Ali Edwards's Blog, page 210

Our Days Are Built With Stories

As many of you get ready to embark on Week In The Life™, I want you to think about this statement:

Our days are built with stories. 

Often when I begin documenting my week I'm hyperfocused on writing down the schedule of our day. Stuff like the times we get up, the times we eat, the time I leave the house to take the kids to school and the time I return home to sit at my desk.

I still plan to do that to some extent this year, but as I alluded to in my post earlier this week, I also really want to be conscious and intentional about the micro-stories that make up a day or seven in a row (remember that was a term Aaron first used wwith me when he was talkingg about what he wanted to remember from our Dave Matthews adventure).

Each of our daily actions is often just the tip of a story pyramid. Those of you who took my Hello Story class are familiar with the concept I focus on in that workshop which is simply this, "tell me more."

Tell me more about the why. Tell me more about the who and the where and the what. Don't just tell me you had a cup of coffee, tell me what you had in it or what you left out. Give me more details that will paint a clearer picture of the life you are living right now.

And then give a little more.

Consider these stories:

The story of why you wake up to an alarm on your iphone at 5:45am each morning. The story of why you wake up at different times each day, rarely following a set routine. The story of how your child runs into your bedroom regularly (at least for the last week) in the middle of the night for comfort from the fierce monsters in the dark.

The story of how your 12 year old now makes his own breakfast each morning but you still pour cereal (dry with no milk most days) for your 5 year old.

The story of why you drive each kid separatlely to school in the morning and how you treasure the time in between drop-offs when you get to select the noise in the car (NPR, please).

The story of why you don't exercise. The story of why you do and how that fits into your day. The story of how you think about it every day but still don't choose to put yourself first.

The story of how you take your coffee and how you hate those little disposable plastc cups in your single-serve coffee maker but how you love a hot cup each and every time.

The story of the moments of longing you feel at random points throughout the day. For something different, for something complete, for something you once had (or think you did).

The story of the moments of gratitude that pull you out of the mental funk - where you literally shake your head as a means of erasing the mental spiral.

The story of how you walk into your office building each day and are, like clockwork, greeted by the same older gentlemen who looks you in the eye and smiles or who barely acknowledges your existence.

The story of why you often skip lunch or why you eat the same thing at the same time each and every day.

The story of the things on your desk. Bills to be paid. Invoices to be filed. Hand-drawn ideas to be added to the bigger list. Lists piled on other lists, some things crossed off with a thick black pen, others with a thin red marker, but many simply waiting.

The story of your commute. In the car. On the bus. On the train. Is it long or short or beautiful or do you wish it away for some other life?

The story of the things you are working on - work stuff, life stuff. What's rattling around in your brain during these seven days in your life? What is consuming you? What do you wish you were consumed with?

The story of how you walked past a family in the grocery store, smiled at the Mom as she wrangled a toddler into the cart, and wondered what their lives were like.

The story of what you are reading. The story of what you are watching. The story of how you have so very little time for either. The story of how Candy Crush is your saving grace after a long day of stress and arguments and discomfort.

The story of waiting for your oldest child in the parking lot of the middle school and saying a silent prayer for a report of a good day, a happy smile, a sparkle in his eyes, a conversation - however brief or rote.

The story of homework, or the lack of, and a comparison to your experience growing up.

The story of how multiple times throughout the day you quickly contemplate dinner options but never settle on anything specific until the kids are past the point of needing to be fed and how you decide that popcorn, cheddar chesse and apples is always a very good idea.

The story of how your daughter recounts her kindergarten day in all it's glory and how the cast of characters seems to multiply exponentially as each day goes by.

The story of the hilarious amounts of junk mail you receive and how it's a sign of the times we live in.

The story of how your cat plops down on the hardwood floor after a long day adventuring around the neighborhood and meows until you rub his belly.

The story of why you chose one path instead of another on your evening walk becuase you know one includes more flowers.

The story of what's in your refridgerator and how you feel about it. Do you care a lot about what you eat or a little? Do you plan all your meals in advance or fly by from moment to moment? Is there very litttle in there because you regularly eat out? What's your favorite snack to reach for right now and why. Tell me more.

The story of your lonliness.

The story of your exuberant joy.

The story of your current fears and how on particularly bad days you imagine you are the only person on the planet with these fears and on particularly good days you know they ebb and flow and you'll work through them just like most other people do.

The story of the movie of the day, carefully selected via a negoation betweeen the 5 year old and the 12 year old.

The story of how you drink decaf tea with a touch of milk at the kitchen table after the rest of the family has gone to bed and how you give thanks for the real life you lived today.

What stories will you tell next week? 

Week In The Life™ 2014 | The Really Big Getting Ready Post

Next week you're invited to join me in documenting seven consecutive days in your life.  

This will be my 9th time embarking on a Week In The Life™ project. 

Last year I shared a look back at spreads from each of my past albums - you can read about that here.

Each year I take a little time before starting my new week to look back on the previous year. 

As I looked through last years album (2013) my number one question was "where are the words?" 

Of course there are some there. Little bits of life, which I love and appreciate. But I think the reality is that I slacked off on that last year - maybe that's not exactly the right phrase or way of looking at it. I can't remember if it was because I was tired, bored, too busy, depressed, in a hurry or just wanting to leave the words out, but when I looked at that album I felt like there were details missing. I felt like I missed an opportunity. 

As I was writing this out I went and looked at my daily blog posts from last year - I actually wrote more words there vs. what got added to my album. Interesting.

Now when I come across something like that I don't beat myself up. I make a note and set an intention to do something differently the next time around. 

Hello next time. 

I want the words to go along with the photos. Period. I'm the only person that can make that happen in my albums. 

Just saying it out loud to myself, and to you guys, will help me make it a priority once again this year. 

Here's a look at some thoughts as we get closer to documenting the week: 

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT NEXT WEEK

1. I will be sharing my words and photos each day on my blog. Monday will be shared on Tuesday and so on. My main intention next week is to simply document. I save the creative stuff for after the documentation period so I can focus on that portion of the project first and foremost. Really all you need for next week is a camera and a way to write down what's happening (pen, computer, etc). You might also want to have an envelope for each day of the week if you want to include other papers and such that you might collect over the course of the day. 

2. Some people like to get their album set up in advance. If you are one of those people, go for it! I don't generally do that for this project, as I mentioned above, but as with all these creative projects I encourage you to embrace what works for you. 

INTENTION LIST

This year I've had some thoughts in advance of things I know I want to capture. Most years I just charge up my camera battery, print out the Daily Sheets (an 6x8 version will be available later today), and go for it. Download the 6x8 Daily Sheets here.

Lately I've been thinking about things (stuff, routines, etc) that maybe I haven't photographed or written about lately. I like photos that show the things I'm using, the stuff that's part of our lives. Many of the photos answer the question, "what makes up the stuff of my life right now?"

Here's a few things I know I want to capture with my lens: 

the contents of my bag (my current go-to stuff)face front shots of each kid against the white wallcards with each of our ages on it - maybe a favorites card for each of usa family shot of the three of us (me, Simon and Anna)shots of basic stuff: toothpaste, the kind of bread we eat, fridge with the doors open, etc. 

Why the basic stuff? Because it changes. Because it's interesting to see in 5, 10, 20 years. I would love to see photos of that kind of stuff from when I was a kid - what were we eating, what were we wearing, what were we listening to, etc. 

PLEASE REMEMBER | This is not a race to see who can take the most photos. You don't have to take a photo of every little thing every single day. 

Because, seriously, who needs that many photos? 

That said, I definitely use this week as an opportunity to take more photos than I normally do of our everyday lives. Without a doubt every single time I do this project I get some photos that I absolutely love. 

ACTION LIST

1. Think about what you'd really like to capture during this week. What photos do you really want to take? What stories are you on the lookout for?  

2. Download and print the Daily Sheets. I thought about re-working these but when I sat down to look at them I felt like they still cover the things I want to focus on - they are a great starting place for writing stuff down. 

3. If you ordered the kit, take some time to look through it and see which cards you might want to use during the week (vs. ones you'd fill in after). There's a couple in there that are good jumping off points for stories to tell during the week. 

4. Consider purchasing the Week In The Life™ layered templates (in 6x8 or 8.5x11) or the 4x6 printable cards/overlays (these are great if you just want to include pieces of this project in Project Life®). See below for more details on those sets.  

5. Charge your camera battery. I tend to use my bigger camera vs. my phone during this week. I usually include a few phone photos but most tend to be with my 5D. If you print photos at home you might also want to check your ink levels to see if you need to order more ink. 

6. Get your head in the right place. This isn't a competition. This isn't about who has the best or the most or crafting the perfect story of your perfect life, this is about documenting what is real in your life at this point in time via words and photos and intentional embellishments. You are not going to get in trouble if you forget to take photos or write things down. If you find you forgot at one point or another it's no big deal, just start where you left off. Every year someone leaves a comment that they woke up and forgot to take photos on Monday morning so they end up bagging the entire project. That is not what this is about. 

SUPPLIES TO CONSIDER

Here's some supplies to consider using to tell the stories of your week: 

UPDATED DESIGN PLAN | I've updated my initial design plan to accommodate two styles of page protectors that were included with the album. You can download that on the pre-order page here. Click on the orange link that says "click here to download sketch."

KIT | Many of you have purchased and received the Week In The Life™ kit. Obviously this isn't a requirement for participation. If you are still interested there are a few kits still available here. 

DIGITAL PRODUCTS | New sets are available this year in a 6x8 and 8.5x11 versions (see below for a 4x6 option) that include PSD and PDF and PNG files. I'll share a tutorial on how I used the layered templates when I share how i put my album together. You can view my 2013 layered template tutorial for Week In The Life™ here (it uses a previous template set but gives you the basic idea).

Here's a look at what's included in both the 6x8 and 8.5x11 digital packages:

These packages include a PDF of the 7 main weekday pages (without the grey box). 

This is for easy printing if you want to print out the pages and then add a photo, journaling or other embellishments directly on top. 

Here's what the PDF pages look like printed out on Epson Matte Presentation Paper: 

Also included in the package are 7 photo collage pages: 

You can mix and match these within your album. 

Here's a look at both pages together (using photos from last year): 

WEEK IN THE LIFE™ IN PROJECT LIFE®

If you are looking to incorporate this project into your Project Life® album you might be interested in the Week In The Life™ 4x6 PNG/PDF set. 

These files can be printed via the PDF or you can add the PNG files directly on top of your photos:

I used this idea last year (using the 2013 templates) and here's how that turned out: 

You can read the full post about putting that together here. 

You can scroll through all my past Week In The Life™ project posts in the archives here. 

I'm really looking forward to embarking on this adventure again. I learn something new about myself each and every time.

Questions? Excited? Nervous? Let's do this together!

Mentor Mom | Traditional Scrapbook Layout

For the last year or so I've been writing an article for each issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today magazine. 

Today I'm sharing a layout which was included in the 
Fall issue which you can download/view for free here or have a hard copy delivered to your home. 

I really enjoy working with the SCT team - they are very professional, dedicated and willing to let me share my own personal take on this crazy memory keeping adventure. 

In this issue I wrote about scrapbooking the mentors in your life and shared three layouts. You can download bonus items from this article (including the journal card and "mentor" cut file I used on all three of the layouts) 
here. 

The layout I'm sharing today is a 2-page, 8.5x11 spread that documents the ways my Mom has mentored me through the years. 

I seem to have a common theme lately of these enlarged full page photos + journaling on the second page (or in this case on the first page). It's not really a new thing, just something I'm personally really loving right now. 

In addition to the
journal card (I added my text in Photoshop and printed on white cardstock) and die-cut "mentor" title cut with the Silhouette, I added some letter stickers, a couple strips of pattern paper, and sticker phrases. 

The gold stars are rub ons are from Jenni Bowlin and they are awesome.  

I just rubbed a portion of them onto the bottom of the journal card after printing it out on white cardstock. 

I still love rub ons. 

Around the outer edge of both pages I added strips of gold polka-dot vellum from My Mind's Eye. 

It's a really easy way to bring two pages together. 

The gold rub-ons were repeated on a punched half-circle and paired with a chipboard "make magic" banner and Anna and my Mom's initials. 

IDEAS & INSPIRATION 
Cut strips of pattern vellum (or pattern paper) to create a border around the outside edges of a 2-page spread. Focus on the story first. Who is one of your personal mentors? Write the story of that relationship and then find a photo to go along with it. If you don't have a "perfect" photo to support the story, take a new one of something that represents the relationship or just create a no-photo layout. Line things up. Look back up at the full 2-page spread. I intentionally lined up the top of the pattern paper strip on the first page with the horizon line on the photo. The horizon line in the photo gave me a good starting place to start that grouping of pattern paper strips, journal card and title. Check out my article about scrapbooking your mentors in the Fall issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today for more ideas and inspiration. 
SUPPLIES

Click on the images below to link to the products used in this project.

InLinkz.com

Hello Again

In the last 15 days I've been on 15 different airplanes. 

From Eugene to Portland to Miami to Lima to Iquitos to Cusco to Guayaquil to Baltra (Galapagos Islands) to Bogota to Miami to LA to Eugene (and back and forth between a few of those). 

The travel within the travel. That's a lot of time on airplanes. Enough time to read three books (more on those later) and play a whole lot of Candy Crush. 

It feels strange to be back in my house. Amidst my stuff (oh how that desire to purge is in high gear again) and the regular routines of life. 

Huge, running hugs from my kids. Home. 

I've been lucky to be able to travel with Jim West of ScrapMap over the last four years - each trip leaving a million little memories on my heart and mind. Each trip punctuated by my own personal thoughts and feelings and emotions about where I'm at in my own life. 

People travel for all kinds of reasons. 

For me it's another opportunity to learn about the world (via sights and sounds and tastes), to do things I'm afraid of, to deepen relationships with my fellow adventurers, and often to reflect on the life I'm living back home. 

And oh yeah, have some fun. 

I'll be sharing more from this adventure in the coming weeks. 

So as I settle back in I want to say thanks for sticking around even when I wasn't blogging regularly. The break from access to the internet was good for me. 

I know it was a bit of a crazy time to be gone as there is a whole lot of stuff happening around here in the next couple of months. In case you've missed it here's a run-down of what's coming up: 

Week In The Life™ begins on October 27th and people who ordered kits have started receiving them. If you get yours in the mail and you notice that the page protectors have a couple different pocket configurations (specifically a 2x2 pocket page), never fear, I'll have an updated design plan available soon that uses those as a substitution (you know how I love to go with the flow). As usual, I will be sharing my words and photos throughout the week right here on my blog. Also as usual, you don't have to have a kit to participate. It's so much more about the words and the photos and I'll share more thoughts on my documentation goals for this year next week. Digital templates for 2014 are now available for those of you who like to incorporate those into your project as well.  Lens Of Joy, my newest 4-week workshop, begins November 1st and this one is all about my photography processes and looking through the lens. You can read more about this workshop here. I'm super excited about this content.  December Daily® kits for 2014 are now available. We hope to have "real-life" images available soon (including the albums) vs. the digital mock-ups (which at least gives you an idea of what you'll see in the kit). We also have a limited number of 2013 December Daily® kits available here.  The October Story Stamp™ is also now available and this month's theme is Get Real. If you are a current subscriber you can access the education content while you wait for your stamps to arrive (click on your user name and then select My Classes). 

I also wanted to send out a general thank you to everyone as we all acclimate to this new site. I don't intend for it to always be like this - having Week In The Life™, a workshop, and December Daily® this close together is a little crazy-making (oh yeah and a 2+ week trip out of the country on top of that). I'm excited to get back into the routine of sharing layouts and projects and stories.  

Video | A Closer Look At The 2014 Week In The Life Kit

Hey everyone! It's Katie. Ali is off traveling in Peru right now, and I wanted to pop in and share this video. This video will give you a closer look at the items that are available in the first ever Week In The Life Kit. 

Week In The Life will be happening October 27- November 2nd. We can't wait to see what you all create with this kit! 

If you would like more information on this project click here. 

Week In The Life Digital Products are now available in the shop! 

Two sizes of layered templates are offered this year: 6x8 and 8.5x11, as well as 4x6 overlays and some Week In The Life themed word art. 

AE Digital Creative Team + Shop Update

We are so excited to announce the members of the new AE Digital Creative Team!

Celine NavarroPaige Taylor EvansGinny HughesPam BaldwinCarly RobertsonKelly SchmidtSasha FarinaTrisha Harrison Emily WebsterAnnette HaringStephanie BaxterTeresa VictorLindsay BatemanDonya Gjerdingen Cristina C.

You will be seeing a lot of inspiring projects coming from these ladies very soon. Thank you to everyone that applied. We really loved seeing all of your projects in our inbox.

SHOP UPDATES 

DIGITAL PRODUCTS |  We have several new digital brushes available including these Daily Photos and Stories Boxes in the shop here.

ART PRINTS | We have released 7 art prints, 4 of which are gold foil. We have some holiday themed prints, as well as ones that can hang in your house all year round. Check them all out here.

2014 December Daily® Kit | Available for Pre-Order Now

Are you ready to start thinking about the holidays?

I'm actually not ready whatsoever (focusing on Week In The Life first which is happening October 27th though November 2nd this year.) 

But I do have one very favorite holiday tradition that just tends to work best when you plan ahead: December Daily®

This year I'll be using a kit of supplies that for the first time will be sold right here on my new website. It is available for pre-order now.  I'm so excited about this. 

I'll have much more info in the coming weeks including sharing my foundation pages just as I have in years past - which will likely happen in the beginning of November.

You can learn more about creating a December Daily® album and view all of my past albums here.

China 2013 | The Photos, Part One

As I get ready to head out on another crazy adventure I've had a few people ask, "Did you ever post about your China trip?"

Good question! I didn't. Not because I didn't want to but because, you know, time gets away. 

First of all, it was awesome.

Where do I even begin?

I took 1982 photos with my DSLR (aka my "big" camera) on my two week trip to China last November.

I took 290 with my iphone.

Aaron took about 1700 photos all with his iphone.

Total photos in my China folder in Aperture: 3975 (before editing)

That could be the most I've taken on a trip but I don't think I've recorded any of the numbers in the past.

Here's how I tackle starting to even scratch the surface of those photos: 

STEP ONE | Look through all the photos. Delete the ones that are absolutely terrible - totally black, really extra blurry, really bad facial expressions, multiples of the same thing x10. This trip I shot in manual with my DSLR so I had multiples of quite a few photos that were either way too light or way too dark (so thankful I can learn via digital where I can actually see the mistakes I'm making). I'm pretty ruthless when it comes to deleting. I really don't need to have five of the same photo. Really. 

STEP TWO | Decide what to print. For this travel album I'm using an album from Basic Grey but I haven't tackled that at all yet.I don't print everything. I mainly look for my favorites or ones that really move the travel story forward. Could be favorite memories or monuments or something totally random. I'll choose a few to enlarge to the full page size in the album but I haven't made any of those choices yet. 

I started going through which photos I wanted to share here and it's quite a process in and of itself. For this post I started adding in photos until I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. I'll do a Part Two with the rest of the trip sometime soon. 

Here's a look at the first part of our China adventure from November 2013: 

Our trip began with an overnight in San Francisco. It happened to be my 38th birthday.

And in case you didn't know, I love experiencing the world so it was a pretty fun way to celebrate. 

Aaron came along with me on this trip. 

Meeting someone who also loves experiencing the world was important to me. He is a darn good travel companion. 

Our hotel room in Beijing. 

The view when we woke up. We were super lucky with some very blue sky days in Beijing.

On these trips we tend to travel by bus. In the case of the China adventure we also took two or three flights within China as we moved from location to location.

So many great people joined us on this trip. 

We actually had amazing weather on this trip. Blue skies for days. 

I can't even fathom how old everything is there. 

I took a lot of shots of rooftops. The details were insane. 

Someday I'd like to get really good at photographing people I don't know. It's something I thought a lot about while we were there. So many weathered faces. So many faces with stories I wondered about. 

The Great Wall was so, so cool. 

Standing on the Great Wall, looking out, I saw this: 

The night market. We had just one adventurous eater in our group - that would be Barry. He ate a snake among other things. 

Just so beautiful. All of it. 

I loved walking down this long walkway and watching all the people playing games. Their faces. Their laughter. There was even singing. 

Looking back. 

A page in my travel journal. 

A group rickshaw ride that was one of my personal favorite moments. The air. The sounds. Being there. It was one of those memories you feel with your whole body. 

The Summer Palace. 

How can you not smile when looking at these people. 

The Birds Nest at the Olympic park. 

I'm a Chinese food fan so I was perfectly happy to have it breakfast, lunch and dinner.  

Visiting the Terra Cotta Warriors. 

Oh there's still so much more. 

Another day friends. 

PS | Did you notice we did a Shop update yesterday? I've now got four new clear stamp sets (Birthday, Celebrate, Photos, and Thanks) and a few of my other go-to products available in the Shop. You can see it all here. 

What's Real Right Now

Here's a look at what's real around here right now:

1. I set my alarm for 5am this morning to get up early and get some stuff done before getting the kids up for school. I pushed the snooze button 8 times and ended up getting up after 6am. Waking up in the dark again seems to be a tough adjustment for me. Hello Fall. 

2. I'm currently working on content for next month's Story Stamp™. The reviews were really positive about this month, which is awesome. Thank you. There's still time to join the subscription and get this month's stamp set if you're interested. 

3. I have zero desire to cook anything. I did pin these muffins yesterday. I'm hoping after I get home from Peru I'll be back in the cooking mode, which usually amps up for me during this time of year. 

4. I'm still coughing. I've got one of those colds that just won't go away. I've been getting to bed early which has been good and smart, but it's making it so I have less consistent blog posts right now. Thanks for hanging in there while I make it through this phase. 

5. I'm feeling way too attached to my phone again and my kids are feeling way too attached to their screens again too. Time for a recalibration for all three of us. 

6. I really like Aaron. 

7. I did end up printing Project Life® photos last weekend which made me really happy (I had posted a message on Facebook that went something like this, "I will print Project Life® photos today. I will print Project Life® photos today.") I also did a whole lot of nothing this past weekend which made me really happy as well. 

8. I'm feeling that desire to do a major unloading of "stuff" again. It tends to happen to me when the seasons change and/or when I'm really busy and there is literally no time to make it happen. 

9. Emotionally, I feel really good. It's up and down for me and right now happens to feel pretty darn good. I'll take it. 

10. I want to scrapbook/make layouts. I'm in a place right now where a lot of my time is going into designing products and writing content, which is awesome and something I like, but it's funny how when I get really busy all I want to do is make layouts. 

11. Usually by this time of the year Chris and I have the holidays all figured out but this year we've both been busy and haven't had a chance to get it squared away. Which I'm totally okay with. This year I think I might just stay home and sink into this place a little more. I was thinking last weekend as I sat on the couch how much I love just being here. I like the concept of "sinking in" in a meaningful, be-present sort of way. Accepting it for what it is and letting it shelter me. I guess it's a little like letting it do it's own job for me (vs. me trying to make it into something else).

12. Time for me to take a shower. Have a great day. 

Digital Creative Team Call & Designer Digitals Quarterly Sale & Fall Issue Of Scrapbook & Cards Today Magazine

All kinds of little & big things to let you know about today. 

FIRST | I've still got hundreds (maybe more) of digital products for sale over at Designer Digitals and this weekend everything is on sale 40% off. My collection over there represents many years of work and I'm happy to be able to continue to still offer it for sale. 

SECOND | I'm looking for a small group of memory keepers who are interested in using my new digital products on their projects to be part of my new Digital Creative Team (can be digital or hybrid or traditional - or a mixture of all three). If you are competent & creative using digital/printable products and are interested in having your work seen on my site, send Katie 2-3 layout/project samples (katie@aliedwards.com) + links to your blog and any social media outlets your currently use. Please put "AE Digital Creative Team" in the subject of the email. Deadline to submit is October 1, 2014. 

You can check out all my new digital products here. 

THIRD | The Fall issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today magazine is now available for online viewing - or you can subscribe to get a real paper copy in your mailbox. My article this month is about documenting the story of your mentors (and it includes a cut file + journal card download). Check it out here: http://www.scrapbookandcards.com/current-issue