Ali Edwards's Blog, page 192

New Story Theme Now Available | Black & White

Say hello to a new
Story Theme for my Story subscription program: 
Black & White. 

This month I'm inviting you to tell a variety of different stories inspired by the theme of black and white - everything from rules (and how you respond to them), to living in the grey, to good vs. evil, to opposites attracting, etc. And beyond all that, black and white just looks cool from a design standpoint. 

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 
Black & White:

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 
Black & White (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!

Week In The Life™ 2015 | Thursday In Album

I spent time this weekend wrapping up my 2015 Week In The Life™ album. It's always a good feeling AND a relief when I get the album all together and I hope it will help spur you on to getting your photos and words off your computer and into your albums too. I'll be sharing the rest of the daily posts here this week (except not tomorrow because my post will be about the new Story Kit™).

Thursday was the day I used the prompt "I want to remember" which continues to be a favorite of mine that I come back to again and again. You'll also notice that I didn't add in any extra photos today - definitely par for the course in terms of simply taking less photos throughout the week. 

Here's a look at Thursday: 

I didn't have a photo of breakfast today so I just substituted with a morning photo. If I would have been thinking about it I probably would have labeled it "laundry" instead of morning since it already says "morning" on the card itself.

For the "Thursday" journal card I wrote up a list of things that the three of us love and printed it on the card (you can read more about that process in my Monday post). 

I wrote, "We love Taco Tuesdays. We love movie nights both at home and the theater. We love popcorn for dinner. We love going to the swimming pool. We love being together. We love traveling. We love Star Wars. We love ice cream for dessert. We love taking photos. We love cats. We love camping. We love traditions and holidays."

So yeah, a lot of those things are things I could have easily written with the title "I love" but they are also things that we share a love for around here. 

Simple, simple (but time consuming - ha). 

I love the thickness of those white letter stickers from the kit. Great for adding a word or two directly to your photos. 

I did include the card insert on between the last images for Thursday. Use StazOn to stamp right onto the label stickers. The # is from my Silver Mixed Chipboard Shapes set. 

SUPPLIES

Week In The Life™ Album Kit (includes album, page protectors, stamp set, pattern papers, cards and embellishments)
Avery 2-Inch Plastic Index Tabs
Black Staz On
Epson R2000 Printer (for anything larger than 4x6)
Epson PictureMate Show Printer (for 4x6 and smaller)
Tiny Attacher
Faber-Castell PITT Artist Big Brush Pen
Font is a free font called Remington Noiseless
6x8 Week In The Life™ Layered Templates No.2
Crop A Dile
Silver Chipboard Mixed Shapes

MORE INFORMATION

Other posts from the album creation portion of 
Week In The Life™ 2015 so far can be found here:  

First Steps In Creating An Album
Monday In Album (with a video overview)
Tuesday In Album
Wednesday In Album

Give Sunday | 36

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 36 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. 

Week In The Life™ 2015 | Wednesday In Album

I think we might need to consider a bigger spine for next year's album - this one is going to be a tight fit. 

Even though I'm pretty good at editing things out, I want all this in there (mainly what I included in my blog posts for each day). Right now I'm just going with it and we'll see how it shakes out, knowing that I do usually have less photos as the week progresses. 

Here's a look at Wednesday: 

I love the juxtaposition of this image of Anna with the one I took of myself last year (ended up trimming that one to 3x8 - you can see it in this post here). 

I'm pretty much following along with the formula I set up on Monday that includes words on photos, the perforated word strips, and index tabs. 

I was thinking that I'd have less 4x6 photo inserts for this day but it didn't work out that way. I considered leaving out a few photos and then just added them in anyway. 

I actually love looking at this and seeing all those words. They aren't profound or perfect - they are just real observations about who and what and why and where and when of our lives right now. 

I did end up making some word art for those of you who were asking for something along the lines of what I've been handwriting onto these day of the week cards: 

New digital word art now available:
I, We, You

One thing I noticed on this day in particular is that I got a lot of self-portraits. I think they seem to be sticking out more to me because of the green Ireland t-shirt. 

The photos, man, I love them. 

They actually made me a little teary as I looked through them and worked them into the album today - something about back to school and the passage of time and simply how much I'm enjoying my kids right now. 

Following my initial formula I added a pattern card again before the last full page image. 

The ampersand is from my silver chipboard set available here. 

That last photo must be blown up. Those faces are priceless. 

SUPPLIES

Week In The Life™ Album Kit (includes album, page protectors, stamp set, pattern papers, cards and embellishments)
Avery 2-Inch Plastic Index Tabs
Black Staz On
Epson R2000 Printer (for anything larger than 4x6)
Epson PictureMate Show Printer (for 4x6 and smaller)
Tiny Attacher
Faber-Castell PITT Artist Big Brush Pen
Font is a free font called Remington Noiseless
6x8 Week In The Life™ Layered Templates No.2
Crop A DileSilver Chipboard Mixed ShapesMORE INFORMATION

Other posts from the album creation portion of 
Week In The Life™ 2015 so far can be found here:  

First Steps In Creating An Album
Monday In Album (with a video overview)Tuesday In Album

Labor Dave Weekend

When my parents dropped off my kids today my Dad said, "You didn't post enough photos to Instagram this weekend." 

I laughed out loud. My parents love Instagram. They love seeing what we are all up to via that platform. 

But yes, he was right, I didn't post very many photos from our adventure this past weekend to see Dave Matthews again at The Gorge. 

No reason other than it was just nice to be there without looking through the lens of my camera. All my photos here are from my iPhone and most are from the road. The drive over there is awesome and an event in and of itself. 

With views like these I think you probably get what I mean. 

We stayed in Terrace camping again. Gotta love that green grass. This was taken late Thursday afternoon as it was starting to fill up. 

We keep trying to get our food packing and planning "just right." We like a mix of eating at our campsite and eating from vendors both in the venue itself and in general camping. We still ended up with too much food returning home in the cooler but we were closer than last year. 

Those almonds are insane in case you have never had them before. And olives, yes, always for me. 

It really is a simply breathtaking view. 

We went with reserved seats again this year - section 203 on Friday night and then Saturday and Sunday in section 103. Those 103 seats ended up being fantastic - right behind the pit. 

Last year I bought a trucker hat. This year I bought this one - which proved to be perfect as the temperatures were significantly cooler than in past years. 

When we go to The Gorge we go to see three nights of Dave Matthews (he sings different songs every night). This year his openers were Gregory Alan Isakov (loved him - similar to Ray LaMontagne) and Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros. We saw Edward Sharpe here a few years ago for Sasquatch so it was cool to watch him again as his band has evolved - they did a lot more "jamming" and a lot less of playing straight off their albums. Aaron loved it and I loved just watching Alex (the lead guy) basically orchestrate the whole thing. 

People always ask why I'd want to go see Dave three nights in a row. Because it's rad, that's why. I'm sure for me it has a lot to do with Aaron and his passion for the music, but one of the big things I've learned over the last couple years of coming to these shows is an appreciation for the musicality of the performance. I love watching how all the members of the band communicate with each other and I love it when they play my favorites (Stay Or Leave, Loving Wings, Crush). There's always a pretty fun guessing game going on trying to anticipate what the next song will be and the next one after that. It's just fun. 

PHOTOS I DIDN'T TAKE

Sitting under a sun shade reading Rising Strong on Sunday while Aaron played his guitar. I interrupted him multiple times to read parts and passages out loud.
The craziness of the wind on Saturday afternoon and evening - tents so close to falling down, etc. I was so glad I brought my big coat. It was definitely fall vs. summer over there this past weekend. 
Stopping at Burgerville on the way there and the way back. If you've ever been there you know why.  
More of Dave/the concert. You can't take DSLR cameras into the venue so it's all iPhone which are okay, but not awesome. And also I was just having fun dancing and singing. But I do have a fantasy of being a music photographer. 

Check out past posts about seeing Dave here: 2014

Give Sunday | 35

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 35 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 | Pre-Order Now Available

Yeah, I know, it's still summer here too (at least for another week before my kids head back to school). And I'm still working my way through my 
Week In The Life™ album. 

But I'm super excited to share with you that the 
pre-order is now available for December Daily® 2015. 

As some of you already know from clicking above on 
December Daily® 2015, I'm mixing things up this year and invited five other designers to create mini kits. We are also mixing things up by giving you a la carte options so you can choose the things you most want to work with to document your December: album, stamps, etc. 

Here's a run down of how it works with images of the products below:

HOW ORDERING WORKS

Add products to your December Daily® box.
Click "Pre-Order Box" to start the checkout process. 
Review your order and click "Confirm Pre-Order." At that time your credit card will be charged for the items you added to your box. 
Throughout the month of September you can add more products to your December Daily® box (your card will be charged each time you click "Confirm Pre-Order"). For example if on 9/3 you pre-order my kit + Jasmine's kit, you will be charged for those two kits at that time. If you return on 9/10 and add an album and a stamp set to your box you will be charged for those items at that time. Once shipping begins in October, we'll pack everything up and send it to you. Please note that due to a shipping delay from the manufacturer your album will ship separately in November.
The pre-order box process includes a "Your Shipping" section which will allow you to see how much your current shipping charges are at any time. 
Shipping charges, if they apply to your order, will be charged upon shipment. 

Shipping rates for all items are as follows:

Mini Kits: $2 US / $3 CAN / $4 Int'l per kit
Main Kit: FREE US / $4 CAN / $7 Int'l per kit
Pre-Order 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. 
MAIN KIT 2015 / $49.99

Here's a look at my December Daily® kit for 2015: 

You can see more images, including the other sides of the papers, by clicking on the main kit image on the December Daily® pre-order page. 

We also have a cool 3x8 log book available (while supplies last) for those that pre-order the main kit. The log book was designed to help you keep track of the stories you want to tell over the course of the month which is especially helpful if you aren't working on your album every day throughout the month. There's a blank area for the story, for your photo idea (or remind yourself of the photo you want to use), and a place for the date so you know what day you are writing about. 

MINI KITS / $19.99

Designed by Kelly Purkey.

Designed by Ashley Goldberg.

Designed by One Little Bird / Peppermint Granberg.

Designed by Jasmine Jones.

Designed by Emily Ley.

ALBUMS & EXTRAS

There are eight different albums to choose from - each design is available in either 6 inch x 8 inch OR 4 inch x 6 inch. They all include 31 page protectors. I'll be using the 6 inch x 8 inch album designed by Jasmine Jones with "merry" written on the cover. 

In addition we are offering two different dies, a set of tab stickers, and six different stamp sets. The dies include a set of three tags with a star where the hole usually goes on a tag and a heart December die. As for the 4 inch x 6 inch stamp sets each one includes unique elements designed either by me, Kelly Purkey or Jasmine Jones. These items - the dies, the tab stickers, and the stamps - all ship for free anywhere. 

Digital products, for those of you who are interested, will be available on October 3rd. 

If you have any questions about the process or issues with the pre-order process please start a conversation with our Customer Service team.  

Thank you, as always, for your support and excitement about this project. 

Week In The Life™ 2015 | Tuesday In Album

Bringing it together one day at a time. 

I actually like breaking it down into chunks and spreading it out and working on the album one day at a time (vs. attempting to tackle it all at once in one sitting which can be super overwhelming). 

Tuesday follows pretty much the same design flow that I shared for Monday, with a couple different things added in that I'll share below. All my Tuesday journaling can be found in my previous post here. 

Here's a look at my Tuesday in the album: 

Again, the pattern divider is going right in between my main full page photo and the 3 inch x 8 inch page protector. I don't have food photos for every day so it's likely some of these spots will just be filled with additional photos from the day during those time periods. 

I'm totally into the layers - loving the mix of things both inside and outside the page protectors. 

Yeah, the artichokes were from dinner but I still wanted that photo cropped to 3 inch x 8 inch. It's all a part of my Tuesday. 

One difference you might notice is that I added my back to back 4x6 photos to the middle two holes vs. using the three top or the three bottom. It made sense to me to add them right to the middle when it was only one back to back set. 

As you can tell I'm still overusing the Avery Index Tabs. The stamps from the kit continue to provide me with sentiments that fit within the tab.  

The "squeeze you tight" black and white sticker is from my Gatherings Story Kit™.

The "tuesday" wood veneer got added to the upper right 3x4 pocket. 

In my journaling for Tuesday I had added in a paragraph about our general schedule in the summer. I wanted to include that whole thing so I created a flip-up card that consists of 2, 3 inch x 4 inch journal cards with a washi tape added at the seam to create the flip. That gold star washi from the kit is awesome. 

When you flip-up the card you see the rest of the journaling and a photo that I attached to the underside of the card that lives outside the page protector. Super simple and easy way to add more words. 

I switched the wood veneer day of the week and the 3x4 day card this time - the card is on the backside. 

Again I used the Faber-Castell PITT Artist Big Brush Pen to write "we go" on the card and then ran it through the printer to add the extra bit of journaling. 

I did receive a request to make some "we are" (the sentiment I used for the Monday card) word art available and that should be showing up in my shop later today or tomorrow. 

The "loving" label was added onto a photo using foam squares. 

When I look back through my photos at this stage of the process I often look for patterns - like sleeping people and pets. Remember that it's not all about chronology - it's also about letting the stories that want to emerge come forward in your project. 

The last portion of Tuesday includes a couple inserts. I really liked the pattern card insert I added on Monday so I followed that lead and did the same for today, this time adding one of the geotags above the sentiment. 

Yes. Layers. Yum. 

The back uses the ampersand pattern paper + a perforated sentiment "things that matter."

I included most of the journaling that related to Simon's horse lesson and Chris picking him up on the photo of the horse so I added this one in without any words. 

Full page photo again to wind up the day. 

SUPPLIES
Week In The Life™ Album Kit (includes album, page protectors, stamp set, pattern papers, cards and embellishments) Avery 2-Inch Plastic Index Tabs Black Staz On Epson R2000 Printer (for anything larger than 4x6) Epson PictureMate Show Printer (for 4x6 and smaller) Tiny Attacher Faber-Castell PITT Artist Big Brush Pen Font is a free font called Remington Noiseless 6x8 Week In The Life™ Layered Templates No.2 Crop A DileMORE INFORMATION

Other posts from the album creation portion of Week In The Life™ 2015 so far can be found here:  

First Steps In Creating An Album Monday In Album (with a video overview)

31 More Things Begins Today

Happy September! Just a quick heads up my 31 More Things workshop begins today. 

This workshop includes a collection of 31 new prompts, presented over the course of the next 31 days, that invite you to tell stories about your life via a single word as a jumping off point. Emphasis in this class is on simply practicing your storytelling skills using some of my favorite techniques and getting over your fears of putting words on the page. Some of the single-word prompts include: home, passion, color, cook, paper, mess, etc. 

Registration will be open until next Monday, September 7th. At that time the bundle option (for both 31 Things and 31 More Things) will go away (students who have purchased either 31 Things or 31 More Things will continue to have access). 

Also, all kinds of fun stuff is happening with  December Daily® . You can check out the initial details, including all the mini-kit designers  here . Pre-orders will begin on Thursday, September 3rd. 

Give Sunday | 34

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 34 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.