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Come in & warm up

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

Although we hit 69 degrees today in Austin, Texas, and I actually saw redbud trees starting to bloom, I didn’t grow up with such days in February! The winters of my childhood in northeast Ohio were cold and snowy, just as I think most kids would have it, if they had the choice. At least I liked it. In fact, I wouldn’t mind a few days of beautiful snow and blue skies now. But I probably can’t expect those any time soon, so I’ll just scrap photos of a time when I had them and be thankful that I did.

Product/technique notes

All the Authentique “Cozy” 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), and I followed this Rochelle Spears sketch.
Back Porch Memories sketch by Rochelle Spears

The key to great holiday decorating: The perfect centerpiece

November 26, 2014 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 3 Comments

For a three-legged cat, Jake certainly knows how to get where he wants to go. In this case, I guess he wanted to be in the middle of my fall decorations!

He really is the cutest pumpkin ever, isn’t he?

I decided to scrap this photo during the week of Thanksgiving because it reminds me of how thankful we are for our pets. They love to be with us. They’re such good companions. They make us laugh. And they keep us from focusing too much on ourselves.

They’re our babies, and I’m ever so grateful to have them in our lives.

Product/technique notes

Most of the products I used on this were from Echo Park’s “Reflections: Fall” collection, with the addition of a few pieces of paper from way back in the day. That butter-colored pumpkin paper is an oldie from Paper Salon. I followed the inspiration of this November sketch from Stuck?! Sketches:

Birthday sleepover

November 24, 2014 By Janice Daquila-Pardo Leave a Comment

We all have certain techniques that especially catch our eye when they’re used on a layout, and for me paper folding is one of them.

I seem unable to pass up a closer look at a page with folds! So to add a little extra dimension and personality to my page I incorporated a faux quilting folding technique into my design. If you want to see more details about creating this look, I have a tutorial in an older post for a layout that uses the same technique.

For my 11th birthday in 1977 Mom and Dad let me have a slumber party with a few friends: Jill Trzaska, Renee Poplik and Margaret Wissman. One of my fun memories from this night is when we performed a song-and-dance routine for my family (bottom photo). We called ourselves “The Oreos” because of the plastic Oreo party favor necklaces we all wore. Pretty clever, eh?

Product/technique notes

The products on this page all came from the November Back Porch Memories kit and are from American Crafts’ “Shimelle” line. I created the title on the Silhouette and designed it to incorporate the record die cut from the kit as the O.

Note: I’m submitting this to the Paper Issues “Let’s Get This Party Star-ted and Par-ty Hear-ty” link party.

Three of my many blessings

November 16, 2014 By Janice Daquila-Pardo Leave a Comment

My Mind’s Eye has issued a challenge to create a page about gratitude, and I am certainly grateful for these three women.

Friends are such a blessing.

I met these women when I became an officer in the Ladies’ Club at church last year. Luanne, Debbie and Janet are just the nicest, most loving people, and I’m happy to count them as friends.

Product/technique notes

I created this page using products from the My Mind’s Eye “Indie Chic,” “Quite Contrary,” “Now and Then: Dorothy,” “Follow Your Heart” and “Vintage Nostalgia” collections. I created the title work on my Silhouette and followed this sketch from Paper Issues.

Student of the month

October 24, 2014 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 4 Comments

This is a story from first grade that holds great significance for me. And it starts with a special announcement over the loudspeaker from the school principal.

Mom says I arrived home from first grade on this day in 1974, and with a gleeful smile demanded, “Guess who you’re talking to.” She played along and asked. So I flung open my coat to reveal the badge pinned to my dress and proudly stated, “The Student of the Month, that’s who!” I wore that pin to school on my uniform every day that month.

So that was a big day for me. It still is, obviously. I learned early to enjoy doing my work well and that when and if I am complimented for it, it makes me feel spectacular. It doesn’t take much to make a kid feel special…and clearly some words of praise can last a lifetime.

Product/technique notes

I created this layout based on the following sketch from Stuck?! Sketches and am entering it in their October contest. I had such a difficult time finding papers that went well with this vintage photo. I mean, the couch was brown and light blue, the framed art had browns and oranges in it and my dress was either deep navy or purple. Ugh! I finally came upon these papers from quite deep in my stash, an old collection by TPC Studio called “School Days.” I think they’re just perfect. The banner is from BasicGrey, the ribbon is by American Crafts and I designed the title on my Silhouette Cameo.

I also added some crochet stitches along the edge of the circle because the collar of my dress in this photo is crocheted. If you didn’t see it before, here’s a tutorial on how to add crochet to the edge of page elements.

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