Ali Edwards's Blog, page 121
December 9, 2019
Give The Gift Of Memory Keeping + Storytelling
As you are making wish lists or shopping for memory-keeping-minded friends this holiday season don't forget that we offer Gift Subscriptions for each of my subscriptions. This is the first year we've made this available and we are super excited to be able to make this happen.
Story Kit™ | Includes 3x4 + 4x6 journal cards, acrylic word, chipboard, stickers, and other embellishments. Also includes access to a classroom each month focusing on the specific theme. You can check out Past Kits here.
Story Stamp™ | 4x6 stamp set + includes access to a classroom each month focusing on the specific theme. You can check out past stamps here.
Story Class (includes the digital version of the Story Kit™ + Story Stamp™) | Great for people who want access to the monthly education/content but want to work from their stash (or simply have less product overall) or for digital memory keepers. Examples of past digital kits can be found here.
Stories By The Month™ | A northern-hemisphere calendar-based monthly kit that often includes references to holidays/seasons. Great for people who do Project Life or other weekly/monthly documentation.
December 8, 2019
December Daily® 2019 | Stories Seven + Eight
Welcome to Story #7 and #8 for
December Daily® 2019.
I decided to combine days seven + eight into one post as I worked on them at the same time today. The video below includes details on both pages/stories.
The page I had originally established for story #7 is getting moved to a different day (need all the kids to be here to take their photos for that story).
A quick reminder that you can check out my Foundation Pages post to see my starting place for my project his year.
Here's a look at how this story came together:
Yesterday was Simon's Eagle Scout Project Day. It was awesome.
For the story I decided to do a full page photo (on the back of story #6) that shows Simon leading members of his troop.
On top of the image I added a chipboard star and two Christmas Tokens from Tim Holtz.
For my journaling I created a 4.25 x 3 inch journal card and added the plastic "making magic" sentiment on top. I used a puffy gold star along the edge (and repeated that shape on the other side).
On the back of the journaling card I adhered a photo of Aaron putting up our Christmas lights for story #8. When I put my foundation pages together I embossed all the gold stars on top of the wood #8 using a small star stamp.
For my journaling I used Illustrator to type inside a circle and adhered it to the back of the 8 (it gets covered up by an image on the back as you'll see below).
The pleather circle was added when I did my foundation pages originally.
On the back of the wood #8 I added a photo of one of our cats (George) checking out the new Christmas lights). On top of that photo I added some word phrase stickers/ chipboard pieces.
December Daily® 2019 Main Kit
December Daily® 4x6 Album
December Daily® Chipboard Bundle #1
December Daily® Chipboard Bundle #2
December Daily® Transparency Phrases
Epson XP15000 Printer
Power PunchSHARE YOUR STORY
You are invited to leave a link in the comment section if you'd like to share your daily pages. As usual, please include a direct link to your specific blog post vs. a general blog address link.
December 7, 2019
December Daily® 2019 | Story Six
Welcome to Story #6 for
December Daily® 2019.
One of the things on my list of stuff I wanted to do in my album this year was to incorporate a photo that spread across both pages. Obviously in a 4x6 album that's going to be a very horizontal image so I had started thinking about what kinds of images I might want to use. When I was out on my walk this morning I took a photo of the grey fog happening down my street. It fit my mood and I decided to see if I could make it work for my story today.
A quick reminder that you can check out my Foundation Pages post to see my starting place for my project his year.
Here's a look at how this story came together:
I cropped my photo to 14 inches wide x 4.25 inches tall and printed it using my Epson XP15000 on 13x19 photo paper. I cut it in half, punched holes, and then rounded the outside edges using the half-circle page as a template.
I added "cozy & quiet" using the gold alphabet in the Main Kit.
I cut down the 2x2 pocket page protector so it just included two pockets - the top already included the gold alpha spelling out "six" from my foundation pages. To fill the second pocket I copied and pasted my journaling from my Instagram post and then printed it out (I used Photoshop to create the black background and white text). I added an Avery Index Tab and filled the inside with a strip of star transparency.
For the space behind the tiny story for today I found a quote about simplicity and printed/cropped it to fit.
Because I essentially added a new page into the album I also need to do something on the other side of the first half of the photo.
I went with pattern paper from the Paislee Press Mini Kit paired with a chipboard circle from the Advent calendar and a metal circle "story of this day" that was a recent add on offered to kit subscribers (still available if you are a kit subscriber).
December Daily® 2019 Main Kit
December Daily® 4x6 Album
December Daily® 2019 Paislee Press Mini Kit
December Daily® 12 Days Advent Calendar
Epson XP15000 Printer
Power Punch
Avery Index Tab
Passport Square Punch
December Daily® 6x8 Transparency BundleSHARE YOUR STORY
You are invited to leave a link in the comment section if you'd like to share your daily pages. As usual, please include a direct link to your specific blog post vs. a general blog address link.
December 6, 2019
December Daily® 2019 | Story Five
Welcome to Story #5 for
December Daily® 2019.
Yesterday I had dinner + dessert with friends and decided to use that as my story for today. As I was driving to that dinner I started thinking about what I could do with the back of this tag and knew that I wanted to create some kind of "slit" with an xacto knife to hold "something" (to be determined when I was able to actually work on the page).
Loved playing with this idea and incorporating one of the envelopes from the 12 Days Advent Calendar. Make sure to check out the process video below to see how I created this pocket/hidden journaling opportunity.
A quick reminder that you can check out my Foundation Pages post to see my starting place for my project his year.
Here's a look at how this story came together:
This page begins with the back of one of the tags from the Main Kit (that was the home for my fourth story).
I took this photo hoping it would turn out like this and I'd be able to use it as a "full page photo." I cropped it to the size of my tag and added the small amount of text in Photoshop before printing (I used Illustrator to set my type on a curve).
I took the #5 envelope from the 12 Days Advent Calendar (each day includes a small embellishment inside) and cut it down to 2x3 to act as my tag. To hold the tag in place I cut a "slit" in the photo with an xacto knife that was just a little bit wider than the width of the tag itself. I waited to adhere the photo onto the tag until I had the pocket part figured out.
I added an Avery Index Tab along the top and added phrase stickers adhered back to back inside.
On the back side of the tag I printed a journaling block (sized to 2x3).
So fun + easy! Loving all the interactive opportunities in this album.
December Daily® 2019 Main Kit
December Daily® 4x6 Album
December Daily® 2019 Paislee Press Mini Kit (mini gold stars)
December Daily® Phrase Sticker Bundle
December Daily® 12 Days Advent Calendar (cut up the #5 envelope)
Epson XP15000 Printer
Prima Peppermint Lane Christmas Trim
Power Punch
Tiny Attacher Stapler
Avery Index Tab
Xacto KnifeSHARE YOUR STORY #5
You are invited to leave a link in the comment section if you'd like to share your daily pages. As usual, please include a direct link to your specific blog post vs. a general blog address link.
December 5, 2019
December Daily® 2019 | Story Four
Welcome to Story #4 for
December Daily® 2019.
Giving thanks for the stuff of life - everyday stuff as well as holiday stuff - is a super important piece of the overall way I want to live my life. For today's story I set myself up for success by creating a fold out hexagon booklet (template included in December Daily® Product Play 3 workshop) to hold the stories of four things I'm thankful for right now.
Just a quick reminder that you can check out my Foundation Pages post to see my starting place for my project his year.
Here's a look at how this story came together:
As mentioned above, this was one of the pages I put together initially for the December Daily® Product Play 3 workshop. I loved trimming the large tag from the Main Kit to fit into my 4x6 album and printing out a hexagon booklet (sized to the plastic hexagons from the Main Kit).
On the other side of my journaling I added an additional plastic hexagon and a photo of myself cut into the hexagon shape. On top of that I added the word "four" using the letter stickers from the Main Kit.
I used the number stamps from the December Daily® 2019 Memory 4x6 stamp set to number my thankful stories and a Precision Pen to add my words.
This is a quick and easy story topic that anyone can do. Let me know if you try it!
PROCESS VIDEOSUPPLIESDecember Daily® 2019 Main Kit
December Daily® 4x6 Album
December Daily® 2019 Memory 4x6 stamp set
Pendleton Ink
Epson PictureMate PM400 Printer
Date Stamp
Printable hexagon booklet from December Daily® Product Play 3 Workshop
Number Sticker
Prima Peppermint Lane Christmas Trim
Precision PenSHARE YOUR STORY #4
You are invited to leave a link in the comment section if you'd like to share your daily pages. As usual, please include a direct link to your specific blog post vs. a general blog address link.
December 4, 2019
One Little Word® 2020 | Workshop Registration + Products Now Available
Welcome to the kick-off of One Little Word® 2020 and the launch of our product collection to support the project.
I seriously can't believe I'm typing 2020. Every time I say it out loud or write it down I shake my head.
All One Little Word® collection products are in-stock and ready to ship to you.
This year we are offering a Main Kit, two album options, a small selection of shop products, and a new quarterly Mini Kit auto-ship option (more details on that below).
For this collection shipping rates are as follows:
SHIPPING SPECIAL: Use promo code OLW2020SHIP to receive free domestic shipping ($15 international flat rate) when you spend $60+ in the One Little Word® category. Shipping offer valid through 11:59pm ET on 12/12/19. Must enter promo code at checkout to receive special shipping offer. Cart must include a minimum subtotal of $60 from the One Little Word® shop category to qualify. Q1 Mini Kit and custom products do not count towards minimum subtotal. Class purchases do not count towards the free shipping threshold. Refunds will not be issued for forgotten or misused promo codes. Offer subject to change.
Here's a video walkthrough of the product options this year:
AUTO-SHIP MINI KITS
As we looked back over the last few years of One Little Word® product offerings one of the things I wanted to do was to create products that align more closely with the prompts we are doing in the workshop. As always, none of the products are necessary for the workshop - you can always do that with what you have on hand + use the digital products that come with the class.
With that in mind we have created four One Little Word® Mini Kits, one for each quarter of the year, with products that align with the content planned for the workshop (you will be able to see the full contents of the first Mini Kit before purchasing). These kits will "act" differently than our other subscriptions: purchasing the first One Little Word® Mini Kit commits you to an "auto-shipment" + charge of the remaining three kits at the time of their shipping. The remaining three kits will be charged + shipped on/around 3/15/20, 6/15/20, 9/15/20.
We hope that spreading out the kits throughout the course of the year will do two things: (1) help keep you continue to connect to your word by giving you products you can use as you make your word visible in your album throughout the year, and (2) spread out the cost over the course of the year rather than a bigger purchase all at once (since we totally get that this is a busy time for spending).
The Mini Kits will ship free for domestic customers/$4 for international customers. The Mini Kit is excluded from the shipping threshold minimum for the shipping special.
Thanks for your support as we try something new with this project.
2020 ONE LITTLE WORD® WORKSHOP
Workshop Registration for 2020 is now open. Early bird pricing will be $29 through December 31, 2019. After that date the price will increase to $35. This comes out to be less than $3.00 per month for the 12 months of content.
The workshop includes the digital version of the Main Kit + the prompt pages. The workshop will continue to feature 12 monthly prompts along with weekly email messages (new in 2019).
Click here to read all the details about this 12 month online workshop with the goal of helping you to make your word visible throughout the year.
If you are curious and want to learn more about what kinds of prompts to expect, check out this post that is a walkthrough of a bunch of my past albums for this project.
DIGITALS
One Little Word® digitals products will be available for purchase in early January (the Main Kit + prompt pages will be available earlier to those who are enrolled in the 2020 workshop).
As always, thank for your support of this workshop and this project. It is one of the most, if not the most, meaningful projects I work on each year and this community means so much to me. I hope to see you again in the 2020 workshop.
December Daily® 2019 | Story Three
Welcome to Story #3 for
December Daily® 2019.
Today's story is a great reminder that stories don't have to be long to be effective. I love aiming for a combination of longer + shorter stories in this project (and in most of my projects) and remembering that it's the sum of all the parts that is most meaningful to me.
Just a quick reminder that you can check out my Foundation Pages post to see my starting place for my project his year.
Here's a look at how this story came together:
A couple days ago I took this photo of my cat Sam while I was working on a new puzzle. He's not a cat that messes with puzzles because he's way more interested in sleeping and eating. I knew I wanted to include this simple, fun story in my project this year and today seemed like a darn good day to do just that.
I put the base of this page together as part of the December Daily® 2019 Prep Day (the circle "tis the season" word art was included in that event).
I added the circle word art to a clear transparency (I get these from Amazon) and then added the pattern transparency and the Tim Holtz spinner on top.
For my super short story I used See And Stamp Transparent Stamps paired with a stamped/embossed ampersand stamp. I've had the alphabet stamps since 2011 (gotta love how Amazon keeps track of all that for me) and they are still one of my most favorite sets.
I used a 3.5 inch circle punch to get my photo into a circle shape and then added one of the clear circle stickers from the variety pack on top.
December Daily® 2019 Main Kit
December Daily® 4x6 Album
Gold Star Brads
StazOn Ink
Pendleton Ink
Epson PictureMate PM400 Printer
3.5 Inch Circle Punch
2 Inch Circle Punch
Free Circle Word Art from December Daily® 2019 Prep Day Event
Tim Holtz Metal Spinner
Ampersand Stamp (older one from Studio Calico)
Gold Embossing Powder
See + Stamp Alpha Stamps
December Daily® Variety Sticker Bundle (clear stickers)
December Daily® 6x8 Transparency Bundle
Graphix Transparent Sheets
Date StampSHARE YOUR STORY #3
You are invited to leave a link in the comment section if you'd like to share your daily pages. As usual, please include a direct link to your specific blog post vs. a general blog address link.
December 3, 2019
December Daily® 2019 | Story Two
Welcome to my second story for December Daily® 2019!
One of my hopes in sharing a video of how my page comes together each day is to demystify the process. I want you to see how I change my mind, make mistakes, try things out, cover things up, laugh at myself, identify my stories, etc. It's
what is real with any paper crafting/memory keeping adventure.
Just a quick reminder that you can check out my Foundation Pages post to see my starting place for this year.
Here's a look at how this story came together:
My second story is about Chris and I having a morning meeting with Simon's psychologist to get some additional support (for us) as we move through the next transition (from high school to next phase). As you'll read in my journaling for today, I'm so very thankful that we are able to do this together.
To document this story I snapped a photo of our feet in the elevator after the appointment and then added word art from the 2019 Layered Template Combo pack to the photo before printing. That photo is sized to fit into the space on the gold foil journal card (digital version of those printed cards available here). It's about 5.25 x 2.65 inches.
I think it's good to remember that photos don't have to be direct representation of the story they support. Sometimes snapping a quick shot of your feet is the perfect way to literally ground yourself in a moment.
Based on my
Foundation Pages I knew I was likely going to build off of the gold foil journal card and that the number stamping I had done was going to be more decoration than story support.
Through the process of working with both my photo and journaling I decided that I wanted to create another flip-up and that I wanted to adhere this entire card/flip up to the outside of the page protector (I used red line tape for that). You can see and hear me talk through that process in the video below.
On the outside of the photo I added a fabric star from the Paislee Press Mini Kit to act as a lift-up piece.
For the flip-up I used a combination of washi tape (Pebbles Merry Little Christmas Washi) and the green pattern masking tape from the Masking Tape Bundle. I added three strips of tape to create the green + cream pattern and then added one of the fabric stickers on top.
Here's a look at the two pages together outside of the album:
And here's a look with the flip-up in action:
December Daily® 2019 Main Kit
December Daily® 4x6 Album
December Daily® 2019 Paislee Press Kit
December Daily® Variety Sticker Bundle
1Canoe2 Date Stamp
December Daily® Pattern Masking Tape Bundle
Pebbles Merry Little Christmas FaLaLa Washi Tape
Gold Star Brads
December Daily® 2019 Layered Template Combo Pack
StazOn Ink
December Daily® Specialty Journal Cards (digital version available here)
December Daily® 6x8 Number Stamp
Pendleton Ink
Star Transparency
Fiskars Trimmer
Red Line Tape
Epson PictureMate PM400 PrinterSHARE YOUR STORY #2
You are invited to leave a link in the comment section if you'd like to share your daily pages. As usual, please include a direct link to your blog post sharing your Day 2 vs. a general blog address link.
December 2, 2019
December Daily® 2019 | Story One
Welcome to my first story for December Daily® 2019!
Diving into this project feels like sitting down to coffee with an old friend. There's a really lovely mix of familiarity and anticipation. I'm excited to see what stories pop up this holiday season.
Also, heads up that today is Cyber Monday and my Classes + Digital Products are 30% Off. No promo code is required. Sale prices reflected in shop. Sale is on select digital products and online classes currently listed on the site. Class sale excludes December Daily® Product Play 3 and 12 Hours | December Daily® 2019 Prep Day. Digital sale excludes 2019 December Daily® digitals. Offer ends 12/3/2019 at 11:59pm ET.
If you've never taken my Storytelling With December Daily® workshop I highly recommend that one (and it's totally a steal at 30% off of $15). You might also be interested in December Daily® Product Play 1 and December Daily® Product Play 2 (both feature past year's products but all kinds of fun ideas are included that could be incorporated into an album any year). If you want to learn more about using photography for storytelling and my personal photo workflow check out Lens Of Joy. Check out all my workshops here.
Now back to December Daily®. Here's a look at how my first story came together:
As many of you saw when I shared my Foundation Pages, I've done quite a bit of work in advance for my album this year. I love that one of the things that does for me is helps me to focus on the words and the photos during the month.
Today's story started with a flip-up transparency I had originally created for my Foundation Pages (included the cut out red glitter #1, the white star transparency from the 3x8 transparency bundle, the gold alpha, and the reason why along the bottom).
At the outset I thought I'd include a family photo for this first story but decided instead to use a couple photos I took during the day and save the family photo for another day. In the video below you'll hear me talk through that along with other decisions I made as I added this story to the album (like using the mini paperclips to hold the transparent page + my first photo together).
I wanted to use 2, 4x6 photos and went back and forth between making this almost into a little multi-page booklet using washi tape. It ended up as just one flip-up with the other pages attached together using the mini paperclips.
The metal "this is December" heart was offered as an Add On to kit subscribers this month.
Along the outside edge I added an Avery Index Tab and used stickers from this year's Phrase Sticker Bundle on the inside of the tab.
I also wanted to show you guys a behind the scenes image of the lights I'm using in my office during this less-daylight season of the year (at least where I live in Oregon). I bought these lights about a year ago and they have saved me a number of times when I've missed the natural light window of time here in my office. These ones were right around $60 and makes it so I can work into the evening if necessary in order to get my work done.
December Daily® 2019 Main Kit
December Daily® 4x6 Album
Tim Holtz Mini Paperclips
November Kit Add On - Adhesive Enamel Pins (available to kit subscribers)
Avery Index Tabs
December Daily® 2019 Phrase Sticker Bundle
December Daily® 2019 3x8 Transparency BundleSHARE YOUR STORY #1
You are invited to leave a link in the comment section if you'd like to share your daily pages. As usual, please include a direct link to your blog post sharing your Day 1 vs. a general blog address link.
December 1, 2019
December Daily® 2019 | Bring On The Stories
Welcome to December 2019.
Today many of us begin the seasonal process of identifying and capturing one story per day for the next 25 days or the next month through a project called December Daily®.
Some of you will be making daily pages along with me, some of you will just be taking photos, some of you will just be journaling, and some of you will approach this project from an entirely different perspective. Whatever this project needs to be for you this year is how you should approach it.
Starting tomorrow I will be sharing my stories each day here on my blog (
with a couple exceptions noted below).
As we embark on this journey here are a few things I would encourage you to keep in mind:
Embrace your own story. Your story is just that - YOURS - and it matters. My story will be different than your story because we are each living our own lives. You might be in a totally different season of life than me and I want to encourage you to celebrate where you are and look for the joy in your own life. It is there - even in the hardest time it is there. Go read my December Daily® Hopes For You . This is a post from a few years ago that still rings true and is a great reminder to begin the season. Figure out what works for you. There isn't a right or a wrong way to approach this project. That might be taking notes during the month and bringing it all together after the holiday is over. Remember that this project is a part of my job and one of my commitments is sharing my ideas and workflow during the month itself. The sharing of ideas and stories is meant to encourage you rather than frustrate you and make you feel behind. There is no room for guilt here. Let my ideas be jumping off points for your own ideas. Stories don't have to look the same. Stories can be long or short. They can include words or just be a photo. I choose to tell one story per day because that's how I like to approach this project. POSTING SCHEDULE UPDATES
This year I'll be sharing my completed pages here on my blog each day during December. I generally take a few days off starting on Christmas Eve and pop back on here soon after Christmas with my completed pages.
Need more encouragement or inspiration?
Check out my starting place/Foundation Pages for 2019. Join a workshop: December Daily® Product Play 3, December Daily® Product Play 2, December Daily® Product Play or my Storytelling With December Daily® - you get immediate access to all the content. Review my past December Daily® blog posts. Subscribe to my YouTube Channel. Follow @decemberdaily on Instagram. You can also follow me @aliedwards or my main business account @aliedwardsdesigninc. Join the December Daily® Facebook group. Read my 25 Ideas And Story Inspirations.
