October Afternoon

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.

 

Thursday Sketch with Sasha

Happy Thursday friends!! :)

As per our usual schedule, I have a new sketch for you to play with this week. Just so you know, I absolutely love it when I see any of you using my sketch or pinning them for future reference!

Here's my take on the sketch using two photos from our first ever long bike ride. Long is subjective here of course. We only did 27km/16.7miles - but at that time, it was such an achievement especially for Nidhi! :)

Loving the huge triangle, I have mine almost exactly where it is on the sketch but flipped it upside down. I felt like this little change suits my layout better. I added two squares of paper that I cut from Summertime Blue Skies PP making it look like I have four photos instead of two.

I also 'quilted' on Summertime Heatwave PP because to be frank, I've wanted to do that from the first time I laid my eyes on that paper. I just love it so much. 

I stamped part of my title on one of the label from Summertime Double Take stickers. 'Good Times' and 'June' tab came from the same pack. And finally, a tin pin! I mean, how adorable is that bike? Ours didn't have a basket on it obviously but I can't resist adding that little tin pin to my layout. 

Three bicycles on this layout, six if you count ours. Every summer has a story. Ours is all about bike rides. What's yours? 

I hope you'll have time to play with the sketch. Tag me if you do. I'm @sashafarina on Instagram. I usually post sneaks and my layouts with #octoberafternoon in the description. 

Happy scrapping!

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!

 

Thursday Sketch: Building Blocks

Hi everyone, Mou here with today's sketch! Once I put the sketch together, it started to look like little building blocks that kids play with. Start with these basic blocks and go as far as you like with embellishments.

 

Here's my layout. I started with a kraft cardstock. Then chose patterned papers from Daily Flash Girl Talk: Dish, Chatter, Giggle, Gossip and Saturday Mornings Scones. I arranged the base layer on white cardstock following my sketch. Just like interlocking building blocks, I cut into my patterned papers following the outlines of images and tucked the photo in. Next, I cut out some images from the patterned papers and used them to embellish. One of the patterned paper cutouts also became my page title. Couple of  Treasure Map Label Stickers to journal on and I had a fun layout all done.

Here's a close-up of my layout.

Today, I have Roree with me and here's her beautiful and clean card take on my sketch.

Roree says: "For Mou's sketch, I created a card using the new Summertime collection. I used the B-side of the Backyard Lights patterned paper for the background of my card and the Puffy Clouds patterned paper (both sides) in place of the color-block row in the sketch to create a little sunshine scene. I added a sentiment from a Memory Cards for the title and replaced the journaling block in the sketch with a bow and tag created from a Little Labels sticker. I dressed up the tag with a heart sticker from the Double Take Stickers pack and a Pop Drop from the Daily Flash Apple Cider collection. Thanks for the fun sketch, Mou!"

 

 

Here's a closer look at Roree's lovely and bright card!

I hope you guys find my sketch useful for one of your projects too! Thanks for stopping by. 

Workspace Wednesday

Hello everyone! Suz here to share with you an adorable little workspace organization project by the talented and resourceful  OA DT Member; Jill Sprott.

For those of you that may not know, Jill lives in the part of the world that is both beautiful, but also has salty air and a fair amount of humidity (Hawaii). And while Hawaii a enviable place to live because of its beauty and many other things, the weather can alter and vintage-fy some metal household and scrapbooking items--namely the OA Tin Pins. 

 

No worries though! Jill has the perfect solution for those beloved and hoarded Tin Pins! Here is what she created:

Isn't it fabulous?! What a great way to showcase all of your super fun Tin Pins that you have collected.

Happy Tuesday!

 

 

 

Thursday Sketch: Four Rectangles

Hi everyone, Mou here with Alex today and sketch based on four rectangles of different sizes.

Here's my take:

On this layout, I used only the Daily Flash Girl Talk papers to create and embellish. The background blocks came from Giggle and Blah, Blah, Blah papers. After adding my photo, I embellished with pieces I cut out from Dish, Whisper and Gossip papers. Love that I didn't even need extra embellishments to make my layout except for these alpha stickers: Index Card Mini Market Stickers from Public Library and Treasure Map Sea & Sails Mini Market stickers. 

Here's a close-up of my layout.

And now, here's a fabulously fun card from Alex!

Alex says: "I am not a card maker, but the second I saw Mou's sketch I got inspired to make one. The grid design is perfect for OA's traditional cut-outs. I grabbed the Blue Skies paper from the new Summertime collection and cut out two pieces that I found fitting for a fun summery card. The yellow Daily Flash chipboard frame was a perfect match for the smaller one. I used a piece of Swimming Pool for my background. To finalize my card, I added a couple of small heart shaped Summertime stickers, an old Midway "hello friend" doo-dad and some yellow mist splatters. I have used the Grey Flannel chipboard Alpha for the "hey". Thanks Mou for the fun sketch!"

That's a lovely card! Thank you Alex!

And here's a close-up!

Hope you enjoyed today's post and will find a creative way to use this sketch to suit your unique style!

Wednesday Inspiration: Babies don't keep

Hi everyone, Mou here! Recently, I chanced upon this sweet poem that dates back to 1958

                     (Source)

and it became my inspiration for today's layout! With a six month old baby girl at home and an overwhelming amount of other responsibilities, (such as singlehandedly packing up for a move to a different state) at the moment, keeping house has been dropped from the list. And I don't regret it either...  every moment spent with my little girl is precious and best use of my time. Here's my layout...

On this layout, I used the Skull Rock paper from Treasure Map collection and embellished with Public Library Sew Fun Banners and Index Card Mini Market Stickers, Saturday Mornings Shape Stickers along with some bits and pieces from Daily Flash Girl Talk and Apple Cider Pop Drops, Flash Alpha Strawberry Ice cream and Make it Merry Label Stickers, The most fun part of creating with October Afternoon for me is that I can mix and match older and newer collections and they work together seamlessly! Here are a couple of close-ups of my layout:

Hope you enjoyed today's post! Thanks for stopping by. 

Thursday Sketch Challenge

Hello friends! Melanie here today to bring you a fun and simple sketch challenge.  As you can see my sketch offers a lot of white space but also a lot of possibilities. I think this is one of the reason we love working with a sketch, the base is already created for us, then it is up to us to play with pretty papers and embellishments to come up with something fabulous.

The Public Library collection was ideal for this picture of my middle daughter jumping on our bed. I really wanted to take a fun approach to the house rule concept, that is why I labeled my layout 206 as we don’t really have that many rules in our house, it was just a comical way to document this activity.

The chipboard element was ideal for this picture as it beautifully complements the colors in the photo. I really took a simple approach using white letters and minimal amount of embellishments. I added some gold accents with stitching and thread, as one can never go wrong with gold accents.

I would love to see your take on this challenge! Upload your layout to the October Afternoon Flickr gallery, post it on our Facebook page, or connect with us on Instagram via #octoberafternoon.  Happy crafting!!!

Wednesday : Create With Kraft

Create with kraft. Why don't you? I love white background and I admit I use white background a lot. It has been a while since I used other colors for my layouts background cardstock but today, let's create with kraft!

I scrapped the photo I took of my youngest just before she went to her Graduation Party last year. It was a huge deal for all Year 6 students as they end their Primary School years and move on to Secondary School. I'd never realized how difficult it is to find an age appropriate dress for a 12 year old! The dress shopping took for-e-ver :)

I started my layout with a tag and layered pieces of patterned papers here and there on top of one another to build a cluster as my photo mat. I didn't cut into any new piece of patterned papers for this layout. Everything came from my October Afternoon scraps bag. I'm still very smitten with Treasure Map and Saturday Mornings as you can see.

I also picked some bits and pieces from other collections to complete my layout. The Snap Caps from Daily Flash Snapshots and All Boy are perfect this this page. I finished my layout with some stamping with the 2010's decade stamp and Travel Roller stamp.

Creating on kraft with the beautiful colors from October Afternoon is so fun! If you haven't been scrapping on kraft for a while, or have not tried kraft at all, I strongly urge you to do so :)

Go get krafty! You can tag me @sashafarina on Instagram, when/if you upload your layout. I usually post sneaks and my layouts with #octoberafternoon in the description. You can also share your creations with us via the October Afternoon Flickr Gallery.

Have fun!