Ali Edwards's Blog, page 203

Around Here

ANNA

Listening | Pitch Perfect soundtrack and Taylor Swift's 1989

Reading | READING. It's like magic. Seriously the coolest thing to witness and encourage and nurture. She's determined and not easily frustrated, which in and of itself is a gift. 

Planning | Her birthday party. We're doing a delayed party this year not just because she was sick but because at least four other girls in her grade at school have birthdays this month and every weekend has included a birthday party already. Next year there's talk of a joint kids party. 

Playing | Barbies and fairies and princesses - in all kinds of awesome scenarios. I love the imaginative play all over the house. Two of her favorite places are the spot seen in the photo above and in the bathtub in my bathroom. 

Practicing | Gymnastics twice a week. Love how much she is loving it. Love that she is making friends with the other girls in her class - none of which go to the same school as her. 

SIMON

Reading | Totally into murder mysteries. I think it started with the Clue movie that he has been obsessing about recently - including typing out the entire script by watching it via subtitles (it ended up being 52 or so pages - I call that awesome typing practice). Last week he checked out two different books at the library after searching "murder mysteries." One of the things that is awesome about this is that he's often most interested in books where he has seen the movie first. 

Listening | He's been building his own playlist on Spotify recently and it's so awesome because it is so him. I'm planning a separate post to document that list soon. 

Entertaining | He had his first friend sleepover last weekend and it went really well. Movies and video games for the win.  

Joining | He's all signed up for some horseback riding lessons with a local group called RideAble. We've heard great things from other families who have taken their kids there so I'm hoping it will be something for him to look forward to and enjoy. It's something he's expressed an interest in before but the timing wasn't quite right. Making it happen this spring. 

Choosing | Short sleeves when the sun is out. Those of you who have been around a long time know that's a pretty big deal. 

ALI

Planning | We booked a RV for Spring Break and Aaron and I are brainstorming RV-adventure-with-5-kids strategies.

Obsessing | Currently consumed with the new workshops I'll be teaching this weekend at the Crop & Create event outside Toronto. Obsessing means working really hard (creating, journaling, photographing, writing), thinking about it way too much, and then procrastinating on the handouts and samples by cleaning. I'm excited and nervous and hoping I remember how to do this in-person stuff again.  

Making Space | For kids activities. For quiet. For looking them in the eye. For hugs and silliness and hanging out together without my list being so long and so loud. 

Listening | To his stories and questions (usually about Scooby Doo, Clue, Harry Potter, Star Wars, etc). To her stories and questions (usually about the ups and downs of girls and boys in kindergarten). To NPR. To the hum of the dishwasher and the washer and dryer (sounds of comfort). 

Remembering | I don't have to have it all figured out. 

Give Sunday | 07

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

I am a huge fan of the words of poet Mary Oliver. She recently was interviewed for one of my favorite podcasts, On Being, which you can check out here. 

I come back to this quote again and again when I find myself down or afraid. It's a lovely, uplifting battle cry. 

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 07 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. 

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. 

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, I launched three new products yesterday: 

Check them out here: For The Love Of Words, AM/PM Digital, and Great Story 3x4 Cards.

First up for creative team inspiration today is: Everyone Has A Story (product shown above)

Pam Baldwin | I love Pam's use of a large initial + the "made of moments" word art + her story. I also like how she parked that with a page that let her play with larger sized type. 

Carly Robertson | Carly paired the "little stories" word art with a chipboard element and 4x6 card from the Gatherings Story Kit™.

Lindsay Bateman | Sweet and simple from Lindsay - love how photos can be "little stories."

Next up: Who What Where Why Boxes

Kelly Schmidt (Linked to layout) | I love how Kelly printed out a collage of this word art set to create a pattern paper behind her photos. 

Trisha Harrison (Linked to layout) | Trisha enlarged the boxes to 3x4 and used them as a jumping off point for a variety of photo stories in this Project Life spread. 

Cristina C. (Linked to layout) | Cristina printed the boxes on vellum - love how they are layered on top of additional pieces of her story.

Next up: What Today Looked Like

Donya Gjerdingen | Donya cut "observations" with the Silhouette - love how it fits the width of her page (I think 6x8). 

Annette Haring | Annette used this set as titles for her photos. Love the idea of putting each title inside a white box. 

Ginny Hughes | Such a sweet moment captured here. Love the combination of "conversations" + the minutes // hours // days word art. I also love how she added stars to opposite corners of the page. 

Emily Webster | One of the things that I hope with my products is that they can (1) be used for lots of different stories and (2) be used multiple times. This is one of those sets I can see using again and again because the sentiments are so versatile. Here Emily used the days of the week word art to highlight the day a photo was taken. 

Finally for this week: Photo Grid No. 01 | 8.5 x 11

I used this grid for one of my Gatherings layouts for last month's Story Kit™ - another template that can be used to tell so many different stories. 

Celine Navarro | Totally love how Celine went black and white with this one and then added products on top. 

Sasha Farina (Linked to layout) | Who doesn't have a series of photos like this on their phone? I have a bunch because it's one of Anna's current favorite things to do. Love how Sasha brought all these images together with this template and used one of the rectangles for her journaling. 

Teresa Victor | Another super cool idea for a template like this, Teresa highlighted her current "guilty pleasure" TV watching paired with solid blocks of color and some of my Twenty Fifteen word art. 

Hope you guys have a great weekend!

The Fringe Hours

Sometime last year Jessica Turner sent me an email and asked if she could interview me for a new book she was writing about making time for ourselves. I was honored to be asked and loved the conversation we had over the phone as I most likely overshared regarding my personal struggles with time and self-care and work/life balance and all that kind of stuff-of-life. 

Her book, The Fringe Hours, is now available and I just finished it last night and it's totally worth a read - especially if you are like so many of us who wrestle with issues related to making times for ourselves and finding joy. 

What are Fringe Hours? Basically they are "those little pockets of time you already have in your day." It's not making time out of thin air, it's taking a look at how you currently spend your time and being more mindful and choosing things you love to do with the time you already have. Of course there's some letting go built right in, because there always is - at least that's one of the things I keep learning as I journey through my own life. 

See my chipped nails in the photo above? Time for some self-care.

You may know Jessica from her blog The Mom Creative. Just like many of you reading, memory keeping is one of her most-loved hobbies and one of the ways she chooses to spend her Fringe Hours (choice is a big theme in this book). I enjoyed reading about her personal commitment to making time for herself and how that makes the rest of her life run that much smoother with more overall satisfaction. And Jessica, being the authentic person that she is, is not afraid to talk about the times she struggles as well. I would expect nothing less from her. 

From Jessica about her new book: "The Fringe Hours is a love letter for you. If we could sit down and share a meal, it’s what I would tell you. That you matter. That you shouldn’t feel guilty. That pursuing your passions honors God and the way He created you. That in the fringe hours, you can find joy."

Jessica's enthusiasm for self-care and finding time for things you love most is really inspiring and motivating. 

It might be no surprise to many of you that the way I spend my time has been on my mind a lot lately. 

As I read through the book I was really conscious of my own resistance to thoughts about "doing it all." Jessica tells the story of a common question she is asked about how she "does it all" and writes about how she uses her Fringe Hours to fit in the things she is passionate about and what personally brings her the most joy 

Here's my truth: I'm one of those people that absolutely does not want to do it all and I don't even really know that I want to add anything else. I'm generally pretty good at saying no to things I don't want to do and I'm gotten so much more intentional and protective about how I spend my time (both those areas include a whole lot of practice, fail, practice, tiny forward movement, practice, fail, practice some more). That said, where I struggle is figuring out what I really want to spend my Fringe Hours on and then making that happen. Sometimes I'm just too damn tired and what I need most is to go to bed - also known as a form of self-care. I also struggle with thinking everything has to happen in a specific order or that this-must-absolutely-come-before-this which puts me in that place where nothing happens because I'm stalled due to my own rigid expectations right from the very beginning. Those expectations hold me back from using those small bits of time to accomplish bigger goals and generally experience more joy that comes from time spent doing things I love (or that are good for me). 

So what do I do instead? 

Pick up my phone and mindlessly scroll through InstaFaceTwitgram.

Boo. 

Reading this book was a great reminder that those little chunks of time can, and do, add up to joy. 

Simply reading through Jessica's book made me that much more aware of what I'm doing during my own Fringe Hours which generally include early morning, after the kids go to bed, and other times when they are with Chris. 

Here's a look at what I do during my Fringe Hours: 

Work. Sometimes it simply has to happen because there's just not enough time during the day for what needs to get done. This is my least favorite way to spend my Fringe Hours and when it goes on for too long it's really not good and everything else suffers - relationships, health, etc (the things that are truly most important). I'm working on remembering that the world will not end if I don't get whatever-it-was done today - which directly relates to my intentions to work-smarter and spend less time screwing around. Read. I used my Fringe Hours to read this book. Next up: Scary Close by Donald Miller. Sleep. I'm pretty good at making sure this happens, except when I overwork. Take a bath. The best. It usually involves reading as well. Mess around in the yard. This is really one of my favorite things to do - be outside.  Spend time with friends. This comes and goes depending on my schedule, but it is one of those things that brings me great joy when it happens. 

As I read through Jessica's suggestions, there were a couple specific things

Thank you notes. I love how Jessica talks about how she carves out time for thank you notes. You know that time you were playing Candy Crush while you waited for your kid? You could have been writing a short note to someone who would likely really love a little piece of mail from you in their real-life mailbox.Taking a "real" lunch break and viewing that as Fringe time. It's a little more challenging when you work at home and she addresses that. Katie has been going home for lunch so she can let her dog out and I've been making sure I go downstairs and then I usually read during my designated time. Sometimes that's the paper or a magazine or a book. I like that time. 

Jessica also touches on the idea of seasons and how that impacts our Fringe Hour choices. The concept of seasons is always a reassuring one to me and one that I tend to lose sight of from time to time when I get wrapped up in my own head games. 

As a divorced parent who shares kid-time with Chris, I have a little more me-time than others. Over the last few years I've had to re-learn the who-and-what-and-where-and-when-and-why-of-me for the times when the kids aren't under my direct care. Basically, who am I when they are not here and what does that me do? That in and of itself is quite a process and for all the profound loss that goes along with going through a divorce, in my experience there is a silver lining in that reconnection with my self. From the initial rip-your-heart-out grief to the okay-this-isn't-so-absolutely-horrible-but-I-still-miss-them-when-I'm-alone phase, I've learned that time on my own where I'm caring for myself (and often getting things taken care of to run smoothly when they return) is precious and healthy.

Trust me when I tell you that's hard to write about. 

My seasons might be different from your seasons, your life might look completely different from mine, but we all benefit from taking time for ourselves outside of our jobs and roles and responsibilities to simply care for ourselves and nurture our passions (or simply figure out what they are in the first place). 

So totally YES to that paragraph. 

Bottom line - this book is definitely worth picking up if you are interested in reflecting on the ways in which you currently spend your time, designating time for what matters, and are looking for motivation and/or permission to make that happen. 

Nice work, Jessica.

Want more reviews of this book? Check them out here on Goodreads. 

On the topic of time I also loved this recent post from Erin Lochner: Spending Time. 

And PS | All opinions, as always in this space, are my own. I received a complementary copy of this book from the publisher in part because I was interviewed and in part because I agreed to share my opinions about it. I wouldn't take the time to write this much or recommend it if I didn't think it was a good fit and of interest to many of you guys out there. 

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.