October Afternoon

February's Guest Designer | Nicole Nowosad

Good morning! My name is Nicole Nowosad and I am very excited to be guest designing for October Afternoon this month!

 

I am a full-time working mom to two boys (12, and 9) and our princess who is almost 6!  I live a busy life, and that is just how I like it.

I have been scrapbooking in one way or another for about 15 years now. If I had to describe my personal style, it would involved a few words - color, pattern and stitching. I love using pieces of paper instead of whole sheet and yes, I keep even the smallest of scraps! I have am very fortunate to be on the Design Teams for Scrapbook and Cards Today Magazine, Jillibean Soup, Silhouette, Bella Blvd and Hip Kit Club.

Q: Are you a layout person, a card person ... or both?

I mainly scrapbook layouts but do make cards also! I would say most of my creative time surrounds scrapbooking 12x12 layouts.

 Q. What is on your scrap desk right now?

 

I just switched desks, so right now there is actually nothing which is odd for me. I always have something on the go, whether it is just some Silhouette cut shapes for my next project or odd supplies that need to be tucked away.

 

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

 

This is acutally a tough question! I have been hoarding lots of October Afternoon, but I would say I still love Cherry Hill, Sidewalks and Snaphots the most. I love the October Afternoon floral patterns and fun B side patterned papers. I could scrap all day with just OA papers!

 

Q. What can you NOT scrapbook without?

 

Oops, I think I just answered that! Patterned paper, it is my go-to supply. I try to make everything and anything from it. Tool-wise, I would say my Silhouette Cameo. I would even give up my paper trimmer for that.

 

Q. What is your favorite source of inspiration?

 

Truthfully, I don't really look for inspo. unless I have absolutely no mojo. I don't often go into galleries, I do Pinterest though. If I am needing some mojo, I will search shapes or graphic art prints on their to peak my interest.

 

 

 

Q. What is your favorite movie or TV show?

 

Well, I am sad to admit that I have watched Days of Our Lives since I was about 12 years old... so maybe that??? But, I do LOVE Scandal!! It's my new fave. Love that Olivia Pope :)

 

Q. What is your favorite food?

 

Hands down - Pizza. I even worked in a major pizza chain for 18 years and you would think I would hate it. Nope.

 

Q. What is your fondest childhood memory?

 

Hmm, good question. When I think back to my childhood, I always recall the times my family spent camping at various places in Canada, so I will have to go with that! 

 

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

 

Oh my. Hmm, Multi-Task Mama. I would possess the power to get multiple things done in a flash.

 

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

 

That's easy. My deceased grandparents. There is so much to ask them, and I never had the chance.

 

 

I look forwards to being with you every Friday in February!

 

You can follow me here:

 

Blog:  Nicole Nowosad

Instagram:  http://instagram.com/nicolenowosad Username: @nicolenowosad

Facebook:  Nicole Nowosad

Twitter: Nicole Nowosad

Pinterest:  https://www.pinterest.com/nicolenowosad/

Galleries:  http://www.scrapbook.com/galleries/469117.html

OA Sketch Day

Happy Thursday everyone! Suz here along with the fun and fabulous Mandy K to share with you this week's sketch challenge and our takes on it.

First up, the sketch:

And here is Mandy's fantastic take on the design and what she had to say about it:

 "The sketch Suz created for this weeks challenge is awesome! I had lots of ideas swirling in my head but I decided to keep it simple and create a fun date card to send to a friend since a "Pancake Date" with my girl Lisa is at the top of my list to make sure gets done this year. I love the cut stickers and fun paper from the Saturday Mornings collection it make it simple a quick to create this little card.

Thanks for asking me to join along with this fabulous sketch Suz!" 

 

*ETA--Isn't that card adorable! Love the way Mandy used the pop drops to add motion and dimension to her card!  Thanks for playing along with the sketch Mandy!

For this sketch, I created with the Saturday Mornings Collection and kept pretty true to the sketch, opting to use one of the four squares to house my photo and the others to use some stickers and patterned papers from the Saturday Morning collection to complete the look.

I kept the title in the approximate location as depicted in the sketch, but chose to journal on one of the Saturday Mornings Word Stickers instead. For the lower triangle image, I placed the fork and spoon Shape Stickers in a "v" pattern. Then I added some stitching and a bit of Lemon Drop SprINKlers, dropping a few slashes across the page to mimic batter droplets. ;)

This sketch would translate well to a card design too.

We hope this post leaves you inspired to crack into your stash of OA goodies or even your new haul of Saturday Mornings and to start creating with them! Please share your creations on OA's Facebook wall or on Instagram. On Instagram, please tag us @octoberafternoon and use the hashtags #octoberafternoon #oasketchday so we can see what you've been creating with OA products!

Have a great day! 

Tuesday Inspiration: Triangles & a Circle

Hey, October Afternoon fans! Mandy here with this week's Tuesday Inspiration. Today I'm sharing a pin from one of my inspiration boards on Pinterest.

I have a love for triangle right now and this had to be pinned when I first saw the image not only because there's triangles but the repetition of triangles, the circles, the stitched look and the many ways my eye thought this could go on a scrapbook page. I actually did not use the image as inspiration for a scrapbook layout this time instead I chose to create a card.

I decided to use one row of the triangles and the circle flipped horizontally for this card with minimal embellishing. I freehand cut the triangles from pattern paper and the circle is a chipboard button from the Public Library collection layered on a doily sticker. 

I used a mix of products from Public Library,Daily Flash All Boy, and  5&Dime on this card. Simple, fast, and easy to create! 

We'd love to see how you're being inspired , so please post your work to our October Afternoon Flickr gallery.

Thanks for joining me today! MK

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

Thursday Sketch: Patterned Backgrounds

Hey everyone!  Roree here with today's Thursday Sketch Challenge.

I created this sketch while playing around in Photoshop:

I started with a 8 1/2 x 11" format that would also work for 4 1/4 x 5 1/2" card. I had a fun patterned background in mind for my project, so I created a lattice/diamond grid pattern for the base of the layout. Then I added a square towards the upper center—perfect for a couple of photos or some fun OA embellishments.

Here is the card I created using the sketch:

I used my Cricut Expression® 2 machine cut the diamonds for my grid (Cricut® Font & Basic Shapes cartridge) and flowers (Southwest cartridge). I used Travel Girl and Farmhouse for the papers, Daily Flash Girl Talk for the memory card, Travel Girl for the buttons and label sticker, Sasparilla for the baker's twine, and 5 & Dime for the chipboard.

Since the memory card had a sentiment that was already at the top of the card, I just rotated some of the elements from the sketch to make it work for my card.

Amy played along with my sketch this week, and here is the amazing card she created and what she had to say about it:

"When I saw Roree's sketch I knew I could easily use it for a layout or a card. Since this week my kids went back to school, I decided on making a card for my daughter, who loves (bordering on obsession), loves, LOVES dogs. Instead of the two open spaces in the sketch, I opted to use one, so that I could showcase the adorable dog illustration from All Boy and couple that with all the gorgeous papers from Girl Talk. For the lattice background in the sketch I decided to use the diagonal striped paper from Girl Talk and add strips to it going in the opposite direction giving the illusion of a similar diamond-esque texture. I then stitched along the strips to add more dimension and contrast to the background."

I just love how sketches inspire creativity. You can re-create something following the sketch exactly or just use an element or two to get you started—whatever works to get you creating.

I hope you enjoyed today's sketch and the samples Amy and I created using it. If you get a chance to play along, don't forget to post your project in the OA Flickr group.  We can't wait to see how you interpret it.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Thursday Sketch: At an Angle

Hey everyone!  Roree here with today's Thursday Sketch Challenge.

I created this sketch playing around in Photoshop:

I started with a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2" format. I kept the main design pretty simple but added the elements at an angle, running from the bottom left corner of the layout to the top right corner.

Here is the card I created using the sketch:

I stayed pretty true to sketch and went with a flower theme. I created layered flowers using my Cricut Expression® 2 machine and Freshly Picked cartridge. I used Farm Girl for the papers and sentiment sticker, Woodland Park for the border stickers, Cakewalk for the baker's twine, and Boarding Pass and 5 & Dime for the buttons.

A fun "Just Because" card to brighten someone's day. :)

Laura played along with my sketch this week, and here is the amazing card she created and what she had to say about it:

"Sketches are one of my favourite things to use when I'm short on time. I find them to be such a great starting point for projects. I adored this sketch by Roree and instantly the idea came to me to cut holes in patterned paper for the front of my card and fill them with little bits. I knew that could get quite "busy" looking so I started with a simple striped pattern paper from the Midway 8x8 Paper pad, which I adhered with foam adhesive to sit higher than the card base.  I decided to keep everything monochromatic except the main sentiment which is a fun pop of blue."

What a great way to spotlight the embellishments, don't you think?

I just love how sketches inspire creativity. You can re-create something following the sketch exactly or just use an element or two to get you started—whatever works to get you creating.

I hope you enjoyed today's sketch and the samples Laura and I created using it. If you get a chance to play along, don't forget to post your project in the OA Flickr group.  We can't wait to see how you interpret it.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Monday Challenge-Scraplift yourself....

Scraplifting yourself is just the beginning of this challenge. Becky here today, with a multi-faceted challenge. Every year in January, I challenge myself to create a layout and then duplicate it for each of our grandchildren. You can interpret this as you wish...I would suggest a couple of ideas. Maybe you could recreate layouts for each of your children, or perhaps you have a great photo (or more than one) of a group of friends or family members who you could create a page for. This year we added two new grandsons, so last year I made 8 layouts based on one design and this year, I made ten! 

The second aspect of this challenge is to convey something across the board. Something that is important to you. Something you can communicate in a page. 

And the third aspect is to use past collections and scraps. I still adore many of the past October Afternoon collections and wanted to use them and not just hoard them : ) 

Take any part of this challenge and make it your own. Spin it, turn it, interpret it as you like! It's just a starting point. I've enjoyed challenging myself to do this for the past several years and there is something extremely gratifying and freeing to me about it year after year. 

This year, I assembled all of my photos and had a design in mind before I started. Once I began, it went very quickly. This is not my usual creative process. I normally have a mindset of doing something very fresh and of masterpiece quality! But for this challenge, I allow myself freedom. No pressure to create something completely fresh or new, no pressure to make it just right. It's more an exercise in creating and conveying a sentiment. 

On a sidenote, I make a lot of pages for my grandchildren. My goal is not to make albums that document their lives. They have parents who can document their lives if they choose. My reason for creating pages about them is to document my feelings for them and my memories about them from my perspective. I keep a book (or more) for each child that they will be able to take someday if they want. Right now, it's fun for me to do. A creative outlet.

So here are the ten layouts based on one design:

I don't know if I've ever made ten layouts in a day and a half before! But using this process really did work. If I were going to a crop, I think this would be a fun approach. 

Wilna joined me in this challenge and I asked her to interpret it as she liked...and I like how she chose to do it! She went back and found a layout she had made in 2005-

From this layout, she created this beauty-

I think it's great! kind...smart...important. LOVE. 

So please take up this challenge, any part or all of it and share with us what you make! Please post your take on the OA Flickr group! 

Thanks!

Monday Challenge: Using Your Not-Quite-What-You-Expected Photos

Happy Monday! Stacey here, bringing you a new challenge for this week.Use a photo (or a pile of them!) that didn't turn out right. It could be blurry, too dark, really light, or have something weird in the background. Or maybe your child got ahold of the camera and took pictures of things from his perspective. (This happened to me once, and I had a whole lot of pictures of dolls, stuffed animals, and feet - and this was before I had a digital camera, so they were on real film and I paid to have them developed!)

The inspiration for my challenge is a photo of my daughter that I had printed in 8X10 size for the grandparents for Christmas (scroll down - there's a lot of white sky at the top of the photo):

Since it is a digital photo, I had to pay close attention to the cropping when I sent it to Sam's Club for printing. I printed about 40 photos that day and digitally cropped them all - except for this one! In the layout below, you'll see what happened. I still LIKE the photo, but it's not what I was looking for (I needed more than her head for the framed gift photos). As soon as I saw the mistake I'd made, I knew I could use it for a scrapbook page...I love white space on photos, and this one has an abundance of white space!

The title on this is inspired by a sign I found on Pinterest. The big alphas are hand cut - I just eyeballed the letters. It's been a while since I cut anything out freehand like that, and I like how they turned out for this one! I used several October Afternoon collections - even some older ones like Night Light and Cherry Hill!

Here's a closer shot, just for fun:

When I told Jill Sprott my challenge theme, she said she knew just what pictures she wanted to use! She said she had some that turned out blurry, but she still wanted to use them. Here's the layout she did - I love how she cropped and edited the photos a little so that the blurriness isn't so obvious. Here's what she said:

"Taking photos of my husband is always a challenge, but recently, I was able to hold him hostage for a minute outdoors.  That didn't stop him from clowning around the whole time, though, resulting in a lot of blurry photos.  Still, I found myself smiling as I went through the photos, and knew that they would be perfect for this challenge.  How do we judge what is a "usable" photo anyway?  A little blur is inevitable when you're trying to capture life as it happens, after all.  

One way to make blurry photos a little easier to work with is to make them smaller, which is what I did on this layout.  It also helps to make the photo black and white, as I did with one of the photos.  This way the expression on my husband's face becomes the emphasis, and the fact that most everything else is out of focus becomes inconsequential.   

Imperfect photos can share space perfectly with other elements.  On this page, I pulled together lots of blues, greens, and neutrals from various lines, including Rocket Age, Sidewalks, and Farmhouse.  I had so much fun layering and embellishing the patterned rectangles and journaling cards."

I really hope you enjoy this challenge!

Monday Challenge: 5+ Photos

Happy Halloween!  Roree here, and I have a challenge for you today. 

Now a lot of you know me as a card maker.  Cards are my favorite things to create, and they are what I am most comfortable creating.  I do layouts, mini albums, and altered project too, but not nearly as much.  When I was thinking about what kind of challenge to post, I really thought about what would be challenging to me.  The first thing that came to mind was layouts.  While I do like to take photos, I am not great about doing it.  I take a couple here and there, but for the most part I always forget to take my camera with me wherever I go.  I never seem to have enough photos to put together a story on my pages, so I stick to one or two photo layouts.  Maybe three photos if I am lucky. 

So with that in mind, my challenge for you today is to create a layout with 5 or more photos.   For some of you this may not be as much of a challenge so for you, try and get more on a layout than you have ever done before.  Because it really is about challenging yourself, isn't it?  

Here is the layout I created for this challenge:

I really had to dig through my photos to find a day that I took a lot of pictures.  Luckily, I found a day that fit in with a fall/pumpkin theme in honor of Halloween.

I kept my design simple to really focus on the photos.  (I think this is the most photos I have ever used on one page.  LOL)  I love the Print Multiple Photos feature on Photoshop Elements.  It prints all of my photos at one time, and has multiple sizes to choose from.  I printed out all of my photos in two sizes, and then mixed and matched them. 

And I created some fun, little pumpkins to spruce up my title and play on the theme.

 

Collections used:  5 & Dime, Rocket Age, Campfire, Farm Fresh, Fly a Kite

Lexi played along with my challenge this week.  Here is what she came up with and what she had to say about the challenge:

"We just came back from our first true family vacation and, as you can image, took LOTS of photos. I am actually embarrassed to say how many, but I am a scrapbooker so you KNOW it was a lot ;) I knew Roree had the 5+ challenge coming up and it was a perfect way to scrap several of the photos I had just taken. These are pics are of the boys seeing the ocean for the first time. I printed them all out at 2.5x3.5" and added a little bit of a white cardstock mat. I added the bit of journaling with the title on the tag, which left me room to play with some paint, ink, and lots of patterns, without it feeling too crazy.

Collections used:  Sidewalks, Farmhouse, Sasparilla, Rocket Age and Seaside

So are you up for the challenge?  If so, make sure to upload your finished layout to the OA Flicker Gallery.  We love to see what you all create using OA products!

Hope you have a safe and Happy Halloween!  Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday Tutorial: Easy Layouts With 8 X 8 Paper Pads

Hi everyone! Vivian here with today's Tuesday Tutorial. Today we're going to look at a quick and easy way to add oomph to your layouts with 8 X 8 paper pads.

I think one of the most overlooked October Afternoon products is the 8 X 8 paper pads. Sure, the patterns are the same as the 12 X 12 patterned paper sheets, but...and this is the key here...the patterns are on a smaller scale. The 8 X 8 papers are not just an 8 X 8 slice of a 12 X 12 paper, but are the 12 X 12 pattern reduced to 8 X 8. I've found that those smaller-scale patterns open up a new world of design opportunities.

One of my favorite ways to use the 8 X 8 papers is to just tear out a whole sheet from the paper pad, glue it to the center of a 12 X 12 sheet of patterned paper or cardstock, and use it as a canvas within a canvas. Because the 8 X 8 papers have small-scale patterns, they can be used as a background canvas more easily than their 12 X 12 counterparts, as a smaller-scale pattern is less likely to compete with other page elements.

The layout I created for today's tutorial makes use of the Sidewalks line (with a flashcard from the 5 & Dime Miscellany thrown in there). The small-scale text-print paper is from the 8 X 8 Sidewalks paper pad, and is set against a larger-scale 12 X 12 patterned paper, also from the Sidewalks collection. Using the two patterned papers already made for an interesting layout, so it was quick to finish out my design with Miscellany, Flower Sack bits and pieces, and a label sticker cut in half.

I will leave you with two oldies but goodies, layouts I've done previously that use this same technique of a sheet from an 8 X 8 paper pad on a larger 12 X 12 canvas. The first showcases the Boarding Pass collection and the second showcases the 5 & Dime Collection.

If you try this design technique, please post your layout to our October Afternoon Flickr pool, as we'd love to see what you create!