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Under the shade of the old oak tree

August 23, 2012 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 2 Comments

There's not a lot better in August than hanging out in the shade.

We grew up in a house with two big, beautiful trees in the front yard—a maple and an oak. In the fall, when we had to rake, I cursed their deep roots, sturdy limbs and plentiful leaves. But in the summer, their canopies combined to shade almost every inch of our yard, and I adored them.

In this August 1979 photo, Phil and I are under the shade of those trees, on an Indian blanket, playing a game of UNO. We actually spent a lot of quality time on that blanket, under those trees. We ate picnic lunches Mom made for us, drew, read books out loud to each other, played games and talked each other’s ears off.

I particularly remember Phil forcing me to slog through the entire 222 pages with him of Me & The Spitter: An Autobiographical Confession by Gaylord Perry. It was the Cleveland Indians pitcher’s account of how he cheated, doctoring baseballs with spit and Vaseline. It was truly thrilling.

What I also love about this photo are details like how each of us is wearing a matching tank-top-and-shorts set. And how tan we are. And our cute little haircuts. You get the idea: I think we’re darling! So, here’s to late summer and hanging out under a tree with your bestie!

I used Creative Scrappers sketch #222 for inspiration and Pebbles and Simple Stories patterned papers to pull this layout together.

Just me and the open road

July 2, 2012 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 2 Comments

When a kid has a bike, everything changes.

This is the first week Creative Scrappers is revealing the work of their new sketch artists and design teams. Sketch #215 is a great one created by Jenny Evans, and I decided to play along with it to celebrate with my new team members.

My journaling on this layout reads:
“What a 6-year-old girl knows about her world changes once she a gets a bike. Pre-bike all I knew of my hometown I saw from a moving car or on walks with my parents. But once Santa left me a beautiful blue vehicle of discovery under the Christmas tree my world expanded. Willoughby was mine!”

Product/technique notes: I pulled together this sweet little summer page using patterned papers from Simple Stories’ Summer Fresh collection and that cool building paper from Studio Calico’s Abroad collection.

A beautiful mess

April 30, 2012 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 2 Comments

When new collections come out by my favorite scrap companies I am always tempted to buy. But I rarely get the whole collection because no matter how much I like (even love) it, I just can’t imagine wanting to create that many layouts out of the same look. Add to that the fact that collections have become so expensive. So I have been for some time buying the 6×6 paper pads that many companies are issuing. They have long been favored by card makers because of their smaller-sized patterns, and I quite like the lower price tag as well.

So I am always on the hunt for ways to use pieces of patterned paper that are 6×6 or smaller on my 12×12 layouts. When I find good ways to do this I will share them here in case you, like me, have several 6×6 paper pads or a bin full of scraps waiting to make it into your designs.

I really love the bright, happy feeling I achieved on this baby-themed layout without using any baby-themed papers.

Yup, another layout of me as an adorable baby. 😉 I have a few photos from Mom of me in my high chair, but this one really makes me laugh. How great is life when the likelihood that you’re wearing more food than you ate makes you this happy?

I based this layout on sketch #205 from the Creative Scrappers blog, and I’m entering it into their challenge. I really enjoyed working with this sketch; it’s right up my design alley.

Product/technique notes: I had fun blending companies’ products here, with background paper from American Crafts’ new Amy Tangerine Sketchbook line, accent papers from My Mind’s Eye’s Lime Twist line and shapes from the Silhouette store.

Last year at ICS

April 28, 2012 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 3 Comments

That redo that you do

Are there any layouts in your albums that you would like to do over? Maybe you thought you were done with it, but when you looked at it later you weren’t thrilled. Or you put it aside unfinished because you just couldn’t make it come together to your liking.

I know I do.

And while I don’t think we should go through our albums and redo all the layouts on which we used older products or techniques that we’re no longer in love with (there are way too many new layouts to create), every so often I do think it’s worth pulling out an unsatisfactory page and “tweaking” it. Or outright starting over. In my mind, the ones that qualify for this treatment are the special photos—the one-time events and images of times past that can’t be recreated.

Version 1: Bleck!

Here is a layout I started a few years ago but never finished. It’s a 5×7 portrait of me from eighth grade, and nothing I was trying to do with it worked for me. So I set it aside thinking that I would pull it out on another day and that the best way to finish it would just occur to me. It never did.

This is my first try at a design with this photo. Wasn't working for me.

When I recently saw this sketch on the Designs by Ashley Rock blog, it made me think of my long-forgotten layout, and I decided to let my first version go into the darkness and start over with it.

The Ashley Rock sketch I referenced while making this layout.

Version 2: So much better!

This is the layout I came up with using the sketch. I’m so much happier with the final product than I would have been if I had insisted on finishing my first version!

I don't know about you, but I like this version a lot better!

So, what do you think? Should I have left well enough alone, or do you think my redo was worth it? Do you ever tweak or redo your pages?

Product/technique notes: Most of the papers and elements on this page came from the Simple Stories Elementary collection. I also used doily stamps from Studio Calico and Inkadinkado.

All tucked in

April 22, 2012 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 4 Comments

I was about 6 months old in this photo, and Daddy had just put me in bed with Mom.

The simple story behind this photo is that Daddy had arisen when he heard me stir in the other room, and rather than put me back in my crib, he tucked me in bed with my still-sleeping Mommy. Whenever we looked through family photos together over the years, Dad would always say how much he loved that photo.

I created this layout with two online challenges in mind.

Product/technique notes: I just love how the patterns in the MME Six by Six Honey Cake pad matched the colors in my photo. All the stamps and bits and bobs (except the buttons) are also MME.

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