Ali Edwards's Blog, page 190
November 1, 2015
Give Sunday | 43
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 43 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 28, 2015
In This Season
I am knee deep in life.
So much good. So much challenge. Riding the waves of both.
Friday was the first day in a long time that I felt _____________ in a long time. Calm. Present. Hopeful. There's not a perfect word for it, but it was good.
Thank you God for good.
Other things that have been filling me up recently:
I listened to one of my favorite poets Mary Oliver (interviewed on the On Being podcast) and ordered her new book of poetry called Felicity.
The kids are so great. So great. Learning. Laughing. Listening (most of the time). Connecting. This season with them feels different. They are getting older. The conversations and the pauses are different. There are still challenges to be sure, but they are just really wonderful to be around right now. Anna rocking her spelling words and Simon loving his Doc Brown Halloween costume (and anything Back To The Future). Lots of "I love you's" everyday in this house.
Katie and Peter welcomed a baby boy into the world last Monday. It is the greatest joy to me to witness the two of them with their own child now. Katie has been with my family though our own thick and thin for the last six years. She has cared for them and for me with a deep, deep love. Our hearts are bursting to help welcome Graham to the world.
Satuday morning I woke up early, as I've been doing even since coming back from France, and went for a walk before 6am. In the dark. And it was awesome.
I loved this interview by Jess Lively with Elizabeth Gilbert who says near the end of the interview: "If you're not dead yet you're still a student."
This past Monday I finally, after saying I was going to do it since January, signed up for and attended a local yoga class. I literally smiled to myself during one of the poses, that I'm-also-probably-going-to-cry-smile, as I experienced that very specific feeling that I was exactly the place I needed to be. My body and mind were filled with the positive messages of surrendering and strength and moving through resistance. I'm going again tomorrow.
Current words: curious, whole, hope, ignited
Current playlist: Macklemore (Downtown), Bob Dylan (Greatest Hits), Mumford & Sons (Wilder Mind)
October 26, 2015
Storytelling With December Daily® | Registration Now Open
What stories will you tell this December?
I'm excited to introduce you to my newest online class, and my first focusing on storytelling in December.
Registration is now open for Storytelling with December Daily® - a workshop designed to get you in the mood for documenting your December, one story per day.
Here's a look at what I'll be covering each week for four weeks starting November 3rd:
Week One | A look back at all eight of my past December Daily® albums with individual video walk-throughs. The take-away from this lesson is the opportunity to learn from the past and reflect on what's worked and what's not worked to create a plan for this year.
Week Two | Process exploration. Setting expectations and setting yourself up for success by establishing a storytelling mindset.
Week Three | Specific storytelling ideas, encouragement and inspiration, along with photo ideas to spark additional stories.
Week Four | Techniques for including stories in your album including digital, hybrid, interactive, etc. Essentially, once you've established your stories how do you include them in your album?
The classroom will remain open and act as a supportive community throughout the month of December and beyond as you work to complete your album.
A couple things to note:
This is not a step-by-step workshop for setting up your foundation pages. I will be sharing my process for creating my foundation pages, as well as sharing each completed day, on my blog as I have done in past years.
I am aware that not everyone has children at home and will be keeping that in mind as I present the content within the class. Please remember that I do have children at home and it does influence the types of stories that I include at this time in my life. I also spend parts of December on my own and include those stories as well.
For the last eight years I've shared all my December Daily® pages and process on my blog. Content included in this workshop will come from my past experiences (meaning I am not creating new pages for this workshop and will be using my past albums as inspiration and teaching tools, although some examples will reference my plans for my 2015 album).
Registration for this 4 week+ workshop is $29.99 and includes a 4x6 December Storytelling Stamp Set (while supplies last and shipped free to you to spark stories in your album this year) and a big digital package that includes PNG and cut files:
What do you need for this workshop?
A willingness to look back & ahead
Enthusiasm for the story-aspect of this project
You don't need a specific December Daily® kit for this workshop but I will be referring to my 2015 main kit when looking ahead to stories I plan to include this year
I hope you'll join me for this exploration of December storytelling ideas, inspiration and techniques.
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.
