Ali Edwards's Blog, page 185

Happy New Year

I wanted to take a quick minute today to wish you all a Happy New Year. 

My wonderfully awesome crazy crew and I had fun taking this shot right around midnight on New Year's Eve. We set up the camera and grabbed some of those fun party poppers and took a couple shots with the timer. I'm so glad we did. I love these guys so much and I can't imagine a better photo to complete 2015. 

I'm in the process of organizing a One Little Word® list to share with you this week taken from this post. I'm hoping that Liz Lamoreux will read the list of words again for us as she has the last few years so I'm waiting to hear back from her. The classroom and Facebook group for One Little Word® are buzzing and so fun to begin the year together with our words. 

Today I'm in the office cleaning up and getting excited to have Katie back here tomorrow. She'll be working here at my house a couple of days a week and then working from her own house on the other days. 

Today I'm also printing photos for Project Life® because that's what I feel most excited about right now. I'm working on getting photos into my 2015 albums and starting my 2016 album and thinking through my approach. I'm also getting ready to launch my new Storytelling With Project Life® (used with permission) workshop - look for more details on that later this week. The workshop will begin later this month and will run for 4 weeks and be similar in scope to my Storytelling With December Daily® workshop: a look back at my past albums, lessons learned, thoughts on the process, and specific storytelling ideas. 

Katie & Peter & Graham & Aaron and I are also getting ready to head to CHA this coming weekend (the big Craft & Hobby Trade Show). If you are going make sure to come by the Studio Calico booth - I'll be there on Sunday. Looking forward to seeing so many friends again and meeting new ones. 

I wish you all the best this year. 

One Little Word® 2016 | Whole

For 2016 I'm going with "whole" as my One Little Word®. 

Since 2007 I've been choosing (or letting a word choose me) a word to focus on over the course of a year. I love the process of walking with a word for 12-months and seeing how it works in my life. Some years it's been super visible and other years it's been a slow burn below the surface. I tend to choose words that have layers of meanings and can be applied to my life in various ways: physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. I love learning more about the word throughout the year and taking the opportunity to reflect each month via the process of working on the prompts from the workshop and via taking action on the things I'm inviting into my life. 

If you are interested in hearing me talk more about One Little Word® and my choice of word this year, check out my friend  Elise's Get Crafty podcast  where we both share our words for 2016 and talk about our experiences living with a word. She also includes a link in the show notes to a past episode where we talked about the process as well.  

A lot of times I begin my year with a question or two related to my word. This year my questions to myself are this: 

What does it mean to be whole? What does that look like and feel like? 

I'm interested in investigating "the pieces of the whole." What are the pieces of my own life that work together to create the "whole" and in what areas do I need to be letting go and in what areas do I need to hang on tighter to create a more "whole" life for myself? And where does acceptance fit into this? Lots of great questions for me to explore and wrestle with and ponder and learn from. 

I'm also interested in investigating more emphasis on whole foods - maybe try Whole 30. And I want to continue making yoga a priority as I work on the "whole" of myself - the physical, the mental & emotional, etc. 

Two specific quotes that are resonating with me related to "whole": 

“I am a broken person. And I know exactly where my cracks are and how deep they run. I don't pretend to not be a broken person and therein lies the big difference. Because the truth is, we are all broken in places, but it is those who know exactly where and how they are broken, who also know exactly where and how they are whole! And we may not be whole in all places and in all ways, but we take whatever wholeness that we do have, and we make good of it. And we try hard to work on the broken parts, and we ask for help when we need it.” - C. JoyBell C.

“I want to die living. And I want to be remembered as one who lived with purpose, joy and feeling. I want to spend my time learning what goes into a whole and happy life, then building that life the best I can.” - Steve Goodier

Some years I'm super clear at the start what I want to invite my life and what I want to work on throughout the year. This year is less concrete but feels "just right" for 2016. Remember, there is really never a perfect word - there are any number of words that can work for any one of us in our lives at a given time - don't get hung up on choosing something perfect. 

I have no idea what will happen in my life in 2016. I know, because I've been around the block a time or two, that it will likely be a mixture of awesome and tough - those beautiful highs and lows that we all experience throughout the course of a year. My hope is that this word will play a role in my continuing quest to fully live the length and width of my life. 

Let's do this. 

PS | The lovely "whole" heart talisman featured in the photo above is from my friend Liz Lamoreux's Soul Mantra shop. She'll make one for you too - order a custom bracelet, necklace, or talisman here.  

SHARE YOUR WORD THE COMMENTS

I’d love to read what word you’ve chosen or are considering for 2016. In the comments feel free to simply leave your word as your comment or write a bit about why you are choosing this word. Next week I’ll combine all the words into a single post – it's become tradition and super inspiring to see all the words in one place.

If you’re new to the concept of One Little Word®, you can read some of my previous posts here: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015.

JOIN ME IN MAKING OUR WORDS VISIBLE

To help keep your One Little Word® more visible throughout the year I offer a year-long workshop featuring one creative prompt per month. Read all the details and sign up here. Registration is $5 off until December 31, 2015. I've also created a selection of products to help you document your journey with your word - check those out here. During the One Little Word® 2016 Kick-Off ordering period (between now and 1/31/16), items featured on this One Little Word® 2016 page are eligible for free shipping domestic and $5 international. If you add any other items from the shop to your cart, normal shipping rates will apply to those additional items.

December Daily® 2015 | Days Twenty-Three Through Twenty-Five

Welcome to 
December Daily® 2015 | Days 23-26. 

I hope you had a lovely holiday with your family and friends! Today I'm sharing the last few days of my album and wrapping up December Daily® for 2015 - I've included a video walk-through below as well. Thank you so much for sharing your stories this past month. I wish you all the best for 2016 and beyond. 

Also just a heads up that there are a couple days left to join my One Little Word® workshop at the early bird price of $26 (after 12/31 it will be $31). 

First up, Day 23:

On the 23rd we made the trek to the mall to visit Santa. 

I included the official photo in the album (behind the stamped journaling from Day 22) by simply punching holes to match the rings. I also included the gold circle transparency page within Day 23. 

To tell my story I used the "today" card from the Main Kit and simply jotted down a few memories of the day related to Simon and Anna. 

Here's a look at Day 24: 

Christmas Eve around here included time spent with just my kids in the morning and then Aaron and his kids came over for dinner in the evening. 

For this spread I loved including a morning photo + an evening photo. The "good times" card gives the basic details and then I created a flip-up using the gold-foil Jasmine Jones "together" card to write out a bit more of the story. 

I used the gold washi from the Main Kit and one of the journal cards from the Jasmine Jones kit with a green phrase sticker on top of the branch. Simple and easy to create a home for additional journaling. 

Here's a look at Day 25: 

For Christmas Day I ended up wanting to use four photos. One of Simon, one of Anna, one of Anna and me playing video games, and one of the kids by the tree in the morning. 

To accommodate the additional photo I simply added it into the album and used the other side as a home for a journal card + my journaling for the day. I added the "25" badge on top of the seam where the two cards meet. 

I wrote on each of the photos of the kids - just a few words about them and the day. I used this AE gold pen and this AE Precision Pen for writing on the photos directly. 

On the back of the journal card combo I included the other photo of Anna and me playing Super Mario Bros. I also included the enlarged 6x8 photo of the kids in front of the tree. On top of that photo I added some journaling and a Silhouette cut made using word art from the Storytelling With December Daily® class. 

Love the photo focus of this day. 

This year I also included a Day 26 because I traveled with Aaron and his kids to celebrate with his family in Portland: 

Traditionally I've ended this album on December 25th. With a different schedule this year it made sense for me to include the story of Christmas with Aaron's family and I'm so happy I did as it was really fun to get to experience their Christmas traditions. 

I had trimmed this Santa that Anna colored earlier this month to include at some point - today seemed like a good day. In addition I included a couple of photos from Aaron's parents + journaling about that adventure. 

I ended the album with a photo of snow falling at Aaron's parents house and their tree. 

DAYS 23-26 OVERVIEW


SUPPLIES

December Daily® 2015 Main Kit
December Daily® Jasmine Jones Mini Kit
December Daily® Emily Ley Mini Kit
December Daily® Ashley G Mini Kit
Avery 2-Inch Index Tabs
AE Precision Pen
AE Metallic Gold Pen


SHARE YOUR DAYS 23-25

I'd love to have you share a link to your Day 23-25 album pages below. Please link directly to your post vs. a general blog link.

Give Sunday | 51

This year, in honor of my 2015
One Little Word® "give," I'm sharing a hand-drawn quote each Sunday here on my blog.

Today is the final installment for this series. Thank you so much for the kind words about these quotes over the past year. 

Click here to read my initial post and download the #givesunday word art title and checklist for helping you to give a little something today. You can also view all the past #givesunday quotes via the archives. 

Click here to download the #givesunday 51 quote. Please note: If you are reading this post via email you need to click through to the actual blog post to download the file. 

You're invited to join me. What will you
give today?

Have a wonderful Sunday. 

Designer Digitals Product Update

Over a number of years I created more than 700 digital/hybrid memory keeping products that have been available for purchase at Designer Digitals. My commitment to housing those products there is coming to an end and all products will be removed from Designer Digitals by December 28th. 

THE PLAN | Many of those products will be uploaded to my Digital Shop here in the coming months. As you can imagine, that will be an undertaking that we will probably tackle a bit at a time once Katie is back from maternity leave. If there is anything you want from that selection of products I suggest purchasing it before December 28th as there is not a guarantee it will be made available in my shop here. 

I want to again thank Designer Digitals for their support of my products and I wish them all the best. 

December Daily® 2015 | Day Twenty-Two

Welcome to December Daily® 2015 | Day 22. 

Seriously loved finally getting a chance to see the new Star Wars movie yesterday. Simon has been counting down the days and it was special on so many levels to be able to watch and experience it with him because the movies and characters have long been his favorite. I loved watching him get all the connections and references to the older movies as we both got excited at precisely the same moments - hard to beat that. And really, as a kid who grew up playing with Star Wars toys and watching and loving the original movies this was just awesome to experience. I loved it and I honestly can't wait to see it again. 

This is probably it for me for posting before Christmas. I'll share the remainder of my stories after the holiday weekend and include video that shows the last few days as well. I hope you have a wonderful holiday and thank you again for joining me on this journey in 2015. 

Here's a look at Day 22: 

For the full page 6x8 I printed out the receipt that was emailed to me after purchasing my tickets online. This in and of itself tells a story of the way I buy movie tickets these days - rarely do I have a paper ticket any longer as most of the time I buy them online and then have them sent to my phone to be able to pull up to enter the movie. 

When printing it from my email I just adjusted the size to about 75% and it ended up being just the right size for my 6x8 pocket. 

The page opposite is right around 5x7. The reason I went with that size is because I know my story for Day 23 is going to be about visiting Santa and I'll have a 5x7 photo from that experience. Stamps are those same Educational Insights Stamps I used on vellum earlier in the month on Day 4. I love the repetition of bringing something back I had used earlier in the album. 

SUPPLIES

December Daily® 2015 Main Kit
Educational Insights See & Stamp stamps


Inks: Grey Memento Luxe and Color Theory Well Red
AE Precision Pen
Epson R2000
Crop A Dile (for hole punching)

SHARE YOUR DAY 22

I'd love to have you share a link to your Day 22 album pages below. Please link directly to your post vs. a general blog link.

December Daily® 2015 | Day Twenty-One

Welcome to 
December Daily® 2015 | Day Twenty-One. 

The story of today is about how I love that Christmas Break creates time for the kids to just hang out. Yesterday they spent a bunch of the day just hanging out in Simon's room playing Legos - Anna playing Star Wars and Simon building a phone booth from Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure after seeing a YouTube video where someone else had built one. 

Here's a look at my Day 21:

I love the photo of the two of them in Simon's room doing their thing in the middle of all the Legos.

I trimmed the "so loving this" journal card down from 4x6 to 3x4 to accommodate my story. The other 3x4 pocket includes a wood veneer snowflake with a phrase sticker and a small gold chipboard star on top of an older set of gold cardstock number stickers. 

The full page photo of Anna is one I've been meaning to take since the beginning of the month and I finally made it happen yesterday. A few weeks ago she took this piece of cardboard and drew her holiday greeting message on top. It's the best. I added one small gold chipboard star on top to link it to the story on the page before. 

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

DAY 21 VIDEO OVERVIEW


SUPPLIES

December Daily® 2015 Main Kit
Maggie Holmes Craft Market Stickers
AE Precision Pen
Seven Paper Gold Chipboard Stars

SHARE YOUR DAY 21

I'd love to have you share a link to your Day 21 album pages below. Please link directly to your post vs. a general blog link.

December 2015 Shop Updates

I wanted to take some time today to introduce you some fun new things that are part of my December Shop Release.

I've included a video overview for you below as well. 

And as always, thank you so much for your continued support of my brand!

I can't tell you how fun it is for me to finally see my product collection grow. 

Four new washi tapes include the two minis (gather together + the black and white script) that are sold together and two larger ones that are sold separately: Stories and Thank You For Being You.

Two new dies include "currently" and a super fun set of "days of the week" that create what you see above - the word will sit at the top of along the side. I totally love how that one turned out and can't wait to make a set to use in Project Life®.

I'm using a Evolution machine with these dies (I think in the video below I called it a "revolution" - ha). 

Six new stamp sets include: Love, Seasons, Brave, Baby, Beach and Friends. All wonderfully practical and useful for your memory keeping projects. 

Three new large chipboard alphabets in my colors: Deschutes, Cascade and Canon Beach.

And of course, three new journal card sets. They include Celebrate, This & That, and Gratitude. 

Also, just in case you missed it earlier I now have paints too! 

Here's a video overview of all the new products: 

Thank you again for all your support and your interest in memory keeping and storytelling! 

Let's keep telling stories together. 

December Daily® 2015 | Day Nineteen & Twenty

Welcome to 
December Daily® 2015 | Days 19 & 20. 

Happy Monday! I decided to share days 19 and 20 together because I kind of merged them together in my album because it made the most sense to me in terms of my story. 

A couple thoughts today:

First, I loved this perspective from Lisa in the 
December Daily® Facebook Group: 

"The reasons I do December Daily have a lot less to do with album and a lot more to do with what goes inside. The truth is we are so busy (life is so full with seven children from toddlers to teens), our budget is tiny, and this is yet another December with sickness. Without this project I may struggle with finding joy in the midst of it all. I might feel weighed down and overwhelmed. I might not see all of this. This is just a small peek of the December blessings around here. The blessings sneak in, especially if you are looking for them. The stories are unfolding, whether you write them down or not. The memories are made, and the intentional capturing of each of them, wrapping them up in the gift of a December Daily, is a gift that gives long after the season is done. I cannot wait to begin sharing my album tomorrow, but for today, printing these pictures is priceless."

Second, just a big hug to any of you out there who are struggling with the Christmas season. Last night I felt that familiar longing for a "traditional" family structure - it creeps up at certain times. I've felt really good about this holiday, embracing it all, up until last night when I started feeling sad for what I don't have (
or for what I was thinking would make me happy at that moment). This morning I woke up, looked around my house and at my sleeping kids and just shook my head. I don't want to be in that head space. I want to celebrate what is here right now and make some magic in these last few days before Christmas. There's lots of things I can't control, but I can control my attitude towards how I live these next few days. 

All that said, and as you'll see below, I wrote myself a reminder about that so I wouldn't forget. 

Here's a look at my Day 19 + Day 20: 

When I finished up Day 18 I had the full-page transparency from the Main Kit with the branches and snow on it. Unfortunately I don't think we are going to get snow in the next couple of days so I went ahead and kept it in that spot. On top of it I added, first with a Martha Stewart Glue Pen and then with red embroidery floss, one of the wood veneer stars. I used a paper piercer to punch the holes next to the stars first before using a needle and the red floss (usually I've found it hard to push a needle through so it was easier to use the paper piercer to create the holes first as my guide). I just tied off the red floss on the back of the star. 

The next thing I added was a 4x8 tag. This one was included in a previous Studio Calico kit (I think I mentioned possibly using it for my pocket tag back on Day 5) but a 4x8 manilla tag would work just as well. 

In the video below you'll hear me talk about how at first I used spray ink on top of the chipboard letters using some red Heidi Swapp Color Shine spray ink (I did end up doing this on the back tag using Gold Color Shine). For the front of this tag I embossed using white embossing powder on top of the red chipboard letters. 

I used the Crop A Dile to punch right through the tag + chipboard letter combo. 

The gold spray ink worked great on a second manilla tag that I adhered to the back of the white/gold tag. I let it dry overnight before journaling on top with this pen.

I rounded out the two days with the "19" card from the Ashley G Mini Kit + a journal card (hard to see but it has a gold embossed title like I have done on previous days) + a photo of my living room + the gold chipboard "20" from the Emily Ley Mini Kit on top. 

Here's a look at all the pieces outside the album: 

Hope all is well with you and yours and that you too can be thankful for what you have in front of you right now. 

DAY 19 + 20 OVERVIEW



SUPPLIES

December Daily® Main Kit
December Daily® Emily Ley Mini Kit
December Daily® Ashley G Mini Kit
4x8 Tags
Gold Color Shine
Sweet Cherry Color Shine
Seven Paper Gold Chipboard Stars
Crop A Dile
AED Precision Pen .03
Martha Stewart Glue Pen
Paper Piercer


SHARE YOUR DAY 19 + DAY 20

I'd love to have you share a link to your Day 19 + Day 20 album pages below. Please link directly to your post vs. a general blog link.

Give Sunday | 50

This year, in honor of my 2015
One Little Word® "give," I'm sharing a hand-drawn quote each Sunday here on my blog.

Click here to read my initial post and download the #givesunday word art title and checklist for helping you to give a little something today. You can also view all the past #givesunday quotes via the archives. 

Click here to download the #givesunday 50 quote. Please note: If you are reading this post via email you need to click through to the actual blog post to download the file. 

You're invited to join me. What will you
give today?

Have a wonderful Sunday.