Ali Edwards's Blog, page 215

Project Life® 2014 | Week Seventeen & The Long Haul Memory Keeping Attitude

Happy Thursday!

Today I’m sharing a look at Project Life® 2014 | Week Seventeen.

Here’s what was on my mind as I was working on this spread: I’m in this for the long haul.

That’s my memory keeping attitude.

Not because it’s my job, but because it’s what I love.

A long haul attitude helps keep things in perspective. Here’s what it means to me:

For Project Life® it means that some weeks have a lot of content and some have less. There’s an ebb and a flow. I think sometimes I’ve “felt bad” (it’s all relative people) that I used “filler cards” (cards with designs on them and no room for journaling/adding more than a few words) vs. a story or antidote or something personal. That’s just silly (and evidence of another time I set up rules for myself). I’m over it now because I’m focusing on the bigger picture. The bigger picture is that it’s not any single week or spread that means the most to me – to me it’s being able to flip through and watch the progression of time and celebrate the whole of it.
For photography it means that sometimes I’m obsessed with capturing life through a lens and other times I just let it go. The common denominator though, is a general consistency in photo taking as a lifestyle. Taking pictures has really simply become a part of my life and I’m okay with the ebb and the flow. It’s habit and routine. Sometimes I get out of the habit for a week or so and that’s totally cool too because I’m in it for the long haul. This became super apparent to me the other day when I was looking for photos for the If This Table Could Talk post. Even when I had a whole lot less photos in one month or another, there was still something there. Those photos are memory triggers, story threads and I’m so thankful I have anything at all.
It’s not about keeping up, it’s about recording the stories that matter most. A long haul attitude means that those stories that matter most often bubble up to the surface. I’ve noticed as I work through Project Life® it actually helps me identify the longer stories I want to tell (either in those albums or in my traditional albums). From there I usually start a post on my blog, get that long story recorded and then make a layout from it when I have a chance.
As mentioned above, I’m on the lookout for stories – a single event, a conversation, a pattern, an experience, a perspective. I’m on the lookout for the things that make my life mine – some of those stories are common life experiences and some of them are very unique to my own life experience.

A long haul attitude helps me let go of the pressure to “keep up” and allows me to enjoy telling the stories, enjoy taking the photographs and then enjoy the process of bringing them all together.

I’m excited for the stories I still have to share from the past and for the stories I’ll experience in the time still to come and for the stories that bring the two together.

#scrapbookingmatters

Here’s a look at Week Seventeen:

This spread includes product from the main Studio Calico Penny Arcade Project Life® kit, the High Striker kit and the July 4th Card Set (gold heart – love this one particularly).

As you’ll notice I used a few more “filler cards” (these things need a new name – I think it’s the word “filler” that makes me feel like it’s “less than” or “fluff” vs. actually contributing to the overall story) this week which is part of what spurred my thoughts about the long haul above.

Okay so, Copic Markers. There’s lots of people out there who do really fancy things with them but I am really enjoying them for just writing out words. The set I’m currently using is a Ciao 12-pack with basic colors.

I created a layered journal card with a black and white printed background + white cardstock stitched on top with pink thread.

I don’t always change my thread. Pink worked here.

I’m letting it go that there aren’t more words here.

Those so much I could say. At the very least for me is adding a bit of writing on the photos. I wrote more about that in my post for Week Ten.

Those gold embellishments are puffy stickers and they are so cool. I used them on almost every card/photo this week.

ACTION ITEMS/IDEAS

Be in it for the long haul. There is so much good that comes from documenting our lives whether you are writing out a long story or playing with paper and pretty embellishments as you jot down a note or two about your day.
Let it go. What memory keeping hang up can you let go of this week that will help you move forward and tell a more complete story?
Include different visual perspectives. Don’t forget to take photos from both a close up and a far away point of view. I love seeing the combination of the two in this spread.

SUPPLIES | 2014 | WEEK SEVENTEEN

Click on the images to link to the products.

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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.

Thank You Technique Tuesday | New Adventures Await

Hey guys!

Yesterday an announcement was made that Technique Tuesday and I are ending our licensing relationship. This means the end of the Studio AE stamp subscription program and the end of stamps designed by me and manufactured/sold by them.

I am grateful for the opportunity to have worked with Technique Tuesday over the last 6 years. Their attention to detail and quality is something I appreciate and I wish them nothing but the best.

If you would like to purchase any of my stamp sets (once they are gone, they are gone) here’s some links to get you to the right place:

You can purchase any remaining AE stamp inventory from Technique Tuesday here, here, or here. You will know that the stamps were designed by me if the name of the products include my name.
You can purchase any remaining Studio AE stamp sets from Technique Tuesday here.
Scrapbook.com has some sets available here.
Simon Says Stamps has quite a few sets available here.

Some of my personal favorites that are still available include the following:

WHAT’S NEXT | Good stuff! There’s some cool things on the horizon that I’ll be sharing here in the next couple of months. I’m excited. I’m focused. And I’m so ready for the next phase of this adventure!

If you want to stay up to date with what’s coming next you can:

sign up for my newsletter
sign up to have my blog posts delivered to your email
follow me on Facebook and/or Twitter

Thank you so much for your continued support of my products! My goal has always been (and continues to be) to create things that will help you tell the stories of your life.

If This Table Could Talk

Today I want to celebrate this spot: our dining table.

This round black table hasn’t been around forever. In fact it was purchased in January 2012, a few months after Chris had moved out. The previous long rectangle table we owned together fit better in his house and I was open to getting a new one.

A fresh start for new stories.

Along the way I purchased some chairs from Ikea and the grey couch from Overstock.com (originally purchased for another room until I wondered if it would fit in this spot) which is definitely the favorite feature of the kids and the cat.

I love this space.

It gets used every day for meals, for conversation, for homework, for coloring, for reading. I love the windows that wrap around and the different light that comes in over the course of the day. I love opening the windows when it’s pouring rain just to hear the sound as it comes down through the trees and onto the patio or on those early days of spring and summer to bring in fresh air.

This table has seen and heard many things. Harsh words and kind words. Tears and laughter. Giggles and jokes between siblings. It’s been piled on and spilled on more times than I can count in it’s life with us. It’s been a resting place for adults and kids alike.

I take at least a couple photos there every month because it’s such an anchor in our lives.

Sometimes a kid or two is sitting there doing whatever it is they are into at the moment. Sometimes there’s simply evidence of our existence: books, computers, the newspaper, or a set table waiting for companionship. Sometimes I’ll place my camera on the kitchen counter and use the timer to make sure I’m captured in the mix.

The things we own are pieces of our stories.

If this table could talk it would tell stories of breakfasts, lunches, snacks, dinners, drinks consumed, old and new friends, lives shared, computers, newspapers, coffee, hot cocoa with marshmallows, coloring books, homework, Santa letters, cut flowers, plans made, books read aloud, laughter, tears, laughter that turns to tears, birthdays, wishes, legos built, taxes, best part of the day/worst part of the day sharing, strategies for getting Simon to try more foods, secrets whispered, frustrations expressed, forgiveness granted, Anna jumping up and down on the couch and me telling her to sit on her bottom (over and over again), holidays celebrated, songs sung, manners taught and re-taught, one too many bean & cheese tostadas to ever count and so much more.

 

Is there a story you can tell about a piece of furniture or an area in your house? What stories would that piece/space tell if it could talk?

And The Giveaway Goes To…

GIVEAWAY | ONE (1) person will win a July Our Adventure Kit from Scrapbook Circle.

#327 | Daisie Hanson said…This is a fantastic prize! They have such a great site and the kits are gorgeous! Hope I win!!

Congratulations Daisie! Please email Katie with your contact information.

 

 

Around Here | Scrapbook Layout With A Whole Lot Of Words

Happy Monday!

Did you guys know that scrapbook magazines that you can hold in your hot little hands are NOT dead?

For some reason that kept coming up this past week with the close of Two Peas and the general sentiment that the world as we know it is ending.

I’m here to tell you that scrapbooking is not dead.

Really and truly.

It’s been around a lot longer than any of us and it will continue on into the future. It might not be the same as it was eight years ago or last week, but it will survive as long as people are interested in telling their stories with photos and words and products that support those stories. It might look completely different next week or next year or ten years from now but it won’t die.

Thank God. Because people, this memory keeping stuff keeps me sane.

Now back to the topic of magazines.

There’s a really nice magazine available that you might not know about called Scrapbook & Cards Today that gives you the option of paying to have a magazine shipped to your door OR you can download it for free (yes, that says free) and read it on a digital device.

They are a quarterly magazine (meaning 4 issues a year) and for the last year I’ve been writing a column for each issue called Stories With Heart. Most months my column includes three to four layouts and writing to support the subject.

Today I wanted to share one of the layouts with you guys that was featured in the current issue called Around Here:

These words came from this post.

A couple things you might notice right off the bat:

There are no photos.
There are a lot of words
There’s a really big title.

Now my guess is that some of you out there have written Around Here posts for your blog, or maybe you’ve considered it and never taken action. They are fun and easy to write because all you have to do is sit down and come up with a list of what’s happening in your own life right now. I try to include a combination of silly and serious and thoughtful and practical when I write these up. They are such a great way to capture a bunch of memories/moments/happening stuff all at once.

After I write up and post one of these they are then ready and waiting to be crafted into a scrapbook layout or added as an insert to Project Life®.

This time I decided to do a 12×12 layout.

I ended up creating a 12 inch x 12 inch page in Photoshop, copying and pasting my text into two text boxes, adding the little circles next to each paragraph and then printing directly onto the 12 inch x 12 inch cardstock on my Epson R2000.

One of my personal favorite things from the craft portion of this layout was using those giant Black Stamp Uppercase letter stickers from Me And My Big Ideas folded over the top and bottom edge of the cardstock.

The little chalkboard banners was included in a Studio Calico kit at one time. You can get as set of them here. I wrote on there using a white Sakura Gelly Roll pen.

Inside each circle I added a little embellishment. For this I really just went through the stash of stuff on my desk to collect a bunch of little things: hearts, stars, sequins, circle stickers, geotags, etc. My guess is you might have some of those things in your stash too.

On the embellishments in the second row I stapled them first and then adhered them to the card stock with mini glue dots because the stapler doesn’t fit all the way into the page.

Around the edge of the page (anywhere the letters weren’t going over the side) I added some orange washi tape. I have no idea who made that one. If you know I’m happy to link it up.

SUPPLIES | AROUND HERE

Click on the images to link to the products.

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Sponsored Giveaway | Scrapbook Circle

GIVEAWAY | ONE (1) person will win a July Our Adventure Kit from Scrapbook Circle.

ABOUT | This kit includes a variety of products from favorite companies including several Scrapbook Circle exclusives. This bright and cheerful kit will supply you with perfect products for documenting your adventures close to home or in faraway places.

We love designing and sharing our boutique style kits every month. We take much time and pleasure in curating each of the items that we include in our monthly kits. We love sharing daily inspiration and connecting with others who share our same desire to create + preserve memories.

We offer a single kit option plus subscriptions where kits are purchased at a discount.

SPECIAL OFFER | We are offering Ali’s readers a 20% discount off of their order now through the end of June.  Just use code ALI20 at checkout to receive the discount.

CONNECT | Blog | Shop | Instagram | Facebook | Pinterest

 

TO BE ENTERED into this giveaway please leave a comment below (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, June 29th. 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.

Project Life® 2014 | Week Ten + Tips For Adding More Words & Cutting Up PL Cards

Say hello to Project Life® 2014 | Week Ten (March 3rd through March 9th). You can check out all the new kits for July (called Penny Arcade) over at Studio Calico here: Scrapbook Kit | Project Life® Kit | Card Kit.

Today I wanted to share a few specific ideas for getting a few more words in a spread without including an insert with paragraphs of text plus a couple ideas for cutting up the PL cards and making them work for you. Both are things I do over and over again as I tell my stories and craft these spreads.

Here’s a look at Week 10:

I’m continually struck by the everyday-ness of these spreads – especially as I go back and play catch-up from earlier in the year. Sometimes I just write, man I’m thankful for these ordinary weeks. These kind of weeks are what make up the bulk of our lives.

CUT IT UP IDEA NO. 1 | Use a circle punch to punch out a sentiment. The “Stay cool” card was punched with a 2-inch circle punch. I often add a little staple to hold it in place.

ADD MORE WORDS NO. 1 | Write directly onto the pattern cards. I did that above in the middle left card. I wrote “let it go” using a Copic marker and then journaled below letting my words follow the flow of the design on the card. The words here simply talk about how the song was on repeat and Jimmy Fallon is awesome. Nothing profound – in fact it’s profoundly mundane and a piece of the everyday story right now and I love it.

ADD MORE WORDS NO. 2 | One of the simplest ways to add a few more personal details to your spreads is by hand-writing or adding text directly to your photos. It’s super easy to do in Photoshop before printing (or in an app on your phone) and even easier to do with a pen after the photo has been printed. Even just a little something makes it that much more personal. My favorite pens for writing on photos are the Precision Pens, Le Pen, Slick Writers, or the Staedler Lumocolor Permanent pens.

I also used my Messy Weekly Lines for the title card.

CUT IT UP IDEA NO.2 | Cut the top piece of one of the cards and stitch it onto another one. On the top of this one I stamped the “I love you more than all the stars” sentiment using Well Red ink. Sometimes I will cut off the top or bottom of a card and then use it on top of a photo for an option instead of writing directly onto the photo.

ADD MORE WORDS NO. 3 | Add more words by including words written by someone else. Here I added a slip of paper that was on the back of the photo of Anna holding the chalkboard (from her school auction). I love doing this with little notes she or Simon leave around the house too.

CUT IT UP IDEA NO. 3 | Cut the lined section from a 3×4 card and lay it on top of a pattern card to make room for words. There’s always a few lovely pattern cards included in most PL kits. If you don’t have any cards with lines you could just cut up a piece of white cardstock and add it to the center of the card to add a few more words to your week.

ADD MORE WORDS NO. 4 | A way to generate a few more words is to ask yourself one of these questions such as, “Why am I including this photo?” or “What’s important about this photo?” Sometimes there’s absolutely nothing vitally important about the photo and you might just like it. Perfect. By literally writing, “I just like this.” you are giving your reader a little some context vs. leaving them wondering why in the heck you included a photo of your salad. Other times there might be something important to be said – I added “love your creative spirit” to the photo of Anna painting (top right). I’m so thankful that memory keeping continues to be an opportunity to express and communicate love.

ADD MORE WORDS NO. 5 | Go around the outside of a circle on a card to add a few words that personalize your story. Let the sentiment be a prompt to spark some of your own words.

CUT IT UP IDEA NO. 4 | Take one of the sentiment cards and cut the words out and adhere them onto a photo (or a grouping of photos like I did here with the photobooth pictures).

ACTION ITEMS/IDEAS

Ask yourself how you can tell more of the story? Even if you don’t want to write paragraphs, what are ways you can add a few more details, memories, thoughts, observations to your pages? Maybe it’s writing with pen directly onto your photos or starting to ask yourself what’s meaningful about a particular photo and use that as the spark for your story.
Have fun. That’s it. It’s so simple and man aren’t we lucky we get to be alive and play with words and photos and stuff?

Have a great weekend!

SUPPLIES | 2014 | WEEK TEN

Click on the images to link to the products.

InLinkz.com

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.

Last Call For One Little Word® 2014 Workshop Registration

Just a quick heads up today that I’ll be closing registration for the One Little Word® 2014 workshop on Monday, June 30th, 2014.

I generally leave registration open throughout the year and people continue to sign up here and there and join me on the journey to make our words visible throughout the year. To simplify things around here the last day to sign up for this year will be June 30th.

Upon registration you’ll have immediate access to the past 6 months of content – videos, handouts, printables, etc and you are welcome to join the thriving Facebook community as well.

It’s not too late to join the journey – people are at a variety of different places with their word. My goal is to support you through the process of making your word visible via simple creative monthly prompts.

More details and registration here.

Looking for a more scrapbook-focused workshop? Check out Yesterday & Today.

The End Of An Era | Saying Goodbye To Two Peas

Yesterday I learned that Two Peas In A Bucket was closing it’s website after 15 years.

It feels more than appropriate to issue a public thank you for the impact it made on my life.

Two Peas was always more than a shop for me, even though I purchased many supplies there over the years. I know this was true for a bunch of you as well. For quite some time it was my main online home – the place I went for memory keeping supplies, inspiration, education, conversation, industry updates and to share my own layouts.

It was the first place I became aware of what “modern” scrapbooking looked like (this was back in 2002 when I went searching for ideas for Simon’s baby book) and it opened up an entire new world for me.

I posted my first two scrapbook layouts there on December 10, 2002 (the one at the top of this post and the one right below).

It was the place I first met so many awesome people related to scrapbooking – including some who became very dear, life-long friends like Cathy Zielske and Carrie Colbert.

It was the place to go to find out what was happening in the scrapbook world (or speculation or gossip and sometimes mis-information as happens on the interwebs).

It was the place I got my start in the industry – sharing layouts as a member and then as part of the Garden Girl design team. I made so many friendships during those years.

I was less active over there the last five or so years as I spent more time working on my own projects and doing design work for other companies. Even then I still checked the General Scrapbooking message board at least three-four days a week to read what was happening.

I’m so thankful to Jeff and Kristina for their passion for memory keeping and for creating a place where we could connect and get inspired and purchase products online and learn stuff and tell our stories. I wish you guys all the best in whatever is next for you and your family.

It made a difference in my life.

I Love Watching You Play | Multi-Page Scrapbook Layout + Video Overview

Today I’m sharing a layout here and over on the Studio Calico blog that was inspired by a page in the Member Gallery by Pam:

It’s likely not much of a surprise to you guys that I like two-page layouts that incorporate a full-page photo. It’s hard to beat the visual impact that comes from an enlarged photo.

On Pam’s page I especially liked all the white space on the second page, the enlarged type (part of a phrase) and the stitched circles across the bottom and the top.

With those design elements in mind I looked at my list of layouts I want to make and decided to get the story of Anna’s first soccer season into layout form.

As you probably know by now, I like to blog many of my stories first and then turn them into layouts. Why? Usually it’s because I get more of the story told since I’m focusing on the words first and then creating a design to fit my words vs. making my words fit my design. Obviously I don’t do this for every story or every layout, but the ones where I tell a more complete story tend to be my favorites.

Here’s a look at what I came up with (video follows with a walk-through below):

This is a 4-page layout. Here’s a break down:

One full page 8.5×11 photo
One full page of pattern vellum + labels
One photo collage (front and back) that measures 5 x 11
One 8.5×11 page of journaling

The full page photo includes just a few embellishments added to the bottom left corner. These include phase stickers from the following sets: Pink Paislee Sunshine Collection, Studio Calico South Of Market Phrase Stickers, and Cosmo Cricket Punch Me Tiny Text.

In addition I added a little white star sequin attached with a small silver brad.

On the front side of the pattern vellum I added my title. The font I used is My Underwood (I say it wrong in the video).

When you turn the vellum over I’ve repeated the same label shape with a different collection of embellishments.

Using the punched out section of the gold-rimmed label (see video for visual) I traced the area and then cut it out of the Turnip The Beet pattern paper. On top of that I layered another sticker from the Pink Paislee set and added another star/brad combo.

I like repetition.

The next page in the layout is 2, 5 inch x 11 inch photo collages I put together in Photoshop. I printed them on photo paper and then adhered them back to back. For printing at home I use an Epson R2000.

After adhering the two photo collages back to back I slipped them into a 8.5×11 page protector. To make the page protector a custom size I placed it on my trimmer (with the photo page inside) and cut it, leaving about 1/4 inch of space along the edge. To seal up the page I used some star washi tape.

A single circle chipboard embellishment was added to the front of the photo collage. These were from an embellishment kit at Studio Calico that is no longer available.

The backside of the photo collage page includes a few more of the phrase stickers and another small white star/brad combo.

Along the edge I added a 2-inch plastic tab and stamped “just awesome” using my Just Awesome stamp set + Mint Hint ink.

And the last page is the full story. As I mention in the video below I originally intended to fit the journaling into about the same amount of space as Pam took up for her title in the inspiration layout. Once I started flowing my text in from the blog post it was obvious it was going to need more space.

I know including this much text isn’t for everyone, but man it has my heart.

VIDEO OVERVIEW

In case you are interested, the green Copic marker I used is from this set and the plain 8.5 inch x 11 inch vellum I used in the video that I didn’t end up incorporating into the layout.

SUPPLIES | LOVE WATCHING YOU PLAY

Click on the images to jump to the products.

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