October Afternoon

Tuesday Inspiration: String Art

Hello, and Happy Holidays!  I have a couple of string art displays or projects pinned.  They are so inspiring. My favorites things to pin are window displays.  This is the inspiration for my layout today.

This is how I interpreted it with the Under the Tree collection.

I started by using the First Snow background stamp on my plain white cardstock.

Then on the bottom half, I cut different size strips from the Candlelight Pattern Paper to create the look inspired by the string art display.  I started placing them in the directions similar to the inspiration piece.  

To give my photos more focus, I layered a piece of Family Gathering Pattern Paper along the middle, and added gold stitching.  I added a few stickers, a tin pin and enamel shapes under the large red bow I made to also help bring focus to the photos, along with some black paint splatters.

I added a strip of the washi tape at the bottom and layers of pattern paper and an ephemera die cut at the top to help give the layout a little balance.  For my journaling, I used the labels to layer near the top by the photos, and added a straight stitch in gold.

Of course, the puppy adds a little more innocence to the theme of this layout, and doesn't take away from my photos.  I am always a big fan of October Afternoon's Christmas collections.  It is such a beautiful collection to work with.  Hope you are able to grab some to use for your holiday memories!

I would love to see your interpretation of the inspiration piece.  On Instagram, tag @octoberafternoon and me @Patricia_Roebuck using hashtag #octoberafternoon, upload to October Afternoon Flickr gallery, and/or post it on our Facebook page.  Happy Holidays and happy scrapping!!

Designer Challenge | Mix Old and New Collections

It is really hard to pick a favorite line from October Afternoon, but I will admit that I am still hoarding every last piece of the Witch Hazel collection!  I picked another new collection to see how well I could mix the old and new collections together.  Here's what I came up with!

Each tag is made up of two tags, one larger and one smaller using a combination of pattern paper from Saturday Mornings and cardstock.  By having one larger and one smaller tag layered on top of each other, it really made creating the layered look super quick and fun!  You can see here on my little girl witch, the Saturday Mornings Toast paper and Coffee paper.  Then I just layered the little girl witch, the poison label from Witch Hazel, and added the spoon and fork from Saturday Mornings!  For any part of the stickers that hang off, I applied a brush of baby powder to them to take away the stickiness. 

 

Next, is the star witch herself!  You may not be able to see the stitching from the front, but on each tag, I did a zig zag stitch in black thread.  I did this for texture and to have the strings hang loose.  I also added the same stitching to the ephemera witch card I used under Witch Hazel here on this tag.  Peeking behind the top white tag, you can see I used part of the tree sticker, and behind that is the same Saturday Mornings Coffee pattern paper from the first tag.  To finish her off, I just added the chipboard "BEWARE!".

I had to work in one of the little kids from the Saturday Mornings Syrup paper.  I think this paper would be perfect for a Halloween layout as well.  I loved the cat from the ephemera pack, but since I wanted that paper to show, I trimmed just the cat part of that card to adhere on either side of my tag.  I still have the letter stickers from the Witch Hazel collection so added "boo," then finished it off with a chipboard button, and stickers from the collection.  Then added the cloud sticker from Saturday Mornings.  You can see more of the stitching here since I didn't layer too much on top.

Each tag is finished with a simple bow in black to attach to treats for my daughter's teachers.  I would buy every piece of this collection again I think.  And I love how well it works with Saturday Mornings.  Hope you are inspired to pull out your stash of OA collections and see what you can come up with.  I would love to see!  Be sure to upload your work to the October Afternoon Flickr gallery, post it on our Facebook page, or connect with us on Instagram via #octoberafternoon.  Hope you have a great week!

Monday Challenge: Inspiration Right Under Your Nose

You hear it all the time, "inspiration is everywhere."  I think sometimes it isn't a problem finding the inspiration as it is interpreting or just actually committing and doing it!  As I was planning my week and projects, I just happened to notice how pretty the box of Kleenex sitting on the counter was.  I almost didn't give it a second thought.  

I thought the shapes looked like leaves and almost used them in a different way then clustering them for a background.  That can be for another layout!  After I cut the background, I used Saturday Mornings pattern paper and Apple Cider pattern paper to fill in the background cuts.

Since the colors were Fall and my photo was about school, I used the Apple Cider puffy pillows, Milk Money Stickers, Stamps, Daily Flash Stamps, and Public Library embellishments.

And last but not least, since it inspired the layout, here is the box of Kleenex! 

I really hope you not only find inspiration right under your nose, but make the time to create something with that inspiration!  I would love to see what you create.  Hope to see your project uploaded to either the October Afternoon Flickr gallery,  our Facebook page, or connect with us on Instagram via #octoberafternoon.

Sketch Day: Back to School with Lunch Box Cards

October Afternoon has some of the cutest back to school graphics and products.  We have been back to school since the 7th, but with my mind still on summer, I decided to combine both the Summertime collection with some school themed products to make these lunch box cards.  I loved how well the worked together.

Each card is based off of this sketch.  The actual placements of stamps or embellishments on the cards vary from the sketch, but are inspired by the sketch.  With this inspiration, the cards came together quickly.  I was also able to interpret the sketch in three different ways making each card unique but similar.

I used the the Summertime stamps to make a school of fish for this card.  To get the multi colors on the main fish, I used three small Prima chalk inks to ink the stamp at one time.  The chalk ink worked really well, giving a nice dark, crisp color.  The 'one-of-a-kind' was stamped with the Daily Flash Inspiration roller stamp.  I fussy cut the stamped Out to Sea stamp to stitch in place at the bottom.

The next card, I pulled in some watercolors to color in the Milk Money cat stamp.   Then using the same stamp set, I stamped "make the grade" on one of the labels.  I also layered a Daily Flash Milk Money sticker on top of the chipboard speech bubble.

I mixed in a little Public Library with the "read" badge to go along with the cute little girl from the Milk Money stamp set.  To make her stand out more, I stamped her onto a round label and left her as is without coloring her in.  Reading and learning opens the doors for discoveries, so I added the Summertime stickers at the top.

The base of each card uses a different pattern paper from the Summertime collection, with the same pattern paper layered on top.  I stitched around the top pattern paper, leaving the top open for a pocket.  I cut pieces from the Milk Money Spelling pattern paper, stapled a tab to each one, and tucked into the pocket.  This gives me space to clip a note to the inside card or write directly on the card.

The different interpretations of the sketch would work for any card or pocket page cards.  Feeling really inspired, turn it into a layout.

I would love to see what you create.  Hope to see your project uploaded to either the October Afternoon Flickr gallery,  our Facebook page, or connect with us on Instagram via #octoberafternoon.

 

Tuesday Inspiration: The Stamps

Welcome to Tuesday Inspiration.  One way I find inspiration is from the products themselves.  One product I wanted to really play and get creative with were the Summertime Stamps.

My first idea was to stamp repeating images in a row, then as I played with them, I loved the stamps being stamped randomly at the top of my layout, which then inspired me to use some paint.  I spread my paint with an old credit card, then added another layer of paint with a heart brayer.  I used a grey ink for most of the stamps as part of the background, and then used black ink for the images or phrases I wanted emphasized.

 

Since my layout had the stamped strawberries, the Summertime Memory Card with the strawberry was perfect for adding my typed journaling about saying goodbye to Summer.  I carried the theme and the colors down the layout.

To bring more color and texture to the top of the layout, I fussy cut the lights from the Backyard pattern paper and adhered with pop dots, then added some chipboard arrows for repetition of the arrows at the bottom.

To finish off the layout, I added more embellishments to go with the carefree look.  

Hope you will take a look at your products and let them inspire your next project.  Share your project with us by uploading to the October Afternoon Flickr gallery, post it on our Facebook page, or connect with us on Instagram via #octoberafternoon.

Designer's Choice - Summer Mini Album

Summer is combination of busy, lazy, active, fun, and time together.  And it also goes by fast.  I was thinking of a way to print and save photos to scrap for later, but then I thought why not do a mini album.  Mini albums don't have to be complicated or take a long time.  If you have an hour or less, you will have something to hold in your hands that documents your summer.

1.  Using an October Afternoon protector with 2" square pockets, cut a square from it.  Be sure to cut along the outside of the seams.

2.  You now have a  pocket with four 2" square pockets.

3.  Cut a piece of pattern paper to 10"x4.5" and score and fold at 5".

4.  Use the cut protector holes as a guide to punch holes in your folder cover.

5.  Using a light grey ink, stamp and repeat 'summertime' all over the cover.  TIP:  use a punched star to help mask when stamping over parts of the sun.

6.  Using a one pocket October Afternoon protector, fuse it to create a smaller pocket the same size as your four pocket page.  TIP:  Use your cut four pocket protector as a guide for size.

7.  Trim along the outside of your fusing (seam).

8.  Fill with a cut out card or the pre-made card from the Summertime collection.  Add punched shapes to the pocket.  TIP:  Add baby powder to stickers to add as 'confetti' to your pocket as well.  

I used a total of two 2" pockets and 2 full size pockets to make my album in order to have a total of 6 pages.  Three square and three with 4 pockets.  Here's how it came out.  I added some black paint splatters, let dry, and the added the the embellishments and stitching to the cover.

I used ribbon to bind the album together.  I stapled the June, July and August labels to each opening page (the square one pocket protector).

The pattern of the album pages is one square pocket protector with a cut out card or pre-made October Afternoon card, then the four pocket protector.

Here's a close up of the added sequins, punched shapes and sticker.  I fused this card in so it wouldn't move, but I decided on the next two like this to leave it loose.  This will give you an idea of what both look like.

The cut out cards in this pocket were adhered together before I slipped them in the pocket and fused.  This could also be a great place to add journaling.

I am saving my last four pocket page for my August photos.

I wanted all four pockets to be filled with photos, but another idea is to leave some without photos and add more pattern papers or cut out cards.  You could also add some stickers to those pockets.  This album doesn't have bulky embellishments, so it lies flat.  You could also easily add more pages.  The Summertime collection was perfect for my album.

I hope you give this a try, and post to our October Afternoon Flickr group, Facebook Page or connect with us on Instagram.  Be sure to use the hashtag #octoberafternoon and tag me so I can see!    

Designer's Choice with Patricia and Roree

It is the first day of July and for those in the United States, we are about to celebrate Independence Day on the 4th!  Fireworks, grilling, parades, and lots of red, white and blue!  But red, white and blue are not just for being patriotic.  Red and blue are primary colors and create a bold contrast, and it makes me think of summer!

Instead of using photos that are celebrating Independence Day, I used photos that had the red and blue colors.  Red is an intense color, so I used a lot of blue from Treasure Map as the primary color, and then accented with red with the stitching, labels, brads, die cuts, chipboard, and pillow puffs.

I cut the LOVE with Mickey ears from pattern paper, then backed with another blue pattern paper.  Trimmed the die cut pattern paper, then adhered to another background pattern paper.  Lots of pattern paper, but the contrast of light and dark and different patterns worked so well together.  I made the LOVE Mickey ears a couple of years ago.  

To make the die cut stand out more, I hand stitched in all 6 strands of embroidery floss.  Since there is so much pattern paper, I left the white around my photos to help them stand out more.  For my journaling, I adhered the labels to a scrap piece of paper, sent it through my typewriter, and then trimmed them from the paper using scissors and adhered in place.  I used chipboard from Daily Flash, a badge from Milk Money, and the roller stamp and Puffy Clouds pattern paper from Summertime.  I fussy cut the clouds from Puffy Clouds pattern paper to adhere on top of the die cut.

Red and blue is one of my favorite color combinations.  It is perfect for these Disney World photos, it has a great vintage/retro feel, but can also be very feminine.  

I absolutely love Roree's cards.  She puts together such great colors and patterns, and she really shows how red and blue can be both vintage and feminine.

When I signed up to take Patricia's Red, White, and Blue Challenge, I remembered that there was some awesome red and blue papers and embellishments in the Travel Girl collection. Since that collection has a travel theme, I went with it for my card. I cut out a journaling card from the Journal Cards sheet and added some stickers from the Word Stickers, Border Stickers, and Shape Stickers sheets.

Then, I dug way down deep into my October Afternoon stash for some Cherry Pie patterned paper from Modern Homemaker to create some flowers and tied them together with buttons from Holiday Style. I added a little bit of red and white baker's twine to finish. I just love how it all came together. Thanks for the fun challenge, Patricia!

So gorgeous, Roree!  Thank you so much for joining me!

I hope this inspires you to look at red and blue in creative ways for your projects.  If you create something, upload it to our October Afternoon Flickr Gallery, or Facebook Page.  You can also use Instagram and tag me @patricia_roebuck and @octoberafternoon with hashtag #oadesignerchallenge.  Hope to see what you make!

Designer Challenge with Patricia

I love when Sasha does her recipe challenges, she inspired me to do my own.  Here's is my challenge.

Use:

2 or more patterned papers

1 or more labels

washi tape

1 or more brads

stitching

Here is what I came up with.

I misted the background with white mist and splattered some teal mist.  Then added long embroidery stitching vertically and horizontally, the length and width of the layout.  My two pattern papers are Summertime Backyard Lights and Heat Wave.  The Heat Wave paper caught my eye when I first saw the collection.  I cut parts of it along the design to adhere and create this funky, retro looking layout.  I think it also gives it a great beach look.  

For the washi tape I added the Treasure Map washi tape at the top and left.  It complements the pattern paper, adds a pop of red and pulls out the teal mist splatters.  It also has similar patterns as my pattern paper.

I added more long embroidery stitching along the blocks and shapes of the Heat Wave Pattern Paper.

I added more than one label and more than one brad from the Summertime and Treasure Map collection.  They both work so well together.  I am loving the new grey color of the alphas from the Summertime collection.  To finish off this retro, whimsical layout, I added more stickers, pop drops machine stitching across my journaling strips, title, and stickers, and last but not least, my new favorite roller stamp from Summertime collection.  

Hope you will give this recipe a try and post to our October Afternoon Flickr Gallery, our Facebook Page and/or Instagram.  Tag me on instagram @Patricia_Roebuck and use hashtag #oadesignerchallenge.  Would love to see what you make!

Inspired by Citrus Slices

Hi everyone! Alex here today with a fun inspiration piece I found on Pinterest. I fell in love with the arrangement and colors of these citrus slices.

I wanted to print it and use it as it is for my background, but that wouldn't be much fun, would it? Instead, I followed the arrangement of the slices and created this Silhouette Studio cut file which you can download HERE. 

And here is the layout I made using the cut file and some gorgeous Summertime and Daily Flash All Boy.

 

I wanted to scrap this photo of the little man for some time, but until now I didn't have the right shade of green in my stash. Thank you OA for this beautiful Fresh Fruit Summertime paper! 

I let most of the slices be white on white (which I love!), but just to mix it up a bit I backed some of them with pieces of the Green Grass. 

These cute Tin Pins above are from the DF All Boy collection and the one bellow is DF Good to Go. 

The tiny hearts are Summertime Double Take stickers. I wish I had a full sheet just with them! 

I sent my inspiration piece to my super talented friend Patricia, knowing that she would rock it! Here is the layout she made.

I adore the mix of different round elements!! So clever!

Here is what Patricia had to say about her project:

I am a huge fan of circles and Alex’s inspiration piece had my creative juices flowing.  I loved the smaller clustered circles between the larger circles, so that is exactly how I did my layout.  I punched out circles and scallops…layered them, and then filled in with circle stickers, more punched circles, enamel shapes and brads.  I mostly used the new Summertime collection for the pattern paper, stickers, and badges.  But I was also able to pull in Treasured Map brads,  stickers and chipboard  Public Library brads, Saturday Mornings brads, and Daily Flash stamps, badges, enamel shapes.  Continuing with the circle theme, I placed my title and subtitle (it is actually a conversation with Stitch and Gantu) around two of the circles…keeping Aloha! around the photo for the main focus.  To attach the brads, I cut the prongs off and applied either liquid glue or a pop dot to attach it.  This gave me better control of exactly where I wanted them.  Thank you so much, Alex, for this amazing inspiration!

Don't you love how all the brads and layered circles add dimension to the page! Love this SO much, Patricia! Thank you so much!

I hope you feel inspired to make something with these pretty citrus slices or/and the cut file I created for you. Have fun!

 

Tuesday Inspiration: Stuff!!

Hi there! Happy Tuesday! Emily here with today's inspiration piece! I have a humongous Pinterest board filled with art and graphic design that I've so aptly titled "Artsy." This is my go-to board when searching for scrapbook inspiration. Today's piece appears to be a poster advertising some kind of festival...though I don't speak French, so I can't be too sure!  There is so much I love about this, but most notably the white handwritten title and boarder, the ombre sunset, and finally the fantastic collection of bits and pieces flaring out from the bottom. 

(Source)

Joining me today is the insanely talented Patricia who used the poster to inspire a cute card! Here's what she had to say:

I haven’t done a card yet with the Treasure Map collection  and when I saw Emily’s inspiration piece, I knew it would be perfect using one of the cards from the Journal Cards Pattern Paper.  I trimmed the journal card so the outline of “Ahoy” really stood out with the loops from the rope and layered it with a darker piece of pattern paper.   Similar to the inspiration piece with the objects at the top being the same color, this card is mostly blue with neutral colors of brown, off white, and grey.  I repeated the arrows at the top with a few stars from Daily Flash   Going along with the theme of the card “Ahoy,” I added the sticker saying “Chart Your Course By the Stars” at the top, and a small phase sticker at the bottom.  Everything works together by the repeating colors, and chipboard pieces.  The Treasure Map collection is so versatile with the nautical theme, this would make a great graduation card.  Thank you so much Emily for the inspiration!!

I decided to use a more direct interpretation of the poster.  As you may have noticed from my past layouts, I really like "stuff." I like filling up the space with little bits and pieces, just like the inspiration poster. I decided to create a layout about my son and all the little elements to represent his thoughts. My son is 20 months old, but he doesn't really talk. He only has a couple of words that he uses regularly, however when he was evaluated for speech, we were told his communication and understanding is actually above where it should be, save his verbal speech.  I wanted to show in this layout that even though my son doesn't talk, he's got all these brilliant little thoughts in his head.  

Whenever I create a layout that uses lots of embellishments, I usually pull out a bunch in each color and put them together almost like a puzzle. In this case I used a lot of chipboard elements (the arrows and the hearts and stars are my favorite), some pillow puffs, and lots of stickers and die cuts.  These are from a big mix of October Afternoon lines.

I would love to see how you are inspired by this poster! Upload your layout to the October Afternoon Flickr gallery, post it on our Facebook page, or connect with us on Instagram via #octoberafternoon. Happy Tuesday, and happy scrapping!