Design Your Life

I recently decided to take an online class (at Big Picture Scrapbooking) by Cathy Zielske, one of my favorite scrapbooking design gurus of all time. Her class focuses on the composition and design of pages, an area in which I need definite improvement in order to be happy with my creations. Cathy's philosophy is that of simplicity... letting photos tell the stories of our lives, big and small. Learning to do more with less product and in less time is appealing to me, especially with the new arrival preparing to compete with my scrapping time. I will have more to scrap about than ever once he comes along (and way less time to do so), but I am determined to document the beginning of his life with words, photos, and art...

As time-consuming as scrapbooking is, it is a creative outlet for me and something I enjoy immensely. The whole process combines the things I love. How delighted was I when Cathy's first assignment allowed me to put these all together on a page! Cathy provided the template, or "sketch", including the artwork in the center, and gave her students the freedom to develop the rest. This is what I came up with:

It took me three days, but I LOVE this page. I used many things from my stash, things that I had been saving for the "right" page (like the chocolate milk bottle top from a Studio Calico kit some months back), pictures and alphas that I love. Each square highlights something that I love about scrapping, or a reason why I do it.

Here's another layout I did for class. Another all-time favorite:

Cathy's class is 12 weeks long, so obviously I will miss out on the last portion. I am so glad I decided to do this! Off to work on Week #2...