October Afternoon

Tuesday Inspiration: A Single Circle

Hi there!  Emily here with your Tuesday inspiration!  One of my favorite methods of discovering fun inspiration on Pinterest is to do a general search for graphic design. This will include both genuine artwork (for the sake of art), as well as posters, ads, and other types of graphic design. I stumbled upon this poster and knew it would be perfect for a layout:

 Source: From Up North

First up, we have a layout from Mandy, who says, "I was really excited to be paired up with Emily for this challenge and couldn't wait to see what she would choose for an inspiration piece. When Em shared this ad I thought it was totally cool & up my alley… my 2 favorite colors, pretty simple, and bold so how does it inspire me to to create a project? I chose to use the color combination with a pop of pink and an enlarged photo as the main focus. I added bits and pieces from a few different October Afternoon lines including: Midway, Witch Hazel, and Travel Girl. This was a really fun inspiration piece to work with! Thanks Emily! ~MK"

I love how Mandy used the Ferris Wheel as her circle and included the green and black color scheme. In fact when I look at the two pieces, they are very clearly related, even though her overall design differs from the inspiration.  Her interpretation is so different than mine, which is what I love about using inspiration pieces when creating a layout.  She and I saw the same poster, and came up with two very different  layouts!

I don't often copy a design outright, but I loved the design of this ad so much, that I basically stole it and used it as my own! I used my die cutting machine to cut a large circle out of two different pieces of patterned paper from the Public LIbrary line, and then I split them both down the middle and reconnected them using the opposite piece of paper as the center as the circle. Clear as mud? Perhaps a picture would help!

 I was in the mood for a monochromatic layout, so I added lots of fun blue embellishments from various October Afternoon lines to finish off my layout.

If you were as inspired by this graphic design piece as I was, I would love for you to play along!  Upload your layout to the October Afternoon Flickr gallery, post it on our Facebook page, or connect with us on Instagram via #octoberafternoon.  Have a great Tuesday, and happy scrapping!

Workspace Wednesday: Mandy Koeppen part 1

Hey y'all! Mandy Koeppen here with you today sharing a a little peek into my workspace. From the title you can see this is only part 1 you'll have to come back later this month for part 2. This week I will be showing just a few shots of some of my favorite ways to organize and next time I share in detail how I organize all my October Afternoon goodies, you'll see some in these photos too. 

I will admit I am a very messy scrapper and my space is usually a chaotic mess which people usually gasp at because my work is more clean, simple, and put together. I do like to organize and do the big switcharoo in my space often which drives my husband and family absolutely nuts.  I tried many different ways of organizing and types of rooms but I think I really like my present room, I think lol . 

My space is one of the upstairs bedrooms which will probably be surrendered to one of the girls really soon so I'm sure I'll have to figure out something different soon. 

I have 2 big tables in my space. 1 is a butcher block my grandparents gave me that I absolutely love that has a cubby cabinet on top of it. The other is a drop leaf table found at goodwill that is long and holds milk glass full of odds and ends. The tables are on opposite walls of each other. I have 2 shelving units on the other ends of the room that I don't have photos of but I will get them for next time. 

I have a big window in my space that I Iove, it that serves lots of purposes: natural light, a view to the fam below, a place to display new layouts, and I also use a double rod so I can organize my washi on one and the curtain on the other. 

I use a variety of different vintage items for organizing and storage. In the photo above you can see bake ware that holds tags, bread boxes that hold embellishments, a wire dish rack that holds October Afternoon stuff, Wire baskets that hold alphas, wood crates hold paper, ink pads & embellishments, and more milk glass.  I love the file boxes with hanging file folders for my paper storage. I use to have my paper in plastic holders and I absolutely hated the look and it just didn't work for me, then I found these boxes at Target LOVE!! They are the perfect size. I sort by manufacturer and collection(you'll see more detail with my part 2 post). 

My tip go with your style, let it work for you, and think outside the box... do you like funky stuff? old vintage goods? mix of this and that? try to incorporate it into your space and make it work you'd be surprised what things are great for organizing: old record holder-new paper holder, muffin tin- great for little embellishments, metal tool box-tool caddy etc.

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  Come back next Wednesday to see even more workspace ideas.

Also, if you have any exciting ways to store your October Afternoon supplies we'd love to see them, so please share with us over in the Flickr Gallery or on Instagram with the hashtag #oaworkspacewednesday or on our October Afternoon Facebook wall!

Have a great day!

~Mandy 

Tuesday Inspiration: Triangles & a Circle

Hey, October Afternoon fans! Mandy here with this week's Tuesday Inspiration. Today I'm sharing a pin from one of my inspiration boards on Pinterest.

I have a love for triangle right now and this had to be pinned when I first saw the image not only because there's triangles but the repetition of triangles, the circles, the stitched look and the many ways my eye thought this could go on a scrapbook page. I actually did not use the image as inspiration for a scrapbook layout this time instead I chose to create a card.

I decided to use one row of the triangles and the circle flipped horizontally for this card with minimal embellishing. I freehand cut the triangles from pattern paper and the circle is a chipboard button from the Public Library collection layered on a doily sticker. 

I used a mix of products from Public Library,Daily Flash All Boy, and  5&Dime on this card. Simple, fast, and easy to create! 

We'd love to see how you're being inspired , so please post your work to our October Afternoon Flickr gallery.

Thanks for joining me today! MK

Thursday Sketch: Layered Clusters

Hey, October Afternoon fans! Mandy here with this week's Thursday sketch. The sketch is a simple layout design of layered clusters in opposite corners of the page and can be easily adjusted to suit your style. 

and here is my layout.

 

I love the Public Library collection!it actually inspired this layout from start to finish! The "Silly Goose" is the first thing I picked up when I started creating then I found my pictures and boom the whole layout was done in like 30 minutes. 

 

I love all the layers in the clusters. Tucking bits and pieces here and there is something I love to do and such a great way to use up some of those little odds and ends laying around. 

Remember take the sketch use it as is or make it your own it's up to you.  We'd love to see anything you create with this sketch, so please post your work to our October Afternoon Flickr gallery.

Thanks for joining me today! MK

Thursday Sketch: Scrap Layers

Hey OA fans! Mandy Koeppen here your Thursday sketch. This week's sketch is based on a simple layered card I created using leftover scraps from previous projects. 

 

Here is the card I created:

There's lots of layers, shapes, and some dimension going on with this card but it was created rather quickly.

I have to say that barefoot guy from the Public Library - Miscellany is one of my favorite die cuts ever! It was really easy to mix and match scraps from Public Library, Daily Flash Snapshots, & Daily Flash All Boy together since the OA collection colors seem to coordinate so well together. 

Remember take the sketch use it as is or make it your own it's up to you. It can easily be adjusted and use on a layout which I plan to do this weekend. So go have fun with it! We'd love to see anything you create with this sketch, so please post your work to our October Afternoon Flickr gallery.

Thanks for joining me today! MK

Tuesday Tutorial: Triangle Layout

Hey October Afternoon fans! It's Mandy here with this weeks Tuesday tutorial. I decided to create this week's tutorial after receiving many requests asking about the "California Love" triangle layout I made back in March for a sketch challenge. Here is the layout to refresh y'all's memory.

I will warn you now this layout takes a bit longer than I normally like to spend on a layout and a bit more patience. Let's get started. 

 

When You Wake Tell Me A Story  by. Mandy Koeppen 

Here's a look at the supplies I started with:

I used 2 pieces of cardstock, 2 pieces of scraps(for triangle patterns), pattern paper, alphas, chipboard, stamps, ink pad, foam squares, sewing machine, adhesive, and photos.

STEP 1

Trace or freehand cut triangle on the backside of 1 piece of your cardstock. You'll want to use a craft knife to cut your triangles from the cardstock. Don't forget to label your triangle this will come in handy later on. 

STEP 2

Once you have the triangle you want cut out grab you other piece of cardstock. This will be your backer cardstock. Line the 2 cardstock pieces up. Using a pencil lightly trace 2 of the triangles. 1 will be for your stamped image the other will be for the letters or embellishments. 

STEP 3

Once you have decided where and how many photos you will use on your layout grab the triangles that where the photos will be placed and cut around the photos. I adhere my photos to the back of the top layer of cardstock so I leave a 1/4 inch on the side of the photo as you can see below.  Then adhere to layout. 

 

STEP 4

Stamps!!! Grab your October Afternoon stamps, clear block, & triangle pattern.I place the Triangle pattern under the block so I know right where to place my images. Always do a test before stamping on your layout just to make sure all the images are going to be where you want. Once you have the triangle stamped don't forget to erase your pencil marks. 

Here is what my layout looks like up to this point. 

STEP 5

Adhere chipboard alpha or images to a triangle.

 

STEP 6 

Grab different pattern papers and 2 triangles. You will cut the pattern paper into the same exact size as the triangles. As you can see the amount of triangle you need to cut will vary on how many photos you use on the layout. For the tutorial I used only 1 photo so I had 2 pattern papers on the top layer and 1 on the bottom. Adhere to the top layer of cardstock. 

STEP 7

Adhere the pattern paper triangle and stitch around each of the triangle with a sewing machine or by hand. 

STEP 8

Place foam adhesive squares randomly on the back of the top layer of cardstock. I also put washi tape over the thread after sewing. 

STEP 9 (no photo)

Line the 2 piece of cardstock up adhere together. Make sure you have all those pesky backings off the foam squares. 

STEP 10

Add title and embellish layout. 

 I hope y'all have enjoyed this tutorial. I've had a great time creating this layout with the new Public Library line. If you have any questions please let me know. Have a nice day! ~Mandy 

 

Thursday Sketch: Wall to Wall

This week's sketch is all about maximizing the real estate on your project. Today's grid design allows you to design from edge to edge, prompting the use of multiple photos, lots of different papers and embellishments, or both.

For me (Vivian) this sketch presented a real challenge, as I am normally a big fan of white space. Sometimes, though, it's fun to mix things up and head out of your comfort zone. I ended up with this layout, created using the new Public Library collection:

I stuck closely to the sketch, with the most obvious shift being the use of a two-photo collage in the center block in place of one photo. I added journaling in several other spots and turned my title on its side. The journaling card in the upper right corner already had one bit of text stamped on it, so I continued with the stamping theme, adding six additional stamped images to the card.

Mandy played along with the sketch this week and had this to say: "It's the last week of school here at my house so things are a little crazy with 3 kids and all the happenings. Simple is what I need right now when creating and Vivian delivered with this fabulous sketch. I adjusted her sketch to fit a card base. I was able to create 2 really fast really simple cards in minutes with the the new October Afternoon Public Library Line."

Mandy's first card uses a patterned paper that comes pre-printed with overlapping blocks, making it the perfect background to use for a card based on this sketch. All Mandy had to do was add a cute chipboard embellishment, a greeting atop a label sticker, and some ribbon to complete the card.

Mandy's second card makes use of another patterned paper that is ready-made for this sketch. Here, she shifted the central block upward. Another quick, easy, and fun card!

We hope this sketch and our projects inspire you! We'd love to see anything you create based on today's sketch - please post your projects to our October Afternoon Flickr gallery.

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

Thursday Sketch | Pathways Sketch

It's Thursday, OA fans and that means it's time for a sketch. It's Amy here today with some inspiration, and even a cut file to take your inspiration as far as you'd like to take it!

It all started when I found this great artwork on Pinterest.

 

I thought it could go in so many directions. Initially, I thought, a map, of course was a perfect idea, and as all sketches go, it turned into something completely different. So, I left the initial inspiration as is, and wanted to see how it would evolve. So here's the sketch.

Originally, I thought I would create a "map of my life" giving sections to document each facet; personality traits, favorites, daily routine, etc. But as I was looking through my photos to choose for my page, I decided to use one big photo and section that off instead. Here's a look at what I came up with.

I used one of the facets for my journaling, and the other "negative space" in the photo to add some color and texture with patterned paper. It was a fun and easy way of getting a very graphic look with one simple photo. 

 

I asked Mandy to play along with me this week and here's her take: 

This is what Mandy had to say:

"I loved the inspiration piece Amy sent me for today's blog post. I currently love creating layouts with circles, triangles, and pain ol wonkiness. This layout has all of that. I used scraps from various October Afternoon collections to fill in the the shapes of the circle. This was a really fun layout to create of my lil Mo. Thanks so much Amy for the inspiration and awesome cut file!"

So great! I love that Mandy used the graphic art for her background completely. Very cool!

Speaking of cut files. I created a cut file just for this sketch, and thought I would give it away today. All you have to do is click on the image below or here to download it. Enjoy! 

UPDATE: The file is up over at my blog. Check it out here. 

We'd love for you to play along with this week's challenge! If you do, make sure to link your work up to our Flickr page here for everyone to see! We hope you enjoyed today's post. Have a wonderful day! ~Amy

Thursday Sketch: Squared Up

Hi OA fans! Mandy bringing you this week's sketch. As the title suggests this sketch is all squares but feel free to add other shapes if you like. 

The squares can be pattern paper, your photos, frames etc. you choose. Have fun and make it your own. 

Here is my take on the sketch. 

I created this layout of Mav with the All Boy collection. I love all the colors and images in the All Boy collection. I used a mix of pattern papers and embellishments in all shapes and sizes. Lots of squares and of course lots of layers. 

This layout was really simple and came together quickly which is how I love to create. 

Roree is joining me today with this fabulous card!

Here's what Roree had to say:

"I just love the layered feel of Mandy's layout sketch, and I tried to recreate something similar in the smaller scale of a card. I used a few of the Daily Flash collections, primarily Milk Money and Snapshots, to create this end-of-the-year teacher thank you card. I kept the elements of my card moving from the top left to the bottom right corner as in the sketch and add a few special touches to make it uniquely my own."

Thank you Roree for sharing your beautiful card! 

If you give this sketch a try, be sure to share your work with us. Give us a link by commenting to this post or upload your project to our Flickr gallery. We would love to see it!

Thanks for stopping by!