October Afternoon

♥ Tuesday Tutorial-- Hand-stitched sentiment ♥

2013-05-21T04:00:00-05:00

Good morning OA fans, Danni here with you today to share a tutorial to create a very fun sentiment on your cards or title for your layouts. I love the look of the embroidered sentiments or titles and wanted to give it a go with a sticker or die-cut from the new Travel Girl line. I have created a step by step picture tutorial for those of you who would like to give it a try, it's really fun and easy.

Here is the card i created using my embroidered sentiment

merci card

i needed a dog-sitting thank you card and this was a fun way to use this cute dog from the Travel Girl line

and here is the step by step picture tutorial to create an embroidered sentiment

If you decide to give this technique a try we would upload your projects to our OA Flickr Gallery. We would love to see layout titles and card sentiments alike, the more the merrier. Thanks for visiting with us today, we are excited to see YOUR take on it.

happy creating♥

danni

Monday Challenge: With Love for Patterns

2013-05-19T21:00:00-05:00

Hi there OA fans! Alex here with a challenge for you.

I love patterned papers! I don't know if you can call it a techique, but what I love the most is to mix and match different patterns on my layouts. If I could, I would squeeze in an entire collection on one page! But don't be afraid; I won't challenge you to do that! My challenge for you is to use five or more patterned papers on one layout/card. Two sides of one paper counts as two different papers.

On this layout I have used six different patterns:

If you ask me, October Afternoon papers are made to mix and match like this. They are just perfect for all of us who love patterns. This lovely Midway collection is no exception!

I created my title using a card from the Miscellany package together with a word sticker and the colorful Midway alphas.

I have used two different papers for my background and from the rest I cut the stripes. Using stripes is a great way to incorporate many different papers on one page. I let each stripe end with a ring of the same pattern. I made the rings using two different circle punches.

Joining me today is Roree. Just look at this stunning card she has made for us!

I love it down to the tiniest little piece of patterned paper she has used!

Now lets see what Roree has to say about her project.

I absolutely love patterned paper. It is the one scrapbooking product I collect (and hoard!) the most. So when Alex gave me the challenge to use five or more different patterned papers, I was ready! I created this fun card using the new Travel Girl collection. Because many of the paper sheets in this collection have strong patterns, I decided to cut four of the papers into strips. I layered the the Guide Book and Mix Tape patterned papers by creating a division between each with thin strips of the Directions patterned paper, blocking each pattern. Doing this, I get the full affect of each without one overwhelming any. For the last piece of paper, I cut out the word "explore" from the Journaling Cards sheet and created a tag. I finished the card with some white ribbon, a Tidbits label, and a couple of Shape Stickers.

Thank you so much, Roree! Your card is amazing!

I hope we have inspired you to take our challenge and start mixing and matching those gorgeous OA patterned papers. Don't forget to share your work with us and upload your projects to OA Flickr Gallery. Show us your love for patterns!

A mini-album and something for Dad from the Midway collection!

2013-05-17T05:00:00-05:00

Hi everyone - Lowri here and welcome to my second Guest Post for the month of May.

This week I have been busy using the Midway Collection. This fun and bright collection was perfect for creating this mini-album and I have used some very informal cell phone pictures taken on a day-trip to the carnival!

Midway Mini Album

I have created this album from scratch using my Cameo and two die-cutting files from Lori Whitlock (found here and here). The album can be created by hand (search online for accordion fold binding) but using a digital cutter makes light work of a lot of the measuring and all of the cutting!

I have chosen to make all of the inserts out of envelopes and tags – but the cutting files offer a number of options which are all included with the download. I also scaled down all the cutting files by 65% before I started as I wanted my album to be smaller. Just remember to scale all elements in the same proportion – otherwise they will not fit together.

The picture above shows a couple of details from the album cover. I cut a slit in the hat and slotted a couple of stickers into the cut. One of my favorite tips is to use talc to remove the stickiness from the back of stickers – which basically turns them into die cuts and lets you play around with placement without fearing you will stick them in the wrong place! The little camera button is my favorite embellishment of all – I could have used 10 of them in this project alone!

This album has a simple construction and is held together by the accordion fold spine. There is a detailed instructional video on YouTube which guides you through the process and each set of two fold is held together with eyelets (see Pictures 1 & 2 above). I chose to reinforce the covers with chipboard but you do not need this step. Each “page” is slotted into the spine and you can choose to glue them in. I found they were a tight fit without gluing and I like being able to pull the envelopes out to look at too, so mine were not glued in (see Pictures 3 & 4 above).

The picture above shows the envelopes and tag inserts in more detail.

The tags and envelopes are simply decorated with several elements from the collection including the Word Stickers, Brads and Tid Bits.

There are so many fabulous design details in these collections – I know that I am going to use every scrap of this one over a few years to come as my kids grow up!

Dad’s Treat Boxes

To demonstrate how versatile this collection is – I have used a couple of bits and pieces to make these fun Father’s Day treat boxes. They both contain a gift voucher to a wine boutique for my husband and Father-in-Law (hope they don’t read this blog!)

I have cut the boxes using my cuttlebug and this great Sizzix die and then used some of the Sew Fun Banners and Tin Pins to decorate. Fun, simple and a great way to use up some of your leftovers too.

I hope you have enjoyed these projects – please post a comment with any questions and be sure to check back next week for some more ideas. – Lowri

Thursday Sketch: Circles and Layers and Arrows, Oh My

2013-05-16T04:00:00-05:00

Hi everyone! It's Mandy Koeppen bringing you the Thursday Sketch.

Thanks to some helpful inspiration from my favorite Aussie friend this fun and funky sketch is full of circles, layers, and arrows. It can be easily made to fit your scrapping style just like Jill and I have done.

Here is the layout I created using the sketch.

I kept the 12x12 format but decided to use a 3x6.5 inch photo and tucked the 3 smaller photos on the sketch under my main photo just to make it more me. Of course once I did that the whole layout changed but that's the great thing about sketches you can make it your own.

The photos I used on this layout are from a trip to the fair a few years ago which made grabbing the Midway line a no brainer when I was gathering supplies. Along with Midway I used a couple pieces from Travel Girl, Farm Girl & Witch Hazel lines to create this layout.

Joining me today is Jill. She created this beautiful layout.

And here is what Jill had to say...

I went with an 8.5 x 11 layout for this sketch challenge, and used

woodgrain-textured cardstock as a backdrop, since the photos were kind of earthy.

This sketch was perfect to use with the three photos I captured the

other day of my dog rolling around in the fresh-cut grass. I could

barely hold the camera still because I was laughing so hard -- these

are the three photos that made the cut. When planning the layout, I

took my color cues from the greens and yellows in the photos, and

worked in some blues here and there, pulling together papers and

accents from the Travel Girl and Daily Flash collections. One departure from the sketch was to back the horizontal photo mat with a series of vertical strips rather than just a single strip, adding to the light-hearted feel of the page. I also relocated the title block

to the top of the page.

I hope you enjoyed today's sketch. 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!

Join us in welcoming Laura "Lulu" Craigie to our Design Team!

2013-05-15T05:00:00-05:00

October Afternoon is pleased to announce another new addition to its Design Team by welcoming Laura "Lulu" Craigie!

Laura resides on an island in Canada with her husband and three little boys. Her passion for photography and crafting led her to scrapbooking 8 years ago and she hasn't looked back since. When she's not scrapbooking, Laura can be found watching her boys play sports, puttering in her garden or out hunting for a Geocache.

Laura's work has been published in Scrapbook Trends, CARDS, Scrapbooks Etc. and Scrapbook & Cards Today magazines. She has worked with several different companies and is currently a Garden Girl for Two Peas in a Bucket.

Below is an example of Laura's work. To see more and to get to know her better, visit her blog at www.paperlulu.com.

Watch for Laura's contributions to the October Afternoon blog beginning in June!

Tuesday Tutorial: A Garden Journal with October Afternoon

2013-05-14T05:44:20-05:00

Hi everyone, Mou here with a spring project! The April showers have brought May flowers and new plants have sprouted. Around this time every year, we get ambitious and start our own garden at home. This year, I'm keeping a garden journal. I have always loved altering books with paints and gels. This time,however, I'm sticking mostly with papers to alter an old book I found at our library's used book shop.

I picked a book with a green cover for the garden theme. I cut out a seed packet from Farm Girl 12 x 12 Wheelbarrow paper and attached it at about the center to decorate the cover.

Next, I cut away some pages from the book. To do this, slide in a cutting mat below a stack of pages you want to remove. Leaving about half an inch from the binding, lay a ruler and cut with a sharp craft knife by carefully pulling toward yourself. Cut some windows the same way.

Of course I couldn't do away with paints altogether, so I splattered some on each page. Load your brush with a mix of paint and water, tap on the brush handle with a finger to splatter the paint, and let it dry.

Cut the rim around one of the seed packet images to frame the window. Add some banners from the Farm Girl Sew Fun Banners pack and stitch them in place. Use Woodland Park 12 x 12 alpha stickers to spell out a title for your journal. Attach a seed packet image to peek through the window.

Add some painted diecut tickets, patterned papers, chipboard accents, and washi tapes. Journal on the tickets.

Attach patterned papers and other accents to the page. Add photos. Journal.

Add a coin envelope splattered with paint. Insert a tag in it to journal on. Use a phrase stamp to add words.

Hope you enjoyed today's tutorial and would give altering books a try!

♥Monday Challenge: Let's Get Trendy♥

2013-05-13T04:00:00-05:00

Good Morning OA Fans, Danni here with you today to share a card inspired by a current trend everywhere from fashion, to home decor to scrapbooking: ARROWS

source for all arrow inspiration pictures: interior collective

While arrows are not a brand NEW trend, they are a current trend and one I haven't played with a LOT. I love the arrows and how they look on projects, so I thought today I would challenge myself to use some arrows from the new Travel Girl line.

So, let's get trendy with ARROWS

I considered using my Cameo to cut arrows in various patterns and fun, but decided to showcase all the fun arrows in the Travel Girl line, from patterned paper, to tin pins, to fun die-cuts and elements.

We would love to see your take on this trend, whether you create your own arrows, use arrows as embellishments, create background paper, anything goes, let's see your take on this trend♥

And joining me today is Amy with her interpretation of getting trendy. Amy chose to share her take on the Trend: Ombre

WOW what a gorgeous result! I know you'll be inspired to pull out your Travel Girl line and create a layout inspired by her beautiful design and colors!

And here's what Amy had to say in her words:

"I just love Danni's challenge to pick a current trend to scrap. I chose ombre as my trendy theme.

The blues greys and greens in the Travel Girl collection are the ideal colors for creating an ombre look for your pages. I chose to make my photo black and white to really allow it to dance with the ombre colors. I then brought in coordinating buttons and brads (most from previous collections) to add dimension and provide movement down towards my photo."

We hope we've inspired you to take our challenge and pick a current trend that maybe you haven't tried in your work yet. There are so many from color palettes, to embellies, to design elements, so many fun ones popping up. If you do take our challenge, please post your work in our OA Flickr Gallery so we can all be inspired!

Thank you for joining us this Monday!

Happy creating♥

Danni & Amy

Working FROM 9 to 5 made more enjoyable by working WITH 9 to 5

2013-05-10T05:00:00-05:00

Hi everyone - Lowri here and welcome to my first guest post for the month of May!

I have been having great fun with the 9 to 5 Collection! I worked in a corporate office for many years and I have to say there was more than a touch of the Mad Men about it and I just love the imagery of the vintage office theme. I made these pieces just for me, which is a real rarity. Read on to see a little more about how I created them

Craft Tools Box

This box came as a flat packed mdf kit and measures a huge 14.5" x 6". I started by covering the edges with the 9 to 5 washi tape, which makes for a fast and bright alternative to painting, and then I fully lined and covered the box in patterned papers from the collection. I suggest using a solvent-based glue when creating these types of projects as it dries quickly, will not warp the paper and it cleans up very easily with an adhesive eraser if it seeps from the edges. After I covered the entire piece in paper I started on the decoration.

The perfectly coordinating collection embellishments make this super easy and I started by decorating the two ends of the box - this way I get to see the pretty side wherever the box is sitting! It’s easy to layer the die cuts and stickers, and to add dimension I used foam dots to mount the various elements.

I created the “pull handle” for the top of the box by making some decorated glass tiles and mounting them onto the small wooden strip that came with the box. You can see a little tutorial showing how I did this below - these make great custom scrapbook and card embellishments:

1. Gather up some paper, flat glass beads or tiles, Glossy Accents adhesive and a sharp knife.

2. Spread a thin even layer of Glossy Accents onto the back of the tile.

3. Press the tile firmly onto the paper, moving it around in small circles to get rid of any air bubbles and to ensure the thinnest layer remains.

4. When dry, cut around the tile carefully with a sharp knife.

5. Ta-daah! These are super quick to make.

6. Make lots – use what you need, glue a magnet on the back of the extras and you have a great new set of fridge magnets!

Memo Pad

This started out as another plain mdf piece, and this time I inked the exposed wooden edges with Distress Ink and then used a stylized woodgrain stamp and some brown ink to create a simple woodgrain pattern.

I covered the exposed sides with paper from the collection, picking out elements I wanted to display such as this sentiment (Picture 1). I often work with my window open so I have made this handy cover to stop the tiny memo pages from blowing away (Picture 2) and this sticker was just too cute not to use on the reverse of the cover (Picture 3).

Mug

This mug came ready-made with a template sheet of paper you can use to cut and create your own photo inserts. I really wanted to use this “Shorthand” paper in one of my projects so I cut a strip to size and then added stickers to complete my office set!

I hope you have enjoyed these projects – please post a comment with any questions or be sure to check back next week for some more ideas. – Lowri

(Watch for more posts and projects by Lowri McNabb on the OA blog every Friday during the month of May!)

Thursday Sketch: Staggered Elements

2013-05-09T05:00:00-05:00

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

I created this sketch just playing around in Photoshop:

It is not quite to scale for a 12 x 12" layout or a square card, nor is it to scale for a 8 1/2 x 11" layout or A2 card. It sort of landed somewhere in between the two. I apologize for that. Hopefully you can look past that and use the overall design or elements as a jumping off point.

I decided to create a card using the sketch:

I stuck with the general design of the layout, only replacing the flowers and a label in place of the photos and using a white twill bow in place of the journaling.

As for products, I used patterned paper from the Travel Girl collection, Shape Stickers, Chip 'n Stick, and Tidbits from the Woodland Park collection, and Buttons, Designer Brads, Shape Stickers and Washi Tape from the Midway collection.
Vivian played along with the sketch this week and created this amazing layout. Here is what she had to say about it:

"I loved the staggered photo placement in Roree’s sketch and used that as the jumping off point for my layout. I used Daily Flash Snapshots here, which were perfect for this series of photos. Two of the photos are matted on colorful polaroid frames cut from the Compose patterned paper. The third photo is matted on the Say Cheese! Memory Card. I poked a hole in the card behind where my photo would go and then cut up towards the flash, trimming the zigzag edges so that I could tuck the corner of my photo under the flash. I titled and finished my layout with various other elements from the Snapshots line. "

I hope you enjoyed today's sketch and the samples Vivian 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. I can't wait to see how you interpret it.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Congratulations to our National Scrapbook Day Giveaway winners!

2013-05-08T05:00:00-05:00

Thank you to everyone who participated in our National Scrapbook Day Giveaway! More than 600 of you shared stories of your favorite vacations or dream getaways with us for a chance to win some great prizes from our new Travel Girl collection!

Eight lucky winners have been randomly selected to receive prizes. Two will receive a Travel Girl collection kit and six others will be awarded a Travel Girl 8x8 paper pad!

If you are one of our winners, please email your name and shipping address to jon.f@octoberafternoon.com and we will ship your prize right away.

So, without further ado, here are our lucky prize winners and the comment they left on our blog:

Travel Girl 8x8 Paper Pad Winners:

Angeline Tan - My dream trip will be to Alaska to watch the Aurora with my boyfriend. It's our common dream. :) Hope to win this kit to document my other travels before my dream comes true :). Thanks so much for the giveaway!

Kathy H. - Since the passing of my Mom back at Thanksgiving and my Dad passed away of Alzheimers on Father's Day weekend last year, I have been wanting to make several scrapbooks for our family. I have so many pictures. I would love to honor their many years of travels together through the 66 years they were married and Travel Girl, plus some other of the OA lines, will be perfect for completing this dream. Thank you for always being such a "10 out of 5 stars" company to all you serve.

Joan Fowler - I just returned from the trip of my dreams - Italy - touring Rome, Sorrento, Pompeii, Florence, Orvieto, and Venice. I just finished editing over 1,400 photos and am now ready to start my Italy scrapbook. This collection would help me on my way.

Donna Gabbard - Travel Girl is just what I need to motivate me to work on my scrapbook of last year's vacation ... which was a Mediterranean cruise. We visited Italy, United Kingdom, France, Portugal and Spain. I have my vacation photos and keepsakes piled up but dread the task of scrapping ... I think Travel Girl would help me get the job done! Thanks for the chance to win!

Candee Schamber - Adore OA and your products! This package would fit wonderfully in my travel scrapbook of our trips to South Dakota!

Debra Stoner - We are planning to bike the Canal du Midi in southern France for our 25th wedding anniversary next year ... how perfect would the Travel Girl Eiffel Tower journal card and biking sticker be!? Thank you for the chance and the inspiring blog.

Travel Girl Collection Kit Winners:

Barbara Gee - I have two huge bins of my grandmother's travel photos from the 20s through the 80s. Travel Girl would be PERFECT to bring light to these gorgeous photos that are currently trapped in a closet.

Stephanie Patterson - I was lucky enough to take a trip to the Netherlands and Budapest in November to visit my niece that was studying abroad. I went with my sister and it was the most time we have spent together since living together. I've been waiting to make the album for just the right paper. Love October Afternoon SO much!

Congratulations ladies! Remember to email your shipping information to jon.f@octoberafternoon.com.