Silhouette

Joshing around

January 18, 2014 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 7 Comments

You're not joshing me, are you?

Matt and I have known Josh for at least 10 years now. He’s a loving, fun and funny teddy bear, so I wanted to dedicate a page to our friendship with him. He’s a good guy and a good friend. These photos are from a lunch date we had with him back in November.

I knew what my title would be for this layout before I even began working on it because I’m a punny girl and I liked the play on Josh’s name too much not to use it. I did a little research to find out where the phrases “joshing around” or “just joshing you” came from, and what I learned is very interesting:

Josh Tatum was a deaf mute who was able to use an oversight of the US Mint to his advantage. In 1883, the Mint produced the newly designed Liberty nickel. On the reverse of the coin, the design featured a Roman numeral “V” but nowhere did the word “cents” appear. Realizing an opportunity, Mr. Tatum had several of the newly minted cents electroplated with a thin layer of gold. Tatum then traveled from town to town visiting stores and buying items with a value less than 5 cents. When the clerk rang the item up, Tatum handed over one of the gold-plated nickels. The store clerks usually assumed that the coin was a $5 gold piece and would give Mr. Tatum change. Tatum amassed quite a bit of money before being caught by police. He was found innocent of charges because as a mute, Tatum had never actually represented that the coin was a $5 gold piece! That same year, the US Mint added the word “cents” to the Liberty head nickel in an effort to bring this type of fraud to a halt. And the famous saying was born: “You’re not joshing me, are you?”

So now you know!

Product/technique notes

I just loved the “kitty” t-shirt that Josh was wearing in these photos, so I went in search of papers that had black, aqua and gray in them. Fancy Pants’ “Park Bench” collection fit the bill perfectly. I designed the title and cut it and the flourishes (Design ID #19030 in the Silhouette store) on my Cameo. I used Paper Bakery’s sketch #18 as inspiration for my design.

Bring it, 2014

January 15, 2014 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 2 Comments

I created this page to participate in the My Mind's Eye January 14 Things challenge.

We always create goals for the new year and spend a good deal of energy on achieving them. This year the difference is that I’m going public with them. Why not? Accountability is motivating. So here are my 14 for 2014:
1. Publish first book
2. Write second book
3. No TV during the week
4. Create new workout routine
5. Incorporate more GF recipes into repertoire
6. Daquila-Pardo University
7. De-clutter
8. Get more sleep/drink more water
9. Learn more about photography
10. Build WordPress skills
11. Scan files to become paperless
12. Organize family photos
13. Spend more time with friends/have more fun
14. Choose to be happy every day

The photo is of me and my friend, Audrey, laughing at the Christmas party she and her husband hosted. It goes with my 13th goal, “Spend more time with friends/have more fun.”

Product/technique notes

Everything on this page except the cardstock is by My Mind’s Eye, mostly from the “Find your wings and fly” collection.

Cover me up, cuddle me in

January 12, 2014 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 4 Comments

Spenser had me wrapped around his little paw from the second we met.

The 19th sketch challenge has been posted at the SCRAP & MUSIC challenge blog! Head over to the site to grab the sketch and play along. This sketch came with the song “Kiss Me” by Ed Sheeran.

My layout

Our family adopted our precious puppy, Spenser, in early 1991. I loved cuddling with him so much. These two photos are of us spooning on the couch in the fall of 1991, so Spenser would have been six months old in the left picture and seven months old in the right one. The line “Cover me up, cuddle me in” from the challenge song was a perfect fit for my title.

Product/technique notes

I used several patterns from the Pebbles “Walnut Grove” 6×6 paper pad to create the layers on this design, and the background is from the My Mind’s Eye “Cut & Paste” collection.

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:

“Kiss Me” by Ed Sheeran

Settle down with me
Cover me up, cuddle me in
Lie down with me, yeah
And hold me in your arms

And your heart’s against my chest
Your lips pressed to my neck
I’m falling for your eyes but they don’t know me yet
And with a feeling I’ll forget, I’m in love now

Kiss me like you wanna be loved
You wanna be loved, you wanna be loved
This feels like falling in love
Falling in love, we’re falling in love

Settle down with me
And I’ll be your safety, you’ll be my lady
I was made to keep your body warm
But I’m cold as the wind blows
So hold me in your arms

My heart’s against your chest
Your lips pressed to my neck
I’m falling for your eyes but they don’t know me yet
And with this feeling I’ll forget, I’m in love now

Kiss me like you wanna be loved
You wanna be loved, you wanna be loved
This feels like falling in love
Falling in love, we’re falling in love

Yeah I’ve been feeling everything
From hate to love, from love to lust, from lust to truth
I guess that’s how I know you
So hold you close to help you give it up

So kiss me like you wanna be loved
You wanna be loved, you wanna be loved
This feels like falling in love
Falling in love, we’re falling in love

Kiss me like you wanna be loved
You wanna be loved, you wanna be loved
This feels like falling in love
Falling in love, we’re falling in love

One is silver, the other is gold

January 8, 2014 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 1 Comment

Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver, the other is gold.

I thought I had just about finished this layout with a photo of me and my baby brother in front of this cool gold artifact wall in downtown Austin. Matt and I had just picked up Phil from the airport for his week-long visit from Durham, NC, and whisked him to Torchy’s Tacos for lunch. As we were leaving we stood for a few minutes marveling at the work that went into making this artist’s vision a reality and then decided to snap a photo in front of it.

It was when I sat staring at my almost-finished project that I realized what it needed—a gold artifact border! Burning with the desire to see this happen, I pulled out a slew of old rubber stamps and started stamping in gold pigment ink. Yes, it was time-consuming, but it was also lots of fun. I just don’t stamp on my pages often enough, so this felt great.

Once my border was finished I started rethinking my plan for a title. It had been my intention to go with something about keeping Austin weird. But focusing on the gold motif made me think of that little children’s song, “Make new friends.” Remember it? Well, I went looking for the words to it and decided it was just perfect for a layout about my bro because he’s my oldest and goldest friend.

Make new friends
Make new friends,
but keep the old.
One is silver,
the other is gold.
A circle is round,
it has no end.
That’s how long,
I will be your friend.
A fire burns bright,
it warms the heart.
We’ve been friends,
from the very start.
You have one hand,
I have the other.
Put them together,
We have each other.
Silver is precious,
Gold is too.
I am precious,
and so are you.
You help me,
and I’ll help you.
And together
we will see it through.
The sky is blue,
The Earth is green.
I can help
to keep it clean.
Across the land,
Across the sea.
Friends forever
we will always be.

Product/technique notes

I had such a good time creating this layout. I followed the sketch below from Creative Scrappers and used patterned papers from Crate Paper’s “Snow Days” 6×6 pad. Then, because I really loved that crazy artistic wall of gold artifacts in the photo, I pulled out a ton of old rubber stamps and created a border of gold icons around the whole page. I also pulled out my gold lame Heidi Swapp Color Shine and created the ampersand in the title block and the Christmas tree in the bottom left.

You can see where I pencilled in a border on my kraft background paper as a guide. Then in the interest of time, I decided only to use rubber stamps because cleaning and putting away clear stamps would take a lot more effort. I gathered a group of larger images from my collection and stamped those first.

After stamping with the large rubber stamps, I filled in around them with smaller ones.

Our 2013 Christmas card

December 20, 2013 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 3 Comments

The inside of our cards is stamped with this quote from Elf: The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.

So, the cards I designed this year to send to friends and family seemed like a nice, simple concept. One that I wrongly assumed wouldn’t take much time to put together. Oh, what a silly girl I am! Since when has making my Christmas cards ever been a simple task? Why did I think this year’s design would be different? Because I am an optimist, which is not the best attribute to have when trying to tuck projects like this in among all the other tasks at this time of year!

Well, they’re finished and mailed, and I’m happy with them. Merry Christmas from the Daquila-Pardos!

Product/technique notes

I used a cut file from the Silhouette store to make the white artisan-shaped front piece of the card. Then I embossed it with the Cuttlebug “Snowflakes” embossing folder and added it to an A2 card base with foam adhesive over a bit of patterned paper (various patterns and brands). The inside of each card is stamped with this fun quote from the movie, Elf: “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.”

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