Janice Daquila-Pardo

Winter greetings to warm your heart

December 2, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 2 Comments

I’m happy to report that I made good headway on my Christmas cards last night! I fired up the Swinging Christmas tunes on Pandora and got crafty. The plan is to hunker down this evening and finish the whole lot of them. Please wish me luck!

In the meantime and in between time, here is a little seasonal card I made the other day. I was feeling the need to color, so I pulled out these darling stamps by Stampendous and my Copics, and this is how it all came together:

Aren't these characters from Stampendous just adorable?

It’s cold and raining here in Austin, so I’m a happy holiday girl. Having grown up in Ohio, I have certain cold and snow requirements for it to truly feel like it’s time to engage in Christmas activities. So I’m thrilled to be looking forward to a cold weekend that will include Christmas crafting and carol singing at our downtown tree lighting! I hope your Friday is great and your weekend is greater. 😉

The Whos down in Who-ville liked Christmas a lot!

November 30, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 9 Comments

Sketchabilities has revealed its latest sketch, #60, and it’s a great one! Be sure to head over to the site to grab the sketch, then create something and link it up! 🙂

Here’s my Design Team layout inspired by the sketch.

Don't Phil and I look like little Whos on this Christmas morning in 1969?

Aren’t these photos darling? It’s Phil and me on Christmas morning 1969. With our tousled hair and footie pajamas, we are having a great time opening and trying out the gifts Santa left beneath the tree. The details in these photos that really make me smile are the four stockings hanging in the background that Mom made for us, the shot of me blowing on my little plastic horn (my pantooker!) and my big gift that year—my “green ‘tove” with the matching dishes set. So sweet!

I hope you’ll play along with this sketch. And while you do, perhaps you’ll want to hum a little of this:

Fah Who foraze, Dah Who doraze
Welcome, Christmas, come this way
Fah Who foraze, Dah Who doraze
Welcome, Christmas, Christmas Day
Welcome, Welcome
Fah Who Rah Moos
Welcome, Welcome
Dah Who Dah Moos
Christmas Day is in our grasp
So long as we have hands to clasp

Fah Who foraze, Dah Who doraze
Welcome, Christmas, bring your cheer
Fah Who foraze, Dah Who doraze
Welcome, all Whos far and near

NOTE: The movie’s finale ends here, but there are more lyrics in the album version.
Welcome, Welcome
Fah Who Rah Moos
Welcome, Welcome
Dah Who Dah Moos
Christmas Day will always be
Just so long as we have we
Fah Who foraze, Dah Who doraze
Welcome, Christmas, come this way
Fah Who foraze, Dah Who doraze
Welcome, Christmas, Christmas Day

It’s a wonderful life

November 26, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 3 Comments

This has been one-page layout week on Sketch Support, and today my project is live! Please head over to grab the sketch so you can use it in your own crafting, and while you’re there I would love it if you would leave a quick comment for me. 🙂

Here is a look at the one-page layout I made.

Our darling Oliver loves Christmas decorations and wrapping paper, just like me!

Our cat, Oliver, is fascinated by everything about Christmas! He loves to be around the tree and in among the presents and wrapping paper. I started with the photo of him camped out in front of the classic Christmas movie, “It’s a wonderful life,” which I obviously stole to use as my title. Then I found a few other darling shots of him in full holiday mode to complete the concept.

I followed the sketch pretty closely, but I did make a few adjustments:

Rather than making the two background pieces 7 inches deep as stated in the instructions, I made mine 7.25 inches deep because I knew I wanted to add the tree at the bottom, and I wanted to ensure that it would overlap the other pieces.
I moved up the background pieces an inch so that the mistletoe wouldn’t have to “hang” too far from the top and the tree would have enough room.
Obviously the Christmas tree at the bottom isn’t in the sketch!
I replaced the trailing leaf elements with the mistletoe and made it hang from the top of the layout instead of the top of the patterned paper. I crocheted my hanger instead of stitching it.
I went with two rows of Christmas ribbon beneath the photos in place of the strips of patterned paper. It fit my theme better, plus I wanted to echo the ribbon from the bow on the mistletoe.
I also left out the little word sticker elements at the left and right of the page. I figured that my page was busy enough without them!

Here’s a close-up of part of the title area. I don’t think it shows up well, but the word “wonderful” is glittered.

I cut the mistletoe element and the title on my Silhouette.

I have so enjoyed being the guest designer this month and working with Sketch Support’s fabulous sketches. A big thank you to Allison and her great design team!

November 24th

November 23, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 1 Comment

Twisted Sketches has revealed its latest sketch, #129, and the twist is “ribbon.” Be sure to head over to the site to grab the sketch and see all the other design team members’ beautiful examples, then create something of your own and link it up! 🙂

Here is what I created using this great new sketch:

Being born on Thanksgiving means my birthday falls on the holiday every so often!

The whole point of my layout is to express how much I have always loved that my birthday falls on or near Thanksgiving Day. I was born on Thanksgiving, which means that every several years it cycles back around and lands on the holiday again (like this year). But the wonderful thing is that because of its proximity to the holiday, even when it isn’t on the day there’s always a fun, relaxed, family, thankful feeling in the air. I just love it! And it’s one of the things I’m always thankful for on Thanksgiving. 🙂

These photos are from two different years in my little life, but they both show the relationship between my birthday and Thanksgiving. The first photo is my 2nd birthday cake, flanked by seasonal Pilgrim and turkey candles. The second shot is from 1969 and shows me, flanked by two of my cousins, Dick and Tom (both turkeys in their own right!). Their family has come from Pennsylvania to spend Thanksgiving with us, and we’re all having dinner in our basement. They seem to have been quite gracious about sharing the little kids’ table with me. 🙂

Because the twist on the sketch this week was “ribbon,” I decided to create a little turkey with ribbon tail feathers. He seems pretty happy with himself!

This year, as I celebrate Thanksgiving and my birthday, I will add my blog readers to my gratitude list. Happy Thanksgiving!

I really rocked this look

November 20, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo Leave a Comment

Yeah, I was a fashion plate back in the day. Don’t be jealous of my pin curls and Winnie-the-Pooh blouse. We’re just not all meant to look this good. 😉

My layout below is based on the sketch provided for blog challenge #29 over at My Mind’s Eye. All the products, except the cardstock, are by My Mind’s Eye.

That's me in 1976, styling in my Winnie-the-Pooh blouse. 🙂

Let me encourage you to break out those photos that show your early sense of fashion and give them some scrapbook love. It was really fun to work on this page!

This is the My Mind's Eye sketch for blog challenge #29.

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