Ali Edwards's Blog, page 180
May 7, 2016
Thoughts On Week In The Life™ | Getting Ready
On Monday (
or starting on Sunday) many of you will join me in embarking on documenting a week in your very own life. A week that will include highs and lows. A week that will include meals and work and people and emotions. A week that will include the regular stuff of life and little surprises along the way. A week of your life as it exists right now.
Week In The Life™ isn't about taking a photo of every single thing in your life for seven days in a row. You could totally do that if you wanted to - strap a GoPro to your head and go for it. Taking that many photos just creates a new problem for many people - how in the heck do you use all those photos? Find your own rhythm with your photos. I always end up taking more at the beginning of the week and less at the end - it's just how it goes for me and I'm okay with that.
Week In The Life™ is about looking for the patterns and stories via the lens of your camera and the words you write down. Look for stories as you carry your camera around. What are the things that make up the piece of your life?
When I first started
Week In The Life™ I focused quite a bit on making sure I wrote stuff down throughout the day. The last few years I've written less during the day and more in the evening at the end of the day as I reflect back on what's happened and looked through my photos to post on my blog. As I look through the photos from my day stories I might not have really seen become visible - things that might be beyond the surface. Again, I'm looking for routines, for rhythms, for patterns, and for the pieces that make my life mine.
My goal, as always, is to capture, via words and photos, the season of my life right now. Not your season, not my parents season, not my kids season (even though that is a part of the story) -
mine. We, you and me, are the main characters in our stories. Remember that as you go about your week.
You can do this.
As I mentioned recently in another post, I chose this particular week this year because I would have the kids for a portion of the week. In all my past albums I've chosen dates when my kids were here but that's the not full story of my life. This year I want to tell more of the other story - the story of what it's like when they aren't here with me. Please know that this is not a sad story - it's just a piece of my whole story (which is my One Little Word® for this year and feels fully appropriate). I'm excited to document this piece in this way.
My hope is to capture the things in my life that bring me joy and make me me outside of my role as Mom.
You can read my 2015 intention here for a different perspective on what I was looking to document last year.
1. SET AN INTENTION AND/OR HAVE A REASON WHY // What do you want to focus on this year? What is your reason for doing this project this time around? What are you most excited about capturing? Why are you taking time out of your precious life to make this project a priority? Write it down somewhere you can see it as a reminder to yourself.
2. NARROW YOUR FOCUS // After you figure out your reason why, consider narrowing your focus. For some people the concept of documenting a week is just too broad and the broadness holds them back from doing anything at all. In the Week In The Life™ Facebook Group one of the community members (Carolyn) is doing six photos from six different themes each day (family, play, everyday, nature, enjoy, work). For me, I want my focus to be more broad but if that idea helps you get a handle on this project then run with it. As with all the projects I embark on I encourage you to make it work for you. Keep in mind that narrowing your focus might just mean getting clear on your intention for this project.
3. REVIEW PAST WITL PROJECTS // Even just flipping though them will remind you what you loved, didn't love and what you want to do the same or different this time.
4. IF YOU ORDERED THE KIT, OPEN IT UP // I took some time today to open up the kit packages, look through the cards and get my page protectors in order. This helps me think a bit in advance about how things will flow within the album even before the week begins.
5. TAKE IT DOWN A NOTCH // Don't worry about how many or how your living room looks or what kind of camera you have or whether you stay at home or go to work every day or on and on. Use what you have right now to capture your life right now. No stress, just documentation.
6. DOWNLOAD THE DAILY SHEETS // People have been using these for a number of years now to help document the days. They are a great starting point for learning how to write stuff down over the course of the week and then the content can be transferred to your album later.
Download the 6x8 version here.
Download the 8.5x11 version here.
7. GET YOURSELF IN THE STORY // You are the main character in this story and your story is worth telling. This project is an awesome opportunity to play with self-portraits using the timer on your camera (iPhone, DSLR, etc). Use this as an opportunity to practice getting yourself in the story - either by making it happen for yourself or by asking others to take photos of you as well.
8. PURCHASE A LAYERED TEMPLATE SET AND/OR WORD ART // For those of you who are digital or a combination of digital and physical don't forget to check out the new layered template sets and word art that became available last week. I'll be using the 6x8 set as the base for my opening and closing page each day.
Week In The Life™ 6x8 Layered Template Set No. 3 (also available in 8.5x11 and 4x6)
Week In The Life™ Messy Circles Filled (also available in an outline version) - this includes the entire month of May in case you are doing different days than me
Here's some past posts I've written to get you in the mood - they really get to the heart of the matter:
Week In The Life™ Photo Tips
Our Days Are Built With Stories
What Stories Will You Tell
Check out all my past Week In The Life™ posts via my archive here.
Past "Getting Ready" Posts: 2015, 2014, 2013 (there are more that you can access via the archives if you want to go back farther - I personally think the more recent ones are more valuable)
On Monday morning I'll share a ready, set, go post and then on each of the following seven days I'll share my personal photos and words here on my blog. In the following weeks I'll share how I use the Week In The Life™ kit + the digital supplies to bring my words and photos together with intentional embellishments.
My friends, you can do this.
May 6, 2016
Project Life® 2016 | Week Fourteen
Ah, repetition. I love you.
Playing a bit of catch up and keeping it simple by focusing on the words + photos and setting myself up for success with one single design for my journaling cards repeated for each day of the week. It seriously makes it so easy to get the spread done and the story told.
The products I used in this spread are my Highlighted Products Of The Month and are available for free shipping/$2 international when purchased before 5/11/16 at 11:59PM EST. Check out my recent newsletter for all the details.
Here's a look a Week Fourteen:
I'm telling you, I really do love creating a series of cards like this and then just filling in the stories. Simple and easy and consistent and I love how it all works together.
You'll also probably notice that I only added one thing on top of any of the photos (a stamp from the Wild Story Kit™) - I like including spreads like this in my overall album as well.
Small Manila Tags + Sans Serif Alpha stamp set + Stories Washi Tape + Black Staz On + rolling date stamp + white cardstock = super easy way to create homes for your stories.
Mixed Alpha Stamp + Black Staz On + rolling date stamp + a bit of Anna's writing = super simple title card.
I seriously love how that card turned out. I'm a long time fan of black + white and a very small bit of color.
Print those photos + get them in the pockets + create a series of cards + add words = life documentation.
SUPPLIESMixed Alpha StampSans Serif Alpha stamp setStories Washi TapeSmall Manila TagsBlack Staz Onrolling date stampAED SlickWriter PenAED Precision Pen
May 5, 2016
May Digital Release | Week In The Life™
Happy May!
In February we announced that we were changing up the way we release digital products from weekly to monthly. This month we are releasing 6 brand new products geared towards Week In The Life™ and over 50 Classic AE products from my past collection previously offered at Designer Digitals (Classic AE products are designated with a grey box around the product preview and have their own category here).
Click here to see all new products added as part of the
May Digital Release. We also created a new category in the digital section of our shop that includes all the new (excluding the Classic AE) products for the last couple months.
Week In The Life™ 6x8 Layered Templates Vol. 3 Week In The Life™ 8.5x11 Layered Templates Vol. 3 Stories Of Life 3x8 Layered Templates This Is/Was Days Of The Week
Week In The Life™ Messy Circles 2016 Week In The Life™ Messy Circles Filled
If you are looking for more information on Getting Started With Digital Scrapbooking check out my free series of posts
here.
We have over 50 new Classic AE products in the shop this month focusing on Week In The Life™, days of the week, mothers/mother's day, graduation and everyday memory keeping products.
Thanks for your support and here's to telling more stories together!
April 25, 2016
Week In The Life™ 2016 | Join Me Starting May 9th
Week In The Life™ 2016 is coming soon!
I'll be documenting my week starting Monday, May 9th and running through Sunday, May 15th.
So why that week? My reason why for that week was (1) I wanted to have anyone who preordered their kits get them in time for the project and (2) this year I wanted to do a week when I don't have my kids the whole time and (3) there is never, ever a "perfect" time to do this project.
All my past Week In The Life™ projects have been weeks when my kids have been here with me (both before and after getting divorced). This year I decided to document what it's like when they aren't here - what do I do, where do I go, etc. I like that it tells another side of my whole story.
Does it really matter when you decide to do it? Nope. But it's a whole lot more fun, in my opinion, to do it when others are playing along.
I'll be sharing my words + photos throughout the week here on my blog and then sharing how I bring my week together into an album in the weeks after. You can check out all my past blog posts related to Week In The Life™ here.
I don't generally do a lot of prep-work in advance (I do for December Daily® but not for this project). My focus is on the words and the photos and then I'll turn my focus to bringing it all together after the documentation period is over.
Here's some past posts I've written to get you in the mood:
Week In The Life™ Photo TipsOur Days Are Built With StoriesWhat Stories Will You TellWe will have new digital products available in the beginning of May. This will include both layered templates and word art.
For more discussion with others participating in the project you're invited to join my free Week In The Life™ community here on my website and/or our Week In The Life™ community on Facebook.
April 18, 2016
Days Of The Week Craft Dies Tutorial
The
Day Of The Week craft dies are back in stock and today I want to share a short video tutorial I put together on how to use these craft dies.
A few weeks ago I posted my
Project Life® Week Eight spread that included the cards I made using this super fun craft die set with an Evolution Die Cutting Machine:
Click here to check out additional images included in that post.
Here's a short video that shows you how to use these dies with a manual die-cutting machine (I'm using an
Evolution):
Looking for more information on using the Evolution? Check out this tutorial from We R Memory Keepers.
After cutting them out I put them into my next week for Project Life® (which ended up being
Week Eight). it's one of the ways you can set yourself up for success by having a story or design plan in advance for the week ahead:
All I had to do next was add my photos and stories directly to these cards during the week.
SUPPLIES USED
AED Days Of The Week Craft Dies
Evolution Die Cut Machine
Paper Trimmer
SC 12x12 Pad Of Grid Paper
April 15, 2016
New Story Theme Now Available | Wild
Today I'm excited to introduce you to the next story theme: Wild.
Because life really is a wild ride. Because sometimes it’s all about saying yes, taking a risk, and not knowing the outcome. Because getting outside, into the wild, can be so very good for your soul. This month let’s tell stories related to wild: places, ways of living, memories, dreams.
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 Wild:
And the Wild Story Stamp™:
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 Tough (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:
And a couple peeks at the layouts I created with the kits this month (
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!
Many of you have already received (or should be receiving soon) your Week In The Life™ preorder. Thank you so much for your purchase! For those of you who might have missed out on some of the stamps and other products (including the Day Of The Week craft dies that were featured in my Project Life® Week Eight spread) we have done a restock of the most popular stamps and the products are now available for purchase. Shop Week In The Life™ here.
I'll be documenting my week starting Monday, May 9th.
April 9, 2016
AE Digital Creative Team | Tough Digital Story Kit™
Happy Saturday! Today I'm sharing awesome layouts made by my Digital Creative Team using the Tough Digital Story Kit™.
Be sure to check out our new Creative Team Gallery where you can go to see how the team is crafting their stories using my 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 Tough Digital Story Kit™ which is available via subscription now through April 14th:
Here's a look at how the team worked with the Tough Digital Story Kit™. Just a heads up again that most of my team uses the digital kit to create paper projects - meaning they print out the digital pieces and add them to paper layouts/pockets (vs. completely digital projects):
Hope you all have a great weekend!
Check out the Creative Team Gallery for more detailed photos of each members projects.
Interested in learning more about working with digtal scrapbooking products? Check out my free series on Getting Started With Digital Scrapbooking here. Check out all my digital/printable scrapbooking supplies here.
April 7, 2016
Project Life® 2016 | Week Eleven
My goal this year with Project Life® is to fill in the pockets.
I'm doing just that and it's making me happy and I'm pretty much up to date. Am I telling every single story of my life? Nope. No worries. I'm loving that I'm getting some stories told - the sum of all these stories being greater than any one part. I'm definitely keeping it simple and I'm really liking that part too.
It's a looser approach vs. past years and it feels right for me right now.
Here's a look at Project Life® 2016 | Week Eleven:
Lots of writing on photos - it's such a simple way to add story. I'm using a AED Slickwriter and white Gelly Roll pens.
"Evening" is a digital file from the AM/PM Digital set and was traced and cut using the Silhouette. This set would also be great for telling stories during Week In The Life™. The "she stood in the storm" card is from this month's Tough Story Kit™.
I've got a video tutorial that shows you how to trace PNG files using the Silhouette software here.
The text pattern card is include in this month's Tough Story Kit™.
The end of this week was the beginning of our Spring Break adventure. I'm going to include some photos next week and then do something else in addition with all the photos that both Aaron and I took over the course of the week.
I often intentionally take photos that include space for journaling right on the photo. Stamping and writing directly onto the photos is such a simple and easy way to include the story.
I'm still loving including things Anna has drawn - both words and pictures. This wee she was super excited about being able to walk on her hands. She came back from dance so pumped up that she wrote this up for me immediately because I was on the phone when she first got home. Cutting up something this size to fit in three pockets is also a fun way to break-up and play around with the overall design of the spread.
The "Heart Eyes" card is from the Nes Verk kit from Studio Calico (available without a subscription).
SUPPLIESDesign A Page ProtectorsTough Story Kit™AM/PM Digital White Gelly Roll PenAED Slickwriter PenPast Story Kits™Rolling Date StampStudio Calico Nes Verk Kit
There are a few more days to join my Lens Of Joy workshop that started on Tuesday. Registration will close at 11:59PM on Tuesday, April 12th. The workshop includes 11 different lessons and over 8 hours of presentation/video content focusing on topics such a developing your own photo vision and voice, composition & design, photo workflow (uploading, choosing, editing, and printing), and storytelling with photos. f you previously took this workshop in 2014 we are offering an alumni-option for those of you who might want to participate again with the live re-run for $24. Enter promo code LOJalumni at checkout to receive this special offer.
April 6, 2016
April Digital Release
Happy April!
In February we announced that we were changing up the way we release digital products from weekly to monthly. This month we are releasing 8 brand new products and over 30 Classic AE products from my past collection previously offered at Designer Digitals (Classic AE products are designated with a grey box around the product preview and have their own category here).
Click here to see all new products added as part of the
April Digital Release. We also created a new category in the digital section of our shop that includes all the new (excluding the Classic AE) products for the last two months.
New digital products this month focus on:
Week In The Life™: Digital version of the journal cards (3x4 and 4x6) and stamp included in this year's kit. Family: Word art and Journal Cards Friends: Journal cards Outdoors: Word Art and Journal Cards Digital Story Stamp™ set : Tough
If you are looking for more information on Getting Started With Digital Scrapbooking check out my free series of posts
here.
We have over 30 new
Classic AE products in the shop this month focusing on family, friends, outdoors and everyday memory keeping products.
Thanks for your support and here's to telling more stories together!
April 5, 2016
Day In The Life™ | March 2016 ( + Project Life® 2016 | Week 13)
Today I'm sharing how I brought my photos and words together to document my
Day In The Life™ within Week 13 of my Project Life® album.
Yesterday I posted a video tutorial on how to work with the Day In The Life™ 6x12 layered template set. You can check out that post here. You can also check out my post where I share just my photos and journaling here.
You might notice that I skipped Weeks Eleven & Twelve of
Project Life®. They are in the works and I'll be sharing them soon - I wanted to get this one done at the same time that I completed the insert so you could see how it all worked together.
If you missed out on the physical
Day In The Life™ kit you can pick up the digital version that includes the cards and chipboard circles here. We will be offering a new kit for the next round of Day In The Life™ in a couple of months.
I'm going to start by just showing you how the inserts turned out and then below I'll show you how it looks inside Project Life® Week 13. You can think of this as
a story within a story - a deep-dive into one day of the week sandwiched between other stories.
Scroll down for an 18-minute video overview of this project:
For my story I ended up using three page protectors:
6x12, 3-pocket page protector
6x12, 1-pocket page protector
6x8, 3-pocket page protector (I just cut this one from a Design A page protector - the one I use every week for Project Life®).
I printed 4 photos to 4x6 using my
Epson PM400 printer. I decided on these 4 as I was working with the 6x12 layered template. On top of each photo I added a chipboard circle (or two on the front) + the time and a little phrase.
The bulk of my journaling came directly from what I wrote when I posted my photos and times to
Instagram. It made it so easy to do it right then and then be able to copy and paste into both my blog post and then onto these two 4x6 cards. As you can see, I created some space within my journaling to hold the #1 and #2 chipboard circles. I used Helvetica Condensed Bold for the times and Remington Noiseless for my journaling.
I used Avery Index tabs and stamps - one on each insert. The stamps I used come from the following sets: These Days Are For, Gratitude, Love, Stories, One Little Word 2015
The bulk of my photos were used on a
6x12 layered template that I used for two pages.
On the time card I decided to write something I was thankful for. I could have had this out during the actual day, but instead I just looked back through my photos and generated thoughts while looking at my photos based on what was happening at that time.
I ended up with two pages of the
6x12 layered template. Such a great home for all these photos + times.
And here's how it looks within Week 13 of my
Project Life® album:
I decided to keep my spread super simple this week - just words + photos. I incorporated additional cards from the
Day In The Life™ kit + cards from a couple recent Documenter kits from Studio Calico. I also printed all my photos with a white border to keep it consistent between the day and the week. I love how that turned out.
"Love hard" is from the
Homespun Documenter Kit.
I love seeing all that typed-up story.
Love those two.
The trees, man they are so awesome right now. The "reasons to be happy" card and the "definition of joy" card are from the
Savannah Documenter Kit.
One of my favorite photos from last week is this shot of Sam sitting on the porch. I took it from inside my house - my front door has two long windows, one on each side of the door. This shot was taken with my phone and I simply tapped on the screen on the sky portion to make the inside super dark and the outside light (vs. what it initially wanted to do which was to light everything so it was all washed out).
DAY IN THE LIFE™ | MARCH 2016 VIDEO OVERVIEW
SUPPLIES
Page Protectors: Project Life® 6x12 (one pocket) // Design A (cut one down to create the 6x8 size) // 6x12 with three pockets
Day In The Life™ Kit #1
Day In The Life™ 6x12 Layered Templates
AE Stamp Sets | These Days Are For, Gratitude, Love, Stories, One Little Word 2015
AED Slickwriter Pen
Black StazOn
Studio Calico Homespun Documenter Kit
Studio Calico Savannah Documenter Kit
Epson SureColor P400 Printer (oversized)
Epson PictureMate PM400
Avery 2-Inch Index Tabs
Rolling Date Stamp
If you enjoyed
Day In The Life™ I hope you'll consider joining me for Week In The Life™ starting Monday, May 9th.
