October Afternoon

Wednesday Challenge

Hey friends!  It's Laura here today with an easy challenge and a fun layout to share with you.

I'm sure I've already talked about how much I love the Treasure Map line before, and I love using it for beachy themed pages, but I also wanted to share how you could use it on other themed projects.  There isn't a beach in sight in these cute photos of my son and his friend.  I didn't have too much to say, other than to impart a little wisdom on him and help him to always remember what a treasure a great friend can be.

Now for the layout and the challenge!  So my challenge for you guys is simply to use a patterned paper background if you are like me and always start things off with card stock, or if you normally start with patterned paper then I challenge you to do the opposite today! I'm so glad I challenged myself to do this as that True North map paper made a great base for this page, even using it upside down as I chose to do! ;) 

I apologize if the blurred faces are distracting, but it is done on request by the parents of his friend. :)

When it comes to embellishments, my rule of thumb tends to be "the more the merrier", and I definitely had fun layering little bits together in this corner of the page.  I even stamped that cute captains wheel on the label sticker and layered a pop drop over it.  It may be hard to see but I also added glitter glue over top of the coins in the sticker below for a bit of fun.

I really wanted to use the gorgeous alphabet stickers from the Treasure Map line, and when I placed them down they felt a bit lost on the page so I drew some quick ticking lines around them in black pen to help them jump off the page.

To balance out all the embellishments above the picture I made a little grouping of bits on this side of the pictures too.

Anyhow, thanks for stopping by, I hope you are having an amazing treasure filled day.

As always, don't forget to share your creations in the October Afternoon Flickr Gallery! Remember to use the hashtag #OctoberAfternoon on other social media sites so we can all see, I know I'd love to see them :) 

Laura

 

Thursday Sketch: A little tilt

Hey Friends! 

It's Laura here today with a simple sketch, and a layout to share with you all.  

I tend to get stuck in ruts pretty quickly, and lately one thing I have been doing to jump out of my "straight" rut is to add a little tilt to something.  In this case I tilted the photograph on my sketch and layout.  I think that also helps to draw attention to the photo as it helps it stand apart even more from the patterned paper.

Here is my sketch:

Even thought it's 8.5x11, I think you could easily translate it to a 12x12 page or even a card.

I made my layout using goodies from the Summertime collection, and some alpha stickers from Travel Girl, and Daily Flash.

I just adore this little fairy light sticker, and adhered it to the page with foam adhesive for added dimension.  I also added some glitter glue to the lights, because who doesn't like a little glitter? :)

And for the record, I think that multicoloured chevron paper is going in my top 10 of most favourite pattered papers ever.  I just love how happy all those colours look together.

How is your summer going so far?  Are you more or less crafty with these longer and sunnier days? :)

Anyhow, thanks for stopping by today, I hope you are having an amazing day. If you guys feel inspired to use my sketch, then please share your creations in the October Afternoon Flickr Gallery! Remember to use the hashtag #OctoberAfternoon on other social media sites so we can all see, I know I'd love to see them :) 

Laura

Monday Challenge: Starry Eyed

Hello!  

It's Laura here today with a fun and easy challenge for you all.  I am a sucker for stars.  Perhaps it boils down to being a mom to all boys, but I can never get enough of them, or have enough on my projects.

I made this layout using lots of goodies from the Treasure Map line which is definitely in my Top 3 favourite lines ever by October Afternoon.  I. just. love. it. :)

My printer is still broken, so no journaling on this one, yet.  For now I write all my journaling on a post-it note, and keep it on the page.  Then when my husband eventually gets around to fixing it I can remember exactly what I wanted to say.

Every year on Canada Day we get the family together with all the cousins and have a glorious beach day.  This is just one photo from the day.  Because I have SO many I will probably just print a bunch of them and put them in photo protectors beside this page and the few others I will make.  I just love mixing entire pages of photos in with my scrapbook pages.

I think this ship sticker is so cute, and I had fun dressing it up.  Once adhered to the page with foam adhesive for added dimension, I added glossy accents over the red parts of the sail.  Then I used some tiny micro beads and shook them over while it was still wet.  It really gives a fun texture to the page.

Speaking of texture, I used a star embossing folder on some white card stock and added a large square of that to the page.  I can't get enough of dry embossing!  

I also added some more Glossy Accents over the anchor sticker below. 

So all in all on this page, there are stars on the patterned paper, card stock, tin pin, label sticker, some stamped stars, and even some tiny star sequins.  Phewf!  That was a lot of stars, but I think they all went well together in the end.

Are you feeling starry eyed? If you do feel inspired to get crafty, please share your projects in our Flickr group, and use the hashtag #octoberafternoon on other social media platforms so we can see all your awesome designs!  

I hope you all have a great day!

Laura :)

Wednesday Inspiration: Triangles

Hello Readers!  

It's Laura here today and I am so happy to be here sharing a new card and inspiration image with you guys.  I love love love quilts.  I wish I had more time in the day as it's my dream to finally make one, and not just pin pretty pictures of them to Pinterest. Maybe even use some October Afternoon Fabric.  One day, right? :)

Anyhow, I love simple quilt patterns, and this triangle one is definitely one of my favourites.  

(Source)

So when I got a lovely box of goodies from the Summertime collection on my door the other day I just knew I had to use the beautiful yellow triangle patterned paper.  It reminded me of this quilt, and yellow is just such a perfect summery colour.  

Here is the card I made:

As you can see I also used a triangle pattern embossing folder on the card front, it went perfectly with the patterned paper.  I added the cute sun sticker with some foam adhesive and used glossy accents on the rays, and a dab of glitter glue on his rosy cheeks.  It dried up much prettier than photographed.  

I also added a few buttons to the card, and a tiny heart sticker that I also glittered up.  The strip of coloured stripes at the bottom was from the Sunshine patterned paper.

I would love to see how use use triangles in your projects!  Please share them in our Flickr group, and use the hashtag #octoberafternoon on other social media platforms so we can see all your awesome designs!  

I hope you all have a great day!

Laura :)

Monday Challenge: Shape it up

Hello!

It's Laura here today and I'm happy to be here sharing some cards with you today, and a challenge.  I never need an excuse to make a card, I just love creating them.  Layouts can take me awhile to do, and sometimes I just need to sit down and create something from start to finish in a shorter time period and fill my creative soul up.  Cards are prefect for that :)  I just love making shaped cards, it's such a pleasant surprise to see when you open the envelope up to one.  So I thought I would issue the challenge to create a shaped card, or if you are strictly a scrapbooker, then create a shaped layout.  I'm thinking a circle shaped page, or scalloped edges, etc.  Whatever inspires you!

Here is the card that I made today, I went with a classic star shape.  I created the card with a thin die, and knowing I wanted to have different patterned papers on it, I simply cut out multiple stars in different paper.  Then when I turned those into strips I knew they would have the edges perfect and I would have to fussy cut them off or anything.  

I love love love the new Treasure Map line, it is just so perfect for this boy momma.  I am forever making boy cards for all the birthday parties they go to and thought this would be a cute them for that.  It's not exactly a birthday card yet, but when I know who it's going to I'll add a sentiment on the inside that says something like "Happy Birthday, eat your cake and walk the plank!".  Perfect boy humour.  hehe

I really liked that skull sticker, and to give him a little more life I added black enamel dots to his eyes, and a start sticker with a yellow dot on it over the side of his head.  Then I added some Glossy Accents to the sword for some shine and dimension. 

I am happy yo have Roree with me today, and share her super adorable card with you all.  I mean really, it's just so so cute!

Here is she had to say:

I love to create shaped cards, so I was excited to accept Laura's challenge. I thought about a lot of different shapes that would work well with the new Treasure Map collection, and I finally decided on a whale. (My decision was primarily based on the cute whale sticker from the Treasure Map Shape Stickers sheet. Adorable!!!) I cut my whale out using my Cricut Explore machine and B is for Boy cartridge. I used the Hangman's Cove and Shipwreck Cove patterned papers and a Tidbit label, along with a Milk Money Pop Drop heart, a Woodland Park Button, and sentiment stamped from the Daily Flash Summer Catch-Phrase Stamps

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you feel inspired by this challenge, and get crafting. Please share your projects on our Flickr group, and use the hashtag #octoberafternoon on other social media platforms so we can see all your awesome designs!  I love seeing all the creative things you guys do.

I hope you have a great day!

Laura :)

Thursday Sketch

Hey, everyone! Roree here with today's Thursday 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 pop a few photos into the design and use it for a layout—whatever works best for you!

I created a card with the new Treasure Map collection.

I decided to flip the sketch upside down and I replaced the lines with waves from the Whale Bone Reef patterned paper. 

I added a star sticker from the Shape Stickers sheet and a Pop Drop from Daily Flash's Apple Cider collection.

I finished with a sentiment sticker from the Word Stickers sheet cut into two pieces and embellished them with two Buttons from Woodland Park.

Laura played along with my sketch this week and here is her amazing card:

"I just loved the cute simple sketch that Roree made, and it just so happened that a box of Treasure Map showed up on my door step the same day I was set to make my card.  So the first thing I did was to pull out that adorable star patterned paper and use that to cover my card front.  I decided to still keep the 3 sentiment rows from the sketch, but instead of strips, I used label stickers on one side in the colours of the stars on the paper.  I kept things simple, and only added a few additional star stickers and pop drops for embellishments.  I didn't have a red pop drop left so I used a copic marker to color one to match."

Isn't it the cutest?!  I just love it!

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: No Patterned Paper

Hi Friends!

It's Laura here today, and I have the pleasure of issuing you a new challenge.  My challenge is a simple one, and it's to not use patterned paper.  Typically I will start a project by picking out patterned papers, so for me this was truly challenging!  October Afternoon makes so so many cute products that I knew I could come up with something fun all the same.

Next month is Mother's Day, and I thought I would try and get ahead of the game and start my card making.

I pulled out the 12x12 Public Library sticker sheet and used two large ones to create my card.

For a fun unique detail on this card, I trimmed down the front of the card so the inside would by longer, and then used a border punch to add scallops.  It's such a simple yet fun detail to add personality to your cards.  I also dressed up the floral sticker with pop drops!

I created the simple sentiment with the soft striped Grey chipboard alphas, and then used a glitter pen to add a slight sparkle.  It's hard to photograph, but you can see some of the shine in the photo below, it's so pretty in person.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you feel inspired by this challenge, and get crafting. Please share your projects on our Flickr group, and use the hashtag #octoberafternoon on other social media platforms so we can see all your awesome designs!

Have a great day!

Laura :)

Thursday Sketch: Green is for...

Hey guys :)

This is Laura here today with a 12x12 layout sketch, although you could definitely use it as inspiration for a 8.5x11 too as you will see bellow!

Being as our theme for this week is "Green/Luck", I thought I'd focus on the green aspect, and do a layout about how we color coded our kids when it comes to cups, and things.  Our middle guy could never remember his color so it became a bit of a mantra I would find myself saying over and over "Green for Griffin".  My printer has decided to go wonky and not print so there is not visible journaling on the page yet.  I've written my thought on the back of the page and will print it out for the front once it resumes working.  

I knew there were some great greens in the December Story kit so I pulled that out and started with the green trees on white.  I turned it on it's side and they now look like arrows!  The gold stars and striped journaling card were also from the kit.

My favourite part of the page it the cut up label stickers along the edge.  It's such a fun way to use them, and I totally cut them in half and used the other sides so as not to waste any of them.

It was just enormously fun to dig through my stash for green products.  

I have Emily with me today to see her fun take on the sketch!  I was so excited by how she made it work for her.

Here is what she had to say:

When I saw that the theme for this week was “luck,” I knew I had the perfect story to document.  Last year while I was walking with my two boys, a man stopped me and asked about them. When I told him I also had a daughter, he exclaimed, “Wow!  Two girls and a boy!  How lucky can you be?” Usually when I’m out with all my kids I get comments like “you sure have your hands full.”  I absolutely love that this man saw they joy and love that comes with having a bigger family!  I used a lot of elements from the Daily Flash Milk Money collection because I love how their bright colors contrast with my black and white photo. I was sure to include lots of hearts, because this layout is about luck and love!  My layout stayed fairly true to Laura’s sketch, although I knew I wanted to use a big title, so I moved the photo from the right to the left so I could include my vertical title!  Thanks to Laura for such a fun sketch!

So thanks for stopping by today, I hope you are having an amazing day. If you guys feel inspired to use my sketch, then please share your creations in the October Afternoon Flickr Gallery!  I'd love to see them :) 

Laura & Emily

Mix-it-up Mondays: Love Saturday Mornings

Hi everyone, Mou here with some Saturday Mornings Love for you!

There are a lot of things to love about Saturday Mornings, but my favorite part is not having to wake up to the annoying sound of an alarm clock! I think this illustration sums up my sentiment

(via Pinterest)

Here's my layout

On this layout, I used Saturday Mornings papers Orange Juice and Bacon along with Border & Label Stickers and Designer Brads. I used Daily Flash Alpha Deep Sea and Flash Chip Photo Booth to embellish. Here's a close-up of my layout

Today I have Laura with me. Here's how Laura interpreted the illustration above in her beautiful card.

Here's what Laura says:

" I loved Mou's inspiration image, and decided to make a card using the first part of the quote, "Happiness Is.."  I love making cards that can be sent for no reason other than to let the recipient know you are thinking of them.  I started the card by choosing the beautiful floral paper from the Saturday Mornings line, then built everything else around it.  To ground my letter sticker sentiment I used a card from Daily Flash All Boy line.  To tie the papers in I used the matching floral sticker, and dressed it up with a glitter pen and some Pop Drops from the Apple Cider line which matched perfectly."

Hope you have fun thinking up a list of things you love about Saturday Mornings as well as other things that make you happy and creating layouts and cards about them!

Thursday Sketch: Simple Heart

Hey guys :)

This is Laura here today with a simple card sketch, although you could definitely use it as inspiration for a layout, or pocket page as you will see bellow!

Here is the card I made using lots of goodies from the Daily Flash Girl talk line.  I thought the colors were perfect for a sweet valentines card.  I won't even tell you how many times I had to hand cut that heart to make it look even remotely good.. But in the end I'm happy and think it was worth the effort.  A bit of machine stitching helped to finish the heart and card, tying the look of them together.

I paired it with a cute chipboard heart, and a pop drop heart to add to my love theme.

And of course here is the sketch I made to share with you guys.  As usual my sketch making skills are amazing ;)

 

I have Ginny with me today to see her inspiring take on the sketch!  I was so amazed how she made it work for her.

Here is what she had to say:

When I  saw the sketch the first thing that drew me in was the heart in the center, so that was my starting point. I decided to do a pocket page layout for my yearly album. I love to have see through pockets, I think it really adds some visual interest when looking through this type of album. So I knew that was where the hearts were going to go! Then I just filled in the surrounding pockets, the color scheme came from the cute desk card from the Public Library collection. I adhered the chipboard hearts to the inside of the pocket, I then stitched directly through the whole pocket. I don’t think the hearts would have fallen out, I just like to stitch through any and everything ;)

Ginny is a girl after my own heart with all her stitching!  I just love it.

So thanks for stopping by today, I hope you are having an amazing day. If you guys feel inspired to use my sketch, then please share your creations in the October Afternoon Flickr Gallery!  I'd love to see them :)

 

Laura & Ginny