Ali Edwards's Blog, page 77
December 15, 2021
December Daily® 2021 | Story 13
Welcome to Story #13 in my
December Daily® album for 2021.
We have two birthdays around here in December. Up first is Elliot and today's story talks a bit about our gathering and his gifts and how it was awesome to see he + Isaac getting along (keeping it real over here in teenage land).
Let's dive into the video:
And here's a look at the spread in and out of my album:
For today's page I decided to do a custom die cut using my Silhouette Cameo. I originally cut this out with some star pattern paper from the Star Scrapbook Kit but decided to go over the top of the pattern paper with white embossing powder (you can check that process out in the video).
I used Attacher Stickers (we hope to restock these in the shop in the new year) to add the die cut word art to my album. After folding over the stickers I ran them through my sewing machine for some color + texture.
I used glitter stars from the Sticker Advent Calendar on the front + back of the die cut word art and also placed that above my journaling on top of the 10 inch x 8 inch photo.
Along the bottom of the photo I added journaling squares that were cut from one of the die cut page designs. I stamped "oh what fun" next to the number on each of the journaling squares and added my journaling below. These were adhered to the photo using foam adhesive squares.
I cut out another banner from one of the 10 inch x 8 inch pattern papers and used foam adhesive to adhere it on top of the glitter star.
SUPPLIES
December Daily® 2021 Main Kit
December Daily® 10x8 Album (same size)
December Daily® 2021 10x8 Pattern Paper
December Daily® 2021 Sticker Advent Calendar
December Daily® 2021 Die Cut Pages
December Daily® Phrases Stamp Set
Black StazOn Ink
Versamark Embossing Ink
American Crafts Heat Gun
White Embossing Powder
Corner Rounder
Silhouette Cameo
Star Scrapbook Kit
Attacher StickersSHARE YOUR STORY #13
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 13 vs. a general blog address link.
December 14, 2021
December Daily® 2021 | Special Guest Shu-Wen Tham
Hi everyone! It's Shu-Wen here (aka @ChouxPuffCreations), and I’m excited to share some cards that I made featuring products from this year's December Daily release!
Having been a card-maker for many years before I started memory keeping, I find that I still get a lot of my scrapbooking ideas from cards that I've made in the past or new card-making trends in the crafting industry. Some examples include my pull-tab waterfall page that was inspired by interactive flip-book style cards and my full-page shaker title page. that was inspired by full-page shaker cards. It's not surprising that some of my scrapbooking ideas and scrapbooking trends occasionally find themselves in my cards as well!
For this first set of cards, I used the digital Alphabet Stamp Set to cut out some bold greetings out of gold-foiled cardstock with my electronic cutting machine. Then, I messy-stamped some coordinating phrases from the Holiday Phrases Stamp Set to cover a small piece of white cardstock. I mounted the gold-foiled greetings on top of the messy stamping with foam tape to give my title piece some dimension. Then, I cut some patterned paper down to 4" x 5.25", added some stitching with gold thread, and distressed the edges of my patterned paper with Tim Holtz's Distressing Tool to give the patterned paper a bit more texture. I attached the patterned paper onto my kraft A2 card base, attached the bold greeting to my patterned paper, and added some gold sequins for a little extra shine.
I loved the stitching on the tags I had made for my Stretch Your Stamps December Daily video series, so I decided to replicate that same design for this next set of cards. First, I stamped one of the outline star stamps from the 6x8 Star Stamp Set with a light ink on a piece of 4" x 5.25" white cardstock. Then, using the stamped star images as a guide, I punched holes around the outline of each star. After that, I added some stitching detail with red and green embroidery floss. (For more details on how I did my stitching, see my Stretch Your Stamps video on my YouTube channel.) I also added a simple stitch all the way around my cardstock panel. Once all my stitching was done, I mounted my panel onto some gold-foiled cardstock or patterned paper on an A2 card base, added a small sentiment (either the "Tis the Season" stamp from the In A Creative Bubble Stamp Set or one of the banners I had fussy cut out from one of the patterned papers in the add-on pack). I finished off the cards with some star stickers from the Star Mini Kit.
The 6x8 Die Cut Cardstock Insert with the 12 circles scales down perfectly for the front of an A2-sized card, so I decided to feature that for my next set of cards! I sized the digital die cut insert down to approximately 4 inches wide on my electronic cutting machine software before I cut them out. Then I backed some with patterned paper, some with gold-foiled cardstock, and some with vellum, making sure to pop my die-cut insert up with some foam tape for added interest. After that, I stamped a small sentiment from the In A Creative Bubble set into one of the windows. To fill up the other empty windows, I added some small stickers from the Chipboard House Sticker sheet, Red Glitter Heart Cardstock Sticker sheet, and the Funny Puffy Sticker sheet. Then, I finished the cards off with some gold puffy star stickers from the Star Mini Kit.
I loved Barbara's December Daily Product Play lesson so much that I decided to make some of her pleated patterned paper trees for my next set of Christmas cards. While I was adding the gold thread, I couldn't resist adding some gold sequins between some of the pleats as well! I mounted the trees onto some 4" x 5.25" white cardstock and attached that to my kraft A2 card bases. After that, I finished the cards off with some sentiment stamps (some bold ones from the Paislee Press stamp set and the In A Creative Bubble stamp set, as well as the "Merry Christmas" stamp from the Holiday Phrases stamp set) and some more star stickers from the Star Mini Kit.
For my last set of cards, I created some background by heat-embossing the icons from the Bring On the Joy Stamp Set to fill up some pieces of 4" x 5.25" colored cardstock. Then, I experimented with different ways to color them in: using Copic markers, Finetec pearlescent watercolors, and a white gel pen. I think I like the Copic markers best for the white cardstock and the Finetec pearlescent watercolors the best for the colored cardstock. After that, I mounted my colored panel onto some gold-foiled cardstock and added a sentiment (also backed with gold-foiled cardstock) with the Holiday Phrases Stamp Set!
I hope this post inspires you to try out some of your favorite scrapbooking ideas and products for your holiday cards!
December Daily® 2021 | Story 12
Welcome to Story #12 in my
December Daily® album for 2021.
I took a little break from this project on Sunday and was happy to be back at it again today with a page/story documenting some things I'm thankful for right now. Stories of gratitude is a topic that I return to again and again in my memory keeping. The act of writing down what we are thankful for, even in challenging times (and often especially then), is a practice I hope I never get tired of - even when it's a simple list like this one.
Let's dive into the video:
And here's a look at the spread in and out of my album:
When I put together my foundation pages this year one of the things I set up in advance was this vellum speech bubble page + numbers stickers from the Main Kit.
I'm a huge fan of using shapes as a home for my content and I really kept that top of mind when I was putting together patterns for the papers this year.
For today's story I decided to use the speech bubbles on the vellum as a home for twelve gratitudes. I tested out a POSCA White Paint Pen on one of the other pieces of vellum and was so excited to see that it worked. I knew that this wasn't going to be a page with a lot of long journaling and instead I was going to be looking to fill up the speech bubbles with some words.
Along with the white paint pen I stamped and/or embossed "so thankful" using one of the stamps from the December Daily® Phrases Stamp Set. I used a bright green embossing powder for some of the darker speech bubbles and then used black StazOn ink for the lighter ones. I also added some of the puffy star stickers that were on a sheet from the Advent Calendar.
Honestly, it's almost always a good idea to include some gratitudes. Loving this as my story for today.
SUPPLIES
December Daily® 2021 Main Kit December Daily® 10x8 Album (same size) December Daily® 2021 10x8 Vellum Sheets December Daily® 2021 Sticker Advent Calendar December Daily® Phrases Stamp Set White POSCA Paint Pen Black StazOn Ink Versamark Embossing Ink Bright Green Embossing Powder American Crafts Heat GunSHARE YOUR STORY #12
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 12 vs. a general blog address link.
December 13, 2021
Delight Story Kit + January 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 Delight.
To delight is to please (someone) greatly or to take pleasure in or to experience great pleasure. This month we are telling stories of the people, places, and things that delight us most in our lives.
Initial story ideas for this theme include:
Make a list of the things that are currently delighting you in your life.
Tell a story of your evening delights and/or your morning delights.
Often small things can bring us the most moments of delight. Document all the little delights you encounter over the course of a day.
PLEASE NOTE: We notified subscribers last week that due to a significant and unprecedented delay in receiving products in our warehouse (supply chain issues + the holidays), this months subscriptions will ship in mid-January. Please reach out to our Customer Service team if you have additional questions.
STORY KIT™
The
Story Kit™ includes:
Here's a video overview of the
Story Kit™ and Add-On options this month:
STORY STAMP™
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 and a pocket page spread from Lisa 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!
Due to the shipping delays with our subscriptions this month we will not be offering any new Add Ons.
December 12, 2021
December Daily® 2021 | Story 11
Welcome to Story #11 in my
December Daily® album for 2021.
A simple, quiet Saturday around here invited a fun, full-page photo using a new puzzle as the jumping off point to create a home for my story.
We are sending lots of love to our friends + coworkers who live in Bowling Green, Kentucky after the devastating tornadoes there this weekend. Thank you for having extra patience if you are reaching out to our Customer Service team this weekend who are all based in that area.
Let's dive into the video:
And here's a look at the spread in and out of my album:
When I started thinking about the story I wanted to tell today I was having trouble thinking of something specific. I'm working and I'm resting (sometimes those two things can happen at the same time) and it was honestly a simple, quiet Saturday. I came up to my office and looked around and thought about a story to tell and then decided to go down and start a new puzzle and see what came to me.
As I unboxed the new puzzle (it's this one and I can't wait to do it) I thought of a wreath and decided (before I started pulling out the edge pieces) to shape the pieces in a circle like a wreath and simply add basic details from my day into the middle. I stood on the top of our table to get a top-down shot and hurried up to my office to print it out and make a page.
Circles for the win of course.
Yep, that's how things often go around here.
In Photoshop I cropped and edited my photo and then drew up the "simple Saturday" word art which you can download: Download the simple Saturday word art here.
I printed the photo on my Epson XP15000 printer and included a second circle to help with the cutting it out of the middle (you can see more about this in today's video and what I try first). I used a craft knife to cut it out using the second outside circle as a guide.
My idea was to cut out that middle circle to reveal my journaling below. I set up my journaling in Illustrator - you can also flow text into a circle or other shape in Photoshop. I printed that on a 4x6 card and ended up adhering it behind the large photo.
I used red/white twine to add a couple Tim Holtz metal pieces (numbers + sentiment) and attach the whole cut circle piece to the page itself. I punched a small hole in the top of the photo and wrapped the twine around a few times to hold the circle. So fun.
On the back of the circle I cut from the main photo I added some of the red plaid pattern paper and a fabric patch on top. I also added a few Tim Holtz Glass Stars around the outside edge.
Hope you are having a safe + enjoyable weekend.
SUPPLIES
December Daily® 2021 Main Kit
December Daily® 10x8 Album (same size)
We R Memory Keepers Hole Punch
Scotch Rolling Adhesive
Fiskars Trimmer
Epson XP15000 Printer
Tim Holtz Glass Stars
Tim Holtz Metal Number Tokens
Tim Holtz Metal Sentiments
Red/White Twine
Fiskars Micro Tip Scissors
December Daily® Fabric Patches
Craft Knife
Embroidery Thread Box Organizer
Glue PenSHARE YOUR STORY #11
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 10 vs. a general blog address link.
December 11, 2021
AE Creative Team | Glow Story Kit™
This past month we have been investigating and telling stories about what it means to glow and shine your light, and today we are delighted to share with you the special projects that our Creative Team made using the Glow Story Kit™.
Also,as a reminder, tomorrow, December 12th, is the last day to subscribe and receive the GLOW-themed products.
As always, we are so grateful to our Creative Team for sharing their stories and creative inspiration with all of us!
December Daily® 2021 | Story 10
Welcome to Story #10 in my
December Daily® album for 2021.
After a couple days of more involved page designs + processes I'm happy to have a quick story for today that features a photo enlargement and 1/2 circle page with a design from
Brandi Kincaid. You can see more of her beautiful work here.
Let's dive into the video:
And here's a look at the spread in and out of my album:
After seeing Brandy's beautiful illustration earlier this week I reached out and asked her if it was okay if I used it in my album. The sentiment is so much of what is on my heart right now. Big thank you to her for granting permission.
I printed her illustration and cut it to match the 1/2 circle from yesterday's story. In the center of the wreath I added puffy stickers for "story 10."
For my photo page today I used one of the new 10x8 Layered Templates (with some adjustments such as making it the size of the outside of the page protector vs. 8x10). I replaced the original word art with the "gingerbread houses for the win" and have that available for you to download for yourself here. I printed the photo here at home using an Epson XP15000 printer.
If you'd like to learn more about working with layered templates or other hybrid processes (working with digital products in paper projects) you're invited to check out our series of Hybrid Workshops:
Hybrid Workshop (original)
Hybrid Product Play
Hybrid All Year Round with Jennie Rey
I’ve also got an older free series on my blog that’s called Getting Started With Digital Scrapbooking. You can check that out here.
After printing the photo and punching holes to add it to my album I also adhered a joyful wood veneer speech bubble that was in my stash from a previous project kit.
I hope you have a great weekend + get a chance to do some storytelling!
SUPPLIES
December Daily® 2021 Main Kit
December Daily® 10x8 Album (same size)
December Daily® 10x8 Layered Templates
We R Memory Keepers Hole Punch
Scotch Rolling Adhesive
Fiskars Trimmer
Red Line TapeSHARE YOUR STORY #10
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 10 vs. a general blog address link.
December 10, 2021
In Case You Missed It | December 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:
DECEMBER DAILY
The 2021 December Daily® collection is now available in the shop. Find the collection here.
STORY CHATS
On Monday we will have our RESCHEDULED Story Chat for the December Story Kit™ theme: DELIGHT. The chat will happen at 7pm ET on our Ali Edwards Design Inc Instagram account. If you can’t join us live, an archived version of the conversation will be saved to the account and will also be available in the Story Classroom. On Wednesday, Ali, Lisa, Yin, and Nolana will have a check-in conversation over on our December Daily Instagram account. The time will be announced early next week.
CRAFT THE STORY YOUTUBE SERIES
Ali is back on Youtube sharing a blog post and video for each of her stories in December. Be sure to subscribe to her channel to receive notifications of new videos here. And find additional photos and links on the blog.
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!
December Daily® 2021 | Story 09
Welcome to Story #09 in my
December Daily® album for 2021.
As I'm looking back at this one I can see that I didn't include a number - I'm totally okay with that as it's fairly obvious in the flow of the album itself.
Let's dive into the video:
And here's a look at the spread in and out of my album:
Today's story is obviously happening on the back of the pattern vellum from yesterday. Because of that it was really easy to look for a story I could tell that would include more 2.5 inch circle punched images or papers or something along those lines. Each kid received a new ornament when we decorated the tree the other night so this became a fun way to highlight what they picked out/received.
To identify each of the ornaments I created a text circle in Illustrator (you can do this in Photoshop too) with their names and then cut them out and adhered them behind each photo so they look like tabs. I adhered them with scotch tape initially and then adhered the entire circle down with foam adhesives.
On top of each photo I also added a glitter cardstock star with a silver mini brad through the center.
I decided to add a second page of journaling and format it in a 1/2 circle shape (same as the shape in the Die Cut Paper Pack) that detailed a little more about the ornaments. Nothing fancy with the words. I also added two more silver cardstock stars with brads through the middle.
Font is Avenir.
I'm such a fan of these circle grids. I enjoyed doing another one today but I'm ready to move onto something different tomorrow.
SUPPLIES
December Daily® 2021 Main Kit
December Daily® 10x8 Album (same size)
December Daily® 2021 Vellum Sheets
We R Memory Keepers Hole Punch
Scotch Rolling Adhesive
Fiskars Trimmer
2.5 Inch Circle Punch
Foam Adhesive Squares
Glitter Cardstock Stars
Silver Mini BradsSHARE YOUR STORY #9
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 9 vs. a general blog address link.
December 9, 2021
December Daily® 2021 | Story 08
Welcome to Story #08 in my
December Daily® album for 2021.
Today I stared with one idea and it evolved in a different direction that was a combination of a couple blue sticky-note ideas I had in my album. Initially I was going to create 1/2 circle pockets on top of this vellum wreath pattern paper to hold "stuff" like candle packaging but pivoted to add wrapping paper "swatches" to the 1/2 circle pockets. I had a seriously fun time working on this one - totally worth the effort to make it happen.
Let's dive right into the process video:
Here are some images of the project in and out of my album:
Today's story opens with a page of Hero Arts Woodgrain Vellum cut on my Silhouette. "It's possible that we may never, ever run out of wrapping paper." Ha. Yep. I have banned myself from buying any new wrapping paper until we work through a much bigger chunk, if not all of the selection we have here right now. For this text I simply opened up the Silhouette software and typed out my words and sent it to cut. I did save the file in case this is a sentiment you want to add to your own album.
You can download the .Studio file and/or the SVG file here.
As you'll see in the video the words cut a little too close to the outer edge so I ended up adding some Tim Holtz Christmas tape along the outside edge (you could also use fun ribbon, washi, or pattern paper here).
When you turn the page you come to the vellum wreath page which becomes the home for my wrapping paper swatches.
In the video I mention some encouragement to become a translator of ideas. What else could you put into those 1/2 circle pockets? Photos and/or journaling for sure.
This project started with creating the 1/2 circle pockets. I used a 3 inch circle punch to punch circles from this white dot vellum. I used my sewing machine to stitch the half circle onto the background wreath vellum. The transparent eight is from a past Week In The Life kit.
After stitching all the pockets I did two things: (1) used my 2.5 inch circle punch to punch circles from the different wrapping paper patterns in my wrapping tub and organized them into five categories, and (2) printed title strips for my pockets that were then adhered along the top edge of each pocket. The font I used for those titles is called Blackout.
I cut the "December stories" banner from one of the 10x8 pattern papers in the extra pack and adhered it with foam adhesive.
I had five categories of wrapping paper: brown papers (as in brown paper packages tied up with string), woodlands, stripes, Santas, and words. After punching out all the circles I used my Crop A Dile + eyelets (oh yeah you read that right) to attach each group together before slipping them back into the pockets. I ran red + white twine through the eyelets to finish off those swatch books.
One thing I added after I turned off the camera was one 2.5 inch journal circle that gave a little more context to this story.
I don't think I'll ever get tried of cut out/see through words on paper, especially when Christmasy things are peeking through.
I really like how this one turned out! I love starting with a pattern paper or vellum that has spaces already built into the design (often in a grid) that can become homes for journaling, photos or ephemera.
SUPPLIES
December Daily® 2021 Main Kit December Daily® 10x8 Album (same size) December Daily® 2021 10x8 Pattern Vellum We R Memory Keepers Hole Punch Scotch Rolling Adhesive Fiskars Trimmer Silhouette Cameo Standard Eyelets Crop A Dile Eyelet Setter 2.5 Inch Circle Punch 3 Inch Circle Punch 12x12 Small White Dot Vellum Paper December Daily® 2021 Tag + Circle Set Hero Arts Decorative Woodgrain Vellum Tim Holtz Label Tape (looks like they are now sticker pieces) Brother Sewing Machine Tim Holtz Mini Tonic Trimmer December Daily® 2021 Pattern Paper Pack (digital) Foam Adhesive Squares Red TwineSHARE YOUR STORY #8
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 8 vs. a general blog address link.
