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The Constant Scrapper

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

border punches

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 Sketches With a Twist May 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. 😉

FriendLikeKathy_Daquila-Pardo

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).

Filed Under: Layouts based on sketches, My scrapbook layouts, Sketches Tagged With: 3 photos, border punches, one-page layouts, Sketches with a Twist, stamping

Easter together

April 8, 2012 By Janice Daquila-Pardo Leave a Comment

EasterTogether3_Daquila-Pardo

This is a special photo because all 12 cousins were together for it.

My dad was the middle of three children in his family, who always told him he was the thorn between two roses because he was flanked by sisters. This 1969 photo includes all 12 of Dad and his siblings’ children (Nana and Papa’s grandchildren). All of us together (mostly) posing for a photo on Easter morning. Phil and I, the youngest in the clan, are in the lower left corner. It actually looks like our older cousins are having to tether us to keep us in the photo!

I created this layout based on a scraplifting challenge at BasicGrey’s blog. In place of the hearts punched out of several patterns, I decided to create my background with a Martha Stewart All Over Punch. I punched several rows of designs out of brown cardstock before backing them with six different patterned papers from the BG Sweet Threads 6×6 pad. It creates a lovely quilt-like effect.

I’ll be honest: I wouldn’t recommend trying this technique on a layout about just any photo because it took so long to complete. But for this special photo I’m happy to have taken the time. In fact, keep a lookout for a post coming soon, where I’ll do a review of the Martha Stewart All Over Punch tool and offer some tips for using it.

Filed Under: 12x12 layouts using 6x6 paper, My scrapbook layouts Tagged With: 1 photo, Basic Grey, border punches, Martha Stewart Crafts, one-page layouts, Silhouette, vintage photos

For the love of the game

April 4, 2012 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 5 Comments

LoveOfTheGame_Daquila-Pardo

These photos of me in my softball uniform are from 1977 and 1978.

As a kid I was always very athletic…in my head. In my mind’s eye I made dazzling shoe-top catches and hit long shots over the fence, but in reality I was pretty awkward. I tried really hard, don’t mistake me, but my efforts usually produced boringly average results.

Even so, most of the time (except for the occasional bouts of ennui I experienced at softball practices) I loved being involved in the Willoughby Baseball League. For one thing, my brother was on a boys’ team during that same time, and I liked that we both had WBL uniforms, practices and games down at Todd Fields. I also loved having my family come to my games. If I close my eyes and really put myself back…in my uniform and mitt, hands on my knees in the outfield, sun on my back and feeling silly chanting “Hey, batter batter!”…I can still feel a little of that nervous aliveness that comes from performing in front of loved ones. That feeling that, even though you know they will tell you how well you did no matter what happens, you yearn to do something spectacular for them to see.

I don’t remember how many years I played in the league (these photos are from 1977 and 1978), but I do know that I gained a lot by being part of it. I learned to get along with a different group of girls than those I went to school with, to practice even when I didn’t feel like it, to care about contributing to the team’s success and to overcome my nervousness enough to play my part in that success. Yup, team sports can do all that!

I based this layout on the following PageMaps sketch from February and used papers from the BasicGrey “Oliver” 6×6 pad:

The PageMaps sketch I referenced while making this layout.

Filed Under: 12x12 layouts using 6x6 paper, Layouts based on sketches, My scrapbook layouts, Sketches Tagged With: 2 photos, Basic Grey, border punches, one-page layouts, PageMaps, Spellbinders, vintage photos

Research

March 31, 2012 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 1 Comment

Research_Daquila-Pardo

This layout is based on a sketch from http://www.rockpaperscrapbook.blogspot.com.

This layout features a photo that my bro, Phil, took when he was visiting us in January. He and Matt and I decided to spend a little time at Barnes & Noble one afternoon, drinking specialty coffees and perusing whatever books and magazines caught our fancies. I decided to scrap this one because it represents something that Matt and I like to do together to relax. We like to call it “research.” 😉

When creating this page I followed a sketch that I found at Designs by Ashley Rock. Unfortunately, I didn’t learn of this sketch contest until the day it was due, but I still liked the sketch enough to use it here.

Designs by Ashley Rock sketch

My page uses the brand new chevron paper from Echo Park’s new Sunshine mini theme, along with some older products and a doily cut on my Silhouette.

Filed Under: Layouts based on sketches, My scrapbook layouts, Sketches Tagged With: 1 photo, border punches, Echo Park, one-page layouts, Silhouette

So special

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

SoSpecial_Daquila-Pardo

These photos were taken during my father's 70th birthday weekend in 2003.

From the time we were little I can remember Aunt Mary Lou making a huge fuss over us. She loved to laugh at our sassy comments and make us feel brilliant. When Earl joined the family he spoke to us as adults, which every “brilliant” teenager craves. It takes special people to make others feel so special. These photos were taken during our weekend-long celebration of Dad’s 70th birthday in October 2003.

I created this layout using My Mind’s Eye patterned papers and a sketch from their blog.

My Mind's Eye sketch

Filed Under: My scrapbook layouts Tagged With: 2 photos, border punches, emotional journaling, Martha Stewart Crafts, My Mind's Eye, one-page layouts, Silhouette

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