October Afternoon

Tuesday Inspiration: Summer To-Do List

 Hi there! Happy Tuesday! Emily here with today's inspiration piece! We are in our first full week of summer at our house, and even though it's been raining for the last three days, we are trying to have some fun!  Every year we make a list of things we would like to do during the summer.  I've noticed a lot of people document their summer lists up in their homes for everyone to see - like this chalkboard example:

(source)

Last year I made a layout with our to-do list, and I wanted to create another one this year.  I asked my kids to think of everything they could that they would like to do this summer - the list is pretty long - much longer than last year's list!!  I knew I wanted to use the large Treasure Map alphabet stickers for my title right smack in the middle of the page, so I ended up making my actual list around the outside edge of the paper.  First, I tried to use my typewriter, but it was a lot more difficult to do than I had anticipated! After a few test runs with the typewriter, I decided to use my laptop instead. I used Power Point to create text boxes around the edge of my document, and I used a typewriter font to create my summer list. It took awhile, but I'm pretty happy with the result.  It's not perfect, but I like imperfection!

I used lots of papers and elements from the new Summertime line. I love the fun, bright pastels! And, of course, I had to include my favorite chipboard stars! I love that they coordinate with just about every October Afternoon collection! I went back and forth trying to decide if I should use a photo on this layout.  I ultimately decided that because this is a list of items for the future, versus a layout documenting something that had already happened, it would be fine to keep it photoless. I think I might display it in our kitchen where we can keep tabs on what we have accomplished!

Are you planning on scrapping your Summer To-Do list?? I'd love to see what you come up with! Upload your layout to the October Afternoon Flickr gallery, post it on our Facebook page, or connect with us on Instagram via #octoberafternoon. Happy Tuesday, and happy scrapping!

Monday Challenge: Starry Eyed

Hello!  

It's Laura here today with a fun and easy challenge for you all.  I am a sucker for stars.  Perhaps it boils down to being a mom to all boys, but I can never get enough of them, or have enough on my projects.

I made this layout using lots of goodies from the Treasure Map line which is definitely in my Top 3 favourite lines ever by October Afternoon.  I. just. love. it. :)

My printer is still broken, so no journaling on this one, yet.  For now I write all my journaling on a post-it note, and keep it on the page.  Then when my husband eventually gets around to fixing it I can remember exactly what I wanted to say.

Every year on Canada Day we get the family together with all the cousins and have a glorious beach day.  This is just one photo from the day.  Because I have SO many I will probably just print a bunch of them and put them in photo protectors beside this page and the few others I will make.  I just love mixing entire pages of photos in with my scrapbook pages.

I think this ship sticker is so cute, and I had fun dressing it up.  Once adhered to the page with foam adhesive for added dimension, I added glossy accents over the red parts of the sail.  Then I used some tiny micro beads and shook them over while it was still wet.  It really gives a fun texture to the page.

Speaking of texture, I used a star embossing folder on some white card stock and added a large square of that to the page.  I can't get enough of dry embossing!  

I also added some more Glossy Accents over the anchor sticker below. 

So all in all on this page, there are stars on the patterned paper, card stock, tin pin, label sticker, some stamped stars, and even some tiny star sequins.  Phewf!  That was a lot of stars, but I think they all went well together in the end.

Are you feeling starry eyed? If you do feel inspired to get crafty, please share your projects in our Flickr group, and use the hashtag #octoberafternoon on other social media platforms so we can see all your awesome designs!  

I hope you all have a great day!

Laura :)

OA Treasure Map: Go Bucs!

Hello! It's Jennifer and I'm back with a layout I created with the very cute October Afternoon Treasure Map collection!  The fun nautical prints and rich colors are so fun to work with!  You see, my brother-in-law is a huge Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan and my three year old nephew always gets into the spirit of the game! My sister sent me a few adorable photos of Mr. Deacon all decked out in his "Bucs" gear and Treasure Map is the perfect line to use!  

 

I used one of the journal spots from the 12x12 Cardstock Sticker Sheet and my typewriter to jot down a few facts about my photos!  I also layered circles from the Sew Fun Banners to accent, as well as more star stickers! I love the grey/blue/red color combination!

Showing the great variety in the Sew Fun Banner pack...these have always been one of my favorite embellishments!  I am a big fan of using my sewing machine on projects!

At the top of my page, I layered more of the Sew Fun Banners using both the pennants and circles! 

 

I adhered a couple more of the pennants under my photo as well as added a cute sticker.  For my title I used the Treasure Map Alpha Stickers. 

 

More of my favorite all time OA embellishments are Tin Pins and Do-Dads!  They are such a cute accent to pages and a way to create layers!  Another great OA staple are the Mini Market Stickers!  

I added the Anchor Tin Pin to lots of layers of patterned paper and Border Stickers!  Of course, I did some stitching!  My pages feel bare without a little stitch here and there! :)  

 

Thanks for stopping by today!  What is your favorite Treasure Map embellishment?  I hope you have a fabulous Friday!  

Thursday Sketch | Suz and Emily #oasketchday

Hello everyone! Suz here along with Emily to share today's #oasketchday challenge, along with our takes on the design.

 

First up, the sketch:

 

Here's Emily's adorable design and what she had to say about it: 

"I really liked Suz's sketch, and I thought it would work perfectly for a card. I used the the adorable new Summertime line to create a quick little card. I kept my card pretty true to the sketch. I used the Swimming Pool paper as my background and included two overlapping rectangles of the Puffy Clouds and Sunshine patterned papers. I also loved the cute little sun sticker and layered it with one of the Summertime Tin Pins. Finally, I used some labels to highlight my sentiments. A big thanks to Suz for the fun sketch!"

 

The full Summertime Collection can be found here: Summertime Collection

Thanks so much Emily for playing along and sharing your time and talents here! :)

And here is my design. Clean + Simple. My traditional style for cards. 

 As you can see, I didn't strictly follow the sketch but you can see elements I extrapolated from it like the placement of the title and the stacked rectangles. I flipped the "embellishments" in the design and omitted a few as well. Oftentimes, one needs to do that when creating with cards, due to the smaller scale of the creation.

OA ITEMS USED: Treasure Map Word Stickers, Treasure Map, Border Stickers,Treasure Map Clear Cling Stamps, Treasure Map Designer Brads, Treasure Map Hangman's Cove Patterned Paper, (Side B), Treasure Map Siren's Point Patterned Paper (Side B). The full Treasure Map collection can be found here: Treasure Map Collection

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you play along with this sketch challenge, please share with us on Instagram by tagging us @octoberafternoon and use the hashtag #oasketchday. As always, you can share on our Facebook wall, the OA Flickr gallery, on Twitter (@oct_afternoon) or leave a comment below with a link to your design. 

TGI Fri-YAY is nearly here! Our June Guest, Jen Haggerty, will be back sharing some of her OA creations with you! 

Summer Begins

At what point does summer officially begin for you? Maybe it's a change in weather, the end of the school year, an annual trip, or the flip of a calendar page. For my family, among the rituals and traditions that signify the start of summer is a trek to Haleiwa on the North Shore of 'Oahu to get shave ice (that's not a typo -- locals drop the "d"). Shave ice isn't just tasty, it's also colorful, making it the perfect subject for this equally colorful layout that I created to celebrate the onset of summer. 

In selecting papers for the page, I opted for those with a summery feel, reaching for patterns from the Saturday Mornings, Treasure Map, and Summertime collections. The foundation of the page includes two large sheets, "Omelette," which reminds me of a sunny summer sky, and "Hangman's Cove," which has an oceanic feel (and which includes one of my favorite patterns ever).

I then cut out a series of strips from various papers, making those that I had set aside as scraps a priority. I layered the strips and then overlapped a few with washi tape, and added some horizontal stitching. The three chipboard heart accents over the photos create a little visual triangle. 

 

I pieced the title together with Treasure Map and Daily Flash letters, and worked in a summery chipboard cloud and sunshine sticker. 

Of course, shave ice isn't the only way I know that summer has begun -- the time that opens up for summer scrapping is another sure sign of the season. 

Care to share your summer scrapping? Post your projects in the October Afternoon Flickr gallery. We'd love to see them! 

Thanks for stopping by today! 

-- Jill 

Workspace Wednesday

Hello everyone! Suz here to share with you an adorable little workspace organization project by the talented and resourceful  OA DT Member; Jill Sprott.

For those of you that may not know, Jill lives in the part of the world that is both beautiful, but also has salty air and a fair amount of humidity (Hawaii). And while Hawaii a enviable place to live because of its beauty and many other things, the weather can alter and vintage-fy some metal household and scrapbooking items--namely the OA Tin Pins. 

 

No worries though! Jill has the perfect solution for those beloved and hoarded Tin Pins! Here is what she created:

Isn't it fabulous?! What a great way to showcase all of your super fun Tin Pins that you have collected.

Happy Tuesday!

 

 

 

Monday Challenge: OA cut-outs

Hi everyone! Alex here.

Today I wanted to put spotlight on OA's gorgeous cut-outs. Every collection has a 12x12 paper or two that calls for a trimmer. There are two such papers in the new Summertime collection:

Blue Skies

Green Grass

So, to my challenge... I want you to cut these papers down and use them as cards! I chose the small 3x3 cards for my layout. Love them! 

Do you have a favorite ice-cream too? Summertime is a perfect choice for a layout about it! :-)

The B-side of Green Grass is just as pretty as the little cards. I just had to use it for my background.

I hope you feel inspired to play along and cut into these pretty papers! Have fun!

//Alex

June Guest Designer | Jennifer Haggerty

Hello!  I'm Jennifer Haggerty and very excited to be guest designing this month here at October Afternoon!  I have been a HUGE fan of OA since their start and love working with the fun products!  To tell you a little about myself, I was born and raised in Central Illinois. My husband's family owns a pest control company and we have two beautiful children together. I have been a dental hygienist for over 20 years and currently work part time in a local office.  I've been scrap booking since the late 90's and pretty much haven't stopped.  I am truly passionate about documenting my family's lives; the creative process is my therapy!  And I will admit I am a paper addict!   In fact, I still have a large stash of October Afternoon Christmas lines that I am hoarding! 

 

Now to answer some questions.....

1.  Are you a layout person, a card person, or both?

 Definitely layouts! Making layouts is when I feel most creative! 

2.  What is on your scrap desk right now?

It would be easier to say what isn't on my desk LOL I have little baskets and containers of my supplies as well as my trimmer. And usually a collection or two that I want to use.  

3.  What is your favorite October Afternoon line or product?

I have to pick one?   That isn't fair!  :)  Travel Girl is definitely one of the top collections. As far as products, I love the Alpha Stickers and Chipboard, followed by the Doo-Dads and Tid Bits!  They are great for accenting your photos and well as jotting down some journaling!  

4.  What can you NOT scrapbook without? 

I stitch everything so I love my sewing machine! And I must have a large fountain Diet Dr. Pepper and some good music to get me into the creative mode!

5. What is your favorite source of inspiration?  

I almost always start with a favorite photo or story I want to document and that leads to which paper collection I want to use.  Sometimes, its the opposite; I look at a few papers out of line and know instantly what I want to do.  

 

More fun questions!

1.  What is your favorite movie or TV show?  

Favorite movie is The Wizard of Oz!  I've loved it since I was three years old.  Favorite TV show is probably Mad Men as my husband and I are binge watching it!  We also love The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones.

2.  What is your favorite food?

 I could seriously live on ice cream alone.  And Diet Dr. Pepper. (Don't tell my trainer that)

3.  What is your fondest childhood memory? 

I still remember going to Disneyland with my family when I was three!  

4.  If you were a superhero, what would your name be and what power would you possess?  

I think I would like to be called SuperJen and would have super strength and wouldn't need to sleep. Then I would have the energy to clean, scrap and workout. Imagine how much stuff I could get done!   

5.  If you could have dinner with anyone, living or deceased, who would it be and why?  

Hands down it would be my mother. I lost her to lung cancer six years ago this month and I miss her every single day.   

Thanks for stopping by today! I will be back next Friday with my first project! Meanwhile, you can follow me on my blog at  Live The Moment or my Instagram @jhaggerty72

Have a great day!

 

 

Thursday Sketch

Hi all! Alex here with this week's sketch. This is what I came up with playing around in Photoshop.

For my own take on the sketch, I have used the brand new Summertime collection.

The Sunshine paper is my favorite! Love the big sunburst which I chose to flip 90 degrees for this layout.

I really wanted to use the Grey Flannel chipboard alphas for my title, but I was out of "y":s. Then I realized that the negative part of the letters is just as pretty AND it adds a fun little touch to the page. Problem solved :-)

The "recorded" snap-cap above is from the Daily Flash Snapshots collection and the "so you" snap-cap bellow is from the Daily Flash Girl Talk collection. One of my all time favorites, btw... Almost every DF collection has something fun in it that goes perfectly well together with the Summertime. 

To bring the two patterned papers together, I put one of the Summertime tin-pins and a double-take label in the center of the burst.

I hope you feel inspired to play along with this sketch! 

Thanks for stopping by today!

//Alex
 

Wednesday Inspiration: Triangles

Hello Readers!  

It's Laura here today and I am so happy to be here sharing a new card and inspiration image with you guys.  I love love love quilts.  I wish I had more time in the day as it's my dream to finally make one, and not just pin pretty pictures of them to Pinterest. Maybe even use some October Afternoon Fabric.  One day, right? :)

Anyhow, I love simple quilt patterns, and this triangle one is definitely one of my favourites.  

(Source)

So when I got a lovely box of goodies from the Summertime collection on my door the other day I just knew I had to use the beautiful yellow triangle patterned paper.  It reminded me of this quilt, and yellow is just such a perfect summery colour.  

Here is the card I made:

As you can see I also used a triangle pattern embossing folder on the card front, it went perfectly with the patterned paper.  I added the cute sun sticker with some foam adhesive and used glossy accents on the rays, and a dab of glitter glue on his rosy cheeks.  It dried up much prettier than photographed.  

I also added a few buttons to the card, and a tiny heart sticker that I also glittered up.  The strip of coloured stripes at the bottom was from the Sunshine patterned paper.

I would love to see how use use triangles in your projects!  Please share them in our Flickr group, and use the hashtag #octoberafternoon on other social media platforms so we can see all your awesome designs!  

I hope you all have a great day!

Laura :)