Ali Edwards – Gia Aloha

Ghosts of Christmas Past, failures, and lessons learned

Throwback Thursday you guys…for today’s edition I am sharing an overview of some of my December documented albums from past years. Before I begin, let me just provide a little background. Most people are aware of the December Daily® phenomenon started by Ali Edwards and from which she grew a multi-million dollar brand. I get it. It’s brilliant. And it’s meaningful. And popular. My history of being an EPIC FAILURE on the other hand at a Day/Week in the Life ®, One Little Word®, and of course DD haunts me to this day.

So I promise you that this year I will NOT promise to do anything in the month of December, and more than likely I will never again promise to try to do anything daily ever. But that doesn’t mean I did not have tons of fun buying cute Christmas paper crafting supplies in anticipation of December scrapbooking. And yep…I did it again this year. So what could possibly go wrong?

Well, I’ll tell you what.

I could start the season with the best of intentions and then blink and it’s already New Years and everyone has moved on from December documenting to picking out a word and buying organizing stuff from Target. Then it’s time to pack up all the pretty Christmas stuff in one of those organizing things until next year when…holy smokies there is so much NEW cute stuff again and the cycle continues.
I could dedicate several crafty binges to assembling foundation pages only to get sick of the project by the time I start “living” the days I planned to document on them. So I set it aside waiting for my mojo to return and before I know it I have a pile of half done “foundations” with no photos in them.
I could struggle to take interesting pictures because none of the photo prompts I am trying to follow apply to when you live in Hawaii and they are all geared to cold climates and white Christmases.
I could take so many pictures and realize I don’t really have a plan for my album and get overwhelmed because I don’t know where to begin.

I am totally speaking from experience as these are all scenarios from my Christmas’ pasts attempting a December Daily album. Ya feel me?

This one is from 2013- do any of you remember that clipboard album from Maggie Holmes? This was the year I realized that Crate Paper Christmas collections are always going to be my favorites.

A few of the inside pages. Since this was my first album, I did number the pages by days and tried to use one “story” a day from Christmas shopping, to ornaments, to haircut day,etc It is definitely my favorite that I have done and completed.

2014 I used the first Clique into the Holidays Limited Edition kit in a 6×8 album. This time, I had made the so-called foundation pages ahead of time and ….WOOPS…did not actually insert any photos until (gasp) 2018. Yes- like a month ago. But at least I did eventually get it done!

This little guy is a handmade Instax photo album. I used an XL size Sizzix die by Eileen Hull called Passport designed to make the framework for a mini album. I used recycled chipboard and red and black buffalo plaid fabric from Wal Mart. This album has a definite junk journal feel to it. I used my Instax printer to print out mini polaroid style photos daily. I kept it simple- just a snapshot from my Instagram account each day. This was my attempt at following a photo prompt a day format.

At some point I will probably photograph and post the inside if anyone is interested. It definitely is less popular with the kids because the photos are more of “stuff” than of them.

I also have an aqua Simple Stories Snap album in 6×8 that I believe was from 2016 to show you which I will save for another day. I am sorry to be the deliverer of Bah Humbug, but yeah. This year, while not doing december daily, I think I am going to use my Clique Kits Hipster Holiday kit and other Christmas products in my 3 x8 binder from Ali Edwards. I am going to have a plan- which is to do the whole album on New Year’s Day this year. I will limit my supplies to one kit and my favorite stamps. I will create a sketch outline and rotate 4-6 page designs through the album. Repetition creates unity and cohesion. I will take pictures organically during the month of December and only think about enjoying the moment until Dday. I’ll let you know how it goes–(and maybe I’ll run into you at Target) LOL.

-xGia

Chatting About One Little Word

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Don’t laugh, but I finally got caught up on One Little Word. I completed the March lesson exactly one year late and right on time! I signed up for this iconic Ali Edwards course in 2017 with the best of intentions. I have posted my January lesson here. Luckily, when I checked social media for March 2018 inspiration, I found that the assignment was similar enough in its essence- which was to create a vision board for your word and for your intentions using it. In the videos Ali has mentioned that she has done wall canvas sized vision boards and also has incorporated her “board” into some pocket pages. I decided that the latter would work for me using the items I had cut out because they resonated with me and my word.

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My 2017 word was ‘Simplify” and I have to say I did a better job using the word and my intentions than I did actually completing the course or the album last year. But ironically, I was keeping life simpler for myself by purging a lot of “have to” and “shoulds” which always tend to stifle my creativity. In terms of my vision for the future- I really, really want to manifest more travel in my life! Besides my kids and family, and this hobby of scrapbooking, travel is at the top of my list of things that I want to be doing. It ties to simplifying my life because it is too easy for it to pushed aside by the clutter of other things in life that interfere with saving and planning for trips. By keeping this front and center I remind myself that it won’t happen unless I make it happen. I have learned that living an intentional life of my own design is as much about what I say no to as it is about what I say yes to. Doing this project sealed the deal for me to start all of the planning and budgeting to make a trip happen probably during the summer of 2019. I would like to go to Europe where I have not been since 1995. It will be costly and require a lot of planning especially to bring my kids- but they will be at a wonderful age to get a lot out of touring Europe’s highlights. By maintaining a modest minimalist home, wardrobe, and lifestyle we are fortunate enough to focus on experiences rather than things. And that is the why behind my word.

-xGia

My One Little Word 2017

But First Coffee…and the Ali Edwards One Little Word January Lesson

Taking a break from posting layouts to share something not focused on the superficial “looks”, design, and products being shown off. So grab your coffee and join me!

I realized I haven’t posted yet about taking Ali Edwards class “One Little Word” this year. In this post I wanted to share how I am making a 6 x 9 album using my stash and some of the digital downloads included in the class. I would have bought the kit actually, but I was too late. By the time I signed up, it was sold out. So I did have to improvise. I also did not really take photographs with a blog post in mind as I worked on the January lesson as most of the pictures I took were snapshots to show my friends on Instagram. I wish now that I had better ones, but I will definitely plan better for my next installment.

The photo above shows the paper that I decided to use in my album. This collection was designed by A Beautiful Mess for Project Life- I think it was called Sunshine or something like that-and I have had it for a few years. I also decided my color palette would be yellow, grey, and sky blue with black and white of course. I noticed that Ali really likes grey and I wanted to use some of the downloads when necessary to follow the lessons.

The first lesson was all about deciding on a word and getting acquainted with the word. I chose the word Simplify. The first lesson also revealed that the “theme” this year is the phrase “Get Curious.” I’m not 100% sure I understand how this ties in to the lessons, but I’m sure I will eventually.

I used a Simple Stories yellow striped album cover which I altered with paint and a teeny bit of glitter.

The class kit included monthly dividers and there were downloadable ones but I decided to use some extra Project Life dividers that matched the paper collection. My history with project life is pretty much a major fail- and I eventually decided it wasn’t going to be something I focus on anymore. So anything I had previously bought with good intentions has either been given away or re-purposed.

This is how my first page looks first with the monthly divider showing and second with a vertical 4 x 6 pocket insert that I slipped the “Get Curious” printable in Ali’s famous handwriting. I added a paper clip to it and was thinking that the whole ensemble would possibly come in handy as a place marker later.

I did download the cards to complete the written part of the lesson in which we were asked to define our word, find a quote that resonated with the meaning of our word, and then work through the WHY of our word. I explored the reasons why I chose Simplify as my word, and also talked about the things I want to invite into my life this year, and the things I want to let go of, following along with the prompts. I was pleasantly surprised by how I felt taking the time to work on something for no other reason than my personal growth and development.

I spent about a half a day on this first lesson-which does not look like it amounts to much- but honestly much of the time was spent thinking and journaling. And I have not been back to it since getting this far. Hopefully I will have another installment to show soon with February’s lesson. I am really excited to be in this class for the first time. Have you ever taken it? Did you get all the way through it? Was it a good use of your time and money? I love that Ali Edwards knows her style, which is distinctive, and her classes and products are focused on her story telling process- using great photos, and a digital and tangible hybrid combination with simple supplies. I think that the amount of “stuff” available and the number of different styles of documenting can get a bit overwhelming sometimes and I love that everything about her brand does not feel bogged down by the extraneous. Her own willingness to share and how she allows herself to be vulnerable and honest is clearly touching the lives of many, many people in a positive way. And now I am one of them! Thanks Nicole for referring me to this class!

xoxoGia