October Afternoon

OA Under the Tree | Lunch Notes and December Daily Cards

Hi friends! Happy Friday!! It's Janice here with my last project as your October guest designer.  I've thoroughly enjoyed creating fun and simple projects using October Afternoon's lastest holiday collection, Under the Tree. 

I've put notes in my 10 y.o.'s lunch since he was in preschool and I continue to do so.  I try to write him a note about once a week.  I decided my last post was going to be lunch notes using Under the Tree.

I also created cards that can be used for your December Daily album or just a collection of Christmas memories.  You can use them as title cards, journaling cards, or even just placing a small picture on it and putting it in a pocket page.  There are so many options.   

I timed this project like I did last week's (confetti gift tags).  Again, all of these cards were created in about an hour. 

I rounded the corners for a cleaner look.

 

 

 

 

Thanks again for dropping by.  I hope that you are able to find some time to be crafty for the holiday season.  Merry Christmas!

Blessings,

Janice

Tuesday Inspiration: Christmas for Halloween

Hello hello my fellow October Afternoon fans, Mou here today with your Tuesday Inspiration!

You guys have seen the new and merry Under the Tree collection I'm sure. Look at these papers... it is clearly a Christmas Collection!

 

And now, look again...

I suddenly see Halloween in them. HOCUS POCUS!

And to prove my point that you can be totally inspired by Christmas papers to scrap Halloween and other autumn-themed photos, let me share with you our visit to the pumpkin patch in search of a jack-o-lantern.

 

The papers I used here are: Carol Singing, Working-Merry Making, and Candle Lighting, all from Under the Tree collection. I even pulled some of the blue-green from Working-Merry Making when I hand cut my fall leaves. Here are some close-ups of my layout.

So, what will you scrap with this collection beyond Christmas?

Designer Challenge | Mix Old and New Collections

It is really hard to pick a favorite line from October Afternoon, but I will admit that I am still hoarding every last piece of the Witch Hazel collection!  I picked another new collection to see how well I could mix the old and new collections together.  Here's what I came up with!

Each tag is made up of two tags, one larger and one smaller using a combination of pattern paper from Saturday Mornings and cardstock.  By having one larger and one smaller tag layered on top of each other, it really made creating the layered look super quick and fun!  You can see here on my little girl witch, the Saturday Mornings Toast paper and Coffee paper.  Then I just layered the little girl witch, the poison label from Witch Hazel, and added the spoon and fork from Saturday Mornings!  For any part of the stickers that hang off, I applied a brush of baby powder to them to take away the stickiness. 

 

Next, is the star witch herself!  You may not be able to see the stitching from the front, but on each tag, I did a zig zag stitch in black thread.  I did this for texture and to have the strings hang loose.  I also added the same stitching to the ephemera witch card I used under Witch Hazel here on this tag.  Peeking behind the top white tag, you can see I used part of the tree sticker, and behind that is the same Saturday Mornings Coffee pattern paper from the first tag.  To finish her off, I just added the chipboard "BEWARE!".

I had to work in one of the little kids from the Saturday Mornings Syrup paper.  I think this paper would be perfect for a Halloween layout as well.  I loved the cat from the ephemera pack, but since I wanted that paper to show, I trimmed just the cat part of that card to adhere on either side of my tag.  I still have the letter stickers from the Witch Hazel collection so added "boo," then finished it off with a chipboard button, and stickers from the collection.  Then added the cloud sticker from Saturday Mornings.  You can see more of the stitching here since I didn't layer too much on top.

Each tag is finished with a simple bow in black to attach to treats for my daughter's teachers.  I would buy every piece of this collection again I think.  And I love how well it works with Saturday Mornings.  Hope you are inspired to pull out your stash of OA collections and see what you can come up with.  I would love to see!  Be sure to upload your work to the October Afternoon Flickr gallery, post it on our Facebook page, or connect with us on Instagram via #octoberafternoon.  Hope you have a great week!

Under the Tree: Confetti Gift Tags | Guest Designer : Janice Matsunaga

Janice here with you today to share a fun project I created using the holiday line Under the Tree.  I found my inspiration here on Pinterest. I love the simplicity of this project and that the supplies used to create these confetti gift tags are items most crafters can find in their stash: glitter, twine, eyelets, eyelet setter, any type of a plastic sleeve.

I started with an 8 1/2 x 11 baseball card page protector.  I sewed straight lines along the sides and bottoms. This top row was my trial run and I made adjustments after sewing the top closed. 

I trimmed some cards so they could float around in the pockets.  Except for the glitter, all the pocket fillers are found in the Under the Tree line. 

After sewing the top of the pockets closed, I cut each individual one.  Then I added the eyelets and twine.  To personalize the gift tags, I added names using stickers and tags and placed them on top of the pockets. 

I was curious to see how long this project would take me from start to finish. As it turns out, it was almost exactly an hour.  

 So, set aside an hour to make these fun and pretty gift cards.  They can also be repurposed as book markers, sent with a gift card or put into your December Project Life.  Enjoy and thanks for stopping by.

Janice

Designer Challenge: Non-holiday layout featuring holiday product

Hi! Emily here with a designer challenge for you! I am loving the brand new Under the Tree collection, but I have to be honest, I'm just not quite ready to jump onto the holiday bandwagon yet!! Luckily, the papers and colors in this collection can easily be used for both holiday and non-holiday projects!  I chose a photo that included some red so that I could use the red papers that come in this collection. My six year old daughter completed her first triathlon at the end of the summer. It was her first competitive sporting evert ever and she was ecstatic at the finish line (and, I should mention, not even tired, crazy kid!). My husband snapped this photo of her right as she was coming out of "chute." I love how realistic the event organizers made the entire triathlon.

I chose red, gold, blue, and black as my color scheme, which worked well with my daughter's red shirt in the photo. I also included a lot of stars to imply that my little athlete is our own super star! I love the idea of using lots of stars without actually using the word "star" in my layout.   The little gold stars on the Merry Making patterned paper were a perfect backdrop. I also included some star paper from last year's December Story kit.  Because the background is a little busy, I decided to outline all of my elements in black to make them stand out. I found a few non-holiday elements that matched my color scheme, including a little "3" tag from the Ephemera package which was perfect for this layout! I think my favorite embellishment is the sweet little "A good memory" tin pin that also included a star!

Above the photo, I added a little flare of stars (stickers and pop drops)  as though they were confetti flying out of her hands at the end of the finish line.

I cut a bold title out of black cardstock using the Pacifico font and added a few lines of journaling near the top lefthand corner. Overall, it's a fairly simple layout that includes a few fun visuals!  

Here's a look at the final product:

How are you feeling about Christmas?  Too soon to scrap the holidays? I'd love to see your take on some non-holiday layouts using our Under the Tree collection! Upload your work to the October Afternoon Flickr gallery, post it on our Facebook page, or connect with us on Instagram via #octoberafternoon. Happy Thursday, and happy scrapping!

Under the Tree | Pocket Page Scrapbooking: Part Two

Hi.  Janice here to share with you the second part of pocket page scrapbooking using Under the Tree, October Afternoon's latest holiday collection. This is the right side of a two page spread, the left side was posted last Friday.  You can find it here. 

 

I love the variety of nostalgic die cuts in this line.  It brings back many childhood memories for me.  Even the Music Notes washi tape reminds me of something that was used on a gift back then. 

 

 

This Christmas Card List can be found on the back side of Card Sending.  I combined it with die cuts from the Ephemera pack and a sticker from the Word Stickers page. 

 

 

This picture is one of my favorites.  The cousins are catching up with each other and playing good old-fashioned board games.  A wonderful time for family. This is our December Story. What's yours?

 

 

This pattern can be found on the back side of Cocoa Sipping.  It makes me think of sipping hot cocoa while stirring it with a candy cane. 

 

 

How are you planning to document your December story?  I hope these pocket page posts are encouraging you to think about what you want to remember this year during Christmas. Thanks again for dropping by.  See you next Friday.

For OA Fans and Followers: “Get Your Crafty On!” Fall Fun with TheResetGirl

Cori, AKA TheResetGirl, is a planner girl with a passion for encouraging and educating. She also is the hostess of the ListersGottaList monthly challenge. Cori nearly always has a pen and glue stick in hand. Together with her husband and partner, Mr. Crafty, they own TheResetGirlShop where Cori’s exclusive must have planner supplies and kits can be found.

Here is a yummy look at Cori’s Kit #5 Fall Fun which features a lot of Apple Cider goodness and Catch Phrase Inspiration!

If you are new to the planning & listing crafts or if you're already an advanced planner girl, Cori is there to inspire, support and challenge you to “get your crafty on!" 

Find TheResetGirl bringing brilliant insight and heartfelt encouragement to crafters of all skill levels on:

Facebook - The Reset Girl

Instagram - theresetgirl

YouTube - TheResetGirl

Pinterest - The Reset Girl

Twitter - @TheResetGirl

Periscope - @TheReset

See more of Cori's exclusive ListersGottaList kits and planner products at TheResetGirlShop.  Be warned, her amazing kits sell out fast! 

Monday Challenge: Pattern over Pattern

Hey everyone! Roree here with a Monday challenge for you. 

With Halloween just around the corner, I decided to get out the Witch Hazel collection to use for creating today's project. I was playing around with the Spooky Music background stamp and stamped it over a scrap piece of Freckle Dust patterned paper. While I originally was just using it as a practice piece for stamping, I ended up really liked the way it looked. So, I decided to use it for the base of my card.

I added some striped strips from the Spider's Silk patterned paper along the top and bottom of the stamped panel. I cut out a cute little ghost with my die cut machine from white cardstock and vellum, added some black gems for eyes, and placed the ghost in the center of the panel. I stapled a tab from the Tidbits pack to the top right corner of the panel, then I layered a black gem and chipboard star from the Chip 'n Stick chipboard sheet over the right side of the tab. I attached the "Boo!" sentiment from the Chip 'n Stick chipboard sheet to a label from the Label Stickers sheet, added a couple more black gems, and placed the label at the bottom right side of the panel. I finished by adding the panel to the front of  4 1/4 x 5 1/2" card to finish.

I wouldn't have normally overlapped two strong and distinctive patterns like this, but I think it works on this card. Such a fun and happy accident!

So here is my challenge to you, create a project mixing one pattern over another. Maybe you will end up with something fun and unique like I did.

If you would like to take on today's challenge, please share your creation by linking it on Instagram with the hashtag #octoberafternoon, along with tagging @octoberafternoon, so we can see! You can also share your projects on our OA Facebook wall or the OA Flickr gallery.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Under the Tree | Pocket Page Scrapbooking: Part One

Hello!  Janice here to share my first project with you, using OA's new holiday collection Under the Tree.  This is the first part of a pocket page spread I created using some of my family's December 2014 pictures. I wanted to highlight that I stamped "Joy" onto the sunset photo in the upper right corner from the Clear Stamps set.

I mentioned in my previous post that pocket pages work the best for me.  When I first started with pocket pages, I was creating a spread a week.  I found it hard to keep up, so for the past couple of years, a spread for each month is much more doable with my schedule. 

The shaker card was created with the Under the Tree background stamp.  The Home for the Holidays card was accessorized using Pop Drops and Shape Stickers. 

I gave the Lego princess a Pop Dot star on top of her hat and used some tiny words from the Word Stickers.

This Days 'til Christmas card came from the paper Merry Making and I found some numbers in the Ephemera pack that fit perfectly.

I like this picture of my boys, but my younger son was wearing a shirt with a giant logo that I wanted to hide.  This was my solution.

 Here's a shot of some of the products I used for this post.

Thanks for stopping by.  See you next Friday. 

Janice

Thursday Sketch: Squares of Different Sizes

Hi everyone! Alex here bringing you this week's sketch. I have used a lot of squares on this one.

And here is my own take on it.

I am not really ready for Christmas yet but I do love the new Under the Tree papers, so I decided to use them for this non-Holiday layout. The red and black were a perfect match for my little fire fighter. I have used papers Carol Singing and Card Sending. 

I mixed it up with bits and pieces from DF All Boy, DF Snapshots and DF Girl Talk. 

I also added some chipboard stars and a chipboard frame. 

For my title, I used the DF Nightfall alphas.

I hope that you feel inspired by this sketch and that you want to play along. Have fun!

//Alex