Blogging for Scrapbookers class

The eyes have it

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

I just love when I can complete a layout about a subject that matters to me while simultaneously fulfilling the requirements for three online challenges! This is one hard-working layout!

Nature and books belong to the eyes that see them. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

First, I based my design on this great sketch from the Sketchy Thursdays site. The added requirement was that the topic cover reading or literature in some way in honor of the start of the school year. I just love this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson, so I decided to use it as my title: “Nature and books belong to the eyes that see them.” Then I took a photo of some favorite books on our library shelf and pulled out a photo I took last spring of a beautiful budding tree in our neighborhood.

Second, I created this to enter into Shimelle’s Grid It Up challenge.

Third, this will also work for Shimelle’s Stickery challenge, where the mandate is to use stickers from more than one collection (I have used stickers on this layout from American Crafts, Basic Grey, My Mind’s Eye and October Afternoon, so I think I’ve over-delivered!).

Speaking of reading, do you love Jane Eyre? Well, Matt and I love the story, and we recently watched a TV miniseries version that we hadn’t seen before, starring Timothy Dalton as Mr. Rochester (from 1983). Enjoying it so much reminded me that I had a novel about the writing of Jane Eyre up on our bookshelf. I pulled that down and have have been caught up in it for the past few days. In Becoming Jane Eyre Sheila Kohle combines what is know of Bronte’s life with her imagination of how that life lead her to write the highly successful book Jane Eyre. If you’re a fan of Bronte’s masterpiece in particular or of historical fiction, I can recommend this novel.

10 Things on the 10th: August

August 10, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 9 Comments

Many of us who took the online class “Beyond Blogging for Scrapbookers” are participating in a special event on the 10th of each month. In 10 Things on the 10th each participant will share something totally of their own creation. Some will share 10 photos, 10 crafty ideas, 10 sources of inspiration, 10 recipes, 10 things in a collection…always 10 things and always on the 10th of the month.

In honor of the “dog days of summer” I rounded up 10 inspiring layouts from around the Web that feature DOGS:

Kerry Bea Mahan
Bea Mahan

The Constant Scrapper

10 Things on the 10th: July

July 10, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 10 Comments

Many of us who took the online class “Beyond Blogging for Scrapbookers” are participating in a special event on the 10th of each month. In 10 Things on the 10th each participant will share something totally of their own creation—but always 10 things. Some will share 10 photos, 10 crafty ideas, 10 sources of inspiration, 10 recipes, 10 things in a collection…always 10 things and always on the 10th of the month.

For this month’s 10 Things I rounded up 10 inspiring layouts from around the Web that feature July 4th photos and celebrations:

Four Squirts and a Dollop of Cream

Allison R Davis

Nancy Damiano

Hondachicc

The Constant Scrapper

How can you resist?

April 27, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 7 Comments

Twisted Sketches launches its 98th sketch today, and the twist this time is “paint.” The sketch and the design team’s interpretations are awaiting you at Twisted Sketches’ site…and here is my design team contribution using the new sketch:

That's me, wearing Daddy's clip-on sunglasses and enjoying the Ohio sunshine.

This is the sketch:

6a00d83451d2c069e20147e3cc26c9970b-800wi

Twisted Sketch #98 calls for 2 photos

For the “paint” twist I was inspired to try a resist technique on the talk bubble using white shimmer paint. I have done resist techniques with ink and embossing powder before but had not yet tried paint resist, so I thought I would show a quick step-by-step just in case it might inspire you to try it on a future layout.

Gather your supplies: Acrylic paint, rubber stamp, Distress Inks and foam applicators.
This technique doesn't take much in the way of supplies.
Apply paint (shimmer paint in my example) to the stamp image and stamp it carefully (don’t smear it) on a spare bit of cardstock.
Immediately take your rubber stamp to a sink and clean it well with soap and water. It’s best not to let the acrylic paint dry on the stamp as it may be harder to remove.
If you’re patient wait until the paint thoroughly dries. If not, hit it with your heat tool for a minute or two.
Start applying the Distress Inks with a circular motion and blend your colors a little where they meet. I used the three colors shown in the photo, but of course there are no rules about how many you use.
Slightly mist a paper towel with water and gently buff off the extra ink from the painted areas to reveal the true color!

Here is a close-up of the final effect. I think I like it!

This close-up photo shows how the shimmer paint resisted the inks.

If you decide to try this quick technique after reading my post, ~~have your people call my people~~ please leave a comment and a link so I can see what you’ve done!

The Twitter effect

March 29, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 3 Comments

PROMPT SIX FOR “BLOGGING FOR SCRAPBOOKERS” CLASS:
Setting goals and taking journeys

I love setting goals, long-term and short. Every day presents you with a fresh opportunity to work on the goal and feel that you’re changing your life.

Can getting more Twitter followers change my life? Your reaction might be an immediate “Of course not!”

But give me a moment to change your mind.

Have you ever read about the butterfly effect? Wikipedia defines it this way: “The butterfly effect is a metaphor that encapsulates the concept of sensitive dependence on initial conditions in chaos theory; namely, a small change at one place in a complex system can have large effects elsewhere. Although this may appear to be an esoteric and unusual behavior, it is exhibited by very simple systems.”

In popular culture terms the concept of the butterfly effect is frequently referred to through the novelty of a minor change in circumstances causing a large change in outcome.

So, how do I tie this back to growing my Twitter following? Simply by conceiving of the possibility that by interacting with more people who have similar interests and goals I have a better chance of running into a person who can benefit from what I have to give or who knows the very person I should meet. Because every action has an effect on other probabilities, all it takes is one, right?

So that’s my newest short-term goal: To grow my newly established Twitter account from my current 28 followers (blush) to 100 by May 1st (without following lots of random people just to get follows back). I think it’s doable, and I’ll pop in periodically to let you know how I’m progressing.

If any of you have suggestions for good ways to make this happen, I would certainly appreciate a quick comment with your wisdom.

Oh, and won’t you please follow me on Twitter? 😉

Blogging for Scrapbookers class

PROMPT SIX FOR “BLOGGING FOR SCRAPBOOKERS” CLASS: Setting goals and taking journeys

PROMPT SIX FOR “BLOGGING FOR SCRAPBOOKERS” CLASS:
Setting goals and taking journeys