December Sketch Challenge

Right ladies this is the last sketch of 2012....

Whilst blog surfing a while back I found this fantastic site, called Page Drafts which has some awesome sketches to work with.  Here is the sketch I have chosen.

 For some inspiration I have done up my example which is made up of a mixture of this and that.

Products used:- American Craft Chap Range Mini Frames, MME Dilly Dally Range, Various Washi Tapes,
Echo Park For the Record Stickers, MME Bluebell Enamel Dots (Yellow),  October Afternoon Mini Market Black Alpha Stickers, Fancy Pants Red Alpha Stickers,

We would love to see your take on the sketch, so please upload your take on this sketch, using the Link tool below, by midnight on 31st December to be in to win a RAK from Scrappin' Patch

TFL and Happy Scrapping
Heidi

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Lets take a Cake Walk

I have held onto the gorgeous October Afternoon range, Cakewalk, with much anticioation of using for Louie's birthday LO. But low and behold my Red, White and Blue theme of the party clashed with the potential papers to be used. Problem solved, I turned my photos into a vintage hue using my darling I-Photo program on my MAC. I love you I-Photo!

So here is one of the LO created to commemorate this milestone for my darling wee man...

Products used are: Cakewalk Sticker Shapes, Cakewalk Tin Pins, Cakewalk Candy Buttons paper, Cakewalk Confetti paper, Bazzill Kraft cardstock.

Love Bee 

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October Afternoon - here & now Album

Hi again,

It is time for me to share with you the finished pages of my mini album I have been working on over the last few weeks.  I am not a big mini album fan usually but can I say WOW... I think I may have been converted by the October Afternoon Here & Now Mini Album (OA MA).

It was so easy to pull together but today I wanted to share with you how I go about creating an album like this from it's conception to the finish project.  Not a blow by blow way of 'doing it' but more of what sort of things I think about when I am creating a mini album. 

Album Concept 

Sometimes I get layout or project inspiration from the photos themselves but other times creativity flows from the product itself which definitely happened with the OA MA.  I specifically, loved the 'word' themes that are on the front cover 'today' and 'play' and liked how these words worked in with capturing the moment.  

I also loved the colours in the October Afternoon Woodland Chapters that accompany the OA MA.  The colours in this collection were perfect for outdoorsey themes and specifically in this case for 'the beach'.   When I am creating a mini album - I like to use a specific event such as a family holiday where I usually take lots of photos that tell a story rather than beautiful portraits which I may prefer to highlight on a layout.  

A mini album is the perfect way to 'document' an event and a mini album provides the perfect backdrop to tell stories and traditions which is why I chose to document our last family holiday in Hahei.

The goal of the MA 

Next step in the process is to think about what I want to achieve in creating the MA.  Firstly, it is to hold all those photos but secondly as we travel and spend a week camping at the same spot each year, I wanted to document what happened on this specific year.  This year we had four members of our family on holiday so I thought that the chapter dividers would be perfect to record the favourite aspects of our holiday.  The lined pages of the mini album were perfect to use as a journalling page for each family member.  I used alphabet stamp to write the journalling prompts.

Organising Supplies

Next, I gathered all the supplies I thought would work with the album colours.  I really liked the OA Here & Now Chapters as they had really cool patterns and designs which I thought could be used as embellishments as well as background papers.  This makes the chapters and the OA MA good value for money as I had a lot to create with.   Some of them had beautiful detail on them, like the butterfly page above which I decided to leave blank to create white space and I felt it didn't need anything else on that page at all.   Other pages I fussy cut out pieces of them to use as embellishments on other pages.

Once I have my supplies, my photos and everything in one place then this is sometimes where I have trouble taking the plunge... but honestly, just get started.. there is no wrong way to put together the album.  To create flow and a story I have grouped my photos into different mini themes - like getting there and camp set up,  different aspects of general camp life and beach scenes.  In fact, one of the telling aspects of the whole holiday which was highlighted when I put together the OA MA is that there were less photos of Liam in general because the main thing he did on holiday was hang out with friends and not with us... slightly awkward!  But another important aspect for me is to create balance of pages between the different family members that were on holiday.  Something I need to work on for next  time is taking more photos of ME!  

Putting the Album Together

Right, now the fun part, I have used a mix of photo sizes in my OA MA from teeny tiny to 6 x 4 inches.  I wanted to create lots of texture, layering and interest on my album pages.  To do this, I have layered some of the busier patterned papers with the ruled lined paper and incorporated little plain tags to create pockets of interest and depth.  A lot of the time, it was working the colours in the papers in with the colours in my photos.  The bluey tones were perfect for the beach shots and I just loved the greens and pops of colour with the greenery of the campsite and our tent colours.  The sunshiney yellows remind me of the lovely weather we had and also worked well with the shots of the beach too.  

I also used a lot of 'word' embellishments instead of journalling throughout the album.  I love how you can buy sticker sheets with lots of different words and phrases which make summarising my thoughts super easy without having to actually journal on the pages.  This is super fast and of course great for someone who doesn't like to write a lot on their pages.

So that is pretty much how I created it!  Here are the rest of the pages...

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you have enjoyed seeing the last of the OA MA as much as I have enjoyed creating it.  

Thanks

//Michelle

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October Afternoon Inspiration from Trace...

I had fun this week with one of my favourite dies. It's always fun playing with the Tim Holtz Rosette Die. I think these October Afternoon papers look great as flowers!

I was rapt to find that Scrappin Patch had sent me a few of the Prima Resist Canvas flowers to play with. It's like being a child again as you watch the patterns come through the glimmermist.

To add interest to my chipboard frame, I painted it antique white and then used gold Glimmerglaze on the bottom half. Before this dried I added dimensional magic to it, and when that was dry I lightly stamped over the top. My favourite Pinecone ink came in handy for this.

Products used on this layout were:

October Afternoon 9 to 5 papers

Meeting minutes

Italics

Prima alphas

Tattered Angels Glimmerglaze

Prima resist canvas flowers

Dimensional magic

Tim Holtz Rosette die

Tim Holtz Stamp

K & Co pearls.

Happy Scrapping....
Trace

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9 to 5 by October Afternoon with Trace...

I can never resist buying October Afternoon products! Look at the fabulous colours in this range, it works just as well with modern and funky as it does with shabby chic and vintage.

I find the label stickers that OA produce, such handy embellishments to have on hand. While more often than not, I use them for their intended purpose of journalling, they also work well if I think I need something a bit extra when wanting to add depth and layers to a layout.

Scrappin Patch make it really easy by having bakers twine and buttons that work beautifully with this range, along with many others.

To do this layout I started with a Crafters Workshop Template, while I chose a chevron pattern, there are many to choose from that would work just as well. I mixed a bit of Glimmermist with gel medium, as I love the texture that this adds to a layout.

Products I used on this layout were:

October Afternoon, 9 to 5 range

Steno Pad

Italics

Meeting Minutes

Label Stickers

October Afternoon Cream and Denim Mini Market Alphas

Pink Paislee Alphas

Crafters Workshop Template

Tattered Angels Chalkboard Glimmermist 'Mint Chocolate'

Buttons and Bakers twine

Black and white Bazill cardstock

XX Trace

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October Afternoon Sticky Keys with Michelle

Hi everyone,

I am working through my October Afternoon Mini Album and I am so super pleased with it.  I will be able to reveal all in my next post but for now I wanted to share a quick technique with you.

October Afternoon Sticky Keys are cute little Alphas that are perfect for using as titles or even a small amount of journalling on your scrapbooking pages.  

But I always end up having loads of spare letters that I never ever use!  Which can be frustrating and of course I can't bring myself to throw them out.  Usually I suggest you could doctor letters, turn 'J's into the letter 'I's and so forth which of course can't be done when the letter is enclosed in a circle.  

What about using them to create little scalloped borders?  

This is a great way of using up those extra letters as well as adding layering and depth to your projects. Be warned though, I found this little technique HIGHLY addictive and had to stop myself from using all the letters as borders rather than as titles on the page... 

That's all from me for today... I hope you are having a great Friday and that this little tip has helped you think about how you can use up those extra alpha letters that are in your stash!

Take care

//Michelle

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This month I get to play at being Guest Designer! Lucky for me, I got to work with some beautiful My Minds Eye and October Afternoon goodies. So over the next few weeks I'll be sharing what I created with you. 

 

I really like these MME papers, they are so versatile, lending themselves to both feminine and masculine pages.  I'm sure they'd look just as good whether you were creating layouts for your gorgeous baby or good looking teenager! The Sweetest Thing title on these papers comes in pretty handy as a title as well!

I love using Prima masks and Scrappin Patch have a great selection here...While I find them great to use with Glimmermist, in this case I've used Versacolour ink, and this is a technique I really love.

Products used on the layout 'You two are the sweetest thing'

MME - Tangerine - Happy Woodsy pp

Tangerine - Happy Sunny pp

Tangerine - Sunshine Beam pp

Tattered Angels Glimmermist - Pumpkin Spice

Tim Holtz flower die

Leaf punch

Jenni Bowlin Studios alphas.

For the layout Bliss

Fancy Pants 'Chilly' from the Winter Wonderland collection

MME Tangerine "Happy' Journal card

Crafters Workshop template

Fancy Pants Alphas.

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October Here & Now - DT Inspiration

Hi everyone,

It's Michelle here again with some more DT inspiration.  I hope you are are warm and dry wherever you are - the weather was so bad here in Auckland I literately had a river running through my backyard and a waterfall water feature on my drive !  I can't wait to scrap those photos!!  

For my DT inspiration this month I am going to share with you a mini book I am creating using October Afternoon's Here & Now 'Today' Chipboard Album. 

This is what the album starts off looking like.

What I love most about this album is that it is such a neutral starting point, it comes with more than enough lined inserts which make the perfect backdrop for your journalling and also for your photos.  The 5 x 7" size makes it perfect for scrapping 6 x 4 " photos or smaller (as I have done).  This chipboard album could be used for a multiple mini book topics... from documenting what your life is like 'today' to holidays and special events.  

Along with the above album, I also received the 'Here & Now' Chapters which come in three different themes which match in with the 'Cakewalk', '9 to 5' and 'Woodland Park' collection kits.  I received the newest collection Woodland Park which has gorgeous sea greens, limes and earthy tones which made it  a very easy decision to scrap our last year's inaugural camping holiday to Hahei beach on the Coromandel Peninsula. 

So...for my first DT instalment, I am going to share with you the front cover of the album: 

To accompany, the chipboard album, there are the Here & Now Chapters - these include four coloured divider tabs with a neutral grid pattern on the reverse side (more about those in a second) as well as two double sided die cut pages and 9 double-sided patterned pages.  

In creating my chipboard album, I decided to use these patterned papers to embellish some of my inserts as well as the front cover above which makes it a really cost effective little book as you don't have to go out and buy extra patterned papers (unless you really wanted too). You can see I have used a combination of the lined insert pages as well as some of the patterned Here & Now chapter pages on my front cover.  As you know I love to layer ... the front cover is embellished with a doily, some twine, a scalloped circle from the OA Woodland Park flower sack and a Chipboard Banner 

Lastly, I wanted to share with you what I have created with the four divider tabs in the Here & Now Chapters.

As there were 4 dividers in this set it fitted perfectly with the idea that I could use 1 divider for each member of our family on holiday, include a photo and on the grid patterned back, get each family member to journal their holiday memories.  I wanted to keep these quite simple, each divider actually has the words  'Name' and 'Date' on them but as I wanted to just use 'Name', I just placed a strategic piece of washi tape under the alphas to cover over the word 'Date'.  I just added a few little heart felt embellishments to create a more layered look.

Products:

OA Here & Now Chapters - Woodland Park

OA - Sticky Keys Stickers in Peacock Blue and Olive & Creme

OA - Woodland Park Word Stickers

OA - Woodland Park Flower Sack

That's all I have to share for now... I hope you have enjoyed learning about more about the October Afternoon Here & Now Chipboard Albums.  I am still busy creating more pages for the insides of the book and I will be back to show my progress later on in the month.  

Cheers

//Michelle

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Inspiration from October Afternoon

Hi girls, well this is my first post from my July kit that I received with great excitement, and Im really pleased with what came from product I probably would not have looked at in the shop. I really believe it goes to show that you could use any product and adapt it to your own personal style, and challenge yourself...GO ON! Look twice at other ranges outside your comfort zone, you may be pleasantly surprised...

So with this LO my product focus was on October Afternoon's 9-5 Range. Wood grains are so in at the moment and the Boardroom paper was fantastic to use as my base. I then cut strips from Dictation, the B side of Steno Pad, and Boardroom along with a luggage tag I had and used these as the geometric base under my 2 6"x4" photos. The B side of Boardroom had a great co-ordinating pattern which I cut into small flag tags but curled the edges of these to make them pop out a bit more from the background. I finished off the LO using sticker embellishments from the range, Echo Park brads and Simple Stories alpha stickers and Amy Tangerine Thickers for my title. At the bottom of my design you will see a chipboard bracket that just completes the page, Adrienne has a wide range of these chipboard shapes starting at just 40c!!!OMG! So I hope you like, I had lots of fun with this range, check it out...

love Belinda

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DT Inspiration - October Afternoon

Hi everyone,

It's Michelle back again to post up some inspiration.  The last couple of month's have flown by and I've enjoyed creating with my latest design team kit.

For my first post, I'm going to share with you two layouts I have created with October Afternoon papers and embellishments from the Sasparilla Collection.   

This collection has a fun boyish theme but could definitely work with other photos as well.  I decided to scrap a photo of Liam on his 8th birthday posing with his sister when he was about to blow out the candle on his cake.

The background paper has unfortunately sold out in the shop (OA Stagecoach) but again wood grained papers are so popular in the scrapbooking world at the moment and I just love using them instead of card stock as they create interest without being overly busy.  I got lots of cool embellishments in my DT kit and one of them being the OA Sasparilla Flower sack which at $4.90 is really great value.  I wanted to do something slightly different than just layering these as embellishments on the page so I  folded a few of them in half to create a cute little banner at the top of the page.  I have also used them on either side of my photo to balance and interest as well. Of course, my page wouldn't be complete without tags, a banner and layering of patterned papers!  And did you spot those cute little people wood veneers... Gosh they are soooo cute!  They are sold out at the moment but I know that Adrienne has more on order... Studio Calico has a couple of other options including cameras and frames.. they are still available here

Products used:

OA Sasparilla Stagecoach

OA Sasparilla - Dash Dalton

OA Sasparilla - Gold Rush

OA Farmhouse - Alpha Stickers

OA Sasparilla - Flower Stack

OA Mini Market Alpha Stickers

Studio Calico - Huey's Mist White

Studio Calico - Wood Veneer People 

For my second layout - I challenged myself to use up the scraps from the first layout above.  Often I find this helps me decide how to create a layout and even makes it easier as a lot of the decision making on what to do is taken out of my hands.  I also wanted to create a multi photo layout as I think it is ultimately easier to just stick one photo on the page but at the end of the day.. that wouldn't get many photos scrapped would it?   

I also wanted to challenge myself to use the comic strip side of the Dash Dalton patterned paper.  To be honest, I first thought was I LOVE the denim side of this paper and there was no way I was going to use up the cowboy comic strip which was very busy.  But I didn't want to take the easy safe route and I wanted to show you how to use a busy patterned paper without overpowering your photos.  This layout idea came to me with a play on the theme of the comic strip of cowboys and riding horses etc but instead of riding horses I chose to use photos of Liam 'riding' the waves at Hahei beach last summer.  I then just cut out little segments of the comic strip and tucked them underneath my photos so you can see parts of the pictures but not the whole thing.  Then layering other papers and embellishments around and under the comic strip to create two little photo stories.   Keeping the other embellishments to a minimum and having white space on the layout helps to ensure the layout isn't too busy.  

Products used:

OA Sasparilla - Dash Dalton

OA Sasparilla - Gold Rush

OA Sasparilla - Flower Stack

Amy Tangerine Chipboard Thickers 

OA Little Flyers - Farmhouse

MME - Follow Your Heart Be Happy Rhinestones

I hope I have inspired you to get creative with some OA products and have a great week!

//Michelle

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Final Inspiration - October Afternoon

Today is my last to show you the gorgeous Farmhouse Range from October Afternoon.  I started this layout wanting to use as many of the stickers and tin pins as I could,  but also wanted to incorporate the lovely Spellbinders circles which I got from Megan at the retreat.  

I used the Farmhouse Paper - Phonograph as my base and then went over it very lightly with some Old Victoria Rose Distress Rose.

So I used the circles as my base for the layout combining it with layering some of the stickers onto chipboard and foam tape to give it dimension.

I also made my own circle flowers, and finishing them off with some lovely pearls and some strips of journalling stickers.

I also added some dimensional magic on some of the stickers to give them an epoxy look.

 

 

I hope you have found the layouts inspiring and that I have given you some different ideas of how to use them, I have to say it's a fabulous range to work with.

TFL and Happy Scrapping

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Product Focus - Stickers & Tin Pins

As part of my Design Team kit, I got some gorgeous Stickers & Tin Pins from the October Afternoon Farmhouse range ... I absolutely LOVE the Tin Pins - they just add that SPECIAL touch to any layout.

Stickers are so versatile - there are so many different ways you can use,  I love to back them onto clear transparency and that way I can add them anywhere on the layout.   I have done this on the butterfly sticker and then using some Foam Tape I have popped it up to give it dimension and by bending the wings of the butterfly it looks like the butterfly has it's wings out

 

As you can see, I have backed the round sticker and the Blue sticker onto black cardstock and then wrapped some twine around it, and finally adding a TIN PIN .  Suddenly they don't look like stickers, but embellishments to the page....and by adding some foam tape underneath some of them, it gives it alot of dimension to the page.

On the above picture, I created two banners from the Pattern Paper and then the centre one is actually a sticker which I again backed onto black cardstock and used some Foam tape to give it dimension.

On this one, you can see I have made my own banners, and then in between to add that something special I added a TIN PIN.

Lastly of course there are many stickers which are used as journalling spots.

 

Here is the whole layout....so as you can you stickers don't need to be flat, but by giving it a little dimension it can totally change the look of stickers.

 I hope you that I have shown you some other ways to use Stickers, and by adding some Tin Pins, just make the layout look totally different, 

TFL and Happy Scrapping

HEIDI

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Step By Step with Heidi

Morning Ladies, today I am going to share step-by-step instructions on a layout I've done using the Farmhouse range from October Afternoon.

 

Products required for this layout :

• Papers  : October Afternoon Farmhouse : Guest Room, Attic Trunk, Sunday Dinner, Kitchen Cupboard, Ponograph
• Stickers : Element Sheet and Label Stickers
• Cardstock :White & Black Bazzill Cardstock
• Black Paint, 
• Sunflower Glimmermist
• 1 x Tin Pin
• Jute String
• Alpha Stickers 
• A piece of clear Transparency [for your Title]
• Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive
• Foam Tape or squares
• Double Sided Tape & Glue Dots
• Paint Brush & a little water

Instructions

1.  Cut the required papers to length as show in Step 1 and back all of them onto black 
     cardstock except for the Long Kitchen Cupboard piece.

 2.  Squirt a little black paint into a container, and add a little water to your black paint to make it 
       thinner, using your paint brush platter it into the white Bazzill Cardstock, to make the runs lift 
       the paper up and  let it run.  Allow to dry and then spray some Sunflower Glimmermist onto 
       the cardstock.

 

3.  Place the Guest Room paper down first, then the Sunday Dinner, and lastly the Attic Trunk.

 

 4.  Now place your photo down and then the strips of Kitchen Cupboard [long one] and the 
      Phonograph strip. 

5.  To make a little embellishment using your Tin Pin, take the Tin Pin and stick it down onto a 
      round journal sticker and then adhere the sticker onto black cardstock and cut around it,

 6.  Using some Adhesive [I have used Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive which works really well 
      on fabric / ribbons / string], spread some in a line over the top Small Kitchen Cupboard strip 
      and then place your Jute String on top to adhere it - do this along the length of the string.

7.  Once you have glued the whole piece of string down, adhere your Tin Pin Embellishment 

     down - I have used a Foam Square to give this a little dimension.

8.  Now you can embellish the rest of the page using your element sticker sheet as well as the 

     Word Sticker sheet.  To add a little extra oomph to the stickers, back some of the Words onto

     black cardstock and then pop them up using foam tape or foam square.

     A little tip, once you have placed your sticker down, using a black marker or pen go 

     around the edge the sticker to give it a finished look.

9. Using your clear piece of transparency adhere your Title onto the Transparency and cut 

    around the title - now you can play around to see where you want to place your title - once you 

    know where you want to put it, adhere the transparency down with glue dots or double 

    sided tape.

 Your layout is now complete, I hope you have enjoyed creating it and have learned some new techniques.

Heidi

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October Afternoon Farmhouse Collection

My design team kit this month, included the gorgeous goodness from October Afternoon - Farmhouse collection, this collection has such beautiful colours, yellows, vanilla, blues, and even pink.

On my first inspiration layout I am sharing with you, it's filled with Black, Cream and pink, checks and dots.  I started off with the Vanilla Cream Bazzill Cardstock, this is the perfect cream to go with these papers, I love the texture of this cardstock, it's not your normal Bazzill Cardstock texture, it's just gorgeous, slightly smoother but has texture to it.  Then of course, as you know me, I sprayed some Granite Glimmermist onto the cardstock.

I used my Martha Stewart Deep Edge Daisy Punch to create a fancy border for the top using the reserse side of the Church Social PP, then a layer of Sunday Diner PP on top of that, and lastly added the reverse side of the Her Bureau PP before adding my photo.

To embellish the page, I have used Cherry Lynn Dimensional Die to create a doiley of sorts, layered together with a Kaisercraft Paper Blooms Fairy Floss and two small Deep purple roses, finally adding a Tin pin and some Black Tulle.  I have sprayed the 2Crafty Chipboard flourish using the Granite Glimmermist, and to colour the chipboard word Escape, I have used white SprINKlers together with some Plumeria Glimmer Glaze.

 

 I will be sharing some ideas of how to use the cool stickers from collection as well as the Tin Pins....keep checking the blog...

TFL  & Happy scrapping

HEIDI

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