Cover to Cover Class

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! :)