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April 21, 2012
What are you doing on National Scrapbook Day (May 5th)? I hope you'll make the time to do some scrapbooking! If you need a little inspiration (and who doesn't?) then join 12 of our favorite teachers from Big Picture Classes and Creating Keepsakes Magazine for 12 hours of scrapbooking fun!
Giveaways...Layouts...Challenges...Inspiration...FREE!
Sign up today!! 
March 31, 2012
 
Design Challenges is starting soon! All of us can use a little design inspiration now and then, so this class is a must-take in my opinion! You'll not only find inspiration for a ton of layouts, you'll learn to look at the world around you in a new way!
And the winner of the Pinterest Design Challenge is Kim! This is such a fantastic layout, with such a special story! Georgia is definately adorable!
And as promised here are a few pictures of my daughter's new "big girl" room. What a nightmare! Am I the only one who bites off WAY more than she can chew with these DIY projects?
  
I think I'll be creating some scrapbook pages soon, using ideas from this room...The wall and fabric colors/patterns are a great starting point for a scrapbook page (small print, large print, solids); the ombre drapes could be translated into any number of ombre color schemes on a page; the chevron stripes on the wall, well, I LOVE anything chevron.
And here's the little cutie that convinced me to create this room for her!
And guess what!?! We are SO close to announcing two new classes that will give you the opportunity to take your creativity and all-around craftiness off the page and onto some fabric! Both of these classes are perfect for beginners and serious-stitchers alike.
Amy Powers is almost done with her first BPC class, Happy Go Lucky Stitchalong. This workshop will help you create an embroidered sampler that represents all of the things that make you happy.
Designer Amy Hall, of amykathryn handbags has created a fabulous class that will teach you the basics of designing a bag, creating a pattern, and then sewing a bag. How amazing is that!?!
A big thank you to those of you who participated in the challenge. It was fun to see your layouts in the gallery! I hope that all of you keep seeing inspiration in the things around you.
March 24, 2012
How would you like the chance to win a spot in Elizabeth Dillow's popular workshop, Design Challenges? This is such a fun class! Full of inspiration and challenges to really get you scrapbooking! And this year it's better than ever! Our very own Stacy Julian loves Elizabeth's class so much that she's contributing layouts and videos to the class!
So, your challenge is inspired by my obsession lately with Pinterest. We're redoing my daughter Madeline's room to be a "big girl" room...and I think it would be safe to call it a Pinterest Room, since many of the ideas I'm incorporating in her room are inspired by things I've seen on Pinterest. We're still in phase one...well, maybe phase two...but hopefully I can share pictures next weekend when I announce the winner. So...
1. Pick one of these Pinterest pictures that inspires you (or choose another image from Pinterest) and create a layout inspired by that picture.
2. Upload an image of your layout to the Student Sharing Gallery by next Friday 3/30/2012, noon PST.
3. Please put "PInterest Challenge" in the description.
I'll announce the winner next Saturday.I'm so excited to be inspired by you!!
Here's my Pinterest "For the Home" board, seen above.
Here's the BPC Pinterest page.
March 10, 2012
We have a fun new workshop by Molly Weight starting soon (class starts March 29) and we wanted to share with you a little more about the class.
What’s a quick album? A quick album, like it sounds, is a quick and easy way to put together a coordinating photo book with your own personal touches. Similar to the books offered on Shutterfly, the design work is already done. Students will only need to add their journaling text + photos.
Tell us more about the Love Is quick album! There are twenty pages in all. The book is set up to be a coordinated album with the theme “Love Is _________”. There are eight left side pages which are identical in design but different colors. These solid color (lightly textured) pages coordinate with eight opposite (right side) pages which are patterned and include photo frames. There is also a coordinating title and end page.
The pages are .PNG files which can be opened in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. Molly will walk you through the steps needed to add your own text (journaling) to the page and insert your photo(s) behind the frames. She’ll then show you how to save the pages where they can be printed out to create a traditional album or uploaded to Shutterfly to print a photo book.
This workshop is geared towards students who are interested in creating a digital album.
What makes this album/class different than just using Shutterfly? Shutterfly is great and has a good collection of designs to choose from. I asked Molly what her workshop could offer someone who is currently using Shutterfly to design and create their albums, this is what she said:
Shutterfly is excellent. I print many of my photo books through Shutterfly. I found, though, that sometimes I was looking for a different feel or theme to my photo book and I wasn’t able to find just the right design on Shutterfly. I have several quick albums of my own that I’ve designed as well as numerous quick albums that I’ve ordered online through other digital designers. There are so many design possibilities and options and I love being able to use one of these designs and not being limited to only the designs offered by Shutterfly.
Here are examples of some of Molly’s favorite quick albums:
Those are just a handful of quick albums available at www.oscraps.com. There are literally hundreds of designs available for purchase throughout the digital scrapbooking online community.
The Love Is: Photo Book class includes the digital quick album and detailed instructions on how to upload your completed album for printing. If you'd like to create a photo book about what Love Is to you...then sign up now!!
March 03, 2012
 Did you guys see Heidi Swapp's website launch party this week? WOW! If you're on the fence about signing up for Heidi's new 4Expert workshop, The Art of Composition, then head over to her blog and check out some amazing projects and posts that she has there. I think it will "push you over the edge" and you will want to hurry and sign up for this workshop now! 12 weeks with Heidi...what's not to love? (And as soon as you sign up you'll find a fun projecct in a pre-classroom!)
...and I feel the need to throw in a little "sneak peek" since that's what this "In the Picture" is supposed to be about! We are very excited to have another Heidi working on her first Big Picture class right now! It's going to be pretty amazing I think!! Any guesses on which other Heidi will soon be joining us???
February 18, 2012
Hi Guys! Aaron Morris's workshop, It's All About Me, starts soon (March 1st, registration is open now!) so I asked if he would write up a short "all about me" prompt that we could share on the blog...just to give you a little idea of the kind of topics you'll be learning about during class. Here's what he wanted to share with you guys...Thanks Aaron!!
When we're scrapbooking, it's easy to identify the things that make the ones we love special. I could easily rattle off a list of things that make my two little girls absolutely perfect. It's not always as easy to think about the things that make us special, the things that set us apart from everyone else and make our loved ones love us back. Even thinking about it right now, I would have a hard time putting into words what makes me special.
So let's try journaling a little bit about what makes us special. The first thing I want you to do is sit down and brainstorm a list of things that make you special, and be totally honest with yourself. Think about how you are seen in others' eyes, and the person that you try to be every day. Whatever you do - DON'T ask someone else to tell you what they think makes you special. That's cheating, and as a teacher, I am legally obligated to report all forms of cheating to the government. Ok, not really, but it's a much more meaningful exercise if it all comes from you.
Once you have your list, sit down and pick one of the things off your list. I want you to pick the thing that you feel is the most special about yourself. This will be the topic that you will journal about. You are going to focus on writing a whole passage about this one character trait. Sound daunting? I promise it isn't. Here are some questions to get you thinking....
1. Why do you think that this characteristic makes you special?
2. What about this characteristic sets you apart from others in your life?
3. Where did this characteristic cultivate from? Was it a person? How did they contribute to this characteristic being part of you?
4. How does this characteristic impact the ones you love?
5. Why is this characteristic the one that is most special?
6. How do you hope to share this characteristic with others?
Those are just some ideas to get you going. Try and really think a lot about this characteristic. One thing that I find helpful when I am having trouble writing is to just start writing, even if I know it's not good or something I won't include in the final piece. The act of just getting started will get your juices flowing!
So today, I want to give away one seat in my upcoming workshop "It's All About Me." If you would like to be entered to win the spot, in the comments below, tell me one thing that makes you special. It'll be your starting point!
The giveaway closes Sunday night (2/19) at 9:00pm PST. Winner will be announced on Monday (2/20). Good luck!
And the winner is Alice Jaggard! She said: One trait that is special about me is my intuition. Not a psychic thing, just the way I can read the tone of a voice, body language, a series of small events that others might not notice, or lack of routine behavior. All of these trigger an understanding of what is going to happen.
(sorry I posted the winner 2 days late guys!!)
February 11, 2012
Two very exciting things are happening this week:
1. The Curious Scrapbooker’s Field Guide started February 9th. This class is A.MAZ.ING. May is doing a 12-week workshop that will teach you everything (okay, maybe not everything, but nearly) you could ever want to know about just about every scrapbook supply and technique out there. This really is a timeless class that will be an amazing reference for you to come back to again and again, year after year anytime you have a new product you want to play with…or are just feeling like you need some new ideas! She has 24 videos available week 1 (A-Z reference videos) and additional videos, handouts, etc. every week. This class is a fantastic deal, and you don’t want to miss out!! Registration closes on the 15 th, so sign up now!!
2. Heidi Swapp’s 4Expert workshop, The Art of Observation, is open for registration. (If it isn’t open Saturday morning, wait until tomorrow…I promise it will be open soon if it isn’t already). Heidi has been working hard making this class for you, and I know how excited she is to share all her ideas. This is such a personal class for Heidi. On a conference call a couple of weeks ago, she said “I want students to walk away feeling like there’s so much value to them and their lives.” I mean, who wouldn’t want to spend 12 weeks with someone who’s entire goal is to make you realize how VALUABLE you are! If you sign up for class, you’ll get to see Heidi work with a lot of her new fun products . This class is full of good stuff…email clues, observation techniques, photo assignments, project assignments, videos…you have to trust me that this class is so worth your time! Check out her class description and sign up now. You don’t want to let this one pass you by!
And happy early Valentine’s Day to you all!
January 28, 2012
Most of you know that Heidi Swapp is our 2nd 4Expert teacher in 2012...what you may not know is that her class here at BPC is going to feature some of her amazing new products! I was lucky enough to see a sneak peek at her new catalogue during a conference call this week...and I can't begin to tell you how exciting it all is! One of the things that I love most, is that Heidi is so clearly passionate about her new products, her BPC class, and it seems everything she is involved in.
Registration will be opening soon for her 4Expert workshop. This is one you don't want to miss!
Just to get you excited, here are a few images of her new line of products, available soon...
  
You can see more HERE.
And you can read a little more about Heidi's 4Expert workshop HERE. Registration will be opening soon!
January 21, 2012
Hello everyone! Happy January to you! Yesterday Kayce and I had our semi-regular “girl’s day” of scrapbooking and watching the Bachelor (don’t judge!). I thought it might be fun to share a layout I made and a fun little tip that you might want to try!
As I was working on this layout, the title letter stickers kept falling off! Since I was already hand-stitching the “bunting” across the top of the layout, I decided I’d hand-stitch the letters on too! I kind of love how it looks!
A few tips:
I poked holes through the cardstock with a straight pin, before I went through with a needle and thread.
Try stitching on your letters, the corner of photos, on buttons, etc.
It can be time-consuming, stitching all those letters. I took my layout with the needle, straight pin, scissors and 2 colors of thread to my daughter’s dance class and worked on finishing it while she was in class!
A couple of notes about this layout: I scraplifted a lot of the components on this layout from a layout I saw on Pinterest, by Anabelle O’Malley. You can view her layout here. The majority of the supplies that I used on this layout are from Amy Tangerine’s line with American Crafts. I LOVE the entire line!! You can view Amy Tangerine’s current classes at BPC here. Have you found any fun new techniques lately? Do you have any tips to share with your fellow BPC students? If so, we'd love to hear them! Share with us in the comment section!
January 14, 2012
Have you met Aaron Morris? Our one and only guy teacher here at Big Picture Classes?
He currently has a self-paced class available: Digital Clustering Like a Pro where he teaches you how to create great embellishment clusters on digital scrapbooking layouts.
And he's currently working on his first BPC workshop! It's called It's All About Me!
This is really a great class...Aaron has come up with some great photo and journaling prompts, inspirational emails and digital templates (which can be used as sketches for traditional scrapbookers).
Whether you're a digital scrapbooker, or a traditional scrapbooker, if you are a you (and clearly you are YOU) then YOU need to take this class! I am definately one of those scrapbookers that tends to take a lot of photos of my kids, but not many of myself. I write down all the great things my kids say and do, but when I look through my scrapbooks, I seem to be missing!
And don't you think it's great to be able to get a guy's perspective on scrapbooking, journaling, and your layouts? (versus the husband...well my husband...who smiles and almost gets that "mall face" when I show him yet another layout!)
Don't think twice...check out Aaron's profile here and then learn more about All About Me here. If you don't tell your story...who will?
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