October Afternoon

Tuesday Inspiration: Dear Santa

Hi everyone! Alex here today, bringing you this week's inspiration piece. 

I found these cute Dear Santa letter ornaments over at Remodelando la Casa and they inspired me in many different ways.

I liked the simple color scheme, the chevron and small polka dots together and of course the actual "letter to Santa" theme. Inspired by this image I created a spread in my December Story album. It's the second spread, but I thought that I should start by sharing my first one first. It is about my daughter lighting our December countdown candle in her own, rockin' way :-)

And here is the spread inspired by the ornament above.

I've kept this spread about my daughter's letter to Santa mostly red and white and I've also used both chevron and tiny polka dots.

I really enjoy playing with my December Story kit! I hope you do to! Be sure to share your spreads with us by tagging them with #decemberstory and #octoberafternoon. Hope you feel inspired to play along!

Thanks for stopping by!

//Alex

2014 Santa Sack Sale - Week 4!

Welcome to the Fourth and Final Week of the 5^th Annual October Afternoon Santa Sack Sale!

This week's Santa Sack is extra special!  This week, we are including a fun sampling of products from October Afternoon's brand-new Saturday Mornings^TM collection!  This collection is shipping to stores now!

Of course, this Sack also contains many other products from a variety of October Afternoon lines.  As usual, there will be no duplicates from any of the other weeks.

Get over $100 retail value of merchandise for the bargain price of just $39.99 plus shipping.

This only comes around once a year.  Be sure to get your hands on Week 4 before they are gone!

Don't forget that this year's Stamp Sack will be available this Wednesday, December 18th!

 See PayPal button below...

Buy now with the Paypal button below:

 

Santa Sacks ship within 2 business days following receipt of order.

To combine shipping, please e-mail us at [email protected].
Local pick-up is available!

All sales are final.

 

Monday Challenge : Water

Happy Monday everyone!!

If you wonder why I'm so happy when it's Monday - well, it's the school holidays over here and I didn't have to wake up early. I can not wake up if I want to. Haha! One of the perks of having older children! ;)

And what else? I have a challenge for you, and Mandy is playing along today, that makes me happy too :) Okay, here goes. My challenge for you is to scrap . . . 

 

You can make a project about the sea, waterfalls, your drinking habit (water, I assume! lol), playing in the puddle, rainbow after the rain, your baby's sippy cup or even tears. Just some suggestions there.

Here's Mandy's card

 

Mandy said : 

"When I was given Sasha's challenge for today I thought I would create something around snow since it's December and I live in Michigan and there's always a ton of snow here, right? Um, NO not this year! So back up plan a card that asks for someone to bring snow to the mitten state. The October Afternoon Partly Cloudy Flash Chip was perfect for my card. I also grabbed papers from last years  Very Merry December  kit. 

 

Thanks for some great inspiration and a fun challenge Sasha! "

Here's my layout

The B side of Reference Section patterned paper from Public Library reminds me of the sea, so I decided to use that as my background paper. I cut my white cardstock into sections and stitched them back onto the background paper to create some interest rather than having a flat white background with a border. This must be my favorite thing to do nowadays, I've done this many times lately. :)

For my photo focal point, I layered Corn Maze, vellum, Bonfire pp and a couple of tabs. I playfully stamped one of the tabs because that's what this layout is about. My daughter, playing at sea. I believe we can learn so much while playing and it's not like I want her to go out and earn a living as a sailor, so this was play. :)

I used Daily Flash Navigate alphas for my title. Just how perfect is that for my layout? I squealed out loud when I realized that as I usually start my layout with a photo + story, not products. Such a happy coincidence! I hid my journaling underneath the photo cluster and finished my layout with a printed circle tag and a sprinkle of Pop Drops. 

I hope you'll play along with Mandy and I. Share what you make with us in the OA Flickr Gallery.  You can also share with us on Instagram. Use the hashtag #octoberafternoon and tag me @sashafarina as I'd love to see your take on this challenge!

 

 

December Guest Designer - Valerie Mangan

Hi there! I'm so excited to be guest designing for October Afternoon this month! I have been a fan for many years and never tire of OA's ability to mix crisp, graphic elements with vintage design. I'm so excited to dive into my box of goodies (which is packed with lots of Daily Flash!) and today I will share a quick project and give you some ideas of what you will see in the weeks to come. But first, a little about me....

I'm a Jersey girl. I live near the shore and can't imagine living anywhere else. We have the best of many worlds here; miles of beautiful coastline, rolling farmland and a short ride to New York City. I started scrapbooking 'officialy' right after my first child was born in 2003 and have been going strong ever since. I love how the hobby has changed over the years and because my schedule has gotten more hectic, have begun to work almost entirely in the Project Life format. I would describe my style as clean and graphic but I love to layer, especially with vintage inspired product.

I work by day as an interior designer, a job that affords lots of inspiration, especially in the color and pattern departments. I also own a freelance baking company and have recently partnered with a local market it hopes of taking that business to the next level.  I juggle those 2 jobs with life at home with my husband and two children. To keep my sanity I make sure I don't miss my early morning runs or workouts at the gym.  

It just so happened that the night I got to start working on my projects, I also had to begin work on a holiday baking job. I thougth it would be fun to mix the two so I'm working on some cute packaging projects for the next few weeks, along with some traditional layouts and cards, too. 

 

Thursday Sketch with Melanie and Sasha

Hello OA fans! Melanie here today with a new sketch challenge!!! This sketch was inspired by one of my favorite design element right now, photo corners. I decided to make the photo corners the focus of the sketch, I hope you will be inspired to play along. 

As you can see I used certain element from my sketch, as I rarely follow sketch down to the exact last detail. I incorporated one large photo corner and a small one. I flipped the design of the sketch and replaced one of the pictures with a diecut pattern paper. I also replaced the swiss cross with stars, it was a better fit for the theme of my layout. To create this page I used the Eggnog collection, along with the Daily Flash roller stamp in Inspiration,  Daily Flash Stars and Hearts, Daily Flash Night Owl chipboard numbers and Daily Flash Strawberry Ice Cream alpha stickers. 

 

Playing along today with me is Sasha, I just love her beautiful work and I know you will be blown away by her take on my sketch!

When Melanie first showed me the sketch, my eyes zoomed straight for the triangles. I knew then that I wanted to create something based on the angles. I thought about it for a while and decided to go bold and cut apart the white cardstock to show bits of the Science Patterned Paper underneath it. The strong black background and angled white cardstock made a very interesting background for my layout. I layered some chipboard pieces and stamped labels to create the perfect placement for the 'yummy' Mason Jar letter stickers. 

 

I absolutely adore the Strawberry Ice Cream chipboard alphas - how perfect are those for a food layout? :) There are scattered + symbols on the sketch and I mimicked that by stamping and some adding some mist splatters. Thank you so much for this awesome sketch, Melanie!

 

I hope you play along with Sasha and I.  We would love to see what you come up with using this sketch.  Share what you make with us in the OA Flickr Gallery.  You can also share with us on Instagram. Use the hashtag #octoberafternoon tag so we can see your beautiful work!

 

Documenting the Elf

I know I have seen my Pinterest and Instagram feeds explode these past few days with images of Elf on a Shelf. It is such a fun & magical tradition that some families have every year. 

I have had to live vicariously through all these photos of trees and beautifully decorated homes. We just moved this past weekend and I am surrounded by boxes and piles of things that need to be put away. Unfortunately that also includes all of my craft & scrapbooking supplies. So I am very happy that the super talented Shanna Noel is here today to share a 2 page layout with us. 

 

 

and here are a few words about her layout from Shanna

 

I wanted to document this very magical year for us! It is the first year we have included Jaden in on MAKING the magic happen around here! We gave her total ownership of Ella the Elf and it is so much fun to watch that twinkle in her eye again over the magic of the season only for this year she's on the other end of that magic (which sometimes is even MORE fun!!!) I used the December Story Kit to make this spread, I LOVE those leaves and red buttons and a finishing touch!! I hope you have a magical season! 

 

Thanks so much for making October Afternoon one of your online stops today, we really do appreciate it! 

Ginny

 

 

 

 

Tuesday Inspiration: Trimming the Tree...

Hi there!  Emily here with today's inspiration piece! I headed to my Winter Wonderland Pinterest board to find the perfect December inspiration. This sweet, simple image immediately jumped out at me:

(Source: "Ohhh Mhhh")

This week, the amazingly talented Roree is joining me. Her cards always blow me away, and I knew this week would be no exception!  Here's what she has to say about her project: "Emily's inspiration photo inspired me in so many different ways. I absolutely loved the color combo, the stars, the tree... everything!! So, I decided to use all of that inspiration to create a card using the new December Story kit and some paper from the Make It Merry collection. I started with a one of the exclusive 6x8 papers and a 4x6 Memory Cards in the kit, trimmed down to fit my card, for the base of the card. (The "the night before Christmas" Memory Card was perfect to mimic the cascade of stars from the inspiration image!) I then created my tree with the "Make a Star" patterned paper from the Make It Merry collection and decorated it with sequins and stars die cut from the 6x6 gold glitter cardstock. I finished the card off with a Metallic Gold Baker's Twine bow and a sentiment cut from one of the three Cut-Ups cards in the kit. Such a great sentiment, don't you think? Thanks so much for the wonderful inspiration, Emily!"

\

I am so in love with the December Story kit, although I am not a December documenter, so I decided to use the products in a traditional layout.  My first challenge was that the paper is only 6x8, so just a tad bit too small for an 8.5x11 layout.  I decided to use four of the patterned papers and block them on my layout. The tree paper was a must, considering the layout subject!  I also love the red plaid paper - it matches my husband's jacket perfectly!  

I decided to use black mist, buttons, and sequins to mimic the stars in the inspiration. The buttons in the December Story kit are such nice bold colors and compliment the papers well.

I was excited when I recognized the font on the scripty paper as one I already owned - Olivier.  I used my die cut machine to cut out my title and placed it vertically along the matching patterned paper. I added a bunch of extras, a doily here, some flair there, and a giant tag of journaling.  

All together, this layout took me about an hour to make...this coming from a self proclaimed slow scrapper!  I love how versatile the December Story kit is - both for those who intend on making a December album and those who just love holiday product!

We 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!

2014 Santa Sack Sale - Week 3!

Welcome to Week Three of the 5^th Annual October Afternoon Santa Sack Sale!

Each Santa Sack contains assorted products from a variety of October Afternoon lines.  Get over $100 retail value of merchandise for the bargain price of just $39.99 plus shipping.

This only comes around once a year.  Be sure to get your hands on Week 3 before they are gone!

 See PayPal button below...

Buy now with the Paypal button below:

 

Santa Sacks ship within 2 business days following receipt of order.

To combine shipping, please e-mail us at [email protected].
Local pick-up is available!

All sales are final.

 

Monday Challenge: Repetition

Hi all! Alex here today bringing you this week's challenge. It's all about repetition.

Repetition is something I always use in my designs. For instance, I like to pick an accent color and use it here and there on a layout. Or a shape such as circle or triangle and repeat it multiple times. Or a word. Or an embellishment. Yeah, you get it... :-) When I first decided to post this challenge, I thought that I would be making a layout as usual. BUT, guess what? My gorgeous December Story kit arrived and I just had to start playing with it! Needless to say, repetition worked here as well. Today, I would like to share my cover and my first page with you.

I have used a 6x8 paper, a doily, a tin pin, a cut out and twine from the main kit and the chipboard numbers and the stamp from the add on kit. My box was filled with these tiny, folded, red paper strips that I just had to use in some way. I chose to let a few of them hang from the side of the album. 

Repetition is something I am definitely going to use when making this album. I like having a red thread through out the entire project. In this case, I am going to try and repeat the red touches on every spread. I also chose to include the tiny, red strips on my first page as well. Here, you can also see that I attached the hanging strips with a piece of washi tape included in the main kit.

I have used one of the 4x6 cards from the main kit and I stamped stars and a heart on it using both the stamp set from the main kit and from the add ons. I can't wait to start filling my December Story album! 

Joining me today is my dear, super talented friend Patricia. There are no words to describe how much I love her layout. Let me just show it to you.

I love all the circles!

And here is what Patricia had to say about her layout:

I absolutely love Alex’s challenge of repetition.  It opens the door for so many possibilities.  I went with a favorite, circles, but clustered them in holly leaves, which are also repeated.  I used the Egg Nog collection to make this fun, festive layout.  I cut the top holly leaves and berries from the pattern paper, and then backed with more pattern paper.  I free-hand trimmed around the edge of the paper, and adhered all of this to coordinating cardstock.  I cropped my photos into circles in Photoshop Elements, and layered at the top with the larger cluster.  The circles, gave me the flexibility to cascade and layer them down to another cluster at the bottom.  There’s more repetition in this layout you may not think of:  the colors are repeated; and the background pattern paper design has repeating snowflakes.  Then finished the layout with more circles using flair, stickers, and a brad from Public Library.

How beautiful can a layout be?! And a girl for that matter! Thank you so much, Patricia!

I hope you feel inspired to play along with us. Share your work with us on our Flickr page or on Facebook or Instagram. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Alex & Patricia
♥

 

Thursday Sketch with Patricia and Melanie

Hello OA fan!  Patricia here with a sketch that would be perfect for jump starting your holiday projects.  This would also be a great sketch to include in your Document Story for Christmas.  I think there are still some kits available.  Grab while you can!

 

And since we are getting into the holidays, I was so excited to use the Daily Flash Eggnog collection with this sketch. I kept close to the sketch, cutting a large star from cardstock, then backing it with patterned paper, and also cut out some banner shapes from pattern papers.

I even edited my photo in Photoshop Elements to make it into a banner.  I took the piece from the star cut out, and added straight and zigzag stitcing over it.  And then started layering, and again, keeping with the sketch.

My daughter's face was priceless, so I knew I wanted to play on that 'attitude' and write a few funny things you could say about this photo.  I just put the entire white cardstock in my typewriter before I started adding the layers.

And now, I am so excited to have Melanie joining me with this sketch.  

I was so excited to Patricia’s fabulous sketch. Right away I was inspired; the banner is such a fun design element and can be incorporated on a layout in many ways. I also loved the focus on the large star, but since I no longer use my Cameo, out of pure laziness (yes I know it’s terrible) I had to find another method to include the star element on my layout. 

I’m in a Christmas mood and knew that this sketch would be ideal to scrap a recent picture of my middle daughter. She’s a girl on a mission, this year she’s hoping to catch Santa in the act, when he’s dropping off her gifts. Hopefully she will succeed!!!

To create this layout, the Egg Nog collection was the ultimate choice. The Flash Blurbs and Snap Caps were perfect to create a banner. The Memory Cards were ideal for layering, journaling and title work, which was created with the Daily Flash Strawberry and Ice Cream Chipboard letters. Of course the star theme had to be incorporated using the Daily Flash Stars and Hearts. This layout is so much fun and came together really quickly, which is a bonus! Hope you will play along!

Amazing, right?!  I used the Cameo to cut the star and some of the banner elements whereas Melanie used the products to bring in those elements from the sketch.  I think these are two great ways to show how you can create using this sketch with a little extra time or a little less time and/or no die cutting machine.

I hope you play along with me and Melanie.  We would love to see what you come up with using this sketch.  Share what you make with us in the OA Flickr Gallery.  You can also share with us on Instagram. Use the hashtag #octoberafternoon tag so we can see!