Hey, this is Ali Edwards for Big Picture Classes. I wanted to take just a couple of minutes today to invite you to join me here at Big Picture in the second year of One Little Word.

Last year was the first time embarking on this project and it was a real journey and a really great experience in terms of getting closer to what my word was last year and really kind of being able to develop a relationship by having simple prompts each month.

For the last seven years or so now I've been choosing a word each year and it's a word that often lives under the surface for me. I've had a variety of different words and each one of them has played an important role in my life in some way or another; often in ways I didn't anticipate in the beginning of the year. Each one of these words has been a simple word that has pretty much made an impact on my life in one way or another. Last year was the first year that I actually did something creative with my word in a more long-term way. I've never really done a scrapbook or some sort of a creative project with my word, it's usually just been that I've chosen a word and tried to remember it throughout the year and tried to live with it. The journey last year of making an album and of having a monthly prompt really made a difference and it made me a lot closer to my word and it gave me an opportunity to make my word more present in my life which was what my hope was with the class. It's not designed to be complicated, it's not designed to take a lot of time, it's really just designed to be a simple gentle reminder each month that you have a word. It's a chance to reflect on the word you've chosen and what sort of impact it is actually making in your life.

The basics of the class are pretty simple, each month you're going to receive a gentle e-mail reminder to come to the classroom and then inside the classroom you are going to find a creative prompt. Most of the prompts are either writing based or they are something to get a little messy with or they are photography based, so there are a variety of different prompts that you will encounter throughout the year.

In the class I'm using an 8 1/2" x 11" album and this year we're going to use just some real basic 9-pocket 8 1/2" x 11: page protectors, and then I'm also going to encourage you to get these great little 4" x 6" flip-up pockets which will allow us to have some different sizes. We might be cutting up some of the other page protectors and their might be some stitching and you can choose whether or not you want to do that or you can just completely ignore it as well, but I might be incorporating some of that into my album and I will always give you some options to go along with that as well.

Each month has a different focus and we're not making traditional layouts. Most of the things are encouragement to you to go a little bit deeper with your word, or find a way to creatively express how you are feeling about your word at a particular point throughout the year. A lot of times it's just going to be something for you to print out and then you can either handwrite or there are some tutorials for how you can use those on your computer and add text in Photoshop or Word as well. That's about it. There is going to be a message board and there will be four chats over the course of the year where we can share inspiration and information and talk a little bit about how it's going with your word. There is also a gallery where you can share images of the things that you are making.

Again, the whole goal here with this class is really to find a way to make our words more visible. That's what I'm hoping for - for myself again this year and then that's what I'm hoping for, for you as well. I hope you will consider joining me. I would love to have you be a part of this second year of One Little Word.