Daily Flash pocket pages by October Afternoon
• Printed photos
• Drawn pictures
• Memento collected
• and some words, stamps, stickers, etc.

The first part of this process is in selecting the right pocket pages for my purpose.

I picked these two: SL-1073 - Daily Flash - 6x8 Sleeve for 3x3 (A) and SL-1074 - Daily Flash - 6x8 Sleeve for 3x4 (A). I also used the 12 x 12 Stamp Book paper and See The World stamp set from Travel Girl collection, Orange Soda alphas from Daily Flash collection and some label stickers.

Next is selection of photos. Obviously, there are several to choose from. I decided to pick those that will help me tell my story the best, rather than picking only those that looked the best. Here are some I decided on:

 

And there were sketches I did during this cruise that I wanted to include. My sketch wasn't the size to fit into any of the pockets, So I scanned it and resized it to fit.

I also included a little memento from the trip to tell my story. I had to cut off the rim to make it fit in the pocket. This is what the final spread looks like

I added the label stickers right on the photos and journaled on them. I cut a piece of the Stamp Book paper to fit in the center pocket and added the title and a stamp to it. I used the remaining space on the paper to tell the gist of the story.

What story would you tell with the Daily Flash pockets?

Monday Challenge: Quick + Easy Ongoing Albums

Today we are featuring the Daily Flash system's potential to help make the capturing and/or recording of ongoing events a quick and easy process. Maybe, as Amy did, you have school photos piling up year after year and have never taken the time to include them in your scrapbooks. Perhaps, as I (Vivian) did, you never get around to recording the trips you take as a family. Or, it may be that you have endless photos of soccer seasons, or birthdays, or date nights, etc.

Here's where Daily Flash comes in. The Daily Flash system includes 6" x 8" albums and pocket inserts with various page formats:

Our challenge to you today is to pick an ongoing topic you haven't yet recorded, and, using the Daily Flash system, develop a double-page spread model you can easily follow to get those memories recorded. Amy and I are sharing our designs to help get you started.

First up is Amy's school photos album:

Here's what Amy had to say about this challenge and her album: "When Vivian described to me the thoughts on this week's challenge I was very excited. I've been meaning for some time now to create a book of each of my kid's annual school photos and this was just the push I needed to get started! I chose to create one side of my spread with a large version (5x7") of my kids' photos along with the opposite spread being the sleeve with the 4x6 slot at the bottom and two 2x3" sleeves at the top. This provides me with a spot for each year's class photo (resized to 4x6") some journaling and a filler card, if needed for that year. Because of all the colors in the two photos, I decided on a basic black, red and turquoise color palette to pull the spread together on both sides. Thanks so much, Vivian for this fun challenge! I look forward to keeping up with my school photos book for years to come!"

As Amy moves forward, she now has a simple design that she can follow to include each year's school photos, and those memories will be captured for her and for her son for years to come. I need to take a cue from her and get a school photos album created!

I had a good chuckle when Amy sent me her images, as I used a very similar color palette to create the two-page spread for my family trip album:

Like Amy, I used as one of my pages the one that includes two 3" x 4" slots and one 4" x 6" slot. The other page includes twelve 2" x 2" slots. I decided that for each trip's double-page spread I would journal key details about the trip on one 3" x 4" piece of white cardstock and add three key memories, each on a 2" x 2" piece of white cardstock. I also created a photo formula: one 3" x 4" family photo, one 4" x 6" scenic photo, one favorite 4" x 6" photo, and three more favorite photos, sized to 2" x 2". I added Daily Flash stickers and die cuts to embellish my photos and journaling blocks. With this quick and easy formula in place, I can't wait to create pages for our other family trips, and am even considering using the same format for the trips my husband and I take on our own.

We hope we've inspired you to consider creating an ongoing album, whatever your topic of choice may be! Please post album pages to our October Afternoon Flickr gallery so we can admire your work!

Thursday Sketch: Squared Up

Hi OA fans! Mandy bringing you this week's sketch. As the title suggests this sketch is all squares but feel free to add other shapes if you like. 

The squares can be pattern paper, your photos, frames etc. you choose. Have fun and make it your own. 

Here is my take on the sketch. 

I created this layout of Mav with the All Boy collection. I love all the colors and images in the All Boy collection. I used a mix of pattern papers and embellishments in all shapes and sizes. Lots of squares and of course lots of layers. 

This layout was really simple and came together quickly which is how I love to create. 

Roree is joining me today with this fabulous card!

Here's what Roree had to say:

"I just love the layered feel of Mandy's layout sketch, and I tried to recreate something similar in the smaller scale of a card. I used a few of the Daily Flash collections, primarily Milk Money and Snapshots, to create this end-of-the-year teacher thank you card. I kept the elements of my card moving from the top left to the bottom right corner as in the sketch and add a few special touches to make it uniquely my own."

Thank you Roree for sharing your beautiful card! 

If you give this sketch a try, be sure to share your work with us. Give us a link by commenting to this post or upload your project to our Flickr gallery. We would love to see it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Challenge | Creating a Color Story (Palette) with Daily Flash Sleeves

Happy Wednesday OA fans! Amy here with you today. We're a couple days late in posting our Monday Challenge post because Typepad was down for several days. But now things are back up and running so we are here today with this week's challenge, and it's a fun one!

One of the most challenging aspects, I think, to making successful pocket pages is making them look cohesive and flow with ease. One way to achieve this is by having a color story (palette) that pulls the whole spread together. With pocket pages, you are often working with multiple photos, multiple pre-printed cards, and or ephemera into the pockets all with their own colors. Simply by pulling out 2-4 colors from your main imagery, you can pull the whole story together to create a cohesive look without it appearing messy or disjointed.

For my spread, I chose to create a story about my daughter and her recent experience coloring Easter eggs. There was a time when I worried about what the kids were wearing and how their hair was combed for such occasions (purely for how they would turn out in my photos), but as of late, I've decided to let them be themselves and decided that I would create around their choices, rather than having them work around my scrapbooking. Pocket pages are great for these real-life moments. 

In my main photo, there are many colors going on - orange, pink, teal, lime green, purple, magenta, peach. If I tried to put all of these colors in my spread things would become very muddy, very quickly. So, I decided on 4 colors to pull out - teal, pink, yellow and turquoise. By strategically placing each of these colors throughout the spread (using Daily Flash - Girl Talk and Snapshots), your eay bounces throughout the page with purpose - to the photos and the journaling and lastly to the supporting graphics and sentiments.
As you can see from this tighter image, you can see that I've used all the colors in the images, and the additional colors (lime green, peach, red) are still working with the page, but they fall away nicely and don't compete with the other colors.

I asked Laura to play along with this week's challenge and this is what she came up with!

 Here's what she had to say about the challenge: 

"Like most people I'm sure, we are SO excited in our house to finally have some sunny days around here. My son ran outside to play in his jammies and I just let him, we were just so happy to be warm outside in short sleeves that I didn't mind, and I snapped a few pictures. I thought I'd make a spread to add to my great yellow Snap! album. I tried to make it as happy and springy as I could with bright colours and the adorable smiley face sticker."

As you can see, Laura, too went with a 4-color scheme to pull her story together. She pulled the blue and the yellow from her son's clothing and the orange and light teal from the gorgeous OA papers from Daily Flash - Snapshots collection. even though there are a spattering of additional colors in her page - it works because she let those colors fade into the background and accentuated the other colors by repeating them throughout her spread by using stickers and Snap-Caps. Gorgeous job, Laura!
Are pocket pages stumping you? Do you feel pocket challenged? Simplify things by choosing a palette that tells the story along with your photos! Care to play along with this week's challenge? If you do, feel free to post your creations to our Flickr Gallery for all to see! Thanks so much for joining us today! Have a super week! ~Amy

Tuesday Tutorial: Working in Layers

When it comes to creating a layout, I often work in layers. There a lot of ways to build layers on a page, and today, I will share a simple approach for doing so.

Step 1. Gather potential paper layers. I always select papers based on the colors in my photos. I also try to select patterns that work with the mood of the page. 

Step 2. Start big. I like to "ground' the still-to-come layers by beginning with a large piece (like this one from the Daily Flash Girl Talk collection), upon which I will add more layers.  

Step 3.  Work in layers of varying sizes, piece after piece. Try placing some pieces under others, not just over them. I don't usually add adhesive of any kind until I have played a bit with the arrangement of papers. When I like what I see, I add some double-stick tape to the center of each piece. Why tape? It allows me to pick up and move pieces if I decide to make any changes later in my process. 

Step 4. Give your papers a lift. I like to place pop dots here and there on the page. They can add a boost to an entire sheet or a bit of dimension when placed under the corner of a single piece. Just be sure to think ahead before adhering the pop dots. If you plan to sew, you may want to remove certain sections from the layout and add stitching to those sections before placing pop dots behind them. 

Step 5. Add accents, placing some over layers, others peeking out from under layers, and the rest in between layers. The chipboard pieces and metal badges from the Daily Flash collections make for the perfect additions to layered pages, not only adding dimension, but visual appeal as well. 

Even alphabets can contribute to a layered effect.

Here's the completed layout:

Keep in mind that there is no single best approach for incorporating layers on a layout. It all comes down to what feels right to you, and what is most appealing to your eye. Experiment a bit, and see what works for you.  

Thanks for visiting the October Afternoon blog! 

-- Jill

Thursday Sketch: Circles

Hi guys! Alex here today bringing you this week's sketch. 

This time, I found my inspiration in this magazine cover. I fell in love with all the circles!

And here is how the sketch turned out.

I have mostly used the Daily Flash Snapshots collection for my layout. 

I chose the Click! paper as my background and cut the circles out from the Focus and Shutter Speed. I covered them with the white patterned circles that I cut with my Cameo. The arrow is one of the Snapshots Snap Caps and the "Rad" tin pin is from the All Boy collection.

I stamped "♥ Like" on a chipboard arrow using the Inspiration roller stamp. And just how cute is that "Look!" All Boy sticker??

I used the black Nightfall Daily Flash alphas for my title. The tiny stars are Egg Nog pop drops. 

That would be all from me this time. If you give this sketch a try, be sure to share your work with us. Give us a link by commenting to this post or upload your project to our Flickr gallery. We would love to see it!

Thanks for stopping by!

//Alex

Tuesday Tutorial: Lineup

Today I (Vivian) am sharing a quick, easy, and powerful way to embellish a project: the lineup. Today we are throwing out the ever-popular embellishment cluster and turning instead to a more simple method of embellishing. I love using lineups on my layouts and cards, as they eliminate a lot of the decision-making, allowing me to quickly complete projects that pack a big visual punch.

Let's start with a layout:

This layout features two long rows of books, hand cut from the Daily Flash Milk Money Reading patterned paper. All I had to do was print my journaling, grab my 2" x 2" photo and a 2" x 2" patterned paper square, gather a big pile of embellishments, glue it all down, and add a title. (Hint: this is even easier when you use pre-cut embellishments, like stickers or die cuts, but here I really needed these books, so I cut them out.)

I used the same technique on this fun card, varying the model a bit by stamping two lineups with a stamp from the Daily Flash Dude stamp set (aptly named, no?) and adding visual interest by breaking up the top lineup with a chipboard arrow.

While lineups are a simple technique, based on the design principle of repetition, it's worth looking a little deeper to see how to use them to your advantage.

In creating my layout, I was careful about the placement of items within the lineup and the placement of the lineups themselves. The colors create visual triangles that help to draw the viewer to and through the key page elements in the center, moving focus away from the lineups and in to the center row. The lineups and the center row follow the rule of thirds, again helping to support the viewer in focusing in on the photo and journaling. While you see the lineups of books, they don't dominate because of the placement of the elements within the lineups and on the page. Try this way of using a lineup when you want to use it to support your story.

I worked things a little differently with my card, intentionally breaking up the top lineup. While the arrow initially pulls you in to the face element at the center, your brain then says, "Wait a minute!" and goes back up to the top after having noticed that the arrow is a break. The repeated stamping then stands out. Try breaking up a lineup when you want it to play a more dominant role in the story or message you want to convey.

The next time you want to get a project done quickly, or have a lot of embellishments you want to use, try a lineup. If you do, please share your work with us in our October Afternoon Flickr gallery!

Monday Challenge: Make It Mini

Hi everyone! Roree here with your October Afternoon Monday challenge.

Everyone knows I love to make cards. For me, smaller canvases are so much easier to work with than larger ones. I know that is not the case for everyone though, so my challenge for you is to create a mini project. Try a card, a layout, a mini album, or whatever inspires you—just make it mini!

October Afternoon has some wonderful products for creating mini masterpieces and that is what inspired today's challenge. The Memory Cards are the perfect bases for many different types of projects and I used a few to create the following mini cards.

The first two cards were made using the Memory Cards, 6x8 Paper Pack, Double Take Stickers, Flash Blurbs, and Snap Caps from the Daily Flash All Boy collection, along with some baker's twine from Woodland Park and Eggnog Pop Drops.

The second set of cards were made using the Memory Cards, Double Take Stickers, Flash Blurbs, and Snap Caps from the Daily Flash Girl Talk collection, along with paper from the Snapshots 6x8 Paper Pack, Flash Chip hearts, and Eggnog Pop Drops.

These mini cards are all 3 x 3" and were so quick and easy to make. They would be perfect to add to gifts, pop in an envelope, or even add to your child's lunch.

If you get a chance to play along with today's challenge, be sure to upload your project(s) to the OA Flickr group. We can't wait to see what you create.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Thursday Sketch: Simple Boxes

Hey OA friends!  It's Laura Craigie here today with a sketch I made for you guys :)

I kept things pretty simple with 3 boxed areas, and you can jazz it up if you like, or keep it fairly basic too.  

I pulled out my Daily Flash SnapShot line and used it to make this page with my sweet boys.

One of my favorite parts of the page is the stamping I did.  Using the SnapShots Capture That! stamp set I stamped the little film roll, cut it out and adhered it with foam adhesive, then I stamped the "click click" along the bottom of the page underneath the washi strip.

I also have the talented Jill here with me today, and she created this awesome layout from the sketch.

Here is what she had to say about her layout:

The basic blocks on Laura’s sketch allow for the sketch to be turned or flipped without throwing off the balance of the design.  Although the original sketch was horizontal, I turned it on its side, 90 degrees to the right, to accommodate a portrait-oriented photo instead of a landscape-oriented one.  Everything else fell into place easily, thanks to Laura’s solid sketch. Since the photo depicts my daughter in her usual stance on our morning and afternoon commutes to and from school, I used a lot of school-themed papers here from the Milk Money collection, along with some colorful road signs and directional arrows.  Every accent and pattern here represents our daily routine in some way.  Now that my daughter is working on getting her license, perhaps we can switch places soon, and I can be the one who gets to grab a power nap in traffic.

Well that's it for today, I hope you guys feel inspired to use my sketch and if you do please share your creations in the October Afternoon Flickr Gallery!  I'd love to see them :)

Thanks for stopping by!

-Laura :)

Monday Challenge: Pick a Color

Hey, OA fans! Good Monday to y'all! It's Mandy Koeppen here with your Monday challenge.

It's a pretty simple challenge this week just pick your colors. Pick 3-5 colors and work with only those colors for your papers, embellishments, and washi etc.

 

Here is the layout I created using green, grey, black, cream, and white. 

When I get stuck or feel like my creations need a little more of a change I challenge myself and this color thing is one of the challenges on my list. 

 

I used many different October Lines on this layout including Sasparilla, Travel Girl, 9 to 5, Daily Flash and Midway. Remember as you're searching thru your OA stash almost all the OA collections coordinate with each other which makes this challenge easier. 

If you get a chance to play along with today's challenge, be sure to upload your project(s) to theOA Flickr group. We can't wait to see what you create.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

-Mandy