Hello, Story Class - Week 1

The latest Big Picture class by Ali Edwards, called Hello, Story, started on July 8th. Our first week's assignment was to do a timeline layout, and just a teensy bit late (I completed the layout on Sunday), here is my take:

First of all, Michigan bugs me with its weird gloominess and lack of light. Add to that, I just don't have much time in my schedule to be picky. If I want to post a photo, it's not always feasible for me to get the best possible one, simply because I don't want to wait for a perfectly sunny day for photography.

So...one copes.

Those are some photos of my niece Olivia. I didn't have any really specific journaling for each one, so I just wrote off-the-cuff captions. I totally scraplifted Ali Edwards' design, but I changed the elements to reflect my own photos and theme. The ladybug motif is perfect because we've all called Olivia "Bug" almost since those first photos were taken, and it has stuck.

All of the photos are from 2003, Olivia's first six months. Unfortunately, I didn't have a photo from June of that year, so I went with two of July. It bothered me, the lack of "timeline continuity," but I told myself not to overthink it, to have fun with the assignment, rather than allowing it to become one more source of stress, especially since I get so little time to scrapbook, and it's supposed to be my way of relaxing and playing creatively.

Bad photography aside, I like this layout for its design and colors and cuteness factor. The photos take me back to Olivia's babyhood, and that makes me dwell in happy memories. I don't like "jumping the gutter," having photos overlap like this, but I stayed true to the scraplifted design, which I think is visually attractive. The stamps, from Stamps of Life, were a lot of fun to play with, and I always love a chance to put buttons on my scrapbook pages. They're some of my favorite embellishments.

As this class gets off the ground, I know I'm not only going to enjoy it, I am also going to learn a ton.

And I'll be sure to share my assignments as I have time--I hope!--to complete them.