12x12 layouts using 6x6 paper

The eyes have it

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

I just love when I can complete a layout about a subject that matters to me while simultaneously fulfilling the requirements for three online challenges! This is one hard-working layout!

Nature and books belong to the eyes that see them. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

First, I based my design on this great sketch from the Sketchy Thursdays site. The added requirement was that the topic cover reading or literature in some way in honor of the start of the school year. I just love this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson, so I decided to use it as my title: “Nature and books belong to the eyes that see them.” Then I took a photo of some favorite books on our library shelf and pulled out a photo I took last spring of a beautiful budding tree in our neighborhood.

Second, I created this to enter into Shimelle’s Grid It Up challenge.

Third, this will also work for Shimelle’s Stickery challenge, where the mandate is to use stickers from more than one collection (I have used stickers on this layout from American Crafts, Basic Grey, My Mind’s Eye and October Afternoon, so I think I’ve over-delivered!).

Speaking of reading, do you love Jane Eyre? Well, Matt and I love the story, and we recently watched a TV miniseries version that we hadn’t seen before, starring Timothy Dalton as Mr. Rochester (from 1983). Enjoying it so much reminded me that I had a novel about the writing of Jane Eyre up on our bookshelf. I pulled that down and have have been caught up in it for the past few days. In Becoming Jane Eyre Sheila Kohle combines what is know of Bronte’s life with her imagination of how that life lead her to write the highly successful book Jane Eyre. If you’re a fan of Bronte’s masterpiece in particular or of historical fiction, I can recommend this novel.

10 Things on the 10th: August

August 10, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 9 Comments

Many of us who took the online class “Beyond Blogging for Scrapbookers” are participating in a special event on the 10th of each month. In 10 Things on the 10th each participant will share something totally of their own creation. Some will share 10 photos, 10 crafty ideas, 10 sources of inspiration, 10 recipes, 10 things in a collection…always 10 things and always on the 10th of the month.

In honor of the “dog days of summer” I rounded up 10 inspiring layouts from around the Web that feature DOGS:

Kerry Bea Mahan
Bea Mahan

The Constant Scrapper

Raleigh is such a dolly

August 9, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 1 Comment

In May my mom traveled back to our old hometown in Ohio for the wedding of two of her very good friends. Both of them had lost their spouses to cancer and then, in a development that truly surprised their group of friends, found love together. Both around 70 years old, they are starting a happy new phase of life together!

I think it’s a lovely story that illustrates why we should always be open to new chances at happiness.

* * * * * *
My parents didn’t believe it was fair to leave an animal home alone all day, so because they both worked our family didn’t have pets when we were kids. Then, when Phil and I went away to college and they were feeling the need and the free time to nurture another life, Mom and Dad adopted Spenser. I will tell the tale of Spenser another day, but let me leave you with the phrase “canine angel.” We were completely head over heels for Spenser.

So when after a long and wonderful life with us Spenser passed away a few years ago, we were all devastated. But it was Mom, his caretaker, who had to adjust to daily living without him. She insisted that she didn’t want another dog. “It’s impossible to replace Spenser, so what’s the point?” “It would be a lot of work to get used to a new dog.” “It’s expensive.” “I don’t want to be tied to a schedule of walks and feedings any more.”

But after more than a year of missing Spenser and the companionship of a little life, Mom mentioned to a friend that she thought she may be ready to look for a dog. She had done some research and really liked the idea of a Cairn Terrier. Well, it happened that this friend of Mom’s volunteered at a local animal shelter, so she promised to keep her eyes open for a Cairn (but warned that it was pretty unlikely).

Not long after that conversation Mom was readying herself to go to a friend’s birthday party when she got the call. The shelter had just received a Cairn Terrier that day! Could she come over right away and meet him? Well, it was Saturday evening and she didn’t want to be late to her friend’s celebration, but she decided to go to the shelter first. My, oh my, are we all happy that she did! She fell for the little orphan instantly and went back to take him home that next week.

Now Raleigh and Mom are constant companions, and I rarely have a conversation with her that doesn’t include comments about how amazing he is. “He’s so loving.” “He’s such an adorable little scamp.” “He’s a wonderful snuggler.” “Oh, how did I get so lucky twice?”

New chances for happiness come in so many forms!

This layout is a great way to use your border punches and scraps of paper.

7 tips for packing for your next crop

July 19, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 4 Comments

The first time I went away for a weekend crop with a friend in 2003, I about lost my mind while I was packing for it. I kept running from pile to pile in my craft room, sure that I would “need” some of everything. In the end, I filled the back of my SUV with scrapbook products. I took so much more that I could have possibly needed. I felt overburdened with stuff to lug around and overwhelmed with choices; it just about paralyzed my creativity that weekend!

These days I crop monthly with a few friends at my neighborhood Archiver’s. After our first outing together I realized that the only way I could look forward to these get-togethers on a monthly basis was if I stressed a lot less about the packing. I have a little system now that works quite well for me, and while I was packing for this weekend’s crop I thought I would take a few photos to share with you (as well as the resulting layout at the end of the post).

Tip 1: Pack a limited number of photos

My first big tip is to choose the photos you want to work with ahead of time. That way you can pack products only for those photos. I know we all have tons of photos we need to scrap, but if we take several stacks of photos along we have to try to pack products that could go with all of them. So for my six-hour night of scrapping I start my process by selecting photos for just four or five layouts. I hardly ever get even that many done!

Tip 2: Plan each layout on paper (or in your head)

I start all my layouts with sketches. It’s just how I get down. So for each set of photos I choose a sketch to go with them. This quickly leads me to the product-choice part of my process because I know how many patterned papers and embellishments I’ll need. If you don’t use sketches when you create, try to envision a rough draft of your final layout so that you can pull products from your stash that will work together.

Tip 3: Pull all the products you might need for each project/layout

I look through my stash with sketch and photos in hand and pull products that I like together. Even if I see something that could work for one of my other layouts, I try to focus on one page plan at a time. I’ve fallen into the trap of packing for all the projects at once, a little here and a little there, but it just makes it take longer to pack in the end.

Pull together your products

Tip 4: Create a page kit for each layout

Put everything that’s flat enough to fit into a 12×12 envelope. I just put it all in this one place so I don’t have to dig through my bag for it or remember what I had thought would work well together. That kit is done, so I can move on to the next.

Create a page kit

Tip 5: Pack the bulky items and tools

After I’ve packed my separate page kits, I pull together all the tools and extras that I’ll need. There are the constants—like my Basic Grey magnetic mat, paper trimmer, bin of patterned paper scraps, etc. And there are also things that I think I’ll want to use with the page kits but that won’t fit in the envelopes. This includes things like punches, bags of buttons, etc. I pile that all into my rolling organizer (one that I purchased at Costco years ago and still love).

Pack the bulky items last

Tip 6: Grab your tool bag

I keep my small-stuff tool bag packed all the time. It sits next to my craft desk, so it’s always in use and ready to go. So, that’s the last step—grab the tool bag and get out that door!

Grab your tool bag

This process of mine takes a little more planning, but it saves me so much packing angst! I kid you not, there’s a woman who sometimes crops on the same night I meet my friends who wheels in a big flatbed cart chockablock full of scrapbook supplies! The time and backache involved in packing that way…well, I’ll just say it’s not for me. I prefer to walk in pulling my little cart and carrying my tool bag. I’ll tell you what, I usually still have more supplies than I need for a night of fun scrapping.

Bonus tip 7: Share

Another way to really cut down on what you pack is to plan on sharing. If your friend always brings her die-cutting machine, offer to bring your dies to share with her each time in exchange for the use of her machine. Or perhaps you have a great collection of punches that you can share, and your buddies can bring their circle cutters or Crop-A-Diles. You get the idea.

I thought after all that, I should share the layout I made with the page kit shown above. 🙂

My baby bro after a day of teaching.

Sketches for Scraps: Birds of prey know they’re cool

June 16, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 2 Comments

Do you love to buy the 6×6 paper pads that many companies are issuing when they come out with a new line? Me too! They’re much less expensive than a full 12×12 kit, and I usually like the patterns in the reduced scale.

So I am always on the hunt for ways to use pieces of patterned paper that are 6×6 or smaller on my 12×12 layouts. When I find good ways to do this I will share them here as “Sketches for Scraps” in case you, like me, have several 6×6 paper pads or a bin full of scraps waiting to make it into your designs.

This sketch from the Sketch Support site is perfect for using up scraps. Although I didn’t follow it exactly, it still worked perfectly for these photos we took during the bird show at the Renaissance Faire this April. Where the strips of paper are in the sketch I created a title to cut with my Silhouette. The title comes from a cartoon by Gary Larson’s The Far Side (which I included on my page). Have fun using this sketch on your next four-photo layout.

Birds of prey know they're cool.

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