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Date night

May 2, 2015 By Janice Daquila-Pardo Leave a Comment

Sometimes it’s just fun to capture a few selfies while you’re out on a date. Am I right?

Although when I jumped over to Matt’s side of the table for the shot of the two of us, an older man at a nearby table gave me a dirty look. I wanted to yell over, “At least I’m not too old to have fun, you grump!” But you’ll be proud of me; I was good and just smiled at him.

Product/technique notes

Most of the elements on my page are from Simple Stories “Snap Life” collection, and the paper bag is from Jillibean Soup. I decided I wanted an arrow to connect the title to the “good stuff” card, so I doodled a quick guide and stitched away. I like how it brought it all together.

Sweet treats

April 19, 2015 By Janice Daquila-Pardo Leave a Comment

The Easter Bunny sure is clever. In 1970, when we were 2 and 3 years old, he found us at Nana and Papa’s house and left us baskets full of chocolate and little presents. Sweet!

On the back of the left photo of Phil holding up an Easter egg, Mom had written what he was saying when they snapped the picture: “A lello one!” So cute. 🙂

Product/technique notes

I followed this Becky Fleck sketch from A Cherry On Top and used products from We R Memory Keepers’ “Farmer’s Market” collection.
The Becky Fleck sketch I followed for this layout

Piano recital

April 9, 2015 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 1 Comment

I was fortunate as a girl to be given piano lessons. Our church’s organist, Ms. Shimmels, would come to our house weekly and patiently work with me on theory and technique. I’ll admit that I loved it and hated it. I really wanted to be better at playing, but daily practice sessions were so hard to get excited about. It’s the age-old conundrum of the wannabe.

I loved to perform, though, so I did get excited about recitals. I practiced the heck out of my recital music, learning it so well that I would get to the end of the piece and not remember the details of having played it (like when you drive a familiar route on auto pilot).

Each year Ms. Shimmels’ students came together to perform for their families at the Fine Arts Association in Willoughby, and these photos are from our recital in the summer of 1978.

It was a really big deal to me, and my family treated it that way, too. My mom made this sweet yellow dress for the occasion (as she often did for my recitals over the years). And two of my aunts (Mary Lou and Rose) drove from Pennsylvania to be there for it.

I remember quite a lot about this special day, considering it was almost 37 years ago, and I’m grateful for everyone who worked together to make it happen.

Product/technique notes

I followed this Let’s Get Sketchy January sketch quite closely:

Most of the patterns I used are from Jillibean Soup’s “Chilled Cucumber Soup” collection. I designed the title and cut it on my Silhouette.

Danger zone

March 21, 2015 By Janice Daquila-Pardo Leave a Comment

I wanted to do a page about how important it is to me that Matt and I share a similar sense of humor, but how do you sum up a couple’s humor in photos? Why not include a photo from a show we get a lot of laughs out of!

Archer is a bawdy cartoon about an international spy agency where the employees’ best efforts are geared toward undermining and betraying one another. It’s shocking and hilarious (but certainly not for family viewing). It’s just one of many styles of humor that we enjoy, but I thought it would work well for my page because the artwork from the show is so well drawn (and Archer is very good looking). 😉 The title of my layout is Danger Zone because it’s the favorite song of the main character and a frequent joke on the show.

My journaling reads: “Finding a partner with a compatible sense of humor is so important. Life isn’t always easy, and being able to laugh together is essential.”

Product/technique notes

The top of this page is layered with strips of patterned paper to from a sort of awning effect. I cut the title out of the background cardstock and then backed it with a striped yellow pattern so it would show through. The mustache is a cut file from the Silhouette store.

Hello Bradford

March 7, 2015 By Janice Daquila-Pardo Leave a Comment

In October 1990 I went on a weekend road trip with Mom and Dad through some pretty areas in Ohio and Pennsylvania, and we spent one of the nights in this sweet bed & breakfast in Bradford, PA. This was an amazingly fun trip. We talked and joked over the many miles Dad drove and just soaked up the fall beauty and the time together. There are priceless memories in these photos.

Product/technique notes

All the Crate Paper “Open Book” products I used to create this layout came from the Back Porch Memories February kit (thank you to BPM for allowing me to be a part of their design team through March).

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