Stacy's Pick

My pick this week is a brand new class created by Nancy Damiano called Scrapbook Basics. 
It's awesome. 
It's needed. 

Just a few days ago, I received an email from someone writing an article about scrapbooking. This person had not been successful at finding information truly geared to someone who wants to START telling stories with some of their pictures. Crazy right? We LOVE what we do and we want others to discover it and love it too, but turns out there isn't a clear path taking newbies step-by-step through the process of getting started without getting overwhelmed. Well, there is now!

I think Nancy has done a really good job at this very thing. 

Her class is broken down into FIVE lessons. She starts with a lesson on Basic Supplies and answers the question that ANYONE would have before jumping in ... what exactly will I need to get started and be successful?

I especially LOVE that Nancy's examples are well executed (inspiring) and still very attainable (not intimidating.) Nancy's ideas and videos are clear and helpful and full of all kinds to tips that a first-timer would really appreciate. What's cool is that before Nancy gets too far into this class, she gets YOU (or your new friend) SCRAPBOOKING. She starts with one photo she loves and then uses basic tools to make a page!

Lesson 2 is about scrapbooking events. This is perhaps the most obvious thing to document -- but not necessarily easy if you're not practiced at deciding WHICH PHOTOS TO USE. So, here is where you follow Nancy all the way through the process, from images on her computer to prints in hand. She tells you why it's ok to not use all the pictures you took and helps you understand which photos are necessary to tell the story. She also reminds you that events are made up of moments and you can scrapbook pictures out of context to better focus on a specific moment. Good stuff. 

Lesson 3 is dedicated to cardstock and pattern paper. Every page begins with a foundation of paper, and here again, Nancy's delivers simple page ideas that illustrate HOW to layer and use pattern paper in easy ways. She explains principles that are important to selecting and mixing patterns—scale, color contrast and balance. She allows you to SEE what works and what doesn't and talks you through each point of decision. 

Next up is Titles & Journaling in Lesson 4. Nancy walks you through the creation of the super-cool page (and title) above and shares and additional SIX pages, that each teach an important aspect of designing the title of a layout and communicating the details and memories involved. She even shares questions you can answer to discover a starting point or story angle. 

Lesson 5 is quite literally the frosting because it's all about embellishments. Nancy shows you HOW she uses all kinds of decorative doo-dads to bring her pages to life. This is a FANTASTIC class, full of information that answers questions and builds confidence. Even if you've been scrapbooking for years, you'd LOVE this class. RIGHT NOW, you can actually use the promo code STARTNOW to enjoy a full month of FREE class at Big Picture. That's two weeks longer than normal. So, the cool thing to do would be to INVITE your neighbor, friend, cousin or yoga instructor to JOIN YOU in Nancy's class.  

It's the perfect SHOW ME HOW!