The Constant Scrapper

If I'm not scrapbooking I'm thinking about scrapbooking!

My scrapbook layouts

My first visit to Disneyland

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FirstDisney_Daquila-Pardo

Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? Not me!

My mom lived in California from the time she was seven until leaving to attend college in Ohio right after high school, but her parents lived there for the remainder of their lives. So, once Mom and Dad started having a family, they frequently traded visits between California and Ohio so Mom’s parents could spend time with their grandchildren. Obviously, I don’t remember this time, but during our visit in June 1968 Grandma and Grandpa took me to Disneyland for the first time.

In creating this layout, I have hit upon a little tip I can share with you about making identifications in vintage photos.

I know the details my mom wrote on the back of these shots—because I scan the fronts and backs of my old photos—which said that it was June 1968 and that I was with the Big Bad Wolf. So right there, I have some great information. But as I was coming to the journaling part of this page, I started worrying about which amusement park featured the Big Bad Wolf. I mean, I thought it was Disneyland, but I wasn’t sure. It could have been Knott’s Berry Farm, which I know we also visited on at least one of our trips to California. And I wanted to be sure before putting pen to paper.

So I turned to Google’s images search and typed in “Disneyland 1968.” I thought this was probably a long-shot way to start my search, but I knew that I could refine it if need be.

First of all, I encourage you to do a search like this just for the fun of seeing the old Kodacolor images of people in their 60s garb and Disneyland in all its 60s glory. Just take a look at a few of the wonderful images I found:

teacup

This image came from http://home.earthlink.net/~rxunit/id15.html.

1968trip3

This image came from http://matterhorn1959.blogspot.com/2009/12/childs-trip-to-disneyland-1968.html.

Disneyland-1968-Tomorrowlan

This image came from http://www.tickledpinklife.com/2011/02/when-the-peoplemover-was-the-futur/

Now back to my objective for doing this search: I hit paydirt on the first try! Take a look at this image and then compare it to the Big Bad Wolf photo on my layout. My heart sped up when I noticed the same building and landscaping (it’s a Micky Mouse flower bed) in the background as in my photo! This was enough proof for me that these photos of mine were taken in the Magic Kingdom.

1968trip2

This image came from http://matterhorn1959.blogspot.com/2009/12/childs-trip-to-disneyland-1968.html.

So the next time you’re casting about for details to include in your journaling or to confirm the places, events or times in your vintage photos, try a Google image search. This is a rich resource for photo research, and I say the more details the better when you’re creating a special page like this.

Product/technique notes: All the patterned papers I used on this project were from the BasicGrey’s Up, Up & Away, PB&J and Serendipity collections. I created the black ribbon scallops using one of the We R Memory Keepers Sew Ribbons tools. The Disney font that I cut using my Silhouette is called Waltograph.

And I used this sketch provided at Club CK for their June challenge:
The June sketch from Club CK

Keep Austin Weird Festival + 5k

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KeepAustinWeird3_Daquila-Pardo

There were lots of great costumes to enjoy while attending the Keep Austin Weird Festival and 5k.

Is a part of your summer fun to attend sporting events in support of a family member? Well, now that my husband has started running, it has become a part of mine! As any sports enthusiast or sports enthusiast’s spouse/parent/sibling knows, the participant wants an audience. It’s akin to the question about the tree falling in the woods. If a runner crosses the finish line but no one they know was there to witness it, did they even run the race?

And so I found myself yesterday at the very colorful 10th annual Keep Austin Weird Festival + 5K in downtown Austin, Texas. There was a large stage featuring one band after another, plentiful drinks and food and lots of Austinites doing their utmost to keep their fair city as weird as possible (read: lots of fun costumes). The festival ran from early afternoon on into the night, and the race was set to begin at 7:00 p.m.

Do you have any idea how hot it gets in Texas in the summer? Let me put it this way: When the starter pistol rang out at 7:00, it had come down to 95 degrees. Yes, you do have to be a little crazy to run in this weather, but then I guess that’s part of the point at this festival.

So, just in case you, like me, are the official cheerleader and photographer at events like this, following are a few things I’ve learned about capturing the kind of images you will need to tell the whole story later in your scrapbook pages and/or blog.

Take your best camera

As scrapbookers, one of our most important tools is our camera. If you have more than one—the expensive camera and the little spy camera you keep in your purse at all times—haul along the good one. You will hate the weight of it, as well as fumbling with changing lenses if you have a DSLR, but you will be so much happier with the photos you get. Lug it and love it.

Dress comfortably

When I’m photographer at Matt’s races, I get a workout, too. I wear a large backpack so that I can carry my camera equipment as well as Matt’s supplies, so it gets rather heavy. And I run a lot to be where the shot is. Because of this I wear clothes that are roomy so they don’t cling to me when I sweat, appropriate for the weather and really practical. Yesterday I wore a comfy sun dress and tennis shoes. I’m sure I couldn’t have won any prizes for fashion, but my clothes didn’t hinder me, and that’s all I cared about.

Get before and after photos

Before I let Matt head over to the starting line, I make him stand for a few photos. I want to have shots of him while he’s still fresh and clean as well as nervous for the event to come. I also do my best to be at the finish line to capture his last steps. But I also make sure to shadow him as he huffs and puffs his way over to the water and banana stand. The idea is to get photos of the red face, the sweat and the exhaustion. If he worked that hard, I want to be sure to celebrate it on my layout later.

Capture the local flavor

There’s always something interesting about the location of an event. If it’s in a rural setting, be sure to set the scene by capturing the natural surroundings. If it’s in an urban setting like this festival we attended, get shots of the skyline and the crowds.

Vary the distance of your shots

To tell the whole story of an event, it’s important to get photos that expose different perspectives. You want close-up shots of the sporting equipment your family member is using, images of the crowds, posed and unposed photos of your subject and action shots. Vary the distance, vary the perspective.

Conduct a post-event interview

When Matt is still breathing heavily and high on adrenaline at the end of a race, I like to flip over to the video feature on my camera and spend a few minutes capturing his thoughts about the event. Not only is it great to have this video to watch in the future, but also it provides such a rich source of journaling for that layout you’re going to create later!

Don’t let those summer days drift away without capturing the sun-drenched fun!

Product/technique notes: All the supplies I used on this layout are from the BasicGrey Serendipity and Shine On collections.

Mommy gets a bite

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MommyBite_Daquila-Pardo

I was 5-1/2-months old and trying to share my food with Mom.

Aren’t these photos wonderful? There are a few little details in here that I should point out as being meaningful:

  • For instance, how sweet my mom looks here; she’s a few months shy of 27 and just adorable! There are times when I look in the mirror and see such a strong resemblance between us, even though I really take after my dad’s side of the family more.
  • Mom wrote on the back of these photos, “Mommy gets a bite (thus, my title), 5-1/2 months.” That would date this photo as mid-April 1967, which means she was already pregnant with my brother!
  • We were in the house of one of Mom’s teaching friends.

I used this sketch from PageMaps for inspiration:

And most of the supplies I used were from the beautiful April scrapbook kit I won from Artful Delight:

Busy beaver

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BusyBeaver_Daquila-Pardo

This post celebrates the handiwork, resourcefulness and personality of our neighbor, Charlie.

When we moved into our house in 2001, the very first neighbor who welcomed us was Charlie. He and his wife, Pat, have lived in the house across from ours since the developers started building on this street some time in the 1980s.

On that first day he marched across the street to us, stuck out his hand, introduced himself and said, “A wise man once told me that the secret to a successful marriage was to be outside when your wife is in and inside when your wife is out. You’ll likely see me out in my yard a lot!” Then, like a stand-up comedian, he waited for the laugh.

That anecdote was just foreshadowing for what our conversations with Charlie would be like. This man is a storyteller and a connector! Whenever I’m out in our yard and see Charlie step off the curb to cross the street, I know there’s at least one story to be heard. He’s always telling jokes, updating us on his grandchildrens’ lives (they live just a few doors down from us) and telling us about his latest camping trip to Big Bend.

Charlie spent his career as a middle school teacher, and for many years he taught shop class. He retired a few years ago when he turned 70, but once you watch him puttering around his yard and garage for a while, you really get the feeling that Charlie couldn’t have been anything else. Being active and using his hands makes him a happy man, even in retirement.

I believe the visits to show us his wood carvings started around the time of his retirement, in fact. He tells us that he has been whittling for years, but now that he has more time to spend on this hobby, he’s really upped his game. It started out with carvings into planks of wood…like a nicer version of the wood-burning projects I remember Phil and Daddy doing together for Cub Scouts. But he has really progressed in his skill at it. Last year he carved a full eagle out of cedar and gave it to us (it’s displayed in our living room)!

A few weeks ago Charlie took on his biggest project to date. When he noticed that his next-door neighbor had lost a tree to the drought we’ve been experiencing in Texas, he requested permission to carve the stump for them once they cut down the tree. They agreed, and it was really something to watch!

Being an extremely social person, Charlie turned it into a bit of a neighborhood event. He set up an umbrella over the stump to protect himself from the sun and brought out his lawn chair and tools. Then he got to work. But Charlie isn’t your heads-down kind of worker. He’s more of a “Come on over and take a look at what I’m doing here, and then stay a while and visit” type of guy. So, every day that he worked on that project I would see him wave people over to take a look. And they would stay a while to talk. And sometimes people who don’t even know Charlie would stop just to inquire about what he was doing.

It was a sweet, wholesome, summery little event, and I’m so happy I witnessed it. The whole thing made me feel that at any minute a lemonade stand would pop up, groups of kids would start running through the sprinkler together and people would stop locking their doors at night. It felt like community.

Wouldn’t it be lovely if every street had a Charlie?