The Constant Scrapper

If I'm not scrapbooking I'm thinking about scrapbooking!

Twisted Sketches

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow

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Twisted Sketches has revealed its latest sketch, #107, and the twist is “time.” 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…

Tomorrow_Daquila-Pardo

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day.

And now a little background on this layout. When Phil and I started our sophomore year in high school in 1983 we decided to try out for the play and both were granted roles. The play was Charles Dickens’ “The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.” It’s a great story, full of villainy and heroism and redemption.

While my role as Miss Ninetta Crummles, The “Infant Phenomenon,” (from Wikipedia: Mr. and Mrs. Crummles’ daughter. She is a very prominent member of the Crummles troupe, and a dancing part is written for her in every performance, even if there is no place for it. She is supposedly ten years old, but is actually closer to eighteen, having been kept on a steady diet of gin to keep her looking young.) was only a small one, I had the first lines of the play. I skipped onto stage and quoted Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day.”

Phil and I had such a great experience that year in the play. The months of after-school rehearsals led to great friendships and wonderful memories. And, in the end, our rendition of Nicholas Nickleby was brilliant!

Here’s a peek at the week’s sketch. I hope you’ll play along.

twistedsketches_107

Here's a peek at the sketch from www.twistedsketches.org

Beach babe

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Twisted Sketches has a new sketch available today (#105), and the twist is “summer.” You can use that twist any way it inspires you to create.

I thought right away of a photo I’ve had printed for a while; it’s of Matt’s younger sister, Thyia, on a beach in Florida. As far as Matt and I can figure it was probably taken in 1985, after their oldest brother, Tom, had graduated from high school and moved to Florida. The rest of the family went to visit him the following summer. Thyia would have been 9 that summer. Isn’t she adorable?

I decided to use a few patterned papers from the new Fancy Pants line, Beach Bum, because they go so well with Thyia’s bathing suit. I fussy cut the waves from one of the papers and used a few cutting files with my Silhouette to create the sun and the title. What do you think of this cute little beach babe?

BeachBabe_Daquila-Pardo

My sister-in-law, Thyia, when she was 9 years old

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This is sketch #105 from http://www.twistedsketches.org

Don’t stop me now ’cause I’m having such a good time!

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Today sketch #103 has gone up at the Twisted Sketches site. The twist for this one is “stop.”

twistedsketches_103

Twisted Sketch #103

Here’s what I put together based on that sketch (click the image for a larger view):

Don'tStopMe3_Daquila-Pardo

Sing my title to the tune "Don't stop me now" by Queen

When I thought of the twist for this sketch I immediately heard Queen’s “Don’t stop me now.” It’s one of those songs that always makes me smile. I love the racing pace and fun feeling of it.

So I used that as my title for this layout, which features me and my younger bro, Phil, back in 1992. We’re out front of our home in Willoughby, Ohio, with Spenser (who was just a little over a year old), ready to head out on a bike ride. It’s a simple memory—for I don’t remember our route or how long we rode or what we talked about on the ride—but I love that I can capture evidence of our family home, our precious dog, a healthy hobby and our close sibling relationship all in one shot.

Celebrating mother, maman, mommy, amma, mama

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Happy Mother’s Day!

The Twisted Sketches blog is celebrating the achievement of its 100th sketch today, and so the whole design team has done layouts about the concept of “celebration.” I could think of nothing more deserving of celebration today than my mother.

This layout is dedicated to all those little idiosyncrasies that make a loved one even more dear to us. Just a few (I don’t want to make her too uncomfortable when she reads this!) of my mom’s quirks include:

  • very animated story telling (see the photos below)
  • acting as if she didn’t hear what you said so she can repeat your words back to you, twisted into something funny
  • believing it’s wasteful of time to be early to anything
  • loving when family members poke fun at her and urging them to do it more

I love you Mom! And I wish we could be together today.

CherishHerQuirks_Daquila-Pardo

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Here is sketch #100, on which my layout was based. But I urge you to go to the Twisted Sketches site to play along this week because there’s a $25 prize up for grabs!

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This is sketch #100 from www.twistedsketches.com

And now are you game for a tiny bit of education about the word “mama?” I found a short article that explains why sounds close to “mama” appear in so many languages (link removed due to site having been hacked) and thought you might enjoy it.

I hope you have a wonderful day!

How can you resist?

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Twisted Sketches launches its 98th sketch today, and the twist this time is “paint.” The sketch and the design team’s interpretations are awaiting you at Twisted Sketches’ site…and here is my design team contribution using the new sketch:

We'llDoLunch_Daquila-Pardo

That's me, wearing Daddy's clip-on sunglasses and enjoying the Ohio sunshine.

This is the sketch:

6a00d83451d2c069e20147e3cc26c9970b-800wi

Twisted Sketch #98 calls for 2 photos

For the “paint” twist I was inspired to try a resist technique on the talk bubble using white shimmer paint. I have done resist techniques with ink and embossing powder before but had not yet tried paint resist, so I thought I would show a quick step-by-step just in case it might inspire you to try it on a future layout.

  1. Gather your supplies: Acrylic paint, rubber stamp, Distress Inks and foam applicators.

    PaintResistSupplies

    This technique doesn't take much in the way of supplies.

  2. Apply paint (shimmer paint in my example) to the stamp image and stamp it carefully (don’t smear it) on a spare bit of cardstock.
  3. Immediately take your rubber stamp to a sink and clean it well with soap and water. It’s best not to let the acrylic paint dry on the stamp as it may be harder to remove.
  4. If you’re patient wait until the paint thoroughly dries. If not, hit it with your heat tool for a minute or two.
  5. Start applying the Distress Inks with a circular motion and blend your colors a little where they meet. I used the three colors shown in the photo, but of course there are no rules about how many you use.
  6. Slightly mist a paper towel with water and gently buff off the extra ink from the painted areas to reveal the true color!

Here is a close-up of the final effect. I think I like it!

CloseUp

This close-up photo shows how the shimmer paint resisted the inks.

If you decide to try this quick technique after reading my post, have your people call my people please leave a comment and a link so I can see what you’ve done!