The first two weeks of InDesign 101 I did flashcards and a food planner, check them out! The third week of class we learned how to type set a book. This was truly the largest chunk of work we had to finish, and we learned a whole lot while doing it. I chose to do Jane Austen’s Persuasion.

This was tedious at times, and took a while, even though Persuasion isn’t that long. I had a lot of fun styling it though, especially since the copy I own isn’t that pretty!

I can’t wait to have one of these printed! It’s so exciting, and even though it took a long time, it really was a fun project.

All in all, I’m so happy that I decided to take InDesign 101 from Nicole’s Classes. It was definitely worth it, I’ve already been commissioned to make a photo book for a project for my Grandmother, something I would have had to use online templates for before I took this class. I am also looking to take more, because the format of the class was great for my schedule and crazy days of little guys, and not too overwhelming either. It was definitely opened doors for me that would have otherwise been hard to open. So if you are in need of a little learning, hop over to Nicole’s Classes and sign up for a class!

In the first week of InDesign 101 we made flashcards. You can check them out here! The second week of class in InDesign 101 we made a food planner. I know, you’re asking me right now what a food planner is right? It’s a planner (calendar) that has recipes tucked in with it!

I was really excited about this project, because I LOVE planners and calendars. I love the search for a new one, the new features, the expanse of blank pages. I just never seem to find one that is just…right. But now, with my newfound knowledge, I can make my own! And the purpose of putting the recipes in their as well was to teach us how to format for them, in case we ever wanted to make a cookbook (Something else that’s on my long term list of goals).

We got to use some lovely pictures taken by Nicole of Nicole’s classes. They are so lovely, I wish all of my photos looked as good! (She teaches photography classes! )

This is the cover of my food planner:

I started each month with an “at a glance” calendar page, and we incorporated quotes about food as well.

And, since I always need weekly pages with lots of space for to – do lists, phone numbers and things to remember, I added those in-between each month.

I’m sketching things out and thinking of what I’d like in my own planner for next year, and I think I’ll try my hand at my own wall calendar for the fridge as well! This week’s project was definitely fun, but I love the next week’s too. I can’t wait to show that one to you.

I’ve been taking the InDesign 101 class through Nicole’s Classes this past month. Their classes are typically 4 weeks, and are project based. You watch videos and make projects based on the skills you need to use a program to it’s fullest. There are a variety of classes, and there are several more I want to take! I chose InDesign because I knew it would help me to create better layouts for quilt patterns in the future. Alma Loveland, the teacher explains everything very clearly and gives you real world examples too, as she is a graphic designer in “real” life. I’m going to sign up for Illustrator 101 and Making a Pattern as well, because while I have a working knowledge of Illustrator, there is so much more I’d like to know.

I am SO GLAD I took this class! Within the first week I had already learned some valuable information, and made adorable flash cards. We learned how to set up master pages, and how to change them.

The first set was a number set, from 0 to 9. My oldest boy wanted stars on them, “like in outer space.”

The next set was all about animals. The pictures of the animals we used were original watercolors done by the teacher’s husband! They are lovely. I think this is my favorite set.

The next set was colors. Again, we had custom made watercolor blobs to play with. I love these too! I want to print them out and frame them in my studio.

The last set was all about shapes. It was fun to learn how to draw all the different ones in InDesign, it’s a lot different than Photoshop sometimes.

There were 50 cards in all, and that was only our first week’s project! I’m going to have these printed for my little guys to use, and I really think they’d make lovely baby gifts.

What do you think? I really encourage you to check out Nicole’s Classes, it’s been an awesome experience and I can’t wait to share my next project with you!