October Afternoon

Travel Mini Album with Jenni Hufford

Hello!  It's Jenni Hufford here with my final post as the September Guest Designer.  Is it just me or did this month fly by!?  

Today I want to share with you a travel mini album I created for an upcoming trip this fall to New Orleans.  I used mostly Boarding Pass, Sidewalks, and bits and pieces of Road Map.

When I create a travel mini album, I have found that making the base of the album BEFORE the trip is extremely helpful.  This way, the album can go with you on the trip, and is available to record the memories as you experience them.   

Keeping the pages fairly simple is the key as you are making your album base.  You can take extra embellishments with you and add them as you build your album.

When I pack for a trip (and by packing, I mean scrapbook supplies:), I include the following items: letter stickers, extra journaling labels/cards, scissors/small paper trimmer, pens, adhesive, a few extra embellishments, pre-cut cardstock and scraps of pattern paper for "extra pages", decorative tape/washi tape, one or two stamps/ink, a hole punch, and my camera and instax polaroid camera.

On previous trips I would take a little time each day to include a few photos, journaling, and found items into my album.  I was honestly amazed how quickly I completed past travel albums-- I am sure it's because the memories were fresh and my supplies were somewhat limited!

Thank you again October Afternoon for having me Guest Design this month!!  I had a wonderful time and so enjoyed working with all of your beautiful products!  Have a great weekend everyone!

Envelope Challenge

Good Monday morning October Afternoon fans! Lexi here and today we are talking envelopes. I don't know about you, but I LOVE mail...well, I should say, I love *fun* mail--bills, not so much ;)

My littlest guy loves to play mailman each day and is the first to want to go check the box. I snapped a few pictures recently and it got me thinking....how about a challenge using envelopes on a layout? Are you up for it? The fun thing is, envelopes can be used in a variety of ways on a project and can easily be made with patterned paper...because I KNOW you have some extra paper lying around! ;)

Amy joined me for the challenge and created her own envelope for the cutest card. Here is what she had to say:

"This card is for my daughter who is struggling getting back into the swing of practicing her piano after the long summer without any lessons. The adorable little girl and birds singing from the Sidewalks collection were the perfect catalyst for me to make this card that I will set up on our piano tonight for her to discover when she’s about to sit down and play.

The envelope was SUPER easy to make, I just used a 5x5” square of paper and folded in the corners like an actual envelope. I adhered the piece together by using the blue piece of sheet music border sticker across the top, but you could easily tape the seams from the inside of the envelope itself, too." How sweet is that?

Speaking of envelopes, here is my little mailman. And don't let the 2 page layout throw you into too much shock ;)

 I am not so great at 2 page layouts, but I liked the look once it was finished. Here's a look at each side:

I made the little ledger envelopes using my silhouette, but as Amy mentioned before, they are easy to make yourself.  One of the envelopes I ran through my typewriter for some journaling.

I used lots of elements from the Boarding Pass miscellany pack, as well as paper from that same line, Sasparilla and Farmhouse.  

Another fun way to incorporate envelopes...have you ever noticed the lining of some of them? I've checked out the security envelopes that come in and several have cool, graphic patterns. Here I punched out some stars...

and sewed them down for another embellishment. Below I used a favorite button punch and envelope lining to create this card:

I really loved the gray stripe and plan to punch some more shapes from it. The butterflies and sentiment you see here are from the Sidewalks Flower Sack pack--pre-punched and ready to go!  

I am kinda feeling better about all this bill paying now ;)

So how about you? Are you thinking of checking out your mail a little closer today? Ever created a project using an envelope of some form?  We would love a chance to peek! The OA Flickr group is great place to load up on inspiration AND load your projects into. 

Thanks for joining me and have a happy Monday!

 

 

Thursday Sketch

Hi OA friends! It's Amy here again today with a fun sketch for you! I find that my go-to design used for my quickest pages, is shaped like an "L". The "L" is often used in design because of it's natual triangular shape, which lends itself to symmetrical balance. That's probably why I gravitate toward this shape, because my layouts are typically not consciously symmetrical in their design.There are many ways to create an "L" on your page. It can be literal, or much more abstract. I thought I'd create a sketch based on this basic "L" premise, then show you how it can be both literal and abstract at the same time. I swapped some of the placement in the sketch, such as the title placement and journaling. Then, as in most of my pages, I've used many embellishments, which takes this very basic shape and makes it very decorative.Collections Used: Sidewalks, Schoolhouse, Boarding Pass, SprINKlers

 

I asked Lexi to work with this sketch, too. This is what she came up with.Lexi create this adorable 8.5x11" layout with the sketch and it just shows how verstaile this basic shape can be on a page! Isn't it just fabulous how she used Boarding Pass and Sidewalks together? So cute!

We'd love to see what YOU come up with from this sketch! If you decide to play with it, upload it to our Flickr Gallery so we can all see! Please post by September 8th. We'd love to see your takes! Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a great day!!

Challenge :: Everyday Travel

Hi there everyone! It's Amy here today and I hope that you have had a terrific weekend! If you were in the path of Hurricane Irene, as I was, I hope that you weathered it well and were able to keep safe!

Today's challenge is about everyday travel. I don't know about you, but during an average day, I spend a lot of time in my car taking my kids from here to there, commuting in traffic, and just daily errands. With the recent release of Boarding Pass, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to record these unglamorous, sometimes forgotten, many hours of our daily lives.  

For my project, I decided to document my husband's daily commute routine which includes car, train and walking travel to get to his work, totalling 4 hours of commute time each day. It's exhaustive and it's a major part of his and our lives. I love how Boarding Pass has all the elements for all types of leisure travel, but also fits for commuter travel as well. Because let's face it, most of us have to deal with a commute of some type at different points in our lives. Wouldn't this be the perfect opporunity to document it? This is where Vivian's awesome page comes in. She took a completely different take on the challenge of everyday travel by taking a retorspective look throughout her life thus far.

Not many of us think to take photos of our everyday transportation (I know I don't). Vivian did a fantastic job of showing us that even a photoless page can be just as expressive of a story as as one with amazing pictures.

I love what she had to say about her page: "It's definitely the most bizarre layout I've ever done, but kind of fun, too. ". I agree, Vivian! It's definitely, FUN!! And a great documentation of where she's been and how she got there! I LOVE it!

So what do you think? How do you travel each day? Do you take a train? Do fly frequently for work? Or like many of us are you a Mom-taxi? Why don't you give this challenge a go, and let us see how you travel each day! Then make sure to upload your project to our Flickr Gallery so we can all see your wonderful work!

Sketchy Thursday--Cards

Good Morning OA fans, it's Danni here with this week's sketch. We, all, are getting the kids back to school, and it's a busy time, so we thought it would be fun to bring another card sketch this week (just in time for back-to-school cards).

Here's the card sketch for this week:

 

I wanted to create a quick-card sketch this week that could be used to create very quick cards or embellished and layered for a more elaborate card.

Joining me this week is Lexi and she created this adorable card using Boarding Pass. I absolutely love the way she layers the tickets and cards from the Miscellany package and that chipboard car with button tires....omycuuuuute!

detailed shot of that cute car:

For my card, I pulled out Sidewalks and wanted to play with some of the Chip-n-Stick. I love every single image on the chip-n-stick sheet, there is so much inspiration just looking at it.

 

it was a lot of fun playing with the chipboard banner

 

 

We'd love to see our FLICKR gallery fill up with cards, cards and more cards. The sketch leaves so much room for interpretation and we can't wait to see your take on it.

happy creating♥

danni

Challenge brought to you by Kinsey and Jill

Hey OA Friends! Kinsey and Jill here today with this week’s challenge and it’s a fun one so let’s jump right into it! This one is all about the number one…literally. It’s a one of each challenge, and I’ll admit, when I chose this challenge, I was aiming for simplicity- back to school time is hectic so the easier the better for now, ha! I was totally surprised though by how much thought went into every choice because let’s face it, choosing 1 of anything October Afternoon- related is next to impossible…I tend to use multiples of EVERYTHING on my projects and now, I’m proud to say that this challenge pulled me out of my comfort zone and made me really edit my choices more.

So here’s my take on the challenge and for this layout, I used the new Sidewalks line (LOVE!)…

My ‘ones’ are as follows: 1 large font, 1 small font, 1 sheet of pp, 1 pin, 1 photo strip, and 1 tin pin (from Modern Homemaker- couldn’t resist the cat, it was perfect).

My partner in crime today is my sweet friend Jill and she knocked this challenge out of the park! I’m so excited to show you guys what she came up with…

Here’s what Jill said about the challenge:

Given my penchant for layering and repetition on a layout, I found this to be a REAL challenge.  Only ONE of each item?  I was a little worried that it would be like scrapping in a straitjacket.  However, it ended up working for me and really stretching me creatively.  This challenge made me think about my supply choices, and along the way, I realized that there was still repetition inherent in this challenge -- it just happened to be the repetition of ones.  Most of the items that I incorporated on the layout have something to do with my daughter's schedule.  For instance, the numbers relate to the Math Team, the singing bird relates to choir, the text paper relates to the Speech Team, and so on.  I used the new Sidewalks line here, along with some Boarding Pass and a Report Card pencil stamp.  Since I could only choose one sheet of patterned paper, I went with a sheet of Sidewalks "Jump Rope" paper, since it is full of variety and has two distinct A and B sides.

Thanks so much for hanging out with us today! We hope you play along because we LOVE seeing your projects in the flickr gallery and as always, there’s a chance you might find your beautiful work posted right here for all to admire :)

Take care and have a wonderful week!

Kinsey and Jill

Congratulations to our May Arts and October Afternoon Give-away Winner!

A Big Congratulations goes out to Karen BG! Karen's a big fan of May Arts and October Afternoon.

"I love October Afternoon and May Arts! I like the Boarding Pass collection and would really like to get some for my travel projects!"

Karen will be receiving the Boarding Pass Papers and several fun embellishments from October Afternoon along with 25 yards of fabulous May Arts ribbon. Karen, please email your shipping information to [email protected] to receive your prize.

And a giant Thank You goes out to all of October Afternoon's fans for your helpful comments and participating in our give-away. Make sure you join in on our future give-aways!

Thank-you Lisa Truesdell!

July is almost over which means it is time to say good-bye to our guest designer, Lisa Truesdell.  Lisa has shared with us some of the coolest techniques and projects using Rocket Age and Boarding Pass and it has been so fun getting to know her!  Thank-you so much for spending this month with us Lisa. 

Now, for Lisa's final post:

Happy Friday, October Afternoon fans! It's a special day at my house today - my littlest dude turns FOUR today! In honor of his birthday, I decided to scrap a recent photo of Sam for my last page for the OA blog.

 

This page is a study is mixing and matching. I got my hands on the FABULOUS new papers while at CHA, and to be honest..  I couldn't decide where to start. So I used bits of all three. ;) There are papers from Sidewalks, Sasparilla and Farmhouse on this page.... and I mixed in a little Rocket Age and Boarding Pass for good measure. I absolutely love how easy it is to mix and match between OA's lines!

 

I've used a lot of little layers on this page - stickers and flashcards from the Rocket Age Miscellany and Tin Pins and little bits cut from patterned papers.

 

My background was looking a little stark, so I used the Frequent Flyer Sprinkler from Boarding Pass along with a new ampersand mask from Studio Calico. I love how soft this color is - it added the perfect amount of detail to my background.

Thank you to October Afternoon for having me as a guest this month, and to all of you that have taken the time to leave such kind comments on my work - I really appreciate it. I'm off to celebrate with Sam - I hope you all have a great day as well!

Don't forget, you can always find more inspiration from Lisa on her blog, at TwoPeas and at Studio Calico!

Thursday Sketch by Marcy Penner

I hope you've all been enjoying the peeks into our new lines!  I personally can't wait to play with them all. But, that's not what I'm here about today.  It's Thursday... so that means it's sketch time!

I whipped this guy up and sent him off to Vivian.
 

I love how Vivian turned the sketch on the side.  The Boarding Pass collection worked so perfectly with her road trip photos! Don't we all have a million of those!?  ;)

 

I too turned the sketch on it's side and used it for a page using Rocket Age.  I really wanted to use that line to show that it's not just a "boy" line or a "space" line.

For this page I pulled the red and navy from the photo of my daughter on our Florida holiday.

 
 

I love that the new October Afternoon releases include those little flags!  Would save me some time for sure!  But for this one I made my own.

 
 

So, there you have it!  I hope you give this sketch a try!  We love seeing your work in our gallery... and be sure to link up in the comment section so we can see what you do with this sketch!

Boarding Pass

Happy Wednesday friends!  Boarding Pass is currently making it's way to your favorite scrapbooking store so we thought it would be fun to share some pages using Boarding Pass today.

All of these projects were made for our CHA booth.  Our booth was filled to the brim with inspiration.  The design team really outdid themselves this time!

First up is a layout by Jill Sprott, "NC or Bust":
 
 

I love how Jill used the travel stickers to make a little banner.  The different shaped stickers really make it an interesting addition to her layout. 

"Travel Buddy" by Roree Rumph:
 

I love how Roree's layout is based upon her daughter's stuffed animal and how it provides comfort for her during travel.  What a special memory for her daughter to remember through her scrapbook pages.

"Hemlock" by Jaime Warren:

 
This layout features Jaime's signature layers and interesting clusters of embellishments.  Everything about this page is awesome!

"Go See Do" by Marcy Penner
 
Marcy rocked the Sprinklers once again with this layout.  The splatters add such a fun accent and that banner is the perfect touch.

"San Francisco" by Vivian Masket
Vivian did such a great job using the chip 'n stick to embellish her page yet still keep the focus on the pictures.

"Wanderlust" by Lexi Bridges
 
You may recognize this page from Lexi's tutorial a few weeks ago, but we just had to have it for the booth.  I wish you all could see this layout in person.  Those paper airplanes look so cool and add such a fun dimensional element.  This layout was also included in about.com's top layouts of CHA, found here.  Way to go Lexi!

Be on the lookout for all your favorite Boarding Pass goodies at your local or online scrapbook store and don't forget to share what you create with it.  We can't wait to see! :)