Ali Edwards's Blog, page 131

Week In The Life™ 2019 | Monday Words + Photos

Ah, Monday. 

Ah, first day of Week In The Life™ for 2019. 

How did it go for you? 

Remember that this project is a bit more of a marathon than a sprint. Remember that you can always take shots on different days and include them in your album if it helps illustrate your story. Don't get too rigid about how this is all supposed to go. Your goal is to document a period of time - twenty years (heck even five years from now) no one is ever going to say to you "hey, didn't that happen on Wednesday instead of Thursday?"

In my recent Set Up + Approach post I talked about using the journaling cards as a guide for my storytelling each day. The Monday card title is "this week" - I definitely thought about it as I went about my day asking myself the question what did "this week" mean to me? 

What I found is that I thought a lot about the week ahead while I was capturing images here and there throughout the day. I looked at and took a screenshot of the the weather forecast. I printed out a calendar for the week and am adding it to my project. I also thought about how the title "this week" is about looking ahead and also about what's happening right now. This is the week I'm documenting and it all starts with this first day. 

Some basic details: 

I took a mix of iPhone and DSLR photos today. These days I mainly use my iPhone and I've evolved into taking a whole lot more vertical photos than ever before. I loved re-creating some past shots and looking for completely new angles. I used the self-timer on both my iPhone and my DSLR for any of the photos I'm in today. I will prop up my phone on any available surface. I opened up the Notes app on my computer/phone and jotted down thoughts throughout the day. This was helpful in capturing bits and pieces of thoughts, emotions and observations over the course of the day. 

Throughout the day I totally felt like I wasn't taking "enough" photos until I sat down tonight and uploaded them and realized I will have more than enough for my album.

Here's a look at my Monday: 

Monday mornings after our time without any kids is usually really quiet. It’s the calm before the tornado of kids descends upon the house after school. 

Today I started my day feeding the cats, doing a load of laundry, making a cup of coffee, checking social media, and then sitting outside to read and drink my cup of coffee. The weather this week is looking awesome and sitting outside is a great way to start the day - I should be able to do this when kids are here too. 

My day always begins with medications (thyroid, mood-stabilizer, allergy) + vitamins.

Our dog Woody passed away before our Spring Break trip to Hawaii so pet detail has simplified some. It's so strange to be able to have the doors to the outside open without everyone freaking out that Woody would get outside. He loved to take off and explore the neighborhood but he was really hard to get back into the house. 

During this project I often think a lot about the person I am vs. the person I want to be or the person I aspire to be or the person I sometimes imagine myself to be. 

I am a mix of all these thoughts and emotions and aspirations.

But really, I'm just me. 

I like routines. I like flowers. I like books. I like sunshine. I like working. I like yoga. I like coffee. I like writing. I like taking pictures. I like learning. 

And I love being married to Aaron and that we blended our crazy crews into one. 

The wisteria is in bloom. It was one of the reasons I loved this house when we bought it nine years ago. 

Getting outside and reading in the morning is something I'm really trying to cultivate. I just started this one called You Are Here after a friend shared it with me last week. Loving it for my morning reading. 

This is Sam. He's the one who spends most of the day in his basket in my office. 

Aaron and I fondly refer to him as our child. He's the one who is also often found sleeping in between or on top of us in our bed. He is super, super soft and probably one of the best cats ever born. 

After my morning stuff I head up to my office where I check email, send out a One Little Word® email, post a video on YouTube, and start working on deliverables for the Listen Story Kit. 

I also set an alarm for 11:30 to make sure I don’t miss yoga at noon.

These days Katie works from her own house most of the time. We chat when we need to and have meetings and all that good stuff but there's no reason she has to be sitting here in my house when she can do the same stuff from the comfort of her own house. We've got a good rhythm. 

Aaron is a sleep-in kind of guy. I'd already been up for a few hours before I finally saw him in the kitchen. 

Cantaloupe wrapped in prosciutto for a pre-yoga snack. 

This is Ernie. He's the newest cat addition (last summer). He's awesome and I love that he loves sitting in this window area. 

I am so proud of myself for showing up to yoga on Monday’s at noon. I think I’ve gone three weeks straight now and its just become a part of what I do on Monday.

During this project I often find myself paying attention to in-between times. To the times when it might not feel like I have enough time to start a task when in reality I do. 

I added some meal plan ideas for the week to our chalkboard. 

And, yep, as you will see I wore my yoga clothes all day. 

Snack after yoga included hard boiled eggs + Everything But The Bagel seasoning from Trader Joes and an orange. 

After a little more work it was time to go pick up Anna from school. Simon's been choosing to ride the bus home from school which seems to be giving him a nice decompression time. 

I totally didn't notice that you could see our house via the back window until I was going back through my photos tonight. 

Love that about this shot. 

As soon as Anna got in the car today she told me that she and a couple friends want to do a Hamilton song at the talent show at their school. I was so excited that she's interested because I love it so, so much. Totally fun to chat about the story and the music as we drove. She wants to be Eliza. 

I love picking her up from school and am so thankful I am able to do it.  

After picking her up we did a quick grocery stop for spinach, bananas, eggs, and broccoli. 

Back at home I usually do some dinner prep or head back to my office. Today I decided to make some cookies before cooking dinner. I went with these breakfast cookies from Real Food Whole Life. They were awesome. 

Dinner tonight was salmon and roasted Brussel sprouts, delicata squash, small potatoes, and asparagus. Super easy to just chop up all those vegetables and roast them in the oven and use the grill for the salmon. We've got one kid who won't eat salmon at all - he made himself a breakfast sandwich. 

Simon has shown an interest in learning to play the guitar which is awesome. Today he was watching a how-to video on YouTube and practicing with one of Aaron's guitars. 

The lilacs are also exploding right now. I can't bring these ones inside because they really make my allergies go crazy. 

The cookies. 

I don't usually plant too many annuals but this year I decided I wanted a bright yellow pot of these beauties. 

We do casual dinners since it's often the case that someone is at an activity. Tonight people ate in waves and some were outside and some were inside. We roll with it. 

Something is almost always happening in the kitchen. Isaac is almost always making a face. Aaron was emptying the dishwasher. 

Anna + Audrey had some neighbor friends stop by and they continued to sign Hamilton songs and laugh. Love having all kinds of kids around here and I am so happy to have nice weather. 

Cleaning it all up. 

I love when the light changes as the day comes to a close. 

When I came upstairs to upload photos the girls brought in some of their favorite coloring books. They recently asked for me to get them the same ones so that they could color the same picture at the same time. They've got some kind of game going where they close their eyes and select the pen colors before coloring. 

I walked downstairs and found Aaron at the puzzle. He sits there for breakfast and works on it in the morning too. 

Isaac on his loft bed snuggling Ernie. He was on the hunt for some lost rubix cubes. 

Aaron calls this bed the "nest."

Aaron drove Simon to Boy Scouts and picked up Elliott from basketball practice and then they were the second wave of dinner. He's currently doing both Ultimate Frisbee and Basketball. 

At the end of the day I come back to the idea of gratitude again and again. Taking photos is a way to practice gratitude and I often capture shots of things I'm thankful for whether they are people, places, things, or emotions. I love seeing the real life reflected back to me. We don't live in a perfectly clean, neat and tidy house and I'm so completely fine with that and I want that to be a part of my documentation. 

This is what my life looks like right now. 

I wouldn't trade us for anything. 

Walking down the hallway to my office this is the reflection of the light from the windows on my wall. 

Here's to this week!

Tomorrow's theme for me is "observing." I'll be keeping that in mind as I go about my day and seeing what kinds of photos come from the concept of "observing."

You are invited to share a link to your Monday words + photos in the comments below. 

Week In The Life™ 2019 | Bring On The Stories

Good morning! 

Today's Monday, May 6th which means it's the start of Week In The Life™ for 2019. 

In case you missed my pep talk post last week go check that out here. 

I'll be back tomorrow to share my words and photos for Monday. 

You've got this!

STORIES MATTER

This project always makes me think deeply about why storytelling matters in my own life.

For me, storytelling is a practice in mindfulness and it's the way I make sense of my life. As storytellers we are more aware of the little moments that create the big seasons and telling those stories is a practice that documents where we are and where we came from - ultimately, who we are. This project is such a great opportunity to pay attention to your life. 

Bring on the words and photos this week! 

In addition, this month we are celebrating storytelling by inviting you to share why telling your story is important to you. Post on Instagram, tag @aliedwardsdesigninc and #aeshareyourstory, and share what telling your story means to you and how it impacts your life. Sharing your story will enter you for a chance to win a $50 gift card to my shop.

To help celebrate we've got a new promo code TELLMYSTORY for 20% off my Apparel + Accessories Collection (offer ends May 15, 2019 at 11:59PM EST). 

Week In The Life™ 2019 Starts Monday + A Pep Talk

I am super excited to embark on the 2019 version of Week In The Life™ alongside so many of you starting next week on Monday, May 6th.

Here are a couple things I invite you to keep in mind: 

The goal of this project is not to compare yourself with others. The goal of this project is to embrace + celebrate the life you are living right now. 
There is no rule and no recommendation to document every single detail of your week. My hope is that you take this opportunity to pay closer attention to your life and capture some words and photos along the way. 
Have fun with this project. If you start getting stressed, ease up on your expectations. Remember that you don't have to be taking photos every minute of the day - that's absolutely not the point. 
When thinking about what stories to tell, consider what you wish you knew about your Mom, Grandma, Dad, Aunt, etc at this point in their life and focus in on those kinds of stories. What do you wish you knew about the life they were living at any given point in time? My guess is you might wish you knew a little more about how they were "feeling" in their life - you might have an idea of some of the facts of their lives but do you have a sense of how they felt about it all? 
If you feel like your life is exactly the same as it was last year I totally challenge that assumption - lovingly of course. One of the goals of this project is to encourage you to pay attention to what is actually happening in your life - if you are alive your life is not exactly the same as it was last year because you have grown and the world has kept right on spinning. If you are having a hard time valuing your individual story I would suggest focusing on gratitude in this album: make a list of the things you are thankful for each day or at least include that as one of your stories. Lives change in an instant and you really never know what tomorrow will bring. 

If you'd like to use Daily Sheets to help you focus your storytelling you can find those in last year's getting ready post here. 

I'll be sharing my daily photos and words here on the blog just as I have in past years next week.

I recorded a little video yesterday as a pep talk to give you a few more things to consider as we embark on this project: 

To get you even more in the mood here are some links to recent + past posts: 

Read 5 Reasons To Join Me in documenting your own week this year. 

Read my Week In The Life™ Photo Tips. 

Read this post about Stories I'm Thinking Of Including as you consider the stories you might want to include. 

Click over to this post to read about how I played a bit with my album before the project begins + thoughts on my overall approach for 2019. 

And want to learn how to work with the Week In The Life™ Layered Templates? Check out this post for that.

Make this project your own. You've got this and I'll be doing it right alongside you. 

Project Life® 2019 | April

Can I tell you how much I am loving this monthly approach to Project Life®? 

I LOVE IT. 

It's manageable. You have time for this. You can do this! 

When I looked back through my images from April there was one main theme that definitely stood out: blooming flowers in my yard. So many flowers. Throughout the month I've been taking photos regularly and was able to really document the explosion of blooms that occurred over the course of the month and I had the best time printing out so many of them to tell a story.  

Here's a look at how it all came together: 

For April I decided to go with two of the 2B 9x12 page protectors (with 3x3 pockets) because I knew I wanted to include a bunch of images. 

I took one of the sentiment cards from the May Stories By The Month™ kit and cut it to 3x3 and added it into one of the pockets. 

In addition to the 9x12 page protectors I added a 6x8 3A page protector and an 8.5x11 page protector. 

As always, pretty much always with any inserts, I added Avery Index tabs to the outside edge. 

The "April stories" card is from the April Stories By The Month™ kit (available digitally here).

On the back of the 6x8 page protector I added another card from the April Stories By The Month™ kit and a custom journaling card that holds my story for the month. 

Were there more stories from this month? Of course. Do I need to scrapbook/document them all? Absolutely not. 

I so want to encourage you to find a method and a rhythm that works for you that actually allows you to get some of your stories told. Sometimes when we feel like we have to include everything we end up doing nothing. You have the time, the ability, and most likely the supplies to do something.  

For my journaling this month I created a custom card and focused mainly on the story of all the flowers. I also added just a bit at the bottom about a couple other stories from the month. 

Download the "the story of this month" word art here.

On the back side of the 8.5x11 page protector I included a second photo enlargement which is a picture of me taking a picture of the sunset in Austin. In the sky at the top of the photo I used the Quote This stamp set to create a home for some handwritten journaling and added a plastic rectangle title on top (from a past Add On). 

On the last page for this month I continued with all the 3x3 images and cut one of the cards from the April Stories By The Month™ kit to finish it off. 

APRIL PROJECT LIFE® PROCESS VIDEOSUPPLIES
9x12 Black Album 9x12 Page Protector 2B 6x8 Page Protector 3A Stories By The Month™ April + May 2019 (digital version available here) Family Time Stamp Set Quote This Stamp Set (stamp sold out - digital version available  here ) Past Kit Add On's  Week In The Life™ 2018 Kit (large rubber oval) Seasons Stamp Set StazOn Avery Index Tabs Epson PictureMate PM400 Printer Power Punch

You can see all my past Project Life® posts here. 

For The Love Of Books | What I Read In April 2019

Finished two fiction and two non-fiction books in April. I'm currently feeling all the love for non-fiction + memoirs right now. I'm about half-way through The Valedictorian Of Being Dead by Heather Armstrong and I'm totally looking forward to the two books I selected from Book Of The Month for May (you can see those titles below).  

Here's what I read: 

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. 

For my May Book Of The Month selections I went with the following (adding the descriptions so you can see what these are about): 

The Buried by Peter Hessler // Drawn by a fascination with Egypt's rich history and culture, Peter Hessler moved with his wife and twin daughters to Cairo in 2011. He wanted to learn Arabic, explore Cairo's neighborhoods, and visit the legendary archaeological digs of Upper Egypt. After his years of covering China for The New Yorker, friends warned him Egypt would be a much quieter place. But not long before he arrived, the Egyptian Arab Spring had begun, and now the country was in chaos.In the midst of the revolution, Hessler often traveled to digs at Amarna and Abydos, where locals live beside the tombs of kings and courtiers, a landscape that they call simply al-Madfuna: "the Buried." He and his wife set out to master Arabic, striking up a friendship with their instructor, a cynical political sophisticate. They also befriended Peter's translator, a gay man struggling to find happiness in Egypt's homophobic culture. A different kind of friendship was formed with the neighborhood garbage collector, an illiterate but highly perceptive man named Sayyid, whose access to the trash of Cairo would be its own kind of archaeological excavation. Hessler also met a family of Chinese small-business owners in the lingerie trade; their view of the country proved a bracing counterpoint to the West's conventional wisdom. Through the lives of these and other ordinary people in a time of tragedy and heartache, and through connections between contemporary Egypt and its ancient past, Hessler creates an astonishing portrait of a country and its people. What emerges is a book of uncompromising intelligence and humanity--the story of a land in which a weak state has collapsed but its underlying society remains in many ways painfully the same. A worthy successor to works like Rebecca West's Black Lamb and Grey Falcon and Bruce Chatwin's The Songlines, The Buried bids fair to be recognized as one of the great books of our time.The Flight Portfolio by Julie Orringer // In 1940, Varian Fry--a Harvard educated American journalist--traveled to Marseille carrying three thousand dollars and a list of imperiled artists and writers he hoped to rescue within a few weeks. Instead, he ended up staying in France for thirteen months, working under the veil of a legitimate relief organization to procure false documents, amass emergency funds, and set up an underground railroad that led over the Pyrenees, into Spain, and finally to Lisbon, where the refugees embarked for safer ports. Among his many clients were Hannah Arendt, Franz Werfel, André Breton, Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp, and Marc Chagall.The Flight Portfolio opens at the Chagalls' ancient stone house in Gordes, France, as the novel's hero desperately tries to persuade them of the barbarism and tragedy descending on Europe. Masterfully crafted, exquisitely written, impossible to put down, this is historical fiction of the very first order, and resounding confirmation of Orringer's gifts as a novelist.
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. 

You can see my 2018 Reading Recap post here and what I read in 2017 here. 

AE Creative Team | April 2019 Stories By The Month™ Digital Kit

Happy Thursday everyone!

Today we are delighted to share the projects created by our awesome Creative Team using the  April 2019 Stories By the Month™ Digital Kit.

Ingunn Markiewicz

Brandi Kincaid

Jess Forster

Amy Gretchen 

Laura Wonsik

Jenny Theriault

Lisa Varshine

Kelly Ishmael

Jen Whittmore 

Morgan Beal

Stories of growth, stories of Easter, stories of everyday life, this kit is perfect for all of your April memories. As always, a huge thanks to our awesome team for sharing their creative inspiration with all of us!

Foodie Collection | Support For Telling Your Stories Of Food

Happy Wednesday and Happy Foodie Collection Release! 

One of the most popular past Story Kits™ was one called Eat. That theme was an invitation to tell stories from your life that relate to food: what you eat, who you eat with, memories of food, etc. To continue encouraging those kinds of stories we've created a new collection of food-related products to help you get even more of those stories told. 

This release includes journal cards, a chipboard bundle, a word/phrase sticker bundle, a 4x6 stamp, a 3x4 stamp, rubber embellishments, wood veneer embellishments, and a puffy sticker bundle. 

This time we are also offering a bundle that is essentially a "buy-all" option with the exception of the 4x6 stamp. You can check that out here. 

Here's a video that introduces you to the options: 

Check out the full release here. 

Week In The Life™ 2019 | Layered Template Tutorial

Today I wanted to share a quick video tutorial that demonstrates how to use the 
6x8 Week In The Life™ 2019 Layered Templates in Photoshop. 

All digital products for Week In The Life™ are now available here. 

I often use these templates in conjunction with the physical products - they also work great as simple digital layered templates for intentional storytelling all year round. The dates are easily removable and I show you how to add your own date within the video tutorial. The steps I take in the video below are the same I would take if I was using the 
3x8 Layered Templates or the 4x6 Layered Templates. 

As you can see in the image above, the 6x8 package includes 7 days of the week pages and 7 collage/journaling pages to help you identify and tell stories from your week. You can choose to pair each full photo page day of the week with one of the collage pages or you could choose one collage page and repeat it for all seven days. It's totally up to you. 

Here's a look at how I work with these layered templates before printing them at home on my Canon MG7720 printer (you can read more about the printers I use here): 

If you'd like to learn more about using digital products to create paper projects make sure to check out my Hybrid Workshop that takes a much deeper dive into my processes. 

Take a look at my plans for my 2019 Week In The Life™ album here. 

Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below!

AE Creative Team | May 2019 Stories By The Month™ Physical Kit

Happy Wednesday everyone!

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 
May 2019 Stories By The Month™ Physical Kit.

Ingunn Markiewicz

Jess Forster

Amy Gretchen 

Laura Wonsik

Jenny Theriault

Lisa Varshine

Brandi Kincaid

Kelly Ishmael

Theresa Doan 

Jen Whittmore 

Jen Schow

Morgan Beal

As always we are so grateful to our Creative Team for sharing their projects and the stories of their lives.

Week In The Life™ 2019 | Album Set Up + Approach

This year I decided to play around a bit in my Week In The Life™ album before the actual documenting week comes around. 

Taking just a bit of time to look through your supplies, think about the stories you might want to tell, and have some general ideas how you might bring it all together is definitely worth your time especially if you are someone who likes working with some structure. I'm a fan of structure with a little flexibility thrown in for good measure. To me this means setting up some things now knowing that I might move things around a bit after I actually have my content. 

If you're still on the fence about this project or participating this year I hope this posts inspires you to dive in with both feet. I'm here to encourage you along the way as we share our stories together. 

With this project I often set up a design formula and then follow that throughout the album to create my foundation. I'm doing that again this year and sharing it with you in advance rather than after I've completed my album. 

This year I'm starting my album with a 6x8 quote page from Hamilton. It's a sentiment that's been on my mind + heart lately and I love how it's used in the musical to reference times of celebration and pain. I find it to be a great reminder of the lens I want to live with in my own life. 

Download the Look Around From Hamilton word art/PDF here.

Rather than showing every single page from my album here in this post I'm going to show you Monday so you can understand the design formula I'm following for all the days. In the walkthrough video below I've included a complete overview of how my album is right now with all the elements in place. 

Let's take a closer look: 

On the back side of the opening page I'm planning to insert a photo and then cut up the 4x6 "this week" card from the WITL Main Kit to add on top of my photo. I'll stamp the dates on the card in the line below "this week."

My design formula for each day begins with a 6x8 Transparent Divider. On top of that I've added a plastic heart and the rubber daily story piece from the WITL Main Kit. The plastic heart is stapled on with a tiny attacher stapler. 

My content fo each day begins with a 4-pocket 3x4 page protector. Inside the pockets I've added a sentiment/quote card from the WITL Main Kit, a plastic number tag (Main Kit) and a day of the week transparent tag (in the same pocket for now at least), and then on the back side I've added a journaling card from the WITL Main Kit. 

As I was putting the video together I decided that I would use the journaling cards in the WITL Main Kit as the jumping off point for my storytelling each day. 

Right now I have them arranged in the following order: 

Monday = This Week 
Tuesday = Observing
Wednesday = Working On
Thursday = Tough Stuff
Friday = Highs & Lows
Saturday = Celebrating 
Sunday = Giving Thanks 

In past years I've generally approached my journaling via the lens of time (meaning I use times of the day to help me tell the stories of my week) and a more general overview of each day. This year I'm considering using those journaling cards as my story lens for each day. This means on Monday my lens would be "this week" and I'd be looking for and telling stories about what the week ahead looks like. On Tuesday this means that my lens would be "observing" and I'll use that as the lens for my day by asking and answering the question "what am I observing in my life" over the course of the day. 

Make sense?

Remember that you get to choose your own approach for this project. If you want to wing it, wing it! If you want just a little bit of structure, create that for yourself. After doing it for so many years now it's nice to mix it up a bit and I like the idea of focusing on specific story lenses each day. 

Next up in my design formula I'm adding the Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner 3x8 from the WITL Main Kit into a 3x8 Page Protector. 

That's followed by the full page 6x8 Page Protector. I'm planning to add full page photos there and/or use the 6x8 Layered Template Set. Look for a video tutorial on working with those coming soon. 

To complete each day I'm adding the daily 4x6 card from the WITL Main Kit to the 4-pocket Page Protector. 

And repeat. 

I know this isn't the same way everyone likes to tackle their album but I love the process of breaking it down and seeing how much space I have for my daily photos. This reminds me once again that the point isn't to include every single story from the day and every single photo I might take. The goal for me is to capture life right now and get it into a finished album. Doing this kind of work in advance helps me get closer to that goal. And it was fun: fun to see what I have to work with, fun to think ahead to a project I love, and fun to talk it through on camera. 

ALBUM SET UP + APPROACH VIDEO

I filmed myself talking through and getting some things in my album for 2019. 

Please let me know if you have any questions in the comments section below!

SUPPLIES

Week In The Life™ 2019 Main Kit
Week In The Life™ Pink Linen 6x8 Album
6x8 Transparency Dividers
3x8 Page Protectors 
Week In The Life™ Chipboard Bundle
Week In The Life™ Transparency Bundle 
6 Hole Punch
Tiny Attacher