Ali Edwards's Blog, page 13
December 28, 2024
December Daily® 2024 | Story 21 + Story 22
Welcome to Story 21 and Story 22 in my December Daily® project for 2024.
Sometimes the most fun thing to do is take a photo of your TV and tell a story about it. So that's what I decided to do for Story 21. Aaron surprised me with a new 4K Blue Ray player and the entire Game Of Thrones series on Blue Ray disks. Might sound silly but it's AWESOME and I love that he did that for us and now we are embarking on a full rewatch.
Story 22 is about getting to go see Simon's Christmas short film at a movie theater!
Let's dive into the video for both stories:
Here's a look via photos:
For this page I simply cropped my photo to 7 inches x 8.25 inches and added my journaling below before printing. After printing I used a white POSCA paint pen to draw the border and add the "twenty one" along the left edge.
This is my life + I'm telling my story!
For Story 22 I'm using a foundation page I created for our Product Play workshop this year. This one includes some of the die cut trees and a washi-wrapped plastic tree. On the top I added the story number and a chipboard that says "spreading good cheer." I'm essentially creating a little booklet to hold the story using the two pages I created for Product Play.
On the left side is the poster Simon made for one of his classes that goes along with the movie he made. You can watch the movie on his YouTube channel here.
The next piece in the "booklet" is the "be merry" plastic phrase.
And next up is my journaling printed on vellum. I also stitched the chipboard word "joy" along the top and then cut off the excess.
Next we've got a photo of Simon manning the entrance to the theater that was showing his short film. He had volunteered to check people off as they came in to the event.
I love him. He's the best.
And then here's the back of the little booklet. Along the outside edges I added labels that I cut from the Prompt Paper pack. I used stamps from a Pieces Of Us stamp set to go along the labels.
6x8 Stars AlbumDecember Daily® Main KitDecember Daily® Large Die Cut PackDecember Daily® Prompt PapersGold Metal BradsPrintable VellumBasics via my Amazon Storefront
December 27, 2024
December Daily® 2024 | Story 19 + 20
Welcome to Story 19 + Story 20 in my December Daily® project for 2024.
I hope you had a really nice holiday and that you are finding a little calm + joy in this space between Christmas and New Year's. Thanks for your patience while I took time for myself and my family over the holiday. It was really good for me to step away from my computer and my office. I return here excited to finish up this project and tell the rest of the stories from our Christmas season.
I decided to combine Story 19 and Story 20 into one post/video because I talk about both of them at the beginning of the video.
A little reminder: no matter where you are in this project right now I'm over here cheering you on! Some people are just starting, some people are finishing, and some people are putting it away until some time later on in the future.
Let's dive right in:
Here's a look via images:
Story 19 includes a full page photo + a couple 4x6 cards stitched together to hold my numbers, my story, and a photo on the back.
The felt numbers are stitched onto the gingerbread transparency and then stitched to the 4x6 journal card.
The tree journal card was stitched onto the tree vellum journal card. This 4x6 combo is added to my album using attacher stickers.
SUPPLIES6x8 Stars AlbumDecember Daily® Main KitDecember Daily® Transparency/Vellum 4x6 SetDecember Daily® Tab StickersPage Attacher StickersFelt NumbersBasics via Amazon Storefront STORY 20
One of the things I knew I wanted to do at some point in my project this year was incorporate a 2-page photo spread. Love this one that gets Aaron's hand and all three of our pets in it during my time of rest.
In between the 2-page photo spread I added a piece of grafix transparency with the die cut vellum asterisk added on top using a gold star brad.
In between the "stems" of the asterisk I used a POSCA Paint Pen to add words related to resting and quiet.
Love my pets + my people.
SUPPLIES6x8 Stars AlbumGrafix Transparency
Star Brads
POSCA Paint Pen Basics via Amazon Storefront
December 21, 2024
December Daily® 2024 | Story 18
Story 18 in my 2024 December Daily® project is about Audrey turning 16 this month!
It's such an exciting time for Audrey and I'm so excited for her to be gaining additional independence. I used a 3x4 page protector spread to tell her birthday story and document a few other details about her right now. Elliott also had a birthday this month and I included details about that on the back side of the second page protector but am not sharing that to honor his privacy. I had fun stamping titles on the large circles from the die cut pack and pairing those with journaling printed on sticker paper and added to the December Story journal cards from the Main Kit.
Here's a look at the process video:
Here are additional images:
I seriously love those big plastic phrases this year. You'll probably see one of those pop up in future years of my albums because they are so fun. I punched holes to add it directly to my album.
Ah, repetition. It still makes me happy after all these years. One journal card is general birthday details and the other card are a few things about her right now.
I added the small gold rimmed circles to the "o" in "jolly" - on the front I added 18 for the story number and on the back I added a chipboard circle from my stash.
Stars 6x8 Album December Daily® Main Kit December Daily® Large Die Cut Pack December Daily® Gold Rimmed Circles December Daily® Large Plastic Phrase Gold Puffy Numbers 4x6 Alpha + Number Stamp StazOn Ink Chipboard from stash Basics from Amazon Storefront (printers, trimmer, etc)
December 20, 2024
In Case You Missed It | December 20
Happy Friday, friends! Welcome to the latest
In Case You Missed It. Just a reminder that this is a quick post that will happen every Friday afternoon with all the updates and links that have happened throughout the week. So, let's get to it:
ONE LITTLE WORD® 2025 IS HERE
Workshop registration opens today and we have a new collection of carefully curated products available to help make your word visible throughout the year. This year we are offering a Main Kit, one chipboard 6x8 album option, prompt pages, papers, a selection of shop products, and a quarterly Mini Kit auto-ship option.
Visit our "Classes" page to see all of the details for this year's workshop. Register before 1/1 and receive the early bird pricing of $45 (registration after 1/1 will be $50) for 12 months of content related to making your word visible in your life.
2025 SHIPPING SPECIAL: Use code OLW25 and enjoy free domestic shipping ($20 flat rate international) when you spend $75+ in the One Little Word® category (will include past OLW products + other basics within the category as well) through December 31st, 2024. Shipping offer valid through 11:59pm EST on 12/31/24. Must enter promo code at checkout to receive special shipping offer. Cart must include a minimum subtotal of $75 from the One Little Word® shop category to qualify. Offer subject to change. Purchasing the One Little Word® 2025 class is not included in the subtotal to meet the minimum threshold to reach shipping promotion.
Head to the blog now for Ali's product video and all of the details for this year's collection.
END OF YEAR SALE HAPPENING NOW
After 9 incredible years of storytelling and creativity, it's time to say goodbye to our Story Kit, Story Class, Just Write, and Scrapbook Kit subscriptions. These products have been at the heart of so many treasured moments, and we're beyond grateful for the community that has grown with them. To celebrate and show our appreciation, we're offering a special end-of-year sale— a heartfelt thank you for making these kits such a meaningful part of your creative journey. Let's honor the memories and look forward to what's next together! Shop $10 kits, Story + Story By The Month classes, and add-ons now!
MIX + MATCH STORY SPARKS
We are excited to offer this new self-paced class that celebrates fun, creativity and playfulness in our memory keeping projects. The Mix + Match Story Sparks Class will feature a combination of story ideas and creative techniques in a variety of formats with the goal of providing you with product inspiration using the Mix + Match Kit as "story sparks" or jumping off points for their personal storytelling. Join contributors Ali Edwards, Sabrina Poole, Laura Wonsik, Jill White, Pam Baldwin and Jamie Leija as they share how they were inspired or prompted by the products (i.e., story spark) and then how they implemented those products in their final designs. Learn more and register here.
2024 DECEMBER DAILY® DIGITALS ARE HERE
The 2024 December Daily® Digitals are here! Kits, Stamps, Paper, and Embellishments...the same fun & festive designs as the physical @decemberdaily products, only in digital format. We love to see how this incredibly creative community plays with digitals! Resizing elements and cards, adding journaling to papers, creating cut files, transforming files into transparencies, the sky is the limit with digital files.
Want to learn more about creating with digital files? Our newest class December Daily® 2024 Hybrid Product Play is live.
Shop digitals here.
DECEMBER DAILY® COMMUNITY SPACE
We invite you to join us in this free December Daily® community classroom. We know that many in the community don't care to share their December Daily® projects on social media. And for those that do, constant algorithm updates and unreliable hashtag searches make it challenging to connect with others or to find inspiration and encouragement. So with this in mind, we are excited to offer this space as a place to share your work with other memory keepers and storytellers who are participating in this special project. Register for free here.
2024 DECEMBER DAILY CLASSES
December Daily® Product Play | This + This + This workshop registration is open. More details on this year's workshop can be found at the bottom of this post (workshop begins November 5th).
December Daily® Hybrid Product Play workshop registration is available now.
December Daily® Prep Day is available for those who missed it. All content is recorded and available.
DECEMBER REVEAL
This month, as we come to the end of the Story Kit adventure, we are taking time to reflect and focus on stories of saying hello. Hello is a greeting and it's a season. We say hello to every new day on this earth and we encounter many experiences in our lives where a goodbye results in a new hello. Let's tell stories together about the various hellos in our lives. Head to the blog for Ali's reveal post.
DECEMBER DIGITALS
The first Friday of every month we have a new digital release available in the shop. Play with scale, recolor objects, add journaling, print multiples…the sky is the limit when playing with digitals. Shop digitals here.
As always, we’re so grateful to have you all as members of this community! Thanks for joining me today and have a great weekend!
December 19, 2024
December Daily® 2024 | Story 17
Welcome to Story 17 in my 2024 December Daily® project.
I didn't have a specific story in mind today when I showed up to my table. I knew that I wanted to "get into" those divided page protectors so I came over to my computer and looked back through photos for the month so far and found this fun one of our cat Ernie that Aaron had taken. I printed that out and then considered a few different things for the bottom of the page - ultimately I ended up feeling like writing again so I documented a few things happening here today (PS: Audrey passed her driving test and now has her license). I printed my journaling directly onto one of the pattern papers (more details in my process video) and slipped a paper die cut embellishment from last year under the journaling to create a tab (those words sparked some of my writing today).
For the second page I simply let myself play to get those pockets filled in with journal cards, a bokeh photo of one of our trees, and a wreath I cut up from last year.
Let's dive into the process video:
Here are additional images:
One page words + a photo. One page of pocket play. Love it.
Write it out my friends. Write it out.
I had fun layering and embellishing these pieces. I also had fun pulling a few things from my stash too.
Go make a little magic for yourself.
Stars 6x8 Album
December Daily® Main Kit
December Daily® Paislee Press Mini Kit
Star Brads
Red/White Thick Ribbon
Epson XP15000 Printer
Past December Daily® kit items from my stash
Basics from my Amazon Storefront
One Little Word® 2025 | Collection Release + Workshop Registration
Welcome to an overview post for the One Little Word® 2025 product collection which supports our annual One Little Word® project.
Brand new to One Little Word®? Click here for additional details.
You may have noticed that our One Little Word® collection for 2025 is releasing later than we have in past years. Unfortunately we've run into multiple issues beyond our control this year and are unable to ship One Little Word® items until early January. This is not at all what we planned nor what we hope for this project/product launch and we appreciate your understanding and patience as we work to get these items to you. Our goal is always to have it in your hands as soon as we can so you can get started on your project for 2025.
2025 SHIPPING SPECIAL: Use code OLW25 and enjoy free domestic shipping ($20 flat rate international) when you spend $75+ in the One Little Word® category (will include past OLW products + other basics within the category as well) through December 31st, 2024. Shipping offer valid through 11:59pm EST on 12/31/24. Must enter promo code at checkout to receive special shipping offer. Cart must include a minimum subtotal of $75 from the One Little Word® shop category to qualify. Offer subject to change.Purchasing the One Little Word® 2025 class is not included in the subtotal to meet the minimum threshold to reach shipping promotion.
The 2025 One Little Word® workshop registration is now open.
The early bird workshop price will be $45 and after January 1, 2025 it will be $50 for 12 months of inspiration and community support as you make your word visible in your life.
In 2006 Ali began the tradition of choosing one word for herself each January – a word she could focus on + get curious about as she went about her daily life over the course of a year. Her words have included play, peace, vitality, nurture, story, light, up, open, thrive, give, whole, connect, space, habit, less, heart, pause, joy, wild, and curious (2025). Each word has become an individual thread that weaves together stories of her life. They’ve been imbedded into who she is + into who she is becoming. They’ve helped her to breathe deeper, to see clearer, to embrace mistakes, and to grow.
At the end of 2019 Ali felt moved to change the way she was running this workshop and invited a group of people to join her in co-leading this adventure. Her goal was to bring in other voices, perspectives, and life experiences and to make it more about the wonderful, wholehearted community that comes together around this project.
Each monthly prompt (
available on the first of each month) is designed to invite you back into conversation with your word. Some are writing exercises, some are crafty adventures, some are rooted in photography. Our goal is simply to help you stay connected to your word throughout the year in a way that is meaningful to you and your season of life. Some of the lenses we've used in the past to be in conversation with our words include: vision, adventure, practice, small wins, beginning again, reflection, etc.
Here's a walkthrough of Ali's 2024 album project created over the 12 months of the workshop. Not everyone creates in this same way - some people just journal in a notebook and some people just listen to the content and the zoom calls - we are here to encourage you to make it your own:
In 2022 we added a live monthly Zoom call where we connect to share ideas, reflections and stories related to the monthly prompt. This has become a much-loved way to come together to learn from one another, to listen, to share our successes + our struggles, and to cheer each other on as we walk with our individual words. These calls are recorded and added to the classroom for future viewing on your own time. We make attempts to vary the time of these zoom calls throughout the year.
Our team believes in the power of documentation + the power of words to make a difference in our lives. You are invited to come get curious about your chosen word alongside us as we journey together in 2025.
Joining Ali this year again on the One Little Word® team will be:
Azzari
Lucrecer
Liz
Here's a conversation we recently recorded about our words for 2025 and some other thoughts/reflections about our experience in the workshop over the years.
What comes with the class:
12 prompts (one per month) that invite you to be in conversation with your word (delivered in a classroom via video + written handout)
One Little Word® Main Kit Digital Package ($14.49 value)
Monthly live Zoom call
Mid-month prompt reflection from members of our OLW team
Gallery for sharing
Optional Closed Facebook Group for additional community + connection (details on how to access this group will be coming soon)
Come adventure with us in 2025.
ONE LITTLE WORD® 2025 COLLECTIONREMINDER: These items will all ship in early January.
Here's a video overview of this collection
Digital versions of these products will be released the first Friday in January. Everyone who signs up for the OLW Workshop will receive the Digital Main Kit.
Here's a closer look at the products via images.
The digital version of the Main Kit is included with the One Little Word® workshop.
The Main Kit includes prompt pages:
Pattern papers:
Die cut page inserts:
Paper die cut pieces:
Chipboard words + phrases:
Paper die cut quotes + phrases:
Here are a few styled images of the kit within the album:
A couple years ago we introduced a new product option for One Little Word® in the form of a
quarterly Mini Kit subscription. 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 3/15/25, 6/15/25, 9/15/25. The Mini Kits will ship free for $1 for domestic customers/$5 for international customers.
Here's the first mini kit for 2025:
The Mini Kit is excluded from the shipping threshold minimum for the shipping special. If any kits remain after we've shipped to subscribers then we will add them to the shop for $30.
These are clear with white text:
This is a super fun desk calendar that includes all 12 months with a different quote for each month. The top quote portion is perforated and can be removed from the calendar in order to be used as a postcard.
Additional items from past year's will also be available under the
One Little Word® category.
December 18, 2024
December Daily® 2024 | Story 16
Welcome to Story 16 in my 2024 December Daily® project.
Today I decided to document a little story about the Advent Calendar Evolution in our house. There are lots of ways I could approach this such as adding in past images of kids with Advent Calendars or taking a photo of where those used to sit in our dining area. What I decided to do is tell the story through the lens of Betty because hers was one of two Advent Calendars in our house for 2024. I also simply loved the process of writing out this story. Sometimes when I write I don't know how the writing will end - this one eded with a little pep talk to myself that was both needed and appreciated.
I love how this page came together. I love the full page photo + the longer journaling + the shaker page underneath. Might be my favorite so far this year.
I saved the "advent calendar evolution" as word art you can download and use in your own project. You'll find that download below.
Let's dive in to the process video so I can talk you through how this all came together:
Here are additional images of my project:
My two-page spread includes a full page photo of Betty + her Advent Calendar (got it from BarkBox) paired with a shaker page (using the back of Story 15) and printed journaling on top.
You can download the "advent calendar evolution" word art here.
I set up my title and journaling in Photoshop and then printed on photo paper (green background with white text). I used a 1 inch hole punch to punch partial homes out of the sides of my journaling to create homes for the letter B (for Betty) and 16 (for the story number).
The gingerbread transparency was stitched to the back of the previous story and before I finished up the stitching I added in a sequin mix from y.
SO FUN.
I also rounded the corners of my journaling block because that's how I'm feeling lately.
Stars 6x8 Album
December Daily® 6x8 Transparencies
Gold Foil Alpha Stickers
Gold Foil Number Stickers
Corner Rounder
1 Inch Circle Punch
Basics from my Amazon Storefront (printers, etc)
December 17, 2024
December Daily® 2024 | Story 15
Welcome to Story 15 in my
2024 December Daily® project.
Today's foundation comes from one I shared in our Product Play online workshop back in November. I loved the invitation to just respond to the "right now" storytelling prompts on the Prompt Paper.
One of the biggest things I noticed for myself today was how centering + calming it was to simply record some basic stuff that's happening around here. It was just a nice reminder to me once again. It doesn't matter if it seems like it's not "important" - it's all little bits of my life that come together to tell the bigger story.
Let's dive in to the video:
Here are images of my spread:
Today's spread includes a 1/2 circle photo + a fun transparency page that incorporates some of the frames from the Main Kit + one of the prompt papers from this year's collection.
Love those frames from the Main Kit.
I'm using a Uniball Deluxe Micro Pen for my journaling + a POSCA paint pen (extra fine tip) for the plus signs.
December Daily® Prompt Paper Pack (digital available) December Daily® 6x8 Transparencies December Daily® 2024 Main Kit Red POSCA Paint Pen .7mm (extra fine tip) Uniball Deluxe Micro Red Star Album Basics from Amazon Storefront
December 16, 2024
December Daily® 2024 | Story 14
Diving back into my
December Daily® 2024 project with Story 14.
Today's story was sparked when I was working through some ideas for our
Prep Day this year (a PSD template and an ornament PDF was included in that workshop). I decided to use the 1/2 circle die cut as a the jumping off point for a wreath to document what each of the people in my immediate family are currently into/thinking about in this current season. I used the ornament PDF to hold our ages and our "currently" - this is the base. From there I added photos to the ornament layered template and then added our initials stamped on the outside of the white ornament transparency.
This was a fun one to put together! You could use this same idea for anything that's essentially a list. You could do numbers rather than initials on the outside of the ornaments. Lots of stories could be told and held within this design.
Let's dive in to the video:
Here's a look via images:
I love how the 1/2 circle number die cut insert turned out. It doesn't need a lot so I added a "14" to the outside on top of the transparency
When you open up the spread you'll find a white ornament for each one of us. I used Alphas Are Awesome #1 to stamp our initials on the outside. I also added in the "family + friends" from the colorful transparency sheet. I'm using a brad with each ornament cluster to keep them together.
The next layer is a photo inside of the ornament shape (again PSD file for this was included with our $5 prep day). Elliott + Isaac who would like to not have their images included these days and I'm here to honor that request so for them I just did an initial and on top of the base layer.
Some years I've taken photos of people for this kind of page but this year I just looked back through my photo archives and picked one out.
The third (and bottom) layer was creating using the PDF from Prep Day. On top of each ornament I added our age using the gold foil number stickers and then wrote "currently" and added something (or a couple things) to each persons ornament.
Stars 6x8 Album December Daily® Page Inserts December Daily® 10x8 Transparencies Alphas Are Awesome #1 Gold Foil Number Stickers Mini Brads Basics from Amazon Storefront
December 14, 2024
December Daily® 2024 | Story 13
Welcome to Story 13 in my 2024 December Daily® project!
Today's story about making our gifting plans is told using a full page photo and a transparency with a die cut heart on top. I also felt excited about doing little more hand stitching so I played around with that on top of the heart and transparency.
Let's dive in to the process:
Here are images of today's project:
I measured the back of Story 12 and printed my photo to that size. I added a piece of our green velvet ribbon and ran that through the sewing machine. I adhered the falala chipboard on top in the space created after adding the ribbon. On top of the photo I added the "memories" transparency and stitched a large die cut heart on top before adding my journaling. I used embroidery floss to add three stars around the heart in green, red, and cream.
The transparency was stitched along the outside edge in the end so that it can open up to reveal the photo.
On the back of the heart I added the number 13 using the gold puffy numbers and one of the perforated word strips.
6x8 Stars Album December Daily® 2024 Main Kit December Daily® 2024 6x8 Transparencies December Daily® 2024 Large Die Cut Pieces Embroidery Floss December Daily® Velvet Ribbon Gold Puffy Numbers Basics via my Amazon Storefront
