October Afternoon

Designer Challenge | Out Like A Lamb

Happy Monday everyone! Suz here with you today (along with the lovely and talented Mou!) We are starting to see signs of spring here in the States, and are enjoying the longer days of daylight too. We hope you are having lovely weather where you are in the world as well!

Here is today's Designer's Challenge/inspiration piece to get your creative juices flowing just in time for spring and Easter:

 

 Source: http://www.pullingatstrings.com/blog/2011/06/07/tutorial-tuesday-sheeeeeeep/

 

Mou created an adorable bookmark for this challenge and here is what she had to say about it:

"Blurb: I loved the little lamb in Suz's inspiration piece! I wanted to design a bookmark around the lamb I found on the slightly older October Afternoon collection, Farm Girl 12 x12 paper Milk Pail. I started by adding bits and blocks of patterned papers from Public Library, Travel Girl and Daily Flash Girl Talk collections, layered various wash tapes, and stitched them in place. I added some Daily Flash Apple Cider Pop Drops hearts and a brad. Finally, I punched a hole and tied a ribbon from my stash to finish."

 

 

I love how she incorporated so many little details on the the bookmark and several patterns of OA washi tape!

 

 

I have to confess, I had a bunch of creative ideas that involved soft and cuddly, lovely little things (lambs, baby animals, etc) but then the DT kits arrived with Treasure Map last week and I immediately wanted to get scrapping with it. So I took pieces of design elements from the inspiration piece and got to creating!

  

 

In truth, I did pull some design elements from the inspiration piece; the red, the ombre blues, the heart. the "gallon, quart, pint" principle of design ;) So, I think it goes to show that inspirational pieces are just jumping off points for creativity and one can use any or all of the piece for inspiration! 

 

If you decide to take on this challenge, please share with us here on the blog, on the OA Facebook Wall, or on Twitter (@oct_afternoon) and Instagram @octoberafternoon. Please tag me @SuzMannecke so I can see and use the hashtag #oadesignerchallenge

Have a fantastic week!

Suz & Mou 

 

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 

Tuesday Inspiration: Candy Store

Hi everyone! Alex here, bringing you this week's inspiration piece. Since I love bright, happy colors, I came to think of candy and candy store displays when I was searching the net for inspiration. I found this picture on Pinterest and I instantly got in a mood to create something. I hope you feel the same way!

Here is what I came up with.

I was inspired by the colors and the shape of M&M's. 

I have mixed and matched a lot of different collection for this layout. The patterned papers (all but the pink one) are from the 8x8 Public Library pad.  The pink one is from the good old Farmer Girl 8x8 paper pad. The colorful alpha stickers and the fun sew banners are from the Midway collection, one of my all time favorites. 

I also added some small Daily Flash touches, such as this Good Day Tin Pin and a couple of All Boy Snap Caps. The yellow arrow sticher to the right of my title is from the Snapshots Double Take.

I just had to use some of the white leftover dots from the background strips I cut. I chose to raise up some of them with 3d-dots and then decorate them using different colors of Daily Flash pop drops.

That would be all from me this time. If you decide to play along and create something inspired by the M&M dispaly above, be sure to share it with us! Upload your project to October Afternoon Flickr gallery or link it up here or why not share it on OA's Facebook page. We would love to see it!

Have a lovely day!

//Alex

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: A Rainbow of Color

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

Everyone who knows me knows that I love color. I am drawn to it, which is evident in so many of the projects I create. And that is just one of the reasons I love working with OA products—they are so very colorful!

I stumbled across this photo on Pinterest and it completely inspired me:

Isn't yummy?! I just love the layers of color all surrounded by the white frosting. It really makes the colors pop.

So here is my challenge: Get out your OA supplies and use this photo as inspiration to create a project filled with a rainbow of colors.

Here is the card I came up with:

I was so inspired by the cake layers that I created layers of color down the front of my card. I used papers from the Daily Flash collections, Girl Talk and Snapshots, and the Farm Girl collection, along with buttons from Travel Girl, Farm Girl, and Witch Hazel and coordinating thread.

I added some white ribbon for the "icing" and sprinkled the card with embellishments from Daily Flash collection, including Girl Talk and Milk Money.

It makes me happy. How about you?

If you get a chance to play along with today's challenge, be sure to upload your project(s) to the OA Flickr group. We can't wait to see what you create.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Tuesday Tutorial: Welcome Spring canvas with washi tapes

Hi everyone, Mou here with today's tutorial.

I created this spring themed canvas mainly with these washi tapes and stickers from October Afternoon.

Daily Flash Girl Talk Washi Tape: Tropical Sherbet

Public Library Washi Tape: Daisy Field

Daily Flash Apple Cider Washi Tape: Squirrel

Farm Girl Washi Tape: Bowl of Cherries

Flash Alpha Strawberry Ice Cream

 

Let me walk you through the steps.

First, cover an 8" x 10" canvas with book paper. Seal the top with Collage Pauge, or Gel Medium or Mod Podge to keep the corners from lifting.

Color the background as sky and grass using Gelatos or another type of paint. When dry, create a stem using Tropical Sherbet washi tape.

Fill up the tree with leaves using Daisy Field and accenting with Squirrel and Bowl of Cherries washi tapes. Add grass with Daisy Field washi tape.

Add details with a permanent pen.

Here's a closer look.

Handwrite 'welcome' with a permanent marker and spell out 'spring' with Strawberry Ice Cream Flash alpha stickers to finish.

Hope you enjoyed today's tutorial and would try October Afternoon's lovely collection of washi tapes!

Thursday Sketch

HI OA fans, Mandy here with today's sketch. There seems to be a trend with my sketches I create for the OA blog lots of squares and layers although this time I added a few circles and an arrow. 

 

This time I went a little bit of a different route I decided to create a layout then send Laura a sketch based on it.

for this layout I grabbed my scraps and anything that looked fun that would go good with my photo of my homebodies aka kids. There's some Travel Girl, Daily Flash, Farm Girl, Midway, and more. 

Today Laura is joining me with an amazing card! 

Here's what Laura had to say:

"I decided to make a card with Mandy's awesome sketch today.  I think one of my favourite things about sketches is the ability to make them work for me.  I didn't follow it 100%, and that's okay!  It gave me a great starting point that helped form the main design of this card.  I chose a few of the elements to focus on like the big square, arrow, and title off to the side.  I pulled out some older and much loved Midway papers and paired them with some newer embellishments from Daily Flash, and now I have a cute card ready for my nephew's birthday!"

Thank you for sharing this awesome card with us Laura!!

I hope we've inspired you to take this sketch and make it your own the next time you create. If you do, be sure upload your work to OA's Flickr gallery. We would love to see it!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day! 

Mandy 

 

Tuesday Tutorial: Washi Tape Background

Hey everyone! Roree here with a Tuesday tutorial. Today, I want to share with you a fun Washi Tape background I created for a card and a quick how-to of how it all came together.

I really love the Washi tape that comes with the collections, but I tend to hang on to it with plans of using it "on the next project". Well I finally made today's project "the next project" and went all out with the Washi tape to create this card:

First off, I found four patterns of Washi tape that worked really well together: Star Field and Red Mesh from the Daily Flash collection and Bowl of Cherries and Tea Towel from the Farm Girl collection.

I gathered the tapes, along with a panel of white cardstock, an X-Acto knife, and a ruler, and I got to work.

I first started by adding a piece of tape to the white cardstock panel. I used my X-Acto knife and ruler to cut a straight edge along the end of the tape. I then gently lifted unwanted piece of tape from the panel and added the next piece of tape.

Note: Make sure the blade on your knife is sharp. You will want to apply minimal pressure while cutting, so you don't cut through the cardstock panel.

I used my ruler and the first strip of tape as a guide to trim the left end of the second strip of tape. I then trimmed the right end at my desired length, which was 1 3/4".

This left me with and L shape and the beginning of my pattern. I used those two piece as my guide for adding the rest of the tape.

I alternated the patterns and continued in this manner until I ended up with this:

After I had my card base finished, all that was left was dress it up with some stitching and embellishments:

I used a chipboard frame and letter from Daily Flash, a Flash Blurb from Snapshots, a Pop Drop heart from Milk Money, some patterned paper for the flowers from All Boy, a couple of buttons from Woodland Park, and a little bit of white twill ribbon to finish it off.

I hope you enjoyed today's tutorial. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Monday Challenge | Ombre

Happy Monday, everyone! It's Amy here today with a fun challenge for you that will have you reaching into your stash to create a trendy color effect! This week's challenge is to create a page, card or insert page using ombre (gradation of color from dark to light) as a feature of your page. 

The ombre trend has been on of my favorite from some time, and if you are familiar with my work, you know I love to play with color. So for my take on the challenge, I reached into my OA stash to come up with a dual ombre with blues and yellows. Here's a look:Ring, Ring Goes the Bell and They R Back 2 School Again, by Amy Heller

I started by using a deep, saturated blue on my edge, then gradated the color to my lightest blue, where I then started my lightest yellow and gradated it to the edge with my most saturated yellow. To achieve this effect, I used papers from Farm Girl, Make It Merry, Midway, and Witch Hazel even. To finish things off I added some pieces from the newest Daily Flash mini collection, Milk Money to add a bit of the school theme in, and shhhh! I even sneaked in a few MUCH older pieces from Report Card in there as well! ;)

I asked Mandy to join me on creating a project using ombre, and here's her beautiful layout.

AEK, by Mandy Koeppen

Here's what Mandy had to say about the challenge:

"I have to admit when Amy first sent the challenge to create a project with ombre I was a little nervous because I really haven't used that trend on my pages and I wasn't sure what I was going to do. With a phone call and inspiration from my friend Denise I was ready to give it a go. The first layout I created I loved but it was more rainbow than ombre so it will be saved for another project. When I started this second layout I thought outside my creative box and grabbed my paints. I decided to use the stencil part of the alpha stickers sheet   from the Daily Flash line and some paint to get the ombre effect for a background mat. It worked great so I thought I'd try one more thing watercolors on a canvas frame and ta-dah I love it!  Thanks Amy for this great challenge and that little push outside my creative box! " ~Mandy

Thanks, Mandy! I'm so glad it pushed you - as the results are gorgeous!

So, what do you say? You want to take the ombre challenge? If so, we'd love to see your take in our October Afternoo Flickr gallery! Simply upload it here for everyone to see! Thanks so much for joining us today and have a terrific week! ~Amy

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!