Ali Edwards's Blog, page 189
October 25, 2015
Give Sunday | 42
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 42 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.



October 19, 2015
December Daily® 2015 | 6x8 Design Map
Hey guys! I'm getting closer to starting my December Daily® foundation pages and while I wait for my album to arrive I decided to create a "map" of the page protectors to help with my planning (and share it with you).
There is no specific rhyme or reason to how I laid this out (nor is there a perfect way to set this up). It's not based on some tried and true method for creating my foundation pages - I simply sat at my computer and laid it all out by spreading out the different page protector designs (meaning they don't follow a specific order throughout the album). There are 31 total page protectors included in the 6x8 albums - including 6 of each of the divided pages and 7 of the full page 6x8.
This map will give me a starting place for looking at the products in the kit and beginning to play with some of the products to create foundation pages.
It is totally possible (and probable) that I will move some things around when I get the album and for sure during the month - I usually move a few things around during the month based on the stories I want to tell. It's one thing I love about the page protectors - very simple and easy to move around. You'll notice after looking at the PDF that there are more than enough page protectors for spreads for 25 days.
If this is your first time with December Daily® I suggest you take a look at my foundation pages (both images and video) for 2014 to get an idea what those look like and how I generally set up my albums before December.
Download the 2015 Design Map here.
Use it if it works for you and ignore it if it doesn't!



October 18, 2015
Give Sunday | 41
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 41 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.



October 15, 2015
New Story Theme Now Available | Sparks
Say hello to a new
Story Theme for my Story subscription program: Spark.
This month I'm inviting and encouraging documentation of the things that inspire you, the things that light you up inside and outside, and the things that make you excited to be alive.
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 Spark:
And the 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 Spark (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):
Let's tell stories together!



October 13, 2015
Cousins
I'm thankful for my sister who traveled across the country so we could have a long-overdue get together.
I'm thankful for two, full-of-personality 6-year olds, born a month apart, who love, love, love to play together.
I'm thankful for pink. It's happy.
I'm thankful for Katie who tells them to stand against the white wall in my office and takes photos like these that we will love forever and ever.
Good stuff.



October 12, 2015
December Daily® 2015 | Last Call For Pre-Order
Happy Monday!
Just wanted to give you a heads up that our final December Daily® pre-order period will be ending tonight (October 12th) at 11:59 PM EST.
Pre-order shipping prices are shown below:
Mini Kits: $2 US / $3 CAN / $4 Int'l per kit
Main Kit: FREE US / $4 CAN / $7 Int'l per kit
Pre-Order Add on Shop Items (dies, stamps, and tab stickers): Free shipping to everyone
Albums: $3 US / $4 CAN / $7 Int'l per album
Domestic customers who spend $99 on items will receive free shipping.
After the pre-order period ends all current December Daily® pre-order items will be moved to my shop, and regular shop shipping rates will apply.
REMINDER | As we mentioned before the pre-order began (and was listed on the product pages for the pre-order), due to a manufacturing delay the albums will be shipping separately in November.



October 11, 2015
Give Sunday | 40
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 40 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.



October 9, 2015
Southern France 2015
Over the last few years I've developed a tradition of a fall work trip. In past years I've done trips organized by Jim West at Scrapmap/Craft Tours (Italy, Ireland, China, Peru). This year I decided to mix it up and attend an event in Montpellier in southern France organized by my friend Celine Navarro.
The trip ended up being part vacation and part work as are many of these kinds of adventures. Aaron, being the good sport that he is, came along for all the reasons I'd want him along.
We arrived in Montpellier a week ahead of the event for the vacation portion of the trip. This was the least planned trip I've been on but it ended up working out just fine (least planned in terms of knowing exactly where we were going on what days and what cities we were going to focus on). Part of it was that we'd both been busy and part of it was that it was hard to choose and I kept changing my mind on where I wanted to go. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this method of last minute booking during a busier time of the year, but for late September/early October it worked fine and we had no issues finding rooms.
We ended up venturing outside Montpellier to three locations using trains as our method of transportion - all happen to begin with the letter A - Aix-en-Provance, Antibes, and Arles. We used TripAdvisor and Booking.com to find hotels in each location. We considered renting a car to be able to get to some of the smaller towns but ultimately decided it was simpler to just stick with locations we could get to via trains.
This was my first time in the southern part of France.
There was a lot of wandering. There was a lot of peeking around corners. There was a lot of wine and bread and cheese. There was a lot of looking up and looking down. Photos below were all taken with either my DSLR or my iPhone 6.
I'm thinking I'll do another Artifact Uprising photo book for this trip.
Here's a look at this adventure via photos.
MONTPELLIER
For the first couple of days we stayed with Celine at her house and it was so, so fun to get to stay with her and her husband and share meals with them and chat and laugh.
There was so much laughing.
Celine showed us around Montpellier and the weather was beautiful.
I love checking out doors in other countries as you'll see throughout this post.
In Montpellier there were these awesome fish door knockers which I'm assuming is because of it's proximity to the Mediterranean Sea.
Our first stop outside Montpellier was Aix-En-Provence (the "Aix" is pronounced "X").
Our hotel (Le Pigonnet - found via Trip Advisor) was an easy walk from the train station to the hotel and an easy walk to the center of town.
The grounds of the hotel itself were beautiful and I could have just hung out there for awhile.
Ah but the light calls.
These three doors were found as we walked along a street out of the center of town. We walked and walked and walked.
We stayed in Aix-En-Provence for two nights. If I was doing it again one night would have been fine. Also, because we didn't really plan ahead, some of the things I'd have liked to have seen there (a museum specifically) were closed on the days we were there (Sunday & Monday).
ANTIBES
We knew that we wanted to stay in at least one town along the Riviera and we ended up choosing Antibes (located between Cannes and Nice).
It was a good choice.
We stayed here two nights (booked one night and then ended up staying a second night to spend more time there). If you are following the news you might have seen that there was severe flooding in Nice and the surrounding areas. We were there before the rains came and it was really, really windy.
Such a beautiful spot.
I loved this town.
We spent a lot of time on one day just walking around looking at all the boats in the harbor. Everything from small fishing boats to the biggest yachts I've ever seen.
Antibes is home to this amazing sculpture made of letters of the alphabet by James Plensa. Awesome.
We also went to the Picasso Museum - which I loved. It featured paintings and drawings from a period of time when he lived in Antibes. I loved being able to see the progression of the artwork from some of his initial sketches/drawings to the completed paintings.
Antibes has a great market area - definitely one of my favorite things to capture with my lens.
ARLES
The third place we visited was the lovely town of Arles.
The shutters. Definitely one of my favorite things to check out in each place we visited.
After Arles it was back to Montpellier for workshops.
For this event I put together a new class called Book Of Joy to celebrate some of the things that bring us the most joy in life.
As always it is so fun to see the students working with the products, creating their albums and telling their own stories.
Big thanks to all the students for your enthusiasm and laughter and for putting up with me as I practiced my French.
I'm so thankful to Celine for inviting me to come and stay with her and teach at her event. Her friendship and kindness and hospitality and sense of humor is a blessing in my life.
It was exactly where I needed to be.
As some of you know, Chris remarried while I was away. It's been tougher than I thought it was going to be emotionally. Traveling was great and hard at the same time. I'm thankful that Aaron was able to come with me on this adventure and for his compassionate heart along the way. I'm also thankful for my other close friends whose support means so much.
Now it's back to the business of being at home and kid routines and Fall and pumpkins and December Daily® preparations and continuing to work on living the length and the width.



October 6, 2015
December Daily® 2015 | Digital Products Now Available
This year's December Daily® digital products are now available in the shop.
Just like last year, I have included 6x8, 4x6, and 3x4 - sold in individual packages - as well as offering a combo pack that includes all three sizes. Each package includes 31 individual PNG files for each day in December + easy to print PDF's in black, gray and red.
Here's a look at the digitals that are available this year:
OVERLAYS+ PRINTABLES
December Daily® Overlays Combo Pack
December Daily® 6X8 Overlays No. 2
December Daily® 4x6 Overlays No. 2
December Daily® 3x4 Overalys No. 2
LAYERED TEMPLATES
December Stories 6x8 Layered Templates No. 2
December Stories 4x6 Layered Templates No. 2
MAIN + MINI KIT PAPERS & CARDS
December Daily®: Main Kit 6x8 Papers
December Daily®: Mini Kit Papers & Cards by One Little Bird
December Daily®: Mini Kit Papers & Cards by Jasmine Jones
December Daily®: Mini Kit Papers & Cards by Ashley G.
December Daily®: Mini Kit Papers & Cards by Kelly Purkey
December Daily®: Mini Kit Papers & Cards by Emily Ley
SELECT STAMP SETSThe artwork from some of the new physical stamp sets this year are already existing digital products that we have released previously:
If you are interested in the digital version of the Holiday Scripts Stamp, you can find that set here.If you are interested in the digital version of the To/From Stamp, you can find that set here.If you are interested in the digital version of the Holiday Circles stamp, you can find the set of circles here. We have turned the typed sentiments into a word art set this year: Holiday Sentiments.
December Daily® Stamp: Icon by Ali Edwards
December Daily® Stamp: Moments by Jasmine Jones
December Daily® Stamp: Good Cheer by Kelly Purkey
December Daily® Stamp: Good Cheer Version Two by Kelly Purkey
WORD ART



October 4, 2015
Give Sunday | 39
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 39 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.


