I’m super excited to have subscribed to Ali Edwards Story Stamps & Kits. The themes each month are so inspiring, and they are getting me started making more layouts! That’s a good thing because, well, there’s a story…
You see, I started scrapbooking back in 2002. I made a few layouts, and I loved the idea of scrapbooking; however, something just didn’t click for me. I stopped scrapping, but I held on to all my stuff. Gosh, I really loved the stuff.
Then in 2010 I decided to give it a try again. I looked online to find the familiar names that I remembered seeing in scrapbook magazines through the years. (Yes, even though I wasn’t scrapping, I was still buying those magazines! Again, I loved the idea of memory keeping SO MUCH!) I found Ali Edwards and Becky Higgins and Project Life. I loved what I was seeing from them, and that was all I needed. I was back in it at that point!
I did PL for a couple of years and sporadically made layouts. I was taking a lot of pictures and writing a lot of notes and stories on various sheets of paper, in notebooks, in calendars, etc., but the one thing that’s always been missing is consistency in making layouts & finishing projects. I’ve never really consistently scrapbooked. There it is. My scrapbooking secret is out of the bag!
As a result, I have about four years of incomplete PL albums, a few mini albums (thankfully those are completed), and about 30 layouts. Considering how many supplies I have, that’s a sad number of projects completed. Don’t get me wrong! I’m grateful for each and every completed piece I have. I just wish that I’d been more consistent so that I had more to show for my time in this hobby.
Which brings me to the AE story stamps & kits. One of my major goals this year is to complete at least two layouts from each months story kits. That would be 24 layouts at the end of the year if I do nothing else!
This is my first layout for the December story kit and theme “Firsts.”
The inspiration for this layout came directly from two layouts in Ali’s gallery called Choose Happy and Thank You For Being In My Life (which isn’t linked to a post in her gallery). I love that Ali has most of her layouts in one place…it’s so helpful to me. I can always find something there that I love and seems doable. Also, I’m loving how she uses large full page photos. I’m inspired by how she uses the photos and words as the main focus of each layout.
I asked Lauren, my oldest (14 years old), if she would be willing to answer a few questions for my layout. She said yes! She wasn’t jumping for joy or anything, but she was willing to play along. I so appreciate that she did this for me.
I didn’t really know what I wanted my layout to look like at the time I had her available to complete the journaling, so I just wrote up a few questions on a piece of paper for her to answer. I wasn’t going to press my luck with asking for too much, so I just kept it simple.
For this side of the layout I used the “first” stamp for the title and the word stamps “first love” on the wood veneer heart. Those stamps were from the “Firsts” Story Kit. The Project Life cards are from the Maggie Holmes Mini Kit that was exclusively available on HSN a while back.
The long rectangle sentiment stamps are from the Ali Edwards Label Maker stamp set from Technique Tuesday. It looks like those are still available but quantities are limited.
The patterned paper, card stock, plastic alpha letters, and wood veneer hearts I used are from old Studio Calico kits. I have an abundance of those (more on THAT in a coming post). I want to challenge myself to use those up! Now, I’m off to make the second layout for this theme. I’ll be sure to post that layout once I’m finished.
Are you participating in AE Story stamps/kits subscription? How many layouts would you like to make this year?
