Ali Edwards's Blog, page 66
June 10, 2022
In Case You Missed It | June 10
Happy Friday, friends! Welcome to the latest
In Case You Missed It. Just a reminder that this is a quick post that will happen every Friday afternoon with all the updates and links that have happened throughout the week. So, let's get to it:
2022 WEEK IN THE LIFE IS COMING
Our community documenting week for Week In The Life™ is quickly approaching! We hope you can join Ali beginning June 20th for our 7-day documenting project that invites you to capture the rhythm and basics of your life. We have lots of fun content planned to help support you as we gear up for this popular project.
Ali is sharing her 2022 album set up here.
Next week, our friend Kristin Tweedale will be hosting a series of LIVE chats on our Instagram account tackling three different aspects of Week In The Life™: Prep, Process, and Format. We're looking forward to taking a deep dive into each of these topics!
Prep // happening on Tuesday 7pm ET with community members Megan Kiekel Anderson, Amber Dawson, and Steph Grimes.
Process // happening on Wednesday 7pm ET with community members, Amanda Wilder, Holly DeVore, and Shu-Wen Tham.
Format // happening on Friday 4pm ET with community members Megan Kiekel Anderson, Nolana Lynch, and Steph Grimes.
Can’t join us live? Don’t worry! A recording of our conversation will be saved on our IG videos. Be sure to check out Kristin's awesome podcast, @craftyassfemale, where she's been sharing great #aeweekinthelife round table conversations, and an in-depth conversation with Ali.
2022 TRAVEL RELEASE
Our 2022 Travel Release is now available in the shop. Find the collection here.
NEW TRAVEL CLASSES COMING SOON
We’re excited to announce that four new travel-themed mini classes will be coming in late June! This year we are mixing things up, and instead of offering one travel class, we are offering four separate mini-classes based on the four different album options in our 2022 Travel Collection: Morgan Beal will be documenting a 2019 trip to Las Vegas using the 10x8 Buildable Album; Neela Nalam will be documenting an Alaskan cruise in our 6x8 Linen Album; Jill Drangsholt will be using the Traveler’s Notebook to document a recent trip to Hawaii; Elizabeth Heinz will be using the 4x4 Buildable Album to document a mother son trip to Universal Studios. We can’t wait to see what these talented ladies have in store for us! These classes will be offered at a lower price point and available at a great price as a bundle. The self-paced format means that you will have access to all of the content immediately upon purchasing. More details, including registration information and supply lists, will be coming very soon!
As always, we’re so grateful to have you all as members of this community! Thanks for joining me today and have a great weekend!
Week In The Life™ 2022 | Special Guest Yin Goh
Hi Friends! I’m here to show you my recently completed Week In The Life, using the Journal from the 2022 Collection. I have so enjoyed documenting my week in it!
I chose the week of 2 May 2022 because it had public holidays and regular work days, and Singapore had just relaxed almost all COVID restrictions. I had documented Week In The Life in May 2020 - and that record of our days in the early days of Pandemic lock down is such a precious almost historical record now. 2 years on and I really want to capture how our days look like as we transit to a yet new NORM.
This was the week that:
my husband’s family of 30+ could gather together for the first time in nearly 2.5 years
we actually bought tickets and are planning for our first trip since this pandemic started
I went back to work in office first time in a year
I met my extended family on my dad’s side at a wedding, first time in almost 2 years
also had all the everyday life moments that our currently now looks like
And it’s so good I have them all in the book!
I love memory-keeping in a notebook, so the Journal is a first choice for me, but I also chose it because it came with prompts and spaces to document each day. During the week, I simply carried it with me and wrote, taking notes everyday - all captured by the end of the week. I highly recommend using the journal to capture in the moment thoughts and notes, even if you’re not doing your album in it!
Now the painting part was not planned at all! On Sunday night at the end of that week, I was watching art journaling class videos, and on a whim decided I wanted to paint my pages. I had fun over the next few nights, painting quickly and intuitively, the only problem was waiting for the pages to dry before the next! You will see that I’ve painted each day in the week in a different palette to mark the days. I pretty much painted without matching or even looking at my photos, so happy the colors worked out. Yay for neutrals!
After that I batch processed, printing photos, pasting, embellishing, stamping and added more journaling. I loved adding the vellum die-cuts from the 2022 Collection, and the digital words from the 2020 Collection. I also really like hand-writing in my journal, though it can look messy. I actually like the scrappy journal-like look! Some days I did not have enough photos, so I journalled more, or left white space. Some days looked very mundane, so I took photos of each room, our meal prep, or wrote about my skin care routine. These pages would not mean much to someone else, but to my family who lived this week, it’s a meaningful glimpse into a slice of our lives now!
Here is a flip through of my journal:
If you’d like to see the journal at the point where I had painted all the pages I’ve saved it to my highlights here.
Thank you so much for taking a look at my 2022 Week in the Life project!
You can find me on Instagram here.
Week In The Life™ 2022 | Ali's Album Set Up
Welcome to a post outlining how I'm setting up my album for Week In The Life™ 2022.
If you are brand new to this project, welcome. This project is worth your time + energy because your life - no matter your circumstance - is worth documenting and honoring and celebrating and capturing via photos and words.
I first started this project back in 2005 with the intent to capture the basics of what was happening in my/our lives. The albums I've put together are some of my most favorite because they capture very specific points in time and have given me a chance to honor our everyday stories.
Today's post is going to show you how I'm using our 2022 Week In The Life™ collection to create a structure for my storytelling. Please know that there is no requirement to use the same things I'm using to participate in this project with our community (just know that we make products to support this project if you need anything). Your album might be smaller or bigger. You might be using products from your stash or no products at all. There are no right or wrong ways to participate. Honestly, I'm just glad you are here and have an interest in telling your story.
If you are here for the first time checking out this project and an album approach is totally not your thing I highly recommend checking out the journal/notebook that includes prompts we made for people who might want something a little different.
2022 STORYTELLING APPROACHFor this year I'm using three specific journal cards in my album to guide a portion of my storytelling:
One word for today: what's one word to describe each particular day? Facts + feelings: one of my favorite prompts that can be about something from the day. Morning, afternoon, and evening: on this card I might document what I'm eating, what I'm seeing, what the kids are up to, etc.
These three are what I consider to be "casual" homes for my story meaning I'll be handwriting on these cards each day during the week. I love that they can be quick thoughts and it gives me an opportunity to include my handwriting in my album.
In addition to those cards I'm also planning to write up a daily commentary with thoughts and reflections on the day as a whole as I've done in the past. Some years I've used different words or prompts each day to guide me but I think this year I'm just going to focus on
listening to my life to see what it has to say.
Actually I might start my longer journaling with something along the lines of "Today my life told/showed/reminded me..." and use that as the primary lens for documenting this week.
I'm also considering do a IG reel each day during the documenting week with little snippets of
movement in my life. A few years ago I did an entire vlog (you can see it here) which I loved but was also a lot of work. I'm not committing to this completely but I love the idea of it and even if I did just a couple days that would be a fun way to document the week along with the still photos and words I'll be adding to my album.
Let's dive in and see what this looks like in my album right now:
Here's a look at the repeated structure I'm using for my project this year:
This year I'm using the 10x8 album. Each day will begin with a pattern transparency and a stitched pocket heart.
Following the pattern transparency will be the full page 10x8 page protector. Inside that pocket I'll be adding either a full page photo or a photo collage on both the front and the back.
Next up will be the 4-pocket page protector. This page will include one of the vellum "one word for today" cards + the chipboard frame from the Mini Kit + the Facts + Feelings card from the Main Kit.
On the back side of that pocket page I've placed the 4x6 journal card from the Main Kit.
The final page protector in my structure is the one with two 10x4 pockets. Inside the bottom one I added one of the 10x4 journal cards (which can be cut into a 4x6 and a 4x4 if that works better for you) and plan to add either photo collages, long photos, and/or journaling in those pockets. I'm pretty sure that's where my longer journaling will go.
So that's where I'm at right now as we move closer to the documenting week.
Next week on the @aliedwardsdesigninc IG account we will be having a series of Lives hosted by Kristin Tweedale on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
PS: I had planned to put together a week of new videos with Week In The Life™ tips for next week but I met Covid for the first time earlier this week and I'm not sure just yet how I'll be feeling (thankful I've got a bit more time before the documenting week begins). Depending on how I'm feeling I hope to have some new videos/blog posts to share with you next week but it might not be daily. These videos will be focused on tips for mindset and approach and other things I've learned after doing this project for many years.
SUPPLIESWeek In The Life™ 10x8 Album Week In The Life™ Main Kit Week In The Life™ Mini Kit Week In The Life™ 10x8 Transparency Dividers Week IN The Life™ Large Stitched Heart Pockets Week In The Life™ Weekly Journal Cards Week In The Life™ Vellum Cards
June 8, 2022
Week In The Life™ 2022 | Ali's Albums + Resources
A seven-day documentary project, Week In The Life™ is an annual opportunity to capture the simple everyday details of your life with photos and words. This year Ali will be documenting her week beginning Monday, June 20th, 2022. Consider yourself invited. As we gear up for the community documenting week and plan content to support your journey with this project, we wanted to put together a blog post that could serve as a resource or starting point as we all start to think about the stories we want to tell later this month.
Below you can find all of the Week In the Life™ posts Ali has shared over the past few years, going back to 2018. These posts include FAQs, pep talks, posts that include her daily words + photos, as well as completed album walkthroughs.
Is this your first time learning about Week In The Life™? Check out more details on this project that Ali started in 2005 here. Looking for products to support your storytelling? Find them here.
Ali's Week In The Life™ | 2021
5 Reasons To Join Me In Documenting A Week In The Life™Start Thinking Now About Stories You Might Want To IncludeAlbum Set Up + ApproachWeek In The Life 2019™ Starts Monday + A Pep TalkBring On The StoriesMonday Photos + WordsTuesday Photos + Words Wednesday Photos + Words Thursday Photos + Words Friday Photos + Words Saturday Photos + Words Sunday Photos + WordsBringing It All Together Part 1Bringing It All Together Part 2Ali's Week In The Life™ | 2018
Stay tuned for more fun and inspirational content as we get closer to Week In The Life™ 2022. As always, thank you for being a part of this community.
June 7, 2022
Stories Revisited Happening Now
The two day Summer Stories Revisited Event will start today Tuesday, June 7th at 12pm ET and will run through Thursday, June 9th at 11:59 ET.
Twice a year we offer a Stories Revisited event where we bring back any inventory we have available from past Story Kits™, Story Stamps™, Stories By The Month™ kits, Add Ons, and kit components (excludes the past three kit themes). Quantities are limited because we are simply bringing back products that were originally offered to subscribers. This time around the event will contain both physical & digital products. Typically we split Stories Revisited into two different event types, one for physical kits, stamps and components and one for digitals and classes. But to celebrate Summer Storytelling we thought we would bring them all back at once!
Our Stories Revisited: Digital section includes all past Digital Story Kits™, Story Stamps™ and Stories By The Month™ Kits (we did not offer new digital versions of Stories By The Month Kits in 2021 as we synced up our physical and digital release schedule). Also, for the first time ever we are offering bundles of our Just Write subscription prompts by the year that they were released! Check them all out here.
This is a great time to grab something you missed, something you might want more of, or give my products a try if you've never purchased anything and wonder what the kits are all about. Our team's goal in product design is to create intentional products that invite and encourage you to tell your stories. ⠀
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For more information on my subscriptions click here:
Story Kit™, Story Stamp™, Stories By The Month™, and Story Class (this includes the kit classroom + the digital kit) and Just Write
To check out images of past kits go here.
Past Physical Story Kits™ Available:
AwesomeBeginDelightGlowWholeCareTechAmpersandLaughStrong
Past Physical Story Stamps™ available:
AwesomeBeginDelightGlowWholeCareTeachAmpersandLaughStrongEveningsBloom
Past Physical Stories By The Month™ Kits available:
March theme 2022February theme 2022January theme 2022December theme 2021November theme 2021October theme 2021September theme 2021August theme 2021July theme 2021June theme 2021May theme 2021April theme 2021
All previous Story Classrooms, Digital Story Kits™, Story Stamps™, Stories By The Month Kits™, add ons, and Just Write Prompts can be found here.
Please note that access to the Story Classrooms are not included as part of your physical or digital product purchase during our Stories Revisited event. Also, purchases of the individual Story classrooms do not include physical or digital product.
June 3, 2022
In Case You Missed It | June 3
Happy Friday, friends! Welcome to the latest
In Case You Missed It. Just a reminder that this is a quick post that will happen every Friday afternoon with all the updates and links that have happened throughout the week. So, let's get to it:
2022 WEEK IN THE LIFE IS COMING
Our community documenting week for Week In The Life™ is quickly approaching! We hope you can join Ali beginning June 20th for our 7-day documenting project that invites you to capture the rhythm and basics of your life. We have lots of fun content planned to help support you as we gear up for this popular project. We’ll be sharing more details next week. In addition, Ali is going to be sharing a series of of videos on YouTube that include topics like: establishing a mindset, things she’s learned about her approach to this project over the years, her album set-up for 2022, and other tips! These videos will run the week before the 20th.
2022 TRAVEL RELEASE
Our 2022 Travel Release is now available in the shop. Find the collection here.
NEW TRAVEL CLASSES COMING IN JUNE
We’re excited to announce that four new travel-themed mini classes will be coming in late June! This year we are mixing things up, and instead of offering one travel class, we are offering four separate mini-classes based on the four different album options in our 2022 Travel Collection: Morgan Beal will be documenting a 2019 trip to Las Vegas using the 10x8 Buildable Album; Neela Nalam will be documenting an Alaskan cruise in our 6x8 Linen Album; Jill Drangsholt will be using the Traveler’s Notebook to document a recent trip to Hawaii; Elizabeth Heinz will be using the 4x4 Buildable Album to document a mother son trip to Universal Studios. We can’t wait to see what these talented ladies have in store for us! These classes will be offered at a lower price point and available at a great price as a bundle. The self-paced format means that you will have access to all of the content immediately upon purchasing. More details, including registration information and supply lists, will be coming very soon!
SUMMER STORIES REVISITED SALE COMING NEXT WEEK
Mark you calendar for our Summer Stories Revisited event coming up next Tuesday through Thursday, June 7th through 9th. The event is offering a new spin on Stories Revisited by including both the physical and digital formats as we prepare for summer storytelling. Be on the lookout for more information in the coming days!
NEW QUARTERLY SCRAPBOOK KIT AVAILABLE
This month we also have our next Quarterly Scrapbook Kit release: Black + White. Our Scrapbook Kit is a quarterly auto-shipment kit containing a variety of themed scrapbooking papers and embellishments. An auto-ship subscription means that when you sign up for this first kit you are signing up for the other two as well. The next two themes are: Numbers and Tags. Don't forget that this subscription INCLUDES the digital kit. Learn more here.
As always, we’re so grateful to have you all as members of this community! Thanks for joining me today and have a great weekend!
June 1, 2022
Parade For Pops | Scrapbook Layout Celebrating Dads
Today's project is coming to you in partnership with Scrapbook.com and their Parade For Pops event. Big thanks to them for the invitation + for sending me a section of their Pops Of Color liquid embellishment to play with and create a project celebrating the Dad's in my life.
Here's a process video that takes you though the steps of creating this project:
Here are some additional images of the process + completed project:
Pops Of Color are fun little bottles of liquid embellishments. You can use them like paint to create backgrounds (like I'll show below) or you can squeeze out a bit, let them dry, and have your own custom colorful dots (dries with dimension).
For my project I decided to document a couple things I'm thankful for about each of the Dad's in my life. I decided to use the Pops Of Color to create watercolor-ish circle backgrounds that become homes for my story and additional embellishments.
I started by using a 3.5 inch Circle Punch to create a template from a sheet of cardstock. I laid that template on white cardstock, added a few dots from the Pops Of Color bottles and then used the Scrapbook.com scraper in a circular manner to create my backgrounds (see video for more detail). After they dried I used a 4 inch Circle Punch to cut them out.
I seriously love how these turned out.
At first I contemplated using one of the new 12x12 pattern papers from the Black + White Scrapbook Kit as my background but pivoted and grabbed a couple sheets of this Heidi Swapp pattern paper and cut it down to 7 inches wide x 8.25 inches tall.
I designed a text circle and printed that on ink jet transparencies. I cut those out by hand using a circle punched using the 4 inch Circle Punch. You can read more about printing on transparencies here.
Download the printable circle PDF here.
After cutting out the transparent circles I added layered heart stickers on top and create custom 2-inch labels for each of the Dad's in my life.
After getting all that in order I used a Slick Writer to add a few things I'm thankful about for each Dad (on the painted circle). The transparent circles were adhered using rolling adhesive under the hearts.
For the title circle I used this fun puffy alpha sticker set from Heidi Swapp. I switched out the "O" in YOU and added a layered heart in it's place.
Here are a couple close up images:
You can also check out my project in my Scrapbook.com gallery here.
Again, big thanks to Scrapbook.com for inviting me to participate! I loved using Pops Of Color as a jumping off point for this project.
SUPPLIESHeidi Swapp Splendid Pattern Paper
Vicki Boutin Sweet Rush Layered Stickers
Heidi Swapp Sun Chaser Thickers
Pops Of Color Vacay Bundle
4 Inch Circle Punch
3.5 Inch Circle Punch
6 Hole Punch
Scrapbook.com Foam Adhesive
Scrapbook.com Rolling Adhesive
Ink Jet Printable Transparency
Scrapbook.com Scraper
Slick Writer Pen
Black + White Scrapbook Kit (shown but not used in finished project)
May 27, 2022
In Case You Missed It | May 27
Happy Friday, friends! Welcome to the latest
In Case You Missed It. Just a reminder that this is a quick post that will happen every Friday afternoon with all the updates and links that have happened throughout the week. So, let's get to it:
2022 TRAVEL RELEASE UPDATES
First, thank you so much for your enthusiasm around this release! We’re so grateful for your support and can’t wait to see what stories you tell with these products. Our 2022 Travel Release is live in the shop now! Shop the collection here. We’ve extended our free shipping promotion until Tuesday, May 31st. Enjoy free domestic shipping and $20 flat rate international shipping on your purchase of $75+ from the Travel Collection category with the code FREETRAVEL (good through Tuesday, May 31st at 11:59pm Eastern). Class purchases do not count towards the free shipping threshold. Refunds will not be issued for forgotten or misused promo codes. Offer subject to change.
Second, we are absolutely thrilled to share that we will be including digitals with the purchase of the physical kits in this collection. Customers who purchase the Main Kit, will receive the digital Main Kit. Those who purchase the Mini Kit will receive the digital Mini Kit. And those who purchase the Mini Kit Bundle will receive the Mini Kit and Travelers Notebook digitals. For those of you who have already purchased those kits, don’t worry! Our team at Inked is already working their magic to get those digitals in your accounts. No need to start a conversation with Customer Service.
Finally, low quantity updates! If you’ve caught any of Lisa’s recent lives, you know we have a few products from our 2022 Travel Collection that are currently available in low quantities. We’re adding a few more to that list today: 6x8 Slanted Travel Phrases Stamp Set, 4x6 Circle Phrases Stamp Set, 4x4 Buildable Album, 6x8 Attacher Stickers, 10x8 Patterned Paper Pack, and the Travel Kraft Pockets + Story Cards. If you’ve had your eye on any of the above items, you may want to grab them now and take advantage of our free shipping promotion, extended till the 31st.
NEW TRAVEL CLASSES COMING NEXT MONTH
We’re thrilled to share we have FOUR new travel classes coming to the #aeclassroom in June. We’re trying something new and plan to offer four new self-paced mini classes, one in each album size: 4x4 inch buildable, 10x8 inch buildable, 6x8 inch, and Travelers Notebook. These classes will be offered at a lower price point and available at a great price as a bundle. The self-paced format means that you will have access to all of the content immediately upon purchasing. More details, including contributors and supply lists will be coming soon!
NEW CRAFTING LIVE WITH KRYSTAL
Earlier this week, Krystal was live in the Craft the Story Facebook Group for Crafting Live with Krystal. Head to the Facebook Group to check out the recording if you missed it.
NEW QUARTERLY SCRAPBOOK KIT AVAILABLE
This month we also have our next Quarterly Scrapbook Kit release: Black + White. Our Scrapbook Kit is a quarterly auto-shipment kit containing a variety of themed scrapbooking papers and embellishments. An auto-ship subscription means that when you sign up for this first kit you are signing up for the other two as well. The next two themes are: Numbers and Tags. Don't forget that this subscription INCLUDES the digital kit. Learn more here.
As always, we’re so grateful to have you all as members of this community! Thanks for joining me today and have a great weekend!
May 20, 2022
In Case You Missed It | May 20
Happy Friday, friends! Welcome to the latest
In Case You Missed It. Just a reminder that this is a quick post that will happen every Friday afternoon with all the updates and links that have happened throughout the week. So, let's get to it:
2022 TRAVEL RELEASE
Our 2022 Travel Release will be available at 12pm ET on Monday, May 23rd. Head over to the blog now to check out Ali’s preview post with all the details.
NEW STORY KIT THEME
Last week we revealed our May Story Kit™ theme: SENSES. One of the best ways to tell a story is by looking at it through our five senses: tasting, touching, hearing, seeing, and smelling. Each of those lenses can take us deeper into a description of people and places and things in our lives. This month we are telling stories about our senses and making sense of the world around us. Take a look at Ali’s blog post, complete with video walkthrough and product photos here.
NEW QUARTERLY SCRAPBOOK KIT AVAILABLE
This month we also have our next Quarterly Scrapbook Kit release: Black + White. Our Scrapbook Kit is a quarterly auto-shipment kit containing a variety of themed scrapbooking papers and embellishments. An auto-ship subscription means that when you sign up for this first kit you are signing up for the other two as well. The next two themes are: Numbers and Tags. Don't forget that this subscription INCLUDES the digital kit. Learn more here.
As always, we’re so grateful to have you all as members of this community! Thanks for joining me today and have a great weekend!
Travel Collection 2022 Preview
Welcome to the preview post for our 2022 Travel Collection.
Here are details to know about this release:
The Travel Collection will be live this Monday, May 23rd at 12pm ET.
SHIPPING: Enjoy free domestic shipping and $20 flat rate international shipping on the purchase of $75+ from the Travel Collection category with the code FREETRAVEL (good through Friday, May 27th at 11:59pm Eastern). Digitals for this collection will be available as part of our regularly scheduled June digital release, happening on Friday, June 3rd.
Stay tuned for more information on our upcoming travel-themed classes that will be released in the coming weeks! Check out other travel related workshops: Start To Finish #01, Stories Of Travel, Travel Product Play #1, and Travel Product Play #2.
Let's dive in to the preview video:
Here's a look at the options this year:
This year we've got three album options available with this collection. Along with a linen 6x8 inch album, we’re introducing an exciting new option as a home for your stories! This year we offering two buildable albums, a 4x4 inch and a 10x8 inch. Our buildable albums come as two chipboard covers with rings. We’ve loved seeing this community tell stories in so many formats, including outside of the page protector. These new album options offer a fun choice at a lower price point than our traditional albums, while still offering products at the same quality you’ve come to expect from our brand.
Here's a sample from the inside:
The interior of this notebook includes grid pages, patterns, quotes, and titled/prompt pages.
18 single-sided 10x8 sheets included in the pack.
Thank you so much for the support! If you have questions please feel free to leave them below.
