Ali Edwards's Blog, page 128
July 8, 2019
For The Love Of Books | What I Read In June 2019
Having a getaway in June helped me get through a few more books this month. Here's a list of what I read in June:
The Sound Of Gravel by Ruth Wariner | This is a tough book, along the same lines as Educated and The Glass Castle. I actually thought I had read this one already but I think I was confusing it with The Glass Castle. Definitely worth reading if you are a fan of memoir.
Things You Save In A Fire by Katherine Center | I got this book as advance reader copy from Katherine (you can get this one via Book Of The Month before it releases to the public here ). I loved this story of forgiveness and empathy and compassion and love and strength through struggle. Totally enjoyable.
In A Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware | Read this one super quick on the beach. I didn't find it to be scary at all but that might have been because I was reading it on the beach during the day. It was a like not love for me.
Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah | I've read The Nightingale and The Great Alone (one of my favorite books in the last few years) so I decided to pick up one of Kristen Hannah's earlier books. I liked it - a good friendship filled beach read that definitely had me crying at the end. If you have to pick one of her books I highly recommend The Great Alone or The Nightingale.
For my
Book Of The Month picks for July I went with the following:
Three Women by Lisa Taddeo | Reading this one right now and the writing is exceptional.
The Gifted School by Bruce Holsinger
Lock Every Door by Riley Sager
COMPLETE LIST OF WHAT I'VE READ IN 2019
JANUARY
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides (BOTM / Amazon) | Totally enjoyed this super-fast-to-read thriller. A great way to start out the new year.
There There by Tommy Orange (local book club book for January) | This was a brutal book but an important read in terms of exposing ourselves to different voices - in this case Native Americans. There were lots of places I wished I would have underlined and I might just go back in and read it again for those words. It was a little confusing to follow the characters as it went back and forth - I definitely found myself flipping back to previous chapters to make sure I remembered whose perspective I was reading. Read it.
Verity by Colleen Hoover | Super satisfying thriller. Started it one evening and finished the next morning. Just read it.
The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith | Finally had a chance to start this series (written by JK Rowling under a pen name) and I totally enjoyed it. Detective mystery that kept me interested.
FEBRUARY
I’m Still Here: Black Dignity In A World Made For Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown | 5 stars. There is nothing else to say besides this: this is an important book that should be read by everyone. Stories matter, especially of those who have been and continue to be marginalized in our society.
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai | 5 stars. I loved this book. I loved the weaving of the two different time periods (1980's during the AIDS crisis in Chicago + 2015) and I loved how the author posed questions about love, friendship, memories, stories (and who gets to tell them), imperfect people (everyone), and the passage of time. It was heartbreaking and rich and beautifully written.
The Winter Sister by Megan Collins (BOTM) | 3 stars. A fast ready but one that was really just "okay" for me. The characters, the story, the whole thing - it was just not quite there. I've read so many better thrillers over the last few years.
A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum (BOTM) | 5 stars. Loved it. Go read it. Three generations of Palestinian-American women's stories of daily life, courage, family, expectations, faith, etc. Really enjoyed the storytelling and how it all unfolded. So many times as I turned the page I kept thinking to myself how the stories of these women continue today here in the US and around the world. So, so different than my life experience. This is why I read.
The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani | 3.5 stars // Picked it up because it was included in the New York Time's 10 best books of 2018 (others I've read from that list included "There, There" and "The Great Believers" which were both really good). This book was a super quick read - read it over the course of one day - and it was interesting but not awesome. Some pieces felt disjointed - I kept waiting for the author to go deeper into the story.
Maid by Stephanie Land | 3.5 stars. As an advocate for telling your story, I generally appreciate memoirs like this that detail how lives are lived because I believe there are always things to be learned from people's experiences. While reading her story I had a wide variety of thoughts running through my head regarding poverty, single-parenthood (a piece I have lived + was thankful every single day that I had a job to support myself and my children), the way the "system" works, as well as thoughts about people I have interacted with throughout my life. From that standpoint, I'm glad I read it (and it was a super quick read).
MARCH
Before She Knew Him by Peter Swanson (BOTM) | 3 stars. I found this to be a satisfying thriller. It's totally possible that I wasn't paying close enough attention while I was reading it (meaning I wasn't trying to figure out what was going to happen) but I definitely enjoyed it. Aaron read this on our vacation and also enjoyed it. Definitely good for a beach read.
Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens | 4 stars. Beautiful writing that I definitely think will stay with me for awhile. My local book club read this last month and I missed the meeting because I wanted to read it myself before having a conversation and the early part of my month was just too full to make time.
Daisy Jones + The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid | 4 stars. I initially resisted this title as I was thinking I wasn’t interested in a story about rock & roll but people kept talking about it and then my book club picked it and down the path I went. I am so glad I went down that path! I definitely had a hard time remembering that it was fiction. I kept wanting to look up the band online to listen to their music and see their faces and read what had been written about them. That’s basically how well written and clever this book is. Beyond that, I loved the entire format for how she told the story and I loved the themes of love and loss and addiction and honesty and passion. So good. Highly recommended.
Next Year In Havana by Chanel Cleeton | 4 stars. Read this on vacation and loved the imagery. I'll definitely consider reading the new book she's coming out with that tells the story of Beatriz Perez: When We Left Cuba .
The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith | 3 stars. This is the second book in the Cormoran Strike series and I didn't like it as much as the first one but it's a solid mystery with characters returning and their stories continuing. I like reading these ones on my Kindle on vacation. I'll definitely keep reading the series.
APRIL
Miracle Creek by Angie Kim (BOTM) | 3 stars. I really struggled with this book and I think it's probably just a personal problem with some of the subject matter surrounding autism. It's hard for me to articulate but I generally don't select books talking about Mom's + kids on the spectrum because it's already part of my daily life (and has been ever since my son was 2.5 years old). With this book I just kept having mixed feelings - about the characters, about the plot, about people trying to "fix" autistic people, etc. I'd be interested in hearing what other parents with kids on the spectrum felt about this one.
All The You Leave Behind by Erin Lee Carr (BOTM) | 4 stars. I really, really liked this one. It shouldn’t be a surprise that I appreciate real life stories, but this one has really struck me for a particular reason: we live in an era where content/source material for our personal stories are able to be gathered via email and text and social media messages. Voices live on in their own words - similar to written letters of the past but also different (more immediate I guess). In this book I love reading David Carr’s words of encouragement to his daughter as she navigates early adulthood and addiction - he had a way with words that has me underlining and nodding and reflecting on my own life and relationships. So good.
Lost And Wanted by Nell Fredenberger (BOTM) | 3.5 stars. I read this one while traveling and actually enjoyed the science mixed in with the story. I feel like I learned a little something about physics that is totally foreign to me and I liked the weaving through the story. I wanted to know how it was going to resolve itself and there were definitely parts that will stick with me.
Wolfpack by Abby Wambach | 5 stars. This is a super quick read based on a commencement address and I loved it. Can't wait to share it with my girls.
MAY
The Valedictorian Of Being Dead by Heather B. Armstrong | 5 stars. I'm going with 5 stars on this one because I think it's such an important read about depression + hope + life. It's Heather's own experience - not a prescription - showing a path she took to get out of a significant depressive episode. It's also a lot about understanding and kindness and asking for help and showing up for people. Really important read.
Boss Up: This Ain't Your Mama's Business Book by Lindsay Teague Moreno | I got to read an advance copy of this one (it's available for preorder now) and it's a fantastic, straight-talking roadmap for getting started and for continuing to evolve and thrive as a woman entrepreneur. Lindsay takes the lessons she’s learned through her own experience and shares them in an honest, humorous, and inspiring way. Boss Up will make you want to dive right in and take the next steps forward no matter where you are in the process.
Clean Mama's Guide To A Healthy Home by Becky Rapinchuk | As part of my personal wellness journey (more to come in a later post with an update about this) I'm working on reducing toxins in my house and this book and her site have been so, so helpful to me. It's easy to read and it was super inspiring me - I literally went around my house and got rid of just about everything I could that was a toxic cleaning product/personal care item.
You can see my 2018 Reading Recap post here and what I read in 2017 here.
June 26, 2019
AE Creative Team | June 2019 Stories By The Month™ Digital Kit
Happy Wednesday! Today we are delighted to share the awesome projects created by our Creative Team using the June 2019 Stories By the Month™ Digital Kit.
Stories of summer, stories of fun, this kit is perfect for all of your June memories. As always, a huge thanks to our awesome team for sharing their creative inspiration with all of us!
June 24, 2019
Local Book Clubs For The Win
I love my local book club, big time.
I've gotten some questions recently about our set up and wanted to share some information in case you might want to start you own within your own community.
A friend of mine from college (we have kids at the same school now) started this book club in April 2018 and sent me a text message asking me if I wanted to join.
My response to her was "Yes yes yes!" followed by "Thank you, and honestly I could use the friend time too." Because that was the truth.
Here are the basics about our Book Club:
JOINING: I was invited to join this group by one of my friends from college. We all have kids that go to the same school and most of the women have kids in the same grade. Our group has eight women and we all feel like that amount has been just right for us and we are happy with our current set up. My friend did an awesome job when she picked people to invite because we are all avid readers and really did want to talk about books! MEETINGS : We meet once a month and rotate houses. Whoever is hosting has some kind of food/snacks/treats available (often it's a combo of cheese, crackers, fruit, chocolates, etc) and drinks. One time we had a sushi night where we made sushi before we talked about our book. We meet at 7pm so most of the time we've already had dinner. We usually end our evening sometime between 9-9:30. We've varied the days of the week depending on everyone's schedule but it often seems to be a Tuesday or Wednesday. Having a smaller group makes the scheduling logistics a little more manageable and we generally schedule a couple months out (we've already scheduled all our meetings for the summer + a little weekend getaway once school starts in September). I generally try to pick a time to host when the kids aren't here just to make it easier, but most of the time other family members just hang out in other parts of the house when we have a meeting. Last time it was here at my house Simon came home in the middle of our meeting and sang "You'll Be Back" from the Hamilton soundtrack so yeah, real life happens too. We also had a special meeting in December when we all wore PJ's and brought a "favorite thing" for a gift exchange. That was super fun. We actually like each other so much that we look for other opportunities to get together and usually have a birthday lunch once a month to celebrate any birthdays happening in a particular month. WHAT A MEETING LOOKS LIKE : Generally we all arrive right around 7 and have a drink. We usually chat about life stuff for a bit - catching up, sharing stories, etc - and then we get down to the business of talking about the book. We often begin with general impressions - like it, didn't like it, etc. The host usually has printed off questions from the internet (these are easy to find via a google search) that we use as a guide as we talk through the books. Those questions often lead us onto other tangents and we like having them to center us back on the book topic. We are all active participants in the discussion, even when we might not have finished the book. At the end we schedule our next meeting and a book to go along with it.HOW WE CHOOSE BOOKS : So far we have read all fiction books (listed below). Usually the person hosting selects the book we are reading but other times someone has brought up a particular book and we are all on board with it. Most of the time what happens is we all leave the meeting with Amazon orders on their way to our houses (or downloading to our Kindle) that include books someone mentioned. This is a hazard of a good Book Club. We've read a variety of books and don't really stick to one particular fiction genre. COMMUNICATION : We have a group text chat which is an awesome way to share about other books we are reading, funny things we see online, life stuff, etc during the month.
Here are some things I specifically love about our Book Club:
1. We respect each other's opinions and experiences. I think we all really value learning from each other and that comes across when we talk about the stories we read. Some of the best discussions we've had have been about books that stretched all of us and opened our eyes to new ways of thinking (love that this can happen via fiction books). This Is How It Always Is was one of those books for our group.
2. What unites us is really that we each individually just love reading. We all generally read multiple books each month and I leave each get together with more books on my list to read after hearing what else everyone is reading (that good Book Club hazard I mentioned above).
3. I am really, really thankful for this group of women. They are good humans. Having a deeper connection with them through reading has totally enriched my life.
4. I also love that getting together is a priority. Stuff happens, of course, but for the most part it's something we all look forward to and something we all enjoy as a part of our lives.
5. Yoga pants are always welcome.
What we've read so far:
An American MarriageCrazy Rich Asians This Is How It Always Is George China Rich Girlfriend + Rich People Problems The Arrangement BeartownThe Alice NetworkThere There The Great Believers Where The Crawdads SingDaisy Jones + The SixNext Year In HavanaRules Of CivilityNext up we are reading Katherine Center's new book: Things You Save In A Fire (currently available for preorder). Katherine is a friend of mine so I was able to reach out to her for some advance copies and we are going to have her Skype into our next meeting.
We also all ready Verity on our own and talk about it all the time. Such a fun page turner.
I'm happy to answer any questions you might have about creating/hosting your own local book club.
June 21, 2019
Using Layered Templates to Document A NICU Experience | Guest Post by Laura Wonsik
Happy Friday friends! Ali is delighted to welcome Creative Team member Laura Wonsik as she shares how she documented her recent NICU experience using one of Ali's layered templates.
Layered Templates are a great way to document and tell your stories. Not only do they serve as a foundation for your stories, but they take some of the additional thought out of the design process to allow you to focus more on the words and photos. As Laura says, these templates give you the gift of simplicity when your time and energy is limited.
Here's the layered template that Laura used for the photo portion of these pages: Slanted 8.5x11 Layered Templates.
Here's Laura:
My daughter Isla was born unexpectedly and prematurely at 33 weeks while we were 2.5 hours from home. She spent 16 days in the NICU following her birth while my husband, 4 year old daughter and I navigated this unexpected transition as well as daily life from a distance. It was the hardest thing I have ever gone through but thankfully she came out of it strong and we are all home and settled now.
Like all parents with a new baby, we were taking lots of photos and they piled up quickly. It was a crazy scary whirlwind experience that soon became a blur.
As the days in the NICU wore on with no definite timeline of discharge, a haze of beeping monitors, medical terminology that went over our head, conversations with neonatologists, social workers, nurses and lactation consultants and frequent consumption of medium quality cafeteria food, I considered how to best document all of the photos, milestones and experiences we were having as parents of a preemie in an energy efficient way.
About a week into her stay, I decided to start a NICU log using a template for ease of design. Thankfully, all of the photos are time and date stamped in my phone so I was able to piece the days together relatively easily. I only had about 30 minutes to an hour of time (well...energy) every day so I knew I needed to streamline the process.
I decided that photos would tell most of the story and I would create a template for as much journaling as I needed or felt inspired to include for each day opposite the slanted photo design template.
I created the template for the journaling by making a color block that followed the angle of the slanted template and changed the color to match each day’s photo cluster. I used the font “Archer” for the title and journaling. (I also created a template similar to the slanted ones for more vertical photos.) I also changed the size to 6x8 because I knew there would be a lot to print when we came home.
These templates gave me the gift of simplicity. When your energy is limited, making decisions, even small ones, can be exhausting. By settling on a single design to repeat for each day, I was able to focus on the journaling and photos. The only other decision I made was what color to make the top of the journaling page.
My plan is to put these in an album with the story of her birth at the front and a few of my favorite photos of her from the NICU in 6x8 page protectors at the end.
I am so thankful that I took the time to document this experience, the achievements, the setbacks, the joys and the sorrows. As we have returned home those days feel more and more like a dream so I am thankful that I captured the details for her to see when she’s grown. I want her to know what a strong girl she is and what she overcame.
Thank you Laura for sharing your story and your experience with all of us!
June 19, 2019
AE Creative Team | July 2019 Stories By The Month™ Physical Kit
We are delighted to bring you another round of creative inspiration from our awesome Creative Team! This week we are sharing the projects they created using the July 2019 Stories By The Month™ Physical Kit.
As always we are so grateful to our Creative Team for sharing their projects and the stories of their lives.
Project Life® 2019 | May
A little note to self I wrote down for myself recently was this: simple is not less than.
Do you find yourself feeling that from time to time (or maybe more often)?
I think this is sometimes where people get stuck with memory keeping. If you can't go all out and tell all the stories and include all the photos than it's not worth it or you just get super overwhelmed with all the choices in front of you. And when we get overwhelmed, we often just give up.
Been there? If so you are very normal.
Memory keeping does not have to be overwhelming or complicated and your stories don't have to include every single detail to be meaningful (I mentioned this related to my recent travel album in this post too).
Simplifying Project Life® into monthly stories/spreads has been a positive move for me this year. In most months I've picked three stories to tell from the month after looking back through the photos I took. This month, as I was looking through my photos, what I really felt inspired to document were some of the everyday shots that show the variety of our life right now. May was also the month I did Week In The Life™ and I decided not to add any photos
Sometimes I love writing longer stories and sometimes I totally recognize that for one reason or another (time, motivation, etc) shorter stories are totally fine. This month I decided to go simple with one spread full of 3x3 photos for May.
Here's a look at what I did for May:
This month I used two of the 2B 9x12 page protectors (with the 3x3 pockets) along with a 8.5 inch x 11 inch page protector.
Inside the 8.5 inch x 11 inch page protector I included some "stuff" from the month including Simon's National Honor Society Program, a card from Anna for Mother's Day, and the program for the Blazer Playoff Game that Aaron and I went to in Portland.
And here's a look at the speed without the insert:
My design formula for this month included choosing one of the following things to add to each image:
A chipboard piece.
A label sticker along the bottom of the image or a small circle sticker along the edge. Add journaling on top (I used a Staedtler Lumocolor Pen). I also used a Tiny Attacher to staple onto each photo.
Stamp the "this is May" stamp using Staz On + a rolling date stamp.
Selecting three options for myself helped to simplify my process. You can make it even simpler of course - by choosing just one or leaving your photos alone and using an insert to hold any stories you might want to add.
I created one title card using a card and wood veneer piece from the May Stories By The Month™ kit.
This style is a great way for going back in time for months you might have missed. Don't worry about not including every story - just get something in those pockets!
You've got this!
MAY PROJECT LIFE® PROCESS VIDEOSUPPLIES9x12 Black Album
9x12 Page Protector 2B8.5x11 Page ProtectorMay Stories By The Month™ Kit
Label Stickers
StazOn
Avery Index Tabs
Epson PictureMate PM400 Printer
Power PunchTiny AttacherStaedtler Lumocolor PenRolling Date Stamp
You can see all my past Project Life® posts here.
June 17, 2019
My First HSN Adevnture + A Look At The Album I Made Using The Travel Kit
Last week I traveled to Tampa, Florida for my first adventure going live on HSN.
The first day of my trip was a training where I learned more about HSN and had the opportunity to have on-camera practice time. I loved learning more about the company and seeing how it all works behind the scenes which I found totally fascinating.
See all those cameras in the image above? Those cameras aren’t operated with guys standing behind them. Nope. They are operated remotely in a control room. I had no idea about that and totally envisioned a bunch of men (I’m sure there are women camera operators too but in my mind they were all men).
I really like how HSN really encourages a conversational style on air. I totally welcome that and loved hearing that as their guiding philosophy. It made it easier to get up there and talk about my products as I would explain them to a friend.
As I mentioned in this post, the first thing we are offering on HSN is a Travel Kit and a 3x8 Album. The travel kit product configuration is a little different than what we are offering on my site - it includes the 3x4 cards, some 3x8 cards, the sticker sheets, and two chipboard sets (these chipboard sets are ones that sold out here in the shop). In the future what we offer on HSN will be past designs in new colors. This means when you see December Daily® offered there later this year it will be some combination of 2018 designs that have been recolored (that will most likely happen in October). We will offer a newly designed 2019 December Daily® kit and coordinating products on my site in early September just as we’ve done in years past.
My hope is that this expansion of our offerings will introduce my projects to even more people who may not have been exposed to my memory keeping projects and philosophy previously.
My on-air time for the Travel Kit and Album was part of their 24 hour Craft Day and it was cool to run into familiar faces and to meet new people who were just as nervous as I was and just as excited.
So how did I feel when I was doing it? I was actually really excited. I loved having an opportunity to talk - even if it was brief - about my scrapbooking philosophy. If you've been around a long time you know I have a lot to say about it and most of the time I have unlimited time to talk about it within my classes, here on my blog, on social media, etc. I love that this was something new and a bit of a challenge to condense it down to the most important pieces. I also know that I'll get better at it the more I do it.
If you want to see my actual segment here you go:
You can order the Travel Kit and the Travel Album from HSN here.
For my on air appearance I put together a travel album using the HSN kit and the 3x8 album. Here's a close up look at the pages of the album I shared on air:
Telling your travel stories can often be a big task that is easily overwhelming. Often we feel like we have to add EVERY PHOTO and EVERY THING we might have collected or experienced on a trip or vacation.
My general philosophy about travel documenting (and memory keeping in general) is a little different: I look for stories to tell vs. feeling like I need to follow a chronological flow that includes every place we stopped and everything we saw and everything I felt. To be clear, sometimes I do choose a chronological flow but for me it depends on the overall story I want to tell. I talk a lot more about my general travel memory keeping philosophy within my Stories Of Travel workshop.
For this project I used the five "travel story" journal cards from the Main Kit to hold five main stories from our vacation. I took a look at the photos we took (for us this was a true vacation meaning we barely left the hotel property vs. other kinds of trips where there might be a lot more seeing of sights or adventuring outside the place you are staying) and selected five main stories or topics to focus on for telling the story of this vacation.
To simplify my storytelling process I break it down into manageable story chunks.
The 3x8 Memories card I added here was an overview and a reflection of the trip overall. Across from it I inserted the "go" card and the "itinerary" card. When designing these cards I thought about the overall story flow and literally started with the "go" card and ended with the "coming home" card you'll see below. In-between those two cards I created 5 numbered story cards to hold some pieces of our story.
Travel story number one was about getting there. Traveling with five kids at this age is actually really fun and I love seeing all my people lined up there in the airport.
For each of my stories I used a Faber-Castell Pit Artist Big Brush Pen to add my story theme.
On many of my photos in this project I added chipboard from the two sets included in the kit.
Story number two was about the water. Looking back through my photos there were a lot of the water which makes sense when you consider that we were in Hawaii. Did I include every single photo I took of people in the water? Nope. This was enough for me. Again, you don't have to include every photo you take to be able to document and tell a story about your adventures.
Story number three was about rest. This was the goal of this vacation for us: downtime, time away from our regular schedule, relaxation. I picked three photos that represented the word "rest" to me and added them into the page protectors along with the journal card.
I added some of the chipboard pieces onto my photos and called it good.
Story number four was about celebrating being together. From the photos I took during this trip the ones that stood out as some of my favorites were the ones that included all of us or at least all the kids. Those are the meaningful photos to me from this time in our life.
Story number five was a more practical one about walking and how we enjoyed staying at the Hilton Hawaiian Village and how it included a lot of walking around the property.
I included one additional, non-numbered story spread because I wanted to make sure to include the fact that we celebrated Isaac's birthday while we were there. I also always love any opportunity to give thanks within my stories.
Remember how I started this project with the "go" card? You know you've come to the end when you flip to the "coming home" card. For this one I just added the travel quote card from the kit and a photo of some of our crew playing a card game in the airport.
My last page of the album includes a 3x8 card that simply says "thankful for this adventure."
You can totally do this! There's definitely some letting go in coming to realize that you really don't have to use every photo or tell every story from a trip to still tell a meaningful story about your adventure.
Also, a big thank you to HSN for having me and for including my products in their line up.
Let's tell stories together!
If you want to learn more about travel memory keeping generally check out my Stories Of Travel workshop.
If you are looking for specific ideas for working with the 2019 Travel Collection (including the products above) check out my Travel Product Play 2 workshop.
June 14, 2019
Travel Product Play 2 Workshop Now Open For Registration
Travel Product Play 2 is now open for registration. Your first lesson will be available on Tuesday, June 25th with lessons following on Fridays and Tuesdays.
This year I'm joined by Creative Team Members Amy Gretchen, Jenny Theriault, Jen Schow, and Ingunn Markiewicz. Each one of us will be creating a travel album in either a 3x8 or a 6x8 album size using products from the 2019 Travel Collection. The contributors will share a walkthrough of their completed project along with some tips and ideas and I'll share my full process from start to finish showing how I put together an album about a trip to Peru in 2014.
No matter whether your trip is near or far, from last week or many years ago, the new 2019 Travel Collection products can be used to help get your travel stories told. In this workshop focus will be on ideas for using the products included in the Main 2019 Travel Collection Kit to document our adventures.
More details and registration here.
Just a reminder if you are looking for less product inspiration and more what to do before, during and after travel related to telling your stories check out my Stories Of Travel self-paced workshop. In that workshop I also share video walkthroughs of all my past travel projects (along with sharing some of the ones I haven't finished and explore the reasons why).
June 13, 2019
Say Hello To A New Story-Focused Subscription: Just Write
Today I'm excited to invite you to join a brand new writing-based monthly subscription called Just Write.
For $5 per month you'll receive 2 PDF prompts and two PNG files of each of the words/phases. This is a subscription that is totally and completely about the words. It literally supports my memory keeping philosophy of starting with story. If you are looking for a guided way to get more of the stories from your life told this may be just what you need to make that happen.
We've heard from many people over the years that they have too much product. While my goal is to create and offer products that intentionally support and create homes for our stories, I totally get it. I think this subscription is going to be an awesome opportunity for our community to focus on simply getting stories written down.
For those of you who've taken my 31 Things or 31 More Things workshops in the past you'll be familiar with the basic structure of this subscription. Each month on the 13th and the 1st you'll receive an email letting you know that a new PDF prompt is available for you to download. That prompt will include the topic, questions to think about related to the word/phrase, a writing tip or inspiration I've gathered, and then I'll share my story of how I responded to the prompt. The PDF's will be two pages with my personal writing on the second page in case you want to write first without being influenced by the direction I take with my story.
The writing prompts will come from basic, everyday life themes because I find so much value comes from writing about the basic stuff. I've also learned that often very basic words can lead us to meaningful stories that we might not first envision when we start writing.
My hope is that even people outside our memory keeping community will find value in this opportunity to write more of their own stories: memoir writers, art journalers, etc. Maybe you'll want to invite a friend or family member to write with you each month. This would be an awesome way to collect stories from others who are important to you as well.
I'm super excited about bringing the focus back again to one of the pieces of the memory keeping process that I feel is truly important and can actually make a difference in our lives: the words.
Learn more and subscribe here: Just Write
Let me know if you have any questions below. I'm so excited to start writing more with you!
Move Story Kit™ + July Stories By The Month™
In the
Story Classroom this month we are focusing on stories related to the theme of Move.
Here are a few thoughts about this particular theme:
We all make moves, find ourselves moved from time to time, and move homes over the course of our lives. This month we are investigating stories that have to do with all the ideas related to “move.” From big to small, these stories matter.
Initial story ideas for the Listen theme include:
Did you live in one house as a child or move from one to another (and maybe move often)?
Tell a story of the last time you were really moved by a comment, movie, song, etc.
Moving can be really tough or it can be really amazing (and everywhere in between). Tell a story about moving in your adult life.
HEADS UP: We've made a change to how we are offering the Add On's last month. The different Add On's will now be available to all Story Kit™, Story Stamp™, and Stories By The Month™ subscribers - this excludes Digital Story Kit/Story Class subscribers since you don't have any part of your subscription shipped already. Please note that the Crafters Ink pad option will only be available to Story Stamp™ subscribers. You can see this month's Add On's and read more below.
If you are new to the Story Subscription program, check out all the details
here.
If you are already a subscriber the content in the classroom will be available to you on the 15th.
Here's a look at
the
Story Kit™ contents for Move:
Here's a video overview of the
Story Kit™ and Add-On options this month:
The Move
Stamp Set:
Here's a video overview of the
Story Stamp™ and Add-On options this month:
DIGITAL STORY KIT™ (Included with the STORY CLASS)
Your digital kit and the classroom and any Add-Ons purchased will be available to you on the 15th once your card has been charged for the month.
Here's a look at what's included in the Digital Story Kit™ for Move:
And a couple peeks at the layouts I created with the kits this month in addition to the one featured at the top of this post (
full details, including process videos and how-to handout, are included with subscription):
Again, thanks so much for subscribing and/or considering my
Story Subscription program! If you have any questions about this program please let me know below in the comments.
Stories By The Month™ kits now include 4x6 chipboard, 3x4 and 4x6 cards, a 3x4 stamp, a sticker sheet, and an embellishment (wood veneer, cork, etc). Stories By The Month™ Kits are all based on the designs we offered digitally each month throughout 2018.
Here is a full look at the kit for July:
And a video overview:
This subscription is a great option for those who are looking to tell more calendar/everyday life sorts of stories.
A progress tracker 6x8 paper pad, hexagon summer plastics, transparent phrases, fabric hearts, and label stickers. Story Stamp™ subscribers will also have access to a Deschutes Ink Pad.
And here's a better look at the 6x8 Progress Tracker Pad:
Last month we made a change to our Add On options and are making them available to all Story Kit™, Story Stamp™, and Stories By The Month™ subscribers
(this excludes Digital Story Kit/Story Class subscribers since you don't have any part of your subscription shipped already). Please note that the Crafters Ink pad option will only be available to Story Stamp™ subscribers.
Our goal with this change is to decrease the overall amount of products offered as Add On's across all the kits but increase the quantities of the items we do offer with the hope that we will be making more of what you guys actually want (vs. more product overall). It's all still a work in progress.
Current and new subscribers can select + purchase Add-On's via your new drop-down menu access under your user name in the top right corner of the site. If you subscribe to more than one you will have a Box for each subscription and the ability to purchase Add-On's for each one. Depending on product availability subscribers may be able to purchase the Add-On's after the Add-On period has ended and regular shop shipping rates will apply because they will ship separately from the kit.
Check out
this post for more information about this new subscription, including differences between the subscription options offered.
