Layouts based on sketches

Together in PJs

May 4, 2012 By Janice Daquila-Pardo Leave a Comment

Journaling: These darling shots of Phil and me are from 1972 (L-May; R-March). I remember that I loved wearing my square-dancing nightgown.

Here's a close-up shot on the pinwheel embellishment and title tag.

If you read the title of my post (and my layout) and heard strains of Neil Diamond’s “Forever in blue jeans,” you’re my kind of person! When I was working on this page about my baby bro and me in these sweet, random 1972 photos of us in our pajamas, that’s what popped into my head…so I went with it.

Sometimes when I get to the titling part of the scrapping process, I falter. It’s not always easy to come up with clever, pithy titles that are understandable without being too obvious/boring. It’s a tall order! So, while I’m talking to myself in my scrap room (oh, please don’t try to tell me you never do that), I start hearing song lyrics, movie quotes and lines from books that I might bend to my purpose.

And that’s how “Forever in blue jeans” became “Together in PJs.”

The hope is, of course, that even without benefit of this type of explanation, people who see this layout will either “hear” my intention on their own when they read the title, or the title will be strong enough to stand on its own even if nobody “hears” the melody with me.

How do you come up with titles for your pages? I would love to have more strategies at hand for this task. Won’t you leave me a comment with your tips?

I created this page with the help of this lovely sketch from PageMaps and am entering it in their sketch challenge.

Product/technique notes: Did you notice the man-in-the-moon image in these patterned papers from We R Memory Keepers Anthologie line? It made this the perfect choice for vintage photos about children and bedtime.

I’m lucky to have a friend like you

May 1, 2012 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 3 Comments

Happy May Day! The May Sketches With a Twist sketch and design team sample layouts are now live on the blog. I am very proud to have created the sketch and really love all the design team’s samples based on it! Here’s a little peek at my new sketch:

The twist this month is to incorporate hand or machine stitching into your design. So I did a running stitch around the edge of my title treatment, which set it off nicely. You know, I don’t often use word/sentiment stamps on my layouts (like I mean to do when I buy the stamps), but as I was working on this page my glance just happened to fall on the Hello Friend stamp set from Lawn Fawn, and it really was perfect for my subject! So the lesson here, boys and girls, is that there are benefits to having a messy scrap space. 😉

I created sketch #5 for Sketches With a Twist, on which this layout is based.

Kathy was my best friend for several years in grade school. We were in classes together, in the same Girl Scout troop and spent nights over at each other’s houses. She was the kind of friend that I could be my nerdy self with and not feel nerdy. She was fun, kind, studious and athletic.

Out of all the time we spent around each other, it’s little tidbits that leap to mind when I think of her. Like the time we sat under a tree and drew our versions of our future dream homes. Or when we went shopping at the mall together, and even though she was a head taller than me (lucky girl), we insisted on buying the same exact outfit and wearing them on the same day. That had to have been hilarious to our families! Or when she showed me her new Loverboy Get Lucky album, (the one released in 1981 with the red leather pants and the crossed fingers) and that made her even cooler in my eyes.

Well, after grade school Kathy and I attended different high schools and then went off to different universities, so we didn’t see each other for years. We all know how that happens. But after college we reconnected by attending each other’s weddings, which was wonderful, and we send birthday and Christmas cards. But recently I had the opportunity to spend an entire day with Kathy and her family. Her younger sister, Jean, recently moved to San Antonio, which isn’t far from Austin. So when Kathy’s family flew in to spend spring break with Jean’s family, Matt and I made plans to head to San Antonio for a visit.

We had a wonderful day together. We all went to the Poteet Strawberry Festival, which is a huge event in the SA area. It was a hot, sweaty, windy day, which is why we look a bit disheveled in these photos. But it was just so nice to catch up! You know, a lot changes about people and their lives over the years, but a lot stays just as it is in grade school, too. Kathy is the same kind of person she was back when: she’s fun; it’s obvious she’s a kind and generous mother to her two girls and wife to Wray; and she cares passionately about doing her work well. She’s a very good person, and I am lucky to have a friend like her.

I hope you’ll head to the Sketches With a Twist blog to get the printable version of my sketch and play along (there are two prizes available each month).

A beautiful mess

April 30, 2012 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 2 Comments

When new collections come out by my favorite scrap companies I am always tempted to buy. But I rarely get the whole collection because no matter how much I like (even love) it, I just can’t imagine wanting to create that many layouts out of the same look. Add to that the fact that collections have become so expensive. So I have been for some time buying the 6×6 paper pads that many companies are issuing. They have long been favored by card makers because of their smaller-sized patterns, and I quite like the lower price tag as well.

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 in case you, like me, have several 6×6 paper pads or a bin full of scraps waiting to make it into your designs.

I really love the bright, happy feeling I achieved on this baby-themed layout without using any baby-themed papers.

Yup, another layout of me as an adorable baby. 😉 I have a few photos from Mom of me in my high chair, but this one really makes me laugh. How great is life when the likelihood that you’re wearing more food than you ate makes you this happy?

I based this layout on sketch #205 from the Creative Scrappers blog, and I’m entering it into their challenge. I really enjoyed working with this sketch; it’s right up my design alley.

Product/technique notes: I had fun blending companies’ products here, with background paper from American Crafts’ new Amy Tangerine Sketchbook line, accent papers from My Mind’s Eye’s Lime Twist line and shapes from the Silhouette store.

Last year at ICS

April 28, 2012 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 3 Comments

That redo that you do

Are there any layouts in your albums that you would like to do over? Maybe you thought you were done with it, but when you looked at it later you weren’t thrilled. Or you put it aside unfinished because you just couldn’t make it come together to your liking.

I know I do.

And while I don’t think we should go through our albums and redo all the layouts on which we used older products or techniques that we’re no longer in love with (there are way too many new layouts to create), every so often I do think it’s worth pulling out an unsatisfactory page and “tweaking” it. Or outright starting over. In my mind, the ones that qualify for this treatment are the special photos—the one-time events and images of times past that can’t be recreated.

Version 1: Bleck!

Here is a layout I started a few years ago but never finished. It’s a 5×7 portrait of me from eighth grade, and nothing I was trying to do with it worked for me. So I set it aside thinking that I would pull it out on another day and that the best way to finish it would just occur to me. It never did.

This is my first try at a design with this photo. Wasn't working for me.

When I recently saw this sketch on the Designs by Ashley Rock blog, it made me think of my long-forgotten layout, and I decided to let my first version go into the darkness and start over with it.

The Ashley Rock sketch I referenced while making this layout.

Version 2: So much better!

This is the layout I came up with using the sketch. I’m so much happier with the final product than I would have been if I had insisted on finishing my first version!

I don't know about you, but I like this version a lot better!

So, what do you think? Should I have left well enough alone, or do you think my redo was worth it? Do you ever tweak or redo your pages?

Product/technique notes: Most of the papers and elements on this page came from the Simple Stories Elementary collection. I also used doily stamps from Studio Calico and Inkadinkado.

Food coma

April 21, 2012 By Janice Daquila-Pardo Leave a Comment

I kept this page simple because I just wanted to highlight the photo and the papers.

When it’s time to be fed Liam just about ricochets off the walls in anticipation. And once we dish up his vittles for him he sort of attacks his bowl. I think it’s safe to say this boy likes to eat a little too much!

But once he’s plowed through his meal and cleaned all the gravy off his face (are you getting the barbaric image I’m trying to paint here?), he turns into this sweet little sleepy baby. He finds a comfy spot and crashes hard. It’s at this point one day that I took this photo of him.

I based this layout on sketch #202 from the Creative Scrappers blog, and I am entering it into their April challenge. I am also entering this into Shimelle’s Online scrapbooking weekend challenge #4: Create a project using yellow, grey and one other color. It’s rather obvious, I’m sure, but I chose to mix yellow and grey with blue.

The Creative Scrappers sketch I referenced while making this layout.

Product/technique notes: I just love the boyish colors and images in the October Afternoon Sasparilla line, so I thought it would work perfectly with this photo of Liam because of his grey markings. I cut the title banner on my Silhouette.

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