October Afternoon

Winter Wonderland + Cut File

Hi everyone! Alex here with you today, bringing you one wintry layout.

I have used OA's lovely Under the Tree collection for this one.

I also added a small touches such as a chipboard snowflake and a "joy" brad from the last year's Silent Night. That's one of the things I really love with OA: old and new collections are super easy to mix and match.

These photos are from my daughter's first "real" cross-country tour. She was awesome! That girl never stops to amaze me... "A good memory" pin was a perfect match for this page.

I have also designed this "Snowflake in a Heart" cut file to go with this layout. I would love to share it with you! You can grab it HERE. Have fun with it!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

♥

 

Thursday Sketch: Make a card

Hi OA Fans, Mou here from colorhappycreations.com with a card sketch today!

I kept it really simple and open to your interpretation. Here's my take.

To make this card, I used elements from Under The Tree collection.

On the card base, I attached a block of Carol Singing paper. Layered a bird duo sticker from Working Shape Stickers as the main image and sprinkled some red Pop Drop circles all around and finished with a sentiment strip from Working Word Stickers.

This is super quick and easy if you need to make last minute cards to hand deliver.

Here's a close up of my card.

If you celebrate, a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS to you and yours and Happy New Year to everyone!

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!!

Monday Challenge: Stripe it out

Hey October Afternoon fans, Mou here with today's challenge and it's all about STRIPES! You have to mix at least two different stripe patterns in one project, be it card, layout, or anything you can imagine. Here's my take.

To make this 6" x 6" card, I used Carol Singing and Stocking Hanging 12x12 papers from Under the Tree collection.

These two papers provided not only contrast but also different widths of stripes.

To make this card, I cut out a 6"x12" piece from Stocking Hanging and two 2" x 6" strip from Carol Singing papers. With scissors I notched the ends of the smaller strips of Carol Singing paper and folded the Stocking Hanging paper in half to make the card.

I stacked the cut out notches to create a Christmas tree, added a sentiment from the Merry Making paper and a star from the Shape Stickers to finish the card.

What will you create with stripes?

Multi-photo Christmas Layout + Cut File

Hi everyone! Alex here with you today. 

I don't know about you, but I find Christmas photos a little hard to scrap. They are often pretty dark and messy with a lot of things going on on them. Therefore, I chose to keep my background light and bright and play with little details instead. I also chose to use a lot of small photos. They give a little lighter look with some white space in-between them.

I have used the lovely Under The Tree line for this layout.

Love this cute banner from the stickers sheet. 

To make my white background a little more interesting, I cut out a big Christmas Tree made of hearts (also in white). I like the "airy" look white on white creates.

The size of my tree trunk was perfect for the "Have yourself a merry little Christmas" stamp from the Under The Tree stamp set. It's all in the details, right? :-)

I would like to share the Christmas Tree cut-file I designed with you. You can download the cut-file HERE. Have fun with it!

Thanks for stopping by today! 
Have a lovely weekend!
♥

 

ETA: Thank you for letting me know that the link didn't work. It worked for me the first time I tested it. I have updated the link now, so hopefully you'll be able to grab the cut-file :-) Sorry!

 

Monday Challenge: Touch of Gold

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

Metallics are pretty hot right now, so I thought it would be fun to challenge you to add a touch of gold to your next project.

I created this card for the challenge:

I used the new Under the Tree collection. I stamped the "First Snow" Background Stamp over a panel of Family Gathering patterned paper using embossing ink. I covered the stamped image with gold embossing powder and set it with a heat tool.

I added a strip of cardstock and a gold polka dot bow below the center of the card and layered one of the "birds on a branch" stickers from the Shape Stickers sheet just above. I stamped the "Joy" sentiment from the Under the Tree Clear Stamps set onto a label sticker with embossing ink, covered the stamped image with gold embossing powder, and set it with a heat tool. I layered the label sticker at the bottom of the "birds on a branch" sticker and added an enamel heart and dot from the Pop Drops pack to finish.

If you would like to take on today's challenge, 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!

 

OA Under the Tree | Lunch Notes and December Daily Cards

Hi friends! Happy Friday!! It's Janice here with my last project as your October guest designer.  I've thoroughly enjoyed creating fun and simple projects using October Afternoon's lastest holiday collection, Under the Tree. 

I've put notes in my 10 y.o.'s lunch since he was in preschool and I continue to do so.  I try to write him a note about once a week.  I decided my last post was going to be lunch notes using Under the Tree.

I also created cards that can be used for your December Daily album or just a collection of Christmas memories.  You can use them as title cards, journaling cards, or even just placing a small picture on it and putting it in a pocket page.  There are so many options.   

I timed this project like I did last week's (confetti gift tags).  Again, all of these cards were created in about an hour. 

I rounded the corners for a cleaner look.

 

 

 

 

Thanks again for dropping by.  I hope that you are able to find some time to be crafty for the holiday season.  Merry Christmas!

Blessings,

Janice

Tuesday Inspiration: Christmas for Halloween

Hello hello my fellow October Afternoon fans, Mou here today with your Tuesday Inspiration!

You guys have seen the new and merry Under the Tree collection I'm sure. Look at these papers... it is clearly a Christmas Collection!

 

And now, look again...

I suddenly see Halloween in them. HOCUS POCUS!

And to prove my point that you can be totally inspired by Christmas papers to scrap Halloween and other autumn-themed photos, let me share with you our visit to the pumpkin patch in search of a jack-o-lantern.

 

The papers I used here are: Carol Singing, Working-Merry Making, and Candle Lighting, all from Under the Tree collection. I even pulled some of the blue-green from Working-Merry Making when I hand cut my fall leaves. Here are some close-ups of my layout.

So, what will you scrap with this collection beyond Christmas?

Designer Challenge: Non-holiday layout featuring holiday product

Hi! Emily here with a designer challenge for you! I am loving the brand new Under the Tree collection, but I have to be honest, I'm just not quite ready to jump onto the holiday bandwagon yet!! Luckily, the papers and colors in this collection can easily be used for both holiday and non-holiday projects!  I chose a photo that included some red so that I could use the red papers that come in this collection. My six year old daughter completed her first triathlon at the end of the summer. It was her first competitive sporting evert ever and she was ecstatic at the finish line (and, I should mention, not even tired, crazy kid!). My husband snapped this photo of her right as she was coming out of "chute." I love how realistic the event organizers made the entire triathlon.

I chose red, gold, blue, and black as my color scheme, which worked well with my daughter's red shirt in the photo. I also included a lot of stars to imply that my little athlete is our own super star! I love the idea of using lots of stars without actually using the word "star" in my layout.   The little gold stars on the Merry Making patterned paper were a perfect backdrop. I also included some star paper from last year's December Story kit.  Because the background is a little busy, I decided to outline all of my elements in black to make them stand out. I found a few non-holiday elements that matched my color scheme, including a little "3" tag from the Ephemera package which was perfect for this layout! I think my favorite embellishment is the sweet little "A good memory" tin pin that also included a star!

Above the photo, I added a little flare of stars (stickers and pop drops)  as though they were confetti flying out of her hands at the end of the finish line.

I cut a bold title out of black cardstock using the Pacifico font and added a few lines of journaling near the top lefthand corner. Overall, it's a fairly simple layout that includes a few fun visuals!  

Here's a look at the final product:

How are you feeling about Christmas?  Too soon to scrap the holidays? I'd love to see your take on some non-holiday layouts using our Under the Tree collection! Upload your work to the October Afternoon Flickr gallery, post it on our Facebook page, or connect with us on Instagram via #octoberafternoon. Happy Thursday, and happy scrapping!

Under the Tree | Pocket Page Scrapbooking: Part Two

Hi.  Janice here to share with you the second part of pocket page scrapbooking using Under the Tree, October Afternoon's latest holiday collection. This is the right side of a two page spread, the left side was posted last Friday.  You can find it here. 

 

I love the variety of nostalgic die cuts in this line.  It brings back many childhood memories for me.  Even the Music Notes washi tape reminds me of something that was used on a gift back then. 

 

 

This Christmas Card List can be found on the back side of Card Sending.  I combined it with die cuts from the Ephemera pack and a sticker from the Word Stickers page. 

 

 

This picture is one of my favorites.  The cousins are catching up with each other and playing good old-fashioned board games.  A wonderful time for family. This is our December Story. What's yours?

 

 

This pattern can be found on the back side of Cocoa Sipping.  It makes me think of sipping hot cocoa while stirring it with a candy cane. 

 

 

How are you planning to document your December story?  I hope these pocket page posts are encouraging you to think about what you want to remember this year during Christmas. Thanks again for dropping by.  See you next Friday.