October Afternoon

Pirates in January

Hi everyone! Alex here.

I don't know about you, but I needed to take a break from winter. Therefore, I am bringing you pirates and the summery Treasure Map collection today. 

I knew I had to use Treasure Map for my son's birthday layout. He is so into pirates right now, that I had to throw him a pirate party. I still can't believe that I actually made that pirate ship cake! Still kind of impressed by myself! :D

I didn't use a lot of papers for this one, only a fuzzy cut piece of Whale Bone Reef. Instead, I played with a lot of bits and pieces. I marked the upper edge with a strip of Nautical Flags washi tape. I cut off the pirate that was sitting under the palm tree sticker and stuck it under my photo. Number 3 is a Daily Flash Early Riser. 

I can't seem to be able to make a layout without Daily Flash chipboard arrows...

I have mixed three different alphas for my title: TM mini market, DF Meringue and TM alpha stickers for the year. The big anchor is TM Chip 'n Stick. Finally, I added some Eggnog pop drops and a cute little TM tin pin to the right side of the page for a more balanced design. 

I love to pull out collections that are not really right for the season to mix things up a bit. I feel so much better now :-)

Thanks for stopping by!

//Alex

Designer Challenge: Little Photos

Hi there! Emily here with a fun designer challenge for you. I recently had the privilege of visiting Camp Wandawega with two friends. This "summer camp for adults" has been in the news and social media a lot lately, and I am lucky that I only live a little over an hour away. Between the three of us, my friends and I took hundreds of photos of this perfectly curated camp. I am hoping to create mini album of our camp adventures, but in the (rather likely) event that I don't get around to it, I wanted to be sure to at least document our time in a layout!  In order to include as many photos as possible, I decided to use lots of small photos on my layout. 

My printer makes it easy for me to print small photos by offering me the option of printing 1, 4, or 8 photos on a page. I decided to make three 4x6 sheets of four, giving me 12 total photos. Once I had my photos printed and cut, I arranged (and rearranged...and rearranged) them on my page until I was happy with their placement. I decided to orientate my photos in a grid in the top righthand corner of the page, with the title underneath and some colorful strips of paper as a boarder on the left.  

I used foam adhesive to raise a few of the photos off the page, and I decided at the last minute to swap out one of the photos for a Daily Flash woodgrain chipboard heart and the perfect (and true) "Instagrammed" sticker. I like how it breaks up the grid a bit and makes it a bit more visually stimulating. 

I used a piece of patterned paper from last year's December Story kit to cut my title. I love the plaid - it is reminiscent of the blankets they leave everywhere to snuggle up in and perfect for a camp layout!!  

Along the left side, I included a bunch of different colors and patterns. I knew that I wanted to include some yellow in the layout so that it didn't have too much of a holiday vibe. The little cluster at the bottom is appropriately "vintage" - the Daily Flash Girl Talk badge features an antique phone dial, and the Sidewalks "Little Flyer" flag is truly vintage October Afternoon - it has a copyright date on the back of 2011!!

I contemplated adding journaling to this layout, but honestly, the photos tell so much of the story, that I didn't feel like it was necessary. It's a rather busy layout, and I didn't know that adding MORE to it would be the best idea!!  Here's the final product:

Tell me, when is the last time you went to summer camp?  How did you document it? I'd love to see your take on my little photo challenge or see any camp-inspired projects you may have! Upload your work to the October Afternoon Flickr gallery, post it on our Facebook page, or connect with us on Instagram via #octoberafternoon. Happy Wednesday, and happy scrapping!

Topic Tuesday: Maps

Every October Afternoon collection contains gems, those patterns that jump right out at you and beg to be used right away and hoarded forever at the same time. Among my favorites are the map papers that appear from time to time in collections. I ransacked my October Afternoon stash and pulled out a bunch of map papers to create this layout: 

There are so many patterns to love on this page, including "True North," "Shipwreck Coast," and "Skull Rock" from the Treasure Map collection, "Midnight Clear" from the Silent Night collection, and "Social Studies" from the Daily Flash/Milk Money collection. 

I cut each pattern into strips of varying sizes, and added sticker accents along the seams to unify the design and create continuity. 

Map patterns can even be found on October Afternoon alphas, like these from the Treasure Map collection. 

Here's hoping for even more maps to show up in future October Afternoon collections!  In the meantime, I'll be dealing with the "to use or to hoard?" conundrum. 

Thanks for stopping by the blog today! 

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.

 

Monday Challenge: Create a Scene

Hey everyone! Roree here with a Monday challenge for you.

As I was browsing about Pinterest one day, I came across this pin:

Image via Pinterest

I immediately fell in love with the little cityscape at the top of the image. I thought it would be fun to create my own little scene on a card (and I did!). Here is what I came up with:

For the base of my scene, I used a journaling card from the Summertime Memory Cards pack. I used cloud stickers from the Saturday Mornings Shape Stickers sheet and hand cut a house and tree from Summertime Puffy Clouds, Heat Wave, and Green Grass patterened papers and Treasure Map Moby Dick Isle patterned paper.

I completed the scene with a few cross stitches and a Summertime Double Take heart sticker and Treasure Map Designer Brad.

I added the scene to a Treasure Map Moby Dick Isle patterned paper card base and used Daily Flash Clover "Storybook" Flash Alphas and a Daily Flash Snapshots Double Take tab sticker to create a title.

I finished the card with some machine stitching and a bit of baker's twine from the Sasparilla Wrap Pack.

If you would like to take on today's challenge and create a scene on your next project, please share your creation by linking it on Instagram with the hashtag #octoberafternoon, along with tagging @octoberafternoon, so we can see! You can also share your projects on our OA Facebook wall or the OA Flickr gallery.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Tuesday Inspiration: Polaroid Collage

Hi there! Happy Tuesday! Emily here with today's inspiration piece! I knew I wanted to use a photo collage of some sort on my layout this week, so I did a Pinterest search for collage inspiration.  I found a few really unique polaroid collages similar to these:

(Both of these images have broken source links!I My apologies to the original photographers!)

I really love the look of breaking a single photo up into a few different photos and layering them on top of one another. I had a perfect picture in mind - of the bottom half of my kids at the pool last week. I have a similar one with their heads, but I kind of love this one of just their bodies and feet!!  The only problem, however, is that I wasn't exactly sure how to crop the photos to make them all fit together just right. I ended up using my cropping tool in my photo editor to create four squares in each corner of the picture. Each square looks pretty similar...here are the four sections:

I printed all four out and tried to layer them, however it wasn't working as well as I'd hoped. I decided to make all of the photos a bit off kilter from one another, which is why my little guy on the right kind of has two heads! I probably could have just left off the bottom row of photos, as they only show the concrete, but I like having four photos versus only two. I know there is probably some way to make my collage look as cool as the two inspiration pieces, but I'm not technically savvy enough to figure out, so this will have to do!

I used foam adhesive to create different levels on my layout. The bottom two photos are flat against the background, the third is raised up by a single layer of foam adhesive, and  the very top actually has two layers of foam adhesive. I really wanted there to be a lot of dimension, so I also raised up my die cut title.

Finally I found as many blue and aqua elements I could to include! The adorable little fish from the Summertime Pillow Puffs was perfect for this layout - especially after my title ended up a little off center!  The fish just swam on to the end like he was meant to be there! There are also tons of beautiful blue papers and embellishments in the Treasure Map line that made their way onto this layout!

I would love to see how you are inspired by these cool photo collages! Upload your project 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!

Monday challenge: Photo Strip

Hi there! Alex here with you today. 

I don't know about you, but I love making multiple photo layouts. One of my favorite ways to include many photos is to make a strip of them. For today's layout, I've made a strip of five small photos from our visit at the Playmobil Fun Park in Nürnberg, Germany. This big pirate ship quickly became our son's favorite. I was happy to take a lot of photos knowing that I had the Treasure Map collection waiting for me back home! :D A perfect match!

I've been dying to use this little guy!!

To match the photo strip, I cut the strips of journaling cards and layered them behind.

For my title, I mixed the Treasure Map alphas and small red Daily Flash Stop Light stickers. 

I hope you feel inspired to use photo strips on your layouts! 

Thank you so much for stopping by!

//Alex

Thursday Sketch with Suz

Hello everyone! Suz back with you with today's #oasketchday Sketch Challenge!

This week's sketch was inspired by the "A" Side of the Scones patterned paper from the Saturday Mornings collection here.

 

In particular, the bottom left image (the one with the "9") is what I drew my inspiration from.

Here is the sketch that I derived from my design. I actually worked a bit backwards this time and created my card and then the sketch design.

The card design uses one of my favorite design principles; repetition.

 

 

If you look closely, you can see several ways I incorporated repetition--the repeating sentiments, repeating colors, repeating stars/stellar/sunburst shapes, circles, etc. Repetition just adds cohesiveness and makes the whole creation come together for the most visual impact. And is it just me or do any of you see a gum ball machine/snow globe/fortune teller glass or a Star Wars X-Wings aircraft depending upon how you look at it?! No, ok, well then, I guess it's just me! LOL

I cut out a portion of the Scone patterned paper and flipped it over to reveal the B side (pink and taupe-grey pinwheels). Then I machine stitched for a bit of dimension. I added a bit of stamping using some stamps designed by the lovely and talented Jessy Christopher and a bit of my own printing and handwriting. 3D adhesive was used to pop my central element up ("YAY" circle stamp-a bit imperfectly distressed (user error) but I went with it) and then a triangle stamp was used to draw the eye into this element. The "21" stamp is from a Cocoa Daisy kit.

I used items from both the Treasure Map and Saturday Mornings collection as well as some Pop Drops from Daily Flash - Eggnog.

Treasure Map: Side B of Siren's Point, Treasure Map - The Ocean Blue - Label Stickers 

If you decide you want to create using this sketch as a jumping off point, please use the hashtag #oasketchday when sharing on Instagram and tag me @suzmannecke so I can see!

No Instagram account? No worries! You can post on our OA Facebook wall, OA Flickr Gallery, or link your creation up in the comment section below. (Please note, comments are moderated, so your comment will not post immediately).

Have a great remainder of your week! Be sure to check back in tomorrow when our August Guest is announced! ;) 

Wednesday Challenge

Hey friends!  It's Laura here today with an easy challenge and a fun layout to share with you.

I'm sure I've already talked about how much I love the Treasure Map line before, and I love using it for beachy themed pages, but I also wanted to share how you could use it on other themed projects.  There isn't a beach in sight in these cute photos of my son and his friend.  I didn't have too much to say, other than to impart a little wisdom on him and help him to always remember what a treasure a great friend can be.

Now for the layout and the challenge!  So my challenge for you guys is simply to use a patterned paper background if you are like me and always start things off with card stock, or if you normally start with patterned paper then I challenge you to do the opposite today! I'm so glad I challenged myself to do this as that True North map paper made a great base for this page, even using it upside down as I chose to do! ;) 

I apologize if the blurred faces are distracting, but it is done on request by the parents of his friend. :)

When it comes to embellishments, my rule of thumb tends to be "the more the merrier", and I definitely had fun layering little bits together in this corner of the page.  I even stamped that cute captains wheel on the label sticker and layered a pop drop over it.  It may be hard to see but I also added glitter glue over top of the coins in the sticker below for a bit of fun.

I really wanted to use the gorgeous alphabet stickers from the Treasure Map line, and when I placed them down they felt a bit lost on the page so I drew some quick ticking lines around them in black pen to help them jump off the page.

To balance out all the embellishments above the picture I made a little grouping of bits on this side of the pictures too.

Anyhow, thanks for stopping by, I hope you are having an amazing treasure filled day.

As always, don't forget to share your creations in the October Afternoon Flickr Gallery! Remember to use the hashtag #OctoberAfternoon on other social media sites so we can all see, I know I'd love to see them :) 

Laura

 

Tuesday Inspiration: Summery Hues

Happy Tuesday! It's the height of summer, and like me, you may have accumulated your fair share of beach and pool photos by now. No beach or pool photos? You can still be inspired by this palette of summery hues. 

Source: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 

During a recent beach trip, I left the "good" camera at home and had to make do with the camera on my phone. The result? Some imperfect photos, with way too much sun -- but I still loved them. I took one of my favorites and played with some filter effects, and then printed a group of four. The photos found their way onto this layout that incorporates oceanic hues and patterns from the Summertime, Treasure Map, Saturday Mornings, and Daily Flash collections. 

The fact that there is so much light obscuring my face makes the photos imperfect, but through this imperfection, I found the perfect idea for the journaling. 

So much of the beachy feel of this page is due to the stamping. I started the page on a sheet of white 12 x 12 cardstock. First I stamped the Saturday Mornings "Clouds" stamp across the top of the page, and then I used the Daily Flash All Boy "Dude" wave stamp and various shades of blue across the bottom of the page. I then lightly spritzed over the stamping with aqua and mint green mist, to intensify the color. 

The middle of the page serves as a buffer between sky and sea. I cut small patterned squares from papers in the Treasure Map and Summertime collections, and embellished them with stickers and stitching. 

I had such fun using these colors and patterns to give my imperfect photos the perfect home. 

Feeling inspired, too?  Share your projects in the October Afternoon Flickr gallery. We'd love to see them! 

Thanks for stopping by today! 

-- Jill