Lesson Two of Ali Edwards class called TYPE landed in my inbox a few weeks back and the staggering amount of video - almost 3 hours yes 3 HOURS worth has been so incredibly inspiring.
As a result, and for which I will be eternally grateful to Ali, so many stories are coming out of my head and into reality, so inspiring!
The 8.5x11 featured on today's post is pre embellished - not that I embellished it a tonne anyway, minimalist is my thing most of the time, and yes once again I get the irony of my style and owning a scrapbooking/memory keeping store!
I am finding 8.5x11 the perfect fit for me and my printer. I find I rarely venture into divided pockets - I am having a complete break this year from Project Life style of documenting the everyday. My new found joy of hybrid and longer stories... well... that's more than enough for me for 2015, I guess that's why I have dubbed this year '2015, The Year of the Story".
Type Class is now on Lesson/Week 5 with Lesson 6 about to land on Monday, I am not keeping up with each weeks inspiration or the Assignments set by Ali.. and that's ok. Rather, I am focusing on doing each weeks challenges, ideas and inspiration thoroughly, being unwell the past 10 days has slowed me down considerably.
if I am not sewing, I am gardening, if I am not gardening I am Memory Keeping
all interspersed with reading and trying to keep pace with my current Online Class Lessons
all (generally) after I have taken care of my work and home responsibilities....
It's true!
The more creative I am, the even more creative I become... and that is a very good thing.
I am really enjoying a more digital approach to Memory Keeping and Story Telling, and for this I must thank those who influence me most - Ali Edwards and Cathy Zielske, using digital templates and online Story based classes has resulted in more story's told in one month than I had in a whole year previously.
Yes, I get the irony in this fact, especially that I own and solely operate an online Scrapbooking/Memory Keeping store!
The year that I will get story's out of my head and heart and documented.
A lifetime of memories and emotional accounts stored inside of me and I am on a mission to give them a voice and a reality fitting of their importance, their place in my hi{story}.
Primarily I am doing this for me. Never has this need or desire been so strong to make tangible that which lives and occupies my mind and heart. I do have storys. I do have memories worth sharing.
I do feel overwhelmed at times with making sure I don't forget special moments, both happy and sad and everything in between, I worry that I will forget important (to me) details, that the sharpness of emotions and clarity of recollection will fade, fade to the point where I wont think the story warrants documenting. Fade to the point where storys take a back seat in my memory, then only snippets can be recalled, that facts will be blurred and that they will fade beyond grey to nothing.
I am using Ali Edwards Story kits, Story stamps and Story Digital kits (you get these free if you subscribe to both previous mentions) to help me with, what seems at times, the enormity of this task. Left to my own devices I would be all over the place, possibly no method to that madness and storys would still be left untold, lost, or still waiting years from now to have their time in the spotlight.
The first kit was "Firsts".
This was the December 2014 kit.
The second kit was "Gather".
This was the January 2015 kit.
It's almost mid February and the next kit will be released!!!
Here in Australia, their arrival is very much delayed compared to the US. Rather than run as a calendar month with the kit, I am loosely putting a timeline in of mid month to the middle of the next month. So technically, I have just completed a one month span of documenting "Firsts" '. I am nowhere near finished! I truly thought 30 or so days would be plenty for any story's that could slot into this firsts category. Wrong!
So.... I have decided to stick with my loose plan of the 30 days spent focusing on the one theme and jotting down stories/notes/my own prompts relating to the previous theme/s (this will be accumulative as time goes by) and as time permits getting those story's documented.
Each 15th of the month the next kit is released on Ali's website, the digital kit pops up in my account ready for download. I use this to print off what I am fairly sure I will use and slot it into a 12x12 page protector ready to draw from when I begin telling those stories. Not a lot of time or resources will be used on this activity, I don't want to detract from the current months story's. I do know though, that being prepped and organised, is essential for me personally to getting things done. Thankfully, time management is a skill I learned long ago, and is an asset I and those around me can value.
I have come up with some story telling goals, based on my categories of other goals in 2015 (I have linked to that blogpost below) - doable, bit of a stretch, pie in the sky....
Doable: 104 stories documented in 2015 (2 per week average)
Bit of a stretch: 215 stories in 2015
Pie in the Sky: 2015 stories in 2015
2 per week doesn't seem like much, I am giving myself lots of room on this one! Along with the fact that each story may (and has) taken multiple pages to tell.
In all of my goals I am aiming for the 'Bit of a stretch' category.
Story's documented so far:
First baby
First home built together
First grandson
First birthday(s)
First photo of my Mum and her 4 grandchildren
Still to complete: many many first story's, too many to list
and....
now it's February!
I seriously doubt I can keep up my storytelling with the release of Ali's monthly Story Kits!
Phew! I needed that break from blogging and documenting memories.
Man I love a New Year, a new start, firsts, a clean slate, a fresh page... I read a quote somewhere recently and my takeaway from it is:
2015 : 365 clean fresh unwritten as yet pages
I am shaking up my Memory Keeping in 2015, I have mentioned this in my instagram posts.
I am not feeling the love for documenting weekly or even monthly and haven't done for some time. I have been Project Life'ing for a few years now and not one year is complete. I simply could not raise the enthusiasm to attempt that style again.
Jotting notes over a span of about 6 weeks, the common theme was - Story's.
I have many, many stories that I want to get out of my head, my mothers head, my childrens heads, my friends heads and put them into reality. Make them tangible and dimensional. Share them. Celebrate them. Above all - document them.
2015 will be my Year of the STORY.
These stories may be current, past and even future. They will all live together in 12x12 albums. There may be multiple albums.
I care not that they wont be documented chronologically, or even logically. They will simply be documented. Some will be via traditional methods, some digital, some hybrid.
To help me achieve my plan I have subscribed to Ali Edward's Story Kit, already a subscriber to Ali's Story Stamp sets they are designed to go hand in hand, the kits will be where I derive colour schemes from, the stamp sets the prompts.
Prompts are awesome to get stories flowing. Colour palettes already decided simplify (and minimise choices for) the process. Total bonus is by subscribing to both the stamp sets and the physical kits, the digital kit is free. An extra bonus - the classroom content and guest story tellers, so far both have generously given digital freebies! Thank you Cathy and Pam!
Just yesterday the Story kit arrived, the day previous the Stamp set arrived. I have been waiting (rather impatiently) for them as I have some pages prepped ready to go. Just like December Daily page preparation, some are detailed and some are quite plain. While waiting, I could prep and did so as soon as I saw on Ali's website the Story kits contents. From my stash I selected Amy Tan's Stitched papers and embellishments, the colour palette matches almost perfectly! Also, I printed off a selection of the digital kit elements that I was sure would work well.
First's is the theme of this month's (it's actually December but by the time it arrives to me here in Australia the month is well and truly over) subscriber products from Ali Edwards.
My list of 'Firsts' themed stories I want to tell, has been under construction since the release. Knowing the stories (so far) that are vying for my documenting attention, helped me loosely plan out the pages. Totally flexible, I will rearrange and switch out whatever doesn't work. December Daily has put me in good stead for the Year of the Story.
As I have an abundance of 12x12 page protectors of various brands in various configurations (some I don't actually like but will make them work) along with a bunch of 12x12 albums (these don't sell well in my online store, the cost of postage/shipping is a total deal breaker) I am off and running in this the Year of the Story.
In essence it is 2015 Year of the Story meets Project Life.
The more I brainstormed, the more I cared to admit what works and what doesn't for me personally, the less I worried about what everyone else was doing and the irony of being a store owner selling Project Life products.... well, my excitement levels and enthusiasm went into overdrive.
This plan excites me, motivates me and destresses me.
2015 : Year of the Story : Let's do This!
Sharing my journey of self employment in a creative world, passionate DIY'er and crafter who knows it is so much more than just paper and glue.