Ali Edwards's Blog, page 99
February 24, 2021
Project Life® 2020 | August
After wrapping up my Story Class content for this month I looked over at my 2020 Project Life album and decided to tell the story of August.
I tried to work on this monthly spread a few times last year and I always walked away for one reason or another - usually a general lack of motivation and a feeling like I was forcing it to come together (sometimes that's just the way it goes but I knew from experience if I gave it some breathing room it would get done eventually). Today felt like a good day to jump back in and finish it up and I can tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed the process.
A couple things to note:
I'm using the 2020 August Stories By The Month™ kit (digital version available here). For this spread I went back into my Instagram posts from August and copied and pasted much of the journaling I added to the photos I shared. This continues to be such an easy way + place to hold stories. As you'll see I put the wrong date on these (2021 vs. 2020) so I'll be reprinting a couple of the journaling pieces.
Let's dive in:
Here's a look via images with additional descriptions:
For my August storytelling in my 9x12 album I decided to include two 6 inch x 12 inch inserts along with my two 9 inch x 12 inch page protectors.
On the first page of the spread I included a couple sentiment/pattern cards from the kit along with three 3 inch x 4 inch photos. On top of those photos I added labels that I cut from a 3 inch x 4 inch journal card with a bit of handwritten journaling on top.
When I flipped back through my 2020 album I noticed that in a previous month I'd rounded up a bunch of my Instagram posts and corralled them together onto one big page of journaling and decided that made sense for August too. On the front of the 6 inch x 12 inch insert I printed out a photo enlargement using my Epson XP15000 and added a chipboard circle on top. I opened IG on my computer and went back through my August posts and copied + pasted what I had written there onto a 6x12 canvas in Photoshop and then also onto three other 4x6 canvases. I had too much journaling to fit on the 6x12 so spreading the words out onto the other cards made so much sense.
Along the top of my 6 inch x 12 inch journaling page I added a "love August" triangle.
My second insert held 3 inch x 4 inch photos and a sentiment card. I cut this down from a 9 inch x 12 inch page protector (I just cut off the third row). When I looked at my August photos I noticed that I took quite a few selfies in August. I printed out a bunch of them and added them all together here. This is me making myself visible in my story.
On top of a couple of those photos I added banner stickers, a chipboard piece, and a cut section of a 3 inch x 4 inch journal card.
The back of that insert includes additional photos that illustrate the story of our month.
The last page of the spread holds to more of the stories I copied and pasted from Instagram. One journal card was printed with a blank circle in the middle (created using a Text Wrap feature in Illustrator) and on top I added a 1 inch circle punched photo. For the second journal card on this page I anchored my text along the bottom and added a strip of one of the pattern cards on top. The final 4 inch x 6 inch journal card is from the kit and invited me to write down five things I was loving about August.
Words + photos for the win!
9x12 Album 9x12 Page Protectors 9x12 Page Protector (all 3x4) 6x12 Page Protector 2020 August Stories By The Month™ Kit (digital version available here) Tiny Attacher Precision Pen 1.5 Inch Circle Punch Rolling Date Stamp Black StazOn Epson PictureMate PM400 Printer Epson XP15000 Printer Epson Matte Presentation Paper Avery Index Tabs
February 23, 2021
Pieces Of Life | 2021 Collection Preview + Date Announcement
Last year I started a new documenting project called
Pieces Of Us.
It was a community self-portrait project that invited us all to document pieces of ourselves over the course of seven days (one "piece" per day). It was so fun and awesome to see all the different photos taken over the course of the week and then all the different ways that people chose to document their photos and words.
Here are the reasons why I did it last year and they are the same reasons I'll be embarking on this project again in 2021:
To get ourselves in the story. Literally.
To play and experiment with our cameras (most likely I'll just be using my iPhone).
To practice developing our own photo voice.
To practice loving ourselves using the lens of our cameras.
To play along with a community of storytellers.
This year we put together a small collection to support this project as a way to hold your stories.
Do you need the products to participate in this project? Absolutely not. Our hope in making this available to you is to help you actually make your words + photos visible vs. having them live on your phone. The collection will be available for purchase on February 24th, 2021 at 9am PST.
Our plan with this project is to do two
Pieces Of Life documenting two times this year. The first one will be Pieces Of Me and the second one later this year will be Pieces Of Home. We will release a second notebook later in the year and then the folio can act as a home for the various project notebooks.
This year I'll be embarking on the Pieces Of Me project the week of April 5th. As with all my projects this is one you can do at any time, but it's always fun to do it with a community of like-minded documenters.
You can see beautiful examples of the documenting our community did with this project last year by checking out the #aepiecesofus hashtag on Instagram or you can see how many of our Creative Team ended up documenting their stories
here.
The beginnings of this project.
Self-portrait image ideas.
Free word art download.
How I documented this project in 2020 (includes process video).
Pieces Of Us blog archives.
Pieces Of Us Instagram hashtag: #aepiecesofus
2021 COLLECTION PREVIEW
Let's take a look what's included in the collection this year:
For this project we are offering a felt folio, a pre-designed notebook, a heart patch, and a 4x6 stamp set.
The felt folio and the notebook will be offered together in a bundle or separately (Folio = $9.99 and Notebook = $7.99). The idea is that multiple notebooks will be able to fit into this one "Pieces Of Life" folio.
Inside the notebook you'll find a schedule (for any time you might embark on this project) and then prompt pages for each of the daily topics that look like this:
You can place your image above, below, or on the adjacent page. After each prompt page there are two blank pages before the next prompt.
Questions? Let me know in the comments below.
I can't wait to embark on this project with you again this year! I'll post a reminder as we get closer to the actual documenting dates.
February 22, 2021
AE Creative Team | March 2021 Stories by the Month™ Physical Kit
Anyone else have a bad case of the winter blues? If so, today we are delighted to share the colorful and cheerful projects made by our awesome Creative Team using the March 2021 Stories by the Month™ Physical Kit. This kit is just the dose of sunshine that we could all use right now, and although this kit is currently sold out, last month we were able to add more subscribers from the waitlist and we hope to do the same this month.
As always, we are so grateful to our Creative Team for sharing their stories and creative inspiration with all of us!
KISS Week Wrap-Up
Today we are wrapping up KISS Week, or Keep It Simple Scrapbooking Week. Throughout last week, we celebrated getting back to the basics. Our goal was to share our favorite tips + tricks that we come back to again and again in our storytelling adventures. The creative team's blog posts featured design and storytelling tips: something to motivate, something to encourage, something to inspire, something to remind you that you don't have to make it more complicated than it needs to be, something to support you as you go about the process of documenting life. Today, we wanted to share some inspirational tips taken directly from our community!
Lori Ann Matthews: I used to spend HOURS planning and finding which embellishments etc would work the best... now I just use the first thing I find and like, no more agonizing over "what ifs" or saving an embellishment or paper for the "perfect page" - USE IT and get the story told. its helped me a lot!
Jeanne Williams: My tip would be to start where you are now. It’s so overwhelming to think of going back to catch up. I still don’t have my 21-year-old daughter’s childhood documents but I have the past 7 years of wonderful memories and stories documented. Also, starting with pockets and weekly Project Life really helped me get back to telling our stories. And now it’s my jam!
Susan Bowers: Photos + words is enough.
Jennifer Voorhees Locke: My best advice is to remember that scrapbooking is not a competition. We’re not here to compare. We’re here to tell our stories. And we all do that in different styles. Sadly, I’ve seen new scrappers quit because they think they’re not good enough. But that’s just not true! Like any new hobby, there’s a skill set that is required. You will learn more as you go and your confidence will build. You got this!
Michelle Mirando Muller: Print the photos, put them in the pockets... every week... make notes for journaling every week. Whatever that looks like for you.
Houston McGuirk: Don't be afraid to experiment and play! Sometimes we get so stuck in our own mind about how our documenting is "supposed" to look that we forget to enjoy creating for the sake of creating!
Sharon Hughes: Don’t feel like you have to keep reinventing the wheel. If you like the placement of your photos or matting your pictures or the place you wrote your story...do it again on your next layout. You’ll know when you want to add something new or do something different. HAVE FUN!
Christine Standerfer Hogue: You don’t need all the things. The “rules” are really just suggestions. Whatever makes you happy to do and look at is exactly right for you. Spend more time scrapping and less time viewing and comparing yourself to other scrappers. Unless you are planning to make money off the layout, scraplift to your heart’s content. Just give credit if you post it.
Colleen Doerscher Collins: You really just need photos and words. If it seems to much, start with pocket pages. If you like the more traditional type layouts, it's okay to scrap lift it.
Natalie Gibbons: My biggest tip would be not to buy lots and lots of product when you first start. Start with a few supplies that really appeal to you and see how you get on. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with product. Invest in good basics like scissors, adhesive and a pen that you love.
Amanda Watkins: It’s not wrong to copy ideas you like from someone else’s layouts..... rather it’s a great way to gain confidence.
Nashonne Newman: Sometimes less is more. Deciding what to use on a layout/project can take me so much time.
Bradelynn Boyce-Dendy: Scrapbooking is a way for me to tell my story...a way to tell the story of a girl who loved learning and mechanics that turned into a world of computers...a way of telling the story of my families...both coming from so many directions and going into so many as well. What a wonderful way to tell the stories! Give it a try. Who knows what you might find even in just telling your own story. Good luck!
Deb Lengyel: Advice I’d give to someone just starting out would be to not feel like they need to get all the stuff. The stuff is great but can be overwhelming to someone just starting out. Photos, paper, and a pen are really all you need to get started. Grow slowly from there.
Kirsten Heal: I would say just start playing. I tend to have a photo and go from there.
Thank you all for joining us and sharing your wisdom. If you missed one of this week's posts, find them here. We are also finishing up a summary of all of the great tips shared by the creative team. We'll let you know as soon as it's ready to download. And don't forget our entire basics collection is on sale! From now till March 31, get 15% off the basics collection using the code BACKTOBASICS15. Enjoy! We are so thankful for each of you for being a part of this community and for sharing your own stories over the years. For those that are just starting out, welcome. We are so happy to have you here and look forward to telling stories right alongside you.
February 20, 2021
Day Six | Keep It Simple Scrapbooking Week
Welcome to day six of Keep It Simple Scrapbooking Week (KISS Week). Today we are welcoming Kim Chaffin and Elizabeth Heinz, both Ali Edwards Design Inc creative team members, as they share their favorite tips to help document their stories. And since this week is all about getting back to basics, we've decided to put our entire basics collection on sale! From now till March 31, get 15% off the basics collection using the code BACKTOBASICS15. Enjoy!
Kim Chaffin // Including Other Voices
Hello everyone, and happy weekend! It’s Kim Chaffin, and I hope that you have been loving KISS Week as much as I have! I’m happy to be here on the final day to talk about bringing other voices into our journaling.
Before I even get into that, I’d like to share a preliminary journaling tip that has made a world of difference for me. I suggest journaling at an entirely separate time from when you are actually creating your scrapbook page. I’ve often found myself stuck when trying to journal during the process of making a page. I believe that happens to a lot of people because we are accessing a different portion of our brains when we are being artsy and creating than the area we use when putting words together. In the past, it was understood as right brain vs left brain, but recent research indicates that while things aren’t quite that simple, it is true that we access different areas of our brains to engage in different activities. The artsy portion of the brain is largely nonverbal. That’s why it can be hard to shift gears to write when you are in the midst of a creative zone. Things go so much smoother for me if I have my story down before I even start putting a page together.
Many of my stories come from or gain dimension by bringing in the voices of my loved ones. I love to do this because my scrapbook pages more authentically represent our family stories when I include everyone’s own words. There are many ways to bring in other voices, from documenting overheard conversations to interviewing a loved one. I want to share a favorite tip that I use often because it is so easy, and I am never disappointed. I ask a simple question of my family members, and I record their answers.
The layout above was a way of bringing together multiple impressions of a cross-country family road trip. I simply asked each family member, “What was your favorite part of the trip?”
I generally document their answers exactly as they give them to me. There are no wrong answers. I do not try to micro-manage or lead their responses in any way, because I want the answer to be truly theirs. In this case, I chose to add a photograph of each person’s favorite spot. The result is a page that incorporates a variety of perspectives.
Story Kits are great for prompting questions. And don’t be afraid to ask a question even when you think you know the answer. You may be surprised, or you may find that the person phrases the answer in a way that amuses you. For the following layout, spurred by the Morning Story Kit, I asked each family member whether they are a morning person, knowing full well that most in our family are hardcore night owls. Their answers made me laugh!
The final tip I’ll share is something that we have found to be relationship-enhancing in its own right. My husband and I purchased a couple’s journal for our last anniversary. The journal asks one question a day, and we answer it. We usually can’t wait to see what the other has written! There are many variations on this. Sibling journals, parent-child journals, and friend journals are several commonly available types. It’s easy to turn a journal response into a scrapbook page, with permission, of course. The words on the layout below come directly from a page in our couple’s journal.
I hope this post has you asking questions (and documenting answers)! Thank you so much for stopping by. Happy scrapbooking!
Elizabeth Heinz // Repetition as a Design Element
Hello friends, it’s Elizabeth. I’m DELIGHTED to share the final design tip during KISS week. If you’re familiar with my projects, I’m ALL about SIMPLE. For me, that means REPETITION. I repeat color, embellishments and/or words to provide CONSISTENCY. I try to repeat in ODD numbers (usually three). Here’s a few examples...
For my first example, I created a traditional 12x12 layout using the Storytelling Basics Collection (which is currently 15% off until March 31st in the shop). For REPETITION, I used three tags to hold my photos. On those photos, I REPEATED the same embellishment - an initial and asterisk.
I was inspired by Ali’s blog post “Love You Because” on February 12th so I used it as my story spark. I REPEATED the digital sentiment as a title for my journaling on the three tags. I also used the physical stamp to REPEAT the sentiment on the heart from one of the journal cards.
To finish, I REPEATED colors, including red, yellow and blue.
My second example is a 6x8 layout using the Cozy Story Kit. For REPETITION, I used color and words. After choosing the 4x6 quote card, I REPEATED the soft pink color in the center house and chipboard (“simply the best” sentiment) on the left-hand page. I also REPEATED some form of the word COMFORT and COZY in three places.
My third example is an 8.5x11 layout using the Ups and Downs Collection. For REPETITION, I used five circles (the small rainbow is the dot of the i) and color. I intentionally REPEATED yellow, gray and black.
My fourth example is a 6x8 layout using the Just Write Subscription. For repetition, I used three rectangular chipboard strips. Can you say SIMPLE?
My fifth example is an 8.5x11 layout using the Transition Story Kit. For repetition, I used circles, dimension, transparent word phrases, stars AND color. To begin, I printed three photos and used a circle punch and foam squares to adhere them to both pages. Next, I chose five transparent word phrases and added a chipboard star. Finally, I used the yellow in my son’s t-shirt to use as a background for my journaling page.
My sixth example is a 9x12 layout using the Roam Story Kit. For REPETITION, I used three white acrylic pieces AND gold stars.
My final example is a 9x12 layout using the July 2020 digital STBM Kit. For REPETITION, I used circles, transparent word stickers, stars and color.
This journal card inspired the REPETITION of color (blue and gray) and stars.
I HOPE that my design tip AND this series has provided something to MOTIVATE, something to ENCOURAGE, something to INSPIRE and something to REMIND you that it doesn’t need to be complicated.
HAPPY crafting. XO
We hope you enjoyed Kim and Elizabeth's tips. Find more inspiration from them both on instagram! Kim can be found at @kimdocumentslife and look for Elizabeth at @elizabethheinz. We hope you have enjoyed this series as much as we have. We'll be taking a break tomorrow, and we'll be back on Monday to share some great insights from our community, and more. We're also working on a summary of these blog posts that will be available as a free download. Check back Monday for more details. Have a wonderful weekend! Thank you for being here.
February 19, 2021
In Case You Missed It | February 19
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:
Don't forget! In Case You Missed It is also posted over in the Craft The Story Facebook Group. If you haven't joined, we wholeheartedly invite you to do so. We're so proud of the community we've built over on that platform. Find it here. Have you seen the Keep it Simple Scrapbooking Week Series? All this week our creative team members have been sharing a daily post that features one design tip and + one storytelling tip geared towards getting back to basics and getting your stories told. We’ve really been enjoying this content and decided to put our entire physical Storytelling Basics collection on sale! From now till March 31, get 15% off the basics collection (physical products only) using the code BACKTOBASICS15. Check out the series on the blog here. Ali's next video in her Craft the Story Youtube Series is live. In this week’s video (Episode 07) Ali is talking about the lens of story. The lens of story is Ali's primary life lens and impacts how she pays attention to life and the stories she chooses to tell in her memory keeping adventures. You don’t want to miss this video! Don’t forget to subscribe to her channel to be notified when new videos become available. Find it here. The creative team gallery has been updated with all of their gorgeous March-themed Stories by the Month Kit projects. This gallery is kept up to date and is a great resource for those of you wanting to get creative idea on how to tell your stories. Find it here.Exciting product update! I'm thrilled to share the first release in the new Pieces of Life Collection, Pieces of Me, will release next Wednesday, February 24th at 9AM PT. A full preview post including a video, product images, pricing, and dates of the community documenting project is coming next Tuesday right here on the blog. Want to learn more about this project? Ali's blog series from last year's Pieces of Me Project can be found here.
We’re so grateful to have you all as members of this community! Thanks for joining me today and have a great week!
Day Five | Keep It Simple Scrapbooking Week
Happy Friday and welcome to day five of Keep It Simple Scrapbooking Week (KISS Week). Today we are welcoming Pam Baldwin and Krystal Idunate, both Ali Edwards Design Inc creative team members, as they share their favorite tips to help document their stories. And since this week is all about getting back to basics, we've decided to put our entire basics collection on sale! From now till March 31, get 15% off the basics collection using the code BACKTOBASICS15. Enjoy!
Pam Baldwin // Make Your Own Story Menu
Hey friends, I’m delighted to welcome you back to KISS week! Whether you’re just getting started with scrapbooking, returning to the craft, or continuing your memory keeping journey, I’m so happy that you found your way here! My plan for today is to share my top 4 story starters. I also thought maybe I’d share a bit about my scrapbooking “origin story”, how I fell in love with documenting the stories of our lives. Turns out, that is a much longer story than we have time for in this space today! But I’ve included it in one of my projects below if you’re curious to hear about that.
Story starters! Sometimes the hardest part is just getting started, not knowing what to write about, what kind of story to tell, or how to tell it. Often when people are starting out in scrapbooking, they want to make pages about the big life events like birthdays and holidays and celebrations. Those are great stories to tell, but my FAVOURITES are the stories of everyday life. Those are the stories that most authentically capture who we are. And when I am intentionally looking for these stories, when I’m paying attention, I almost always find gratitude.
So what do I do? How do I look for and tell everyday stories? One of the tips I picked up from Ali over the years is this concept of having a story menu. It’s literally like looking at a menu in a restaurant and deciding what food you want to order, but instead of food, you create a menu for yourself with story and design ideas. When you’re feeling the desire to do some story telling, but you don’t know what to write about, you pull out your menu and pick something off the list. Here are my top 4 favourites on the menu. They are not new, but they are tried and true and, guaranteed to spark a story every-time!
1. Make a list. It can be a list about truly anything! 3, 5 or 10 things about life right now, memories of a specific time or event, wishes for the future, things you saw/heard or things that made you smile on your drive to work, or at the grocery store, or while you were getting ready for bed. Literally ANYTHING. The fun thing about this way of documenting is that it doesn’t take a lot of time, and you can put as much or as little thought as you want into it. Some days you might feel like digging deep. Other days, you might not feel like you have the energy to write more than a word or two. That’s totally okay! I often find that when I start listing things, getting them out of my head and down on paper, it has a snowball effect. More ideas fill up the space and sometimes they take on a life of their own.
In the October Stories by the Month Digital kit for 2020, there was a journaling card that said “10 things in the tenth month”, which was the spark for this layout. I looked through my October photos, picked 10 favourites, and wrote something about each of them. There are so many different takes on this very simple act of making a list. If you’re on Instagram, definitely check out the #Thursday3 project by @rukristin. Every Thursday, she does a post to encourage people to share 3 facts about themselves “right now” along with a photo. I love hearing other people’s stories!
2. Top 3 favourite prompts. (Kasha talked so beautifully about prompt based scrapbooking earlier this week! Definitely go check out that post if you haven’t already!) “I want to remember”, “Around here”, “_____________ looks like this”. Honestly, I could use these everyday and have a different story to tell every time. Pick one, complete the sentence, add a bit more detail (optional), and repeat it over and over again.
3. The “-ing” words. Choose a handful of words that end in -ing, eg. Listening, reading, watching, eating, feeling, etc. Then use them as your jumping off point to capture some of those little details of everyday life right now!
Here’s an example of how I used this strategy to share some stories about my family last January. This is a fun one to repeat through the year, especially when you use the same words. It’s like capturing a little snapshot of life in that moment and a cool way to see how even when it feels like things are the same, they really do change over time.
4. Write a letter. Sometimes when I don’t know how to get the words out, I try reframing my story in the form of a letter. I imagine I’m speaking or writing to a specific person, and somehow the words begin to flow out more naturally. And what makes it even more interesting, is that your letter doesn’t have to be to a person at all! You could write a letter to a day of the week, or a month of the year, or an object in your home, etc. What you end up with is a great little bit of writing that includes a beautiful blend of facts and feelings, working together to tell a more complete story. (Include both Facts and Feelings in your writing. This is definitely something I’ve learned from Ali too!)
I often start my December Daily albums with a letter to December. It usually starts off with a greeting of welcome (“Hey December, we’re so excited for your arrival!”), a little summary of how everyone’s doing (“The kids are counting down their last few days of school, just 14 more to go. They literally cannot sit still, they’re so excited!”), then I talk about my hopes or intentions for the month ahead (“I’m so looking forward to cozy nights on the couch with a tree full of twinkling lights and my favourite people. You sure do know how to bring the magic, December.”). FYI, Tazhiana Gordon and Brandi Kinkaid are BRILLIANT letter writers!! You should definitely check out Tazhi’s past December Daily albums, where she’s written a story every day in the form of a letter. So much goodness there!!
Get your menu started friends! Add your own “go-to” story starters! And if you’re curious, here’s that “origin story” I was talking about. If you’ve got Marvel/super hero fans in your house, you’ll know what that means. Bascially, the story of how it all started. I suspect there are parts of my story that sound a lot like yours. “Our stories connect us”, and I’m so very thankful to have this opportunity to connect with you!
Krystal Idunate // Create Repeating Journal Cards With Stamps
Happy Friday, friends! Krystal here to share one of my favorite tips for making pocket page scrapbooking super simple… and that is with repeated journaling cards made with STAMPS! Not only does this encourage us to get out those stamp sets and get them inky, but it also helps to reduce the amount of decision making we have to do when putting together a spread. Today, I’m going to show you this tip specifically with Project Life. However, please keep in mind that the same principles can apply across any scrapbooking project.
The idea is simple: pick one or two stamp sentiments, ink them up and add them as a title for your journaling card, place journaling under, and repeat the process 2+ times.
I want to start off today by showing you a handful of past projects I’ve made with this technique in mind. In the past, I worked in a 12x12 pocket page album to create my weekly Project Life spreads. My typical formula was to add one card in every other 3x4 pocket. I love the way it helps to draw the eye across the spread AND helps keeps your layout really cohesive. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane.
In this first spread from my 2020 Project Life album, I used the 3x4 stamp set included in the Stories by the Month to create my repeat journaling card – using the sentiment “Remember This”. To help bring more color to my pages, I decided to alternate the ink colors between Ali’s Willamette and Columbia crafter’s ink colors.
I LOVE the way the repeated titles in this spread pull in the colors from the rainbow title card. For this spread, I used the Digital Stories by the Month kit to add the sentiment to the top of a 3x4 journaling card AND changed the color of the text using Photoshop. The awesome thing with a technique like this is that you are not limited to the physical product. If you are a digital scrapbooker, the same process can be used here in the digital form.
Don’t forget about those NON-story/SBTM stamps either! For this spread, I used the Art of Noticing stamp set to create my entire spread. However, what brings this entire spread together is the repeated “Noticed – Right in front of me” sentiment across all those journaling cards.
And last, but certainly not least, are the Story Stamp subscriptions. I LOVE using the sentiments from these stamp sets to create journaling cards that act as story prompts. In the example above, I used the Action Story Stamp to create the repeated card “Plan of Action” that helped to not only tell my stories with the provided prompt… but also helped to move the eye around the photos with the use of the stamped arrows.
Now that you’ve seen how I’ve used this technique in the past, let me know you how quickly and easily this technique can be put into practice. In the video below, I will bring out my older albums to show/explain a little more of these older spreads (plus a few extras that I didn’t include in the photos) AND will take you through the process of putting together a Project Life spread for my 2018 album using the Prompts Stamp from the Storytelling Basics Collection.
I hope that seeing my spread come together + seeing past examples using this same technique will get you excited to try this out in your own memory keeping projects and add another KISS tool to your memory keeping toolbox.
We hope you enjoyed Pam and Krystal's tips. Find more inspiration from them both on instagram! Pam can be found at @pambaldwin and look for Krystal at @krystal_idunate. Make sure to check back tomorrow for some great advice from Elizabeth Heinz and Kim Chaffin!!
The Lens Of Story
In this week's
Craft The Story video series (Episode 07) I'm talking all about something that I feel has really made a difference in my life and in my documenting: the lens of story.
The lens of story is my primary life lens. It impacts how I pay attention to my life and it impacts that stories I choose to tell in my memory keeping adventures. It helps me understand my role as a narrator who is living through chapters with a wide variety of other characters who come in and out of my story.
Let's dive right in:
SUPPLIES
6x8 Album
Epson PictureMate PM400DETAILS
Wearing: T-Shirt
Mug: Katie Mudd Ceramics
February 18, 2021
Day Four | Keep It Simple Scrapbooking Week
Good Morning and welcome to day four of Keep It Simple Scrapbooking Week (KISS Week). Today we are welcoming Laura Wonsik and Linda Jordan, both Ali Edwards Design Inc creative team members, as they share their favorite tips to help document their stories. And since this week is all about getting back to basics, we've decided to put our entire physical basics collection on sale! From now till March 31, get 15% off the basics collection using the code BACKTOBASICS15. Enjoy! *Digital products are excluded from this sale.
Laura Wonsik // Story Compilations
Hey there! It’s Laura Wonsik here and I’m so excited to share my very favorite way to tell stories- Story Compilations!
If you are feeling overwhelmed by lots of little stories and details that you want to capture but don’t know how to bring it all together, then the concept of story compilations is for you.
A few years back, I started finding myself writing little snippets of stories in the iPhone Notes app throughout the day as my daughter would say or do cute little things. I wanted to remember the little details; things she said, things she was interested in, etc.
Not being sure how to incorporate them into my albums, I started pairing a few different stories, usually with a repeated design element, with a photo of her around the time of the stories.
As she grew a little older I had the idea to pair the quantity of stories with her age. So, I would do three little stories at 3, etc. (This is also a great way to use those number stickers/plastic pieces, etc that you have laying around!)
There really aren’t any “rules” about what kinds of stories could be included in story compilations. Sometimes it’s quotes, sometimes it’s what she is interested in, sometimes it’s a mixture of lots of different things. The most important thing is just to get the stories told.
This is a storytelling method that could apply to anyone- I have done them for myself and of husband as well! It’s a great way to capture snapshots of us at various times. I have even started doing them for my best friend’s son every year on his birthday, random stories that she remembers about him from the year.
If you want to learn more about the method, check out my Story Compilations class with Big Picture Classes!
Linda Jordan // Cut Up Your Cards
Hello! I am excited to share one of my favorite simple scrapbooking design tip for getting the most out of your 3x4 and 4x6 cards. Sometimes the cards don’t work for the stories you want to tell as is—maybe the journaling space is too small, you don’t have an extra pocket to devote to a “filler” card, or you just want to get outside of pocket pages altogether. The easy solution is, cut up your cards!
Using supplies from Ali’s storytelling basics collection and this technique, I created both a pocket page spread and a traditional 9x12 spread to share with you today. Here are a few of the 4x6 cards from the Stories by the Year kit sorted by type and some ideas for what to do with each.
Journaling spots // These cards are great to cut out each individual journaling spot and pair it with a photo. If the journaling spots are too small for the words you want to include, consider using these pieces to hold your title and pair it with longer journaling. You could also use these spots to hold photos or embellishments.
Patterns // Patterned cards are great for cutting out shapes, using to mount your photos, or creating borders.
Titles // Cut the title off this style card to pair it with longer journaling or a photo.
Other Elements // You can cut out various elements from cards to create spots to hold your photos, journaling or embellishments.
I used the top left “journaling spots” card & the top right “other elements” card to create a weekly spread in my project life album.
For the journaling card, I cut each of the “little bits of life” segments apart and paired them with 4x6 photos. This way I was able to add a bit of journaling to each photo, rather than have all the journaling spots together, and I had a cohesive design element across the spread. (Tip: If I wanted more space to journal, I could’ve cut out just the circles that said “little bits of life” and pair them with larger cards for more journaling space.)
I loved the 4x6 card that said “Real life right now looks just like this” but I didn’t want to devote an entire 4x6 pocket on my spread to that card. So, instead, I cut it into strips leaving the words intact. Then I laid them across my spread on the 3x4 pockets and paired them with photos, journaling and other elements. Doing this allowed me to include the card without sacrificing a 4x6 pocket and create a bold cohesive element across the entire page.
Here are some more detailed images of the spread:
For my second project I wanted to create a traditional 9x12 spread. Just because 3x4 and 4x6 cards are sized to fit in divided page protectors doesn’t mean you have to use them that way! This project was inspired by the “around here” title card (pictured above) that came in the Stories by the Year kit.
I knew I wanted to tell a collection of stories from January 2021, but I didn’t want to be confined to a 4x6 size. So, instead I simple cut the title portion off of the card and used it to add a title to my 9x12 spread.
To create this spread, I typed up my journaling in photoshop and printed it on matte photo paper. To add decoration to the page, I paired the title with one of the patterned 4x6 cards from the kit. I simply cut the 4x6 card into strips to add a border to the top and bottom of my page.
I also pulled a 3x4 card from the kit that included 3 journaling spots in a pretty light blue color. I knew these weren’t going to be large enough to hold my journaling, but they would make perfect title spots! I cut them out and added a number + stamp to each one and adhered it above my typed journaling. [tip: stamp on the journaling spots BEFORE you adhere them to your background so that you don’t have to worry about stamping off the edge].
Then I paired a photo with each of my stories and finished off the spread with a few embellishments from the basics collection and my stash.
Cutting up your cards can seem intimidating at first but it gives you so many more options for how to use the products you have. A few tips I have for cutting up cards:
Use a paper trimmer or punches when possible to cut straight/smooth edges If cutting with scissors, find a pair that has a small sharp tip and a comfortable handle Never use the same scissors for fabric and paper, they will quickly dull! When trying to cut intricate details, hold your scissors steady and turn the paper, not the scissors. This will give you more control over what you are cutting and you will be able to get a smoother edge and finer detail. Finally, cutting out a lot of details out takes time, but don’t rush it! This is a great activity to do while watching TV or Ali Edwards’ Craft the Story series.
Here are a few more examples of past projects I have created by cutting up my cards:
Left // The “loving” text was originally on a 4x6 card. I loved the style, but wanted the pocket on my page for my photo. As a solution, I simply cut out the text and adhered it on top of my photo.
Right // This spread has two examples of cards I cut up. First, for the title card in the top left corner, I cut “the story of us” out of a 4x6 card. The shape was part of the original design, but I wanted to pair it with a different background. I used foam adhesive to pop the cut out portion from the background to give it some extra dimension.
Secondly, I absolutely loved the Maya Angelou quote and knew I wanted to include it in my spread to tell the story of Juneteenth becoming a state holiday. The only problem is that it was originally centered on a 3x4 card that didn’t leave room for journaling. To make it work for my spread, I simply cut the text out around the pattern and adhered it onto a piece of kraft paper, aligning the pieces to the left of the card to leave room to journal.
Left // For this spread, I cut apart a 3x4 card from the cozy story kit that included 3 wonky shapes with the prompt “this is cozy.” I adhered these shapes onto some of my photos to add journaling and a cohesive element across the spread.
Right // For this traditional page, I used the repeated shape of circles to add my journaling and embellishments to my photo. I used a variety of sizes of circle punches to punch patterns and a quote out of a few 3x4 and 4x6 cards.
Thanks for reading my tips and I hope this gives you some ideas for how to use your 3x4 and 4x6 cards!
We hope you enjoyed Laura and Linda's tips. Find more inspiration from them both on instagram! Laura can be found at @Laura_wonsik and look for Linda at @lindalovescreating. Make sure to check back tomorrow for some great advice from Pam Baldwin and Krystal Idunate!!
February 17, 2021
Day Three | Keep It Simple Scrapbooking Week
Good Morning and welcome to day three of Keep It Simple Scrapbooking Week (KISS Week). Today we are welcoming Kasha Gage and Tazhiana Gordon, both Ali Edwards Design Inc creative team members, as they share their favorite tips to help document their stories. And since this week is all about getting back to basics, we've decided to put our entire basics collection on sale! From now till March 31, get 15% off the basics collection using the code BACKTOBASICS15. Enjoy!
Kasha Gage // Prompt-based Storytelling
Happy Wednesday my friends! I’m super excited to share my favorite storytelling technique with those of who are just getting started or are returning to scrapbooking; and that is prompt based storytelling.
First off, what is a storytelling prompt? Here’s a definition I liked from Dr. Ruth B. Walkup that explains this further:
“Storytelling prompts are designed to help storytellers to get over being stuck on ‘What should I tell about?’ A prompt is an idea to jiggle loose a memory, a spark to ignite a story idea, or a key to a locked door behind which a story may be waiting. Prompts are not used to get people to tell a fully-formed story – they are designed to help people get started, to do a ‘rough draft’ of a story.”
I wholeheartedly agree! My approach to memory keeping sometimes begins with a photo and other times it's the story that starts the process. I tell both long & short stories, stories of the past, present and my hopes for the future. I write about the good things and also include the hard, because it helps me process and make sense of my life. But regardless of the path I choose on any given day, the process is the same – directed storytelling.
Now I know that many people struggle with a blank page (whether it’s choosing what story to tell, selecting a photo or designing a layout). For me I’ve found that using prompts (from products or everyday life) as my story lens, provides me the opportunity to not only tell more intentional stories, but also seek stories (and take photos) from my life. Here’s a closer look at what that looks:
I document Project Life in a 9x12 ‘monthly’ format and my last spread of the month is always the largest. My initial jumping off point for these pages was the UPS + DOWNS journal card & the “Around Here” prompt.
My thought process for pairing the snow-covered trees photo (Top L) next to the Highs + Lows journal card is that the trees formed an arch (around here – get it?), and it was also -5ºF. On the right side, I specifically chose photos representing “ups + downs,” then added a quote card that spoke to me & what was happening in our life.
(Supplies: Ups and Downs Collection, Storytelling Basics Stories by the Year Digital Kit, Storytelling Basics Ali Alpha Stamp)
This mini-accordion album was inspired by the Seasons StoryKit. Lyrics from the old James Taylor song “You’ve Got a Friend,” kept popping up into my head as I’d findmyself singing + asking aloud “spring, summer, winter, fall…why not include them all?” Here it was the word seasons that prompted me to remember (okay screw up) the lyrics to the song, then inspired me document a year of seasons.
Here’s a Lessons Learned tag mini album, that currently holds 5 life lessons. Using the “I have learned” prompt for my journaling made it easy to get my stories down on paper. I love that I will be able to come back and add to this through the years with new lessons learned.
For this story, I wanted to emphasize our first snowfall – it just feels so cozy. I also included a photo of the morning sunrise and one of me & my husband snuggling. All of the photos “respond” to prompts (cozy, the quote card and the around here + snuggle journal cards). And that right there for me is a prompt-based story. Using a word, quote, sentiment or an idea to direct my storytelling and photography.
Remember, prompts are simply a starting place for telling your story. The stories you tell (or don’t) and the direction you decide to take that story is up to you. I hope this helps inspire you, and I can’t wait to read & see the next story you create!
Tazhiana Gordon // Color!
Hi friends! It’s Tazhi here and welcome to KISS week. Today, we’re talling all about playing with color which is one of my favorite parts of scrapbooking. I like to use color in a variety of ways in my storytelling but it all boils down to three foolproof strategies for jazzing up your layouts and adding colorful elements. Knowing how to play with color is an invaluable tool in our arsenal because it helps up to play with contrast and make dynamic layouts as well as tone elements down if that suits the story we’re telling.
The first strategy I use is also the easiest - when in doubt, I print a large photo in black and white and then I don’t have to worry about matching elements to my photo because it’s a neutral canvas!
This is a foolproof way to add punchy pops of color because with a neutral canvas, anything matches. Rainbow journal cards and embellishments? Check. A super interesting color scheme of contrasting colors? Still works. With a neutral canvas, the only limit is your imagination when it comes to what tones and hues you use to help you tell the story. Printing a photo in black and white is also a great tool to reach for when your photo is not of the highest quality as it hides a multitude of issues.
My next strategy for playing with color is to let your photo dictate your color scheme and create your own embellishments and patterned papers around it. This is a great way to use up stamps, stencils and inks as you’re taking the colors already in your photo and matching it to different mediums in your stash.
This is a great way to get into mixed media if you are hesitant about giving it a try. One of my favorite ways to create my own embellishments is with ink blending, as I did in the two projects referenced above – one on a die cut title I cut with my Silhouette and then inked over and one through a stencil to match the colors in my photo. The other way I enjoy doing it is with repeat stamping to create a piece of patterned paper, as I did in the pink and green project. By picking colors that matched the hues in my photo, I was able to make a statement piece that still matched and created a cohesive project. This is also a way of stretching your supplies as you’re not using physical cards and embellishments, just stamps, ink and stencils. It requires a bit of an investment but once you’ve made it, your supplies will last a long time.
Finally, my last strategy for playing with color is to use physical products like patterned paper, cards and embellishments and let that dictate your color scheme for your project. This might require starting with product and then finding a photo that matches and also helps you tell the story.
In both of these examples, I started with the physical product and then rifled through my photo library for a photo that would both match the color palette of the products I was using as well as tell a particular story and in both examples, I got lucky and found the perfect photograph for these projects. This is the strategy I reach for the least as it does require a bit of luck and a wide variety of photos to choose from. I’m much more likely to print my photo in black and white or ink blend a background so that I can play with whatever colors I choose but it is an idea to have in the arsenal when it comes to picking the color scheme for a particular project.
As a quick aside, thankfully, most of us are hybrid storytellers which allows us to recolor elements that we use on our spreads. This is something I rarely do – rather, I choose to use the products in the color palette they were designed in and make it work in the context of my story telling, but it is an option we have and can keep in the back of our minds.
And that’s all I have for you today! I hope I gave you some tips, tricks and ideas for ways to approach adding color to your own storytelling. Happy KISS Week!
We hope you enjoyed Kasha and Tazhi's tips. Find more inspiration from them both on instagram! Kasha can be found at @kashagage and look for Tazhi at @preciselytazhi. Make sure to check back tomorrow for some great advice from Laura Wonsik and Linda Jordan!!
