Have I said lately, how much I LOVE taking
Shimelle's classes! I never fail to be inspired and productive when I am under her tutelage. :) She rawwwkksss the teaching and scrapbooking thing! I have taken some other SB classes recently and I cannot help but compare teaching styles to Shimelle's. She is a class act and has pretty much ruined me for all other teachers. Dang her!
Right now, I am a little over a week into her newest class,
Cover to Cover. I was not sure that I would get into the class, because honestly it just didn't seem like something I needed or was particularly interested in. However, being the die-hard Shimelle fan that I am I KNEW I would come away from the class with something useful. Boy, did I!!!
I have spent the past week going gathering, sorting, stacking, and organizing layouts. They were in albums, but not in any sort of system that made much sense. I have never been a chronological scrapper and never felt stress to "catch up". However, I decided that as much time, work, and effort I have put into creating all these layouts I should give them more presentable and respectable homes.
My first decision was to replace my older post bound albums with D-Ring Albums. Now, I can't do this all at once, because they are expensive. I purchased 3 new albums in the past couple of days using my 40% off coupons from Michael's and Hobby Lobby. Instead of $19.99 each, I paid around $13.00 for each. Not bad! I plan on buying a new one now and then, and slowly replace them all.
Next, I decided to create albums for each of the following people/subjects:
- My children (Andrea, Ericka, & Tristan)
- My grandbaby (Emery)
- My sweetie (Keith)
- Me
- Our Lives (Volumes)
- Early Years
- Family (Extended)
- Journal Your Christmas (Yearly Album)
- Travel Albums
Mostly, all my albums are now in chronological order. The only problem with this: before I took this class, I always created with only the page at hand in mind. I never really thought about how the album as a whole would work together to tell a story. Therefore, the designs in my newly re-arranged albums are not all that cohesive from page to page. I am okay with that. I am learning and progressing. In the future, I plan to keep the flow going in each of my albums and try to gear more towards cohesiveness.
Lastly, I decided that if I am going to spend so much time making layouts and telling stories, shouldn't they be accessible and not shut away in a dark closet collecting dust and cobwebs? So, here are my albums in their new respectable & tidy homes displayed on a shelf in my office. Don't they look cozy and inviting!
I couldn't be happier that I took this class. I <3 Shimelle! :)
