Layouts based on sketches

Joshing around

January 18, 2014 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 7 Comments

You're not joshing me, are you?

Matt and I have known Josh for at least 10 years now. He’s a loving, fun and funny teddy bear, so I wanted to dedicate a page to our friendship with him. He’s a good guy and a good friend. These photos are from a lunch date we had with him back in November.

I knew what my title would be for this layout before I even began working on it because I’m a punny girl and I liked the play on Josh’s name too much not to use it. I did a little research to find out where the phrases “joshing around” or “just joshing you” came from, and what I learned is very interesting:

Josh Tatum was a deaf mute who was able to use an oversight of the US Mint to his advantage. In 1883, the Mint produced the newly designed Liberty nickel. On the reverse of the coin, the design featured a Roman numeral “V” but nowhere did the word “cents” appear. Realizing an opportunity, Mr. Tatum had several of the newly minted cents electroplated with a thin layer of gold. Tatum then traveled from town to town visiting stores and buying items with a value less than 5 cents. When the clerk rang the item up, Tatum handed over one of the gold-plated nickels. The store clerks usually assumed that the coin was a $5 gold piece and would give Mr. Tatum change. Tatum amassed quite a bit of money before being caught by police. He was found innocent of charges because as a mute, Tatum had never actually represented that the coin was a $5 gold piece! That same year, the US Mint added the word “cents” to the Liberty head nickel in an effort to bring this type of fraud to a halt. And the famous saying was born: “You’re not joshing me, are you?”

So now you know!

Product/technique notes

I just loved the “kitty” t-shirt that Josh was wearing in these photos, so I went in search of papers that had black, aqua and gray in them. Fancy Pants’ “Park Bench” collection fit the bill perfectly. I designed the title and cut it and the flourishes (Design ID #19030 in the Silhouette store) on my Cameo. I used Paper Bakery’s sketch #18 as inspiration for my design.

One is silver, the other is gold

January 8, 2014 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 1 Comment

Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver, the other is gold.

I thought I had just about finished this layout with a photo of me and my baby brother in front of this cool gold artifact wall in downtown Austin. Matt and I had just picked up Phil from the airport for his week-long visit from Durham, NC, and whisked him to Torchy’s Tacos for lunch. As we were leaving we stood for a few minutes marveling at the work that went into making this artist’s vision a reality and then decided to snap a photo in front of it.

It was when I sat staring at my almost-finished project that I realized what it needed—a gold artifact border! Burning with the desire to see this happen, I pulled out a slew of old rubber stamps and started stamping in gold pigment ink. Yes, it was time-consuming, but it was also lots of fun. I just don’t stamp on my pages often enough, so this felt great.

Once my border was finished I started rethinking my plan for a title. It had been my intention to go with something about keeping Austin weird. But focusing on the gold motif made me think of that little children’s song, “Make new friends.” Remember it? Well, I went looking for the words to it and decided it was just perfect for a layout about my bro because he’s my oldest and goldest friend.

Make new friends
Make new friends,
but keep the old.
One is silver,
the other is gold.
A circle is round,
it has no end.
That’s how long,
I will be your friend.
A fire burns bright,
it warms the heart.
We’ve been friends,
from the very start.
You have one hand,
I have the other.
Put them together,
We have each other.
Silver is precious,
Gold is too.
I am precious,
and so are you.
You help me,
and I’ll help you.
And together
we will see it through.
The sky is blue,
The Earth is green.
I can help
to keep it clean.
Across the land,
Across the sea.
Friends forever
we will always be.

Product/technique notes

I had such a good time creating this layout. I followed the sketch below from Creative Scrappers and used patterned papers from Crate Paper’s “Snow Days” 6×6 pad. Then, because I really loved that crazy artistic wall of gold artifacts in the photo, I pulled out a ton of old rubber stamps and created a border of gold icons around the whole page. I also pulled out my gold lame Heidi Swapp Color Shine and created the ampersand in the title block and the Christmas tree in the bottom left.

You can see where I pencilled in a border on my kraft background paper as a guide. Then in the interest of time, I decided only to use rubber stamps because cleaning and putting away clear stamps would take a lot more effort. I gathered a group of larger images from my collection and stamped those first.

After stamping with the large rubber stamps, I filled in around them with smaller ones.

Open mind for a different view

December 30, 2013 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 2 Comments

If you haven't tried ziplining, you're missing out on a lot of fun!

The 18th sketch challenge has been posted at the SCRAP & MUSIC challenge blog! Head over to the site to grab the sketch, which I’m proud to have designed, and play along. This sketch came with the song “Nothing Else Matters” by Metallica.

My layout

When Matt and I were approaching our 15th wedding anniversary last year, we discussed how we should spend the day to celebrate it. We really liked the idea of trying something new together and finally settled on ziplining. Exciting, right? It was a terribly cold day for early October, so we layered up our clothing and headed out to Wimberley, Texas for our adventure.

What a completely fun time we had! Our little group of fellow zipliners were cool people, the young men who were our guides through the whole experience were very patient and helpful and the 10 zipline runs we each got to make were awesome. Exhilarating. A touch challenging. And absolutely a do-again activity. If you haven’t yet, do yourself a favor and try it.

Product/technique notes

I used several patterns from the Crate Paper “Acorn Avenue” 6×6 paper pad to create the layers on this design. The stickers in my title are from Jillibean Soup, October Afternoon and Thickers.

The challenge

The challenges on this blog involve following the sketch and using a title on your layout with a line from the provided music. Below I’ve included the video as well as the lyrics for this song:

“Nothing Else Matters” by Metallica

So close no matter how far
Couldn’t be much more from the heart
Forever trusting who we are
And nothing else matters

Never opened myself this way
Life is ours, we live it our way
All these words I don’t just say
And nothing else matters

Trust I seek and I find in you
Every day for us something new
Open mind for a different view
And nothing else matters

Never cared for what they do
Never cared for what they know
But I know

So close no matter how far
It couldn’t be much more from the heart
Forever trusting who we are
And nothing else matters

Never cared for what they do
Never cared for what they know
But I know

I never opened myself this way
Life is ours, we live it our way
All these words I don’t just say
And nothing else matters

Trust I seek and I find in you
Every day for us something new
Open mind for a different view
And nothing else matters

Never cared for what they say
Never cared for games they play
Never cared for what they do
Never cared for what they know
And I know

So close no matter how far
Couldn’t be much more from the heart
Forever trusting who we are
No, nothing else matters

It feels like home

December 15, 2013 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 5 Comments

We bought our first home as a married couple in 1998 and lived there for 3 years.

The 17th sketch challenge has been posted at the SCRAP & MUSIC challenge blog! Head over to the site to grab the sketch and play along. This 17th sketch came with the song “Like a Prayer” by Madonna.

My layout

The line “And it feels like home” from Madonna’s song made me think of some photos I took of the home Matt and I bought when we were first married. We lived in North Carolina then, and when I was visiting there last summer my mom, brother and I went over to our old house to get some photos. We lived on a corner with a little hill for a front yard. And very close to our house was a pond where we’d go for walks almost every day. It was a sweet first home.

* I think my brother took most of these photos.

Product/technique notes

Everything on this page came from the American Crafts Dear Lizzy “5th & Frolic” collection except the little nest/eggs flair badge, which is from an older AC collection. I designed the title in the Silhouette software, and the bows are from the Silhouette store.

The challenge

The challenges on this blog involve following the sketch and using a title on your layout with a line from the provided music. Below I’ve included the video as well as the lyrics for this song:

“Like a Prayer” by Madonna

Life is a mystery
Everyone must stand alone
I hear you call my name
And it feels like home

When you call my name
It’s like a little prayer
I’m down on my knees
I want to take you there
In the midnight hour
I can feel your power
Just like a prayer
You know I’ll take you there

I hear your voice
It’s like an angel sighing
I have no choice
I hear your voice
Feels like flying
I close my eyes
Oh God, I think I’m falling
Out of the sky
I close my eyes
Heaven, help me

When you call my name
It’s like a little prayer
I’m down on my knees
I want to take you there
In the midnight hour
I can feel your power
Just like a prayer
You know I’ll take you there

Like a child
You whisper softly to me
You’re in control
Just like a child
Now I’m dancing
It’s like a dream
No end and no beginning
You’re here with me
It’s like a dream
Let the choir sing

When you call my name
It’s like a little prayer
I’m down on my knees
I want to take you there
In the midnight hour
I can feel your power
Just like a prayer
You know I’ll take you there

Life is a mystery
Everyone must stand alone
I hear you call my name
And it feels like home

Just like a prayer
Your voice can take me there
Just like a muse to me
You are a mystery
Just like a dream
You are not what you seem
Just like a prayer, no choice
Your voice can take me there

Just like a prayer, I’ll take you there
It’s like a dream to me

Just like a prayer
Your voice can take me there
Just like a muse to me
You are a mystery
Just like a dream
You are not what you seem
Just like a prayer, no choice
Your voice can take me there

Just like a prayer, I’ll take you there
It’s like a dream to me

Clever boy

December 13, 2013 By Janice Daquila-Pardo Leave a Comment

Our clever boy, Spenser, on Christmas morning in 1992

In the house I grew up in, we had our Christmas tree set up in the family room right next to the fireplace. It was a picture-perfect little scene. After Santa Claus visited, he always closed the door to the family room, in case one of us kids got up in the night to take a peek (little did Santa know this is the last thing I would have ever done). Then on Christmas morning none of us were allowed into that room until Daddy had opened the door, checked to make sure that Santa had actually stopped by and turned on the tree lights.

And who do you think was the first family member to enter the room? Spenser, our schnauzer! That guy shot through the door as soon as Dad opened it and trotted straight to his stocking. You can see in this photo that he’s laser focused on the stocking with his name on it. What a clever boy.

Product/technique notes

I used an ancient kit by Flair that I’ve had in my stash for five or six years. My design inspiration came from a sketch in the Creative Scrappers sketch book, volume 2.

« Previous Page