October Afternoon

Thursday Sketch

Hey, everyone! Roree here with you all today sharing a card sketch.

Playing around in Photoshop, I came up with this:

This sketch was originally designed for a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2" card but you can easily adjust it for a square card, or you could add a photo in place of the flower and use the sketch for a layout—whatever works best for you!

I created a card with the new Under the Tree collection.

I used the Tree Trimming patterned paper for the base and added strips of the Merry Making and Cookie Nibbling patterned papers, along with some machine stitching. I then layered a snowman and sentiment stickers from the Shape Stickers and Word Stickers sheets over the strips and finished it off with a heart 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!

Monday Challenge: Record Your Summer in Pocket Pages Part 3

Hello there October Afternoon fans, Mou here today with your Monday challenge!

Summer is wrapping up here. Schools start this week. This has been a summer of big events for our family. We have moved from Florida to New Jersey. And yes, for the first time, I am sensing that summer is really coming to an end as the evenings are getting rather chilly. New Jersey is not the land of everlasting summer... but I'm looking forward to welcoming autumn because that has always been my favorite!

At the beginning of this summer, I challenged myself and invited you all to join me to record this summer in pocket pages. You can read my original post here. I have used the October Afternoon Daily Flash system to record our summer. In order to not miss a single beat, I have taken photos all summer with my phone and posted them on my Instagram account with #oursummerof2015. As I progressed with my project, I realized yet one more time, how helpful the Daily Flash system is..

Here are two more spreads from my album.

As I continue working on this album, I find myself reaching for more October Afternoon Collections than just Summertime and loving it because they all blend together seamlessly!

So, how is your summer memory keeping coming along? Please share in your comments.

Monday Challenge: Create a Scene

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

As I was browsing about Pinterest one day, I came across this pin:

Image via Pinterest

I immediately fell in love with the little cityscape at the top of the image. I thought it would be fun to create my own little scene on a card (and I did!). Here is what I came up with:

For the base of my scene, I used a journaling card from the Summertime Memory Cards pack. I used cloud stickers from the Saturday Mornings Shape Stickers sheet and hand cut a house and tree from Summertime Puffy Clouds, Heat Wave, and Green Grass patterened papers and Treasure Map Moby Dick Isle patterned paper.

I completed the scene with a few cross stitches and a Summertime Double Take heart sticker and Treasure Map Designer Brad.

I added the scene to a Treasure Map Moby Dick Isle patterned paper card base and used Daily Flash Clover "Storybook" Flash Alphas and a Daily Flash Snapshots Double Take tab sticker to create a title.

I finished the card with some machine stitching and a bit of baker's twine from the Sasparilla Wrap Pack.

If you would like to take on today's challenge and create a scene on 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

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 with Suz

Hello everyone! Suz back with you with today's #oasketchday Sketch Challenge!

This week's sketch was inspired by the "A" Side of the Scones patterned paper from the Saturday Mornings collection here.

 

In particular, the bottom left image (the one with the "9") is what I drew my inspiration from.

Here is the sketch that I derived from my design. I actually worked a bit backwards this time and created my card and then the sketch design.

The card design uses one of my favorite design principles; repetition.

 

 

If you look closely, you can see several ways I incorporated repetition--the repeating sentiments, repeating colors, repeating stars/stellar/sunburst shapes, circles, etc. Repetition just adds cohesiveness and makes the whole creation come together for the most visual impact. And is it just me or do any of you see a gum ball machine/snow globe/fortune teller glass or a Star Wars X-Wings aircraft depending upon how you look at it?! No, ok, well then, I guess it's just me! LOL

I cut out a portion of the Scone patterned paper and flipped it over to reveal the B side (pink and taupe-grey pinwheels). Then I machine stitched for a bit of dimension. I added a bit of stamping using some stamps designed by the lovely and talented Jessy Christopher and a bit of my own printing and handwriting. 3D adhesive was used to pop my central element up ("YAY" circle stamp-a bit imperfectly distressed (user error) but I went with it) and then a triangle stamp was used to draw the eye into this element. The "21" stamp is from a Cocoa Daisy kit.

I used items from both the Treasure Map and Saturday Mornings collection as well as some Pop Drops from Daily Flash - Eggnog.

Treasure Map: Side B of Siren's Point, Treasure Map - The Ocean Blue - Label Stickers 

If you decide you want to create using this sketch as a jumping off point, please use the hashtag #oasketchday when sharing on Instagram and tag me @suzmannecke so I can see!

No Instagram account? No worries! You can post on our OA Facebook wall, OA Flickr Gallery, or link your creation up in the comment section below. (Please note, comments are moderated, so your comment will not post immediately).

Have a great remainder of your week! Be sure to check back in tomorrow when our August Guest is announced! ;) 

OA Summertime | Oh Happy Day

Hello friends! Kelly Xenos here with my last project as your July Guest Designer. First of all, I want to thank you so much for having me this month! I have had such a great time playing with really awesome October Afternoon products and sharing my creations here with you.

For my last project I made a traditional 8.5"x11" layout using items from the Summertime collection. I started with an 8.5"x7.5" photo to tell the story of how my husband fixed up my old bike for my birthday present. 

Once again I'm using one large photo, which I love doing, and then I created a section at the bottom for my journaling. I thought this green memory card would be awesome to use since it had the bike and using a pocket pages card as a journaling card on a layout is a great way to use up extra cards you have in your stash! I then attached different pieces of patterned paper on each side with the zig-zag stitch on my sewing machine.

For the embellishments I used Pop Drop stars and the Oh Happy Day Pillow Puff sticker. These stickers give such great dimension! I also used one of the Tin Pins that says Love This because the green color tied in so well with the journaling card. 

 Thanks again and I hope you all enjoy the rest of your summer!

 

ETA: October Afternoon thanks you Kelly for sharing your time and your talent with us, our blog readers, and our fans and customers! 

Thursday Sketch: Lots of Journaling

Hi everyone, Mou here with today's sketch and it is one with lots of room for journaling!

If you are like me, you might like to tell your stories in detail and that needs space on a layout. When I sketch, I keep the length of my story in mind so I don't have to struggle to make it fit at the end after everything has been glued down. Here's my layout

On this layout, I used not only my own handwriting but also patterned paper, stamps and stickers in the journaling from the Summertime collection. I started with a strip of Swimming Pool paper at the very top to let the words set the stage for a summer layout. Next I added a wider block of Puffy Clouds paper in the middle and a block of Heat Wave paper at the bottom. I cut my title out of Green Grass paper. I embellished around the title with a Tin Pin and some star stickers from the Double Take sticker set. Finally, to add my journaling, I used the Summer rotary stamp and words from the Double Take sticker set and wrote out the story with black pen. Here are some close ups of my layout.

Hope you enjoyed today's post and find the sketch helpful when you have a longer story to tell. Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday Inspiration: Summery Hues

Happy Tuesday! It's the height of summer, and like me, you may have accumulated your fair share of beach and pool photos by now. No beach or pool photos? You can still be inspired by this palette of summery hues. 

Source: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 

During a recent beach trip, I left the "good" camera at home and had to make do with the camera on my phone. The result? Some imperfect photos, with way too much sun -- but I still loved them. I took one of my favorites and played with some filter effects, and then printed a group of four. The photos found their way onto this layout that incorporates oceanic hues and patterns from the Summertime, Treasure Map, Saturday Mornings, and Daily Flash collections. 

The fact that there is so much light obscuring my face makes the photos imperfect, but through this imperfection, I found the perfect idea for the journaling. 

So much of the beachy feel of this page is due to the stamping. I started the page on a sheet of white 12 x 12 cardstock. First I stamped the Saturday Mornings "Clouds" stamp across the top of the page, and then I used the Daily Flash All Boy "Dude" wave stamp and various shades of blue across the bottom of the page. I then lightly spritzed over the stamping with aqua and mint green mist, to intensify the color. 

The middle of the page serves as a buffer between sky and sea. I cut small patterned squares from papers in the Treasure Map and Summertime collections, and embellished them with stickers and stitching. 

I had such fun using these colors and patterns to give my imperfect photos the perfect home. 

Feeling inspired, too?  Share your projects in the October Afternoon Flickr gallery. We'd love to see them! 

Thanks for stopping by today! 

-- Jill 

Monday Challenge: Record Your Summer in Pocket Pages Part 2

Hi everyone, Mou here with today's October Afternoon challenge which is a continuation of my June challenge to record your summer in pocket pages.

Last month, I shared the first three pages of my album and this time, I'll show you how have continued on that journey. I recently opened an account on Instagram to keep my summer images together in one place so that I can print those images and put them in pockets without going back and forth too much. Here's my account  and you can see almost all the images at #oursumerof2015.

And here they are in October Afternoon Daily Flash pocket pages.

 

I added a journaling spot using a Memory Card right on top of my photo.

Here are more 2 x 2 photos in the back with some blocks cut out of Blue Skies paper.

Next month, I'll share more of my summer of 2015 album right here. So, be sure to check back :)

Designer Inspiration: Quilt Design

Hey, everyone! Roree here with a little Tuesday inspiration for you.

I found a fun quilt pattern on Pinterest that I absolutely fell in love with.

Image via Pinterest

I absolutely love the design and mix of patterns! It inspired me to create this card with the Summertime collection:

I kept true to the design of the quilt and used patterns from Blue Skies, Sunshine, Swimming Pool, Green Grass, Flower Garden, Puffy Clouds, Backyard Lights, and Heat Wave papers to mimic the different fabrics in the little tabletop quilt.

I machine sewed around the edges of the patterned squares and added a few  cross stitches at the bottom left corner of the card. I placed a Little Labels sticker in the center and added some Double Take heart stickers and Pop Drops from the Daily Flash Milk Money collection to finish.

If today's inspiration piece 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!