Ali Edwards's Blog, page 188

Give Sunday | 48

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 48 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. 

December Daily® 2015 | Day Four + Documented Life Project

Welcome to 
December Daily® 2015 | Day 04.

Today I'm sharing my 
December Daily® story/album pages in conjunction with a fun collaboration called the Documented Life Project. If you are new to the Documented Life Project go over and check it out (here's a link to what they are focusing on over there for 2016 - "The unPlanner"). If you are looking to spread your wings artistically you should definitely check out this fantastic community of mixed media creatives who are documenting their lives via techniques rooted in color, texture, words, images, etc. If you are new to December Daily® I encourage you to check out my Project Page and watch a short video and check out my archives for this project.

Here's the theme, challenge, and prompt I was given for the 
Documented Life Project: 

December Theme: Storytelling with the Written Word
Challenge: Words front and center
Prompt: Life is a book. We fill the pages.

As many of you know, I like creative constraints and guidelines so it was fun to approach my story today with those ideas in mind. As many of you also know, words "front and center" are a big part of my personal memory keeping process. 

I took this prompt into account as I decided what story to tell
and how to tell it. I love the "we fill the pages" portion of the prompt and it actually spurred me to go get the rest of the garland I needed to wrap around my front porch with the idea that magic is something we make. We don't always get to choose what story we step into, but we get to choose how we respond to it and how we move forward from there. 

How are you figuratively filling the pages of your life's book? Are you living a "good" story and what in the world does that even mean for you? 

I know many of you out there face challenges this month - personal, emotional, attitude, etc.
I get it. It can be hard to document or look for the good when you are feeling not good. One of the things I've learned over the years, and I regularly remind myself, is we really do get to choose what our own attitude is towards any given situation and towards our life in general. It's not always easy to choose the positive, but it's possible. One moment at a time, one day at a time. 

This season I'm choosing to the fill the pages of my life by seeking out and creating magic for myself. I'm not waiting for someone else to make it happen. I'm writing my own story and filling my own pages by the choices I make. 

A step-by-step video tutorial that includes more thoughts and a closer look at the process of building this story is included below or you can watch it on my 
YouTube channel. 

Here's my
foundation page for Day 04: 

And here's what it ended up after adding my photos and words: 

Ah, yeah is right. 

I love how this turned out. 

First thing I want to talk about today is self-portraits.
DO THEM. Make them happen for yourself. 

I took this shot after I was done putting up the garland around the porch. I held 
my big camera out in front of my face and took about eight shots. I wanted to see myself in this story and I wanted to capture how I was feeling in the moment. Which was happy and good and proud of myself for taking action on creating magic for myself. 

For editing this photo (and the enlargement) I used the 
RadLab filter Bullet Tooth (I use RadLab as an add-on within Photoshop) and it was printed here at home using the Epson PictureMate PM400.

On top of the photo I added a "finding my way" stamp from the Roots Story Kit™ and a 
Silhouette cut of "joy" from the Storytelling with December Daily® workshop package. The little star was included with the Jasmine Jones December Daily® Mini Kit. 

Just a short bit of handwritten journaling included on the 3x4 card today that gives a few more details of the story about making my own magic. I used a date stamp + the 
gold tinsel embossing powder (again) for the date. 

For this page I used 
Educational Insights See & Stamp stamps + black Staz On to stamp my words onto vellum. Going big is fun. This can also simply be done using fonts on your computer and printing onto the vellum. 

Think of a message you could include - something that you are working on, a message to yourself, a favorite quote or song, etc. 

In addition to self-portraits that show your face, get some of you in action. It's all a part of the story of you who are right now. I set my camera up on a small table I took outside with me and played around with different shots using the timer on my camera. 

On top of the printed photo (sized again to the same size as the outside of the page protector) I adhered another Silhouette cut from the workshop. I dotted three of the "i's" using the small gold stars in Jasmine's kit. 

Remember, this is your story.
BE IN IT. Via your words and via your images and via the choices you make. 

Here's a look at all three parts outside the album: 

DAY 04 | STEP BY STEP



SUPPLIES

Please note that some supplies are not linked below for pieces that were created previously but can be found via my Foundation Pages post.

December Daily® 2015 Main Kit
December Daily® 2015 Jasmine Jones Mini Kit (small stars)
Roots Story Stamp™ (no longer avaiable)
Educational Insights See & Stamp
Vellum
Black Staz On Ink
Printers: Epson R2000 (anything over 5x7) and Epson PictureMate PM400
Die Cut Word Art from the Storytelling With December Daily® workshop
Silhouette
Crop A Dile (for hole punching)
Martha Stewart Glue Pen


SHARE YOUR DAY 04

I'd love to have you share a link to your Day 04 album pages below. Please link directly to your post vs. a general blog link.

December Daily® 2015 | Day Three

Welcome to December Daily® 2015 | Day 03. 

Three thoughts to share with you today: 

Pace yourself. This is a December project. If you are short on time, do a quick story. If you have more time, have fun with it. Don't burn yourself out in the first week. 
Remember that this album is for whatever stories you feel like telling. It might be something Christmas-related or it might be something life-related or it might just be a quote. This is your album and your story and it can be anything you want it to be. 
One of the things I love about this project is that I don't know what story I'm going to tell each day. I love working with what I have, working with what's happening, identifying the story, and then getting it in the album. It's like a surprise and a gift to myself when I pick the story and run with it. If you are feeling stress or dread, how can you turn it around to use this project as a tool for gratitude or love or reflection? 

Here's the foundation page for Day 03: 

And here it is with the photo/words and other adjustments: 

Multiple changes to my foundation pages today that you can see in real-life in the video below. When I decided on my story today (which is kind of two stories but they are also related) I knew I wanted to include a photo of Aaron from our date and a photo of my feet at yoga. I also used a couple stickers from the Gatherings Story Kit™ (black and white stickers). 

These stories could be separate - when I look at the day now it almost looks like two days. But I'm cool with them being a part of one story in my heart and in this album. 

The "3" card is from the Main Kit. On top of it I added an embossed metal-rimmed circle tag using the "Cheers" stamp from the Icon stamp set. I also added in one of the fun little rubber speech bubbles from the Cheer Story Kit™ this month. Short journaling about our date night includes a rolling date stamp that shows it actually happened on December 2. Tell the story you want to tell when you want to tell it. 

For my longer journaling I took one of the sheets from the Log Book (included with the Main Kit purchase during the pre-order period), cut off the photo portion on the bottom, folded part of it up, and added one of Jasmine Jones Mini Kit cards + one of her die-cut words on top. I love how this turned out. On the bottom of the fold-up I added a 2-inch Avery Index Tab. 

Real life journaling about the things I'm working on right now. These are the stories that matter to me. 

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

DAY 03 | STEP BY STEP



SUPPLIES

Please note that some supplies are not linked below for pieces that were created previously but can be found via my Foundation Pages post.

December Daily® 2015 Main Kit
Cheer Story Kit™ (small rubber speech bubble)
December Daily® Jasmine Jones Mini Kit
December Daily® Icon Stamp Set
December Daily® Holiday Circles Stamp Set
Epson PictureMate PM400 printer
1 Inch Circle Punch
Metal Rimmed Circle Tags
2-Inch Avery Index Label Tab
Versamark Embossing Ink
Heat Gun
Ranger/Tim Holtz Gold Tinsel Embossing Powder
Tim Holtz Scissors
Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher
Inks: Black Staz On, Memento Pistachio
Rolling Date Stamp
Gatherings Story Kit™ (no longer available)

SHARE YOUR DAY 03

I'd love to have you share a link to your Day 03 album pages below. Please link directly to your post vs. a general blog link. 

December Daily® 2015 | Day Two

Welcome to December Daily® 2015 | Day 02. 

Today in the process video you'll get to see me change my mind and adjust course mid-way resulting in a Photoshop tutorial included below about how to adjust the 
December Stories Vol. 2 6x8 layered templates to 3x4. All in a days work. Ha. If you are interested in why I make the choices I make I highly encourage you to check out the process videos where I speak a lot freer than I do in these posts.

As a reminder, here's what Day 02 looked like as a foundation page: 

And here's a look at what Day 02 turned out looking like after adding a photo and words and a few other things: 

Today's story is about taking Anna to pick out a toy for 
Toys For Tots. Her school was collecting toys and she was very emphatic that it was what we needed to do (Go Anna Go) so we did it. 

The photo was taken using my iPhone and printed with my 
Epson PictureMate PM400 here at home. 

I like real-life shots like this that show her size compared with a bunch of things in the store. I also added a 
cardstock sticker right to the center of the photo and added a hard-to-see transparent sticker that says "holly jolly" on the back of the sticker from Day 01. 

The second page for today includes four pockets. Inside the top left pocket is a "be of good cheer" card from the 
Cheer Story Kit™ + a transparent "tis the season circle" that was included with a Studio Calico kit last month. The embossed #2 was part of my Foundation Pages (super fun to emboss on those large chipboard letters). The journaling (which is the place where I changed my mind - you can see it in the video below) card includes a gold-embossed stamped title "I love this because" from the Holiday Circles stamp set. In the fourth pocket I ended up cutting up the "stuff" card from the Main Kit, attaching it to a piece of gold star vellum, and then adding a perforated phrase strip from the Cheer Story Kit™ to finish it off. 

Something else to note on the journaling here is that I framed it as a short letter/note to Anna. 

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

DAY 02 | STEP BY STEP


DAY 02 | HOW TO ADJUST A LAYERED TEMPLATE TO CREATE A 3x4 JOURNAL CARD


SUPPLIES 

Please note that some supplies are not linked below for pieces that were created previously but can be found via my Foundation Pages post.

December Daily® 2015 Main Kit
Cheer Story Kit™ ("be of good cheer" card + kraft perforated phrase)
December Daily® Holiday Circles Stamp Set
December Stories Vol. 2 6x8 Layered Template Set
Epson PictureMate PM400 (for printing 5x7 and smaller)
Ranger/Tim Holtz Gold Tinsel Embossing Powder
Versamark Embossing Ink
Heat Gun
Snappy Tray
Studio Calico Highlands Kit (yellow-orange "tis the season" circle)
Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher
Pink Paislee Yuletide Stickers
Maggie Holmes Craft Market Stickers
Maggie Holmes/Crate Paper Confetti Gold Star Vellum
Black Staz On Ink
Fiskars Trimmer

SHARE YOUR DAY 02

I'd love to have you share a link to your Day 02 album pages below. Please link directly to your post vs. a general blog link.

December Daily® 2015 | Day One

Welcome to 
December Daily® 2015 | Day One. 

I always really start to fall in love with this album as it begins to come alive with the addition of photos and words. 

One of my biggest pieces of advice (t
hose of you who were in the workshop this year heard me say it over and over again): this album is not about any single story rather it is the sum of all the parts. Remember that as you go about your days and give yourself permission to make it work for you. I aim for a mix of short and long stories that come together in the end to make one big story of the season. Stick with it, even on the boring and/or busy days. 

Also, one thing I hope to do on some days this year is include step-by-step videos. I was able to do one for today that you'll find at the bottom of this post as well as on my 
YouTube Channel. Hope you enjoy the peek at my process. 

Here's a look at Day 01:

Today I decided to go outside the page protector and I printed two 5 inch x 7 inch photos, adhered them back to back, and added them to my album by punching holes using a 
Crop A Dile. 

On the front photo I added a #1 from the 
Emily Ley Mini Kit, a "merry" from the cut files in the Storytelling With December Daily® digital package (cut with my Silhouette & kraft cardstock), and "deck the halls" from my main kit (popped up with foam dots). 

When you flip the card over you see the second image - looking down on Anna and all the ornaments. As you take photos this season, think about your perspective: look up and look down vs. straight on for a different view. I love Christmas morning shots like this too. 

My large green ornament boxes are made by a company called Sterling Pair. I bought two from Amazon a few years ago when I was looking for a more sturdy option to hold our ornaments and they have been awesome. This year I also bought these grey twill ornament boxs with zippered lids for each kid that are just for their own individual ornaments (they are made for mugs but work great for ornaments - we wrap in tissue paper and then you can put multiples in each cubby). I had my own box growing up that my Grandma Cathy (Mom's Mom) made that I now have here at my house with all my childhood ornaments included. It was a big part of our family traditions when I was growing up to put your own ornaments on the tree and sit around and talk about where they came from (we had lists that documented who gave them to us because that's how my Mom rolls). 

On the page opposite the 5 inch x 7 inch photos I added a "memories" sticker to the Tuesday cut with my Silhouette. 

On the 4 inch x 6 inch card below I covered up the original design with the star pattern paper and added one of the circle label stickers + "before december" added with an electric typewriter that Katie found at a local thrift store a few years ago. On top of the label I added some gold stars from my stash. 

Underneath I wrote my journaling by hand that talks about what we did on Sunday when we put up the tree and how it felt a little like Christmas morning bringing all the stuff in from the garage. 

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

DAY 01 | STEP BY STEP 


SUPPLIES

December Daily® 2015 Main Kit
Emily Ley December Daily® Mini Kit (gold #1)
Crop A Dile (for hole punching)
Black Staz On
Rolling Date Stamp
Fiskars Trimmer
Epson R2000 Printer
Old Typewriter (Smith Corona Electric)
Scotch Dot N Roller Adhesive
Martha Stewart Fine Tip Glue Pen
Cut File from Storytelling With December Daily® workshop
Foam Dot Adhesive
Silhouette

SHARE YOUR DAY 01

I'd love to have you share a link to your Day 01 album pages below. Please link directly to your post vs. a general blog link. 

December Daily® 2015 | Let's Begin

Welcome to December Daily® 2015. 

I seriously feel like I blinked this year and here we are again. 

I've been thinking, as I often do at this very same time of the year, about what I hope for you during this holiday and this project. This year what I hope most of all is that you find or embrace your own voice. Your stories, your joy, your real life truths and traditions at this point in time. This project is about capturing stories - big and small - during the month of December. It's about finding joy in the little things and looking for & making magic even as adults with serious jobs and serious lives. 

Here's a few things I often remind people as we embark on this project:

1. Find a pace that works for you. You might work on this project each day or you might save up a few days for a longer period of work time or you might wait until the end of the holiday season. People have so many different ways of approaching this project. For me, I do one story a day and I work on it daily (most of the time). Sometimes that's as simple as adding a photo and a few words to a pocket and sometimes it becomes a multi-page ordeal. I let the story, and the time available, lead me throughout the month.

2. Enjoy the process. If it starts feeling like a job, simplify. If it becomes boring, mix it up. Make this be something that enhances rather than detracts from you holiday season.

3. Read the 25 Ideas And Story Inspirations from a few years back. Or jump in on the Storytelling With December Daily® workshop that's still available to join where you can find additional inspiration for the reason why behind this project. 

4. Remember that it's not about what any one else is doing except you and your family. Embrace your own holiday spirit, your own stories - whatever they may be this year. Don't spend all your time looking at other people's stuff that you miss out on the time you could have spent working on your own project, telling you own stories. 

5. Look for the joy. Really, that's what this project is about. Find your own joy, even if you have to make it happen for yourself.

6. Start with an intention. What is it you hope for this holiday season? Can you describe it in one word? Why do you participate in this project? In case you missed my free "intentions" printable you can check it out and download it here: 2015 Foundation Pages.

You can do this. Absolutely, 100%, you can.

Let's tell stories together. Ready, set, go. 

I'll be working on my December 1 story today and sharing it with you here on my blog tomorrow. 

Thanksgiving 2015 & Cyber Monday Sale

Simon, Anna and I spent Thanksgiving with my parents on the Oregon Coast. It's one of our favorite places with our favorite people. We loved hanging out (there was a lot of that), eating (also a lot of that), and walking on the beaches. Here's a look at the story via photos: 

CYBER MONDAY & OTHER SALES

Heads up that today I'm wrapping up various sales with a 40% off my digital category (excluding 2015 December Daily® digital products - prices are marked and no code is needed). That sale is one day only (Monday, November 30th). Today is also the last day to grab anything from the Black Friday sale or pick up a past Story Kit™, Story Stamp™ or Digital Story Kit™ (none of those are regularly available so if you are interested you should definitely grab one now). 

And tomorrow December Daily® begins! I can't wait to tell stories with you. Tomorrow I'll have a launch/ready-set-go post and on Wednesday I'll share my December 1st story/page with you.

Give Sunday | 47

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 47 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. 

2015 Family Gift Ideas

This morning I was thinking about gift-giving for my loved ones and the things my family has enjoyed this year and wanted to share a quick list of ideas with you. 

Kiwi Crate Family Brands | A fun, educational kid-subscription program that has options for different ages. Each box has a specific creative project that includes instructions and the needed supplies. I've had these for the kids on and off and am getting Anna a new subscription for Christmas this year. I like gifts like this that keep giving. 

Illustrated Harry Potter And The Sorceer's Stone | I bought this for Simon earlier this year and it's awesome. Beautiful illustrations accompany the whole first story in the Harry Potter series. Great for reading aloud or for any other fans of the stories. 

Christmas Company Ornaments from Land Of Nod | I love these tree ornaments and love the idea of buying a family for the families I love most. They are sold individually so you can customize to your loved ones. 

Qello Concerts | This is a subscription service for watching concerts from yesterday and today (I watch them via my Apple TV but you can also just stream it online). If you have a music lover in your life this might be a fun gift - I love putting it on while I'm cooking or when we are just hanging out. There's a free seven-day trial to check it out. I just watched an old Paul Simon one that was awesome. 

Kindle Paperwhite | I finally bought myself one of these (I think it was last year) and I'm so glad that I did. I still buy paper books (usually non-fiction) but I am loving the Kindle for travel and for simplicity. 

Lego Dimensions | This is the video game that Simon has been working and saving for over the last few months. It's really a cool video game (he uses it with the Wii) that incorporates a bunch of different characters into one game. Think Scooby Doo + the Wicked Witch Of The West + characters from Back To The Future all working together. He's loving it. 

Wishing you all the best!

Stories Revisited Sale + Other Sale News

Morning! Just wanted to give you guys a quick heads up about a couple sales happening here over the next few days: 

1. STORIES REVISITED SALE | This morning we launched a sale on past Story Kits™, Story Stamps™ and Digital Story Kits™ (first time for those to be sold outside of the subscription). They are available while supplies last or until November 30th. You can see everything in this category here (and make sure to notice that some are digital and some are physical products). Please note that these kits do not include the classroom content as that is an exclusive benefit of the subscription. 

2. BLACK FRIDAY SALE | On Friday we will be having a shop sale with 50% off selected items. There will be a category in the shop called "Black Friday Sale" where you will be able to view everything that is included in the sale under that link. Think alpha stickers, stamps, etc.

3. CYBER MONDAY | On Monday we will be having a 40% off sale on select Digital products (excluding 2015 December Daily® digital products). 

Thank you again for all your support. Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season.