Ali Edwards's Blog, page 71

In Case You Missed It | March 11

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:

RAINBOW SCRAPBOOK KIT INSPIRATION

All this week on the blog Ali has been sharing inspiration using our newest Quarterly Scrapbook Kit. Find her blog posts with process videos here.

STORY CHAT RESCHEDULED

We are moving our next Story Chat to Thursday, March 17th. We are in the process of finalizing the time and will share that information as soon as possible. We can’t wait to chat about the new CURRENTLY Story Kit™ coming on March 13th.

SAVE THE DATE: SUBSCRIBER DAY

As a way to say thank you + celebrate this awesome memory keeping community, we are putting together our first Subscriber Day. Any current subscribers (as of March 31) will have access to this fun online event. You have until March 31st at 11:59 ET to subscribe to one or more subscriptions to gain access to Subscriber Day. Stay tuned for more information about the event!  *All active subscribers will be added to the classroom on April 1st and the event will begin on April 2nd at 10am PST. This includes Story Kit™, Story Stamp™, Stories By The Month™, Digital Stories By The Month™, Story Class, Just Write, One Little Word® Mini Kit, and Quarterly Scrapbook subscribers. 

NEW CLASS: THE STORY OF SELF W/ LAURA WONSIK

*Win a seat for yourself and a friend on our AED Instagram account!* Join Laura Wonsik on a journey of self-exploration to learn more about yourself and your true identity. The Story of the Self is created by a memory keeper for memory keepers with the knowledge that this particular creative outlet is rich with material for this inner work. This class includes lessons in mindfulness, values, self-care, and vulnerability, all of which will help you uncover deeper layers of your story and find your authentic storytelling voice. In this four-week workshop, Laura will guide you through a variety of frameworks to explore your identity from different angles, using different methods, all tied together with the goal of being curious wanderers in the terrain of our identity. The content is aimed at building awareness of your inner and outer worlds in a way that becomes a practice ground for building insight, flexibility, patience and change through the memory keeping process. 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!

Storytelling With The Rainbow Scrapbook Kit | No. 6

Thanks so much for hanging out this week as I've shared ideas for storytelling with the 
Rainbow Scrapbook Kit. It's been so fun to use as the jumping off point for a variety of stories and I'm excited to keep using it over the next few months. Quick reminder that other Quarterly Scrapbook Kit themes for the rest of the year include: Black + White, Numbers, and Tags. I love how these kits are designed to give you a number of jumping off points getting your own stories told. 

In case you've missed the previous posts this week here's a list: 

Idea One Idea Two Idea Three Idea Four Idea Five

Today's project uses one of the 12x12 pattern papers as a jumping off point for a 2-page story about Simon. 

Let's dive into the video: 

Here are some additional images of this project: 

I knew that I wanted to take this watercolor circle 12x12 pattern paper and cut out the individual circles to use them on a 6x8 spread (actual size of these pages are 7 inches wide x 8.25 inches tall). As I looked back through my photos from this year so far there were a number of photos of Simon and I together and I love taking the opportunity to bring "like" images together to tell a different story. In this case the story is a celebration of Simon as he gets ready to move out this fall. We are so excited for his next chapter. 

I cropped the photos to 2.5 inch squares and used my 2.5 inch circle punch to get them into the circle shape. Need details on printing multiple photos on one piece of paper? 
Check out this post. 

As I was working on that I also decided that I wanted to have another layer between the circle photos and the watercolor circles. To make that a reality I created a page of text circles that say "love you so much always + forever" and printed them on a piece of 
ink jet transparency. You can see more about printing on vellum + transparency here. 

I saved that page of circles as a PDF that
you can download and print at home here.

I cut out each of the watercolor circles from the 12x12 pattern paper and left a small border around each one. On top of that I laid the transparent circles and did a rough cut around the outside for a similar shape. I stapled the transparency onto the water color circle and added my photo on top. 

For my title (and since there were only 7 of the circles) I decided to cut out the watercolor heart from a 3x4 card in the 
March Stories By The Month™ kit. On top of that I added a chipboard hexagon from a past kit (seriously love diving into my stash this past week). 

As I started bringing it all together I decided to overlap the circles and loved being able to have interplay between the transparent layers and the watercolor circles. 

From my stash I pulled out four 1/2 circle chipboard pieces and added them along the edges (that "my first" chipboard is from the very first Story Kit we did). 

I decided to use one of the watercolor circles as a home for my journaling which was also printed on ink jet transparency. 

Thanks again for joining me this week and I hope you've gotten some ideas of ways you might want to tell stories with the Rainbow Scrapbook Kit. 

SUPPLIES
Rainbow Scrapbook Kit Epson XP15000 Printer Red Line Tape 6 Hole Punch Rolling Date Stamp Staz On Ink Corner Rounder Tiny Attacher March 2022 Stories By The Month™ Kit Chipboard from my stash Ink Jet Transparencies 2.5 Inch Circle Punch White Cardstock 

Storytelling With The Rainbow Scrapbook Kit | No. 5

As I was thinking through stories I might want to tell using the Rainbow Scrapbook Kit I kept thinking about doing some kind of garden/yard documenting project. I enjoy gardening the same way that many of you enjoy memory keeping as a hobby and I've never really documented a complete growing season (usually I tell a few stories here and there and share images + words in my Instagram account). 

I considered grabbing a blank 6x8 album but then opened up the notebook I used to tell stories last summer and knew right away that a notebook was going to be the way to go for this project. 

As I flipped through last summer's notebook I remember how much I enjoyed using that to document some of my summer stories. I love that it's something I can hold in one hand and something that can be used for simply taking notes as well as creating more "crafty" spreads documenting the story of my yard in 2022. 

I grabbed one of the Art Of Noticing notebooks we offer (the ones in the shop right now are yellow) and decided to dive right in and ended up creating four different spreads that you'll see in the video and images below. I also created another Around The Yard digital word art circle that you can download here. 

Let's dive in to the video to see how this all comes together (I'm so excited to add to this over the growing season): 

Here's a look at how these spreads turned out: 

When I'm working in one of these notebooks for the most part I am building on the pages that are already available in the album. That means sometimes I'm adding pattern papers or photos or embellishments or typed up journaling or handwritten journaling. 

For the first page in my Yard Notebook I wanted to do an introduction - it was also a great time to dive into my stash and see what I have from past projects that would work well for these kinds of stories. I actually ended up with a little pile of things I know I want to add for upcoming stories and that made me super happy. 

When you first open the notebook I added three of the vellum circles from the Rainbow Kit and on top of each I added an embellishment including a chipboard circle, a pleather circle, and a plastic butterfly from The Great Outdoors Collection last year. 

On the second page I adhered one of the pattern papers from the Rainbow Story Kit. On top of that I added a vellum pocket + tag (an add on from last December - definitely planning to add more of those to this project) and printed my intro journaling directly onto the tag (see more about that process in the video).

On top of the vellum pocket I added a chipboard piece from the March 2022 Stories By The Month™ kit (great colors in that one that work really well with the Rainbow Scrapbook Kit) and some chipboard phrases from my stash. 

For my journaling I used the repeated phrase "It's where I/we..." 

On the back of the tag I added the remainder of pattern paper from one of my other projects this past week. 

The grosgrain ribbon added to the tag is from this set. 

After my intro spread I dove right into my first story. My yard almost always begins again with daffodils. 

For this first spread I decided to pair two photos with some handwritten journaling. I love that these notebooks have this framework already printed inside - it allows me to choose if this is a good structure for my story or if I want to cover it up and do something different. Love the options. The large photo is 4.25 inches x 8.25 inches and the second photo is 3.25 x 3.5. The photos are adhered into the notebook using red line tape.

On top of the long photo I added a patch I've had in my stash for a long time from the Design Story Kit. On top of the second photo I added a plastic month abbreviation (this was a recent subscriber add on option). My plan is to incorporate those plastic months into this notebook as a designator for each month. 

The second story I wanted to tell was some basics about the tasks I'm currently embarking on in my yard including planting some new bare root roses and building new raised beds from Vego Garden.

In Photoshop I set up a canvas that was 4.25 inches wide x 8.25 inches tall and collaged my three photos. On top of those photos I added three fabric numbers (recent subscriber add on option). 

In between the two pages of this spread I decided to add two cards from the March 2022 Stories By The Month™ Kit. These are adhered together with a small piece of folded cardstock in the middle that allowed me to adhere it behind the long page of journaling (see the video for more details). 

As I started thinking about the kinds of stories I want to tell monthly in this notebook I think I'll have a lot of fun using pieces from the Stories By The Month™ kits. 

In Photoshop I took one of the digital March 2022 Stories By The Month™ cards and adjusted the size to 4.25 inches across and used the clone tool to carry the same color down the 8.25 inch canvas. I loved being able to add a much longer story onto the same design as the 4x6 card from the kit. 

On the back of the inserted card I added the March Gratitude card and plan to incorporate that card each month. 

Love that I can add to that as the month goes on.

The last spread I did for now is one that documents some of my yard goals/thoughts/focuses for this growing season. 

I used one of the 12x12 pattern papers from the Rainbow Scrapbook Kit as the background (cut it to 8.5 inches wide x 8.25 inches tall and then in half again for each page of the spread). 

On top of the pattern paper I added these tags that I've had on my table for months. They have been waiting to be used to tell a story and today was the day! I love how this turned out. 

On top of one of the tags I cut a piece of Grafix Plastic to the same shape and added a title using the Gold Puffy Alpha Stickers. I also used eyelets to add a little "something" to each of the tags. 

SUPPLIES

Rainbow Scrapbook Kit
Epson XP15000 Printer
Red Line Tape
6 Hole Punch
Rolling Date Stamp
Staz On Ink
Corner Rounder
Tiny Attacher
March 2022 Stories By The Month™ Kit
Art Of Noticing Notebook
Eyelets
Crop A Dile (for setting eyelets)
Gold Puffy Alpha Stickers
Number Tags (past kit/add on)
Fabric Number Stickers (past add on)
Vellum Envelope With Tag (past add on)
Plastic Months (past add on)
Ribbon
Plastic Butterflies
We R Memory Keepers Hole Punch
Grafix Plastic Sheet 

Storytelling With The Rainbow Scrapbook Kit | No. 4

Welcome back to another idea post for the Rainbow Scrapbook Kit. 

Today's project is a simple one-page layout that tells a short story about a recent Mexico trip and incorporates the fun plastic rainbow pieces from the kit on a clear plastic flip up. 

Let's dive in: 

Here are some additional images of this project: 

Today's layout is built on a piece of white cardstock (cut to 7 inches x 8.25 inches). I set up my journaling in Photoshop and then printed that out here at home as a foundation for my photo collage. 

My photo collage is about 5.5 inches x 5 inches. I printed it on an 8.5x11 sheet of photo paper and left a white border when cutting it out. I cut a piece of Grafix Transparency to the same size as my photo collage with the border. 

To create the flip up I used a couple sticker tabs (these were part of a past One Little Word® Mini Kit) folded over and then stapled to the cardstock. 

On top of the transparency I stapled the four pieces of the plastic rainbow I had remaining from the kit (I used the smallest one on yesterday's project). I used a Tiny Attacher to staple each piece along the bottom. 

I had a couple pieces of ephemera from the concert that I considered incorporating and was super excited to find that the fabric braclet fit perfectly between the smallest part of the rainbow. I adhered that with red line tape. 

Here's a look at it flipped up: 

Looking for more ideas using the Rainbow Scrapbook Kit? Check these out: Idea 01, Idea 02, Idea 03

SUPPLIES

Rainbow Scrapbook Kit
Epson XP15000 Printer
Red Line Tape
6 Hole Punch
Rolling Date Stamp
Staz On Ink
Tiny Attacher
Grafix Transparent Sheet
Tab Stickers (from past One Little Word® Mini Kit)
White Cardstock 

Storytelling With The Rainbow Scrapbook Kit | No. 3

I'm back today to share another project using the Rainbow Scrapbook Kit. 

Today's story is all about Simon, Aaron and me starting to play a Star Wars Role Playing Game (I shared the image + story on Instagram last week). 

Let's dive in to today's video: 

Here are some images of my project: 

This story had quite a few words so I needed to figure out a way to incorporate them all. To do something a little different I created a 11 inch x 8.25 inch page (that could be folded down to 7 inches wide) and set it up in Photoshop with the blocks of color as homes for my story (you'll see more of that below). As you'll see in the video I played around with a few different color combinations before settling on this one.

On the outside of the flap I added part of one of the pattern papers. 

In addition to my full page photo I printed out two photos (sized to 3x3) that circle-punched those with a 3 inch circle punch. I took one of those photos and stapled the vellum "currently" circle on top before adhering. I also added a perforated phrase strip from the Awesome Story Kit on top. 

One of the things I love most about working outside the page protectors is building interactive pages like this one that can be folded to create more room (and to get to incorporate more patterns, photos or words). 

On the inside of the fold-out page I left one "block" blank as a spot for pattern paper and embellishments. I dove into my stash to find a couple circles to layer on top of each other and used a rolling date stamp + StazOn to stamp directly onto the pleather circle. 

To link the two pages of the story together I created a visual triangle using the wood veneer rainbows. On top of each of those I added clear phrase stickers and a small gold star. 

A happy accident on this one was realizing that the smallest piece of the plastic rainbow set fit perfectly around my 3 inch circle photo. On top of that I added a gold chipboard heart and layered a clear phrase sticker on top. 

SUPPLIES

Rainbow Scrapbook Kit
Epson XP15000 Printer
Red Line Tape
6 Hole Punch
Rolling Date Stamp
Staz On Ink
Epson Ultra Premium Matte Presentation Paper 
Awesome Story Kit Perforated Strips
Past Embellishments: pleather circle, so much fun paper circle, 
Tiny Attacher
3 Inch Circle Punch 

Storytelling With The Rainbow Scrapbook Kit | No. 2

Welcome to a week of projects using the Rainbow Scrapbook Kit as the jumping off point for my stories. I shared my first project last week and you can check that out here in case you missed it. 

Today's story about our Sunday Family Dinner incorporates one of the Rainbow Kit pattern papers, the canvas word strips, and a pattern paper from the Begin Story Kit that holds a flip-up photo with journaling underneath. 

Let's dive in to the video: 

Here's a closer look via images: 

I started this one by cropping the 12x12 pattern paper down to 7x8.25. I also ended up adding a strip along the left edge of the Begin pattern paper to carry the pattern over onto the second page.

As you'll see in the video I end up adjusting the title from "Family Dinner" to "Sunday Family Dinner" and because of that there's a bit more "distress" look around some of the multi-color chipboard alpha stickers (in the spots where I pulled them off and then added a different letter).

If you don't happen to have letter stickers you could also always use alpha stamps for a similar look.

In between the words on the square grid pattern I added plastic hearts from the Heart Scrapbook Kit and stapled the canvas phrase strips from the Rainbow Kit on top. The two on this page combine with one on top of the photo create a nice visual triangle across the spread. 

For this project I started with story and wrote my journaling first. I loved the opportunity to write more about what Family Dinner looks like around here at this point in time.

I broke up the journaling into two boxes that were sized the same as my photo and then adhered the first page to the back of the photo and the second page onto the Begin Pattern Paper. 

Journaling was printed on Epson Ultra Premium Matte Presentation Paper. 

I used a corner rounder to round the corners of my journaling and photo (mimicking the rounded corners on the Begin Story Kit pattern paper).

What's a story you could tell using this pattern paper?

SUPPLIES
Rainbow Scrapbook Kit Epson XP15000 Printer Red Line Tape 6 Hole Punch Rolling Date Stamp Staz On Ink Multi-Colored Chipboard Alpha Stickers Begin Story Kit Pattern PaperHeart Scrapbook Kit Plastic HeartsCorner Rounder Washi Tape

In Case You Missed It | March 4

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:

SAVE THE DATE: SUBSCRIBER DAY

As a way to say thank you + celebrate this awesome memory keeping community, we are putting together our first Subscriber Day. Any current subscribers (as of March 31) will have access to this fun online event. You have until March 31st at 11:59 ET to subscribe to one or more subscriptions to gain access to Subscriber Day. Stay tuned for more information about the event!  *All active subscribers will be added to the classroom on April 1st and the event will begin on April 2nd at 10am PST. This includes Story Kit™, Story Stamp™, Stories By The Month™, Digital Stories By The Month™, Story Class, Just Write, One Little Word® Mini Kit, and Quarterly Scrapbook subscribers. 

RAINBOW SCRAPBOOK KIT INSPIRATION

Today on the blog Ali is sharing inspiration using our newest Quarterly Scrapbook Kit. Stay tuned for more rainbow-themed inspiration every day next week! Find her post here. 

ALI EDWARDS DESIGN INC BRAND AMBASSADORS

We’ve received a few inquiries about the status of our 2022 Creative Team and wanted to take some time today to share more information about our plans. After many years of approaching our Creative Team in the same way we have decided to try something different this year with the ultimate goal of welcoming, embracing, and sharing a wider variety of memory keeping inspiration. For 2022 we are reaching out to people from our community to participate in a trial/pilot Brand Ambassador program which will allow us to explore and evaluate how this kind of program may work for both the people participating and for our company. You may see people using the hashtag #AEDambassador which will let you know that they are participating. Our hope with embarking on this new program is to continue to inspire and encourage people to tell the stories of their lives in whatever way makes the most sense for their life right now. We are starting this program off as a trial for 2022 in hopes that we can offer this opportunity to to more community members in the future. We are excited about this change and are excited to see how the program evolves over the year.  As always, thank you for being a part of this storytelling community. 

MARCH DIGITAL RELEASE

This month’s regularly scheduled digital release is live in the shop today! Included in this release are the Rainbow Quarterly Scrapbook Kit, Day In The Life™ digitals, Pieces of the Past digitals, and more. Find them here.

NEW CLASS: THE STORY OF SELF W/ LAURA WONSIK

*Win a seat for yourself and a friend on our AED Instagram account!* Join Laura Wonsik on a journey of self-exploration to learn more about yourself and your true identity. The Story of the Self is created by a memory keeper for memory keepers with the knowledge that this particular creative outlet is rich with material for this inner work. This class includes lessons in mindfulness, values, self-care, and vulnerability, all of which will help you uncover deeper layers of your story and find your authentic storytelling voice. In this four-week workshop, Laura will guide you through a variety of frameworks to explore your identity from different angles, using different methods, all tied together with the goal of being curious wanderers in the terrain of our identity. The content is aimed at building awareness of your inner and outer worlds in a way that becomes a practice ground for building insight, flexibility, patience and change through the memory keeping process. 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!

Storytelling With The Rainbow Scrapbook Kit | No. 1

Did you see that our newest Quarterly Scrapbook Kit in the theme of Rainbows released recently? 

I spent time this past week creating projects using the Rainbow Scrapbook Kit and today I'm sharing the first of five projects with the rest to follow here on the blog and on YouTube next week. 

Let's dive in to today's video: 

Here's a look at this project via images: 

This one is 2-page, outside the page protector project (sized 7 inches wide x 8.25 inches tall) which will live in my 2022 6x8 album. 

I started with a full page photo of a rainbow that my Mom texted recently and paired that with one of the pattern papers from the kit. On top of that pattern paper I added one of the fold-open cards to hold the text message my Mom sent along with the photo. 

On top of the rainbow photo I added some Heidi Swapp Alpha Stickers, some gold puffy alpha stickers, a clear phrase sticker from a past One Little Word® release, and a couple die cut starbursts (I believe those were a recent add on - they were one of those things that were just sitting out on my table waiting to be used). 

On top of the fold out rainbow card from the kit I added another die cut starburst, the alpha stickers, a date stamp, and I used one of the Tim Holtz Game Spinners to hold the flap in place. 

I totally love how the layered alpha stickers work together here. 

Along the top I also added a tab sticker with a clear phrase sticker on top. I basically want every sticker sheet to be those clear ones! 

Inside the flip open I transcribed my Mom's text about the rainbow photo (a great way to bring in other voices that are important to you).

This flip open was adhered down onto the pattern paper using red line tape. 

SUPPLIES

Rainbow Scrapbook Kit
Heidi Swapp Letter Stickers
Red Line Tape
Tim Holtz Game Spinner
6 Hole Punch
Gold Puffy Alpha Stickers
Starburst Die Cuts (recent add on)
Foam Adhesive Squares
One Little Word® Mini Kit 1 Tab Sticker Sheet
One Little Word® Clear Word Phrase Stickers

What Ali Read In February 2022

In February I finished up four fiction books (I've got a couple non-fiction still in progress): 

The School For Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan : I knew very little about the premise of this book before reading + I’m glad that was the case because it made the whole story even more crazy. There were a bunch of moments I said out loud to Aaron, “this book is bananas.” I found the writing to be smart and it totally held my attention and made me think all kinds of things about the mothers we are, how we were mothered, and the kind of mothers we want to be.

The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks : Super fast read that kept my attention and kept me guessing.

The House In The Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune : 100% goodness. Definitely not a genre I read the most but man this was just good. We can all use more compassion + kindness + empathy.

We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz : My least favorite of the ones I read this month. Read this in one day on a travel day. Not the best, not the worst. Decent travel read.

See past book posts here . 

Day In The Life™ 2022 | Ali's Album Set Up

Our first Day In The Life community documenting day for 2022 is coming up on Thursday, March 10th. 

As we get closer I wanted to share how I'm setting up my album and starting to think about how I want to approach telling the story of my day. 

First time joining this project? Welcome! Our goal with this particular project is to tell the story of a couple random days this year and focus on the basic stuff that make up our lives (and that we may often leave out of our documenting because they might feel too mundane). 

What makes up your day at this time in your life? That's the question to ask yourself as you begin to think about documenting your own day. 

I'm not going to lie, these bright colors are making me so happy. I'll take all I can get right now. 

With Day In The Life I don't always do much, if any, set up in advance. This year I decided to take a little bit of time before the project to lay out my plan and do a couple things to get my album ready to hold my stories. 

Here's a video overview of this process + my thoughts as I get the album set up: 

The large wood veneer titles we offered with this collection are such a fun size. I decided to add one of those to the inside of my cover (I used red line tape for the adhesive) and I also added a chipboard piece on top from the kit. 

I moved one of the 4x6 envelopes from the back of the album to the front to hold some of the embellishments I plan to use after the actual documenting day. 

For this first documenting day I'll be using the 3x4 cards from the kit that say "the story" on the top and have space for a time to be stamped in the top right corner (the kit includes a 3x4 stamp set with numbers that fit in that space). The lenses I'll be using are 8 different -ing words: 

Loving
Eating
Listening
Enjoying 
Reading
Watching
Feeling
Working

I took the half-circle chipboard pieces from the kit and added them to the bottom of each of the 3x4 cards. My plan is to handwrite my stories on each card and pair them with a 3x4 photo taken during the day on the 10th. 

After I added the chipboard pieces to the bottom of the cards I slipped them into the page protectors. I decided to match the colors on the cards with the chipboard pieces but you could totally mix and match as well (no rules). 

When the actual documenting day comes around I'll pull the cards out for handwriting and will be able to easily print my photos and add them to the pockets. 

I'll be using the gratitude 4x6 cards for the second community documenting day later this year. 

Most likely I'll print photos that will live outside the page protectors for the second documenting day. 

Check out all my past Day In The Life blog posts over the years here. 

SUPPLIES

Day In The Life 2022 Kit
Day In The Life 4x6 Album Bundle
Day In The Life Painted Wood Veneer Phrases