October Afternoon

Monday Challenge/Inspiration: Out Like A Lamb

Hi everyone, Mou here with today's post!

You know the saying "In like a lion, out like a lamb?" As far as I know, it's an idiom about March weather which is really changeable. Well, that's also the theme of today's post. I looked up on Pinterest and found this beautiful image:

(Via Pinterest)

You could use the theme and/ or the image for a gentle theme or grey color scheme or soft texture or any way it appeals to you. Here's my take:

I stayed mainly with a greyish color scheme with some pops of colors. The theme of my page is gentle sweet everyday moment and I have added some texture.

The papers I used are from various new and older October Afternoon collections: Daily Flash Apple Cider Bonfire,  Daily Flash Girl Talk Blah, Blah, Blah, Public Library Dust Jacket, Travel Girl Mix Tape, Woodland Park Blue Sky, and some notebook paper. Again, I selected my embellishments from various collections as well, such as, DF Girl Talk Flash Blurbs, Saturday Mornings Designer Brads, Saturday Mornings Border & Label Stickers, DF Inspiration roller stamp, DF Photo Booth Chipboard, along with some alphabet stickers, threads and mixed media supplies from my stash. Here are some close-up shots of my layout.

Hope you enjoyed today's post and grab some grey papers and embellies from your own October Afternoon stash and get started creating

Monday Challenge: Thankful

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

Thanksgiving is only a little over a week away so when thinking about a challenge for today, I decided to take inspiration from the holiday. Because Thanksgiving is all about celebrating the blessings in our lives with our friends and family, so my challenge to you is: Create a project based around the word THANKFUL.

I created a card for the the challenge:

I originally planned on using the Apple Cider collection, but I happened to have the Woodland Park collection out and found the sweetest sentiment on one of the Here & Now Chapter pages and thought it was perfect for one the people I am most thankful for in my life, my husband.

I trimmed a couple of the Here & Now Chapter pages down to create the 5 1/2 x 4 1/4" card. Along the top, I added some stitching to frame the "Sign Board" Alphas from the Daily Flash collection,

I finished the card by adding some baker's twine from Sasparilla, a die cut and sticker from Woodland Park, and a puffy button sticker from Apple Cider.

Mandy played along with my challenge, and here is the amazing layout she created around the word thankful and a little blurb about what she is thankful for:

"Lately I've been thankful for many things so when Roree challenged me to create a project based on the word "Thankful" I had no problem getting started. When I started to brainstorm my project I instantly thought of 3 friends who over the last few months(actually longer) have been great support to me and I'm so THANKFUL for these awesome gals I call my friends. Since we live hundreds of miles apart the Milk Money "Social Studies" paper had to be my base paper and from there I went with a large title and bold journaliing. Can't wait to see what y'all do with this challenge! Thanks so much for asking me to join along Roree!!-MK"

So now it's time for you to take my challenge and run with it. Create your own "Thankful" project and share it with us in the OA Flickr group. We can't wait to see what you create! 

Monday Challenge: Make It Mini

Hi everyone! Roree here with your October Afternoon Monday challenge.

Everyone knows I love to make cards. For me, smaller canvases are so much easier to work with than larger ones. I know that is not the case for everyone though, so my challenge for you is to create a mini project. Try a card, a layout, a mini album, or whatever inspires you—just make it mini!

October Afternoon has some wonderful products for creating mini masterpieces and that is what inspired today's challenge. The Memory Cards are the perfect bases for many different types of projects and I used a few to create the following mini cards.

The first two cards were made using the Memory Cards, 6x8 Paper Pack, Double Take Stickers, Flash Blurbs, and Snap Caps from the Daily Flash All Boy collection, along with some baker's twine from Woodland Park and Eggnog Pop Drops.

The second set of cards were made using the Memory Cards, Double Take Stickers, Flash Blurbs, and Snap Caps from the Daily Flash Girl Talk collection, along with paper from the Snapshots 6x8 Paper Pack, Flash Chip hearts, and Eggnog Pop Drops.

These mini cards are all 3 x 3" and were so quick and easy to make. They would be perfect to add to gifts, pop in an envelope, or even add to your child's lunch.

If you get a chance to play along with today's challenge, be sure to upload your project(s) to the OA Flickr group. We can't wait to see what you create.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Tuesday Tutorial: Washi Tape Background

Hey everyone! Roree here with a Tuesday tutorial. Today, I want to share with you a fun Washi Tape background I created for a card and a quick how-to of how it all came together.

I really love the Washi tape that comes with the collections, but I tend to hang on to it with plans of using it "on the next project". Well I finally made today's project "the next project" and went all out with the Washi tape to create this card:

First off, I found four patterns of Washi tape that worked really well together: Star Field and Red Mesh from the Daily Flash collection and Bowl of Cherries and Tea Towel from the Farm Girl collection.

I gathered the tapes, along with a panel of white cardstock, an X-Acto knife, and a ruler, and I got to work.

I first started by adding a piece of tape to the white cardstock panel. I used my X-Acto knife and ruler to cut a straight edge along the end of the tape. I then gently lifted unwanted piece of tape from the panel and added the next piece of tape.

Note: Make sure the blade on your knife is sharp. You will want to apply minimal pressure while cutting, so you don't cut through the cardstock panel.

I used my ruler and the first strip of tape as a guide to trim the left end of the second strip of tape. I then trimmed the right end at my desired length, which was 1 3/4".

This left me with and L shape and the beginning of my pattern. I used those two piece as my guide for adding the rest of the tape.

I alternated the patterns and continued in this manner until I ended up with this:

After I had my card base finished, all that was left was dress it up with some stitching and embellishments:

I used a chipboard frame and letter from Daily Flash, a Flash Blurb from Snapshots, a Pop Drop heart from Milk Money, some patterned paper for the flowers from All Boy, a couple of buttons from Woodland Park, and a little bit of white twill ribbon to finish it off.

I hope you enjoyed today's tutorial. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Tuesday Tutorial: A semi-pocket page

Hi everyone, Mou here with today's tutorial!

I'm not a conventional pocket page scrapper. I don't do Project Life. But I like how the Daily Flash pockets look. So, I wanted to see if I could use these pockets as part of my design on 8.5" x 11" layouts. On this layout, I used a 6x8 Sleeve for 2x2 photos from the Daily Flash line. It seemed like an easy and fun way to save some of those Valentines the kids got this year. Let me show you how I included the pocket page on my layout.

First of all, lay out the Valentines and pick the ones that would look best on your page.

Insert the Valentines in the little pockets. Some might fit better at an angle. Some you will need to cut apart to fit. Once you are happy with the arrangement, trim off the spine section with the punched holes. Take care not to cut into the seam line.

Attach some paper strips (I used 12 x 12 Stamp Book paper from Travel Girl and 12 x 12 Carol of the Bells paper from Silent Night collection) and washi tapes (Tropical Sherbet and Red Mesh, both from the Daily Flash line) near the top and bottom of the cardstock.

Attach the pocket page to the cardstock. Even though the pockets are clear, attaching them with double-sided tape was not difficult when I hid the adhesive behind the pocket contents. You could also sew it in place following the seam lines. 

Next, add some Apple Cider Pop Drops randomly around the page to embellish. Spell out the title using Sherbet Mini Market alpha stickers. I also attached a cute cupcake topper to the page using some Tropical Sherbet washi tape. It's really cool how all these collections, as different as they are in theme and release date, they still work together perfectly!

I couldn't help splattering a little bit of the Pink Lemonade Sprinkler from Cakewalk collection. You could skip this, if you are not a fan of splatters.

Journal below the title. Insert photos into the remaining pockets. Stamp phrases on cardstock strips using the Inspiration rotary stamp from Daily Flash and attach to the layout to finish.

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and will think of using your pocket pages on your layouts in different ways.

Thursday Sketch

Merry Christmas, everyone! Roree here with today's Thursday Sketch Challenge.

I created this sketch while playing around in Photoshop:

I chose an 8 1/2 x 11" format, which will work perfectly for a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2" card too.

I decided to make a card, and here it is:

I used the Silent Night collection and the Eggnog collection, along with some pieces from the Very Merry December Kit. I replaced the large circle in the background of the sketch with a snowman, the banners/title in place of the photos, and I added a sentiment strip in place of the journaling.

Just a fun holiday or wintertime card. :)

I hope you enjoyed today's sketch and the card I created using it. If you get a chance to play along, don't forget to post your project in the OA Flickr group.  I can't wait to see how you interpret it.

Hope you are having a wonderful holiday season, and thanks so much for stopping by!

Tuesday Tutorial: 3D Christmas Ornament

Hey everyone! Roree here with a Tuesday tutorial.

With Christmas just a week away, I thought it would be fun to create an ornament for the Christmas tree. This project uses mostly paper, so you if you have a few sheets of patterned paper, you can create multiples very easily. I used the new Eggnog collection along with a few patterned papers from the Very Merry December Kit. 

Here is my ornament:

I decide to give my ornament a patchwork feel, so I could use as many of the awesome patterned papers by October Afternoon as possible.

To create my patchwork design, I started with 1/2 x 4" and 1 x 4" strips from nine different patterned papers. I adhered the strips in rows, alternating the widths of the strips and offsetting the patterns.

After I finished laying out the strips, I cut out six classic round ornament shapes using my Cricut Expression® 2 machine and the Joys of the Season cartridge. I zigzag-stitched along each strip of patterned paper and straight-stitched along the outer edges of each shape.

Then, I folded each shape in half.

I adhered each shape back to back creating a 3D circle ornament. (I used some clips to hold the shapes in place until the adhesive dried.) I then cut out some holly leaves and stitched along the outer edges.

I attached the shapes together and sewed two red buttons where they overlapped.

I finished the ornament by adhering the holly shapes to the top and adding some baker's twine for hanging.

Now the ornament is ready for the Christmas tree!

You can simplify the ornament by using solid sheets of patterned paper instead of creating a patchwork background, or you can make it fuller by adding more pieces. How simple or detailed the ornament is completely up to you.

I hope you enjoyed today's tutorial, and I hope you get a chance to try making one of your own.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you have a Merry Christmas!

Thursday Sketch

Happy Halloween, everyone!  Roree here with today's Thursday Sketch Challenge.

I created this sketch while playing around in Photoshop:

I started with a square format—perfect for a layout or a card.

Here is what I came up with:

Instead of going with a square card, I went with a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2" card. I covered the Bonfire patterned paper from the Apple Cider collection. I ran strips from 6 x 8" Paper Pack and Hayride along the top, and then I layered Snap Caps in the middle and added a patterned paper heart, a Designer Brad, and a couple of Buttons in place of the photos. I added a scalloped strip of Dictation patterned paper from the 9 to 5 collection and a white twill ribbon bow to the center.

I finished the card with some Snap Cap sentiments and a few pearls in place of the journaling.

Nicole played along with my sketch this week, and she created this amazing layout using the new Silent Night collection:

 

Nicole used the sketch as a guide but added her own unique touches to make the layout work for her. Don't you just love it?!

I hope you enjoyed today's sketch and the samples Nicole and I created using it. If you get a chance to play along, don't forget to post your project in the OA Flickr group.  We can't wait to see how you interpret it.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Thursday Sketch: At an Angle

Hey everyone!  Roree here with today's Thursday Sketch Challenge.

I created this sketch playing around in Photoshop:

I started with a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2" format. I kept the main design pretty simple but added the elements at an angle, running from the bottom left corner of the layout to the top right corner.

Here is the card I created using the sketch:

I stayed pretty true to sketch and went with a flower theme. I created layered flowers using my Cricut Expression® 2 machine and Freshly Picked cartridge. I used Farm Girl for the papers and sentiment sticker, Woodland Park for the border stickers, Cakewalk for the baker's twine, and Boarding Pass and 5 & Dime for the buttons.

A fun "Just Because" card to brighten someone's day. :)

Laura played along with my sketch this week, and here is the amazing card she created and what she had to say about it:

"Sketches are one of my favourite things to use when I'm short on time. I find them to be such a great starting point for projects. I adored this sketch by Roree and instantly the idea came to me to cut holes in patterned paper for the front of my card and fill them with little bits. I knew that could get quite "busy" looking so I started with a simple striped pattern paper from the Midway 8x8 Paper pad, which I adhered with foam adhesive to sit higher than the card base.  I decided to keep everything monochromatic except the main sentiment which is a fun pop of blue."

What a great way to spotlight the embellishments, don't you think?

I just love how sketches inspire creativity. You can re-create something following the sketch exactly or just use an element or two to get you started—whatever works to get you creating.

I hope you enjoyed today's sketch and the samples Laura and I created using it. If you get a chance to play along, don't forget to post your project in the OA Flickr group.  We can't wait to see how you interpret it.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Lydia's Degrees of inspiration

When I scrapbook I don’t feel the need to reinvent the wheel, I do what I know works for me. So for today I wanted to show you my degrees of inspiration.

This first layout I did a little while ago, and it was the starting point for the other two I will show here.

Notice the location of the elements in all three layouts follow a similar pattern.

In this layout I replaced the two photos with 1, moved the location of the title and instead of the horizontal paper ribbon, I used a few embellishments to create a cluster in the lower left corner.

In this layout I turned the idea on it’s side and instead of a column of paper I used the photos to achieve the same effect. I kept the title and journaling in the same spot, just turning it.

There are hundreds of ways to make this layout your own, I challenge you to give it a try. And find you own degrees’ of inspiration. Don’t forget to upload it to the OA flicker gallery.

If you haven't already, take a minute and stop by my blog to put your name in for my give away.

till next week

Lydia