October Afternoon

Thursday Sketch

Hey, everyone! Roree here with you all today.

Using inspiration from a graphic print I found on Pinterest, I played around a bit in Photoshop and came up with this week's Thursday sketch:

October Afternoon has quite a few different striped papers in their collections to choose from that will work great with this sketch. I chose two from the Summertime and Cakewalk collections to create this card:

I used the Blues Skies b-side from Summertime for the gray stripes and the Paper Straws b-side from Cakewalk for the pink stripes. To add a little texture and visual interest, I machine stitched with straight or zigzag stitches every few lines.

My main reason for choosing these papers/colors is that I have been dying to use that adorable little car sticker from the Summertime Double Take sticker sheet. But because the window area of the car was open, I needed to add something behind it or the patterned paper would have been way too distracting and the car wouldn't have stood out.

So, I used a journaling card from the Daily Flash Snapshots collection behind the window and just trimmed off the excess. Because it looked a little bare, I added a sweet sentiment from the Daily Flash Summer Catch-Phrase Stamp. I then finished the card with a pink heart sticker from the Double Take sticker sheet and a gray Daily Flash Apple Cider Pop Drop.

If today's sketch inspires your next project, 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!

Thursday Sketch: Let the photo take center stage

Hi everyone, Mou here with today's sketch and a layout!

There are several different components in a layout. I feel that the photo is the most important factor deserving the focal point of the page. In my sketch, I put the photo front and center with a few rectangles to keep moving your eyes around the layout. And here's my take on this sketch.

On this layout, I used papers, stamp, and  designer brads from the Saturday Mornings collection along with a little bit of a darling older collection called Cakewalk and Daily Flash elements. Yes, I save all savable scraps of my October Afternoon papers because most of the collections work superbly together! For my background, I chose Hashbrowns 12 x 12 paper from Saturday Mornings in keeping with the theme of my layout about my little one starting solids. The paper instantly added a colorful and playful touch to a milestone layout. As the backdrop for my matted photo I used the TV listing side of Bacon paper as we often watch TV during feedings. I stamped a cardstock using the Clouds stamp and used it to mat my photo as another fun touch. I added strips and scraps of Orange Juice paper and some Designer brads to embellish. I finished the layout using Daily Flash alpha Strawberry Ice Cream Shop Front, Photo Booth Flash chip, and Apple Cider pop Drops. 

Here's a close-up of my layout.

Hope you find my sketch useful for one of your upcoming layouts! Thanks for stopping by :)

Topic Tuesday: Feeling Lucky?

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

This week's Topic Tuesday prompt, appropriately, focuses on luck:  What is your view of luck? How do you define it? Based on this definition, do you consider yourself lucky? 

Roree and I used these questions as a springboard for our projects, working in some St. Patty's green along the way and mixing old and new October Afternoon collections. In thinking about the prompt, Roree was inspired to create this lovely card: 

Roree explains: 

""I view luck as a circumstance of chance. Sometimes your luck can be good, sometimes it can be bad. Either way, it is something that you have no real control over. I do feel like I have been lucky in my life, especially in love. I have been with my husband for almost 25 years, married for almost 22 those, and I am still madly and deeply in love with him. (And I think he still feels the same way about me too!)

This feeling of luck inspired me to create a love-themed, St. Patrick's Day-inspired card just for him. I used patterned papers from the Farm Girl (for the lucky die cut) and Witch Hazel (for the stripes and clover) collections, along with Milk Money Pop Drops and letter stickers from Daily Flash. It's the perfect sentiment to let him know just how much I love him."

The recipient of this card is most definitely one lucky guy! 

My thoughts on the prompt led me to create a layout that features a photo collage documenting the evidence of how lucky I am. 

...Or am I not lucky, but blessed? The journaling works through this question. 

Among the layers of this page, I incorporated a variety of colors and patterns, all of which pick up the colors in the photo collage. The backdrop for the layout is the B-side of an uncut "Journal Cards" sheet from the Saturday Mornings collection. I included some Miscellany, Wild Cards, and accents from various October Afternoon collections, such as Daily Flash, Road Map, Report Card, 9 to 5, Cakewalk, and Schoolhouse. As a finishing touch, I added a few stamped sentiments, using the "Everyday" Daily Flash roller stamp. 

So how about it? Feeling lucky? We'd love to see your take on this week's Topic Tuesday prompt! Link us up in the comments below and/or share your projects in the OA Flickr gallery. 

Thanks for visiting today! 

-- Jill 

Friends | Use those scraps

Hello OA fans! It's Nicole Nowosad back on the blog today with one of my favorite new pages using my favorite October Afternoon products - patterned paper!

Let's just say I have quite the collection of October Afternoon papers in my stash. I wanted to use some of those for my project, integrating in the new Saturday Mornings collection too!

I keep a lot of scraps, so I used leftovers from all my other Guest DT projects to make this page!

The best part of this project is that I barely used my paper trimmer. I simply cut some strips of scraps of papers from Saturday Mornings, Snapshots, Girl Talk and Sidewalks.

I added some Flower Sack pieces from my stash and some Pop Drops too in monochromatic colors.

I added some hand cut letters from the same papers in the strips and stitched up the whole project! I finished off the page by sprinkling some Sprinklers on my cardstock.

I have one last Guest DT post next week, I hope you will stop by and say hi. Here is a sneak of that project. See you then!

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

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

Monday Challenge: Put a bow on it!

Happy Monday! :)

It's Laura Craigie here today and I have a new challenge for you, and that is to put a bow on it!  I have admitted before that I tend to be a girly girl, and I just can't seem to stop using bows lately.  The best part is that when it comes to bows, October Afternoon has you covered.  There are some great little bow stamps from the Silent Night line here, and here, also puffy bow stickers from Daily Flash Egg Nog, and of course the adorable bow paper and matching sticker in the Daily Flash Girl Talk line.  

So I made two cute cards to hopefully inspire you to put a bow on it!

For my first card I incorporated a paper bow, and mixed some older CakeWalk papers with the new Girl talk for a cheery little card.

 

My second card I cut out a paper bow from the "Gossip" patterned paper.  You sure could get a lot of bows from one sheet of paper if you cut them all out! :)

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you feel inspired to create a card or project with a bow on it!  If you do, please share them in the October Afternoon Flickr Gallery.

Have a happy Monday, and a great week!

Laura :)

Tuesday Tutorial: A semi-pocket page

Hi everyone, Mou here with today's tutorial!

I'm not a conventional pocket page scrapper. I don't do Project Life. But I like how the Daily Flash pockets look. So, I wanted to see if I could use these pockets as part of my design on 8.5" x 11" layouts. On this layout, I used a 6x8 Sleeve for 2x2 photos from the Daily Flash line. It seemed like an easy and fun way to save some of those Valentines the kids got this year. Let me show you how I included the pocket page on my layout.

First of all, lay out the Valentines and pick the ones that would look best on your page.

Insert the Valentines in the little pockets. Some might fit better at an angle. Some you will need to cut apart to fit. Once you are happy with the arrangement, trim off the spine section with the punched holes. Take care not to cut into the seam line.

Attach some paper strips (I used 12 x 12 Stamp Book paper from Travel Girl and 12 x 12 Carol of the Bells paper from Silent Night collection) and washi tapes (Tropical Sherbet and Red Mesh, both from the Daily Flash line) near the top and bottom of the cardstock.

Attach the pocket page to the cardstock. Even though the pockets are clear, attaching them with double-sided tape was not difficult when I hid the adhesive behind the pocket contents. You could also sew it in place following the seam lines. 

Next, add some Apple Cider Pop Drops randomly around the page to embellish. Spell out the title using Sherbet Mini Market alpha stickers. I also attached a cute cupcake topper to the page using some Tropical Sherbet washi tape. It's really cool how all these collections, as different as they are in theme and release date, they still work together perfectly!

I couldn't help splattering a little bit of the Pink Lemonade Sprinkler from Cakewalk collection. You could skip this, if you are not a fan of splatters.

Journal below the title. Insert photos into the remaining pockets. Stamp phrases on cardstock strips using the Inspiration rotary stamp from Daily Flash and attach to the layout to finish.

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and will think of using your pocket pages on your layouts in different ways.

Monday Challenge: Speech Bubbles!

Hey guys!  This is Laura Craigie here today with a fun challenge for you!

Speech bubbles are one of my favorite trends, i just think they are ridiculously cute!  October Afternoon has some great products with them, and the new Daily Flash line is no exception.

The idea for my first card started from the telephone "Memory card", and I knew I wanted to use the speech bubble above it not for the sentiment which is the obvious choice, but to cut out some hearts and make a window card.  Then I added a label sticker below the telephone to ground the sentiment for the card.  I wanted the heart windows to stand out a bit more, so I adhered polkadot paper to the inside of the card.  

Here is a detail shot that better shows the peek through hearts in the speech bubble.

I made a second card using the Daily Flash Girl Talk line as well.

It's a sweet simple card, with a more subtle take on the speech bubble.  I used the "She said" Memory Card from the set in the image below, and cut off the top half of it and layered it over the darling bird image from Girl Talk line.  How sweet is that birdie?? :)

The ever sweet Danni Reid joined my in this challenge and made a super cute altered notebook!

Here is what Danni had to say :)

I absolutely love the idea of a speech bubble challenge because there are so, so many wonderful speech bubbles in the newest OA lines.  I could've cut speech bubbles from all the lines, or even one paper, and had plenty to fill an entire 12 x 12 page. 

 I began sorting through my various papers, prepared to cut a lot of speech bubbles from various sheets, when i came across this journal card "there is always something to smile about" and an idea was born.  I decided to use that journal card as my starting point an alter a notebook to be used by my daughter as a journal.  I knew the Travel Girl line had the cute umbrella "smile" sticker, so I decided to use the journal card and sticker as my focal and create speech bubbles all over the page that could also "feel like rain"

I love how this journal turned out.  What once was an aged composition notebook, has now become a happy, fun journal for my daughter.  Thank you Laura for such an amazing challenge, can't wait to see what others will create!

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you feel inspired to create a project using speech bubbles!  If you do please share them in the October Afternoon Flickr gallery.

Have a happy Monday, and a great week!

Laura & Danni :)

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!