Ali Edwards's Blog, page 206

Week In The Life™ 2014 | Friday In Album

Friday in Week In The Life™ this year happened to fall on Halloween. 

This is the day I added no words to my blog post - partly because I was just tired at the end of the day (hey, it was Halloween) when I was putting it together and partly because it showed a very pointed difference from the previous days - an opportunity for all of us to think about how the words play in our projects. 

When it came time to get the photos and the words into the album the process was different from previous days because I didn't already have those words easily accessible to just copy and paste onto the photos. Rather than trying to add a bunch more words, I went with small bits of stories added to labels or hand-written directly onto the photos. 

I actually really like this as a mix-in to the overall album and is a nice contrast from the rest of the days with all the words. 

Here's a look at Friday 2014: 

The day begins, again, with an enlarged 6x8 photo of my niece Gabrielle. It was one of my favorites from the day. I added one of the gold-edged labels

Today I decided to go with a photo on the front of the 3x8 card.

And a photo for the back - which happens to be a shot of the inside of my fridge which was stocked up because we were having people over in the evening. 

I like the look of the combination of the perforated phrase + the type + the handwritten words along the bottom. 

Those labels are great for adding a bit of context/story to the photos. "Love this" is from my Photos stamp set. 

I followed my plan/pattern and gold embossed the chipboard #5. This one got stapled to the photo vs. just hanging out by itself in the pocket so I was able to include another photo.

I'm sure for some people out there this is way too simple. 

For me, I'm cool with it as a piece of the whole story. Words + photos + intentional word-based embellishments. Love that. 

Writing directly on my photo using the Staedtler pen. 

I cut "everyday magic" from one of the 3x4 cards and stapled it to the photo. 

The YES gold letter stickers are from Pebbles. I love how this shot shows the action that was happening around here on Halloween night - it's one of my favorite parts of the night when we sit in my entry way and watch all the kids come to the door. 

And I ended this day with a large photo of Simon standing in the door. I added my story directly onto the photo. 

Check out my other completed Week In The Life™ 2014 days here: Monday // Tuesday // Wednesday // Thursday // Friday // Saturday // Sunday

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December Daily® 2014 | Day Sixteen

Welcome to 
December Daily® 2014 | Day Sixteen. 

I started wrapping today so it seemed like a good time to take a photo of my current pile of wrapping paper which happens to be mostly red and white. This is my collection from the last few years - the red and white circles are the new addition this year. 

How's it going out there? Writing down stories? Taking photos? Finding any time to play? Enjoying the season? 

I'm looking forward to spending some time with my parents soon. As hard as it is to have my kids away part of the holiday I'm so happy that I have the chance to go see my parents and get my own one-on-one time with my Mom and Dad. I shared a post I came across recently on my Facebook page this past week that resonated with me and it might with you too, regardless of your own personal situation: Rethinking The Perfect Holiday.

Here's a closer look at Day Sixteen: 

Basically I took a photo of my wrapping paper all laid out next to each other and then printed a 6 inch x 8 inch photo. 

I put three of the cut pieces into the pockets and then kept one out, leaving room for the journal card that was already there from my 
Foundation Pages. 

Another simple idea that can end up looking pretty darn cool. I did intentionally take the photo at an angle so that the rolls of paper weren't straight up and down in the photo.

On the top of the journal card (with very short journaling today) I stapled a chipboard geotag that goes up and off the top of the card. On the backside of the geotag I embossed with white powder so you see that rather than the blank chipboard back. 

It's just a little story, but who knows, maybe next year or five years from now it will be all green or kraft or gold.

I stamped 'love this tradition" along the edge of the wrapping paper and added the "joy" chipboard circle (it was a speech bubble but I just cut off the bottom to make it a circle). 

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December Daily® 2014 | Day Fifteen

Welcome to
December Daily® 2014 | Day Fifteen. 

Yesterday I surprised Simon with a day off school and tickets to go to 
The Hobbit movie marathon (the first two movies + the new one). We share a love of going to the movies and of the Hobbit and Lord Of The Rings stories. It was an early Christmas/love-you-let's-do-something-fun present for the two of us to do together. I've got something planned for Anna this weekend as well. 

Here's a look at how I worked with the story in the album: 

I did end up taking one photo at the theater so I might end up enlarging that and using it here or I might do another layout with the full story. 

In the pockets on the second page I included our ticket, the date card from when I put together the foundation pages, and a flip-up story card. 

"The Story Of The First" stamp is from this month's 
Story Stamp™ set. 

Here's more about the flip-up card: 

Washi tape is a really easy way to create something like this. I usually do a piece on the outside and the inside. This pattern is from Freckled Fawn. 

I stamped "the story of the first" on the outside and used the "December stories" stamp from the December Daily® kit on the inside. 

The journaling was in the form of a note to his teachers letting them why he wasn't at school. 

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December Daily® 2014 | Day Fourteen

Welcome to 
December Daily® 2014 | Day Fourteen. 

Yesterday I looked back through the pages I've done so far and decided I needed a photo of my tree at night. I took my DSLR camera downstairs and set it on a table behind the couch. My settings were ISO 1250, 1/8 second shutter speed, and 2.8 aperture (I think that was the aperture - either 2.8 or 4.0).
I love this fake tree. 

Also today - heads up that the new Story Theme is now up: 
Firsts. Check out the subscription options and more details here (options include Story Stamp™, Story Kit™, and Digital Story Kit™). The classroom content is now available for current subscribers. 

Here's a look at Day Fourteen: 

I considered just doing one page for today but ended up sticking with a spread. I moved the circle card from the right pocket to the left and took off the gold glitter star and added the circle tree chipboard instead. I'll use the star somewhere else in the album by adding more adhesive to the back. 

As a second 3x4 card I hand-wrote "not too bad for a fake tree" and my story (written on the diagonal lines on the 4x6 card) includes a bit about how it twinkles either way. 

On the tree photo page (sized 5.5 inches x 6.25 inches) I added letter stickers from the kit + a glitter tree and one of the red plastic stars. 

Something to try on one of your pages is playing with concentric circles. Chipboard circle + star circle stamp + messy handwriting around the outside. 

Here's a look at everything in the album: 

Happy Monday!

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TODAY'S POST SPONSORED BY | CLOSE TO MY HEART

Add some jolly bits and pieces of your holiday season to a new My Crush™ Holiday Happenings book by Close To My Heart! To learn more about it,
click here.

Also, during the month of December, with qualifying purchase of $50, you will be eligible to purchase any C- or D-size stamp set from the Annual Inspirations 2014-2015 idea book for only $10. Learn How!

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Week In The Life™ 2014 | Thursday In Album

Happy Monday!

My December Daily® post will be up later today. I missed the photo-lighting window of time yesterday so it will go up around 3pm PST today. Thanks for understanding!

In the meantime I'm happy to share with you Thursday from my 2014 Week In The Life™ album: 

For Thursday I stuck with the same formula as the previous days. 

I used my 6x8 layered templates on top of my main photo to begin the day + a perforated phrase (day 01, day 02, etc) + usually some additional journaling on that page. 

This enlargement of Anna is one of my favorite photos from the week. 

Here's another way to approach that 3 inch x 8 inch page: repeated stamping of the circle stamp + a combination of "this is my life" and "this is our life." 

I also used it as an "intro" into how I approached my journaling for Thursday which was to start each phrase with "the reason why." You can read all the words I documented for my Thursday in my blog post here. 

On the back of the 3x8 I added a photo with text again. 

Photos + words. Photos + words. 

One thing I did different on this 4-pocket page was cut the "Thursday" card smaller to create a peek-through opportunity. I stapled the gold embossed number 4 to the card (you can see the other side below). 

Again, my really simple approach in this album was to focus on the photos and the words to go along with them. The perforated words and phrases and the chipboard embellishments add just a little something extra. 

You can see the top of the gold "4" peek out at the top of this card (the back of the "Thursday" card). 

Again for today, all my journaling began with the phrase "the reason why." This was the first time I've used that in this way (vs. an intro to a project) and I liked the focus it brought to the words. It's partly the reason why this photo was worth taking and partly the reason why things are the way they are around here (why something is a part of our story).

On the top left photo I stamped "the simple stuff of every day life" onto one of the labels and stapled it to the photo.  

For the final enlargement of the week I included one of my favorite ways to take photos of Simon as he plays in his room. The journaling fit nicely right along the edge in the shadow from the doorway. I like looking for spaces like that to become homes for my words. 

Check out my other completed Week In The Life™ 2014 days here: Monday // Tuesday // Wednesday // Thursday // Friday // Saturday // Sunday

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December Daily® 2014 | Day Thirteen

Welcome to 
December Daily® 2014 | Day Thirteen. 

So remember all that talk about maintaining the three transparent parts of the circles from 
Day Twelve? I bagged it. Actually I did it and then I decided I'd rather not have the holes.

Here's what it looked like with the holes: 

It worked okay - I was able to cut the holes using the cardstock template I had set aside for today, but I just didn't like it. 
Which was okay and totally fine and we all get to choose our own path with these stories and pages. 

So no peek-through holes for this page. It might have worked better with a simpler photo (such as a landscape) or even just pattern paper. But man I wanted those cookies in there. 

Here's a look at it without the holes: 

Better for me. And they tasted pretty darn good too. 

The idea for today is about including a photograph of a group of something - ornaments, cookies, toys, books, etc. I shot these cookies on my black dining room table. 

And then I ate more than my share.

I added a second photo to the other 3x4 pocket left-over from my 
initial foundation pages. I added some simple journaling onto the photo before printing. 

Hope you are having a great weekend!

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SHARE YOUR DAY THIRTEEN

I'd love to have you share a link to your Day Thirteen pages below. Please link directly to your post vs. a general blog link.

December Daily® 2014 | Day Twelve

Welcome to
December Daily® 2014 | Day Twelve. 

I've been looking forward to this day and being able to play with this die cut chipboard page. In past 
December Daily® albums I've done a lot of mixing in different textures and page sizes. I really do love having a mixture of page protectors + things outside of the pockets such as photos adhered back to back, artwork, unique sizes, etc. They just add interest and they are fun to put together. 

Here's a closer look at Day Twelve:  

Day Twelve is a combination of two photos adhered back to back (photos of my kids notes to Santa) and the full page die-cut chipboard.  

Last night the kids wrote their letters to Santa. I gave them each a zig zag edge card and away they went. I took photos of each one and then printed them and adhered them back to back. 

At the bottom of each photo (you can see Simon's note below) I added a glitter heart and their initials (letter stickers). Holes were punched to fit the album rings. 

The die cut chipboard page is really purely just for fun. 

Because why the heck not? 

Most of the embellishments I included here are from the kit. In addition I added some 
gold star rub ons from Jenni Bowlin and a small pink chipboard letter "e." The gold rub ons were added to thick pieces of transparency that were glued to the back of the chipboard.  

Here's a look at how it came together: 

When I put my foundation pages together I painted the front side of the die cut chipboard with cream paint. When it came time to put the page together I cut a piece of cardstock to the same size and then choose three of the circles to trace and then cut out so I would be able to see through to the next page. 

I actually ended up cutting two pieces of cardstock. The first one became the back for the embellishments. The second piece of cardstock is to use as a template when I print out a full page photo for Day Thirteen and want to cut holes in the photo to match (to maintain the see-through part). 

Above you can see the holes after I first cut them. 

After I traced the second piece of cardstock I ended up cutting more around the edges of the circles of the white cardstock so you don't see any of the outer edge of the circles. 

I also added the star border using 
red Staz On ink and stamps from the kit. 

Here's what the back looks like: 

On the back you can see the transparent pieces with the star rub ons. I just adhered those pieces to the back of the chipboard. 

Here's a look at these pages in the album: 

I centered the Santa letters in the middle of the rings. 

Simon's Santa letter.
Yep. 

Above you can see what I have for Day Thirteen right now. I plan to print out an enlarged photo and cut three circles in the photo so the see through elements will keep that quality. 

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Week In The Life™ 2014 | Wednesday In Album

My 
Week In The Life™ album for 2014 is complete and I'm excited to share the rest of it with you over the next week. 

I'm going to keep doing it one day at a time which allows me to add more details vs. one long post and I'll finish up with a video overview to bring it all together. 

Here's a look at 
Wednesday: 

Wednesday continues to have a very decent amount of words in addition to my photos. I'm really proud of that this year and happy that I took the time during the week to really write at the end of each day - having it in 
a blog post really made it easy to go back and corral the content when I was ready to work on the album. 

Today is the day where I repeated the phrase "the story of today" at the beginning of each of my journaling sections. 

For the enlarged photo I chose to go with this grainy one I took of Anna in the early morning hours in my bedroom. I made it black and white using 
RadLab. 

One of the things I wanted to do was show you different ways to work with the 3x8 insert. Some days I've added photos, some days I've added hand-written words and today I added large text.

When I was going back over what I wrote on my blog post for Wednesday these words stuck out to me and I thought they would be cool to add here using a larger type size. 

For printing on the 3x8 I created a new canvas in Photoshop (sized to 3x8 at 300dpi) and typed up my journaling. I used a ruler to measure the margins where there was already printing on the card and placed my journaling on the canvas in Photoshop accordingly. 

I did one print to see what it would look like before temporarily adding the 3x8 card and running the whole thing through the printer. Sometimes this works on the first try and sometimes I have to run it through, make an adjustment, and do it again. Sometimes I also hold up the two pieces of paper to the light before running it through with the card attached so I can see more clearly where the type is going to end up. 

If that all sounds like way too much trouble you could also use bigger letter stamps to add your journaling to this page. 

On the back I went with one of the photos I took of Anna. I really like the contrast of the up-close, 1/2 face with all the other farther away shots I generally take. 

I embossed the #3 with gold again and placed it in the pocket (stapled in place). 

"This is my life" was stamped onto the photo using Memento Luxe Wedding Dress White Ink.

I kept it pretty simple again using those perforated word strips. 

On the photo of Anna in the shopping cart I added the text at an angle - partly because the photo has a lot going on and partly because there was a nice strong vertical line in place that was just asking to have text on top. 

The final spread for Wednesday is again, words and photos. I took advantage of the "white space" on the photo of Simon getting off the bus for more words. 

I didn't end up adding any inserted photos or additional photos outside of page protectors today - the page protectors were enough. 

I ended the day with an enlarged photo of Simon + the story of the photo + the chipboard "observations" banner. 

Check out my other completed 
Week In The Life™ 2014 days here: Monday // Tuesday // Wednesday // Thursday // Friday // Saturday // Sunday

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December Daily® 2014 | Day Eleven + One Little Word® 2015 Workshop Open For Registration

Welcome to
December Daily® 2014 | Day Eleven. 

So here's the truth: today I sat and stared at this journaling card for way too long. 

I went downstairs. I took some photos around the house. I came back upstairs. I stared at the card again.
What do I want to say today? 

When that kind of thing happens to me, when I get stuck or feel uninspired, I take it back to the very basics, which is exactly what I ended up doing. 

The story of today is... The story of today is... The story of today is...

Here's a look at what I ended up with for Day Eleven:

I loved that very everyday shot of books, table, chairs, tree + George sleeping on that little bench. I added one of the glitter trees + the "merry and bright" banner on top of my photo.

It's simple. It doesn't take a lot of time. And it's a slice of what's real around here this holiday season. 

And here's what I ended up with for 
Day Ten (had been waiting to take photos at Anna's Christmas concert): 

Seriously. She was great as a singing pig - and she had so much fun. 

I decided to add a photo to the bottom card as well (which was in place from my Foundation pages). I really like how it turned out with the diagonal cuts to the photo and the addition of the music note. I just pulled up the #10 and then re-adhered it after I added the photo to the 4x6 pattern paper. 

ONE LITTLE WORD® 2015 NOW OPEN FOR REGISTRATION

Just a quick update that the 12-month 
One Little Word® 2015 Workshop is now open for registration (and the classroom is open as well). I'll be sharing my word and some thoughts for the year after Christmas. 

Full details, supply information, etc can be found 
here. 

You can read all my past posts about 
One Little Word® here. 

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InLinkz.com

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December Daily® 2014 | Day Ten

Welcome to 
December Daily® 2014 | Day Ten. 

A couple nights ago the kids and I had dinner with Aaron and he and Anna embarked on some holiday coloring while we waited for our meal. I brought the back of the menu home knowing I wanted to incorporate part of the drawings they were doing into my album. I cropped the drawing to 6x8 to fit in the pocket and added a couple embellishments + a date stamp + a couple identifying words on top. 

In addition to the drawing, December 10th is also the day of Anna's school Christmas program. I decided to just leave the pocket empty so I can add a photo from that event tomorrow when I have a chance to print and photograph my project during the day. 

Here's a look at the spread for Day Ten:

Many of you know I'm a fan of
yellow sticky notes in Project Life®. They work great in this project too as you work your way through the month. 

I continue to love the idea of adding "real life" stuff to my projects. For December Daily® it's often drawings, Santa letters, receipts, things I've received in the mail, etc. 

You can leave the artwork (or real life stuff) as it is, or add a couple embellishments like I did here. I added the initials "A" and "A" using the letter stickers on top of the plastic ampersand. I stapled the ampersand to a gold foil circle and then used foam dots to adhere that grouping to the art work. 

Underneath I added the rubber "merry and bright" banner. Those things are so cool. 

Adding a simple sticky note can help you remember what you wanted to document - it's especially helpful when you aren't sure when you'll get a chance to get back to the project. 

You also might notice that I moved the transparent 1/2 page to tomorrow.

Hope you are having a great week!

EDITED: Here's the updated image that includes the photos from Day 10: 

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