Ali Edwards's Blog, page 194

Project Life® 2015 | Week Nine

Continuing my quest to document our weeks-at-a-glance via Project Life®. Fitting it in here and there. 

Here's a look at Week Nine: 

This week I had fun playing with my Sans Serif Alpha Stamp: 

I like it - definitely one I'll be reaching for again and again. 

The white letter stickers used on the top right photo are included with the OLW Mini Kit that some of you might have picked up at the beginning of the year. We've got more of those available here. 

That fun little metal face clip is from a Freckled Fawn embellishment kit. 

I've also now got some branded pens in my shop - that's the silver one on the photo of Simon. Works awesome on the Epson PictureMate Show paper that comes with the ink cartridges for the printer. 

I like the idea of stamping single words as the title for each journal card and repeating that. Inks used include Color Theory Clean Slate, Memento Luxe Pistachio, and Memento Luxe Danube Blue.

For the journaling I write first and then underline. 

SUPPLIES
AE Sans Serif Alpha StampInks: Color Theory Clean Slate, Memento Luxe Pistachio, Memento Luxe Danube Blue, Memento Luxe Angel PinkDesign A Project Life® Page ProtectorsAE Silver Medium Metallic MarkerRolling Date StampFreckled Fawn Carnival Embellishment KitEpson PictureMate Show Printer

Give Sunday | 30

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 30 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™ Kit Video Overview

It's been so great seeing all the 
Week In The Life™ images of people being excited popping up on Instagram (using the hashtag #weekinthelife). I love this project (this is my 10th year I believe) and I'm super excited for it to happen again. In case you missed it I'll be documenting my week starting on August 17th. 

There are still some 
Week In The Life™ kits available for purchase. The pre-order period for this Week In The Life™ kit ends in early August. Don't delay if you want to take advantage of free domestic shipping and $8 international shipping. All kits ordered after the pre-order period will be subject to regular shipping fees. 

Here's a look at what's included with this kit: 

JOIN THE COMMUNITY

We've got two different ways available to chat with others about this project - feel free to join either or both: 

ONE | Please join us in the free Week In The Life™ Community here on my site. We've got a message board and gallery set up for sharing your work and chatting with others as you document and bring your album together. Please remember that the Week In The Life™ Community is not a workshop where you'll be receiving lessons and handouts. I'll be freely sharing my process here on my blog as I collect my photos and words during the week and then I'll share my process for dealing with all that content in the following weeks. 

TWO | In addition to the community here we've started a Week In The Life™ Facebook group. This is an open group that anyone can join to chat and support each other through the process of documenting and creating your project. 

For more information about Week In The Life™ check out my projects page and order your kit that makes it easy to focus on capturing and celebrating your words and photos with a fun, story-focused intentional embellishments. Week In The Life™ 2015 will begin August 17th if you'd like to record along with me during the same week. If you want to dive even deeper you can also check out my archive of past Week In The Life™ blog posts. 

New Mini Class Bundle

Happy Tuesday! Today I'm happy to announce the release of the first of three mini-classes coming to my shop. 

These are the classes I taught in person during the first half of the year and we've adapted them to bring them to you wherever you may be in the world (added presentation and process videos). In addition to purchasing each mini class individually I'm also offering a bundle option for those of you who are interested in purchasing all three - the bundle is $10 less than purchasing all three workshops individually.  

The mini classes are each available for $18 when they go live for sale or 
choose the Bundle option for $44. Mini-classes included in the bundle are Day In The Life™ (now available), Love You Because (coming mid-August), and I Am Tag Book (coming mid-October). You can see a short description and images of each project on the Bundle page here as well as below.  

We've added many of the recommended supplies to my shop for those of you who are interested in using some of the same things (additional supplies are being added for Love You Because and I Am Tag Book as it gets closer to their release dates). You are also always encouraged to substitute what you might already have on hand. 

Here's a look at each of the mini classes:

Day In The Life™ | Over the course of a single day what do you do? Where do you go? What do you eat? Who do you talk to? What time do you get up and what time do you fall asleep? The beauty of this project is in capturing the mundane everyday details. These are the things we often don't pay much attention to. Day In The Life™ is an opportunity to shed light on your routines – the magical part coming after you've done it a few times are actually able to literally see your life through your words and photos. 

Before this workshop you will need to actually document a day in your life. Pick one day and take photos from when you wake up until you fall into bed. Along the way keep notes of times and what’s actually happening. In class we will bring these words and photos together into a 4x4 album. 

Workshop includes a 60-minute presentation, a 30-minute process video showing me working through the album, a 13-page PDF handout with images from two albums (2014 and 2015), message board, and gallery for sharing your projects. Please note: This workshop includes a re-do of this 4x4 album I shared on my blog in 2014. It was re-created to make it applicable for an in-person workshop. In addition to the 2014 album images included in the handout, I took my 2015 Day In The Life™ content and recorded myself putting the album together which became the process video (images are also included in the handout).  

Topics Covered | Everyday life scrapbooking. Not making things more complicated than they need to be. Embracing imperfection. Lessons learned from past Day In The Life™ adventures. Repetition.

Available | Now. Full details here.

Love You Because | When was the last time you wrote out the many reasons, from silly to serious, why you love someone? Often we go through our lives thinking things in our heads - maybe about how much we love some one, or how much they have impacted our lives, or how much you love it when they put their hand on your face just so - and we might just forget to share that information with the person we love (or we might not be able to if they have passed on). In this workshop you will create a 6x8 horizontal mini-album to hold those reasons why.

Topics Covered | Scrapbooking as an opportunity for communicating love. Mini-book design including repetition as a design tool. Working with transparencies and see-through pockets. Not making things more complicated than they need to be.

Available | Mid-August.  

I AM Tag Book | As memory keepers, many of us focus on telling the stories of other people in our lives first and foremost. It’s time to get yourself in the story my friends. Join me for an artistic exploration into who we are right now using “I am” statements and fun mixed media tags.

Topics Covered | Personal storytelling. Stamping. Misting. Painting. Stencils. Embracing imperfection. 

Available | Mid-October. 

These Days Are For | Scrapbook & Cards Today Summer 2015 Article

The Summer issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today magazine is now available and my article this time is all about the concept of "these days are for..." We've updated my column for 2015 and it's now called Spark Your Story and each article includes a specific Story Spark to get your storytelling mojo going.

In this issue my article is focused on using the day of the week or the time of day as the lens through which you detail a story. 

One of the reasons I do Week In The Life™ year after year is to answer the question what are my days for at this time in my life? What are Saturday's for (it's changed from year to year)? What are Monday's for? Meaning, what do we do and where do we go and what's important this year? I used this prompt specifically last year on Saturday and started each portion of my storytelling with the phrase, "Saturdays are for..." You can see my words and photos approach here. 

As you'll see below, this idea is easily translated to similar ideas such as "afternoons are for..." and "On Mondays..."

Today I'm sharing the full images of my layouts from this article here but invite you to click over and download your own FREE digital copy of the magazine and read my full article that includes more about the concept and ideas related to each layout. You can also become a subscriber and have it delivered to your home address(awesome). They have even set it up where you can download just a PDF of my article: Spark Your Story.

Here's a look at the pages I created for this issue: 

Saturdays Are For

Here's the journaling: 

Saturdays are for trips to the library to replenish our basket of books. Simon always wants to check out a movie too - usually one he remembers from when he was a little kid (like Sesame Street). Anna pulls book after book from the shelf until the basket is overflowing and I can barely carry it out. I love it. Saturdays are for taking that big basket home and reading together on the couch. Anna is really starting to be a good reader these days - it's so great to see it all coming together for her. Saturdays are for uninterrupted lego building. Simon can still play legos for hours. Recently he has gotten back into creating stop motion videos with the lego characters. Saturdays are for getting together with friends from near and far. We don't do this enough, but when we do it's really good for all of us. Love having people here for dinner or for the night. Saturdays are for time with the McKercher's. When both Aaron and I "have kids" we often get together at our house or their house for dinner or hang out time. Saturdays are for sometimes going to the movies - it's still one of our favorite things to do together. 

We've now made the These Days Are For digital set into a traditional stamp set. Pick up a stamp set here or the digital set here. 

On Mondays We Begin Again

Here's the journaling:

Mondays are for fresh starts and new beginnings. I love that about Mondays. The starting over, the new chance for an awesome week no matter what came before. Mondays are for back to the routines of work and school and the regular rhythm of the week. Mondays are for next chances. Mondays are for settling back into our jobs. Mondays are for long hugs after school and sometimes movie nights. I love Mondays. 

Letter stickers available here. Life Documented Stamp available here. 

Afternoons Are For

Here's the journaling: 

Afternoons are for horse lessons for Simon at RideAble on Thursdays. // Afternoons are for riding bikes around the cul-de-sac. // Afternoons are for homework and projects for both kids around the table. // Afternoons are for gymnastics for Anna on Tuesday & Thursdays. // Afternoons are for soccer practice for Anna on Tuesday & Thursdays. 

In general, I'm a fan of schedules. I like to have things lined out for all our expectations and plans. That said, I'm not a fan of packed schedules. I like scheduled down/free time when none of us have obligations or practices or work. Right now each kid has 1-2 activities and I try to keep it to one per day usually (even though Anna has two things on T/TH right now). I want them to have time to read and pretend and play and just be along with awesome fun activities. 

Big thanks to Scrapbook & Cards Today for being so great to work with! 

Give Sunday | 29

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

One of my favorite sites for meaningful life inspiration is Marc & Angel Hack Life. Today's quote came from a tweet a few weeks back and I wrote it out to remember it. So often I write to remember. 

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 29 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. 

Project Life® 2015 | Week Eight

I've slowly but surely been making my way through my 2015 Project Life® album. I've included a few spreads/weeks in recent Story classrooms, as well as in the Type workshop, as examples related to the content. 

Making it happen. That's what it's all about. 

Most of these weeks already have some content when I start them - might have photos already printed, might have yellow sticky notes with story reminders, might have journal cards already completed or something else along those lines. The bottom line is usually there's something in the pockets for each week already because I'm adding bits and pieces here and there as life is happening. 

When going back in time I tend to keep it even simpler. Words + photos + some intentional embellishments - okay, that's how I usually like it but it feels even simpler. Maybe that's because I call it "good enough" quicker, knowing there's more to do. Either way, I still love this project and am happy to spend time on these overviews of our weeks. 

Here's a look at Week Eight: 

One thing I've found myself doing when going back a few months is relying some on what I've posted on Instagram to jog my memory of what was happening. It tends to be a combination of that + my personal calendar + my photos. 

New bed = a whole lot of excitement of course. 

Still loving using Anna's artwork for the date cards. 

I did a layout for the Magic Story Kit™ telling the story of our adventure to Toronto. Because I already told the longer story in a traditional layout this can be more highlights/overview (which is how I view this album anyway). 

Love that cork world from Freckled Fawn's Wanderlust Kit.

The gratefulness card + the yellow heart circle on top are both from my Roots Story Kit™ (currently available to begin your subscription at the time of this posting). 

SUPPLIES
Roots Story Kit™Go Story Kit™AM/PM Story Kit™Freckled Fawn Wanderlust KitAE Deschutes Alpha Stickers (Navy) OLW Mini Kit (star stamp)AE Photos Stamp Set ("love this")Rolling Date StampEpson PictureMate Show Printer (for all my 4x6 and smaller images)

Celebrating Memories Of Week In The Life™ | Marie Lottermoser

Today I'm sharing 
#WITLmemories from Marie Lottermoser. Marie is a talented memory keeper who has also created some awesome December Daily® projects in past years - definitely worth clicking over to check out her site if you are new to her work. 

#WITLmemories is all about sharing the Week In The Life™ love. It's about re-visitng our past projects (to reflect and learn and get inspired), sharing ways of telling the story of our daily lives, and creating a community of people around this popular project to support and encourage one another. 

You're invited to share your own personal favorite 
#WITLmemories via Instagram, Facebook or your blog. What do you love about the project? What do your past albums mean to you now? Feel free to share a link to your blog post in the comments below. 

Here's a look at Kristin's past projects:

MONDAY

Monday, October 27, 2014

I wake up with a long to-do list of places to go and things I need to accomplish. Both my husband and son have come down with the flu though, so I end up staying home to take care of them and postpone my errands. I spend a quiet afternoon working on some scrapbooking projects by the fire, while it rains outside. In the evening I curl up in bed and read
Orphan Train, for my upcoming book club. I need to finish it by the weekend, and I've only just started.

TUESDAY

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

It's mid-summer and neither kid has an event or camp today. In the morning we run some errands and come home to work in the yard. My son is creating his own vegetable garden and today he's planting carrots. In the afternoon we drive to the airport to pick up my niece. She's been traveling the globe and has lots of stories to share. We barbecue dinner, and sit out on the patio until late at night visiting with her and listening to the new songs she's written. In the morning she leaves before dawn, off to her next adventure.

WEDNESDAY

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

It's been raining hard for days now. My son misses the school bus and is late because traffic is so bad. There are a couple of incidents at my daughter's high school and I spend the day on edge. Halloween is just two days away and we make a last minute run to the costume store. It's so different from when the kids were little and they knew two months in advance how the would dress up. We have a party to go to on Friday night and I start planning a potluck dish to bring.

THURSDAY

Thursday, October 30, 2014

It's formal day at school and my son grabs a clip on tie that he's had since he was a toddler that is much too small for him. The sun finally comes out in the afternoon and we make a stop to pick up Halloween candy. I'm starting to see signs of fall colors which is a welcome change from the rainy gray skies.

FRIDAY

Friday, September 13, 2013

We're starting the transition from summer to fall. The kids are back in school and evenings are taken up with homework and activities. After getting everyone off to school and work in the morning I run home and make myself a latte and take in the quiet.

For more information about Week In The Life™ check out my projects page and pre-order your kit that makes it easy to focus on capturing and celebrating your words and photos with a fun, story-focused intentional embellishments. Week In The Life™ 2015 will begin August 17th if you'd like to record along with me during the same week. If you want to dive even deeper you can also check out my archive of past Week In The Life™ blog posts. 

On Being A Beginner

On her very first day of swim team Anna jumped right in and swam four laps, barely stopping. 

I'm not sure when the last time you swam four laps without a lot of rest, but it's truly not easy, especially if you don't have your side-breathing down quite yet. 

"Swim Team is hard." she whispered to me as she sat on my lap after getting out of the pool shivering. 

We all start as beginners. Every single one of us. And often it's hard and scary and uncertain. We all have to start somewhere - whether that's in the pool, on the page, in a classroom, introducing yourself to a new friend, etc. 

But man it can be so fun and so rewarding and so life-affirming when we let ourselves be in that spot. Unsure, nervous, uncomfortable - and we do it anyway.  

I loved that she jumped right in and I love that she got out when she needed some support.

And so we sat. I hugged her tight all wrapped up in her towel while we watched the other kids swim down and back and down and back. I had no problem just watching and letting her acclimate and asking her if she'd like to try again tomorrow and watching her nod and knowing that she would try it again tomorrow because she's that kind of kid. 

Report from Day Two

Last night as I was tucking her in Anna told me, "Tomorrow I'm going to get in the pool and stay in for the whole practice." 

She did exactly that and loved it. 

And the weather cooperated with beautiful sunny skies. 

I won't lie - I kinda hope I have shots like this for many years to come. 

And I hope she keeps wanting to be a beginniner. 

I hope that for myself. And for you. 

AE Digital Creative Team | Summer Stories

Here's a look at this week's inspiration from the AE Digital Creative Team using designs from my Summer Stories word art set. Remember, many of these awesome women are paper scrapbookers who use these products in conjunction with their paper projects. 

Don't forget to click on the team member's name to visit their blog. If they have written up a post about their project with more details we've linked to that otherwise it goes to their main blog page.

In addition, here are the two newest products available in the shop: 

Check them out here: Get In The Pool, Go Digital. 

Annette Haring

Donya Gjerdingen

Pam Baldwin

Paige Taylor Evans (linked to layout)

Paige Taylor Evans (linked to layout)

Emily Webster