Ali Edwards's Blog, page 213
July 30, 2014
Summer Adventuring | Part One
Our whirlwind week+ adventure came to a close last weekend.
I took a lot of photos. A lot.
And I'm so glad I did.
I'm going to break up the adventure into three posts because there were really three separate parts with a cast of characters that come in and out.
Our adventure started out with a 4-day camping adventure with my brother's family and a bunch of their friends. This is the same group we've been going with for three of the last four years and it's a treasured tradition. You can see photos from past years here (2011) and here (2012) - it's magic to look back through the years and see what's changed and what's stayed the same. These are usually some of my favorite photos of the year.
For this adventure I shot mostly with my DSLR and supplemented with my iPhone. On some of the photos I've added digital word art from the following sets available at Designer Digitals:
Summer Adoration
Summer Activities
Spontaneous Adventures
Camping
Camping for us began with a road trip.
We pulled off to the side of the road for this shot. I set my Canon 5DMKII on the dash with the 24-70 lens opened all the way for a wide shot and set the timer. Love these kind of in-the-car shots to start the adventure.
Camping is for fishing and wide open spaces and room to spread out.
Camping is for hanging out around the fire for hours on end both day and night.
Camping is for snuggling up in the tent.
Camping is for drinks around the fire.
Camping is for capturing relationships.
And celebrating family.
Camping is for storytelling.
Last year my cousin Rob and my brother introduced the kids to Shakey the Bear.
Shakey leaves notes and treats for the kids. They run like crazy when someone finds a note (like the one painted above) and usually find something cool waiting for them: bubble wands, bandannas, pop tarts, etc.
Camping is for hot dogs and for connecting with old friends.
Camping is for giggling.
Camping is for conversations about setting up an Instagram account to share lego guys camping adventures.
Camping is sometimes for digging clams.
And for eating them.
Camping is for getting in the water.
Camping is for checking stuff out.
And wandering.
Camping is for music during the day and at night.
Camping is for moments.
Camping rocks.
LOOKING FOR SOME PHOTO INSPIRATION THIS AUGUST? Susannah Conway invited me to contribute to her August Break project - a photo-a-day community event for the month of August. I think it's something many of you might have an interest in as you experience the month of August. Get all the details on this free month of prompts here.
July 29, 2014
Thank You Designer Digitals | More Business Changes
As I’ve hinted here and there over the last few months, I’ve been working behind the scenes on some changes to my business relationships and the ways in which my products are delivered.
This past weekend was my last release of digital products over at Designer Digitals. I’ve had a wonderful relationship with Katie and the Designer Digitals team for the last six years. You will continue to be able to purchase my full collection of current digital products from Designer Digitals for the next 18 months.
So what’s next?
Good stuff. I promise.
I will still be designing digital products and will have new sets available in a different location soon. Being vague is not my favorite thing – nor is saying, “coming soon!!!!!!!!!!!” – but trust me that everything is in the works.
This has been a year of adjustments and planning and getting things in place for the evolution of my business and brand. I love memory keeping and I love encouraging you guys to document and share and craft the stories of your lives.
As always I’m filled with gratitude for your support of my products, my writing, my journey and my family.
I can tell you that I’m very excited for this next phase and can’t wait to share with you what I’ve been working on for many months.
In the meantime, I’d love your continued support of my collection of products over at Designer Digitals. You can browse and shop my complete collection here: Ali Edwards at Designer Digitals.
New releases include those shown above: Spontaneous Adventures and Hello Life Vol. 2
PS | For those of you who’ve asked, Week In The Life™ is definitely coming again this fall. The date is in a bit of flux at the moment but I’m tentatively penciling in the week of October 27th. Hope you will participate along with me again this year. For more information on the basics of this project check out my Week In The Life™ page.
July 27, 2014
Project Life® 2014 | Week 15
Getting back in the swing of things around here just in time to hit the road for some work travel this week.
Bring on life!
Today I’m sharing Project Life® 2014 | Week Fifteen (April 7th through April 13th) which uses the Sandlot Project Life® kit from Studio Calico. You can check out all the new kits for August over at Studio Calico here: Scrapbook Kit | Project Life® Kit | Card Kit.
As usual I’m skipping around weeks, but this happens to be the last one in my first album for this year. I usually fit four months in one album for a total of three Project Life® albums each year. Some people probably have less and some have more depending on how you choose to approach it.
For this week I already had all the photos printed and in the pockets when I sat down to work with the kit. That’s not always the case but it’s the way I seem to be working lately. I’ve been going through and batch printing a bunch of photos all at once – sitting here at my desk and flipping through the page protectors (already in the album) and filling in the 4×6 photo spaces. I pretty much always start with those and then add in 3×4 photos if I have more.
This ended up being a pretty simple week in terms of craftiness.
Lots of handwriting on the photos which I’ve been into a lot recently. I like being able to easily add the words right onto the photos and use some of the other pockets for more stories of fun cards.
The “my brain has too many tabs open” card is the story of my mental existence. It comes in the kit as a 4×6 card that I cut down to 3×4 to fit this pocket.
Many of my photos includes lines that can be used for adding words directly via hand or with type before printing. On the photo above I used the lines on the house as a home for my words. I could have also used the lines in the raised garden beds or that white space on the shed.
I use Precision Pens most often for writing on my photos.
This week I used cards from the kit in addition to some of the printables available. “Let the good times roll” is included in one of the printable sets.
The “here” circle was printed and then punched with a circle punch.
I took this photo with the self-timer on my phone. Getting myself in the story continues to be a part of my process.
“Good vibes all around” is also part of a printable/digital PNG set available this month at Studio Calico. I placed it at the top of a 3×4 canvas in Photoshop to create this journal card.
“Shine” is from this printable/digital set.
ACTION ITEMS/IDEAS
Write on your photos. Yeah, you can type on there as well, but adding your own handwriting adds a very personal piece of yourself too. Look for lines in your photos and use those as guides/spaces for your words.
I’m also excited to share that Studio Calico has printed my Summer Journal Cards and they are available for purchase as a set! Grab yours here.
Project Life® is a product and a system and a lifestyle created by Becky Higgins. It can be anything you want it to be. The core pieces used in my album are available here. If you live outside the US check Becky’s site for more information on sources. View all my posts about Project Life® here.
Project Life® 2014 | Week 15
Getting back in the swing of things around here just in time to hit the road for some work travel this week.
Bring on life!
Today I'm sharing Project Life® 2014 | Week Fifteen (April 7th through April 13th) which uses the Sandlot Project Life® kit from Studio Calico. You can check out all the new kits for August over at Studio Calico here: Scrapbook Kit | Project Life® Kit | Card Kit.
As usual I'm skipping around weeks, but this happens to be the last one in my first album for this year. I usually fit four months in one album for a total of three Project Life® albums each year. Some people probably have less and some have more depending on how you choose to approach it.
For this week I already had all the photos printed and in the pockets when I sat down to work with the kit. That's not always the case but it's the way I seem to be working lately. I've been going through and batch printing a bunch of photos all at once - sitting here at my desk and flipping through the page protectors (already in the album) and filling in the 4x6 photo spaces. I pretty much always start with those and then add in 3x4 photos if I have more.
This ended up being a pretty simple week in terms of craftiness.
Lots of handwriting on the photos which I've been into a lot recently. I like being able to easily add the words right onto the photos and use some of the other pockets for more stories of fun cards.
The "my brain has too many tabs open" card is the story of my mental existence. It comes in the kit as a 4x6 card that I cut down to 3x4 to fit this pocket.
Many of my photos includes lines that can be used for adding words directly via hand or with type before printing. On the photo above I used the lines on the house as a home for my words. I could have also used the lines in the raised garden beds or that white space on the shed.
I use Precision Pens most often for writing on my photos.
This week I used cards from the kit in addition to some of the printables available. "Let the good times roll" is included in one of the printable sets.
The "here" circle was printed and then punched with a circle punch.
I took this photo with the self-timer on my phone. Getting myself in the story continues to be a part of my process.
"Good vibes all around" is also part of a printable/digital PNG set available this month at Studio Calico. I placed it at the top of a 3x4 canvas in Photoshop to create this journal card.
"Shine" is from this printable/digital set.
I'm also excited to share that Studio Calico has printed my Summer Journal Cards and they are available for purchase as a set! Grab yours here.
Project Life® is a product and a system and a lifestyle created by Becky Higgins. It can be anything you want it to be. The core pieces used in my album are available here. If you live outside the US check Becky’s site for more information on sources. View all my posts about Project Life® here.
July 20, 2014
And The Giveaways Go To…
GIVEAWAY | Two (2) People will win a 3 month kit subscription (July, August, September) from Freckled Fawn.
#103 | Cyndee K. said…Such an awesome giveaway! Love the enamel hearts! Thanks for a chance!
#409 | Marti Richards said…I love the stamp set from July’s kit! Thank you for the chance to win.
Congratulations! Please email Katie with your contact information.
July 19, 2014
Sponsored Giveaways | Freckled Fawn
GIVEAWAY | Two (2) People will win a 3 month kit subscription (July, August, September) from Freckled Fawn.
SPECIAL OFFER | If you become a kit subscriber, Freckled Fawn will include a pouch of embellishments ($20 value) with your first kit. Enter code “ALISUB” to take advantage of this awesome offer! Code expires on July 25th.
Freckled Fawn designs and manufactures happy craft embellishments. In addition to their online store full of goodies, Freckled Fawn also offers a monthly embellishment kit club that will encourage and inspire you to use up your personal paper stash.
CONNECT | Store | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest
TO BE ENTERED into this giveaway please leave a comment below and include your favorite embellishment from Freckled Fawn’s July Kit. (if you are reading this post on Facebook please come to my blog to leave a comment).
Comments will be closed at 8pm Pacific on Sunday, July 20th. The winners will be announced shortly after. Please be sure to check back or subscribe (click here to get posts delivered to your email box) to see if you are receiving one of the items.
July 18, 2014
Digital Product Releases | 07.18.14
Happy weekend!
I have three new products this weekend over at Designer Digitals.
But first, I want to highlight these Go Outside 3×4 Journal Cards (shown above) that were released a couple weeks ago. They would be great for documenting summer stories on a layout or in Project Life®. The package includes a printable PDF for easy printing and individual PNG cards for printing one at a time or digital scrapbooking.
Here’s a look at the three new releases:
Have a great weekend!
July 16, 2014
Go Out And Make Some Memories
Dear Lovely Readers,
It’s summer here and it’s awesome.
I’ll be taking the next week-or-so off to enjoy some uninterrupted time with my kids and family and friends. We’ll be going to the pool and camping and staying in our jammmies and eating watermelon and ice cream and being outside as much as possible.
You know, the good stuff.
Making memories.
Here’s to living life with our hearts & minds wide open.
Love to you all,
Ali
PS | Grab my popular self-paced workshop Scrapbook On The Road while it’s available for a limited time. Full details here. Also currently available is the self-paced version of Yesterday & Today. Full details for that content-rich workshop is available here.
PSS | The winner of the Cocoa Daisy giveaway is…
#146 | Jamie Greene said…Fun giveaway, I would love to try out there kits!
Congratulations Jamie! Please email Katie with your contact information.
Go Out And Make Some Memories
Dear Lovely Readers,
It's summer here and it's awesome.
I'll be taking the next week-or-so off to enjoy some uninterrupted time with my kids and family and friends. We'll be going to the pool and camping and staying in our jammmies and eating watermelon and ice cream and being outside as much as possible.
You know, the good stuff.
Making memories.
Here's to living life with our hearts & minds wide open.
Love to you all,
Ali
PS | Grab my popular self-paced workshop Scrapbook On The Road while it's available for a limited time. Full details here. Also currently available is the self-paced version of Yesterday & Today. Full details for that content-rich workshop is available here.
PSS | The winner of the Cocoa Daisy giveaway is...
#146 | Jamie Greene said…Fun giveaway, I would love to try out there kits!
Congratulations Jamie! Please email Katie with your contact information.
July 15, 2014
Christmas In July Sale At Designer Digitals
Now is a great time to stock up on Designer Digitals products during the Christmas in July sale.
View my complete collection of digital products – including printables, 3×4 cards, word art, layered templates and more here.
Here’s a look at my newest additions:
Diamonds Are Forever No. 3 | You can see how I used sets No. 1 and No. 2 in my Kauai photobook here.
