Ali Edwards's Blog, page 78

December Daily® 2021 | Story 07

Welcome to Story #07 in my
December Daily® album for 2021. 

Today I was looking for a quick story that I could tell and decided on including a photo I took yesterday morning of the mess that has consumed my office. Holiday mess is normal and to be expected and it's simply a part of how I experience the month.

Also, Aaron wanted me to be sure to let you guys know that the song he was thinking of that includes the words "some days are diamonds" was actually from Tom Petty and not from John Denver. Just to clear that up. 

Let's dive right into the process video: 

Here are some images of the project in and out of my album: 

Today I'm working on the back of yesterday's story and decided to use the same overall design foundation which includes a 4 inch x 8.25 inch photo and one of the pockets from the Main Kit to document the mess that currently lives here in my office. 

On top of my photo I added some chipboard circles from my stash (I think those were from a past December Stories By The Month™ kit). 

Inside the pocket I stamped "hello mess" using an old Educational Insights stamp and handwrote my journaling using a Uniball Vision Elite pen. On the top of the journal card I stapled a little bit of red trim to create a tab. 

On the outside of the pocket I adhered one of the vellum trees from the Main Kit and then added a puffy number seven and a puffy star. 

SUPPLIES

December Daily® 2021 Main Kit
December Daily® 8x10 Album (same size)
December Daily® 2021 Star Mini Kit
We R Memory Keepers Hole Punch
December Daily® 6x8 Transparency Pages
Tiny Attacher
6 Hole Punch
Fiskars Trimmer
Corner Rounder
Educational Insights Stamp Set
Past December Stories By The Month™ Kit (or December Daily® Kit)
Staz On Ink

Uniball Vision Elite Pen

SHARE YOUR STORY #7

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 7 vs. a general blog address link.

December Daily® 2021 | Story 06

Welcome to Story #06 in my
December Daily® album for 2021. 

Today includes a photo on the back of yesterday's Hallmark bag, four pages of journaling tucked inside a pocket, and a second photo stitched along the outside edge of the 6x8 transparency. 

Let's dive right into the process video: 

Here are some images of the project in and out of my album: 

My first task today was to print a full page photo and adhere it to the back of the Hallmark bag I cut up and added in yesterday. 

I used small Fiskars scissors to cut around the scalloped edge and really like how it turned out. 

It's a little wonky on the side with the photo which I think has to do with the fact that this is a dark photo but today was a lot about embracing all the things. 

On top of the photo I used gold thin puffy letter stickers and white cardstock alpha stickers to create my title (a phrase which Aaron texted me during the day yesterday and jumped off my journaling for this story). I also added a vellum star and a small puffy gold star. 

Today's story ended up being a lot longer than would fit onto the card that came inside the pocket so I removed that and added in four pages of my story (see below) and tied them together with twine. On top of the outside of the pocket I layered two vellum stars and a black/gold pleather circle from last year's December Daily® collection. 

Today's journaling: 

“Some days are diamonds” was a text Aaron sent me this morning after I was going-on about some frustrations related to kids and holidays and expectations. Expectations. Man, it always comes back to that doesn’t’ it? Today was one of those days where things felt like they were compounding and I had a hard time moving through my expectations not meeting the reality. 

Sometimes I have fantasies about family hangouts: I love the idea of us all sitting around the tree leisurely decorating while Christmas music plays and the fire burns. In my fantasy everyone is happy to be there together to celebrate the season. Some of this goes back to when I was a kid and we had a family tree decorating evening when all the ornament boxes came out and we took turns putting each ornament on the tree one at a time. Ornaments were special in our house - my Mom even kept a list of when we received all the ornaments in our individual boxes and who they were from. As an adult I 100% realize that she was the one who made that magic happen and set the expectation for family participation. I now fully understand the emotional effort that goes into keeping some traditions alive. And don’t get me wrong, our tree decorating evenings were imperfect because it involved people with thoughts and feelings and emotions. Even considering all that I still look back on the idea of it all with fondness.

Today I talked to Aaron about how I really wanted us to all spend some time together to decorate the tree. It didn’t need to last hours and I have generally low expectations that everyone would enjoy it (and I get it and remember what it felt like when your friends were everything and hanging with the people in your house might feel like a chore) but I still really wanted to make something happen even if was for a limited time frame before people went their own way for the evening.

As with most family stories, there is a lot more that goes into all this (oh the layers of these stories) then I could ever include in one telling. I love our diverse personalities, our unique family set up, and I enjoy spending time with each of them (I enjoy it most when they are enjoying it too). I’m also working on - and have been for a number of years - adapting my expectations and taking things down a couple notches and being open for beauty and goodness to appear in ways I hadn’t considered.

With all that in mind Aaron and I did some quick brainstorming on what we could do to make this a more enjoyable hangout for our crew and ended up deciding to do a “board” dinner (basically a couple charcuterie trays and some sparkling cider) at a set time (concrete expectations for a beginning and an end: about 30-45 min total) to go along with each kid adding their own ornaments to the tree. 

No one complained one bit during the entire time. There was smiling and eating and laughing and a broken ornament and corny jokes and chatter about Christmas and conversations about rides and sleepovers and cheese tasting. It ended up being just right for the seven of us. I adjusted. They adjusted. The tree got decorated. And when it was all over Anna and Simon and I watched Home Alone.

Along the outside edge of the transparency I stitched a color photo of our tree and placed a vellum star on top along with a puffy number from the Main Kit. 

SUPPLIES

December Daily® 2021 Main Kit
December Daily® 8x10 Album (same size)

December Daily® 2021 Star Mini Kit

We R Memory Keepers Hole PunchDecember Daily® 6x8 Transparency Pages
Red + Cream Ribbon
Tiny Attacher
Epson PictureMate PM400
6 Hole Punch
Fiskars Trimmer
Fiskars MicroTip ScissorsVellum Stars from Road Trip Mini KitPleather Phrase CirclesCorner RounderWhite Glitter Cardstock Stickers

Thin Gold Puffy Alphabet Stickers

SHARE YOUR STORY #6

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 6 vs. a general blog address link.

AED Creative Team Instagram Hop | Speech Bubbles

Today we are thrilled to share seven amazing projects featuring speech bubbles from our Ali Edwards Design Inc Creative Team. These projects were all created using speech bubbles from the (digital) 2021 December Daily® release as a source of inspiration. We are incredibly grateful that a few of the ladies also seated additional files to help you recreate their projects, if desired. Let's check them out! 

Elizabeth Heinz

We love how Elizabeth used the chipboard frames as a home for her story. Find more inspiration from Elizabeth here: @elizabethheinz.

Ingunn Markiewicz

We love how Ingunn used speech bubbles to pull together a fantastic collection of quotes from her daughter. Find more inspiration from Ingunn here: @smultringunn. 

Kim Chaffin

We love how Kim added so much fun and interest to a family photo. Find more inspiration from Kim here: @kimdocumentslife.  

Jenny Theriault

We love Jenny's page and it's such a great reminder that all stories do not need to have a photo! Find more inspiration from Jenny here: @jenny_theriault. 

Linda Jordan

We love how Linda pieced this page protector with yardstick for a gorgeous and textural 10x8 page and then added the vellum speech bubbles to tell the story of her favorite holiday music. Find more inspiration from Linda here: @lindalovescreating. 

Amy Gretchen

We are blown away by this interactive page from Amy. She's been very generous and is sharing the files required to make something similar: find them here.  Find more inspiration from Amy here:  @amygretchenstudio. 

Jennie Rey

We can't get enough of Jennie's incredible quote bubble page. She's sharing all the files you need to help create your own spread. Find more inspiration from Jennie here: @thereypie.

Thank you to our amazing Creative team from these fun and creative ways to work with speech bubbles! 

December Daily® 2021 | Story 05

Welcome to Story #05 in my
December Daily® album for 2021. 

I'm definitely enjoying this new larger album size. Did you know that Katie Jaeger was the one who suggested + advocated for that size? We are hoping to offer it again in 2022 with our Week In The Life™ project and offer another page protector configuration to go along with it. 

Today's story is about Anna + her friends + their awesome Christmas spirit. 

Let's dive into the process video: 

Here are some images of the project in and out of my album: 

Teens (and a couple very-almost teens) in the house means lots of activities away from the house. Anna spent the night with friends on Friday and then volunteered on Saturday morning and shared some of her photos with me. Rather than me writing up the story I invited her to tell me about the photos and spending time with her friends. I am always on the lookout for opportunities to include other voices in my projects and inviting/asking for journaling is a great way to make that happen. 

To go along with the photos and journaling I had a brown bag from Hallmark that Anna recently brought home with a gift for a friend. I loved the sentiment and the white designs and felt like it would be a fun addition to this particular spread. Remember that you don't have to do a full spread for each story - this one could have easily been just the one page but I decided to add in the bag.

My plan with the design from the bag (as you'll hear me talk about in the video) is to adhere a photo for the next story to the back and then cut out along the edges of the design. The back of the bag had some of the scalloped designs on their own which I cut (using small scissors) and added to the bottom of the two photos.

I also pulled out a plastic 5 from my stash of numbers (pretty sure that was from a past Week In The Life™ kit) and ran that through the ribbon I used on yesterday's tag. I ended up adhering this photo to the back of the tag from Story 04 and then used a loop pin + canvas phrase for a little "something" through the ribbon.

I cut a small slit in the page protector (this side only) so that the five and the canvas phrase tag can live outside the page protector even though most of the tag is inside (I cut the slit lower than normal so that the ribbon is still sticking out of the pocket on the other side and the 5 and canvas tag are out on this side. 

SUPPLIES
December Daily® 2021 Main Kit December Daily® 8x10 Album (same size) We R Memory Keepers Hole Punch Red + Cream Ribbon Tiny Attacher Epson PictureMate PM400 6 Hole Punch Fiskars Trimmer Fiskars MicroTip Scissors December Daily® Canvas Phrases (digital version) Tim Holtz Loop Pin Plastic Five from past Week In The Life kitSHARE YOUR STORY #5

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 5 vs. a general blog address link.

December Daily® 2021 | Story 04

Welcome to Story #04 in my
December Daily® album for 2021. 

When I set up my foundation pages a couple months ago I had added in the "decking the halls" card and the "calm + bright" die cut from the Main Kit with the thought that I would tell a story about getting out the Christmas decorations this year. Originally I had a large wood veneer "4" in the bottom pocket but ended up replacing that with one of the large tags and a "home life" felt circle from this year's Day In The Life™ kit. 

This story is a good example of a story that I tell in one way or another just about every year. I don't approach decorating the same each year + give myself permission to mix it up (take some stuff out/leave some stuff in our tubs): there is always a story to tell. 

Let's dive into the process video: 

Here are some images of the project: 

As you might have seen in my process video yesterday I had already printed out this 11 inch x 8.25 inch photo and knew that I wanted to include it on the back. I use rolling adhesive to attach the two photos back to back and use the We R Memory Keeper's Hole Punch for the holes. I chose to not add any embellishments to the photo enlargement. 

I went back and forth on a number of ideas for what to include in the pockets beyond the journal card and the "calm + bright" die cut. I printed out a couple of the 4 inch x 4 inch digital journal cards and tried those. I considered adding in another photo. I tried using Minc paint on a large wood veneer 4 that didn't work out (you can see more about that effort in the video). In the end I cropped one of the large tags and used embroidery floss to add on the "home life" felt circle. 

I printed a second photo - sized to 4 inch x 4 inch - and slipped it into the top pocket. On top of that photo I added a metal-rimmed circle tag and a gold puffy 4 sticker (the "4" from the Main Kit would also work well here). 

I added some cute new ribbon to my stash this year and looped that through the holiday tag. I like how the black of the home life circle is repeated in the photo on the opposite page. 

I typed up m jounaling on my computer and then printed it onto the journaling card. I actually did two versions of this - one using the digital card and the other printing directly onto the physical journal card from the Main Kit. Both were printed using the Epson PictureMate PM400 and turned out just fine. 

I did decided to turn the top pocket into a shaker pocket using a Fuse tool (this is a heat tool that basically melts the two pieces of page protector together). I stapled the "calm + bright" in place inside the pocket using a Tiny Attacher and added in the small packet of stars from the Star Mini Kit and a couple vellum stars from the Road Trip Mini Kit. 

On the outside of the page protector I used one of the Tim Holtz Rub Ons and a mini star sticker from the Star Kit. 

SUPPLIES

December Daily® 2021 Main Kit
December Daily® Shipping Tag Bundle
December Daily® Star Mini Kit
December Daily® 4x4 Digital Journal Cards
December Daily® 8x10 Album (same size)
Epson XP15000 Printer
We R Memory Keepers Hole Punch
Red + Cream Ribbon
Tiny Attacher
Epson XP15000 Printer
Epson PictureMate PM400
Fuse Tool
Metal Rimmed Circle Tag
Thin Puffy Gold Number
Road Trip Mini Kit Vellum Stars
Tim Holtz Holiday Rub Ons
Scotch Rolling Adhesive 
Home Life Felt Circle from Day In The Life™ Kit
Champagne Minc Foil
Simple Stories Dot Stencil
Minc MachineSHARE YOUR STORY #4

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 4 vs. a general blog address link.

December Daily® 2021 | Story 03

Welcome to Story #03 in my December Daily® album for 2021. 

Today's story includes a full page, outside-the-page-protector photo + a large felt 3 embellishment + a large tag with -ing words from the Holiday Phrase Stamp Set. 

One of the things I have been most excited about this year with the bigger album size is the ability to go bigger with my photos. Full page photos have long been a favorite in my projects and being able to make them even bigger feels awesome. I love that this album size gives you the option to include a 10 inch x 8 inch photo inside the page protector and/or an even bigger photo outside the page protector. For this album size I'm cropping my photos in Photoshop to 11 inches wide by 8.25 inches tall and printing here at home on an Epson XP 15000 printer. Depending on your home printer you may be able to print this same using a "borderless" option on a printer that generally only prints to 8.5 inches x 11 inches. 

Let's dive into the process video: 

Here are some images of the project: 

Today's story is an example of setting myself up for "success" with this project (remembering that "success" means different things for different people). What is my story for today? My story is responding to these ten -ing words and pairing the tag with a photo of our living room. 

If you don't have the stamp set you could always simply use some written -ing words as jumping off points for your own reflections.

Along the top of the tag I added three felt stars from the Main Kit. I considered using alpha stickers to create my title or adding one of the pleather hearts but settled on the felt stars because I like how they paired with the large felt three. 

On top of the felt three I used a little bit of embroidery thread to attach the "simple joys" canvas phrase. 

Sometimes stories have a beginning, middle, and end. Sometimes stories are one line of text added to a photo. Sometimes stories are a bunch of -ing words used as jumping off points to tell a bigger story of life and feelings and reflections and interests at any given point in time. 

On the back of the felt three I added one of the poinsettia stickers from the Main Kit. I removed the the foam adhesive from the poinsettia back and used rolling adhesive instead to have a little less bulk. Holes were punched using the We R Memory Keepers Hole Punch. 

I hope you enjoy your weekend! 

SUPPLIES
December Daily® 2021 Main Kit December Daily® Phases Stamp Set December Daily® Shipping Tag Bundle  December Daily® Attacher Stickers December Daily® 8x10 Album (same size) StazOn Ink Stamp Block Epson XP15000 Printer 6 Hole Punch Red Twill Trim We R Memory Keepers Hole PunchUniball Vision Elite PenSHARE YOUR STORY #3

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 3 vs. a general blog address link.

In Case You Missed It | December 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:

THANK YOU

First and foremost, thank you for your support over the holiday during both our Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. We know you have an abundance of choices when it comes to where you spend your money and we are incredibly grateful for your continued support. 

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 our new 10x8 Layered Templates, digital versions of Laura Wonsik’s stamps, and more. Find our newest digital items here.

DECEMBER DAILY

The 2021 December Daily® collection is now available in the shop. Find the collection here. 

STORY CHATS

Monday we continued our series of weekly live chats about December Daily® with a conversation about getting it done. Find an archived version of this conversation here. On Wednesday, Ali, Lisa, Pascha, and Shu-Wen had a great kickoff conversation over on our December Daily Instagram account. Find an archived version of this conversation here. 

CRAFT THE STORY YOUTUBE SERIES

Ali is back on Youtube sharing a blog post and video for each day in December. Be sure to subscribe to her channel to receive notifications of new videos. 

CLASSES

December Daily® Product Play: Back to Basics // We wrapped up the content for the workshop this week, but all of the lessons are archived to enjoy at your convenience! For 30 days in November you’ll receive one new idea per day (for a total of 30) brought to you by members of our December Daily® Creative Team, our AED Creative Team, and Ali. Ideas in this workshop will focus on physical products from the Main Kit and our 2021 collection. Our goal with this workshop is simple, fun ideas to use your products to spark stories. Register or 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!

December Daily® 2021 | Story 02

Welcome to Story #02 in my December Daily® album for 2021. 

Check out my previous posts that show how I set up my album/foundation pages for 2021: Part One + Part Two

Today's story includes photos from my Holiday Pinterest Board + other embellishments slipped into the back of the 2 inch x 2 inch page protector and a large tag from the Shipping Tag Bundle to document what I am looking forward to this month. It's one part visual inspiration and one part my own personal bucket list. You could also crop images out of catalogs and tell a visual story of what you are wanting from this season. 

Let's dive into the process video: 

And here are some images of the project: 

I created a 2 inch title circle for my story and I've got it to share with you in case this is a story you'd like to tell too. 

Download this digital package here.

I printed mine on photo paper first and then decided to print on laser transparency and run it through my Minc machine (ends up a clear circle with red foiled type). 

Alongside the photos from Pinterest I added the oranges stickers from the Main Kit. On top of one orange I added the "02" for Story #2 and also added a "be joyful" rub on from Tim Holtz. The other orange (along the bottom) was adhered to one of the vellum circles from the Main Kit. On both oranges I removed the foam adhesive before using rolling adhesive to attach it to the circles. 

On the back of the felt heart I added a fa la la chipboard piece from a previous kit and also added one of the chipboard stars from the Star Mini Kit on top of the plus sign. 

Along the outside edge of the tag I added a "joy" tab sticker from the Sticker Advent Calendar. 

On top of my journaling tag I added the acrylic star + tag combo from the Star Mini Kit using a loop pin to the red twill. 

Love starting off the month by looking ahead and writing down some of the things I'm looking forward to this year. 

SUPPLIES

December Daily® 2021 Main Kit
December Daily® 2021 Sticker Advent Calendar
December Daily® 2021 Star Mini Kit
December Daily® Transparency + Journal Card Set
December Daily® Shipping Tag Bundle 
December Daily® Attacher Stickers
December Daily® 8x10 Album (same size)
StazOn Ink
Stamp Block
Laser Transparency Paper (for use in a laser printer before running through a Minc)
Minc Machine
Red Minc Foil 
Epson PictureMate PM400
Tim Holtz Holiday Rub Ons
Tim Holtz Loop Pins
Red Twill Trim
Tiny AttacherSHARE YOUR STORY #2

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 2 vs. a general blog address link.

December Daily® 2021 | Story 01

Bring on the 
December Daily® storytelling adventure! 

Check out my previous posts that show how I set up my album/foundation pages for 2021: Part One + Part Two

For my first story for 2021 I took headshots of all my people outside our house and printed them out in 2 inch x 2 inch squares to fit inside one of the 2 inch x 2 inch pocket pages. I copied + pasted journaling on an 
Instagram post from the other day and paired it all with some fun embellishments + a full page of stamping that I worked on last month. I also added small tab stickers with the ages of each person + a small vellum star sticker. 

A thought as we begin this year: this is your December story. 

Let's dive into today's video: 

After wrapping up the video above I remembered that I had recorded the process of my full page of stamping. Here's a look at how that came together: 

Let's take a closer look via images: 

Today's story includes three parts: (1) a full page of stamping on the back of one of the sheets of pattern paper + (2) journaling copied + pasted from my Instagram post and then printed on a laser printer and run through the Minc + (3) a 2 inch x 2 inch pocket page protector that holds headshots, ages and embellishments. 

The process started by taking the photos (I worked on that over the last week), editing them in Photoshop, and printing them here at home. From there I decided that I wanted to focus my embellishments on using circles + some of the canvas word/phrase strips. 

I included a 2 inch vellum circle from the Main Kit, one of the fabric circle patches, and a pleather circle from my stash. On top of each of those circles I added two canvas strips and stitched them together with red thread on my sewing machine (love that little hit of red from the thread) and then added a small mirrored star from Tim Holtz. On top of the #1 I also added a wreath sticker from the Advent Calendar (this was added outside the page protector). 

Back in 2016 I started my album in a similar fashion using 2 inch x 2 inch photos of our people. I am super happy I took the time to take photos again like this and love that I can look back and see just how little they were not very long ago: 

Check out the post from 2016 here.

I printed my journaling using a laser printer on top of a sheet of laser transparency and then ran the whole thing through the Minc machine. I sized this to about 4 inches wide x 8 inches tall. Along the outer edge I added a tab sticker from the Advent Calendar. 

SUPPLIES
December Daily® 2021 Main Kit December Daily® 2021 Sticker Advent Calendar December Daily® 2021 Fabric Holiday Patches December Daily® Canvas Word/Phrase Strips December Daily® 6x8 Alpha Stamps December Daily® Icon Stamp Set December Daily® 8x10 Album (same size) Art Of Noticing Stamp Set StazOn Ink Stamp Block Laser Transparency Paper (for use in a laser printer before running through a Minc) Minc Machine Green Minc Foil Brother Sewing Machine Tim Holtz Mirrored Stars Tim Holtz Metal Tokens Avery Index Tabs Epson PictureMate PM400 Ranger White Embossing Powder Versamark Heat Gun Peeled Paint Distress Oxide Rustic Wilderness Distress Ink Mowed Lawn Distress Oxide AED Redwoods InkSHARE YOUR STORY #1

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 1 vs. a general blog address link.

One Little Word® | Choosing A Word From A Place Of Love

Over the years I've had many private conversations with my friend Liz Lamoreux about choosing + then living with words as part of a One Little Word® adventure. Many times we've said out loud to each other that we should record one of these chats to share with the community as we wrestle and confirm and support and get curious. 

Last week we got together and pushed record on an hour-long conversation: Choosing A Word From A Place Of Love 

This is an imperfect conversation between two imperfect people who love words and believe in their power to make a difference in our lives. We talk about words that push and words that hold and how some words work and some don't for any number of reasons. We talk about asking questions and how personal it is to have a journey with a word. Liz poses the question, "What do you need to hold hands with once a month to remember who you are?"

Download a zipped version of the audio file here.

I'm currently wrapping up my experience with the word "heart" (a word I will likely never completely let go of) and beginning to brainstorm/listen/get curious about a word for myself in 2022. 

Big thanks to Liz for sharing herself and her experience with choosing + living with a word in this conversation. 

NOTE: Details on the launch for One Little Word® 2022 will be coming soon. At this time we are anticipating a mid-December launch for both the  workshop registration (workshop will run much the same as it has this year with a similar group of teachers coming together alongside Ali to share their experiences with a word)  and the shop collection. We are currently  experiencing delays in getting our products into the warehouse (part of the global shipping issues that many companies are facing at this time) and will let you know as we get closer when the actual launch will happen. 

CONNECT WITH LIZ
Liz InstagramLiz WebsiteLiz Soul Mantras