Top 3 Classes - and a half (2010 in Review pt3)

Over the year, I did my usual signing up for more classes than I could really deal with! At BPC I took 6 classes, received prompts from Shimelle's LSNED and JYC (you are automatically in the class each year it runs once you have joined the class for the first time), and also joined in various challenges including LOAD. I was successful (!) to a greater (at times when I was über-motivated) or lesser extent (due to my own laziness or lack of concentrated effort), and only really completed one of the classes from beginning to end but I did manage to complete a layout every day for the three months of LOAD (February, May & October) which I am very proud of. A pile of 90 layouts is really something I can tell you! Some of my favourite layouts of the year (to come) came from these classes and from LOAD - they filled me with inspiration and motivation.

My Top 3 Classes of the year were therefore:

1. Dimensional Details by Nic Howard (BPC)

If you are at all familiar with Nic's work (she is on the design team at BasicGrey and also Prima) you will know that she is all about the clustering, distressing and dimension. Originally, I wasn't sure but she was so highly recommended on the LOAD message board that I signed up and it was FANTASTIC. You have to get on board if she ever runs this class again. Every week was stunning: full of inspiration and beautiful layouts as well as great assignments and clear, motivational instructions. I loved every minute of it and completed every assignment which is a real achievement for me. It's really hard to pick a favourite layout from this class as I truly love them all but this one was so much fun to do.

Through this class, I really feel as though I have found my style and that feels great. I love the curled edges and the piles of embellishments and the paint and ink and bits and pieces. I have no idea how I will get them all into albums due to their dimension but I don't care! I haven't put a single layout into an album for more than 18 months and just adore sitting looking at the huge piles of finished layouts I have.

2. Colour! or is it Color? by Nic Howard (BPC)

Once you've done a Nic H class, it will have you coming back for more! She is delightful and fun and inspiring and has a wonderful NZ accent which we all love. She produces just the most gorgeous layouts and has a style all her own (which I want for myself!!). So when this class came up, it was a no brainer for me. Ok, so I haven't managed all the layouts yet but I am working through the assignments in my own time and loved the first couple that I did. As you might have guessed, this class was all about colour and we went through the colours of the rainbow to create a collection of cards and layouts that represent each colour considering the meanings behind each colour and thinking about the mood or feelings they can represent. I just finished green last weekend (so 2011) but managed red and yellow last year. Yellow is therefore my layout of choice to represent this class.

3. Camp Scrap by May Flaum (BPC)

May offers a completely different style of class but is so much fun. The pace is faster. There are always loads of examples, assignments, challenges, handouts, chats and giveaways. She has a great style and loves to make simple but quirky layouts using mostly 6x4 photos either complete or cropped down which I love. Most of her layouts are multi-photo (now there's a topic for a blog post ;-)  ) and are easy but effective. She's not a perfect scrapper which suits me down to the ground. Camp Scrap was a summer class with all the fun of, well, camp! Ok, many of us non-US'ers didn't really know what happened at "camp" but it was all good stuff and we had a ball. Again, I didn't do all the assignments but that's the joy of lifetime access: I can go back over the ones I missed and fill in. I completed 8 specific challenges or assignments but this one of Charlie is my favourite for sure.

And I am going to add in a 3a which would be the October LOAD - it was a wonderful 31 days and I have 31 wonderful layouts to prove it. Check out the link above to find out about LOAD 2/11 and I promise you, you won't regret joining up - if you complete 28 or just 2 layouts! I will be blogging more about LOAD later in the month but this was one of my favourite LOAD layouts where I followed the prompt (purely optional and sometimes I do, sometimes I don't).

Are you a classaholic like me? If so, what is your favourite - I'd love to check it out.

I am currently *shock horror* classless but am planning to join May Flaum again at BPC for her Creative Retreat 2011 starting in Feb - it might be crazy to join at the same time as LOAD, but heck, I am just a crazy girl sometimes ;-)