The Constant Scrapper

If I'm not scrapbooking I'm thinking about scrapbooking!

Janice Daquila-Pardo

Blogtoberfest sketch contest

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I’m quite excited to announce my first sketch contest! I hope you’ll join me in some scrapping fun and that this sketch will inspire you to create a layout then come back to share it with me for the opportunity to win the prize shown below.

The sketch

This sketch is simple and celebratory, with room for one 4×6 photo (or two 4x3s) and a banner running down the side. If you make a layout based on this sketch, please link it up at the end of this post by October 31st and you’ll be entered for a chance to win a great prize that’s perfect for the upcoming holiday season.
TheConstantScrapper_Sketch04

My sample

My sample page is all about celebrating this fabulous photo of my dad as a boy. He’s showing off his muscles with his dad by his side. What a gem! I used papers from Echo Park and a banner from BasicGrey.

DadWithDad1940s_Daquila-Pardo

I followed this Constant Scrapper sketch to create a layout celebrating a wonderful black-and-white photo of my dad as a boy with his father.

The prize

Are you thinking about documenting your holiday fun this December? Well this prize package includes holiday-themed items to get your project going! Or you could use this kit to create your Christmas cards. Either way, it’s a fun, color-coordinated collection of yummy supplies.

TheConstantScrapperDocumentingDecemberGiveaway

This sketch contest prize package includes: 6x6 Hot Cocoa paper pad, glittered dimensional stars, rub-ons, page pockets, fabric labels, ribbon, Christmas phrases stamp, washi tape and a clear stamp set!

Enter the contest

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I welcome all to participate, no matter from where you hail. However, with international shipping rates what they are, an international winner will receive a gift card instead of the pictured prize package.

Using stitching on a layout as more than just decoration

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BonVoyage_Daquila-Pardo

Say bon voyage to boring layouts with hand stitching!

Stitching on scrapbook pages is used all the time—I use it all the time—to accent and decorate. It’s a beautiful way to highlight a portion of your design and makes a page more special. But it needn’t always be relegated to the embellishment category on our layouts. In the case of today’s page, you can see that it provides much of the meaning, too.

I wanted to leave as much of my background map paper on show as possible, but I didn’t want my page to be too simple, lest it turn out boring. As I thought about all the trips my mom has taken over the years during her summer breaks from teaching, it hit me that the design needed a fanciful flight pattern to complete the look and the message. And stitching was the perfect way to do that! I doodled a quick curlicue path with pencil, pierced holes along the route and stitched it with hot pink embroidery floss to match my mom’s shirt.

Celebrate Blogtoberfest with me all month!

This October I celebrate four years of scrapbook blogging! And that makes me feel like having a little party, so I’m hosting Blogtoberfest. Sorry, you’ll have to supply your own beer and brats, but I’ll bring the paper-crafting inspiration:

  • sketches
  • tutorials
  • product reviews
  • free cut files
  • a giveaway: I’ll reveal the details a little later

“Roll out the paper.
We’ll have a barrel of fun!”

I do hope you’ll join me often this month and help me celebrate the good things that scrapbooking brings to our lives.

Product/technique notes

The travel-themed patterned papers I used are from Jillibean Soup’s “Sightseeing Stew” collection, and the others are older scraps from my stash. The airplane is a foam Thickers sticker.

Altering my family chili recipe for our vegetarian lifestyle

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DaquiliV2_Daquila-Pardo

Come celebrate Blogtoberfest with me all month!

As today is World Vegetarian Day, the kickoff to Vegetarian Awareness Month, I created a layout to celebrate one of my family’s favorite meat-centric recipes that I have changed to accommodate our vegetarian diet.

When I made my mom’s chili for my college friend, Jim, he loved it and dubbed it “Daquili” (for my maiden name, Daquila). I’ve made it ever since—very often in the colder months. But when we took on a vegetarian diet a few years ago I couldn’t give up on my chili. So I’ve recreated it without meat, and now we call it Daquili v. 2!

Celebrate Blogtoberfest with me all month!

This October I celebrate four years of scrapbook blogging! And that makes me feel like having a little party, so I’m hosting Blogtoberfest. Sorry, you’ll have to supply your own beer and brats, but I’ll bring the paper-crafting inspiration:

  • sketches
  • tutorials
  • product reviews
  • free cut files
  • a giveaway: I’ll reveal the details a little later

“Roll out the paper.
We’ll have a barrel of fun!”

I do hope you’ll join me often this month and help me celebrate the good things that scrapbooking brings to our lives.

On a journey of selfie discovery

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SelfieDiscovery_Daquila-Pardo

Taking good selfies is already a challenge, but try doing it in a darkened movie theater!

It’s always so fun to share something you love with someone you love. While visiting Mom and Phil in NC this summer, I took Phil to a matinee showing of “Guardians of the Galaxy” because I knew he was unlikely to go on his own but would really enjoy it. He did! We took these silly selfies to post to Facebook as we waited for the movie to begin. “We are Groot.”

Product/technique notes

I used pattern papers from October Afternoon, Jillibean Soup and Bella Blvd and followed this sketch from PageMaps and A Cherry on Top.
A Cherry on Top sketch

Would you like to use this title on a page of your own? I’m making it available as a freebie*; just click on the image below to download the Silhouette file. And if you do use it please come back and leave a comment on this post so I can ooh and ahh over it. 🙂
SelfieDiscovery_TheConstantScrapper

*I will be releasing cut files periodically; they are free for your personal use and governed by this license:
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Our shared graduation party

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GraduationParty_Daquila-Pardo

What a big day high school graduation is in the life of a teenager...and his/her parents!

My younger brother and I went to school together. And by that I mean that we started first grade on the same day in 1973 and graduated high school on the same day in 1985. In fact, we started and graduated college on the same days as well, but that’s a story for another day. We essentially attended school as twins, even though we’re 13.5 months apart in age (because Phil started a year early).

So of course we celebrated our graduation party together. Mom and Dad put together a lovely fête in our Willoughby, Ohio, back yard and invited our friends and relatives. The top photo is of Dad, me, Mom and Phil. The bottom photo includes our grandparents on Mom’s side (seated), our Uncle Earl and Aunt Mary Lou, our Nana on Dad’s side and our Aunt Rose.

Product/technique notes

I created this layout to participate in the Scrap & Play challenge #9. The patterned papers are from a K&Co Amy Bulter pad and the journaling card, stickers and washi tape are from My Mind’s Eye’s “Now & Then: Dorothy” collection. I cut the title on my Silhouette, and the border punches are by Martha Stewart and Fiskars.
ScrapAndPlay09