Welcome to the Bringing It All Together post for Week In The Life 2012.

I can’t believe another round of Week In The Life has come and gone.

Lots of things were the same this time around (like how my journaling and photo taking trails off by the end of the week) and lots of things were different (especially inside the walls of this house). One big thing that remained the same is that this is a project that reflects my life back to me – and I love it for that very simple thing. Seeing how we are living, how I’m living, is a big reason to put in the effort it takes to embark on and complete this project.

It always reminds me how many awesome things I have to be thankful for and just how very precious and important are the basic everyday routines and rituals of life.

Thank you for joining me on this project – please use the link-widget below to share a link to your project!

I’ll probably tackle it again in fall 2013.

Here’s a look at how my album came together (hoping to have a video walk-through to share later this week):

Each day includes a full page photo, a page that combines a transparent overlay + a cut up divided page protector, the Daily Sheets folded in half and placed inside a page protector that has been cut and sealed with washi tape, and a final page that includes a collage of photos.

THE OVERLAYS | This year I used a combination of Hambly (see specifics below) and some that I printed myself onto vellum using this set of digital text overlays. I printed those here at home onto Ink Jet Transparencies.

Each overlay was stitched to a group of pockets cut from these divided page protectors. I varied them so that some were on top, some along the bottom and one has two rows of pockets instead of just one.

Here’s a look at all seven on them laid out before I added the photos:

Overlays from Hambly include the teal herringbone, the white herringbone, and the antique white uncharted. The days of the week, life is good, and love overlays I printed at home are all part of this set of digital overlays.

Along the edges I placed Avery Self-Adhesive Index tabs and used a date stamp and red ink to add the date on those pages.

For each day I also created a little day of the week circle + love circle accent.

The “love circle” is available in this set and was cut using the Silhouette.

The days of the week circles are a part of this set and the other circles I used for the back sides are from Photo Love and The Story Of This Day. I arranged them on a new canvas in Photoshop and printed onto white cardstock and cut them out with a 2 inch circle punch.

I laid them all out on my table before adhering the circles back to back and then slipping them into the page protectors.

THE WORDS | I decided to just go with the writing I did on the Daily Sheets vs. retyping content again. It was what made the most sense for me this year. I love that in-the-moment writing that happens over the course of the day.

To add those sheets to the album I took folded the two daily pages in 1/2 and slipped them inside 8.5×11 page protectors. Rather than stitching them this time I used Julie Fei-Fan Balzer’s technique of using washi tape to create the pocket. I repeated that for all seven days.

THE SPINE | I saved a PNG file for anyone wanting to use this same design for the spine of the album (as shown in the first photo of this post). Download the spine PNG file here.

THE PHOTOS | As you’ll see below I decided to keep it simple and use the same right-hand page throughout the album. I removed the long journaling spot and turned that into a spot for a long photo. Watch a video on the basics of working with the Week In The Life Vol4 layered template set here.

THE COMPLETED SPREADS

THE TITLE PAGE

For the title page I removed the background banner from the template and placed just the text on top of the chalkboard. I added our last name using a Wacom tablet.

MONDAY

Wood veneer people from Studio Calico.

On the photo collage page for each day I stapled an un-adorned chipboard heart from Jenni Bowlin and added a stamped sentiment from my Simple Joy set (with Staz On ink on top of the photo paper).

TUESDAY

Fabric brads from Amy Tan and an older set from Crate Paper.

WEDNESDAY

A canvas sticky-backed circle from Close To My Heart with an old Basic Grey rub-on on the top.

THURSDAY

For variety and to work with the photo I wanted to use I moved the whole title section down the to the bottom of the page and went with a different color. The “hello” circle accent (popped up with a foam dot) is from October Afternoon: Fly A Kite Word Stickers.

FRIDAY

Buttons from My Mind’s Eye Be Amazing Follow Your Heart set.

SATURDAY

I don’t have a source for this particular clock. Tim’s got some metal clocks here.

SUNDAY

The “enjoy the journey” brad is from My Mind’s Eye Be Amazing Follow Your Heart set of brads. The “3″ is from The Girl’s Paperie (no longer available).

SUPPLIES | WEEK IN THE LIFE 2012

Click on the images to link to the products.

SHARE YOUR COMPLETED PAGES OR PAGES IN PROCESS HERE

I’d love to have you include a link to your completed or in-progress albums. Please link directly to your post vs. your general blog link. Thank you!

Welcome to Project Life 2012 | Week 18 and the May Technique Tuesday Studio AE Blog Hop.

I’m combining the two today in order to (1) catch up and (2) because they go really nicely together and (3) the 10th is the day we do the Blog Hop each month.

First up I want to share the a wesome news for those of you who are subscribers or who have been thinking about subscribing to Studio AE. Technique Tuesday has changed their shipping method and it’s resulting in some savings for you. Learn more about the changes here.

The May Studio AE stamp set is called Simple Joy:

WANT THE DIGITAL VERSION? You can grab the digital version of this stamp set here: Everyday Sentiment Strips.

I thought these stamps would make great strips added to my photos in Project Life. I decided to stamp them on Cream Puff cardstock (that I pulled from my box of scraps) using Colorbox Chalk Cat’s Eye Inks.

And then I drew black boxes around each one and cut them out:

Here’s a look at Week Eighteen:

The left side:

Insert number one (which came from this post about Simon’s first time at gymnastics):

I used my 6×12 Layered Template Set to add the photo and words in Photoshop.

I turned the canvas into a 12×12 and printed it here at home using a Epson R2000 and 13×19 photo paper:

If you’d like to learn more about working with these 6×12 layered templates I’ve got a free video tutorial for that here.

I added one of the sentiment strips on top of the printed words and photo.

And as you can see below I added another photo below the text on the back side and another stamped sentiment strip.

Insert number two includes my Dad’s margarita recipe sent via email and some of Anna’s drawings on the front:

The back includes words from my Baking And Bread And Blooms post:

On the right side:

The big #3 is from Pink Paislee London Market Jumbo Numbers and the cute little red strip below is from Basic Grey What’s Up Die Cuts & Transparencies (love this set).

I used the Silhouette to cut one of the Circles of Life digital files. I’ve got a tutorial for how to work with the PNG files in the Silhouette software available here.

I’m also using this stamp set in my Week In The Life album. Here’s a peek at that (using Staz-On to stamp on the photo paper):

SUPPLIES | 2012 | WEEK 18

Click on the images to link to the products.

There’s lots of cool stuff to check out for this month’s Studio AE blog hop – take a look:

• Mindy Miller, May’s Studio AE guest
• Daniela
• Nichol
• Sharyn
• Tanis
• Teri
• Laura

In addition, Technique Tuesday is giving away a $20 gift certificate to someone who comments on any of the blogs during the hop. The winner will be announced on the TT blog on May 13th.

Welcome to Project Life 2012 | Week Seventeen.

Here’s what I ended up doing in my Project Life album during Week In The Life – it’s pretty darn simple – consisting of one of Anna’s large paintings from school and a series of shots of me in just about the same spot on six of the seven days of the week.

There were so many different ways I could have gone with this. I considered just collecting “stuff” throughout the week and having a “stuff-only” week (like receipts, notes, packaging, etc). I considered all photos – using some of the extras I didn’t plan to use in my Week In The Life album. I considered picking my favorite photos from each day and highlighting them here. I considered doing two photo enlargements (or maybe even one that’s a 24×12 photo) highlighting my two favorite photos from the week.

In the end I went with a piece of art and a series of photos.

I started with this painting that Anna brought home from school (titled “a tea pot”):

I cut it down to 12×12:

And then cut it into 4×6 and 3×4 shapes:

On the other side I printed out the six photos I had of myself sitting at the table (+ one where I’m sitting on a couch). I didn’t take one of these shots of Saturday so I didn’t have to deal with having seven photos instead of six (these are the kinds of things I don’t worry about at all):

Before printing each photo I added a digital circle element from my Circles Of Life set.

I went back and forth a bit about whether I wanted to keep these two pages separate or to combine the two. I liked it both ways. Here’s a look at it another way:

This is how it is in my album right now and I’ll leave it that way for now (but might change it back if I opened it up in a few months and it feels strange to be spread out).

Did you do both Week In The Life and Project Life? I’d love to see what you did if you did them separately.

This is the last spread in my first album for 2012. Last year I had three total and I imagine I’ll have that same number again this year.

SUPPLIES | 2012 | WEEK 17

Click on the images to link to the products.

I wanted to share a layout I put together for Big Picture Classes Creative Crop celebrating National Scrapbook Day last weekend.

My challenge was to create a layout that included a photo from a few years ago and one from today and tell a story about how things are different or the same.

Here’s a look at my completed layout:

For my layout I decided to use two photos of Anna. One from April 2009 and one from April 2012. She’s been quite a handful lately as she navigates her own independence and I wanted to write some journaling that was written directly to her. My journaling became less about how things were the same or different, and more simply about things I want her to know right now.

I used two 4×6 photos for my page and paired them with two 3.5 x 4 pieces of pattern paper. On top of those pattern paper pieces I added more embellishments including stamps, cards, word stickers, etc. I used foam dots to pop up some of the accents.

Underneath the main content area I used a single sticker to start out my journaling. After placing the sticker I hand-drew lines with a black pen and wrote my journaling on those lines.

I made sure to date both photos. To finish off the page I added a hand-drawn border around the whole 12×12 layout.

JOURNALING | I want to tell you that the time has just flown by. I want to tell you how amazingly independent you are and how much I love that. I want to tell you that even though I get frustrated with you, I still love you so much. I want to tell you how much I am learning from you as we navigate these early years. I want to tell you thank you for your smile and enthusiasm and love. Love you Anna.

SUPPLIES

Click on the images to link to the products.

I’ve got three new products at Designer Digitals this weekend. In celebration of National Scrapbook Day all products are 15% off through Saturday night at midnight PST. You can check out all my products here.

First up this weekend as seen above: Circles of Life.

Just Awesome Tabs

Title Circles.

Here’s a look at how I’ve been playing with both the Title Circles and the Circles Of Life with the Silhouette:

And from last weekend:

Hello Life Text Overlays. These are awesome for printing on vellum at home. These are what I used in my Week In The Life album (I’ll show more about that next week) but here’s a look:

Yes, Oh Yes Layered Template. This one is based on this paper layout:

Don’t forget about my self-paced workshop sale this weekend only – get the details here.

Have a great weekend!

My Week In The Life album is in progress and today I wanted to share with you a video tutorial on working with the layered templates.

I’m using these in 8.5×11: Week In The Life Layered Templates 8.5×11 Vol.4 (the 12×12 version is available here). You can read more about my initial design plan for 2012 here.

Week In The Life 2012 Layered Template Tutorial from Ali Edwards on Vimeo.

Happy to answer any questions if you have them! Onward!

Welcome to Project Life 2012 | Week Sixteen.

This is from a couple week’s back – the week before Week In The Life. I’ve got a couple ideas floating in my mind for what I’m going to do for last week and plan to work on that this week (along with my Week In The Life album).

Occasionally I get questions from people asking what does my album look like throughout the week.

Sometimes I add my content during the week – slipping things in as I go (photos and journaling and other stuff) so by the end of the week my spread is just about done.

Sometimes when I bring my album upstairs to my office on Monday morning it looks more like the image above – a collection of papers, photos, and words that I’ve collected over the course of the week – that needs to be trimmed and gone through and written up.

Often it’s a mixture of both those approaches depending on what’s happening.

I think it’s a good reminder that there’s no right or wrong way to go about it and that processes evolve.

Here’s a look at Week Sixteen:

The “tax day” card is from Studio Calico Cubicle 12×12 Take Note Paper.

Along the top of the second page I’ve got two photos – one of my office inside and one of my yard outside – with some American Crafts Amy Tangerine Journal Foam Stickers on top.

Lots of handwritten journaling from the week and weekend.

And a chocolate peanut butter cake I made on Sunday – my first from scratch.

SUPPLIES | 2012 | WEEK 16

Click on the images to link to the products.

NUMBER OF PHOTOS FOR SUNDAY | Around 50

We’ve come to the end of another round of Week In The Life.

I’ll admit I’ve felt more motivated in the past to undertake this project. But, but, but…as I round out this week I’ve got a really good feeling in my heart. A feeling that I needed. A feeling that I didn’t really expect or don’t remember experiencing to this degree in the past years I’ve done this project. A lot of my life right now is about creating new pathways. The act of taking on this project at this time has created new pathways and encouraged me to take a look at the choices I’m making and the choices I want to make. It makes me more aware of the possibilities and that I don’t have to continue doing things the same as they’ve been done in the past.

I’ll be taking the next few days to get my photos and words into my templates and hope to share them later this week.

Here’s a look at some of my Sunday photos:

SHARE YOUR SUNDAY

I’d love to have you include a link to your SUNDAY of words and photos here. Please link directly to your post vs. your general blog link. Thank you!

TODAY’S POST SPONSORED BY | SCRAPBOOK CIRCLE
We enjoy sharing fresh monthly kits with thoughtfully selected paper and embellishments. Not only is each kit filled with the most current products available, each of our kits includes a custom Scrapbook Circle printable. We love sharing and creating with others who love preserving memories as much as we do.

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SPONSOR GIVEAWAYS | I’ll be going through all the sponsor giveaways from the past week and organizing them into a post today that includes all the winners. Hoping to have that all ready to go for tomorrow morning (Tuesday).

NUMBER OF PHOTOS FOR SATURDAY | about 60

Today was a good day.

We went for a super long bike ride around town that included stops along the way for checking things out, for rest, and for lunch (and when I mean super long I mean we were away from home for 3.5 hours or so). I’m actually amazed that Simon made it the whole way – it crossed my mind more than once to call a friend to come pick us up. You’ll see a photo of him below when we got home and he laid down on the sidewalk and proceeded to literally fall asleep on the ground. Other than that adventure we did a lot of just hanging out.

A couple notes on self-portraits: I never did find my camera remote so I’ve just been setting my camera on chairs, counters, etc as I’ve gone about my week. My process is to find someplace or something to set the camera on, open up the lens (usually I go as wide as I can or at least 1/2 of that – my lens is a 24-70 and it can get most of a room in a shot), set the timer on, press the button, and get back in position. I then check it and if it’s decent I go with it. I wrote to someone in the comments yesterday that I’m not striving for perfect with these shots – I simply want a representation of what was. If it’s super out of focus I’ll try again, usually putting my hand out in front of the lens and pressing the button half-way down to get it to focus on the foreground and then pushing the button again to begin the timer.

ONE MORE DAY | You can do it. I can do it. And even if you are just seeing this now you could do it too – do it for one day or begin your own week.

Next week I’ll be sharing how I put my album together – incorporating the words and photos I’ve collected. In case you missed it a few weeks back, here’s my design plan.

Here’s a look at some shots from my Saturday:

SHARE YOUR SATURDAY

I’d love to have you include a link to your SATURDAY of words and photos here. Please link directly to your post vs. your general blog link. Thank you!

TODAY’S POST SPONSORED BY | SIMON SAYS STAMP
With hundreds of thousands of products in our store www.SimonSaysStamp.com, we strive to be the one-stop shop for all your rubber stamping, scrapbooking, altered art making, and card creating! Every day there’s free shipping for USA and Canada orders over $75, and over $350 internationally! For active updates, new ideas and deals, be sure to follow our Blog, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Newsletter- we’re committed to connecting with you!

TODAY’S SPONSOR GIVEAWAYS | Check out today’s giveaways from all the Week In The Life 2012 Title Sponsors, including Simon Says Stamp.

NUMBER OF PHOTOS FOR FRIDAY | around 50

Any one else feel like this week just flew by? I can’t believe it’s Friday night already.

I’m looking forward to capturing a weekend here at home with nothing on the agenda other than being together.

Here’s a look at my Friday in photos (most are un-edited):

Also wanted to take a minute to say thank you for your comments and for sharing your own lives this week. The sharing of ideas and lives is one of my favorite pieces of this project.

SHARE YOUR FRIDAY

I’d love to have you include a link to your FRIDAY of words and photos here. Please link directly to your post vs. your general blog link. Thank you!

TODAY’S POST SPONSORED BY | STUDIO CALICO
Subscribe now and receive 20% off your entire order with promo code AE20. Not valid on previous purchases. Refunds not given for missing codes. Code must be entered at checkout.

TODAY’S SPONSOR GIVEAWAYS | Check out today’s giveaways from Sweet Shoppe Designs and Therm O Web.