The Constant Scrapper – Page 66 – If I'm not scrapbooking I'm thinking about scrapbooking!

And baby makes three

May 31, 2013 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 4 Comments

My about-to-become parents look so cute together on their day at the zoo!

This sweet little photo is of my parents in September 1966. Daddy is about to turn 33, Mom is 26, and they are about to become parents for the first time. Mom is seven months pregnant with me, and they are spending a sunny day together at the Philadelphia Zoo.

I thought that a little pair of love birds in the upper right corner would be a cute way to incorporate animals into my zoo layout as well as to symbolize my parents. As an extra detail I furnished the left bird with brown eyes, like my father and the right bird with green eyes, like my mother.

Product/technique notes:

I used patterned papers from the American Crafts “Dear Lizzy Neapolitan” collection and the following sketch from Paper Bakery. The birds-on-a-branch die cut is from the Silhouette store, and I created the title treatment in the Silhouette software and cut it on my Cameo as well.

1984 Miss American Legion post 214

May 27, 2013 By Janice Daquila-Pardo Leave a Comment

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Wearing a tiara and waving from the back of a parade truck was certainly nothing I expected to be doing when I entered the American Legion's essay contest!

When I won a scholarship for college from the local American Legion post through an essay contest they held, it included acting as Miss American Legion in the Memorial Day parade! I went and met with the men of the post, who were all such gracious and fun hosts, and then rode in the back of their “official” parade truck. It was a bit surreal to wear a tiara and sash and wave to people along the parade route, but it was an honor and really quite a lot of fun.

Winning that scholarship was part of how I put myself through college, so I will always be grateful to the veterans of AL post 214.

And especially on this Memorial Day I am thankful for all our veterans who have fought and died for us throughout the history of our country.

Product/technique notes:

I followed the PageMaps sketch below and used patterned papers from the Echo Park “Sweet Day” collection. I also designed and cut the title on my Cameo.
PageMaps sketch I followed

La vie en rose

May 19, 2013 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 4 Comments

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The second sketch challenge has been posted at the new SCRAP & MUSIC challenge blog! Head over to the site to grab the sketch and play along.

The challenges on this blog involve following the sketch and using a title on your layout with a line from the provided music. This second sketch came with the song “La Vie En Rose” by Edith Piaf. Below I’ve included the lyrics in their original French as well as an English version (not a direct translation but one that was stylized for the rhyme and meter of English). I’ve highlighted the line in the English version that I used as my title:

French
Des yeux qui font baisser les miens,
Un rire qui se perd sur sa bouche,
Voilà le portrait sans retouche
De l’homme auquel j’appartiens

Quand il me prend dans ses bras
Il me parle tout bas,
Je vois la vie en rose.
Il me dit des mots d’amour,
Des mots de tous les jours,
Et ça me fait quelque chose.
Il est entré dans mon coeur
Une part de bonheur
Donc je connais la cause.
C’est lui pour moi,
Moi pour lui dans la vie,
Il me l’a dit, l’a juré
Pour la vie. Et dès que je l’aperçois
Alors je sens en moi
Mon coeur qui bat
Des nuits d’amour à plus finir
Un grand bonheur qui prend sa place
Des ennuis des chagrins s’effacent
Heureux, heureux à mourir.
Quand il me prend dans ses bras
Il me parle tout bas,
Je vois la vie en rose.
Il me dit des mots d’amour,
Des mots de tous les jours,
Et ça me fait quelque chose.
Il est entré dans mon coeur
Une part de bonheur
Donc je connais la cause.
C’est toi pour moi,
Moi pour toi dans la vie,
Il me l’a dit, l’a juré
Pour la vie.
Et dès que je l’aperçois
Alors je sens en moi Mon coeur qui bat

English
Hold me close and hold me fast
The magic spell you cast
This is la vie en rose
When you kiss me heaven sighs
And though I close my eyes
I see la vie en rose
When you press me to your heart
I’m in a world apart
A world where roses bloom
And when you speak angels sing from above
Everyday words seem to turn into love songs
Give your heart and soul to me
And life will always be
La vie en rose

I thought that love was just a word
They sang about in songs I’d heard
It took your kisses to reveal
That I was wrong and love is real

Hold me close and hold me fast
The magic spell you cast
This is la vie en rose
When you kiss me heaven sighs
And though I close my eyes
I see la vie en rose
When you press me to your heart
I’m in a world apart
A world where roses bloom
And when you speak angels sing from above
Everyday words seem to turn into love songs
Give your heart and soul to me
And life will always be
La vie en rose

The reason I chose this line of the song is that I decided to use a photo of my brother, Phil, in my layout—a shot of him on a trip to Brussels, Belgium, and Paris, France. Phil works at the Center for European Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill, and as an employee at the university he has the option of taking a class each semester. He decided that he really wanted to learn French, so he has now taken four semesters of it and will take his fifth in the fall. The more he studies it, the more he loves it. So I thought the line from the song, “Everyday words seem to turn into love songs” would work perfectly to elicit the feeling Phil has for the words, poeticism and even rules of the language he’s studying.

My baby bro, Phil, enjoying a brew in Brussels in October 2012

Here is the journaling from my layout because it’s quite small and hard to read:
After three years of high school French, all but forgotten, Phil is now heading into his fifth semester of it at UNC. He has always loved words, the sound of spoken French makes him happy and he enjoys the way studying it is like solving a puzzle. “I’m drawn to all things French: movies, music, arts, culture. And the lyricism of the language, the turns of phrase, tickle me. Je l’adore!”

Nursing is a calling

May 11, 2013 By Janice Daquila-Pardo Leave a Comment

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Sisters and nurses: Frances P. Daquila Duffy and Mary Lou Daquila Schollaert

This week the American Nurses Association celebrates National Nurses Week. In honor of the several nurses in my family I created this page about my father’s sisters, who both dedicated themselves to caring for the sick.

Each of my aunts went to Mercy Hospital School of Nursing in Pittsburgh right after high school. They were eight years apart in age (my dad was the middle child, Aunt Bubbles (Frances) on the left was three years older and Aunt Doo Doo (Mary Lou) on the right is five years younger), so they did not attend nursing school together. However, they did both stay and work out their nursing careers in the Pittsburgh area.

These photos were the ones taken upon their graduation from nursing school, and I just love them! I am grateful to their families for sending me these portraits so that I could create this tribute page about my two aunts.

It’s also important to mention that their careers in nursing have led to daughters and granddaughters of theirs following suit!

There is a nursing tribute I found online for nurses who have passed away. It’s called “The Nightingale Tribute,” and I’m quoting it here because these words led to my page’s title:
“Nursing is a calling, a way of life. Nursing is a service profession that cannot be lived in isolation. Nurses rely on each other for the synergistic effect of teamwork in our efforts of care giving. It is appropriate that we honor our colleagues not only during their career, but also at the end of life’s journey.”

Product/technique notes:
I created this page using papers from My Mind’s Eye “Stella & Rose” collection, decorative brads from Echo Park and a title I created and cut with my Silhouette Cameo.

To lead a better life

May 5, 2013 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 2 Comments

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The first sketch challenge has been posted at the new SCRAP & MUSIC challenge blog! Head over to the site to grab the sketch and play along for fame and prizes. 😉

The challenges on this blog will involve following the sketch and using a title on your layout with a line from the provided music. This first sketch came with the song “Here, there and everywhere” by the Beatles. To remind you, here are the lyrics:

To lead a better life,
I need my love to be here.
Here, making each day of the year
Changing my life with a wave of her hand
Nobody can deny that there’s something there.
There, running my hands through her hair
Both of us thinking how good it can be
Someone is speaking but she doesn’t know he’s there.
I want her everywhere
and if she’s beside me I know I need never care.
But to love her is to need her
Everywhere, knowing that love is to share
each one believing that love never dies
watching her eyes and hoping I’m always there.
I want her everywhere
and if she’s beside me I know I need never care.
But to love her is to need her.
Everywhere, knowing that love is to share
each one believing that love never dies
watching her eyes and hoping I’m always there.
I will be there, and everywhere.
Here, there and everywhere.

I chose to focus on the very first line of the lyrics, “To lead a better life,” because it made me think of how Matt and I really do believe that we can and must make our own lives better. So, each December we spend a good deal of time talking about and setting our goals and plans for the coming new year.

In the past two years my brother, Phil, has come to visit us during the week after Christmas and into the new year, and he now looks forward to working on his goals with us! The photos on my layout are of the three of us working on our lists together this past December.

Phil, Matt and I had just finished lunch at a local Indian restaurant that we love and then pulled out our goals notebook to start working on our lists again. You can see that I was acting as scribe for the group!

Product/technique notes:
Of course, I used sketch #1 provided at the Sketch & Music blog to create my page. The patterned papers from the K&Company “Americana” theme seemed to work well with both the colors of our clothes and the theme (stars and freedom). And that cool cut-and-folded border strip in the middle there was made using a cut file from the Silhouette store. Isn’t it cool how it shows off both sides of the patterned paper? I then created the title treatment in the Silhouette software and cut it with my Cameo as well. The “he said” and “she said” stamps are by Studio Calico, and the “Good things take time” sticker is from BasicGrey’s “Clippings” line.

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