Hi there, my name is May Flaum and I love to craft. I always have too, for as long as I can remember. What I love most about crafting is that the knowledge you gain in any one area can be applied to another. There is no one right way to do things. Rather, there is a whole world of possibilities. Since the walls of crafting have come down and we see fabric arts coming over into jewelry arts and card making techniques jumping onto scrapbook pages and scrapbook paper going over into mixed media, there is so much going on. There is such a beautiful world of techniques and products out there and all of those and more are the focus of my new class. Yes, today it is my pleasure to introduce you to my new class here at Big Picture.

Stacy asked me to answer a question. If I could teach just one class what would it be? I instantly thought of the class that I had actually just pitched her, the one focusing on techniques and how to get more out of your stash as well. “The guide” I was calling it, and I told her “this is the one”. If I could do only one class, this was it. This class embodies all that I am as a crafter, all that I hope to share with other crafters. It is education focused in the sense that I’m showing how to use things, how to do techniques. I imagine it filled with videos to show techniques and my process coming to life, as well as the PDF files that I’m known for in my classes, but to do it the way I really want it, to give you every bit of information and show all of the best ideas, we needed to extend this class to a 12-week format.

Since that day I’ve been hard at work at what I’ve been calling my 12 Week class. I talked to a lot of my former students and blog readers about what products and techniques they most crave. I mean, a detailed list of every product I’ve got, from the ones who get used daily to the ones that I’m not familiar with or I’m just not incorporating very much. I filled pages with my ideas and then I sat down and broke it all down into much more manageable sections. I have built this class so that it will indeed be a class that develops. Products and techniques shown in early weeks are done so because a lot of them you will see return later to be combined with other products and techniques.

Each week there will be a new focus and handout. Somewhere between 3 to 5 projects will be shows including photos and how-to. There will also be information about that week’s focus in the handout and to help show you really to bring the products and techniques to life there will also be videos, one of which each week will show one of the handout projects from start to finish. There will also be inspiration e-mails, occasional chats, and of course there is the message board and the gallery there in the classroom.

For me as an instructor, I’m not one who tells you what to do. I’m your guide in this class. I’m here to show you ideas, to give you specific examples, and to give you my tips and tricks and encourage you to craft from a place of happiness, whether you are a card maker or a scrapbooker, whether you dabble in all kinds of paper crafting or you are just getting started, this class is really designed so that you can customize the experience and make it work for you.

Really, what can I call this class? How do I in a few short words explain all that is incorporated, all of my creative heart and soul that I have poured into this 12 week adventure? After brainstorming with several awesome ladies, the name was finally chosen. The Curious Scrapbooker’s Field Guide: 12 Weeks of Techniques and Creative Play. It might have taken a long time to name, but I assure you that it was well worth the wait. Whether you are wanting scrapbook layout ideas or looking for fresh inspiration, love creative exploring or need a boost. I hope you will be joining me in this new class adventure. At the end of class, you will have an amazing resource in the class materials, and by the way, they are available forever so you may return to it anytime to review them. The value in that, as well as the material as a resource, is just incredible, above and beyond the class itself. So, if you would like to see more of my work and get to know my style better, I invite you to visit my blog. If you have more questions or if you want to know more about this class—if I can answer any questions about class—please feel free to email me at any time.

It is now time for me to get back to dreaming up more projects for this class. I wish you happy crafting.