one-page layouts

Blogtoberfest Day 15

October 15, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 11 Comments

Sketchabilities sketch #57

Sketchabilities has revealed its latest sketch, #57. Be sure to head over to the site to grab the sketch, then create something and link it up! 🙂

Here’s my Design Team layout inspired by the sketch.

Celebrating 14 wonderful years together

These photos were taken on the evening of our 14th wedding anniversary earlier in October. Matt and I really like to try to take a little trip for our anniversary, but when it occurs on a weekday that’s hard to do. There’s a fondue restaurant close to our house that I have been eyeing since it opened, but it’s the type of place one only goes to for special occasions. So we headed there to celebrate our 14 years of wedded bliss!

Matt had never had fondue before this, if you can believe it! I have had it a few times, and I loved it each one. We had a beautiful four-course meal, a great waiter and lovely conversation. So, even though these photos aren’t the best because they’re taken in a darkened restaurant with a flash, I wanted to remember this celebration with a layout.

I went a little wild with the patterned paper on this one. I decided to limit the color palette to black/grays and yellows/golds with a tiny hint of pink/red to highlight the strawberries in the main photo. This made me feel free to use a greater variety of patterns than my usual. I combined papers taken mostly from My Mind’s Eye Lost & Found Two collection and Authentique’s Blissful collection. They worked quite well together, in my opinion. The doilies and flower/swirl embellishments were cut with my Silhouette and highlighted with a bit of bling.

I am so pleased to be starting my Sketchabilities design team responsibilities! I hope you’ll check out the site and play along with us on the sketch challenges. 🙂

Blogtoberfest Day 12

October 12, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo Leave a Comment

Enveloped in love + freebie

Twisted Sketches has revealed its latest sketch, #123, and the twist is “envelope.” Be sure to head over to the site to grab the sketch, then create something and link it up! 🙂

Here’s my Design Team layout inspired by the sketch.

This is Mom, Phil and me in October 1972 in front of our Willoughby, Ohio, home.

Before I begin work on one of the Twisted Sketches assignments I always spend a little time thinking about possible variations on the “twist.” In this case, the twist was “envelope,” so I knew I could use an actual envelope on the page to either house my journaling or just as a decorative element. But as I turned the word over in my mind I thought of the similar word, “envelop.” If I used the past tense of that word I could still satisfy the twist! The title “Enveloped in love” occurred to me soon after. Then I went on a hunt through my photo organizer for the perfect picture to use with it.

I don’t think I could have found a better photo to represent this idea. It’s of my mom, my brother and me in October 1972. We’re out in front of our house in Willoughby, Ohio. Mom’s arms are actually encircling us. She wrote on the back of the original snapshot, “Daddy’s family.” Everything about this photo speaks of love and being enfolded in it. Happy sigh.

There’s one extra little detail about this photo that tickles me (in addition to the 70s clothes and Phil’s glasses). If you squint you can see two little decals on the window behind us. They are a wee witch and jack-o’-lantern, stuck low on the window for our sakes, I imagine. Such a darling detail, don’t you think?

I created a Silhouette cut file to use for my title. If you think you could use this title on a project of your own and you have a Silhouette, I would be happy to email you the file if you send a request to janice at theconstantscrapper dot com.

Blogtoberfest Day 6

October 6, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo Leave a Comment

Happy birthday, Daddy

Today is the 78th anniversary of my dear father’s birth. We all miss him so. But today I want to celebrate his birth with a layout that uses a photo from his 65th birthday dinner in 1998.

At that time we were all living in Chapel Hill, NC, so we were able to celebrate together with dinner and cake at a nice local restaurant. We had a lovely time together, and then the waiter took this photo for us. Isn’t it amazing how sometimes that one shot you have taken by a stranger can become so important to you later? This is definitely one of those times.

Happy birthday dear Daddy. Happy birthday to you!

Happy National German-American Day

Today is also National German-American Day. My sweet mother is German-American, and it just so happens that she traveled to Germany for the first time last month! So I am posting a few photos from her wonderful trip as a way of celebrating this day. I will certainly do a layout to commemorate her trip soon and post it here, but I wanted to share a few photos of the old country to mark the day. “Ich liebe dich, Mama!”

Beautiful German countryside

This photo makes me want to climb inside!

Blogtoberfest Day 5

October 5, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 1 Comment

Mrs. Daquila

Today is World Teachers’ Day, and I want to celebrate the best teacher I’ve ever had—my mom. 🙂

Mom has been a teacher since 1963—before she and Daddy were married in 1965—so countless students have called her “Mrs. Daquila” over the years. In those years she has taught students from four to 80 years of age (because she ran the GED program in our hometown of Willoughby for a time).

Mom just loves teaching. And her students and their parents really love her back. She has always received high praise and thanks from parents, and when she sees past students years later, they always tell her how much her classes meant to them.

Mrs. Daquila is a layout devoted to my mom's long and successful teaching career.

I feel so fortunate to have such a loving first teacher in my life. Thank you, Mom. I love you.

So, have you thought about doing a layout about a favorite teacher of yours?

Blogtoberfest Day 4

October 4, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 1 Comment

Companions on a journey

Today is the fourteenth anniversary of the day I married my beloved. I was talking to my bro last night, who said, “No way would I say it’s been 14 years! It seems more like four!” To that I say, “Amen!”

You know, I had a little suspicion—even while we were dating—that life with Matt might fly by. In particular I remember one beautiful Saturday afternoon back in 1996, after we had spent most of the day together exploring town, eating out and hiking through a park. Matt turned to me and said, “Woah, we’ve been together for eight hours and it hardly feels like two. Imagine how fast 20 years could go by together!” He was right, and now I know how fortunate I am to have time feel so swift with him. Because it tells me that I’m happy and where I should be. I’m so grateful for that and for his love.

The layout I’m sharing today is one I did based on a quote from Pythagoras (Ionian Greek philosopher, mathematician and founder of the religious movement called Pythagoreanism): “Friends are as companions on a journey, who ought to aid each other to persevere in the road to a happier life.” I think this quote aptly describes our friendship and marriage. I also chose to use several patterned papers from October Afternoon’s Boarding Pass line to accentuate the “journey” theme.

Friends are as companions on a journey, who ought to aid each other to persevere in the road to a happier life. ~Pythagoras

So, my challenge to you today is to take inspiration from this layout in one of three ways: 1) Do a layout or card that celebrates a friendship; 2) do a layout or card that features a favorite quote; 3) do a layout or card that highlights a journey of some type (physical, spiritual, emotional, etc.). If you do, please link it up here in the comments so we can come and peek!

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