Freebies/giveaways

Warrior Dash 2012

May 6, 2012 By Janice Daquila-Pardo Leave a Comment

I created the Warrior Dash title and Viking helmet on my Silhouette.

Back in March Matt participated in his first obstacle/mud run, the Warrior Dash. It was a beautiful day, and we gathered with thousands of others in Splendora, Texas, for a 3.21-mile run peppered with 12 obstacles. While Matt did the hard work, I stood on the sidelines and shot photos of him with a telephoto lens.

I asked Matt to write the journaling for this one, and here’s what he said:
“Warrior Dash started out as a curiosity for me. Jeff, our personal trainer at the time, told us about two obstacle races he planned on running: Warrior Dash and Tough Mudder. It sounded interesting to me. A year later, I decided to fulfill a lifelong desire to be a runner. After training for several months, I decided to sign up for the Tough Mudder but couldn’t participate because of an injury. A few months later I signed up for the Warrior Dash. I started training for it fairly seriously by running a lot more. I felt pretty confident about the running portion of Warrior Dash, and in the end I did OK. My training for my next event, The Spartan Race in May, is much more serious and involves more strength-building exercises. These races are a blast, and I will probably do them all multiple times.”

I was fortunate to have had a beautiful day for capturing photos of the event. Of all the great shots I took, my favorite is the one of muddy, smiling Matt right after the race (in the upper right corner of the layout). Doesn’t he look happy? That’s the sign of a day well spent.

For the title treatment on this page I decided to create a Viking-style helmet (like in the Warrior Dash logo) on my Silhouette. And I’m making this cut file (in .studio format) available to anyone who thinks they could also use it (click on the image below to begin the download). If you download this file, I would love it if you’d leave me a comment to let me know.

Giveaway winners and guest design beginnings

October 31, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 1 Comment

Blogtoberfest Day 31

On this final day of my Blogtoberfest celebration, I have some exciting things to share. First is the announcement of my two Blogtoberfest Anniversary Giveaway winners. I used the random number generator to arrive at the winning comments. I’m sending the lucky winners listed below an email about this; please respond with your home address so I can mail off your prizes. I really hope you enjoy them! And thank you to everyone who played along by leaving a comment. 🙂 I enjoyed reading about your plans for costumes this Halloween.

Forever Fall giveaway

The Forever Fall giveaway package goes to…Tiffany M.!
“I will not be dressing up for Halloween. It is enough for me to dress my two kids and to take them out for trick or treating. They are always great photo subjects. :-)”

The Forever Fall giveaway package goes to...Tiffany M.!

Autumn Splendor giveaway

And the Autumn Splendor giveaway goes to…Chari!
“Happy Blogoversary!! I don’t think I will be dressing up this year, we don’t have any plans. But then again, we didn’t have any plans last year either and we all dressed up and went to the Piano Bar at the Grove Park Inn and my husband won the costume contest so who knows what this year may have in store for us!”

The Autumn Splendor giveaway goes to...Chari!

Guest designing at Sketch Support

I have actually been waiting all year for November to arrive! Yes, I adore autumn. And oh, how I love Thanksgiving. I even love that November brings my birthday with it. But the real reason for my excitement this November is that I am the guest designer on the Sketch Support site!

I love the sketches at Sketch Support as well as the help and inspiration they provide on their site. Please join me this month over at their blog, as we reveal new sketches and designs for a card, a two-page layout, a one-page layout and an add-on design. 🙂

“You look fangtastic” freebie

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

Blogtoberfest Day 20

To celebrate Blogtoberfest today I have created a freebie for you! I know a lot of us have Silhouette digital cutters, so if you do this freebie is for you. It can be used as a layout title or a card front. If you would like to have this cut file, which includes all the pieces to create the image you see below, please just leave me a comment to let me know and I will email it to you. 🙂

You look fangtastic cut file freebie

Blogtoberfest Day 12

October 12, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo Leave a Comment

Enveloped in love + freebie

Twisted Sketches has revealed its latest sketch, #123, and the twist is “envelope.” 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.

This is Mom, Phil and me in October 1972 in front of our Willoughby, Ohio, home.

Before I begin work on one of the Twisted Sketches assignments I always spend a little time thinking about possible variations on the “twist.” In this case, the twist was “envelope,” so I knew I could use an actual envelope on the page to either house my journaling or just as a decorative element. But as I turned the word over in my mind I thought of the similar word, “envelop.” If I used the past tense of that word I could still satisfy the twist! The title “Enveloped in love” occurred to me soon after. Then I went on a hunt through my photo organizer for the perfect picture to use with it.

I don’t think I could have found a better photo to represent this idea. It’s of my mom, my brother and me in October 1972. We’re out in front of our house in Willoughby, Ohio. Mom’s arms are actually encircling us. She wrote on the back of the original snapshot, “Daddy’s family.” Everything about this photo speaks of love and being enfolded in it. Happy sigh.

There’s one extra little detail about this photo that tickles me (in addition to the 70s clothes and Phil’s glasses). If you squint you can see two little decals on the window behind us. They are a wee witch and jack-o’-lantern, stuck low on the window for our sakes, I imagine. Such a darling detail, don’t you think?

I created a Silhouette cut file to use for my title. If you think you could use this title on a project of your own and you have a Silhouette, I would be happy to email you the file if you send a request to janice at theconstantscrapper dot com.

Blogtoberfest Day 11

October 11, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo Leave a Comment

BOOkmark tutorial + freebie

This wee worried monster is quite happy to gobble up your book while he holds your place!

Have you seen any of the fun tutorials for making monster bookmarks—the kind that fit over the corner of the page and look like they’re eating your book? Well, I decided to try my hand at making a few, and in the process I created a Silhouette cut file to use for them. If you like this project and have a Silhouette, I would be happy to email you the file if you send a request to janice at theconstantscrapper dot com.

Here’s how mine turned out. I made one into a little worried monster and the other into a little cross-eyed jack-o’-lantern. I think they’re darling:

Slide these little monsters over the corner of your book and let them nibble while they hold your place.

STEP ONE
Email me a request for the Silhouette cut file. 🙂 Once you cut the pieces, this is what you’ll have:

These are the pieces you'll have when you use the Silhouette file.

STEP TWO
Glue the smaller accent square to the center of the background piece. Then glue the teeth to one of the side triangles.

Glue the accent square to the square portion of the bookmark background.

STEP THREE
Take a close look at the side triangles and determine which is a sliver smaller than the other. I made the cut file this way so that the sides would lay flatter when you fold them in. Fold the smaller triangle down first. Then apply adhesive to the back of the larger side and fold it down; press.

Fold down the smaller triangle side first.

STEP FOUR
Glue the accent triangle piece to the front and decorate!

I made this one into a jack-o'-lantern!

You’ll notice that I didn’t use the accent square on the green monster bookmark. That’s because I wanted to have his mouth look wide open and feature a slithery tongue. These little guys are so easy to make, and there are a ton of ways to make them different and fun. Wouldn’t they be great to make with your children so they can take them to school and give to friends?

If you make any of these I would love to see them. Will you please leave me a comment and let me know where to look? Now book to your supplies and make some monsters!

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