Ali Edwards's Blog, page 202

The Weekend Lens | Washburne State Park

Because Thoreau said it best: 

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life...”

On Saturday afternoon (also known as Valentine's Day) Aaron packed up my car with a big foam mattress, a cooler, and a few other supplies and we headed over to the Oregon Coast to camp for the night at Carl G. Washburne State Park.

It's takes about an hour to drive from my house in Eugene to the Pacific Ocean - the first town you come to on the coast is Florence and Washburne State Park is about another half-hour north. This was my first visit to Washburne. 

We arrived after dark and stopped at the park entrance and picked up the ticket you have to fill out and include your payment in an envelope for the night (just a note that Washburne doesn't take reservations - first come, first served). We drove through the campground, found a spot (B37T), unloaded the firewood Aaron had grabbed from the stack in my garage and started our fire. 

The stars were insane and we had fun using one of those star apps on Aaron's phone.  

Now, some people might not think sleeping in your car in a campground is an awesome idea, or anything close to romantic, but it was totally perfect. 

Aaron laid the seats down in the back of my car and placed a foam mattress on top. It made the perfect little bed - including sheets and a warm down comforter and a sleeping bag on top. I'm 5'9 and he's about 5'10 and we fit just right. 

He also brought along a little vase of flowers. 

Go Aaron.  

The next morning we woke up and had a simple breakfast of bananas, bagels and cream cheese and then got down to the business of exploring the trails around the campground and taking the trail out to the beach. 

This is a place that Aaron's been many times growing up with his family. It's fun to share that kind of stuff with each other. I like that he has places to show me and I have places to show him and we get to make new memories together. 

Hiking in this area is awesome. The forest is really so insanely beautiful, especially on what turned out to be a super sunny day. 

The light coming through the trees always gets me. It's magical. 

The theme of the photos I took this weekend seemed to be "pathways." It seemed every corner we turned presented a new path and canopy of trees and light. 

I loved the reminder that we don't have to go very far away to "getaway." 

I loved getting outside and being outside and feeling the sun on my face and witnessing the light through the trees. There is so much beauty here. 

I loved not being in charge and letting Aaron plan and pack and share with me places that hold special memories to him. 

I loved checking out all the RV's in the campground and taking some time to plan our Spring Break adventure this year (which includes all 5 kids and a rental RV). 

I loved taking my DSLR camera and trying to capture what I was seeing with the branches and the light and the green. 

I loved the quiet. 

On our way home we stopped for a late lunch in Florence at Bridgewater and then grabbed coffee from Siuslaw River Coffee Roasters. 

New Story Theme Now Available | AM/PM

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

This month we are focusing on stories related to mornings and evenings. What are your routines, your preferences, your stories of mornings past and present, your favorite way to spend the evening?

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: 

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 that for AM/PM:

And here's a second preview that includes the transparent elements: 

I put together a short video overview of what's included on the Story Stamp™ and in the Story Kit™ this month:

And a couple peeks at two of 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!

Give Sunday | 06

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

This one, this is everything. 

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 06 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. 

Give Love | Free Digital Word Art

Happy Valentines Day! Here's a free "Give Love" word art to help you celebrate the day. 

Download the Give Love digital word art here.  Please note: If you are reading this post via email you need to click through to the actual blog post to download the file.

If you'd like to learn more about working with digital word art check out my Getting Started With Digital Scrapbooking posts. I've got a bunch of tutorials that will walk you through the steps of working with my word art on both digital and paper projects. 

And while I have you here, let me express my deepest thanks and gratitude to you for continuing to cheer me, and my family, on as we go about the adventures of our lives. I'm so thankful for your support both personally and via my business over the years. Thank you. 

Have a wonderful Saturday!

Anna Is 6

Earlier this week Anna celebrated her 6th birthday. 

Last night as I was putting this post together I scrolled back through my Anna archives here on the blog. Talk about a walk down memory lane. One of the reasons I love having a blog is that it is absolutely a digital visual scrapbook. Many of the stories I've written about Anna have been translated into scrapbook pages but there are some that haven't been yet. It was awesome to be able to go back through and look at those images and read those stories. Such a gift to myself. 

Anna, you are so rad.  

Happy. Funny. Full of life. Currently loving gymnastics and Barbies and playdates and make-up and music and learning how to read. You are a total morning person - happy to get up and greet the day and get on to the point where you get to see your friends. You like to go places and do things and dance and sing and play. 

You are one of the greatest gifts of my life.

Around here we do birthdays pretty simply with three main traditions: 

Streamers around the table which appear on the birthday morning (because they are so close - just a couple weeks apart - we usually keep Simon's up until it's time to change to Anna's).Balloons. The number of balloons = the number of years. Family dinner. Either at the restaurant of their choice or at home. 

And presents of course. 

This year Anna had requested family dinner at Red Robin. Unfortunately she ended up with a pretty severe ear infection and we spent a couple hours at Urgent Care in the morning. So not fun any time but on your birthday it's that much worse. She was super bummed to not be able to go to school where they do a pretty darn great job celebrating birthdays (the kids all make cards for the birthday child - she got hers today and they are so sweet and fun). 

The adorable hair clip she chose to wear to Urgent Care is from Pippylou.com. I ordered her this skirt for her birhtday which she seemed to really like and the sweet owner had included the hair clip as a special gift. 

We got her started on some meds and decided that staying home for dinner was probably a better idea. 

Chris and Tiffany brought dinner over, including the awesome box of Mac & Cheese that she requested for her birthday dinner (totally what she would have ordered at Red Robin). We got a Dairy Queen birthday cake (the best) - she asked for the one with cheeries on top. Katie and Peter came over to celebrate too - because they are family. 

Anna was tired but she was happy. 

At her request we all played the Disney Princess Enchanted Cupcake Party Game which was actually decently fun. The cupcakes are especially cute and she had additional fun just making up things to play with those outside the game itself. I'd recommend it if you are looking for a game for 4-6 year olds. 

Last night when I was putting her to bed I said, "Hey Anna, guess what? I really enjoy being with you." She smiled and said, "Thank you." 

It's just that simple. I'm so thankful you are a part of my life Anna. I'm thankful that I get to know you and watch you grow and be here to cheer you along the way. You are awesome. Love you my sweet not-so-much-a-baby-anymore-girl. 

Project Life® 2015 | Week Four

Working on lots of things behind the scenes these days - including four new classes I'll be teaching at in-person workshops this year (all will be made into self-paced classes later in the year) and new Story content that will go live this weekend for the subscription program. 

It's always a juggling act, as so many of you know in your own lives. The push and pull between work and family, between what's most important and what's least important - so many things attempting to capture our attention. I've been working really hard around here to put my focus in the right place - which means a little less work + social media and a little more time with Simon and Anna in very intentional ways . It should be really easy but sometimes, the truth is, it's just not. So I'm working on it and it feels good. 

The memory keeping routine I seem to be falling into right now is bits of life in Project Life® and longer stories on layouts for the Story subscription classroom. I love the focus I'm able to have on specific themes for the Story Kit™ and Story Stamp™ content and writing about it each month has been really a fulfilling experience for me personally. In Project Life® I'm loving the simplicity of less - most importantly, just making it work for me and not feeling like I have to come up with new ideas all the time. I want to document and have fun and get the photos and words in the pockets. It's an occupational hazzard I suppose - this desire to make it educational and inspire you to keep going with your own storytelling - because, obviously, I believe that it can make a difference in your life. 

One of my takeaways this week was a re-adoption of my "good enough" attitude for Project Life®. I'm not trying to include everything. What I really want, is to keep up. Not in a "I MUST KEEP UP WITH THIS OR I WILL FEEL GUILT" but in a "I love when I have this done each week. I love seeing our stories and photos together in this manner. It makes me heart happy." 

Today I'm happy to be sharing a look at my Week Four in Project Life®: 

On the topic of most important and least important (HA), Katie and I took some time to check off a bunch of the Oscar best-picture nominees during this particular week. We love, love, love going to the movies. I created 3x4 cards to hold each of the movie tickets using designs from the Midnight Edition Core Kit (which continues to be my favorite) + circle number stamps from my One Little Word® kit and some repeated stamping.  

If you haven't heard about that kit here's a look: 

You don't have to be participating in the One Little Word® workshop to purchase this kit. 

It was just re-stocked this week after selling out to class participants earlier this year. It's a great value at $15.99 and includes everything you see above: a 4x6 stamp set, six sheets of label stickers, cork shapes, and two sets of white and dark grey letter stickers. I'll be using some of these supplies throughout the year in my One Little Word® album. 

That big "JAN" was from the Far Far Away Project Life® Kit (still available) - getting it in here right under the wire. 

The "A" letter sticker is from my new sets available in my shop. Just the right size if you ask me. 

I think my favorite thing so far this year is incorporating Anna's artwork as the title card most weeks. I've got quite a few already cut and slipped into pockets for the coming weeks. It's such a super simple way to make it so very personal. It makes me happy every time I look at them.

The "today" journal card is brand new and available here (includes all the days of the week + today). The package includes a printable PDF, 3x4 PNG cards, and PNG's of the word art titles. 

On those movie journal cards I also used that really fun large rolling alphabet stamp from Pebbles to add "movies" over and over again.

"I Love Us" sticker is from this great set from Cosmo Cricket. 

SUPPLIES
Midnight Edition Project Life® Core KitDesign A Page ProtectorsPebbles Rolling Alphabet StampRolling Date Stamp (had to order a new one because my other stopped at 2014)One Little Word® Stamp SetAE Cascade Alpha StickersFar Far Away Project Life® KitTiny Attacher (aka The Best Stapler In The Whole World)Cosmo Cricket Tiny Text StickersThe Story Of Today 3x4 Journal Cards

QUARTERLY SALE AT DESIGNER DIGITALS

In addition to the new products available in my digital shop here, I've got MANY, MANY digital products still available over at Designer Digitals. They just started a Quarterly Sale which means 40% off everything in the shop through Friday, February 20th at 6AM EST. It's a great time to pick up a few things from over there for your storytelling adventures. 

And in case you are in need of this, acrylic blocks have been added to my shop for use with stamps. Check them out here.

AE Digital Creative Team | Layout Inspiration

Today the Digital Creative Team is sharing some love-themed products and examples which are great for Valentine's Day or any time you are documenting stories of love. 

First up: Kiss Me

Donya Gjerdingen | Loving how Donya created a card by printing the word art onto paper and then water coloring the hearts on top. 

Celine Navarro | I love how Celine printed her photos, journaling and word art directly onto textured cardstock. Such a cool look. She also incorporated products from the Firsts Story Kit (chipboard elements and word/phrase stickers).  

Sasha Farina | I love how Sasha took the "you=awesome" word art and used it as a jumping off point for her journaling. You = a list of so many good things. Notice also that she deleted the "+ me" to make it work for the story she is telling. 

Next up: Kiss me 3x4 Journal Cards

If you'd like to have the above word art already on 3x4 cards for easy printing you can grab this set that includes PNG's and a PDF. 

Pam Baldwin | Pam's super clever idea was to turn the 3x4 card into a pocket to hold a journaling tag. Awesome idea. 

Cristina C. | Cristina printed out the cards and added letter stickers "he said" and "said she" (which is such a great idea). She also added hidden journaling to the envelope.  

Next up: Gatherings Digital (the digital set of the physical stamps that are available until the 14th of this month via a Story Stamp Subscription).

Paige Taylor Evans | True to her signature style, Paige took the word art and used her Silhouette to cut out the words for a type-centric layout. 

Ginny Hughes | Ginny took the word "collection" and repeated it over and over again using a scale gradation/ombre effect which turned out super cool. I also like how she added in the blue throughout. 

Next up: Together

As an add-on to the Gatherings theme this month I did a second set of word art (some designs can be found on products the actual Story Kit™ this month). 

Lindsay Bateman | Lindsey also rocked a subtle ombre design as a background. On top of her photo collage she added elements from the full Gatherings Digital Story Kit™.

Carly Robertson | Carly's lovely album includes some printed pieces in addition to products from the full kit. I've loved reading so many "around the table" stories this month - makes my heart happy. 

Kelly Schmidt | Love the simplicity and focus on words and photos in Kelly's Project Life® layout.

Teresa Victor | A sweet page from Teresa that also includes digital pieces from the Gatherings Story Kit™.

Have a great day!

On Building & Beginning

Lately I've been thinking a lot about the concepts of building and beginning. 

I think it all started while watching my kids participate in their current sporting activities. These days I'm spending four afternoons/evenings a week watching Simon and Anna practice their respective sports - Anna at gymnastics and Simon at Tae Kwon Do (two times a week each). 

During the time I'm sitting there observing their practices, a lot of thoughts go through my head. Sometimes it's memories about my own childhood sports experiences (soccer, swimming and golf), or thoughts about my Mom and how she juggled three kids in sports, and other times it's thoughts about Simon or Anna (what's working and not working, how they are doing, what kind of questions I can ask in the car on the way home, etc). I'm really thankful I'm able to have the chance to literally watch them build their athletic skills. 

One of the things I'm super interested in right now are the ways in which their coaches break down the skills they are learning into really small tasks. In gymnastics especially I can see how these simple, small actions will combine together into one big exercise or routine down the road. The coach sets up what basically amounts to an obstacle course and the girls move from one skill to another - one stop will be a handstand, one stop will be a finish pose, one stop will be jumping, etc. I don't even know all the technical names for everything but it's super clear that it's a thought out path towards more advanced skills.

That focus on one small thing at a time - building to mastery by starting with the basics - isn't foreign to me but I love seeing it play out right in front of my eyes.  

Learning a new skill or sport or art form or way of being takes time and repetition.

It takes doing the same move over and over and over again. That move may involve a paintbrush or a pen or standing on your hands or lacing up your shoes or yelling kiai or sitting at a wheel or looking through the lens over and over and over again. 

And it takes a willingness to be bad at it in the beginning.

We all have to start somewhere.

Lately I've needed to remember that for myself. We don't begin at the end - we begin right where we are with what we have right in front of us at any given point in time.

At what point in our lives do we forget that it takes work to learn a new skill? Or maybe the more appropriate question is, at what point do we stop being interested in putting out the effort to be a beginner again? Do you have the expectation either that everything should be super simple and you should be an immediate expert OR that it's simply not worth it because there is too much effort involved?

Tae Kwon Do is not easy for Simon. In fact, it's really hard for him in many ways (physically and mentally) and he gets frustrated often. Frustrated for Simon often looks like turning his back on his instructors or classmates, laying on the floor in the middle of the class, or loud whining noises. A little out of character for most 13-year-olds and a little distracting for the participants and instructors but the reality for Simon. 

Last week I noticed that his level of frustration has decreased a bit over the last couple of times he's been there. Around here we celebrate "a bit." 

I think there's a couple reasons for the decreased frustration: 

(1) he's developing a positive relationship with one of the instructors who is also learning how to work with Simon (when to push and when to pull and when to joke and when to hold a firm line) 
(2) he's becoming familiar with the moves and the general routine of the practice
(3) he's maturing in his ability to move through his frustrations vs. letting them paralyze him

One of the most awesome things I saw last week was a stronger willingness to learn/improve. I asked two of the boys who were in his class (one of them happened to be Aaron's son Isaac) if they could help Simon see and feel the correct body form for a push-up. Simon's willingness to be taught by his peers vs. being embarrassed that he wasn't doing it correct was really a sign of progress in his own social development. 

Keep building those skills Simon. 

There's so much beauty in the building. 

Last week I spent Friday morning with my friend Kim at a local ceramics studio called Clay Space. It was her birthday and she sent me a text asking if I wanted to join her in the activity of her choice. One of the things I'm working on this year is cultivating friendships and expanding my worldview - giving myself permission to not be so obsessed about the things I'm already obsessed about or feel like I have to be an expert at everything before diving in.

Basically I'm challenging myself to be a beginner as often as possible. 

So I told her I'd meet her there. I've never sat at a wheel before. I had zero expectations and didn't at all feel like I had to come home with a completed anything. I simply wanted to go for the experience - to chat with my friend, to check out the steps involved, to get my hands messy, and to get away from the computer. 

Of course it was great and of course I had no idea what I was doing and really just made a mess and played. And it was perfect. Being in a studio environment like that was a breath of fresh air. I have nothing physically to show for my time there, but at this point in time that matters very little to me. It was an experience. I am a beginner. 

As I sat at the table rolling the clay and then at the wheel forming bowls and then breaking them down through experimentation, I thought about this post (that I had started before this adventure last week) and about the basics of skill building and mastery and being a beginner. I look forward to taking a class or watching some you tube videos and building some skills, one task at a time. 

When was the last time you were a beginner? What are you building? What holds you back?

Give Sunday | 05

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

Hello imperfection. Hello real life. Hello light and darkness. Hello normal. This is life my friends. Take a deep breath and take the next step. 

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.

Click here to download the #givesunday 05 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. 

2015 Workshops & Events

I'm excited to let you know that l'll be doing a bit more teaching at in-person workshop events in 2015. 

I've got four classes I'm offering at in-person events this year that will likely become self-paced workshops here on my site later in the year. Workshops include Storytelling with Project Life®, I Am Tag Book, Day In The Life™, and Love You Because (not all workshops will be available at all events and are subject to change). 

IN-PERSON EVENTS

Scrapbook & Cards Today Crop & Create Event | Markham, ON | February 28 - March 1, 2015
Sold out.

Version Scrap | Paris, France | April 10-12, 2015
Registration now open. 

She Scrapbooks | The Villages, Florida (outside Orlando) | June 26-27, 2015 
Classes will be posted on March 20th and registration begins March 30th. Details here. 

Cromatismes | Barcelona, Spain | September 26, 2015

Formation Scrapbooking entreARTistes | Montpellier, France | October 3-4, 2015

ONLINE WORKSHOPS

In addition to these in-person events, I'm working on a new 12-week online workshop which will begin in April. The focus of this brand new workshop will be all about typography and designing with words to tell your stories. More details to come in March. 

Later in the year be on the lookout for 31 More Things with all new story prompts. I'll also be adding the original version of 31 Things sometime this year as a self-paced workshop for those of you who missed that one previously. 

There's also still time to join the 2015 One Little Word® workshop. The new prompt for February just went out earlier this week and it's definitely not too late to decide on a word for this year and do the work to make it visible in your life. Registration for this workshop will remain open until March 30th. 

A NOTE ABOUT PAST BIG PICTURE CLASSES WORKSHOPS

If you previously took any of the following online workshops from me at Big Picture Classes - Hello Story, Yesterday & Today, 31 Things, and One Little Word® 2011-2013 - please know that we are in the process (go Katie) of moving all that content over to the Classes section of my site. We will be notifying you via email once that process is completed with instructions for how to access the content from those workshops. Please note that the galleries and message boards will not be transferring over to my site. 

In addition, we will also be offering Hello Story and Yesterday & Today as self-paced classes in the coming months.