Ali Edwards's Blog, page 133
March 18, 2019
Week In The Life™ 2019 | Product Preview
Welcome to the product preview post for
Week In The Life™ 2019!
These products will be available on Wednesday, March 20th at 7am PDT/10am EDT.
I will be documenting my week starting on Monday, May 6th. If you are brand new to this project I suggest checking out the
Week In The Life™ project page for background information.
A couple things to note as you dive into the overview:
In my Week In The Life™ Main Kit video below I left out the rubber square days of the week due to a manufacturing error. We have been able to have those remade and will be able to include them in the kit. Because we will be waiting on that to arrive to add to the kits, Week In The Life™ orders will begin shipping March 29th (if that changes at all we will let you know).
SHIPPING SPECIAL | US customers will receive free shipping on any item included the Week In The Life™ shop category if you spend $60+ dollars. International customers will receive $15 flat rate shipping on any purchase over $60 as well. Use the code "WITL2019SHIP" at the checkout to receive these special shipping offers. MAIN KIT OVERVIEW // $29.99
Here's a look at what's included with the Main Kit this year:
Here's an overview video that includes the albums, Main Kit, and shop products (a couple are missing that I hadn't yet received before filming):
Below are additional new products you will find under the Week In The Life™ shop category. Let's get some stories told!
As always these albums will include 24 page protectors.
We are excited to introduce a new 6x8 page protector bundle. One includes 2, 3x8 pockets and the other includes one 4x6 pocket + 6, 2x2 pockets.
These transparency dividers include the days of the week along the top edge.
NEW INK BUNDLE // $14.99
Otter Rock = dark grey // Rose Garden = pink // Honeyman = yellow
Please let us know if you have any questions!
March 15, 2019
AE Creative Team | Week in the Life™ Revisited
Happy Friday everyone!
On Monday next week we'll be previewing the new Week In The Life™ products here on my blog as we get ready for the launch on Wednesday, March 20th at 7am PDT/10am EDT. I'll be documenting my week this year starting on May 6th.
Today we thought it would be fun to invite our Creative Team to share their reflections on this project. We are delighted to bring you some of their favorite layouts, stories, and memories from past years.
Week in the Life is all about gratitude. I participate every year as a way to see my life fully.
It’s super easy for me to get caught up in the day to day that I stop noticing the pieces that bring me joy, and documenting has a way of showing me all the good. Of course, there are struggles along the way, and I’ve had my share of it as I’ve documented WITL, but choosing to capture life through the lens of gratitude always helps me appreciate the ups and down and remember we are in it together.
My favorite things to look for and capture are relationships. I love to see how they evolve over time. I love to document what I hear throughout the week. What my family says ends up being one of my favorite parts of my album. I love to witness the growth from year to year whether it be my girl’s physical growth or our interests or our mental/emotional growth. So much learning happens in 365 days it’s awesome to see our choices in action.
Really look forward to another chance to document a week of our life and see what this year brings.
It’s easier to remember the big things, the milestones that thump you in the forehead, but it’s recording the everyday routines that make the Week in the Life project so important to me.
This will be my fifth year participating with this project and creating an album, and every one that’s come before has told the story of a life so very much the same and different from the one before that I wouldn’t have believed it if not for these pages.
I love using repetition as a lens for my week so that I can enjoy the process of living and telling about my days without getting overwhelmed.
These pages remind me that the days I thought were so tough were also full of light, and that no life is too small, or too simple, or too “boring” to capture, and in turn, realize you love.
This will be my 7thy ear participating in WITL. I completed an album in 2010 and then not again until 2014 though 2018.
This project is definitely a commitment – a commitment to paying attention, looking for the stories, documenting those stories and photos; lots and lots of photos.
Life has certainly changed, so much, since 2010 when I first completed this project and it brings me so much joy to look back on that time in my life (married, but no children) and see how we spent our days. I find it really interesting to see the things I chose to pay attention to and the stories I told.
Some of those are ones I keep telling year after year, and some are totally different. I love that.
One of my favourite parts of week in the life is the opportunity to capture life through photos in a focused way that I don’t normally do. Every year without fail some of my most cherished and treasured photos are the result of this project and if there was no other value in this project that alone would be enough for me.
Week in the Life is one of my favorite projects because it affords me the opportunity to celebrate all of the pieces of my life within a week. The good, the bad, the mundane, the magical.
I am intentional about including both me and my husband and our routines, rather than my usual habit of focusing mostly on our daughter.
I love seeing how things change over time….
and how they stay the same.
I love allowing myself to capture moments that are not always pretty.
When I am actively engaged in this project, I find that I wake up. I am more aware, more mindful and more grateful as I pay close attention to the details of my life, looking deeply into my routines and seeing every moment as one to be celebrated and documented.
This year will be my third year participating in Week in the Life and I love it.
With two small children, I feel like my days can go by in a blur.
They all blend together and, honestly, some days I feel like Iʼm Bill Murray in Groundhogʼs Day. But, going back through my WITL albums shows me how much has changed.
It makes me grateful for the small everyday moments that I tend to overlook.
It even helps me to smile and appreciate the stages that felt like torture, at the time.
Week in the Life is one of my favorite memory keeping projects! This project takes a deep dive into one week of your life, capturing everyday moments, routines, patterns, work life, home life, and everything in between.
This will be my sixth year participating in the project and I have varied the documentation style with some years integrating it into my project life or creating separate 6x8 or 3x8 albums. I’m looking forward to documenting this year’s Week in the Life adventures with you!
A big thank you to our Creative Team for sharing their Week In The Life™ memories with us! We would also love for you to share some of your reflections either in the comments below or on Instagram using the tag #weekinthelife_revisited!
Hope you all have a great weekend!
March 13, 2019
Design Story Kit™ + Story Stamp™ + April Stories By The Month™
In the
Story Classroom this month we are focusing on stories related to the theme of Design.
Here are a few thoughts about this particular theme:
“Every great design begins with an even better story.” I love this quote and this concept and this month we are going to investigate stories related to the literal concept of design (making plans, designing projects, etc) and also the more figurative idea of designing a life you love.
Initial story ideas for the Design theme include:
Tell a story of something you love to design: your home, your stories, your garden, etc.
What have you been doing recently to design a life you love?
Often in the study of design we are told to learn the rules and then break them. Are there design rules that you regularly break? Tell a story about that.
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 Design:
ADD ON OPTIONS | 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.
Here are the optional Add-Ons for subscribers of the Design
Story Kit™ theme. All three of these products are exclusive to subscribers at this time (but may be added to the shop in the future).
Here's a video overview of the
Story Kit™ and Add-On options this month:
STORY STAMP™
The Design
Stamp Set:
The
Story Stamp™ also has Add-On options available to subscribers (Black Butte Ink is also an option):
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 Design:
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). Subscribers were sent an email earlier this month with information related to this adjustment, including the price increase and the option to cancel your subscription without penalty. If you have questions about this adjustment please reach out to my Customer Service Team. 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 March:
Here's a look at the Add-On options for Stories By The Month™ subscribers this month:
And a video overview:
This subscription is a great option for those who are looking to tell more calendar/everyday life sorts of stories.
Check out
this post for more information about this new subscription, including differences between the subscription options offered.
March 11, 2019
AE Creative Team | PIECES Story Kit™
Happy Monday friends! We are kicking off the week with some creative inspiration from our awesome Creative Team!
As always, we are so grateful for this inspiring group of women who share their stories so generously.
March 5, 2019
Project Life® 2019 | February
I am totally loving the process of sitting down at the end of the month/beginning of the next month and reviewing the stories from the past month. I'm simply using my photos as a guide - sitting at my desk and scrolling through my February photo archive and deciding what stories I want to tell this month.
For February I identified three stories I wanted to highlight in my Project Life® album:
Photos of my feet and where I "found myself" this month. This all came from noticing that I had a bunch of those photos that I could use all together when going back through my photos from the month. Taking the girls to Disneyland to celebrate their 10th birthdays. As you'll hear in the video, I'll be telling the bigger story of our Disney trip via a layout in the new Hello Story 2 workshop. The crazy awesome snow storm that happened at the end of the month.
I find this process so totally do-able and doing this each month right now along with my other projects totally feels like my own version of "enough" in memory keeping.
Here's a look at how it all came together:
Again, I focused on three stories.
I started with the story of where I "found myself" this month using photos of my feet as my visual story support. I used the back side of the
9x12 page protector I used in January to hold the 3x4 photos of my feet. The "feb stories" card is from the February Stories By The Month™ kit - it was originally 4x6 and I cut it down to 3x4. A digital version of each month with the word stories underneath is available here.
The "finding myself" patch is from this
Embellishment Bundle. It's a great reminder that One Little Word® products can be used to tell everyday life stories.
On top of each of the 3x4 photos I added a
yellow Puffy Number Sticker. Those numbers correspond with the journaling I added to a 3x8 insert.
I love adding in different size page protectors. In this case I added a
3x8 page protector to accommodate two 3x8 journal cards from the Summer/Everyday Life Journal Card Set. The physical set is sold out but you can print your own using the digital set here. For this project I decided to print out my journaling that tells the story of my feet photos and add it on top of the "enjoy this time" card.
Along the edge, as pretty much always, I added an
Avery Index Tab.
I used another 3x8 card from the Summer/Everyday Life Journal Card set on the back to tell Story #2 which is an abbreviated story of our Disney adventure (
I'll be telling the longer story with more photos in a layout in Hello Story 2). For this card I also measured the white space and printed out my journaling and adhered it on top of the card.
To go along with my short Disney story I printed one of my favorite photos from our trip at 9x12 and slipped it into a full page page protector. I added custom word art to the top of the photo.
Totally loving the colorful spread of these two stories paired with this super neutral one below.
My third story is all about the historic snow storm we experienced at the end of the month. I printed a full page photo (9x12) of our backyard in the snow and added a February plastic heart (add on from February Stories By The Month™) + a chipboard heart + the "details" stamp (both from the February Stories By The Month™ kit).
I followed the same formula for this story by including a 3x8 insert.
I added the "feb vibes" chipboard on top of one of the journal cards from the Summer/Everyday Life Journal Card Set. I hand-wrote ten details I loved about these snow days.
On the back of the 3x8 I used that space for a full page written story about our experience.
For the last pocket page I used the 3B style and filled most of the pockets with photos. On top of those photos I added a couple chipboard hearts along with some starburst stickers from the Summer/Everyday Life Sticker Bundle. I added one sentiment card from the February Stories By The Month™ about the presence of wonder (digital version available here).
9x12 Black Album 9x12 Page Protectors (just restocked yesterday) Summer/Everyday Life 3x8 Journal Cards (available digitally here) Summer/Everyday Life Sticker Bundle Puffy Number Stickers One Little Word® Embellishment Bundle Stories By The Month™ February 2019 (digital version available here) Travel Phrases 4x6 Stamp Set (click notify me if you'd like to see this stamp available again in the future) Daily Words 4x6 Stamp Set (click notify me if you'd like to see this stamp available again in the future) Rolling Date Stamp StazOn 3x8 Page Protectors Avery Index Tabs Epson PictureMate PM400 Printer Epson SureColor P400 Printer (for printing full page 9x12)
You can see all my past Project Life® posts here.
March 1, 2019
Day In The Life™ 2019 | February 2019 Project Process
Big thanks to everyone who played along earlier this week with the first Day In The Life™ documenting day for 2019.
A few things I loved about the approach for this project this time around:
I liked knowing approximately how many photos I was going to use for each section. That helped me narrow down the photos I took during the day. I like having the lens of morning, afternoon, and evening to break up the stories from the day. Bring on the story structures!I liked having the foundation design + lens already decided for me within the album itself. Sometimes I like to start with a blank slate for full creativity, but I also totally appreciate having a roadmap in place so I can focus on the words and photos. I liked using Instagram as the holding place for my words + photos. It was so easy to just copy and paste my words from Instagram and paste them for printing and adding into my album.
Here's how I bought this project together:
I'm using a 3x8 album + dividers to document my stories for this project this year.
I started my album with one of the 3x8 printed pages from the kit and used a small rolling date stamp to add "2019" along with the "just this" heart chipboard (see top image). I used just "2019" on this page because this album will contain two different days.
Behind the Intro Page I added an image with the February 26th word art on top to designate the actual date of documentation. I added the "here + now" chipboard from the kit on top of the page protector.
Download the February 26th word art here.
MORNING
For this day I printed my photos either 3x4 or 3x8. I use my Epson PictureMate PM400 printer for the 3x4 and my Canon MG7720 Pixma printer for the 3x8 images (the images are actually larger than 3x8 because I sized them the same size as the page protector to add them in as a page).
Because my journaling for each section was longer (and tied to each photo) I decided to add a photo onto the "morning" card and print all my journaling out on a page that is the size of the page protector.
On top of each photo I used the number stamps from the kit + StazOn ink to add the time of the photo.
Along with the stamped times I added one of the black + white phrase stickers from the kit.
Behind the longer printed out journaling is where I added a larger photo + the stamped time + a chipboard heart.
AFTERNOON
And then I repeated those same design treatments for the rest of the project.
Repetition for the win.
Because I had extra space along the bottom of my journaling page I added this pattern paper + one of the chipboard pieces.
For the last section I had only two photos so I decided to print out my journaling and add it to the "evening" card from the kit.
And to finish up this day I filled out the "gratitudes" card with some handwritten thoughts.
Also, here's a look at how I used the stamps to add 2019 to the spine of my album:
Here's a video overview of my process:
SUPPLIESDay In The Life™ 2019 Kit (using for both documenting days + includes the stamp)
Day In The Life™ 2019 3x8 Album Kit + Dividers
Amy Tangerine Up Pattern Paper
StazOn
Time Roller Stamp (I didn't use this one this time but you could use it as an option for this project)
Epson PictureMate PM400 Printer
Canon Pixma MG7720
The next documenting day will be sometime this Fall. I'll post the date once we get a little more into the year. I'll be using the same kit of supplies that is currently available here and will use an hourly lens to tell the story of my day.
For The Love Of Books | What I Read In February 2019
An awesome month of reading around here in February, including three that I thought were excellent.
Here's what I read:
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).
I accidentally missed the cutoff deadline for selecting books through the Book Of The Month ambassador program for March. I'm definitely interested in reading Lot by Brian Washington and Before She Knew Him by Peter Swanson.
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.
You can see my 2018 Reading Recap post here and what I read in 2017 here.
February 28, 2019
AE Creative Team | February 2019 Stories By The Month™ Digital Kit
Happy Thursday everyone!
As we say farewell to the month of February, we wanted to share the projects created by our awesome Creative Team using the February 2019 Stories By the Month™ Digital Kit.
A big thank you to our awesome team for sharing the stories of their lives and crafting it so beautifully!
Jen Whittmore 
Jen Schow
Hope you all have a great weekend!
February 25, 2019
Hello Story 2 Registration Now Open + New Story Planner Supplies Available
Two fun things are happening today: registration is now open for
Hello Story 2 and we've got a small collection of new Story Planner products available.
To learn more about the Story Planner check out this page.
Registration is now open for Hello Story 2. The class will open on Tuesday, March 12th.
Although the original Hello Story workshop is recommended it's not required to take Hello Story 2. If you are interested in both we do have a Bundle Option that includes both workshops here.
As a longterm visual storyteller I understand the importance of design in creating a foundation for effectively communicating your story. This workshop will build on the original Hello Story workshop and focus on three topics: grids, lists, and color. Each week over the 3-week workshop we'll take a deep dive into those three topics and I'll provide you with design + story ideas, sketches, process videos, handout and digital/printable files.
If you have additional questions about this workshop let me know in the comments below.
Today we are alway releasing a few new Story Planner products. We've got a new album that includes dividers and stickers, three new paper pads, a sticker bundle, an insert/pocket bundle and we've brought back one of the very first Prompts Story Stamp™ set and are making it available to anyone.
Here's a quick video overview of the new products:
To see all Story Planner products go here.
To learn more about the Story Planner check out this page.
February 22, 2019
Day In The Life™ 2019 | Reasons Why
Hey Friends! Next week is the first documenting day for
Day In The Life™ 2019 on Tuesday, March 26th.
The story I want to tell on Tuesday will focus on Morning, Afternoon, + Evening. I'm also planning to collect a small list of Gratitudes to add to one of the 3x4 cards from the kit. The simple questions I want to answer this time are as follows: (1) What does my morning look like right now? (2) What does my afternoon look like right now?
and (3) What does my evening look like right now? I'll be using the 3x8 Day In The Life™ album that includes dividers specifically for breaking up my content into those sections along with 3x4 cards from the kit.
I'm not planning to take a ton of photos this time for this project. I'll likely end up using three 3x4 photos for each section of the day (the 3x4 journaling card will take up the fourth pocket).
Here's the deal: you don't have to be a memory keeper to participate this project. The purpose is to slow down just enough to capture some wonderfully mundane details of your daily life. Maybe you'll decide to just take written notes throughout the day and add those into your phone. Maybe you'll decide to take photos and print them out in a small photobook. Maybe you'll share throughout the day on Instagram (if you do please tag #aedayinthelife) and that becomes the home for your project.
Don't make this project more complicated than it needs to be. Just have fun and capture a bit of your real, everyday life right now. There's no right or wrong for documenting this or any memory keeping projects. That said, the really juicy part is in the action of actually going through the process of capturing it and making it visible in some way.
A couple days ago I asked the Week In The Life™ + Day In The Life™ Community on Facebook to share some of their personal "reasons why" for this project. You're invited to join that community for support and encouragement. Here are a few examples:
Lauren : My mostly daily life pretty much looks the same day in and out, and we are a well oiled machine when it comes to schedules & routines. The daily routine only varies by minutes, and pretty much only meals & outfits are the only change in my day to day life. I get sad/frustrated that I feel like my life is on the same loop and there are days/weeks/months where I feel like I'm living in the Groundhog Day movie. But when I stop and REALLY capture the small details of one day, it makes it easier to identify what does actually change over time & makes me realize that, yes, life does change even if I don't notice it at the time.
Michelle : It gives me the opportunity to be grateful for all of the little things in our everyday. It’s one of the reasons I do it on the same day as this community. No choosing a good or fun day to document. But finding the beauty in anyday. Good or bad. There’s always something to be thankful for.
Sarah : It is so interesting to me how much the little stories and details change from year to year. We tend to forget the little stuff and it's wonderful to have those stories documented.
Megan : DITL is the perfect combination of mindfulness and story. DITL (and WITL) is a practice in consciously living in the moment, being aware of all the things we often do just by habit or routine, and paying attention to what makes up our now. It may feel like every day is the same, or it may feel like life is moving too fast, depending on what season of life you are in right now, but regardless, DITL is a way to capture a complete moment of life as it is right now. You never know when life may change suddenly, or it may just be easy to miss the subtle changes that evolve over the years. One DITL is a valuable insight, but a series of DITLs over the years is a treasure.
Julia : Because when you wake up from the blur of really young children you can look back and see how you survived. one day at a time!
Barb : I am alone after raising my kids and a divorce. My days seem boring. But they go by so quick! And before you know it, a year or two have gone by and you wonder, “Where did the time go.” If wish I had a “book of days” where I could look back and see that the everyday boring stuff is the stuff I miss and want to remember. Like when I think of my childhood.... what I wouldn’t give to be able to remember the ordinary days. My goal this year is to “Build” a collection of memories. I can’t go back to the beginning, but I can start now to tell my everyday stories.
Amanda : To remember and appreciate the details of my life that I would otherwise forget.
Kathy : I always thought my days were pretty much the same day in and day out but when I look back at past DITL that I’ve done I’m so amazed at just how different they really are. I’m so glad for this project and how it helps me focus on all the small things in my life that sometimes end up being the big things and I have them documented.
Let's do this!
Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below. I'll share my process and end result here on the blog within the next couple of weeks.
Shop Day In The Life™ here. The digital version is available here.
