October Afternoon

Monday Challenge: Pick a Color

Hey, OA fans! Good Monday to y'all! It's Mandy Koeppen here with your Monday challenge.

It's a pretty simple challenge this week just pick your colors. Pick 3-5 colors and work with only those colors for your papers, embellishments, and washi etc.

 

Here is the layout I created using green, grey, black, cream, and white. 

When I get stuck or feel like my creations need a little more of a change I challenge myself and this color thing is one of the challenges on my list. 

 

I used many different October Lines on this layout including Sasparilla, Travel Girl, 9 to 5, Daily Flash and Midway. Remember as you're searching thru your OA stash almost all the OA collections coordinate with each other which makes this challenge easier. 

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

Thanks so much for stopping by!

-Mandy 

 

Thursday Sketch: Strips

Hi everyone! Alex here today, bringing you this week's sketch. It's all about strips.

For my take on it, I used the gorgeous Daily Flash Girl Talk line. The layout is about my mom, my hero.

Using strips is such a great way to mix and match different patterned papers. To make mine I have used Giggle, Gossip, Blah, Blah, Blah,  Dish, and both sides of the Chatter. That lovely pink woodgrain paper in the background is from the 6x8 paper pack. 

Behind my photo I have one of the memory cards. I also used couple of snap caps and these super cute chipboard hearts. The "♥ you" stamp is from the Dude set. 

I sent my sketch to Mandy and once again I got blown away by her talent. Here is Mandy's amazing layout!

And here is what she had to say about it:

"When I first saw Alex's sketch I knew I was going to keep my layout pretty simple and stick to the sketch and surprisingly I did. I love the simplicity of the sketch. I used the Daily Flash All Boy collection for this layout of Mav. Thanks Alex for this simply awesome sketch!"

Isn't it gorgeous?! 

We hope that you will join us and play along with this sketch. If you do, post a link here or upload your project to OA's Flickr Gallery. We would love to see it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Alex & Mandy

 

World Autism Awareness Day

Hey everyone, it's Mandy Koeppen sharing a blog post with you that is very near and dear to my heart. Its unusual for a post on Wednesday to be seen on the October Afternoon blog but today is World Autism Awareness Day. October Afternoon has kindly let me take this Wednesday to share some important information about Autism with you.

• Autism Statistics 
• Autism now affects 1 in 68 children and 1 in 42 boys
• Autism prevalence figures are growing
• Autism is reported to occur in all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups.
• Autism is nearly 5 times more common among boys (1 in 42) than among girls (1 in 189).
• Studies in Asia, Europe, and North America have identified individuals with Autism with an average prevalence of about 1%. A study in South Korea reported a prevalence of 2.6%
• Autism is the fastest-growing serious developmental disability in the U.S.
• Autism costs a family $60,000 a year on average
• There is no medical detection or cure for autism

• Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by:
• Persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts;
• Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities;
• Symptoms must be present in the early developmental period (typically recognized in the first two years of life); and
• Symptoms cause clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of current functioning.
• ASD can range in impact from mild to significantly disabling.

 

Some of you may know that my son Mavrick has Autism.

Layout created with October Afternoon All Boy Collection. The heart was cut with my silhouette. I added Mav's Story to the background and then decided to cover it with vellum which also covers the arrows to many the wonky see it, don't see it look. 

Mav was diagnosed in May 2006 at the age of 2.  Mav is on the severe end of the spectrum. Life with Autism isn't easy but when you are affected by Autism life changes in many ways specifically one special thing happens... you don't take the little things for granted because those little simple things like "I love You", a smile, eye contact, making it through the market without a meltdown, or sitting with him washing dishes by hand just to have that interaction and listen to him jibber jabber aren't so little, they are BIG moments in our life's. Autism breaks your heart, makes you stronger, and your love deeper. You can read more about Mav's Story HERE.

If you'd like more information about Autism or World Autism Day please visit Autism Speaks or simply google Autism.

Thanks for joining me today and spreading the awareness! 

 

Thursday Sketch: Triangles

Hi, October Afternoon fans! It's Mandy Koeppen filling in for Amy to bring you this week's Thursday Sketch. Amy has had some curve balls thrown her way lately so if y'all could send her some happy healthy vibe that would be awesome. The sketch this week is AMAZING!! I fell in love and was so inspired by not only the sketch but the inspiration piece that Amy sent my way. I think y'all are going to have fun with this one. 

Here is the inspiration piece that Amy based the sketch off of. 

How cool, right?  I love the triangles, the vintageness, and the colors. And now for the sketch.

Here is the layout I created. 

As you can see I flipped the sketch, made my triangles a few different sizes, and switched the title and journaling up. I think this layout is my favorite creation. I had fun adding dimension to this layout with foam squares, left over chipboard pieces, stitching, and more. The 3 triangle pointing to the left I cut out with my craft knife then added the layers to the back. The 2 triangles pointing to the right are adhered to the top of the cardstock then stitched on the inside(which is totally easier for me than the outside stitching as you can tell). This was so much fun to create and I'm so glad that my friend Amy asked me to help her out otherwise I may not have created this layout. 

 

Mou is joining me today with a clean & simple Travel Girl card.

Here's what Mou had to say:

"I loved the clean geometrical lines of Amy's sketch. I cut out triangles from various papers from the Travel Girl collection and arranged them on my card. I stamped sentiments at the base using the Daily Flash Travel rotary stamp. The repetitive pattern of the sketch helped me put the card together really fast."

 

Thank you Amy & Mou for these great pieces of inspiration!

If you've been inspired to get triangular with this sketch, 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 

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: Camp Diary

Hello OA fans! It's Mandy bringing you a step by step tutorial on how I created this little mini "Camp Diary" that I made for my daughter who will be leaving for 5th grade camp next week.

With no form of communication for a week and  the fact that she can only take a disposable camera with her I thought sending a little book for her to record daily events would be a fun way for her to remember and share her week at camp with us once she's back home. After I was finished creating this I shared it with Teagan and she thought it was a nifty idea and was so excited to put the diary in her camp bag. Shall we get started with the tutorial? Let's.

Here are the supplies I gathered: Pattern paper, page protectors, memory cards, alphas, and adhesive.

Step 1: Cut Pattern paper 3.5x7inches. Fold in half.

Step 2: Cut the SL-1073 - 6x8 Sleeve for 3x3 in the highlighted area below. TIP:cut just below or to the other side of the dotted pocket lines. You will have 2 sets of 2 pockets 6x3. Don't cut the 3x3 pockets apart because we will be stitching the middle to attach the protectors to the pattern paper cover.

 

You'll end up with a stack like this.

Step 3: Stack the page protectors in the middle of the pattern paper cover. Stitch the protectors to the cover. TIP: To keep your protectors in place use a paper clip to hold them in the right spot. 

Once stitched the book will look like this.

Step 4: For the inside pages I used a mix of pattern papers cut to 3x3 and memory cards. These will be easy to for Teagan to pull in and out to journal on. 

Step 6: Create cover title with alpha stickers and flash blurbs. Adhere to front cover. 

Step 7: Cut SL-1075 - 6x8 Sleeve for 4x4 so that you have a 4x4 pocket to tuck the book into. I thought this would be the best place for Teagan to keep her diary when she's not writing in it. 

the mini in the protector pocket. 

As you can see in the above photo I added washi tape over the stitching and making a "fake" binding. 

There are many other supplies you can substitute in the tutorial to make your project sturdier. Since Teagan's book isn't real sturdy that is another reason I chose the protector pocket to keep the book in. 

I hope I've inspired you to create one of these fun little books for your child to keep his or her memories in. 

Have a great day!

Mandy 

Tutorial Tuesday: Stitching Template

Happy Tuesday, OA fans! It's Mandy Koeppen here with this week's Tuesday Tutorial. Do you ever wonder what to do with those leftover chipboard after you've used all the letters or shapes? Do you just throw them in the garbage or do you keep them for something? Maybe a misting stencil, maybe an embellishment layer, oh how bout this... A stitching template. That's right this week I am giong to share the nifty little idea I came up with a couple weeks ago after I had used almost all my letters from the Daily Flash Grey Flannel chipboard alphabet.

 

I was left with only the letters on the left side of the photo so I gently pulled the remaining letters from what I'll refer to as the template(on the right) because for the life of me I can't come up with the word that I should use oops. 

Once I had the 2 pieces apart I flipped the template over and peeled the adhesive off the back. After I was about halfway through it hit me duh i should have sprinkled it with baby powder to save myself the work but I didn't and hey if you feel like tearing something up here ya go.

Now you're ready to create with the template. You'll need a paper piecer or a stick pin, a cushion pad or a mouse pad, and needle & thread. 

Once you have all the holes poked for your images or words it's time to get stitching. You may be asking what size needle? what thread? Well I just grab whatever. To be honest you have to find what sizes and kinds of thread you like. 

If you're nervous about messing up or if your stitched images are really going to look right on your layout first try stitching on a scrap piece of paper like I did, then cut around the word or image.Adhere the stitched piece to your project like I did on this layout. 

Once you're confident or if you're like me a just go with the flow gal, create and stitch as you go. Try mixing your stitched letters with your leftover letters.

I hope I've inspired you to keep those leftover chipboard pieces and get stitchy next time you scrap. 

Have a great day! Mandy

Thursday Sketch: Squares & Layers

HI OA fans, Mandy here with today's sketch. Lots of squares and layers. 

This sketch started with Jill in mind because I knew she would be joining me today. I am a big fan of Jill's work especially her layering and handwritten journaling OMG awesomeness! I knew she would create something fabulous and she totally did! I have to share a little secret with y'all...I don't put the computer generated sketches together until I put my post together for the blog so my partner usually gets my inspiration image or something really sketchy. Something like this. 

Thank goodness the girls I design with here at OA get where I'm going creatively when they get my emails. 

Flip it, flop it, re-size it, whatever you wish so that it works for you. As you'll see Jill and I both went with 8.5x11 layouts this week. 

Let's start with my layout.

This sketch is a great way to use up some of those scraps you have laying around too. I used a mix of papers from Daily Flash Snapshots to Midway.  I love the new Flash Chip- Frame Up chipboard pieces,"Sign Board" Alpha and the Everyday Roller Stamp so I had to use them on this layout. 

 

Now for Jill's fabulous take on the sketch, a layout about her and her husband. 

Here's what Jill had to say:

"When I set eyes on Mandy’s sketch, the first thing that I noticed was the layering.. This is definitely my kind of sketch!  Because I adapted the sketch to fit an 8.5” x 11” layout, I thought that I would be limited in how many layers I could add, but it turns out that even a smaller layout format contains enough room for ample layering.  As in the sketch, I repeated a series of squares and rectangles, varying their placement on the page while also keeping them connected. The resulting “network” of layers is what makes this sketch magical. In addition to larger photo blocks, I worked in a bunch of smaller bits in the form of rectangular and square accents and papers from the Daily Flash 2 lines as well as the Milk Money and Apple Cider collections. Handwritten journaling is a personalized approach to an already personal layout.  I “sweetened” the letters a bit by inking some of the open spaces in the cursive letters and drawing tiny hearts here and there. A huge THANK YOU is in order to Mandy for sharing this sketch with me!” 

I hope we've inspired you to get sketchy with layers and squares with your next creative venture! Please post projects inspired by the sketch to our October Afternoon Flickr gallery.

~Mandy 

Monday Challenge: Adding Texture

Hey guys!  Its Laura here today with a new challenge for you, and that is to try adding different textures and dimensions to your projects!

There are many great ways to do this, and I made a layout today incorporating a few of those, and using the adorable Apple Cider Daily Flash line.

Something I do on everything I make that instantly adds a fun bit of texture is stitching.  I can't call something done untill it's been run through my sewing machine.

 Next is something that I usually save for card making and I'm not sure why because it's something I love to do, and that's dry embossing!  I ran the "rake 'em up!" card through an embossing folder before adhering it the page and I just love the subtle texture of the polka dots of the image!

Next thing I did to add texture was after adhering the section of leaf patterned paper down to my page I fussy cut out a bunch more leaves from my remaining paper.  Then I adhered a few of them back down with my sewing machine, sewing through the spine of the leaf and lifted up the sides.

And the last thing I did to add some extra dimension and texture to my page was adding buttons that I threaded with some thin hemp cord.  I love using hemp cord to thread my buttons for numerous reasons, but honestly, mostly because it's sturdier than emboirdery floss and I don't have to lick it or stick it through a needle first :)

 

I am so happy to have Mandy here today helping me out with this challenge, and here is her great page and what she had to say:

"After a month of holiday and winter themes it was nice to get the texture challenge from Laura because  it pushed me back to my much loved Milk Money product to create this fun layout about a special spent with my Avery.

To add texture to this layout I layered and scrunched the edges of vellum. I also used a fun notebook edge punch to the composition paper and ruffled it up a bit. A few more layers and I had the look I was going for. Simple little details to add some texture to the page and make it fun."

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you feel inspired to create a project with some fun textures!  If you do please share them in the October Afternoon Flickr Gallery.

 

Have a happy Monday, and a great week!

Laura & Mandy :)

Monday Challenge: Enlarged Photos

Hey OA fans! Mandy here with this week's Monday challenge.

This week I'm challenging you to use enlarged photos on your layouts. Some may ask what do you consider enlarged? To me anything that is larger than 5x7inches is enlarged. 

Enlarged photos are one of my go-to's when I create especially if I'm in a rut. For some reason those large photos strike the inspiration for me. I could go on and on about creating with large photos but then this post would be more of a tutorial than a challenge so I'll save all that for another time.  Let's get to the projects shall we?

I created this 8.5x11 layout with an enlarged black and white photo of my Mav.This photo was printed on non-textured cardstock. I used a variety of October Afternoon collections from Travel Girl to Eggnog. When there's alot of white space in my photos I like to add a bigger title/ journaling like I did on this layout with the Travel Girl Alpha Stickers. 

Today Alex is joining me with this beautiful layout she created with an enlarged photo of her adorable children. 

Here is what Alex had to say about the challenge.

"When Mandy asked me if I was in for a big photo challenge, I squealed! I love big photos! Especially after a whole month of pocket scrapbooking :-) I decided to scrap the Christmas photo of my children. For that I used the beautiful Eggnog collection. I adore the colors of it. When I scrap big photos, I love adding little bits and pieces overlapping the edges. October Afternoon'sSnap Caps, Flash Blurbs, Tin Pins and stickers are perfect for that purpose. The "It's the most wonderful time of the year" sticker at the bottom is from theWord Stickers sheet from the Silent Night collection. I love how well these two collections go together. I have also used difefrent Daily Flash alpha stickers. Thanks Mandy for this fun challenge! It's exactly what I needed."

If you'd like to play along with this week's challenge,  we hope you'll share your projects in the October Afternoon Flickr gallery for us all to see! 

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful day! ~Mandy