Sketchabilities

Joy to the world!

December 30, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 6 Comments

Sketchabilities has revealed its latest sketch, #62! 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.

The vintage feel of this Echo Park collection were just right for the colors in these photos from 1978.

These are photos from Christmas 1978. Our Aunt Mary Lou (yawning in the middle photo) came from Pennsylvania to spend the holiday with us; we always had a great time when she visited. Of course, I received awesome gifts, including a sled, a Neil Diamond album, figure skates and…wait for it…an AM-FM digital clock radio! Now that was a cool gift in 1978, and as you can see from the photo, I was pretty excited. In fact, there is a photo of me with my mouth wide open in surprise from just about every Christmas through the years! I love surprises, and I’m not afraid to show it. 😉

I used paper from the Echo Park Season’s Greetings line because their vintage color scheme went well with the gold and red tones in my photos. The plaid scalloped circle was cut using a Silhouette cutting file.

This is my final layout as a member of the Sketchabilities design team. I can’t believe how quickly the time went! I really enjoyed being on the team and feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to lend inspiration to those using Karan Gerber’s beautiful sketches. They were a delight to create with, and I will miss the group. Best of luck to you in the new year, Karan, and thank you again for selecting me to showcase your sketches!

It’s a marshmallow world in the winter

December 15, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 4 Comments

Sketchabilities has revealed its latest sketch, #61! 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 shot of my little brother, Phil, and me is in January 1977 when we took our sleds out into the front yard and played in the new-fallen snow. It was great growing up in the snow belt!

January in Ohio meant an opportunity to use our new Christmas sleds!

I used embossed cardstock by Bazzill for the background to give the feel of falling snow. Then I used all patterned papers from Cosmo Cricket. The silhouette of the children sledding is a Silhouette cut file, and the title is a cut file I created.

You know, I had a little trouble with that title. I had the layout all finished and photographed, and I was writing the email to send to Karan, who runs the Sketchabilities site. When I typed in the word “marshmellow,” as I have always spelled it (although, how many of us has to spell that word often?), Outlook told me I had it wrong. NOOOOO! I never knew it was supposed to be “marshmallow!” That meant I had to tear the title off my layout, create a new cut file, cut it out in two colors, add the title back to my layout and photograph it again. Ugh! So, please learn from my mistake. Check all the spellings in your titles before you finish your layout to save yourself lots of time and frustration.

And if anyone would like the Silhouette cut file I created for the title (with the corrected spelling!), please leave me a comment about that and I’ll email it to you. 🙂

CowParade

November 15, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 12 Comments

Sketchabilities has revealed its latest sketch, #59, and it’s a great one! 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.

Artist-decorated cows were displayed all around the streets of Austin.

CowParade is the largest and most recognized public art event in the world. These exhibits, held in 75 cities in 30 countries to date, have produced more than 5,000 cow canvases by local artists. The exhibits have been viewed by upwards of a half billion people.

And from July through October CowParade came to Austin!

CowParade Austin included 74 sculptures. Matt and I wanted to be sure to partake of this public art display, so we took a few hours one Saturday in October to see as many of them as we could. We walked up and down Congress Avenue and photographed these big bovine beauties. There were many that we didn’t get to see in person, but the ones we did see were beautiful and clever!

Just this weekend the sculptures were auctioned, raising $1.49 million for The Superhero Kids Endowment at the Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas!

Hand over the candy

October 30, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 10 Comments

Blogtoberfest Day 30

Don’t miss out on my GIVEAWAY (closes 12:00 midnight EST tonight)!

Sketchabilities has revealed its latest sketch, #58. 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.

It's 1976, and I'm the hobo holding up Phil the cop for his candy. 🙂

The year is 1976, and Phil and I are dressed as a hobo and a police officer. Our costumes are from the “things from around the house” school of fashion. Phil’s outfit is basically his school uniform—navy pants, light blue shirt and navy tie. Plus he wore a toy gun and badge. My costume was Daddy’s bandana-patterned fishing hat, one of his old shirts and some makeup to make my face look dirty. Easy and convincing, right?

I think my dramatic side is starting to emerge here, as I stage a hold up for the camera. And I just love that flummoxed look on Phil’s face!

Blogtoberfest Day 15

October 15, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 11 Comments

Sketchabilities sketch #57

Sketchabilities has revealed its latest sketch, #57. 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.

Celebrating 14 wonderful years together

These photos were taken on the evening of our 14th wedding anniversary earlier in October. Matt and I really like to try to take a little trip for our anniversary, but when it occurs on a weekday that’s hard to do. There’s a fondue restaurant close to our house that I have been eyeing since it opened, but it’s the type of place one only goes to for special occasions. So we headed there to celebrate our 14 years of wedded bliss!

Matt had never had fondue before this, if you can believe it! I have had it a few times, and I loved it each one. We had a beautiful four-course meal, a great waiter and lovely conversation. So, even though these photos aren’t the best because they’re taken in a darkened restaurant with a flash, I wanted to remember this celebration with a layout.

I went a little wild with the patterned paper on this one. I decided to limit the color palette to black/grays and yellows/golds with a tiny hint of pink/red to highlight the strawberries in the main photo. This made me feel free to use a greater variety of patterns than my usual. I combined papers taken mostly from My Mind’s Eye Lost & Found Two collection and Authentique’s Blissful collection. They worked quite well together, in my opinion. The doilies and flower/swirl embellishments were cut with my Silhouette and highlighted with a bit of bling.

I am so pleased to be starting my Sketchabilities design team responsibilities! I hope you’ll check out the site and play along with us on the sketch challenges. 🙂