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‘Tis near Halloween

October 26, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo Leave a Comment

Blogtoberfest Day 26

Don’t miss out on my GIVEAWAY!

Twisted Sketches has revealed its latest sketch, #125, and the twist is “black.” 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.

When witches go riding, and black cats are seen, the moon laughs and whispers, 'tis near Halloween.

The simple story behind this photo of me from 1971 is that I had a school Halloween party to attend, so Mom found this witch’s cape for me to wear, and Dad made the hat to match! Don’t I look frightening? 😉

It’s so fun when everything comes together this way on a layout. I thought the Fancy Pants “October 31” collection was perfect for my photo and the sketch. From the witches’ hats background paper, to that apropos quote I cut from another pattern, to the way the striped paper—when folded into rosettes—looks a bit like candy. It all just worked. Then I had a little fun with my Silhouette to complete the scene with the witch, bats and black cat.

I hope you’ll take the sketch out for a spin (on your broom)!

So grateful for rain

October 19, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 5 Comments

Blogtoberfest Day 19

The layout I’m sharing today is based on a sketch provided at sketch challenge site, Sketchy Thursdays. This challenge is open until Saturday, October 22nd, so you can still play along! In addition to following the provided sketch, we had to journal about what we’re thankful for and include at least five leaves on the page (as a photo, patterned paper, stamps, die cuts, etc.).

After 13 months of drought, the rain we had last week was a blessing.

The sketch and the journaling prompt worked together so well for me this time. I immediately thought of how thankful I was for our recent rainstorms. And with that thought in mind, the sketch stopped looking like strips of patterned paper to me and more like raindrops falling down the page. The journaling reads, “I am thankful daily for my family, my love, my health, my God and my home. But after 13 months of drought in Austin, I am particularly grateful for RAIN.”

The background paper I chose represents the parched earth that surrounds us. The patterned paper “raindrops” reflect the colors in the photo of the leaves in the puddle. And a little Glossy Accents on the word RAIN in the title reflects the blessed moisture. We certainly didn’t get enough rain to pull us out of our drought, but we’ll take every drop with gratitude.

Blogtoberfest Day 16

October 16, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo Leave a Comment

National Feral Cat Day

Today is National Feral Cat Day! This annual event is coordinated by Alley Cat Allies as a way to raise awareness about feral cats, promote Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR), and recognize the millions of compassionate Americans who care for feral cats. Each year cat welfare groups and cat lovers across the country plan events to help educate people in their communities about feral cats and TNR. This year there are over 300 events planned in all 50 states.

Matt and I are involved in feral cat rescue efforts in our local area. We take great pride and pleasure in helping improve/save the lives of cats without homes. In fact, layouts of cats that you may have seen or will see on my blog are of those we have trapped and fostered.

Our favorite local cat rescue organization is Shadow Cats, a group “dedicated to improving the lives of community cats through humane advocacy.” The reason we like them so much is that they are dedicated to the care of the current resident population of ill, immune compromised, injured and senior cats. In other words, they take the cats who would not otherwise have any hope.

So, when Shadow Cats recently held an art market fundraiser, I decided to use my craft supplies and creativity to make a scrapbook album for them to auction. I made the album in all one color palette, using a subtle cat theme (mostly through my titles and a few images) and with spaces for only 4×6 photos (so there would be no cropping needed by the person who ends up with it).

I had a great time creating this project and hope that someone who has a beloved cat or cats will enjoy it forever. Have you ever used your crafting habit to help an organization in whose work you believe? I can highly recommend it. It made me feel warm and fuzzy—like a cat! 🙂

Royalty in residence

Purrsonality

"One cat just leads to another." Ernest Hemingway

"The ideal of calm exists in a sitting cat." Jules Renard

Meow, purr, yawn

"What greater gift than the love of a cat?" Charles Dickens

"Cats are the connoisseurs of comfort." James Herriot

I love you, purr & simple

Showing cattitude

"Time spent with cats is never wasted." Sigmund Freud

Naptime

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!

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