Beginning today, you can register for Design Your Life. There is no class size limit, so there is no need to race to register. There's room for everyone to learn design.
I've been fielding a series of questions since announcing this workshop a while back, and here is a brief Q&A for those of you who are interested in taking this workshop with me.
Is this the same class you taught in 2008? Yes, it's the very same class. All of the assignments are the same. All of my layouts are the same. I purposefully have not publicly shared any of these pages (or sketches) for this class to keep the content exclusively for my students. The weekly slide show lessons are also the same. However, I decided to re-record all 12 weeks of those lectures to create videos for the new format at BigPictureScrapbooking. Additionally, in 2008 I recorded video messages every few weeks for my students, based on whatever was going on topic wise on the boards, or just depending on what sorts of things were going on in my scrapbook life. These unscripted videos will be all new in DYL 2010, of course.
I've taken one of your workshops this year, and was able to save the slideshow to my computer. Will I be able to do the same in this class? Not for Design Your Life. As with the first go round, we will have the slideshows available online, streaming, in high resolution. You will also have "forever" access to the class materials. Even though the class will end, you will always be able to go in and download materials, and view anything you may have missed. We'll also have transcripts and PDFs of every slide of each presentation for you to print and save if you wish.
I'm a digital scrapbooker. How will a class like this help me? For Design Your Life 2010, I've added layered PSD files for digital scrapbookers, but the core content of this class—teaching design principles—is going to help all scrapbookers, whether you're digital, hybrid or tradtional.
Do digital scrapbookers need what's on the supply list? No, except for possibly an album and page protectors to save your finished, printed pages. Honestly? The supply list is purely a guide to give you ways to store your work. You can store your final pages any way you like! And this goes for all students.
I would prefer to do all of my pages in 12 x 12. Will I still learn the concepts if I do this? You are welcome to convert sketch concepts to 12 x 12, and yes, you will still learn the concepts. We have a good number of 8.5 x 11 sketches, both single page designs and two-page spreads. In 2008, some students simply took those core designs for the 8.5 x 11, and placed them onto a 12 x 12 space. The concepts we're studying do not get lost when you change space size. That's part of the reason I have multiple sizes for our assignments, to really communicate the idea that space is space, and design applies universally.
Will you be assigning us what to scrapbook about? No. I may make a suggestion from time to time, but what you choose to cover is up to you. Aside from learning design, this is a great class to get a lot of pages done, and almost all of the assignments feature multi-photo designs.
I'm hoping to learn a bit about digital scrapbooking. Will you be covering this, since you're adding digi files to the classroom? The short answer? No. This class is about design theory, not about software or digital scrapbooking technique. However, I may cover some digital tips in the unscripted video messages, but those videos evolve out of what types of things students are talking about on the message boards.
I took this class in 2008. Can I take it again if I want to? Yep. And as an alumni, you can take it for $49. However, keep in mind that as an alumni, you have access now to the 2008 classroom any time you like so you may not need to take the 2010 workshop. That said, if you DO sign up for 2010, you will get the new digital files, and of course you'll get the interaction with me for another 12 weeks.
Will you be doing any giveaways for spots in your class? Yes. I will do one giveaway in the next few weeks, and that will be the only one. Then, you can confidently place the workshop on your Christmas list and give it to someone who loves you and looks at your scrapbook pages often.
This isn't really related to your class but I have two questions. First, is that your natural hair color and second, would you consider watching my dog while I go on vacation? The answer to question one is no. It's Clairol Grey Solution No. 4. The answer to question two…is your dog housetrained? Maybe we can talk.
If you have any more questions for me, feel free to email (design.life@comcast.net) me or leave a comment here. Hope to see many new faces in the workshop for 2010!



















