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Ghouls just want to have fun

November 7, 2013 By Janice Daquila-Pardo Leave a Comment

The fairy princess and the wizard are ready to party!

I met Joanie in grade school at Immaculate Conception. She was the older sister of my classmate, Matt, and our friendship began not long before she graduated from eighth grade and moved on to junior high/high school. When I graduated and began high school elsewhere, that seems to be when our friendship really took off!

It was wonderful having a good friend outside of my high school circle. It meant that when we got together we could really catch up on what had been happening in our individual lives. I particularly remember enjoying the times Joanie had me over to her house to spend the night. I loved the contrast of spending time in her larger family (5 kids as compared to the 2 in my family), and they always made me feel quite at home. One time we even got snowed in while I was staying over (awesome).

In this photo I was about to turn 17, Joanie would have been 18, and we were heading out to a Halloween party. I don’t remember who threw the party, but I do remember us planning our costumes and getting excited together. What a good time that was, and what an important friendship hers was to me.

Product/technique notes

I followed this Creative Scrappers sketch #254 as inspiration for my page. the patterned paper is from Bella Blvd’s “Trick or treat” and “Too cute to spook” collections, an ancient paper from 2006 by KI Memories (the orange background with the text) and some random patterns not related to Halloween. I designed the title using the Nightmare Before Christmas font and also used the witch boots file (Design ID #12941) on my Silhouette.

More than words

November 3, 2013 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 1 Comment

On the gorgeous UNC-Chapel Hill campus

The 14th sketch challenge has been posted at the SCRAP & MUSIC challenge blog! Head over to the site to grab the sketch and play along. This 14th sketch came with the song “More than words” by Extreme.

My layout

One day this summer my mom, brother and I took a walk around the gorgeous UNC-Chapel Hill campus where Phil went to grad school and now works. It was a great day for photos. I especially liked this one of them with South Building (the university’s main administrative building, built in 1814) in the background.

I paired this photo with the challenge song, “More than words,” simply because I love these two more than words.

Product/technique notes

The patterned papers on this page are from Echo Park’s “Beautiful life” collection. Because of all that great open space in my photo I decided to add my title right on the photo with Photoshop before printing it.

The challenge

The challenges on this blog involve following the sketch and using a title on your layout with a line from the provided music. Below I’ve included the video as well as the lyrics for this song:

“More than words” by Extreme
Saying ‘I Love you’
Is not the words I want to hear from you
It’s not that I want you not to say
But if you only know
How easy it would be to show me how you feel

More than words
Is all you have to do to make it real
Then you wouldn’t have to say
That you love me ’cause I’d already know

What would you do if my heart was torn in two?

More than words to show you feel
That your love for me is real

What would you say if I took those words away?

Then you couldn’t make things new
Just by saying ‘I love you’

More than words

Now that I’ve tried to
Talk to you and make you understand
All you have to do is
Close your eyes and just reach out your hands
And touch me, hold me close
Don’t ever let me go

More than words
Is all I ever needed you to show
Then you wouldn’t have to say
That you love me ’cause I’d already know

What would you do if my heart was torn in two?

More than words to show you feel
That your love for me is real

What would you say if I took those words away?

Then you couldn’t make things new
Just by saying ‘I love you’

First gift

October 30, 2013 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 1 Comment

What could be a more romantic first gift from a boyfriend than a copy of Army of Darkness?

When I was growing up we didn’t really get into fantasy, sci fi or horror movies and books. My husband, on the other hand, grew up in a family that was immersed in them. It’s funny because it took Matt quite a while to get used to the idea that I didn’t know all the same stories he did. But this all started while we were dating back in 1996, and I horrified Matt for the first of many times when I admitted that I hadn’t seen the movie “Army of Darkness.” You’d have thought I told him I had never learned how to tie my shoes for as put out as Matt was to learn of my incomplete education.

So the next time we got together for a date Matt had a gift for me: the VHS of “Army of Darkness.” And he made me stick it in the VCR and watch it that very night. It makes me giggle to realize that this was the first gift Matt was ever to give me. When I mentioned this to him the other night while preparing to create this page about it he said, “Geez, what a lame first gift!” Oh, I don’t know. It’s kitschy; it’s bloody; it has some great quotable lines. That seems like a pretty memorable beginning to our relationship.

Product/technique notes

Using the My Mind’s Eye sketch below as inspiration and all MME products, I created this non-Halloween project using almost all Halloween supplies. I designed and cut the title with my Cameo.

Scare me

October 25, 2013 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 1 Comment

This photo of us in 2010 was taken right after we had completed the Scare for a Cure haunted adventure. So fun!

I’m not really one for scary movies. I just don’t like the tension of waiting for the next startling moment so I can jump back in my seat and shriek. And I really don’t like the movies that are about the truly horrifying things that humans can do to each other. (Shiver)

So when I won two free tickets to an interactive haunted house back in 2010, I felt dubious about my “prize.” But I couldn’t help myself from winning that contest. Matt and I were attending a “Sean of the Dead” quote-along event at the Alamo Drafthouse movie theater, and the night started with a little contest. The first person to raise his/her hand once the question was asked would have the first chance to answer the question. And the question was about “Sean of the Dead,” which I happen to know quite well, having seen it several times . As soon as the guy up on stage started asking the question, I knew the answer, and my arm shot into the air unbidden by my conscious brain.

Emcee: What nickname (my hand shoots up) does Sean’s mother call him?
Me: Pickle
Emcee: You’ve won two red-level tickets (the scarier version) to the Scare for a Cure interactive multimedia haunted adventure!
Me: Yay?

But we had such a blast! We got chased and spooked and covered in blood and gore. And we laughed the entire time. So we’ve purchased tickets each year since (they put on a completely new adventure each year). In fact, we’re going with some friends tomorrow night, and I can’t wait.

Product/technique notes

I cut several pieces from the Carta Bella “All Hallow’s Eve” collection and layered them to create the subtle feel of a mummy’s wraps. Then I cut a mummy (Design ID #33022 from the Silhouette store) in three layers on the Silhouette Cameo and spritzed each with different shades of mist to create depth and difference.

You don’t know you’re beautiful

October 22, 2013 By Janice Daquila-Pardo Leave a Comment

We just love when Jake's lip gets caught on his gums and it gives him this crooked smile look.

The 13th sketch challenge has been posted at the SCRAP & MUSIC challenge blog! Head over to the site to grab the sketch, which I’m proud to have designed, and play along. This 13th sketch came with the song “What makes you beautiful” by One Direction.

My layout

When we rescued Jake several years back he was injured and living as part of a feral cat colony a few miles from our house. His left arm had been injured badly, and the vet said it appeared he had been living with it that way for several months. So to save his life his arm had to be amputated. I know it’s sad to see anyone living without a limb, but the truth is that Jake has done really well adjusting to balancing on three legs instead of four. In fact he’s a speed demon on his way to the kitchen at feeding time, he’s a really good “hockey” player (he just rears up on his legs and uses his good arm) and he has the most delightful, loving personality. He just seems thrilled to be alive.

Jake has also had to have his front teeth removed, so he sports this adorable little crooked “smile” when his lip gets hung up on his gums. Despite all that (or perhaps because of it), our Jake is so beautiful, inside and out. This is why I used the “You don’t know you’re beautiful” line from the assigned song for this challenge.

Product/technique notes

The majority of the patterned papers on this page are from American Crafts’ “Ready, set, go” collection. The flag and flair are from BasicGrey. I designed the title in Silhouette Studio and cut it on my Cameo.

The challenge

The challenges on this blog involve following the sketch and using a title on your layout with a line from the provided music. Below I’ve included the video as well as the lyrics for this song:

“What makes you beautiful” by One Direction
You’re insecure, don’t know what for
You’re turning heads when you walk through the door
Don’t need make-up, to cover up
Being the way that you are is enough

Everyone else in the room can see it
Everyone else but you

Baby you light up my world like nobody else
The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed
But when you smile at the ground it ain’t hard to tell
You don’t know oh oh
You don’t know you’re beautiful

If only you saw what I can see
You’ll understand why I want you so desperately
Right now I’m looking at you and I can’t believe
You don’t know oh oh
You don’t know you’re beautiful oh oh
But that’s what makes you beautiful

So come on, you got it wrong
To prove I’m right I put it in the song
I don’t know why, you’re being shy
And turn away when I look into your eyes

Everyone else in the room can see it
Everyone else but you

Na-na-na-na-na-naaa-na-na
Na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na-na-naaa-na-na
Na-na-na-na-na

If only you saw what I can see
You’ll understand why I want you so desperately
Right now I’m looking at you and I can’t believe
You don’t know oh oh
You don’t know you’re beautiful oh oh
You don’t know oh oh
That’s what makes you beautiful

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