Silhouette

Our shared graduation party

September 15, 2014 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 5 Comments

What a big day high school graduation is in the life of a teenager...and his/her parents!

My younger brother and I went to school together. And by that I mean that we started first grade on the same day in 1973 and graduated high school on the same day in 1985. In fact, we started and graduated college on the same days as well, but that’s a story for another day. We essentially attended school as twins, even though we’re 13.5 months apart in age (because Phil started a year early).

So of course we celebrated our graduation party together. Mom and Dad put together a lovely fête in our Willoughby, Ohio, back yard and invited our friends and relatives. The top photo is of Dad, me, Mom and Phil. The bottom photo includes our grandparents on Mom’s side (seated), our Uncle Earl and Aunt Mary Lou, our Nana on Dad’s side and our Aunt Rose.

Product/technique notes

I created this layout to participate in the Scrap & Play challenge #9. The patterned papers are from a K&Co Amy Bulter pad and the journaling card, stickers and washi tape are from My Mind’s Eye’s “Now & Then: Dorothy” collection. I cut the title on my Silhouette, and the border punches are by Martha Stewart and Fiskars.

Dapper dad

August 15, 2014 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 1 Comment

This photo reminds me just how much my husband takes after his father!

I have this cool studio portrait from the early 1980s of my husband’s dad. It’s hard to get past that super cheesy background and the overly staged leg-up pose, but once I do here’s what I notice: Matt takes after his father so much more than I realized. He has his twinkling brown eyes, those deep lines around his mouth when he smiles and his high hairline. But the most pronounced resemblance, to me, is in the arms and hands. They are exactly the same. I have always loved Matt’s strong arms and hands, and now I know where they came from.

Just another one of the gifts that comes from handing down family photos.

Product/technique notes

I followed this sketch from Scrapbook Generation and replaced the two small photos with Polaroid images that I fussy cut from some WRMK paper. The main pattern I used for the background’s bottom half is an ancient piece of paper from Chatter Box. Remember them? Yeah, I’m not surprised. It’s been a long time. All the rest are bits and pieces from my scrap box.
Scrapbook Generation sketch

I heart dandelions

August 8, 2014 By Janice Daquila-Pardo Leave a Comment

I consider myself quite good at turning a frown upside down, such as by liking the existence of weeds in my yard!

Seriously? It sounds weird, I know. But I really have always liked dandelions. Of course if stems from childhood. Instead of having the adult reaction of annoyance at seeing them in my yard, I think of being a kid and feel an impulse to run over, pluck them and blow their fuzzies off!

But there’s more than that. Dandelions are rather cool, really versatile plants. The University of Maryland Medical Center website says:

While many people think of the dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) as a pesky weed, it’s chock full of vitamins A, B, C, and D, as well as minerals such as iron, potassium, and zinc. Dandelion leaves are used to add flavor to salads, sandwiches, and teas. The roots are used in some coffee substitutes, and the flowers are used to make wines.

Product/technique notes

The papers I used for this page all come from different companies. From the background up: Bella Blvd, Little Yellow Bicycle, Studio Calico and BasicGrey. The washi tape is WRMK, the 3×4 card is Simple Stories and the stars stamp is Shimelle Laine for Two Peas in a Bucket. I designed and cut the title with the Silhouette Cameo.

Tennis begins with love

July 27, 2014 By Janice Daquila-Pardo Leave a Comment

My brother took this photo of me and Mom just after we'd finished a morning of tennis in July 1983.

This is a photo that brings back great memories for me of playing tennis with my mom and brother. There was a nice set of courts next to the city pool, and we often rode our bikes over to play. Sometimes just Phil and I went, and sometimes Mom joined us. When we were younger than I was in this photo (high school), Phil and I took lessons for a few summers. They were taught by a very patient man named Bill Ungar; such a nice guy.

Matt and I have tried to play tennis together, but here in Texas it’s just so hot that it’s not quite as fun as I remember from my youth in Ohio!

Product/technique notes

Just about everything on this page comes from the Simple Stories “I heart summer” collection. I designed and cut the title with the Silhouette.

Drinking from the hose & free Silhouette cut file

July 11, 2014 By Janice Daquila-Pardo Leave a Comment

Notice how he has shifted his color to almost perfectly match the hose.

I caught this cool moment on camera the other day in our back yard. I was out doing some watering, and when I walked back over to turn off the hose I saw this little lizard clinging to the side of it guzzling the water that was spilling down the side. This clever boy seems to have been waiting in the tall grass for someone to come along and turn on his water fountain!

Would you like to use this title on a page of your own? I’m making it available as a freebie*; just click on the image below to download the Silhouette file. And if you do use it please come back and leave a comment on this post so I can ooh and ahh over it. 🙂

Product/technique notes

I decided to play along with Paper Camellia’s July sketch challenge, below. The kraft-based papers are from an older collection by DCWV called “Playtime.”

*I will be releasing cut files periodically; they are free for your personal use and governed by this license:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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