Ali Edwards's Blog, page 201

Type | Workshop Giveaway

Here's your chance to win a spot in my upcoming, brand-new 12-week online workshop Type. 

Leave a comment below letting me know what you hope to learn most/take away from this workshop.

For a second chance to win head over to Scrapbook & Cards Today blog (giveaway open until April 9th) and leave a comment on their giveaway post. 

For full details about this workshop, including a video overview, click on over to the shop page here. 

Also, don't forget that Monday April 6th is the last day to sign up before the 20% discount goes away. 

I hope you guys have an awesome weekend and Happy Easter!

This giveaway will close at midnight on Wednesday, April 8th. The winner will be announced shortly after. 

Rules For Living | Scrapbook & Cards Today Spring 2015 Article

The Spring issue of 
Scrapbook & Cards Today is now available and my article this time is all about documenting Rules For Living. We've updated my column for 2015 and it's now called Spark Your Story and each article will include a specific Story Spark to get your storytelling mojo going.

In this issue I'm continuing a collection of layouts I started for my Hello Story workshop a few years back (it should be available again here as a self-paced class very soon). In that workshop I introduced the idea and for this article I took some time to add more pages that are rooted in the same core concept. I love the idea of building a collection of pages around the same theme. Some of the questions I ask myself as I'm thinking about my own Rules For Living include: What are the life-affirming concepts I want to pass on to my kids? What's important to me and what do I value? What do I hope for them in their lives? What would I want them to know if I was gone tomorrow?  

My friends, scrapbooking is an awesome opportunity to get these kinds of things documented. And please know that you absolutely don't have to have kids to document your own values and or what's important to you in your life. 

Today I'm sharing the full images of my layouts 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: 

Rules For Living #001 | Give Love

Here's the journaling: 

One of the most important things in life is to feel loved and to give love . Here’s some of my own personal thoughts and observations about giving love throughout your life: Give love by being present. Give love to your family members - sometimes it’s easy to start taking those you care most about for granted. Give them the gift of your love every chance you can get. Give love even when it’s hard. I wish I could tell you it’s always easy and simple to give love and maybe it will be that way for you. For me, sometimes it’s hard, especially when I feel hurt or am having a hard day. Give love to new and old friends. Give love by sharing your life with others. Use your words to tell people what they mean to you. Give love by following your heart. It may lead you to some really amazing places and experiences. Make your own map. Give love as a way to grow. Giving love doesn’t mean that everything has to be (or will be) perfect. Giving love is about being open - to yesterday and today and the possibilities of tomorrow. Give love to yourself - take your time, honor your intuition, give yourself a break when and if you start being too hard on yourself or too rigid. Give love by showing up. Be the one that shows up again and again. Give love in the morning. Give love in the afternoon. Give love in the evening. Give love by going out of your way to do something nice for someone else. Give love by volunteering. Give love by calling a friend just because. Give love even if it’s not immediately given back. Giving love isn’t always as simple and easy as it should be - do it anyway. Pay attention. Give love by asking how you can help. Giving love makes you feel loved. Give your full attention - look each other in the eyes. Give love by hugging just a little tighter and a little longer. Give love by accepting other people as they are and not trying to change them. Give love with big and little deeds. Give love by saying “I love you.” out loud and often. Give love by forgiving. Give love by loving yourself.

Rules For Living #003 | See The World

Here's the journaling:

Get on that airplane or bus or boat or in that car and Go. Say yes to adventures that get you out of your normal everyday. Go see the world. Learn about new places and be open to new experiences. There is so much to see and to experience in this big world. Travel really does open our eyes to so much. Study abroad. Backpack around Europe. Get lost. Have overnight adventures to local places. Close your eyes and take off. Make time to see stuff and be amazed at how awesome this world we live in really is - meet people and ask questions and learn. Breathe it all in. Love you guys.  

Layered template used in the above layout is available here. "Aka get outta dodge" was cut with the Silhouette. 

Rules For Living #004 | Always Say Please And Thank You

Here's the journaling: 

It's a ridiculously simple rule. Say please and thank you. Every time. Every single time. I would encourage you to err on the side of being overly polite. It shows you are paying attention. It shows you are aware of what's going on around you. And it's the beginning of a life-practice of gratitude. Gratitude is bigger than please and thank you, but I think it might just possibly start there. One of my greatest hopes for you guys is that you will be the kind of people who not only feel but express gratitude. It's a great way to start and end your day. We often do it before dinner and I know sometimes it feels silly or you feel uncomfortable having to come up with something but it is so, so worth it in the long run for your life. Please and thanks is just the beginning. You can do it. I know you can and I believe in you. 

That lovely type treatment on the layout above is a sticker from one of Me & My Big Ideas Big Sticker packages: The Good Life. I am totally loving their giant packages of alphabets and phrases. 

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

Join Me For TYPE | 20% Off Offer Ends April 6th

If you are interested in telling more of the stories of your life sure to check out my next 12-week online workshop Type. This class will focus on all kinds of different ways memory keepers can use type/alphabets to help tell the stories of our lives - as you can see from the layouts above, type is a big part of what I use to tell my stories and embellish my layouts. I'll be sharing design and storytelling ideas, tips, inspiration, and how-to's throughout the 12-weeks via handouts and videos. Please remember that regardless of the topic of workshop, all my content tends to come from the place of story. How does type help us to communicate our stories  more effectively? How does playing with type make memory keeping more fun? 

There's just a few more days to register during the 20% off promotional period (ends Monday, April 6th). Click here to watch a short video where I outline the weekly topics and sign up. Class begins April 20th. 

Spring Break RV Adventure 2015

As you might remember from some of my previous posts, for Spring Break this year Aaron and I decided to plan a week-long RV adventure with all five of the kids. 

We survived. 

We started with grand plans - Utah, Grand Canyon, California - and then scaled back as we considered some of the basics such as this being our first time renting a RV, not knowing how it was all going to go, etc. We spent a bunch of time talking about closer places to go here in Oregon and ended up deciding on spending half of our week at Sunset Bay State Park and half at Jessie M. Honeyman State Park. Our thought process was that we would drive to the one that was farther away first (Sunset Bay) and then have a quicker drive home at the end of the week (in a car it takes about an hour and a half or so to get from Eugene to Honeyman - just outside of Florence - depending on traffic). We reserved our campsites in advance online through Reserve America. 

We rented the RV from a local RV dealership - Guaranty - and it was a pretty easy process all around. We chose the 2015 Itasca Spirit 31H because it included enough sleeping spots that each of the five kids could have their own space at night. It was a really good choice for this group. 

I loved the suggestions that many of you gave for our trip in the comments this post. Thank you again for sharing your experiences. 

Aaron and I picked up the RV on Friday afternoon and brought it over to my house and started loading it up before the kids were picked up and dropped off. The dealership had actually asked us to pick it up on Friday (our reservation technically started on Saturday) because it was going to help them with the scheduling and walk-throughs with other renters. Picking it up the day before we left made it really easy to pack (it still took a few hours) and make sure we had everything before we took off on Saturday morning. 

Before we left, I jotted down a few of the things I was looking forward to on the Notes app on my phone: 

Taking photosHanging lights outside the RVBeing together // connectingHiking // walking // being outsideDisconnecting 

The photos I'm sharing in this post are a mix of iPhone and Canon 5D.

Of course I had to do a camera-on-the-dash-self-timer-shot before Aaron started driving. 

And as you can see, Simon and all the kids were pretty darn excited about embarking on this adventure. 

It took 4 hours or so to get from my house to Sunset Bay (we stopped for lunch along the way). 

Here's a look at our campsite at Sunset Bay State Park. This is close to my parents house and we had them go check out a spot for us that was close to the showers and bathrooms. They did a great job picking a spot that fit what we were looking for this time. 

Keep in mind, this is spring in western Oregon. Spring Break for us never means sunshine necessarily and it most often includes rain. It's how everything stays green of course. We knew this going into the adventure so we were ready for it to rain or be sunny (or a crazy mix of both as it turned out).

We were pretty happy to see the sun when we pulled into our spot. 

As soon as we started unloading the kids were off to explore on their bikes. I'm so glad we decided to bring the bikes. We went back and forth a bit and ended up renting the bike carrier attachment for the back of the RV and then stored the girls bikes underneath in some of the storage areas. Next time it will be more awesome for Anna because she will be done with those training wheels. 

The first thing Simon did was get a map so he could explore the entire campground. 

Walkie-talkies came in super handy to keep track of these guys. 

We brought along a bag of coloring books for the girls as well as a basket of books and some Playmobil people. 

These two are quite the pair actually. They are just a little over a month apart (both 6) and they really enjoy each others company most of the time. We intervened a few times for little arguments here and there but for the most part they were just so darn happy to play with each other for six days straight. 

We did choose to bring along electronics, mainly for the mornings.

We did have one day where it rained buckets and buckets and we stayed in the RV the entire day. 

I'm not going to lie, that day was rough. 

But we all made it through and the next day was overcast and warmer - which was much, much better than pouring down rain.

We're Oregonians, we make it through. 

This is a beach that Simon has been to many times before with my parents. I love watching him explore.  

After a couple nights at Sunset Bay we packed up and drove the short distance to my parents house before making our way to Honeyman. My parents were actually in Seattle visiting my new niece Olive so we missed getting the chance to see them but we did take advantages of their hot showers, wifi, and awesome stairs down to the beach. 

As you can see, the blue sky appeared again. 

I love how kids don't really care how cold it actually is outside. 

Grandma and Grandpa have cool stuff to explore. 

Audrey and Anna wrote a note to my parents while we were visiting their house: 

After we finished up a load of wash, showered and had lunch we started the drive to Honeyman. It's about a 2-hour drive between the two in a RV. 

Aaron and I had picked out our spot at Honeyman on that weekend we stayed at Washburne State Park around Valentine's Day. At Honeyman we wanted a spot close to the showers/bathrooms, close to one of the trails to the sand dunes and close to the playground. This spot also worked out great. 

Honeyman is the second largest overnight camp in Oregon and is located basically right next to the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area - 40 miles of wind-sculpted, shifting sand dunes. 

Really it's just an awesome place to run and jump and get your photo taken and then roll down giant sand hills. 

Not everyone could fit at the table at the same time so when the weather was nice some ate outside or we did it in shifts. 

We did end up planning out our meals which definitely made things simple. I brought the crock pot for chili and for meatball sandwiches. We did grilled cheese (or tuna & cheese for some) one night and burritos another night and hot dogs on another night of course. We did bring a little more food than we ended up needing, but it wasn't too crazy over the top. We did sandwiches most of the days for lunch and cereal or oatmeal (or toast for Simon) for breakfast.  

I ordered a tube of glow stick bracelets and brought them out one evening. For the win. 

The weather kept getting better as the days went by. Honeyman is on a lake which makes for some fun swimming spots - especially in the summer when it really gets warm enough. 

Of course, the kids didn't seem to mind. 

These four played and played and played. Simon explored and then sat down to chat with me and Aaron. 

One of my favorite memories from this trip will be reading Harry Potter (Goblet Of Fire) out loud to the kids a couple evenings. 

Aaron's oldest son Isaac (just turned 10) has read them all multiple times so he and I engaged in some fun trivia - including Simon when he was interested. 

On Friday morning we packed up and drove home, getting back in time for the other adults in the kids lives to come pick them up. We spent the next couple of hours unpacking and then cleaning the RV before driving it back over to Guaranty and then falling into my bed after a very full, fun week.  

On Saturday we drove up to Portland to celebrate Aaron's sister's birthday (check out this awesome Tiki Bar called Hale Pele next time you are in town). We also celebrated making it through the RV adventure. 

Would I do it again? Absolutely. I'm someone that already likes camping and will definitely sleep in a tent again in my lifetime. But add in a warm, dry place to cook and sleep that's not a tent - I'm totally sold. 

As with any vacation (or life experience, ha) there were some challenges. Personalities colliding. Agitations. Fairness stuff. Discussions about this and that and he said and she said. Tears shed. Escalations. I had a few moments where I lost my cool and needed a break. I think we all had a few of those moments. Lots and lots of sweeping (even with a shoes off in the RV policy). Moments where we felt like all we were doing was cleaning up from one meal and starting on the next. Moments that tested communication abilities all around. 

Real life stuff comes along on vacation too. 

There was also a lot of laughter and silliness and exploration and independence building and fresh air. There were smores and glow bracelets and bike rides and new friends at the park and jumps off the dunes. There were two families coming together, in all our imperfections, figuring it out one moment at a time. Expanding hearts bit by bit. 

PS | Don't forget that the Spring Sale is happening now with 40% off my digital products and 25% off all alphabet stickers. Shop the sale here. Also don't forget to sign up for my new 12-week online workshop Type - signing up before April 6th gets you 20% off the full price. 

Spring Sale | 40% Off All Digital, 55% Off Week In The Life™ Kits, 25% Off Alphabet Stickers

Happy Monday! 

I'm excited to let you know that I'm having a Spring Sale - my first sale here on the new site - and it's underway now. 

For the next 2 days:

All Digital Products are 40% off Week In The Life™ Kits are 55% off (you can see all my posts working with this kit here) - once these are gone they are goneAlphabet Stickers are 25% off 

Shop the full sale here. 

Give Sunday | 12

We made it home safe and sound from our RV Spring Break adventure - I'll share more about that later this week. 

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

I've been repeating the phrase "inhabit your life" to myself again lately - it's one of the things I do when I find myself shying away from living the length and the width. I've been finding myself operating with a shorter fuse than I'd like and have been fairly consistently over-reacting to little problems (making them way bigger than necessary). So I'm working through it and making lists of things to be thankful for and thinking I might get myself some help. Because, my friends, it often takes a village not just to raise our kids but to evolve ourselves. 

Bring on the soul dancing.  

Also, I updated the file from last week that was having an issue. You can click on over to that post to re-download the file. 

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 12 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. 

Type | New 12-Week Workshop Now Open For Registration

I'm super excited to let you guys know that registration is now open for my new 12-week workshop: Type. 

This workshop begins Monday, April 20th and will cover a whole bunch of fun and informative topics/ideas/inspirations related to working with type (alphabet stickers, letter stamps, hand lettering, and fonts) in your memory keeping projects. 

As with most of my workshops, content will be delivered in the form full-color handouts, keynote presentations that cover the main topic, and live video where I share my process for creating projects. There will also be a message board and gallery for sharing the things you create during the length of the workshop. 

As with all my workshops, you are able to continue accessing the information after the live class portion has ended. 

Here's an 8-min overview of the topics that are included over the 12-week workshop (this is also available on the shop page for the class): 

Early Bird Discount | 20% off if you sign up between March 20th and April 6th. 

I have to tell you that I'm super excited about the content for this workshop and I love the idea of focusing on type and experimenting with different ways to get our words onto our projects. 

Check out the weekly topic schedule along with a bit more information and sign-up here. 

You're invited! Hope to see you in class. 

Give Sunday | 11

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

Sometimes what we need most is to simply stop. Such a great reminder for all of us as we move into the next season.

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 11 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 Seven

This week I decided to do one of those Project Life spreads where I create a bunch of journal cards and repeat them across the two (or more) pages to tell the story of the week. 

Super happy how it turned out. Read on to learn about the process: 

For the cards I used a combination of the gold paint + story screen print from the new Magic Story Kit™ + these awesome number stamps from Tim Holtz with the Grey Flannel Memento Ink. 

And, good news, the Magic Story Kits™ have been restocked so all of you who were on the waiting list should be getting a notification that the kit is shipping. If you'd like to begin your Story Subscription with the Magic Kit™ you can do so here. 

Here's a look at the individual pieces of the week: 

For this week I started by printing out all the photos I wanted to use and slipping them into the pockets. I decided that I wasn't going to add many, if any, embellishments to my photos this week and let the journal cards do their job. 

You'll see that I varied the placement of the screenprint and the numbers on the journal cards - no right or wrong, just how I felt like putting them together this week. 

In addition to "story" and the numbers I also added the date with a rolling date stamp and on most of them I also added a sentiment stamp from one of my other stamp sets such as the Week In The Life™ set, the Photos set, and the Celebrate set. I used Morocco Orange Memento Luxe Ink with those. 

Dear Anna, you keep bringing home the artwork and I'll keep using it as my date cards. Love, Mom. 

Here's a look at my tabletop while I was working on those cards. You do need to clean the screenprints between each use otherwise it doesn't work as great. 

Ah, repetition, I love you.

THE INSERT

I did include an insert this week because once I printed out all the photos I wanted to use I could tell I needed a bit more space. I chose to go with a divided 6x8 page protector - yep, they fit right into the 12x12 rings. And as usual, I added a 2-inch Avery Index label along the edge. 

Here's what it looks like out of the album:

I considered a bunch of different things for that other pocket but went with the super simple option of one wood veneer star. I stitched along the top to keep it inside the pocket. 

On the second page of the spread I added a couple more photos that went along with the journaling plus one of those gold foil letterpress cards from the Studio Calico calendar. 

And because I'm thinking a lot about magic this month with the Story Kit™, I loved adding this simple chipboard piece from the kit to the photo in the fog. I posted this photo on Instagram a few weeks back. I drive by this spot just about everyday when taking Simon to school. The fog isn't an everyday thing, but it's not abnormal either. There have been so many times when I've driven by this place and thought to myself that I wanted to stop and take a photo. This was the day I did just that. 

SUPPLIES
Tim Holtz Number Stamps (Amazon or also available at  Simon Says Stamp )Magic Story Kit™ (gold paint, story silkscreen, chipboard accent)Gray Flannel Memento Luxe InkMorocco Orange Memento Luxe InkAli Edwards' Celebrate Stamp SetAli Edwards' Photos Stamp SetWeek In The Life™ Stamp Set6x8 Divided Page ProtectorsWood Veneer StarBrother Sewing Machine

AE Digital Creative Team | Layout Inspiration

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

First up: Awesome Story 3x4 Cards

When I designed these cards I envisioned that people would use them with the Silhouette and I loved seeing that happen for real. 

Cristina C. (linked to layout) | I'm totally loving this 2-page layout from Cristina where she layered patterns behind the "so totally awesome" word art card. I also love how she incorporated some of my other word art files in her journaling. I think she took those from these Love Notes Cards. 

Want to know how to trace and cut my PNG files with a Silhouette? I've got a tutorial for you on how to do that here. 

Donya Gjerdingen | Donya also cut a file with a Silhouette and backed it with pattern papers. I love how both of them took it as an opportunity to add in some color. On the second page Donya is documenting some quotes from her Pinterest board. 

Emily Webster | Emily documented a girl's trip using this card set plus some of my other products including: Gathering Digital Story Kit™, Firsts Digital Story Kit™, and Everyday Labels.

Ginny Hughes | Ginny created this awesome 6x12 page, again using the Silhouette but this time using the letters vs. the outside of the cut like the others did above. Love how she stitched them right to her layout. 

Paige Taylor Evans (linked to layout) | Click on Paige's name to visit her blog and read about her process for this awesome hand-stitched layout. She is the master. 

Next up: Love Notes 3x4 Journal Cards

These were created with a couple things in mind. First, I thought they would be cool to add to my kids lunches or to tape to the bathroom mirror or leave on their pillow. Just a little something - a little hello, a little love, a little goodness. Second, I know they would look cool on layouts or in Project Life. 

Pam Baldwin (linked to layout) | Pam's 6x8 layout makes me so, so happy. Bright, fun, interactive and inspired by a pillow. Click on over to her blog to read about her inspiration and process. 

Sasha Farina (linked to layout) | Click on over to Sasha's blog to read more about how she put this page together - I love that she printed the digital part directly onto the pattern paper and then built her page up around it. Super cool. And I love yellow stitching. 

Teresa Victor | Love that Teresa showed how easy one of these cards is to add to Project Life. 

Next up: The Story Of Today 3x4 Cards + Stamps

This set is awesome for a couple reasons. One: I can never have enough products with the days of the week included. Two: This set includes both the word art brushes and the PNG files for the card and a printable PDF for simple printing. 

Celine Navarro (linked to layout) | One thing I love about having a Creative Team is that they make the products work for their stories and their creative strengths. I love how Celine went BIG with the word art from this set and paired it with the plastic "gather" word from the Gatherings Story Kit™. It's such a cool double-page, full photo spread. Click on her name to read more about her process. 

Kelly Schmidt (linked to layout) | This is one of the ways I imagined using this set - one card for each day of the week. Simple & easy. I also like how she mixed the word art option in - adding "Friday" to one of her photos vs. just adding in the full card. Kelly added other products from past Digital Story Kits™. 

Lindsay Bateman | Love the series of photos Lindsay shares here and also how she used a repeated TODAY card (from the AM/PM Story Kit™) to create a pattern along the bottom of her page. 

Trisha Harrison (linked to layout) | Click on over to Trisha's blog to read more about her process for putting together this spread - she's working 9x12. She added word art from this set directly to the photo of her in the 4x6 slot. 

Thanks for being here - hope you have an awesome day!

New Story Theme Now Available | Magic

I'm excited to announce that a new
Story Theme is now available for my Story Subscription Program: Magic.

This month we are exploring stories related to magic: the big and the small moments, the everyday stuff, where you find it, and how you make it happen for yourself. I bet you've got some stories just waiting to be told that are wonderful examples of magic showing up in your life. 

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. 

Please know that there is currently a waiting list to subscribe to the Story Kit™. 

Here's a look at the Story Kit™ contents:

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
Magic:

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 video and how-to handout, are included with subscription): 

Let's tell stories together!