Ali Edwards's Blog, page 75
January 13, 2022
Begin Story Kit™ + February 2022 Stories By The Month Kit
Today's the 13th of the month and that means a new Story Kit, Story Stamp, and Stories By The Month kit. This month we are focusing on stories related to the theme of Begin.
This month we are celebrating and documenting those moments in our lives that signal a beginning. Whether it’s a small step or a giant leap, there’s likely a story there worth telling. Join us this month as we excavate our own stories of beginning or beginning all over again.
Initial story ideas for this theme include:
Tell a story of a time where you had to start over. What was it like to begin again?
Being a beginner can challenge us in the best possible ways. Document a time when you were a beginner (especially as an adult) and how that made you feel.
Tell a story of beginning by documenting what it looked like, sounded like, and felt like.
PLEASE NOTE: This month's kits are in the warehouse and will ship on our normal schedule. Subscribers will be updated on the shipping of last month's kits sometime this week. Thank you again for your patience as we navigate supply chain issues.
The Story Kit™ includes:
Here's a video overview of the
Story Kit™ and Add-On options this month:
Starting with the Begin Story Kit™ we are making a change to the number of journal cards in the kit and adding in 3, 6x8 papers and 2, 3x8 papers (sized to the outside of the page protector). Going forward the kits will include those papers along with 6, 4x6 cards and 8, 3x4 cards.
The Stamp Set:
Here's a video overview of the Story Stamp:
Love this sample from Kelly Ishmael using this month's Story Stamp:
DIGITAL STORY KIT™ (Included with the STORY CLASS)
Your digital kit and the classroom and any Add-Ons purchased will be available to you on the 15th once your card has been charged for the month.
Here's a look at what's included in the Digital Story Kit™:
Again, thanks so much for subscribing and/or considering our
Story Subscription program! If you have any questions about this program please let us know below in the comments.
Here are a couple peeks at pages from Ali that will be featured in the classroom this month:
Stories By The Month™ kits include 4x6 chipboard, 3x4 and 4x6 cards, a 3x4 stamp, a sticker sheet, and an embellishment (wood veneer, cork, fabric, etc).
Here is a full look at the kit:
STORIES BY THE MONTH™ DESIGN NOTES: For 2022 there will be 5 designs that are repeated each month to give you some design consistency throughout the year. Each month you will get a 3x4 gratitude card (with the current month’s name at the top), a “this + that” card with the month, a “this happened” card with the month, and a “moments” color blocked card with the colors for the month. You will also get a 4x6 card each month with the monthly circle design AND the 3x4 stamp will have the uppercase handwritten month each month.
And a video overview:
This subscription is a great option for those who are looking to tell more calendar/everyday life sorts of stories.
After taking a year to get our digital and physical Stories By The Month™ kit collections lined up, we are so excited to offer our popular Stories By The Month Kits™ as a digital subscription
AND for a new lower price than what we previously sold these kits for in our shop.
Starting on 12/13/21 this kit will be offered for only $9.99 as an ongoing month-to-month commitment.
Our month-to-month subscription option allows you to cancel at any point prior to the 10th of the following month without penalty or a cancellation fee.
STORIES BY THE MONTH™ DESIGN NOTES: For 2022 there will be 5 designs that are repeated each month to give you some design consistency throughout the year. Each month you will get a 3x4 gratitude card (with the current month’s name at the top), a “this + that” card with the month, a “this happened” card with the month, and a “moments” color blocked card with the colors for the month. You will also get a 4x6 card each month with the monthly circle design AND the 3x4 stamp will have the uppercase handwritten month each month.
CURRENT SUBSCRIBER BONUS: Stories By The Month™ physical kit, Story Kit™, Story Stamp™ and Story Class™ subscribers will be able to add the new Stories By The Month™ Digital Kit as an add on to their order for only $5 during the add on period each month.
Thank you for your patience this year as we worked to get our digital and physical Stories By The Month™ kit designs in release date alignment.
We can’t wait to see what you create! As always, please reach out to our Customer Service team with any questions and they would be happy to help!
Subscriber Add On options this month include a 4x6 Planner Stamp Set, a set of plastic abbreviated months of the year, a set of adhesive-backed fabric numbers, and a set of transparent details cards (use a slick writer to write on top).
Add On options are available to all Story Kit™, Story Stamp™, and Stories By The Month™ subscribers (this excludes Digital Story Kit/Story Class subscribers since you don't have any part of your subscription shipped already). Current and new subscribers can select + purchase Add-On's via your new drop-down menu access under your user name in the top right corner of the site: you need to do this before the 15th of the month in order for them to ship with your kit. Depending on product availability subscribers may be able to purchase the Add-On's after the Add-On period has ended and regular shop shipping rates will apply because they will ship separately from the kit.
January 12, 2022
December Daily® 2021 | Special Guest Jill Drangsholt
Hello friends! Jill here. I had a great time breaking out of my 12x12 pocket page December Daily format with the 10x8 album this year. I enjoyed the opportunity to experiment with outside the page protector layouts and so many different page sizes! However, if you look at the last several stories in my album, you might notice that I reverted back to pocket pages a lot more. When I’m shorter on time or creative ideas, pocket pages are still my go to. lol. They also allowed me to fit in those last few stories without overstuffing my album. It is always a must for me to fit my project into just one album, and since this year I used a lot more dimension than usual, I tried to stay aware of how much space was left.
Just like in past years, I purposely worked on my stories at least a week behind. This allowed me a lot of flexibly to move stories around so that the layouts worked better together, and so I could have a good mix of small and large page sizes. I’ve long ago let go of having stories on specific days. One of my favorite parts of the project is fitting all of the stories together like puzzle pieces. I relied a lot on my sticky note system on the December Daily Journal calendar as I planned out where each story would go.
Something I did differently this year was to complete my journaling for each story before letting myself move on to the creative part of the next story. In the past I saved all of the journaling until the end and that was a daunting task that usually prolonged the project. So it was well worthy it to stick to constantly journaling along the way and it also allowed me to have more in the moment journaling.
My favorite products this year were the sequin shaker tags (I used them all!) and the glitter stars.
Thank you to everyone who cheered me on along the way. If you’d like to read most of my actual stories, they can be found on my Instagram account (@jill.drangsholt) where I have a post for each one. I have a full walk through up on IGTV with a few more thoughts on my album.
I hope you enjoyed this peek into my album and that it sparks some ideas for those of you still finishing your project. Until next year!
Jill Drangsholt
January 11, 2022
December Daily® 2021 | Special Guest Pascha Shepard
Hey everyone! I chose the 10x8 album just for the light linen gray color. My challenge was going to be using all the space, but I just had to have it when I saw it. I loved and used a lot of the full 10x8 pages. For my title page, I really wanted to use the poinsettia paper from the December Daily 10 x 8 Digital Paper Pack because the red just popped with the white and black. I paired it with black embellishments and number stickers. I like to use black and white, then add color to finish my pages.
December did not go as planned - but I am so happy with my album. It is a good thing that I did more foundation pages than I ever have because towards the middle and end of December I was crazy busy with work and then I fell sick. At that point I really had to rely on my foundation pages to make things happen and it even allowed me in the long run to finish my album for the first time ever before January. There was a time I did not think I needed to do foundation pages (ha ha ha). Now, I am so happy for them – I can create the page when I am inspired and adding the photo and the story is the easiest part. It was a fun challenge to make it work.
My first foundation page was Day 2 – the Christmas tree. I took the 10x8 page from the main kit, folded it in half and created a pocket. I made a large tag and figured when I take a pic of my tree – it will need to be vertical to fit. I paired black and red embellishments to deco on the front, on the back I added pics of new ornaments/decorations and one pic of my cat Leo “hiding” under the tree. This year I tried to do something to the back of every page.
I used Friday nights and Saturdays to finish pages and work on more foundation pages for the following week. That way I could at least print the pictures and put them aside during the week and then on the following weekend wrap up the story. This worked out so well for me and I never felt overwhelmed. Completing any project requires me to not become overwhelmed. I went so hard when I got my kit that I had to take a weekend off from December Daily prep.
One of my favorite things to do was to decorate around the 10x8 pocket page. Here I cut down a 10x8 sheet in half, cute notches and added it on top of the pocket page. I added embellishments that fit on top of the page. Simple but I love it and I love the raised cardboard stickers on top. I added foam tape to raise them. I added another deco page on the back. Popped my photos in the pockets and journaled on the inside flaps.
I really wanted to remember the little details, so I added a page of just that. Another 10x8 page. Best size ever.
The December Daily Journal Notebook was also a great companion that helped me stay on task. I t was my brain dump, planner, and first run of everything I wanted to do and memorialize. You can find the weekly videos and full flip through here. Happy storytelling!
For more inspiration from Pascha, be sure to follow her on Instagram here.
January 10, 2022
December Daily® 2021 | Completed Album
To wrap up December Daily® 2021 I'm sharing a video walk-through of my completed album.
To see images or videos of any individual story please check out my December Daily® blog post archives or the December Daily® 2021 category on YouTube.
Thank you so much for sharing your own stories this year and for valuing memory keeping in your own life.
Remember that there is no hurry to wrap up your own project: many people in our community enjoy working on this project during other times of the year! Follow the #donebydecember hashtag on Instagram for inspiration throughout the year as people work on projects leading up to the next holiday season. Our team also plans to continue sharing via the December Daily® Instagram account throughout the year if you are looking for additional inspiration.
Here's a look at my 2021 completed album:
January 8, 2022
December Daily® 2021 | Story 25
Welcome to Story #25 in my
December Daily® album for 2021.
I'm super excited to be wrapping up my album with today's look at the last few stories in my album this year. I'm working on a full walk-though of all the pages in my album to share soon.
I also really loved giving myself a bit of extra time to finish this up. Sometimes I find myself rushing through these last few stories and this year I felt like I gave myself more space + time to not be in a hurry and I love my result.
Thank you so much for being a part of this project in 2021!
Let's dive into the video:
And here's a look at how it all turned out:
One of the notes I wrote to myself when I was working on my foundation pages a few months ago was to use this grid pattern paper to hold photos/words/embellishments from either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. I'm so glad I jotted that down on a sticky note to remind myself!
I gathered up a collection of photos from Christmas Day and cropped them to 2 inches wide x 1.75 inches tall.
On top of the photos I added a plastic piece cut to the same size as the photo. Using washi tape I created a flip up and cut the label circle stickers in half and added them on top. On top of the 1/2 circles I used a Slick Writer to add a little detail.
I also created little journal boxes in photoshop with a red border and added those in between/around my photos + their flip ups. Under the 1/2 circle stickers I added a puffy heart from a past sticker sheet (Evening Story Kit I think).
The next page is a piece of Grafix Plastic with the felt 2 + 5 on top. I stitched those two together when I was playing with my foundation pages and then stitched them (in the same spot) onto the Grafix Sheet. On to of the 25 I added another one of the banners from one of the sheets of pattern paper.
On the back of the felt 25 I added a Tim Holtz Rub On and one of the sliver glitter stars.
The next page features a full page photo that Aaron took of all of us on Christmas morning. I printed that one 11 inches wide x 7 inches tall and then cut a strip of the Merry Christmas pattern paper to add along the bottom. I ran that through my sewing machine to add the zig zag red stitching before adding on the Christmas puffy sticker from the Main Kit.
I got the snow I was wishing for during the night on Christmas and I was so filled with joy! After our Christmas Day photo I adhered the red pattern paper to the back of the photo and added a 3.5 inch circle photo of me celebrating the snow.
On top of the photo I added another of the banners from one of the pattern papers using foam adhesive squares. I love this page.
This year I decided to end my album with one of my favorite pattern papers + a little message: Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more. So thankful for our family and for this past holiday season and for all of you who shared your stories this year. Thank you for being a part of this community!
SUPPLIES
December Daily® 2021 Main Kit
December Daily® 10x8 Album (same size)
Epson XP15000 Printer
Scotch Rolling Adhesive
Fiskars Paper Trimmer
We R Memory Keepers Hole Punch
December Daily® 10x8 Paper Pack
Foam Adhesive Squares
Tiny Attacher Stapler
Grafix Transparent Sheets
Washi Tape
Slick Writer Pen
Star Puffy Stickers from Evening Story Kit (or add on)
December Daily® Glitter Stars
SHARE YOUR STORY #25
You are invited to leave a link in the comment section if you'd like to share your daily pages. Please include a direct link to your blog post sharing your Day 25 vs. a general blog address link.
January 7, 2022
In Case You Missed It | January 7
Happy Friday and Happy New Year, 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:
DIGITAL RELEASE
It’s the first Friday of the month and that means we have a digital release for you in the shop. This month’s release includes Ali’s 2022 word art, One Little Word® digitals, and more. Find our newest digital items here.
ONE LITTLE WORD 2022
The 2022 One Little Word® collection is now available in the shop. Please visit this blog post for all of the relevant product information regarding delays and shipping. Find the collection here: https://aliedwards.com/shop/one-littl... One Little Word® 2022 Workshop // The OLW classroom is available for registration and the classroom is open now. Find all of the information here.
NEW GUEST STORYTELLER LESSONS
This month we’re welcoming Candace Perkins and creative team member, Krystal Idunate. Just a reminder that the Story Class provides monthly themed educational content that acts as a spark to help you document and celebrate the stories of your life. When you sign-up you’ll also receive most of the designs found in the physical Story Kit™ and Story Stamp™ in the freedom of a digital format. The Story Class is free when you subscribe to both the Story Kit and Story Stamp, or can be purchased individually for $19.99. 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!
January 5, 2022
December Daily® 2021 | Story 24
Welcome to Story #24 in my
December Daily® album for 2021.
I took a little time away from this project while launching One Little Word® and spending the New Year's holiday with family.
Today I'm back to share a look at how I told the story of our Christmas Eve in this year's album. I ended up adding in a variety of things, including our Christmas card.
Let's dive into the video:
And here's a look at how it all turned out:
This spread begins with a foundation page I set up using one of the
canvas pockets + vellum stitched tag shakers + tags from the Shipping Tag Bundle. I added a bit of journaling and then also added two candle packaging tops (punched holes and added twine to turn them into tags).
I used a We R Memory Keepers hole punch to punch holes in our Christmas card from Minted.
It's so fun to add in different page sizes + textures.
On the back of our Christmas Card I added the fabric stocking stickers from the
Main Kit and I cut out one of the banners from the 10x8 Paper Pack (adhered with foam adhesive squares).
Next up is one of the vellum envelope pages with a vellum shaker tag adhered on top. On the tag I added a sequin star from the Advent Calendar along with a Dec. 24 label sticker from Tim Holtz.
Inside the vellum envelope I added a 3 inch x 8 inch journaling page. I wrote up the things I wanted to remember and the things I was thankful for this year. Along the top I added one of the sticker tabs from the Advent Calendar.
This year Erin (McKercher kids Mom) spent Christmas Eve + Christmas Day with us and it was really, really special. Thankful that Aaron took this photo of us together.
On the back of the vellum envelope I added one of the puffy heart stickers from the Main Kit along with a canvas phrase strip (ran this through my sewing machine like I did on others earlier in the month).
I didn't take very many photos on Christmas Eve which is pretty normal for me. I printed out a full page photo of Anna wrapping some presents and added the three plastic circles from the Main Kit on top. I printed out two smaller photos (2.25 inch circles) and used a 2.5 inch circle punch to punch them out which gives them the white border. Those photos were adhered onto the two non-text circles. I also punched small holes in the plastic circles and added some black + white twine.
December Daily® 2021 Main Kit
December Daily® 10x8 Album (same size)
Epson XP15000 Printer
Scotch Rolling Adhesive
Uniball Vision Elite Pen
Fiskars Paper Trimmer
Vellum Stitched Shaker Tags
Canvas Pockets
December Daily® Shipping Tag Bundle
We R Memory Keepers Hole Punch
December Daily® 10x8 Paper Pack
2.5 Inch Circle Punch
Black + White Twine
Foam Adhesive Squares
Red Line Cream Ribbon
Tiny Attacher Stapler
December Daily® Advent Calendar
Tim Holtz Label Maker StickersSHARE YOUR STORY #24
You are invited to leave a link in the comment section if you'd like to share your daily pages. Please include a direct link to your blog post sharing your Day 24 vs. a general blog address link.
December 30, 2021
Sharing A Look At My One Little Word® Album + Journal From 2021
As we turn the page and move into a new year I wanted to share a video walkthrough of my One Little Word® album and journal from this past year.
My album is a collection of my personal responses to the One Little Word® workshop prompts from 2021. In addition to the binder album this year I actively worked in the journal most months and loved having it as a collection place for thoughts, reflections, images, quotes, and other bits of life related to my word in 2021. Neither is necessary to participate in the workshop but are available to you if you'd like to have a home for documenting your journey with your word.
Let's dive right in:
PS: Don't forget to sign up for the 2022 One Little Word® workshop in you are interested in joining this year before end of day on 12/31/21 to receive $5 off.
December 29, 2021
One Little Word® 2022 | Pause
Since 2006 I've been choosing a single word to walk with over the course the 12 months from January through December. I call it One Little Word®. It's a personal growth/reflection project that uses memory keeping as the vehicle to help us live with intention.
My past words have included:
Play Peace Vitality Nurture Story Light Up Open Thrive Give Whole Connect Space HabitLessHeart
For 2022 I'm going to focus on the word
pause.
I’m currently in the process of welcoming “pause” into my life. It’s a word that’s speaking to me and I’m actively reminding myself that I don’t have to know why and I don’t have to have any answers right now besides saying yes to the adventure. Most of us alive right now have experienced some degree of pause over the last few years - for me this is more about pausing before reacting, pausing before making decisions, pausing to take it all in, pausing to celebrate, pausing to make sure I'm living the way I want to be living. I'm looking forward to seeing what I learn from this word in 2022.
You're invited to join me in choosing word and working to make it visible in your own life in 2022.
I’d love to read what word you’ve chosen or are considering for 2022. In the comments feel free to simply leave your word as your comment or write a bit about why you are choosing this word. Next week I’ll combine all the words into a single post – it's become tradition and super inspiring to see all the words in one place.
If you’re new to the concept of One Little Word®, you can read some of my previous posts here:
2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Since 2011 I've been offering a One Little Word® online workshop that's goal is to help you stay connected to your word throughout the year. It's not complicated and it doesn't take a lot of time and we have a wonderful community of people who come together to share the journey. Each month you receive an email reminder to head back to the classroom for some sort of creative prompt/writing reflection from myself or the OLW Team (in 2021 this became a Team effort). As with most years, the majority of the prompts will be similar to past years as I find that I enjoy the process of doing the same prompts with different words each year - it's never the same. New videos are recorded each year that include our personal reflections on the process with our new words.
You can read all the details about this workshop and sign up here. You can watch a video walkthrough of some of my past album projects here to get an idea of past prompts. Registration is $5 off until December 31, 2021.
I've also created a selection of products to help you document your journey with your word - check those out here.
December 28, 2021
December Daily® 2021 | Story 23
Welcome to Story #23 in my
December Daily® album for 2021.
For this story I paired one of my foundation pages (the felt with the stitched title) with an enlarged photo of Anna + Audrey and then added it into a pocket I had created during the Prep Day.
Let's dive into the video:
And here's a look at how it all turned out:
I adhered the felt to the back of my printed photo (ended up being sized to about 10 inches x 7 inches) and added an Avery Index Tab along the top. I had created the pocket with a sheet of pattern paper + a piece of Grafix Plastic that was stitched to the paper.
On top of the photo of the girls I added some of the metallic rimmed label stickers + the "loving" stamp + a few words added to each one + a small gold star embellishment.
I adore this real life photo of Anna + Audrey and feel overwhelming gratitude that I get to spend parts of my life with them.
SUPPLIESDecember Daily® 2021 Main Kit December Daily® 10x8 Album (same size) Epson XP15000 Printer Scotch Rolling Adhesive Uniball Vision Elite Pen December Daily® Label StickersBenzie Design FeltSmall Gold StarsAvery Index TabsDecember Daily® 2021 Holiday Phrases Stamp SetFiskars Paper TrimmerGrafix PlasticSHARE YOUR STORY #23
You are invited to leave a link in the comment section if you'd like to share your daily pages. Please include a direct link to your blog post sharing your Day 23 vs. a general blog address link.
