Remember our featured students? Today I am sharing four of our students, get to know them a bit better and check out their galleries. 

Click on their names to read all about them, their favorite classes, and see their favorite layouts

• Julie Olivieri
• Pat Steele
• Renato Pacheco
• Kristen Carter

We need you, click here to finish a short profile, maybe you can be our next featured student!

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.

Lifeinperspective (Angie) loves scrapbooking with her best friends Emily and Lynette and wants to share some of her favorite pictures from Picture Summer.

I'm sharing several pictures from Picture Summer. I really enjoyed the opportunity to really explore photography during summer. I took a lot of my pictures at my family's ranch as well as a trip on Route 66 in Oklahoma.

Tracey Clark's class really helped me see the world around me in a different way.

The first picture is some wildflowers in our meadow.

The second picture is the sun shining over our pond.

The third picture is the sidewalk in front of our house.

Lucky's mom (Cathy) is sharing some of her experiences here at Big Picture Classes.

I learned early on from BPC classes that you don't have to scrap in order and your never behind. I don't have kids so I scrapbook about myself a lot.

Lately I have been doing pages about my childhood. I love that I am getting these stories told. I'm lucky to have had heritage photos passed down to me and enjoy documenting them.

I also take lots of nature photos that inspire me to try new ways to showcase them. I  just finished up May Flaum's class "The Curiuos Scrapbooker's Field Guide" and have had so much fun with all the techniques she encouraged us to use.

BPC classes have really changed the way I scrapbook.

Thanks for sharing Cathy!!

Say hello to Scrappy Sue who can't choose just one favorite BPC class...

Gosh, I've taken over 100, so its really hard to choose just one!  Some of my favs are Bakers Dozen, Handmade Book Club, Yesterday & Today and Twelve.

I originally joined Big Picture because I was living in Dubai and I didn't know anyone who scrapbooked and I really wanted to be able to share and talk about my new hobby.  I have learned so much taking all the classes, really felt part of a community and enjoyed chatting on the Message Boards (probably a little too much if I'm honest, LOL!).  While I might not have completed all the projects, what I have gained is an enjoyment of the process and being inspired to try new things  (and if I'm honest, the enjoyment of stash collecting too!).  A huge side benefit to me personally is being a part of a community of like minded and positive students (and teachers), my life has been impacted in so many ways. 

I am more grateful and I take the time to notice and document the smaller things in life that would so easily have been missed.

This is the opening page of my Photos I love album for 12; I learned how much I Iove 8 x 8 pages, how much I love taking photos of small objects and how fun a theme album is!

This is a page from my 12 on the 12th album, inspired by Stacy's dozen day; I tend to skip between projects all the time and this was such a fun idea I could spread over the year.  As with February, I am trying to link each months page with a certain theme, which is why I chose hearts for the month of love!

Project Life; I have been super inspired by all the different adaptations of PL this year that I decided to branch out a little myself.  I love that there is a PL community here at BPC that offers ideas and inspiration.

Thanks for sharing with us Sue!

Say hello to Laura, a crazy busy mom to 8 kids who lives in Wisconsin.

I am sharing the intro pages I have made for some of my children as a result of Libray of Memories.  I am blessed with 8 children so my life is CRAZY and busy which does not leave a lot of time for scrapbooking.  BPC has helped me to change the focus of my scrabooking from "event based" to "personality and every day life based". 

I made these pages when I took LIbrary of Memories.  They are extremely simple but I have one for each child and behind these pages are the pages I make that document their unique personailites.  I am so grateful I have these because the stories are ones told that I know I would never have remembered had I not started scrapbooking this way.  It is also fun because I often find the scrapbooks that contain these pages on the floor so I know they are being enjoyed by not only me!

I am so grateful for BPc.  It has been so great to be able to take so many classes that are fun and give me a creative outlet that I otherwise would not have.  I love the fact that I can do them on my time at my own speed.  The classes make me happy.  Also, I am thankful for Stacy's love of color.  As silly as this sounds, I have added color to my own life from the creativeness of others.  My wardrobe has even changed from predominantly white, black and khaki to a very colorful one and it is fun!

Margie, Xnomads, shares that, Big Picture Classes has been such a big part of my life since I first became a member back in 2007. It has truly changed how I scrapbook and how I create. And has been a huge influence on my online life.

(from 2011 One Little Word class)
Recently, when I registered to take the One Little Word class for a second time, I received a free pass to Stacy's self-paced Finish Line Scrapbooking class. I was very excited. I remember reading about this technique in the Feb 2009 issue of Simple Scrapbooks magazine and had always wanted to give it a try.

When I found myself with a stack of photos from my middle son's birthday party from 2010, I knew it was time to give it a try.

Now, this system goes totally against my natural scrapbooking instincts. I tend to resist anything that requires me to do the same action more than a few times. I avoid assembly line type projects. Now, I can appreciate the value, but it just doesn't sound fun.

Despite the assembly line nature of the Finish Line system, I knew the repetition would be trumped by the productivity. And I was right.

Once I finally sat down to put my pages together, it really wasn't as bad as I thought. It took me two sessions of 1.5 to 2 hours each before I was done. I also liked how using one of the class' key philosophies, INTENTIONAL IMPERFECTION, helped me overcome my resistance to using embellishments. I loved having a limited number of pre-selected embellishments sitting within arm's reach. It made the decision making so much more efficient, less stressful and more fun.

I'm so glad I finally gave this system of scrapbooking a try. Not only was I incredibly productive but I had lots of fun (despite my fears) in the process!"

One of the most pleasant unexpected benefits of my Big Picture Classes membership is the online friends I have made. There is a core of lovely friends I have gotten to know through the One Little Word Blog Hop I host at my blog on the first of each month. We share our monthly projects and encourage each other to keep going all throughout the year long class.

The very first person to ever sign up and one of my most enthusiastic OLW blog hop supporters is my friend Jill who I ""met"" in Ali's One Little Word class on BPC. We often turn to each other for help when building and designing our blogs. She also joined along with me when I decided I wanted to take a family photo at least once a month.

And as much as she is one of my most enthusiastic blog hop participants, I love to join in on her monthly Project Life blog hop. It has been so fun to visit each others' blogs several times a month to support each other on our scrapbooking & photography goals and get to know each other.

Another special friend I met through BPC is Rebekah. She always leaves such kind comments on my blog and is another enthusiastic supporter of the OLW monthly blog hop. And this past Christmas, when I was home visiting The States, she sent me some of her home made soap. It smelled amazing and was such a wonderful and kind gesture.

My creative and online life has been made so much richer by my involvement at BPC. Living abroad and so far from home for the past (almost) 4 years, I don't know what I would have done! Thanks, BPC!

EmeraldValkyrie (Christy) shares what she likes about the BPC community.

One of the things I love about BPC is my ability to take classes on my own time and to improve my skills. In January I took a photography class here at BPC with Elisha Snow. For a long time, I have wanted to become a better photographer. I still have room to grow, but after taking the "Get Great Photos with Any Camera " class, I feel a lot better about the pictures I take.

I took this photo of our new kitten. It might not be perfect, but I love how she looks in it and that I was able to apply some of the concepts I had learned when I took the photo.

Here we are now, a few months later and I am having a blast getting messy with May Flaum in her " Curious Scrapbooker's Field Guide Class". I was able to use the photo from the previous class and use it in a layout in May's class.

Another thing I love about BPC is how classes stand alone and yet, at the same time can be applicable to each other.

Thanks for sharing Christy!

Di Turner shares a synopsis of what she has learned over her four years as a BPC student.

I have completed a lot of Big Picture Classes over the last four years, and I have taken something away from every single course! For me it is a continual learning experience where I add something to my scrapbooking arsenal on every course. The courses help keep me motivated as well as inspired to scrapbook.

From Stacy Julian I have learnt how to store all my precious memories in a library of memories;

Ali, Cathy and Stacy have all taught me the importance of telling my stories;

Nic has shown me some awesome techniques and about telling stories from different perspectives;

from Karen I have finally found my ""style"";

Lain has helped me get myself organised and scrapbooking efficiently;

May, Lain, Darci, Lisa and Elizabeth have kept me motivated and have helped me scrapbook a lot of pages that I love;

Aly is the reason I have a stack of cards on hand ready for birthdays and other occasions;

and Tracey and Elisha have taught me how to take some amazing photographs which I love!

I think the most valuable lesson I have taken away from the BPC courses is the fact that it is important to tell the stories of our life, and these days there is not a layout that I complete that doesn't have some sort of story on it. Some stories are simple and short, some are longer, and in some stories are shown through the photographs.

When I first started scrapbooking it was definitely more about the pretty papers and embellishments and some pages don't have any journalling on them! I find that the layouts that I love the most now are the ones that tell a story on them, especially the stories of the everyday. 

The three visuals include layouts from the "Twelve" course I am doing at the moment - I love the balance that the twelve topics that Stacy has presented has provided in my scrapbooks:

"The story of your names" My girls always love it when I tell them how we came up with their names, so I thought I would get this family story down on a layout for prosperity, choosing two recent photographs of the girls that I love. This is a family story which will go into the "Family Stories" album I have in my library of memories.

"Your favourite place to eat"  An everyday story about my daughter's favourite place to eat - the sushi train, coupled with some photographs which I took on my iPhone. Shows that you don't have to have brilliant photographs to illustrate your stories. This layout is going in my daughter's album so that she can remember her obsession with eating at the Sushi train!

"Colour my world : This was an inspiration layout for the Twelve course, it shows you can get inspiration from everywhere (including a rainbow), also that you can include photographs from different time frames and places - photographs can tell a story as much as the words themselves. In this layout it shows the beautiful relationship my girls have."

Welcome Jcblink.

Read what she learned and how it has helped her with making mini albums.

My 31st birthday book that was made in Amy Tangerine's "Get Those Creative Juices Flowing." This class was a lot of fun since I learned how to make mini albums using leftover scraps that I had. I have some of Amy's minibooks and have always wanted to make my own using the papers that I chose so this class showed me how I could do just that.

I also really like Amy's approach to making mini albums. I've always felt like I had to make something elegant and nice when I made mini albums but her approach made it so that capturing the memories was the main thing. Because I was able to think like that, I had an easier time putting together my birthday book in one afternoon compared to the amount of time I use to spend putting together a mini album.

Since taking this class, I've made several more albums and have been using them whenever I travel and also for everyday use. I even used the things I learned in this class for my December Daily album last year and actually completed it for the first time since I didn't overthink it like I normally would."

Thanks for sharing with us jcblink.