Get more out of your photos. Check out our latest photo workshops below.

Photo Challenges taught by Elizabeth Dillow

Join Elizabeth in her popular 12 challenges class format, all about photography. Some of the challenges are easier than others, but all of them will actively challenge you to dig deeper and exercise creativity each and every time you pick up a camera. Photo Challenges is guaranteed to challenge and inspire long after the class comes to a close!

Photo Finish taught by Elisha Snow

In this class, you will learn how to upload any digital photo into Photoshop, Photoshop Elements and Adobe Lightroom, and adjust it to get the perfect exposure, color, white balance and more. You’ll learn many post-processing tricks such as smoothing skin, swapping heads, getting the best black-and-white effect, adding texture, creating vignettes, preparing a photo for printing and much more.

Multi Photo Solutions taught by Aly Dosdall

Throughout the workshop, you'll receive a handout each week with detailed instructions to create two multi-photo projects – one and two page scrapbook layouts, mini albums, full albums and fun photo displays. Aly will provide sketches, templates, video demonstrations, and plenty of helpful tips so that you will feel confident (rather than overwhelmed) when facing that big stack of photos.

Hi there! Linda Barber here to talk a bit about Creating Keepsakes’ collaboration class with Big Picture Classes. And a bit about motherhood.

Me and my nine fellow Dream Team members have put together a class about living our dreams. Whether you are living it right now, or working hard to attain it, we have prompts, ideas, sketches to get you scrapping about them.

My bit is about motherhood. It’s one of those hot subjects amongst women. You either want to be a mom or you don’t. There’s no grey area. Whether or not you actually become a mother is another story. But if you do become one, it will inevitably bring your thoughts back to your own mom. It did for me.

As a teen, I found many faults with my mom. I spent way too much energy thinking of all the things I’d do differently (and better!) if I ever became a mother! I’m totally embarrassed by all of that! She was and still is an amazing parent. I was just too bratty to notice. I’m (hopefully) more mature now, and I see all that she did and continues to do for me. My kids think she hung the moon. My husband adores her. And now, I do too.

Which brings us to scrapbooking. I like to do pages about my mom. They are not all rosy, I must confess. I’ve written about our difficult years, because that’s our story. And someday my kids will read them and will learn more about me and their grandma. But I find that more and more, the layouts are about her kindness, love, and devotion to her family. All things that I aspire to. All the things that are part of my dream.

This layout is just a list of the things my mom did and still does for me. Of course it’s nowhere near comprehensive, but it was fun to reminisce while writing it. I just started jotting down what I remembered. This is sort of a thankfulness exercise. A gratitude layout.

I never dreamt of becoming a mother. But I do dream of being a good mom. I hope my kids think so. This layout is a bit of reminder of what I can do to keep on living that dream.

So here’s my challenge to you:

Think about someone/something in your life that fulfills a dream of yours, or has helped you (or will help you) achieve that dream. Mom, dad, sibling, friend, child. Job, hobby, place, pet. Pull out a photo of her/him/it, and just start writing down all that your subject brings to your life. Don’t worry about grammar, spelling, structure. Just go for it. Think big and small things. Then put it all together in a layout. You will feel so good after you’ve done it. And just like that, you’ve create a record of someone/something that’s important in your life for your own dream project!

I want to invite you to sign up for CK’s Living The Dream class. It’s ten days worth of prompts to get your thinking about your dreams, how to attain them, how to record them. You will also get ten handouts, with step-by-step instructions on how to recreate our layouts, and more info on living your dreams. Classes will start June 28! See you there!

Welcome to the fourth and last of four pet photography challenge series,  brought to you me, Jolanda Boekhout  teacher of the Pet Photography class.

In sleep animals are adorable. They are so sweet to watch and details of their whiskers, ears and noses can be studied and captured very well.

This is a series of my cat Tipsie. I love the curve of her mouth and the way she holds her arm across her face.

settings:
Camera: Sony Cybershot
Setting: f2.1, 1/40, ISO 100

Challenge: focus on the details of your pet, details that you love: a sweet nose, the line of a tail, or the lines of whiskers.

Tip: no tip, just be very silent, study, click and enjoy.
 

Challenge archive:

1. Intimacy (unawareness)

2. Intimacy (awareness)

3. Intimacy (outward)

Learn more about the class and purchase it for the low cost of $8, read rest of description and register here at the Pet Photography class page. For more inspirepation stop by my website and say hi.

Hi Amy Powers here to share a project for kids. My little boy (5) wants to do whatever it is that I'm doing. So, when I'm embroidering, he wants to also. Here's a fun project to set up for your little ones to work on while you enjoy creating your Happy Go Lucky Stitchalong (which starts today!)

Begin by drawing directly on a bit of fabric with a marker. Use a large embroidery hoop as the guide for how large your drawing will be. Try to make the fit completely in the hoop.

Next, we colored in the design with regular crayons, just like coloring on a page. When it's all colored in, use an iron to heat set (or melt) the crayon. Cover the design with a sheet of paper first and then run an iron on a medium setting (no steam) over the paper.

Let your child pick out the colors of floss he/she likes best. There are some fun varieties, such as neon and even glow in the dark! I like to wind embroidery floss onto spools. It helps keep the floss neat. When you pull your floss from the skein it comes on, it quickly can turn into a nest.

Choose a large needle with a blunt end. For younger children, you can even find plastic needles with the knitting supplies at your craft store. Super safe!

I thread the needle with all 6 strands of floss, and then knot both ends together. This makes it easier for little ones to stitch without pulling the thread through the needle. It may take some practice to remember to go in from the back and then back through from the top.

I encouraged my son to try to make his stitches small and even, but I didn't worry if they weren't. He happily stitched along on this project for about a week, picking it up when he felt like it and only stitching for about 5-10 minutes at a time.

He loved the idea of having his own stitching project and especially loved embroidering while I did, side by side on the sofa.

We stitched the outline of the drawing using a simple backstitch. We stitched forward from below and then back on the top of the drawing.

When he was done with his project, I made it into a little pillow. He's thrilled with it. And so am I!

Join in theHappy Go Lucky Stitchalong with Amy!

Welcome guest blogger Monika Wright.

Here's a stash-busting project for you...and hopefully you like the Smash style mini books because that's our inspiration for today. Hi, I'm Monika Wright and documenting our life through mini books is my most favorite way to tell our stories.

So, go now and pull out some favorite papers you've been hoarding, some scraps, and a sheet of those journaling spots that come 12 to a sheet that so many companies have begun featuring. For the title of my mini book, I used one of those journaling spots and slipped it through a slit I cut in my die cut shape and added letter stickers spelling our last name.

I created this mini book as a 14th Anniversary gift for my husband a couple weeks ago. Most of the pages were filled with photos and journaling, but I left a few blank to add in what we did on our all-day Anniversary date together. I love that I was able to capture him reading the mini book AND his wedding ring is the focus!

I started with a sheet of textured cardstock for my cover and from there I just started trimming and layering page after page. I like the look of different sized pages and textures peeking out from beneath each page. Stickers, paper clips, journaling spots and machine stitching all play a role in making your DIY Smash book unique. To bind my album, I used my Mom's vintage 70's era Singer sewing machine. Lately, this machine has stitched paper more than it has fabric!

See the "Let The Fun Begin" image? I sewed around three edges to make a little pocket. And the photo on the bottom right shows another little pocket I made by folding over a longer piece of cardstock, punching a partial circle in the top and sewing around three edges again.

DESIGN TIP | Be sure to stitch on each of your pages before assembling and binding the album. It's possible to stitch on the pages, but definitely more difficult if you don't do the stitching step first.

The first photo shows the back side of the pocket I stitched. The bottom row is one piece of cardstock that's been border punched and folded. I added in a private note here...top secret stuff!

I'll be sharing an update of this album Monday, June 25, 2012 on my blog, so stop in for a visit to see how I embellished the pages and added in bits of our day together. I also have a fun assortment of mini books available in my Etsy shop, I Love It All  if making your own just isn't your thing. I'll leave you with a photo one of our children took of us {we have so few photos of just us} on our vacation to the Beach last year that's already in the album, but without my journaling. You can also see the machine stitched binding holding the mini book together.

Welcome to the third of four pet photography challenge series,  brought to you me, Jolanda Boekhout  teacher of the Pet Photography class.

3. Intimacy (outward)
In play animals can lose their heads. They run around the house, lay on their back, rock like crazy and make funny faces.

This baby is Bruce, the first Bordeaux Dog I photographed. This breed is huge and impressive, nevertheless as sweet and funny as a puppy.

settings:
Camera: D70, Lens 28-105mm 3.5-4.5
Setting: f5.0, 1/60, ISO 400

Challenge: take some time with your pet to play and capture the funny faces your pet is showing you.

Tip: set your camera to shutter priority, or manual, and choose a slow shutter speed (1/60) to capture movement.
 

Challenge archive:

1. Intimacy (unawareness)

2. Intimacy (awareness)

Learn more about the class and purchase it for the low cost of $8, read rest of description and register here at the Pet Photography class page. For more inspirepation stop by my website and say hi.

Check it out! If you missed it the first time, you're in luck! Composition for Collage with Claudine Hellmuth is back! This is such a great FUNdamental class that will teach you all of the basics of good composition. You'll get to spend four weeks with Claudine in a virtual, active classroom. You'll be amazed at how learning these composition tips and tricks will improve every creative project you tackle in the future. Class starts August 2nd, sign up now!!

Meet Frances (OurLife) a newer member to Big Picture. She shares how creating brings her joy in the midst of tough times.

In 1999 I bought my first scrapbooking magazine and looked at that same magazine for two years before I began to use my photos and create layouts. I am interested in telling a story; my story, and I guess it’s going to take a little time - and that’s alright.

Scrapbooking seemed the logical vehicle for me plus it allowed me to create some beauty during times when things were not so easy. My life is not picture perfect and I have found it difficult, at times, to continue to document my story but slowly pages are made into books - although mostly visual and without words. Finding the words, my words, for journaling has been a challenge. I can create a pretty page but there is always more to my life than what appears to be in my photos.

And then I discovered BigPictureClasses in May of 2011 when I did a search for an online crop for National Scrapbooking Day. I love my solitude and I am mostly self-taught and something online seemed to be the perfect way for me to jumpstart my love of this art form once again. I attended the all day, online, Creative Crop (free event) with my 21 year old son Alexander close at hand for the entire 12 hours. We chatted in the live chat forums; posted to the gallery and Alexander even made his first page with challenge number 2 - 10 + 10 + 10 @ 10. (Mostly, we laughed and my husband sat back serving us food, cleaning up, and enjoying our antics as we played all day.) It was rewarding for me to finish and post to the gallery. I completed all 12 challenges.

I have been scrapping ever since last May and haven’t stopped this time. I am certain it has to do with the access to great classes and teachers here at BPC. My favourite class, with Claudine Hellmuth, taught me about Composition not only for collage but for scrapbook design and improving my photography skills. I haven’t looked back since I took Claudine’s class. It was a life altering and eye-opening artful experience!

Next, I met up with Amy Sorenson in a journaling class and began to express into words my stories and allowed myself the free reign to be authentic on my pages - Amy taught this in her class in a unique way that my voice came through - if only for my listening pleasure. Amy is a knowlegeable expert in the writing field. Her class was jampacked with information and work!

I also attended The Big Idea Festival (free event), Words To Live By, and created my very first mini album. Kelly Purkey’s, Week of Life Lists, allowed me to spend time, a specific amount of time, dedicated to working on difficult feelings on a subject matter that surrounds loss. (I got very creative with this class for the sheer act of working through my emotions and it really helped me to scrap “difficult” photos.) I could go on with what I have learned and the classes I have taken and the instructors that provided me support and feedback but my list would be endless just as are my pages that are now piling up and with journaling to boot!

This year my son is on the West Coast of Canada miles away and wasn't here with me for National Scrapbooking day. I asked him if he was going to do the online crop with me and would he be back home so we could scrap together. I thought he wouldn’t be interested at all. He said he wouldn’t miss it with me even if he was in Vancouver. He said we would use FaceTime for the all day crop. I was elated. I never knew it meant that much to him.

Thanks BPC for all the classes you offer and the great teachers you have on board and all the free events you offer to anyone willing to just begin at the beginning even if you are in the middle, like me.

Welcome to the second of four pet photography challenge series,  brought to you me, Jolanda Boekhout  teacher of the Pet Photography class.

2. Intimacy (awareness)
When animals focus on something interesting they see or do there is a priceless expression in their eyes.
My cat Tom was addicted to water. Wherever he heard water he was present. This is a moment I captured while playing with the water hose in the garden.

settings
Camera: D700, lens 50mm 1.8
Setting: f1.8, 1/250, ISO 200

Challenge: try to get that focused expression in your pets ‘eyes, hold that for a few moments and click away.

Tip: use a treat, a toy or your pets’ addiction to your advantage.
 

Challenge archive:

1. Intimacy (unawareness)

Learn more about the class and purchase it for the low cost of $8, read rest of description and register here at the Pet Photography class page. For more inspirepation stop by my website and say hi.

We are checking in with our 2012 four experts to see what fun things they have been up to, check it out below.

Becky shares ideas from her visit to her friend Jen's house, my favorite is this framed instagram display also this is a fabulous summer salad recipe, thanks Becky! Also Becky wants to know what you are most interested in learning from her in her 4 Expert class, please share in the Project Life community.

Nic is in the middle of school projects with her kids and she has started Project Life, love her approach, and she is selling washi tape to her friends in NZ and AUS. (Also her class is open for registration)

Heidi is creating up a storm, as usual, and I must try this globe project (video here) I also recommend that you check out her Father's day project.

Stacy is still loving life and sharing her inspired ideas and projects, and she got to spend her birthday weekend at Doodlebug (I was there also).