Ali Edwards's Blog, page 217

Yo Summer, Let’s Be Awesome

Ah, summer.

Around here we’re in that transitional phase when one season merges into another. Anna finishes school this Friday and Simon follows next Tuesday. Both keep asking over and over when they will be done.

Some people ease into these kinds of seasonal transitions, some people jump in feet first and some people fight it. I’m really just trying to embrace it.

This summer what I really want is LESS and SLOW.

I want to take the long way. Wander. Linger. I want to practice being slow and deliberate.

I want to walk and bike vs. taking the car whenever possible (and even when it’s not convenient).

I want to hang out in my backyard. I’d like to say “period” right there and have that be the one and only thing and just leave it at that, but there’s a bit more already planned for our summer.

A family camping trip, a camping weekend with friends. A business trip for me at the end of the month and another in late July. Camps for kids.

Basically, enough.

The last couple of years I’ve written up a manifesto and turned it into some sort of a memory keeping project. This year I’m just jotting down some ideas here and going with it – I’ve got enough memory keeping projects in process that adding one more feels counterproductive to my desires for the next few months.

Here’s a few thoughts about the next few months:

CREATE A SPACE | Designate an area in my yard for a fire pit. I bought one from Home Depot and it needs a permanent home in my yard. Now here’s the deal – knowing myself and my tendencies from time to time I might keep putting this off because what I can do right now might not be the perfect thing I have in my mind ( hello Pinterest inspiration ). I need to push through that and simply get it set up so we can use it spur of the moment vs. waiting for the whole set-up to be perfect. A couple of simple inspiration images from Pinterest can be found here and here.
A BIT OF ROUTINE. Simple daily chores and educational time for the kids. We like these Brain Quest workbooks plus daily reading/quiet time. In addition, Simon’s going to be charged with making a batch of cookies each week (teaching all kinds of practical skills) and I’m sure Anna’s going to want a part of that as well. Both kids will be attending a few different camps over the course of the summer. Simon’s signed up for a comic drawning/stop motion camp, a sailing camp, and a Harry Potter camp. Anna will be doing a local community center camp, a gymnastics camp, a ballet camp and a more traditional outdoor camp with some of her school friends. Both will also spend time with my parents for at least a week at Grandparents Camp (as we like to call it).
INVITE SLOW | This hammock and stand. Not really less (because it needs to be purchased) but it definitely invites slow and it will add another opportunity to spend more time doing nothing in the backyard.
CHOOSE LESS & SLOW. I’ve got a whole lot of work stuff happening this summer that might at times feel like the antithesis to less and slow. Ha. Forget “might” – “will” is more like it. I still want to be able to turn that intensity off and practice lingering in the evening when I’m done with my working day. Turn off the electronics. Ride our bikes to the pool. Lay out a blanket in the backyard grass and having a picnic dinner. Set up the projector and screen for a movie night in our backyard.
SLOW = FOCUS | Read one book at a time (vs. a bunch at the same time) from beginning to end. I’m currently consumed with Gone Girl.

I loved reading this fantastic post the other day that came along at just the right time for me (written by Courtney Carver at Be More With Less): The Greatest Secret To Productivity.

As I write this out I think the main thing I want to keep in mind is slow – even more than less. How can I take the slow route or the long way this summer and what happens when I do?

Have you taken some time to think about what you want in your life as the seasons change? I know many of you are in the Southern Hemisphere and are transitioning to a completely different season all together.

PS | I made some Summer 3×4 cards (printable and PNG) that were released at Designer Digitals last weekend. Grab them here.

Like the word art used at the top of this post? It’s available here.

PREVIOUS SUMMER MANIFESTO PROJECTS/INFORMATION

2012 Summer Manifesto (the handwritten version)
Bringing The Summer Manifesto To Life
Completed 2012 Album
 2013 Summer Manifesto Update

June Studio AE Blog Hop From Technique Tuesday

Welcome to the May Studio AE Blog Hop From Technique Tuesday.

Technique Tuesday offers a monthly stamp club that features a limited edition stamp set designed by me each month. You can check out past stamp sets (some are still available) here.

This month’s stamp set: Pure Magic

DIGITAL MEMORY KEEPER? | Similar sets of digital word art is available here: Hello You Sentiment Boxes, No Day Like Today Sentiment Boxes, This Is Magic Sentiment Boxes.

Here’s a look at my layout:

For this layout I started by looking through some of my current photos. I wanted to do an “early June” layout that included a few photos I could place behind those great chipboard frames from Crate Paper.

The “totally” love stamp (love the shape) was a great way to start my journaling for this page in the area next to the photos.

Brown stamping ink is Doc Brown. Background pattern paper is from Carta Bella (and was included in the Ni Hao add-on this month at Studio Calico).

It’s hard to see in this image but I did draw lines for my journaling using a Tim Holtz Distress Marker (Spun Sugar).

The journaling pen I used this time was a Staedtler Lumocolor Permanent pen. I wanted to try it after hearing Wilna talk about it on a recent Paperclipping episode. It’s a little thicker than I’ve been using lately but I liked it for sure – really nice for when you want a thicker, bolder journaling pen (this was the Fine point).

The wood veneer “June” is from Studio Calico’s Project Life® kit this month.

On top of the Crate Paper frames (and on a couple photos) I added white/clear stickers from Simple Stories, navy blue numbers from Pink Paislee to number each photo and pink and black label word phrase stickers from Cosmo Cricket.

One of the biggest things for me as I worked through this page was the decision to add the details strip along the bottom. I want to make sure I’m including some of those basic details (I could have added more). Sometimes it’s too easy to write in general terms and skip over the details (and vice versa) – I like when there’s a mixture of both.

This layout felt really old school to me when I was done. Not sure exactly how I feel about that, it is what it is in the end. Something about the placement of all the elements – probably especially the strips along the bottom reminded me of layouts I’ve made in the past.

ACTION ITEMS/IDEAS

Add more details. I couldn’t let this page get away from me without adding that detail strip along the bottom of the images/journaling. Yes, I could have included those in my journal block, but I liked having that space for more general thoughts and then getting a little more specific down below.
Use chipboard frames to create homes for your photos. There are a bunch of sizes included in this Crate Paper set.
Add more stuff. Now usually you hear me talking about keeping things simple, but sometimes it’s really fun to layer things on top of each other (it can still be simple). Here I layered different kinds of stickers on top of those chipboard frames and photos.

SUPPLIES

Click on the images to jump to the products.

InLinkz.com

 

CREATIVE TEAM

Check out what our Creative Team is doing with the stamps this month:

Laura
Nichol
Daniela
Teri

GIVEAWAY | We are going to give away one $25 e-Gift Card to TechniqueTuesday.com to someone who comments during the hop. To be eligible to win, all you need to do is comment on any of our blog posts! The lucky winner will be announced on the 21st on the Technique Tuesday blog.

Looking to reconnect with why you are a memory keeper? Check out my self-paced workshop Yesterday & Today (a re-release of a 12-week workshop that ran at Big Picture Classes in 2009 and 2011). Workshop includes a private Facebook group for support and interaction with others who are embarking on this workshop. Full details and registration here.

And The Giveaways Go To…

GIVEAWAY | TWO people will win one customizable YOU ARE AWESOME classic 8×10 poster

#30 | Megan Smith said…These are gorgeous! Thanks for the chance to win!

#94 | Terri said…The truth: you see your name and believe the words. Awesome giveaway. Thanks.

 

FIVE people will each win one set of YOU ARE AWESOME 3×4 Journal Cards – our new, colourful and beautiful 3×4 cards.

#201 | Laura BC said…Such a great way to remind ourselves we are special.
#23 | michelle t said…Wow, awesome art and website. Thank you for a chance to win.
#50 | Cassie said…How cool! Love this! Thanks for the chance!
#277 | mary williams said…Wow… there are soooo beautiful and I love how simply they are done but so powerful to look at! Adore the chance at winning one of those! Thank you Ali!!!
#102 | Sonya B said…Thanks for the opportunity to win! Awesomeness!

 

Congratulations! Please email Katie with your contact information.

You Are Awesome Co. Giveaway

GIVEAWAY | TWO people will win one customizable YOU ARE AWESOME classic 8×10 poster and FIVE people will each win one set of YOU ARE AWESOME 3×4 Journal Cards – our new, colourful and beautiful 3×4 cards.

YOUareAWESOMEco.com is the happy new home of personalized posters designed by artist Kal Barteski. In her words, “I believe seeing your name in print validates you in a way that moves you from the inside. It becomes your truth. It embodies you. Seeing is believing and believing in your own worthiness is a gift that will change your life.”

In other words, it feels good. Perfect for every occasion, the posters are inspiring ways to help people realize, share and celebrate their value + importance. Baby gifts, graduation gifts, wedding gifts, housewarmings, family celebrations, teacher gifts, birthday gifts – there’s a beautiful, meaningful, customizable poster to spread awesomeness.

Because WHEN YOU SEE YOUR NAME IN PRINT - you believe the words.

BIG NEWS | We are really excited to releasing the YOU ARE AWESOME 3×4 journal cards Series 1 on Ali Edwards’ blog! A brand new, colourful set of six tiny 3×4 inch cards are perfect for using in your pocket scrapbook and memory-keeping layouts! Positive messages + life’s memories.

Follow along on Instagram to be the first to see the series of new summer print releases and special messages. YOU ARE AWESOME.

CONNECT WITH YOU ARE AWESOME : WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | BLOG

 

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 8th. 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.

Anna’s Soccer Season Spring 2014

The Soccer Chocolate Kittens first season came to a close a few weeks ago.

And man it was so fun.

This was Anna’s first real soccer experience. She was on a team with other Pre-K girls from her school and they were in league comprised mainly of Kindergarten teams (meaning they were usually a little smaller and a little less coordinated/experienced than their competition). They played half-field, 3 on 3 matches – they had 6, 5 minute matches each game if I remember correctly.

At the team celebration dinner Coach Sid had this to say about Anna:

“This girl was the most creative player. She created a new move, the back kick, introduced all of us to the concept of a dog pile, and she was the best grass-eater on the team.”

That’s my girl!

From the first practice to the last game it was so fun to watch this group of girls learn about teamwork and friendship and some of the basic fundamentals of soccer.

Coach Sid (a parent of twin girls on the team) was awesome. One of the first things he did was teach the girls the concept of “tank full.” He would ask them, and they would ask each other, “Is your tank full?” If the answer was no they would give each other positive praise. It was such a great way to build each other up.

He was also the kind of coach that went up to each girl after the game and said something positive about their experience and told him he was so proud of them.

Needless to say I don’t think I’m alone in hoping he will volunteer again in the fall.

And she loved it.

Soccer at this level is really all about the basics. They learned so much from their first time on the field where they really had no clue what was happening to a few games in when things finally started to click.

I yelled “go to the ball” a lot.

I loved the chance to better get to know some of the other parents of the girl’s in Anna’s grade (there are two Pre-K classes at her school). I imagine, unless something changes drastically, that most of these girls will continue at this school until 8th grade.

It already feels like family.

Seeing that photo made me think of this one:

That’s me in 1984 (age 8 or 9).

And yes, I know I look like a boy.

I played competitive elite soccer starting around age 6 (I think) until about age 12 or 13 (junior high) when I needed to decide between swimming or soccer because both of them occurred during the same season in high school. I went with swimming.

Soccer and all that went into being on a competitive team was a big part of those growing up years for me and I really liked it. Practices in the cold and rain (it’s the Northwest of course), weekend travel all around the state, tournaments in the summer heat.

So many good lessons learned playing soccer.

Simon had his own learning experiences over the course of Anna’s soccer season – most especially about how to be a good sideline friend. There was a lot of talk about how we cheer for the girls. We support them even when they miss a goal (vs. getting angry that they missed).

Sometimes we took a little walk with him to the car to take a break when he was feeling extra frustrated by their lack of skills. It was a good time for him to practice his own skills and he did get progressively better by the end of the short season.

We also captured the moment when we could all plainly see that Simon is now taller than Katie.

In April I posted this photo of oranges on Instagram with the caption, “Soccer mom!!!!!! I’m on orange duty for the Soccer Chocolate Kittens game tomorrow morning.”

Katie captured my personal excitement about getting the chance to cut up those oranges for the half-time snack. Told you I was excited about those oranges.

There were definitely times when she wasn’t into it but when she finally scored her first goal and got a taste for what that feels like she was all over it.

One of the special things parents and supporters in this league do at the end of each game is a tunnel for the kids to run through after they’ve given the other team a high five and gone through the “good-game” line.

I think the tunnel is quite possibly their favorite part, next to the snack at the end of the game of course.

I’m hoping this is the start of many more athletic adventures to come because Anna, I love watching you play.

Go, Anna go!

PS | And in case you haven’t read that awesome post about the Six Words You Should Say Today by Hands Free Mama I highly recommend it.

2014 Reader Survey Results

Thank you again to those of you who took the time a few weeks ago to participate in my reader survey. There were close to 2700 responses and I appreciated the kind words, the support and the constructive criticism/suggestions/requests.

One of the big reasons I wanted to do a survey (my first one for this site) was simply to see if we were all on the same page. You guys are a great community and I liked the opportunity to connect with you in this way and get your input and feedback.

Primarily I was interested in learning what’s working for you at the same time I figure out what’s working for me professionally and personally. I was also interested in some pretty basic information like how long people have been reading and how you access my content.

In case you were wondering I used Survey Monkey to create this survey and have exported the results graphs to share them with you today.

Here’s a look at the results (under some of the graphics I’ve included a bit more commentary):

So many of you have been around such a long time! Your continued support and loyalty is really humbling. Thank you for being here and contributing to this adventure and being interested in my story and telling your own.

This one was interesting to me as it’s been a topic of conversation around here from time to time about how people actually read blogs these days.

I’ve personally been going back and forth between Feedly and Bloglovin trying to decide which one I want to stick with regularly.

If you want to subscribe via email go here.

Not a huge surprise that Project Life® and traditional scrapbooking came out as the most popular forms of memory keeping.

Personal stories and organization. Noted.

I’m listening and I’m making some changes and adjustments to find ways to bring you more of what you want and less of what you don’t. Obviously some of what happens here has to be commercial in nature as it’s one of the ways I put food on our table, but I agree that there’s an opportunity for a more intentional approach.

Creating workshops is one of the things I enjoy most about my work. Thank you for the great feedback regarding workshops – this helps me as I plan what to focus on for the future.

This was defintely helpful for me for planning what I’d like to focus on next. Again, thank you.

Here’s a very small sampling of responses from the other questions that didn’t include specific options:

Why do you continue to visit aliedwards.com?

“After following you for so long it has become “habit” (in a good, positive, way) I love what you write, love your insight into this crazy journey we are all on called life.”
“There’s always something I can relate to or find helpful or inspirational… I like that you’re not afraid to share personal stuff.”
“I discovered your blog at about the time you found out Simon was autistic. Not too long after I found out that my oldest daughter was also autistic. Your blog (in a way) helped me to find my way through the craziness that happened afterward. I felt connected to you, like I knew you and we had gone through something together. Since then I have loved how you keep your readers up on what’s going on in your life but still keep it professional and with the spin of memory keeping.”
“I like your style of memory keeping..clean and not overly product driven. I like your style of blogging…real and inspiring. I admire your courage and strength. You are like a friend.”
“Because I like how you tell your stories and it helps me to remember to write things down and document everyday things, not just special ones. I also like your traditional scrapbook pages and try to follow your style in my own work. I also like to read personal stories about life with children, life after divorce etc. It gives me hope that even though that sometimes things are hard, if you work at things and keep an open mind and heart, your life can get better – it might be different to what you imagined but it will get better.”
“I randomly check in to see what is happening in the scrapbooking world.”

What is your biggest Memory Keeping Challenge?



Time was by far the number one response.
Not knowing where to start.
Journaling.
Organization.
Getting started. And finishing.

NOTE | Next time I do a survey I will definitely ask this one with suggested answers like the others to be able to have a graph that would map out the responses.

THANK YOU

I know I’ve said it a lot in this post but it’s truly how I feel. There were an overflowing of really kind comments left throughout the survey and I’m grateful to those of you who took the time to communicate with me in this way. I’m also thankful to those of you who were honest about what you like/don’t like. I’m not wrapped up in pleasing every single person – zero expectations for making that happen – but I do believe in being open to change and being able to take a good long look at the things I do/don’t do on this site to make it even better for all of us.

Onward!

And The Giveaway Goes To…

GIVEAWAY | One (1) person will win a June Hello There kit from Scrapbook Circle.

#71 | Karrie said…I’ve always eyed Scrapbook Circle. This would be an awesome birthday treat!

Congratulations! Please email Katie with your contact information.

Newest Releases | Printables & Word Art

Happy weekend!

Today I wanted to share a few new products I’ve released over the last two weeks over at Designer Digitals.

First up are two new printable sets called Heart So Happy 3×4 Cards. They come in a pink version (shown printed out above) and a blue/green version shown below:

I’m showing the Heart So Happy 3×4 Cards Blue/Green set inside this great canvas mini album from Dear Lizzy that includes transparencies, page protectors and other textures of paper inside the album (chipboard and canvas fabric). Super cool mixture of textures.

You can grab that album from Scrapbook.com here.

In addition to those two printable sets I’ve got six new sets of word art that is great to add directly to your photos, print out on journal cards, or add to your layouts or other projects.

If you’d like to learn more about working with digital word art check out my series on Getting Started here.

Filled With Happy

Stories Of Life

Best Little Memory

Little Fabulous Joys

Photo Goodness

We Do Love

Hope you have a great weekend!

Sponsored Giveaways | Scrapbook Circle

GIVEAWAY | One (1) person will win a June Hello There kit from Scrapbook Circle.

This kit includes a variety of products fromm favorite companies including several Scrapbook Circle exclusives. This month our exclusives include a set of wood veneers, a stamp set, a tag set, plus a page of printable elements.

ABOUT | 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.

SPECIAL OFFER | We offer a single kit option plus subscriptions where kits are purchased at a discount. 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 1st. 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 Thirteen

Remember last month when I shared Week Twelve that included a full-page 12 inch x 12 inch photo? Here’s the companion to that page that also incorporates another 12 inch x 12 inch photo enlargement (and finishes up the rest of our Kauai vacation).

For this spread I used an Add-On Project Life® Kit from Studio Calico called Guten Tag.

I also created a 6 inch x 8 inch photobook of this adventure that you can see here.

Here’s a look at Week Thirteen:

One of the things I included this week was one of the Project Life® small envelopes. These are great for storing additional papers/items that you might not want to cut up to fit into the pockets.

I love taking a really big photo (printed here at home on an Epson R2000 printer) and adding just a few embellishments. The wood ampersand is from the main Hello Hello Project Life kit.

The small envelopes include a 4 inch x 3 inch pocket on the outside – great for another photo or a journal card.

The second page of the spread includes a few more vacation photos paired with photos from when we returned home. I like the balance between the two on the top and the two on the bottom.

I seriously loved this cork piece. All kinds of cool stuff could happen with that. I went simple and created an oval and journaled on the inside.

ACTION ITEMS/IDEAS

Don’t be afraid to cut up or punch those 3 inch x 4 inch or 4 inch x 6 inch cards. Make them work for you and your stories.
Consider limiting your color palette for a week and stick with only black and white embellishments (and maybe add in one other color like the light blue letter stickers used here).
If you haven’t ventured into adding enlargements to your Project Life® here and there it’s really a fun way to mix it up and add some additional visual interest to your albums.

SUPPLIES | 2014 | WEEK THIRTEEN

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.