We R Memory Keepers

My first visit to Disneyland

June 30, 2012 By Janice Daquila-Pardo Leave a Comment

Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? Not me!

My mom lived in California from the time she was seven until leaving to attend college in Ohio right after high school, but her parents lived there for the remainder of their lives. So, once Mom and Dad started having a family, they frequently traded visits between California and Ohio so Mom’s parents could spend time with their grandchildren. Obviously, I don’t remember this time, but during our visit in June 1968 Grandma and Grandpa took me to Disneyland for the first time.

In creating this layout, I have hit upon a little tip I can share with you about making identifications in vintage photos.

I know the details my mom wrote on the back of these shots—because I scan the fronts and backs of my old photos—which said that it was June 1968 and that I was with the Big Bad Wolf. So right there, I have some great information. But as I was coming to the journaling part of this page, I started worrying about which amusement park featured the Big Bad Wolf. I mean, I thought it was Disneyland, but I wasn’t sure. It could have been Knott’s Berry Farm, which I know we also visited on at least one of our trips to California. And I wanted to be sure before putting pen to paper.

So I turned to Google’s images search and typed in “Disneyland 1968.” I thought this was probably a long-shot way to start my search, but I knew that I could refine it if need be.

First of all, I encourage you to do a search like this just for the fun of seeing the old Kodacolor images of people in their 60s garb and Disneyland in all its 60s glory. Just take a look at a few of the wonderful images I found:

This image came from http://home.earthlink.net/~rxunit/id15.html.

This image came from http://matterhorn1959.blogspot.com/2009/12/childs-trip-to-disneyland-1968.html.

This image came from http://www.tickledpinklife.com/2011/02/when-the-peoplemover-was-the-futur/

Now back to my objective for doing this search: I hit paydirt on the first try! Take a look at this image and then compare it to the Big Bad Wolf photo on my layout. My heart sped up when I noticed the same building and landscaping (it’s a Micky Mouse flower bed) in the background as in my photo! This was enough proof for me that these photos of mine were taken in the Magic Kingdom.

This image came from http://matterhorn1959.blogspot.com/2009/12/childs-trip-to-disneyland-1968.html.

So the next time you’re casting about for details to include in your journaling or to confirm the places, events or times in your vintage photos, try a Google image search. This is a rich resource for photo research, and I say the more details the better when you’re creating a special page like this.

Product/technique notes: All the patterned papers I used on this project were from the BasicGrey’s Up, Up & Away, PB&J and Serendipity collections. I created the black ribbon scallops using one of the We R Memory Keepers Sew Ribbons tools. The Disney font that I cut using my Silhouette is called Waltograph.

And I used this sketch provided at Club CK for their June challenge:
The June sketch from Club CK

Together in PJs

May 4, 2012 By Janice Daquila-Pardo Leave a Comment

Journaling: These darling shots of Phil and me are from 1972 (L-May; R-March). I remember that I loved wearing my square-dancing nightgown.

Here's a close-up shot on the pinwheel embellishment and title tag.

If you read the title of my post (and my layout) and heard strains of Neil Diamond’s “Forever in blue jeans,” you’re my kind of person! When I was working on this page about my baby bro and me in these sweet, random 1972 photos of us in our pajamas, that’s what popped into my head…so I went with it.

Sometimes when I get to the titling part of the scrapping process, I falter. It’s not always easy to come up with clever, pithy titles that are understandable without being too obvious/boring. It’s a tall order! So, while I’m talking to myself in my scrap room (oh, please don’t try to tell me you never do that), I start hearing song lyrics, movie quotes and lines from books that I might bend to my purpose.

And that’s how “Forever in blue jeans” became “Together in PJs.”

The hope is, of course, that even without benefit of this type of explanation, people who see this layout will either “hear” my intention on their own when they read the title, or the title will be strong enough to stand on its own even if nobody “hears” the melody with me.

How do you come up with titles for your pages? I would love to have more strategies at hand for this task. Won’t you leave me a comment with your tips?

I created this page with the help of this lovely sketch from PageMaps and am entering it in their sketch challenge.

Product/technique notes: Did you notice the man-in-the-moon image in these patterned papers from We R Memory Keepers Anthologie line? It made this the perfect choice for vintage photos about children and bedtime.

Tangerine tango

December 31, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 5 Comments

The first-ever Sketches with a Twist sketch and design team sample layouts are now live on their site! This is a brand-new sketch blog that you must check out. It’s a sketch challenge site, where each sketch comes with a twist (for instance, the twist this month is to use at least two fonts in your title). A new sketch will be loaded on the first of each month, and entries will close on the last day. Then the winner will be announced on the 5th of the month.

I didn’t just design the sketch (which I hope you’ll go download and use), but I also made this layout:

My brother and I went on a scavenger hunt for orange items to photograph for this layout.

The story behind this layout began with a desire to celebrate the transition to a new calendar year, but without resorting to a resolutions page. I love color, as I imagine most scrappers do. And I know that The Pantone Instititute names a new color to watch each year. Their top color for 2012 is Tangerine Tango, an energetic reddish-orange. We should expect to see this color in everything from fashion to home decor to our beloved scrapbook products.

My baby brother, Phil, is in town celebrating the old and new years with us, and he and I are always looking for a good creative project. When I mentioned going out on a photo shoot specifically for a layout about color, Phil was already attaching his fish-eye lens to his camera! We spent a few hours out in the beautiful afternoon sun searching for the orange of the world, a hunt that sharpened our vision for the traffic cones, signs, clothing and flowers that surround us.

And so, my layout is an ode to all color, to optimism, to energy, to new beginnings and to 2012.

Giveaway winners and guest design beginnings

October 31, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 1 Comment

Blogtoberfest Day 31

On this final day of my Blogtoberfest celebration, I have some exciting things to share. First is the announcement of my two Blogtoberfest Anniversary Giveaway winners. I used the random number generator to arrive at the winning comments. I’m sending the lucky winners listed below an email about this; please respond with your home address so I can mail off your prizes. I really hope you enjoy them! And thank you to everyone who played along by leaving a comment. 🙂 I enjoyed reading about your plans for costumes this Halloween.

Forever Fall giveaway

The Forever Fall giveaway package goes to…Tiffany M.!
“I will not be dressing up for Halloween. It is enough for me to dress my two kids and to take them out for trick or treating. They are always great photo subjects. :-)”

The Forever Fall giveaway package goes to...Tiffany M.!

Autumn Splendor giveaway

And the Autumn Splendor giveaway goes to…Chari!
“Happy Blogoversary!! I don’t think I will be dressing up this year, we don’t have any plans. But then again, we didn’t have any plans last year either and we all dressed up and went to the Piano Bar at the Grove Park Inn and my husband won the costume contest so who knows what this year may have in store for us!”

The Autumn Splendor giveaway goes to...Chari!

Guest designing at Sketch Support

I have actually been waiting all year for November to arrive! Yes, I adore autumn. And oh, how I love Thanksgiving. I even love that November brings my birthday with it. But the real reason for my excitement this November is that I am the guest designer on the Sketch Support site!

I love the sketches at Sketch Support as well as the help and inspiration they provide on their site. Please join me this month over at their blog, as we reveal new sketches and designs for a card, a two-page layout, a one-page layout and an add-on design. 🙂

Punch it down

September 28, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 1 Comment

Twisted Sketches has revealed its latest sketch, #121, and the twist is “punch.” 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.

I love using Twisted Sketches to inspire me to tell stories I might not have thought of telling.

I actually struggled for a while, trying to come up with a layout based on this week’s twist (punch). I knew I could always just include an embellishment created with a punch, but I really wanted my topic to somehow incorporate the twist. Then it hit me that you punch down dough when you’re making bread, and I had the perfect story to tell!

When it came to cooking and baking, my Nana—my paternal grandmother—had mad skillz. She commanded a kitchen. Of course, that came from a lot of practice, as she owned and ran restaurants throughout my father’s childhood and young adulthood. In fact, I don’t think she ever baked a loaf of bread. Instead, she always pulled out her huge metal bowl and dumped a whole 5-pound bag of flour into it and baked several loaves of bread.

And I never saw her follow a recipe. In fact, when I was a teenager and wanted to try baking bread for the first time, I asked Nana to tell me how to do it. She didn’t have a recipe to share with me, so while she baked a batch one day we captured what she did. She would pour a big handful of salt into her hand (her usual method of measurement) and then pour it into a measuring cup so that I could record the amount. We had a lovely time together putting her recipe down on paper, but honestly, how often am I going to need to bake several loaves of bread at one time? 🙂

For years now, my brother and I have been inspired by Nana to bake bread, too. Even though we don’t make it often (usually at holidays), we both love the process of combining and kneading simple ingredients to turn them into loaves of home-baked magic. It’s a slow, homey procedure. It requires patience while the dough rises. Then it offers a therapeutic opportunity to punch it back down (If you’re going through a stressful time in your life, I highly recommend baking a loaf of bread on a Saturday morning to get out your frustrations.). And finally, it’s hard to deny the sense of pride you feel when you take that fragrant loaf out of the oven and serve it to your family.

With all the fall and winter holidays that are on the near horizon, as well as the cool fall days I’m hoping to experience soon (temperatures are still rising to over 100 degrees in Austin), I think it’s time to break out my bread pan and flour. It’s time to get a little punchy!

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