Ali Edwards's Blog, page 169

Story Kit™ & Story Stamp™ | Review

Today I'm excited to introduce you to the next story theme: Review. 

Because taking time at the end of the year to look back is one of the best ways to move forward with perspective and knowledge. Because taking stock of who you are and where you’ve come from is a great way to understand your own story. Because making lists about the past year is simply fun.

This is such a great theme for looking back over this past year and identifying your own personal story threads from January through December. 

If you are already a subscriber to you can now access the content in the classroom (make sure you are logged in to your account).

If you are new to the Story Subscription program, check out all the details
here. 

Here's a look at the Story Kit™ contents for Review: 

And the Review Story Stamp™ (please note that your Story Stamp™ will ship with a replacement stamp for the "looking back" messy circle shown in the image below):

We also have a
Digital Story Kit™ subscription available that includes access to the classroom content. Here's a look at what's included for Review (which also shows all the designs for the journal cards included in the printed version of the kit): Here's a video overview of the products included in the kits this month: 

Here's a video overview of the products included in the kits this month:

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!

December Daily® 2016 | Day 14

Welcome to 
December Daily® 2016 | Day 14. 

My message to you today:
look for opportunities to make your story simple and authentic to you. This project is about capturing you, capturing your family, as they are in this season of life. If you want to spend a lot of time working on this - and some days I really want to - then do it. If you want it to be quick and easy then make it that way for yourself - then do that. Look for the opportunities right in front of you to capture and document your own holiday season. 

My story today is something I happened to see on the bulletin board outside of Anna's classroom when I walked her into school. I knew it would be something I would want to include in this album - especially since it's a piece of writing from her about why she should be an elf (because she's good at baking and making of course). All I did was crop it to 6x8 inches and print it on my 
Canon Pixma MG7720 printer, add a date stamp, and add a small white star from the Main Kit. 

Also, my
12 Days Of Giving is underway over on Pinterest. Click here to get all the details (including a chance to win a 6 month subscription to my Story Kit™) and pick up a new, free digital element/word art each of the 12 days. These will be available to download from now until December 31, 2016. 

Here's a reminder of what Day 14 looked like as a foundation page: 

As you'll see in the video I'll be using the 3x8 as the start for my Day 15 for documenting my current gratuities. 

Here's a look at what Day 14 turned out looking like:

And a close up of her words: 

DAY 14 | OVERVIEW

Rolling date stamp (mentioned in the video) can be found here. 

SHARE YOUR DAY 14

I'd love to have you share a link to your Day 14 album pages below. Please link directly to your post vs. a general blog link.

December Daily® 2016 | Day 13

Welcome to 
December Daily® 2016 | Day 13. 

Today I'm bringing another voice into my album by including an email and photo from my parents and a short little reflection I wrote out after talking with them on the phone. 

As a reminder, here's what Day 13 looked like as a foundation page: 

Here's a look at what Day 13 turned out looking like (two spreads):

Today's story includes 2, 3x8 inch jounraling blocks that came from my 
3x8 December Stories Layered Templates. I hand-wrote "I love my parents" and then journaled below telling the story about how much I loved the fact that when I called them the other day they had Christmas music blaring in the background. I added a gold chipboard star from the Main Kit to the top of my journaling. 

On the back of the 
3x8 insert I included the text of an email I got from my Mom the other day regarding my Dad being a "super shopper" and getting an awesome deal on some crab. I love including things like this from my parents and have attempted to include their voice in one way or another in recent years (often through an email). I simply copied and pasted the text of the email onto the layered template (in Photoshop) and adjusted the size of the title. I also added the yellow rubber circle from the Main Kit to the top of the journaling page. 

On top of the photo of the crab that my parents sent I added one of the gold foil messy circles from the Main Kit. 

Here's a look at the pages outside of the album: 

DAY 13 | OVERVIEW

December Daily® 2016 | Day 13 from Ali Edwards on Vimeo.

SHARE YOUR DAY 13

I'd love to have you share a link to your Day 13 album pages below. Please link directly to your post vs. a general blog link.

AE Digital Creative Team | Up & Surprise Digital Story Kits™

Today we're sharing awesome layouts made by our Digital Creative Team using both the Up (no longer available) and Surprise Digital Story Kits™.

Be sure to check out our Creative Team Gallery where you can go to see how the team is crafting their stories using AE products - including additional images from the projects we are sharing below. We'll be updating it a couple times a month.

This month the team is sharing stories they crafted using the Up & 
Surprise Digital Story Kits™. Tomorrow is the last day to start a subscription to receive the Surprise theme (Up is no longer available). Remember that all subscriptions, including the digital subscription, includes a classroom with specific ideas for working with each theme.

Just a heads up again that most of my team use the digital kits to create paper projects - meaning they print out the digital pieces and add them to paper layouts/pockets (vs. completely digital projects).

Brandi Kincaid

Emma Speller

Ingunn Markiewicz

Jen Carlson

Jen Schow

Pam Baldwin

Sarah Zayas

Kelsey McEvoy

December Daily® 2016 | Day 12

Welcome to 
December Daily® 2016 | Day 12. 

Keeping it simple today with a short story about my working life during December. Ended up being a good day to to add the Starbucks cup holder to my album as well. 

As a reminder, here's what Day 12 looked like as a foundation page: 

I still have a plan for those circles, just not enough time today to execute my plan. 

Here's a look at what Day 12 turned out looking like:

Katie took that photo of me last week while working here in the office. It matched the story I wanted to tell about today so I went with it (vs. taking a new shot). 

I used star patterns from 
Pam Garrison's December Daily® Mini Kit behind the Starbucks corrugated cardboard piece + under one of the tickets from the Main Kit. The Tiny Attacher stapler is keeping those things in place. 

For my journaling I typed up my story (used 
Secret Service Typewriter font again), printed it and then added a small piece of an older star transparency I had on hand. 

Here's a look at it outside of the album: 

DAY 12 | OVERVIEW

December Daily® 2016 | Day 12 from Ali Edwards on Vimeo.

SHARE YOUR DAY 12

I'd love to have you share a link to your Day 12 album pages below. Please link directly to your post vs. a general blog link.

December Daily® 2016 | Day 11

Welcome to 
December Daily® 2016 | Day 11. 

Each year when I do this album I always have a goal to make sure that I get myself in the album too. Obviously, there's a whole lot of me in here - thoughts, words/stories, handwriting, product choices, etc. What I'm talking about is literally seeing myself in the album via photos. I am part of the story too. For this shot I just set my camera on a counter in my kitchen and used the self-timer to capture me at the table doing some wrapping. The journaling card to the left tells the full story of the day. 

As a reminder, here's what Day 11 looked like as a foundation page: 

Obviously not telling a Christmas tree story today but I probably will tomorrow.

Here's a look at what Day 11 turned out looking like:

Today I told the story of a quiet December Saturday of work and wrapping and a bit of shopping and dinner out with Aaron. 

I typed up my journaling and printed it onto a 
digital journal card and paired that with the photo I took of myself (printed with a white border and cut in half to fit the two 3x4 pockets), a fun and colorful pattern card from the Pam Garrison December Daily® Mini Kit (that linked the green on the journal card + the red of the wrapping paper), and an easy check-box journal card from the Jasmine Jones December Daily® kit. 

I also used a new ink color (Willamette - one of my new 
Crafter's Ink colors) that should be available soon. 

I used white glitter chipboard stars from the 
Surprise Story Kit™ to link the two pages together. 

The journaling font today is 
Secret Service Typewriter. I typed up my story in Photoshop using one of the December Daily® Overlays Vol. 3 4x6. I adjusted it just a bit in Photoshop to be able to not punch the holes through the #11 (essentially I moved that layer over just a bit and drew new box to elongate the green box). 

I used another phrase from the 
Christmas Phrase Stamp inside the Avery Index Tab. Pages outside page protectors are starting to feel wrong when I don't have one of those darn tabs along the edge. 

Here's a look at it outside of the album: 

DAY 11 | OVERVIEW


SHARE YOUR DAY 11

I'd love to have you share a link to your Day 11 album pages below. Please link directly to your post vs. a general blog link.

December Daily® 2016 | Day 10

Welcome to 
December Daily® 2016 | Day 10. 

For my story today I took some time to walk around the house and take photos of a few things around here that are bringing me joy. Using the simple prompt, "joy is" I used one of the 4x6 journal cards from the Main Kit to document a few more details about each photo. 

As a reminder, here's what Day 10 looked like as a foundation page: 

I did some moving around/adjusting again to my foundation pages and you can hear my talk about that in the video below. 

Here's a look at what Day 10 turned out looking like:

I used the 2x2 inch pockets on the back of
Day 09 to hold my photos + the rubber JOY piece from the Paislee Press December Daily® Mini Kit + the red glitter embossed chipboard #10. The small circle numbers were included with the Jasmine Jones December Daily® Mini Kit (I cut each one along the bottom and adhered them to the outside of the page protector - more details in today's video below). 

For the 2x2 inch images I used one of the layered templates included in my 
4x6 December Stories Vol 3 set. I printed these on my Epson PictureMate PM400 and then cut them out with my trimmer. 

The photos were taken using a 
Canon 6D with a  24-70 lens. 

For my journaling I just looked at each photo and wrote a little about each item that's currently bringing joy. Underlining happens after I write out my journaling. 

Here's a look at the pieces of the spread outside the album: 

DAY 10 | OVERVIEW

Today's video is a little longer as I bring you a more "real-time" version of my process (29 minutes).
I apologize in advance for a bit of a blurry focus in some parts of the video. 

SHARE YOUR DAY 10

I'd love to have you share a link to your Day 10 album pages below. Please link directly to your post vs. a general blog link.

December Daily® 2016 | Day 09

Welcome to 
December Daily® 2016 | Day 09. 

Today I'm documenting the story of our Christmas card (
printed from Minted) which is super fun and special as it's our first one all together. The sentiment for the title of the card couldn't be more perfect for our 2016. 

We had so much fun taking the photos outside on our front porch using 
my tripod and camera remote (we are a silly bunch) and, as you'll see below, I included some of the out-takes when we took the photos. 

We took these on a Sunday morning. I told everyone to grab a winter hat, and "no, you don't have to change out of your PJ's," and grab your favorite book right now, and let's take a Christmas card photo. It's was Aaron's idea (he's full of this kind of stuff) to have everyone holding a book. I'll take credit for the hats. We  make a good team. 

As a reminder, here's what Day 09 looked like as a foundation page: 

Here's a look at what Day 09 turned out looking like (two pages):

On the back of the "8" card from 
Day 08 I added pattern paper from the Pam Garrison December Daily® Mini Kit and I embossed a Cascade chipboard alpha #9 using Ranger Red Tinsel Embossing Powder (which is awesome if you haven't tried it yet). 

We did a short message on the back of the card (
only regret is not adding all the kids names + ages) about how we are all starting a new chapter and how we wish you many awesome stories in the year to come. And that the cats were not pictured. 

I trimmed off the far right row of pockets from the 
2x2 page protector set and then slipped all my 2x2 out-takes into those pockets (just because I like the different page widths within the album). If you're looking for a 2x2 layered template I did include one in my 6x8 December Stories Layered Template Set Vol. 3 and one in the 4x6 version as well.  

Here's a look at the pieces of Day 09 outside of the album: 

PS - In case you were wondering what we are all reading right now here's a list: 

Aaron | Dave Barry Insane City
Ali | Fascinate
Simon | Star Wars Trilogy
Isaac | War & Peace (for real)
Elliott | The Austere Academy
Audrey | Diary Of A Wimpy Kid Hard Luck
Anna | Big Nate Boredom Buster

DAY 09 | OVERVIEW


SHARE YOUR DAY 09

I'd love to have you share a link to your Day 09 album pages below. Please link directly to your post vs. a general blog link.

December Daily® 2016 | Day 08

Welcome to 
December Daily® 2016 | Day 08. 

I woke up very early yesterday morning to a phone call from the school that due to freezing rain school was canceled for the day. Kids slept in + eventually woke up and then decided to have a Christmas movie marathon. The perfect story for Day 08. 

Today I've included a video where I show you how I edited and created my page today using Photoshop and RadLab in addition to the video walkthrough of the page in my album. 

Also, in case you missed it yesterday we opened registration for my year-long One Little Word® workshop yesterday along with releasing a collection of intentional One Little Word® products to help make your word visible in your life and document your journey with your word. You can get details in my blog post here or read more about the project here.  

As a reminder, here's what Day 08 looked like as a foundation page: 

Here's a look at what Day 08 turned out looking like:

Today's page is a completely digital page that started with a photo I took of the kids during their Christmas Movie Marathon. In the video tutorial below I'll walk you through the steps of cropping, editing using RadLab in Photoshop, and using one of the 6x8 layered templates from my December Stories Vol. 3 set. 

After getting my page ready in Photoshop I printed it on Epson Ultra Premium Glossy Photo Paper using the Canon Pixma MG7720 printer. 

The second video will show you how I adhered it to the back of my Day 07 pocket page with Scotch Dot Roller adhesive, punched holes using a Crop A Dile and called it good. 

Here's a look at it outside of the album: 

DAY 08 | PHOTOSHOP VIDEO TUTORIAL 


DAY 08 | OVERVIEW


SHARE YOUR DAY 08

I'd love to have you share a link to your Day 08 album pages below. Please link directly to your post vs. a general blog link.

One Little Word® 2017

Taking a break from December Daily® for a bit today to kick off One Little Word® for 2017. 

Registration for my annual 12-month One Little Word® workshop has begun. Register before December 31, 2016 to receive the early-bird price of $26 (after December 31st the price is $31).

The workshop will operate much like it has for the past six years (started in 2011) - monthly creative prompts to encourage you to connect with your word via writing, photography, and collage. This year I'll be working in the 6x8 format like I did last year. Please note that in an effort to simplify my processes that this is the last year I will provide printables in the 8.5x11 size. 

Past students have reported learning about celebrating progress rather than perfection, about the power of focusing on a single word and the impact that can have in your life, about how many little moments make up the patterns of our lives, about thinking of your future self as you make decisions today, about how your own journey is important, about how to step back into the story of your own life as an active participant, about learning what you most need from yourself, and about the power of coming back again and again to your original intentions as a means of reflection and forward movement. 

In addition this year we are offering a gifting option if you would like to give the gift of this workshop. On the workshop shop page you'll find a link to "Gift This Class" under the orange "Add To Cart" button. After clicking through to purchase you will receive an email with a PDF that includes a one-time use code and link for your recipient to gain access to the classroom. Giving the gift of education is fun and meaningful and lasts all throughout the year. 

As an enrollment bonus we will be including the One Little Word® Digital Main Kit + Action Cards + Reflection Cards (currently only available in the class) when you join the workshop (details about the physical kit can be found below). Just a heads up that this digital kit includes PNG files, not PDF files. 

Is this your first time hearing about One Little Word®? 

The premise is simple - choose a word to invite into your life for the coming year. You live with it. You let it speak to you. You might even follow where it leads. There are so many possibilities and no right or wrong way to approach the adventure. Sometimes words have come to me out of the blue and other years I've gone looking for what it was I most wanted to bring into my life. 

You can read my archive of One Little Word® blog posts here. 

I'll be sharing my 2017 word after Christmas.

In addition to the workshop we've grown our collection of One Little Word® products to encourage you in making your word visible in your life. All these products are separate from class enrollment. 

Here's a look at our new One Little Word® products: 

The One Little Word® Main Kit includes 3x8 transparent monthly dividers + die cut labels + a rolling stamp that includes the following phrases: in progress, action items, one day at a time, note to self, document, this photo, fact, reflections, gratitude, make visible, hello, feeling, right now, intentions + 3x4 card set + sticker labels + and a set of monthly rubber circles. 

Two album options are available this year (same spine size as last year which is 1.5 inches) that include 17 page protectors (a mix of pocket configurations): blue or white. 

A variety pack of stickers that includes two sheets each of five different designs: messy circles, an alphabet, flags, mixed shapes, and word/phrase stickers. 

A silkscreen + stencil bundle that includes three paint sets, three stencils (stars, squares, and lines) and three silkscreens. 

Action and Reflection 3x4 card sets. Sold separately. Great for writing down/establishing your actions at the beginning of the month and documenting your reflections at the end of the month. 

A 6x8 Take Action paper pad and a 3x4 Gratitude paper pad + a pen bundle that includes a Precision Pen, Slick Writer, and a Silver Metallic Marker. 

Four new stamps sets including an alphabet (letters are 1 inch tall), a pattern maker stamp that includes past words + phrases about One Little Word®, a messy circle set, and a phrases set  that would be great for planners as well as documenting your experience with your word. 

This year we will also be offering a larger version of the custom acrylic words in addition to the small 4-6 inch we offered last year. 

You can request any word or name up to 8 characters. Please allow 3-4 weeks to receive your custom order.

We also have a set of gold-foil quotation cards that you can see in the image above.

SHIPPING SPECIAL

During the One Little Word® Kick-Off period shipping is free domestically and just $5 international when purchasing products included on the One Little Word® 2017 featured items shop page (please note that If you add any other items from other areas in the shop to your cart, normal shipping rates will apply to those additional items). Also, please note that the customizable words are each a separate purchase and each purchase will result in either free shipping for domestic customers or $5 for international per order. This shipping promotion will be available through January 31, 2016. After that date regular shipping rates will apply.

Here's a video walk-through of the new products we have available: 

Wishing you all the best this holiday season and I hope to see you in the 2017 One Little Word® workshop.