Despite my intention not to start any new classes, I am in fact taking three. The first is a class at My Creative Classroom on using the Silhouette, and it has been fantastic. I'm learning just what I needed to know and am amazed at the capabilities of this machine. The other two are both at Big Picture Classes. I broke down at the last minute and signed up for Karen Grunberg's Finding Your Way. I'm already happy with that decision because I've decided to use the assignments to work on one of my biggest 2011 FINISH albums. The last is Picture Inspiration because I'm always looking for photography inspiration and conversation. My plate feels too full right now, but I know it will ease up as I get going with each of these.
One of Karen's first assignments was to identify the things you use on your pages so you can focus on making those accessible and stop spending money on things you don't use. I did that when I moved my studio and did one of my first big purges. But before I started the Home Album I gathered up all the supplies (kraft paper for the basics, patterned papers, stamps, and embellishments) from my stash that I thought I might use. It has really expedited the process.
Here are the first layouts I did for Finding My Way with some Silhouette work as well.
This isn't the title page which I'll do later, but it's an introductory page to the album. I scraplifted it from a layout I saw on Kelly Purkey's blog a long time ago. I also incorporated journaling stamps and my own handwriting---two things Karen suggests as ways to speed up your scrapbooking process.
Here's a close-up of the journaling.
This page shows photos we received after a visit from the man whose family built our house in 1931. The journaling documents the people in the photos as well as how we came to have them.
One of the things I've learned how to do in the Silhouette class how to cut my own titles using the fonts on my computer. This week we learned how to weld the letters of a script font and create a shadow for the title. The chipboard accent is from Cosmo Cricket Circa 1934, which seems appropriate.
The first week's assignment for Picture Inspiration was to take a self-portrait. I avoid these as often as possible and I didn't take this until the last day possible. But I'm not unhappy with it and will eventually change my avatar since I finally have a photo that doesn't use a mirror. I used my tripod and my remote and took it in my studio.