vintage photos

1984 Miss American Legion post 214

May 27, 2013 By Janice Daquila-Pardo Leave a Comment

Wearing a tiara and waving from the back of a parade truck was certainly nothing I expected to be doing when I entered the American Legion's essay contest!

When I won a scholarship for college from the local American Legion post through an essay contest they held, it included acting as Miss American Legion in the Memorial Day parade! I went and met with the men of the post, who were all such gracious and fun hosts, and then rode in the back of their “official” parade truck. It was a bit surreal to wear a tiara and sash and wave to people along the parade route, but it was an honor and really quite a lot of fun.

Winning that scholarship was part of how I put myself through college, so I will always be grateful to the veterans of AL post 214.

And especially on this Memorial Day I am thankful for all our veterans who have fought and died for us throughout the history of our country.

Product/technique notes:

I followed the PageMaps sketch below and used patterned papers from the Echo Park “Sweet Day” collection. I also designed and cut the title on my Cameo.
PageMaps sketch I followed

Nursing is a calling

May 11, 2013 By Janice Daquila-Pardo Leave a Comment

Sisters and nurses: Frances P. Daquila Duffy and Mary Lou Daquila Schollaert

This week the American Nurses Association celebrates National Nurses Week. In honor of the several nurses in my family I created this page about my father’s sisters, who both dedicated themselves to caring for the sick.

Each of my aunts went to Mercy Hospital School of Nursing in Pittsburgh right after high school. They were eight years apart in age (my dad was the middle child, Aunt Bubbles (Frances) on the left was three years older and Aunt Doo Doo (Mary Lou) on the right is five years younger), so they did not attend nursing school together. However, they did both stay and work out their nursing careers in the Pittsburgh area.

These photos were the ones taken upon their graduation from nursing school, and I just love them! I am grateful to their families for sending me these portraits so that I could create this tribute page about my two aunts.

It’s also important to mention that their careers in nursing have led to daughters and granddaughters of theirs following suit!

There is a nursing tribute I found online for nurses who have passed away. It’s called “The Nightingale Tribute,” and I’m quoting it here because these words led to my page’s title:
“Nursing is a calling, a way of life. Nursing is a service profession that cannot be lived in isolation. Nurses rely on each other for the synergistic effect of teamwork in our efforts of care giving. It is appropriate that we honor our colleagues not only during their career, but also at the end of life’s journey.”

Product/technique notes:
I created this page using papers from My Mind’s Eye “Stella & Rose” collection, decorative brads from Echo Park and a title I created and cut with my Silhouette Cameo.

Labor Day 1974

April 28, 2013 By Janice Daquila-Pardo Leave a Comment

Nana, Papa, Grandma, Grandpa, Phil and me in our backyard on Labor Day in 1974

On this layout is a photo of a very rare occurrence: both sets of my grandparents are visiting us at the same time. We lived in Ohio; Nana and Papa, Dad’s parents (on the left), lived in Pennsylvania; and Grandma and Grandpa, Mom’s parents (on the right) lived in California. So there were not a lot of opportunities to be together.

I’m assuming that Grandma and Grandpa were in town for a few weeks to visit, and then Nana and Papa drove in the two hours from PA to visit for Labor Day. Very cool. I love this photo.

Do I even have to point out the 1974 fashions Phil and I are sporting?

Product/technique notes:
I created this layout with patterned papers from Little Yellow Bicycle’s beautiful “Elizabeth Park” collection. I did a good bit of fussy cutting around the perimeter of my center area so that I could pop up the profusion of flowers over it around the edges. And in the bottom right quadrant I debossed the cardstock to add texture without adding a patterned paper that would compete with the flowers from the background paper.

Willoughby PAL Program

April 25, 2013 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 3 Comments

My mom is an excellent teacher, and you can see in this photo how the children are responding to her reading them a story. I'm so happy to have photos like this of her in action.

Today my last layout as guest designer for Artful Delight is live. I’ve really enjoyed using their April kit. Because I’ve never subscribed to a kit club before, I’m not accustomed to using the same set of products more than once in quick succession. But being AD’s guest designer for the month forced me to do that, and I liked the challenge that posed for me. I came out of it with three layouts that I’m quite happy with, and I had to dig a little deeper into my creative brain to find ways to make them with only the elements that came in the kit. It was a good exercise for me!

Thank you to Artful Delight for having me as their guest!

The journaling on this page: Mom opened her own pre-school program in March 1987 and called it Play and Learn (PAL). She taught four-year olds for two hours twice per week in a classroom in Browning School. The only reason she finally closed the program in June 1994 was because she and Daddy had decided to move to North Carolina. Mom says, “The PAL Program was really special to me. I loved the children, had wonderful rapport with the parents and loved every minute of what I was doing.”

Product/technique notes:
Obviously, I used the products from the Artful Delight April kit for this page, but I also used an older sketch of theirs from April 2012:
Sketch from last April from Artful Delight

Note: I’m submitting this to the Paper Issues “Chalk it Up to Your Own Style” link party.

Eighth grade school portraits

April 20, 2013 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 11 Comments

These school portraits were from our last year in Catholic school.

This layout features school portraits taken in the fall of 1980, when Phil and I were in our last year of parochial grade school. Can you believe those windshield eyeglasses were ever the fashion?

Product/technique notes:
I created this layout using a great sketch by Juliana Michaels for Paper Bakery and supplies from the Pink Paislee “Prairie Hill” collection.

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