October Afternoon

Tuesday Tutorial: Summer Reading Journal

This summer I plan on making my way through stacks of books that have accumulated during the school year, when what I read is pretty much limited to what I am teaching. It takes me such a long time to read a "me" book during the school year, since there is so much competition for my attention and so many claims to my time, but when summer rolls around, I am forever with my nose in a book -- a book that is just for me. 

As you might imagine, being a bookworm means that I have fallen hard for October Afternoon's Public Library collection. Today, I'll share with you how I used it to create a summer reading journal. 

I started by gathering my supplies, including stamps and a few sheets of patterned paper from the Public Library collection. 

I trimmed several sheets of white cardstock to 10.5" x 8.25" and folded them to create the inner pages. I trimmed a sheet of "Reference Section" patterned paper slightly larger, since it would serve as the cover. 

On a 7.5" x 5" sheet of "Story Time" patterned paper, I added a dollop of modeling paste and smoothed it over the page with an old credit card.  

I then stamped over the paste using the "Alphabetical Order" stamps. What I love about stamping in modeling paste is the texture that results; however. modeling paste can take a little while to dry, so I usually help along the process with a heat tool. 

When the paste was relatively dry, I repeatedly stamped over the top and bottom of the page using some Public Library clear stamps. 

I then misted over the entire page, alternating among greens and blues, periodically tilting the page to allow the colors to run. Using a paper towel, I dabbed lightly at the page, softening and blending the colors.

After the page dried (once again helped by the heat tool), I stitched the entire page onto the journal cover. 

To bind the journal pages together, I added strips of washi tape to the creases of each page. 

All summer long, I'll add to the journal as I make my way through the stacks. I've already finished one entry! 

Thanks for stopping by today!  Happy reading! 

-- Jill 

 

 

Monday Challenge: Monochromatic Tags

Hey October Afternoon Fans! Mandy Koeppen here today with this week's Monday challenge.

This week I'm challenging you to pull out those tags and grab your pattern papers of the same color and create. You could add the tag to a card, your layouts, mini albums, gifts etc. I have 4 examples for you today. yellow, red, green, and blue. As I've said many times here on the blog past and present October Afternoon collection colors always seem to mesh well together so creating monochramatic tags should be no problem. 

Here is a shot of all four tags together on the cork board.

The yellow "Thanks A Bunch" tag was created with a mix from Sasparilla to the new Daily Flash Alphas. 

"Remember tag" was created with all blues. Instead of the simple horizontal layers like the yellow tag I chose a bit of a different look with a woodgrain background and layers of circles and the blue doily. I added pop dots to give the remember some dimension too. "Baby O" the red tag was one of the first tags I created for this project. I wasn't sure where I was going but once this tag was done I was on a roll and had lots of ideas flowing: Baby showers, Birthday, Wedding, Graduation, Thank You's, etc. 

Last but not least the green "Congrats" tag for the 2014 grad. Simple layers of pattern papers and the fun new Daily Flash stickers made this a great addition to the grads gift.

These tags were really simple and easy to create. I'm sure your friends and family would love to recieve a tag from you next time. This is a great way to use up those scraps too! 

I hope I've inspired you to create some monochromatic tags and if you do please share your creations in the October Afternoon Flickr Gallery!  I'd love to see them :)

Thanks so much for stopping by!

~Mandy