Week in the Life™ 2014 | my preparations + video

Hello! This past week I spent time photographing and documenting a regular week in our lives. I've captured things like how our bed looks unmade, the giant stack of stuffed animals in my daughter's room, places we went, things we did. The regular and the new. It was a good week. Busy week. But a good week.

During the week I don't have much time to put things together. My focus is on living life and capturing it as I can in words and photos.

But I did get a chance to prepare some things before the week and it really helped me get in the mindset and get excited about it.

So I thought I would share a few of my preparations for Week in the Life™with you here.

A little backstory: Week in the Life™ is a project created by Ali Edwards to capture a regular week in our lives. You can watch a video from Ali and read more about that here.

I have tackled the project once a year since 2011. Have completed a full project once. My 2012 and 2013 albums are still in progress. You can find my 2011 album here.

The great thing this year is that Ali has created a kit that can make the project easier. You can find that here. If it is sold out, you can absolutely create your own kit. I have for the past three years and have loved it. You can read about my 2012 plan here.

Also be sure to check out Ali's post about getting ready here. Lots of good information and inspiration. Basically all you need!

Please note even though I am on Ali's digital creative team, I would be using her digital templates anyways, as you can tell from my past projects. I'm just super thankful I can use the digital supplies and show inspiration on these products this year. Otherwise, I have no affiliation with Ali for this kit. Just sharing things I love and hoping to inspire you too!

When I was getting ready for the week, I was inspired by Kristin to share a bit more about the kit. Check out her awesome post of preparation here.

Here is a video about my preparations + photos below. Let me know if you have any questions and if you like this type of video. I can do shorter but often I get carried away in details. Let me know as I am considering sharing more video here similar to what I do in classes.

2014 Week in the LIfe™ Preparations from Annette Haring on Vimeo.
Sharing my preparations for Week in the Life™ 2014 using the Ali Edwards kit + supplies from my stash.

And here are some photos of my preparations. Album with title page on the left, supplies from the kit + my stash on the right. I use paper trays from Target for my organization and as well as trays, baskets, etc. The little white bowls you see in the box are from Ikea and the round ones are from Target. The really small one is an antique butter pat dish. Love those and things like Jello molds for organizing the little things. But that's for another post.

Adore these kraft bags. Link at the end of the post. I even bought a set to use in last year's too!

A look at my title page so far. I painted the chipboard numbers to white and used the 2x2 pocket page for them. They fit perfect with the added paint and may not even need stitching! I think I will add a 2x2 page at the very end for consistency too.

Will be using the 3x8 daily sheets for documenting each day. On the back I can use photos, more journaling cards / more stories. A collage of receipts would be cool too but I think that's what I will be using in the daily bags.

And just a final note about my camera gear. Like I mentioned in the video, I was feeling a bit down because I didn't have an awesome lifestyle / documentary type lens. My kit lens has died so I don't have a wide angle anymore and then there is the wish that I had a better camera body, etc. This older rebel is five years old now. I happened upon this post at Clickin Moms and it hit me: love the camera you have. So I embraced the cameras and used what I had this week. And you know? It was awesome. I loved trying to play with my Olloclip more. I backed way up and tried lots of angles with my 50mm. I think I did a good job. At least for where I am now. It was good. 

So if you are feeling similarly, I give you this challenge: use the camera you have. At least we can get some photos. At least we can capture life. Isn't that what it's all about?

Ali Edwards Stamp Set Giveaway!!

And as a reward for making it through this post, I have a small give away! I am crazy in love with the AE kit and so I bought two. Yes, I am crazy! The only thing I don't need is two stamp sets. 

So if you would like to be entered to win this awesome stamp set, leave a comment below sharing a comment about Week in the Life. It could be your approach for week in the life. Any tips, when you are doing it. If it your first time. What you love about it. What supplies you are using. If you found this post and video helpful. Any of the above would work. 

I'll pick a random winner next Sunday, Nov 2nd. Good luck!!

Other supplies:

• Cozy Card set by Life Love Paper at Studio Calico
• Kraft Daily Envelope Set by Life Love Paper and Erica Hernandez at Studio Calico
• The Underground Project Life® kit by Studio Calico
• Handstitched tag from Handmade Modern by Elizabeth Rosemond

If you have any questions about supplies or help with Week in the Life, let me know!

And one last thing: be sure to check out Ali's free Week in the Life community on her site here. It will be a great source of inspiration and motivation. Also, I printed her daily sheets and used them this week as well. Some days I was better than others. Hoping to fill some more in today.

Have a great week!

Exciting News about Ali Edwards Digital Creative Team!

I'm so excited to share I am part of the new digital creative team for Ali Edwards! If you haven't heard about Ali, please RUN and check out her new site here!

I have been using Ali's products for a long time and basically learned how to use digital products from her and Cathy Zielske. I am a huge fan of both of them. 

When Ali launched her new site this August, to say I was excited was an understatement. I was working hard on all my own new class content and yet a part of me just wanted to delete the blog, delete everything and just be inspired by her and go tell stories with photos and words. Seriously! I was like, this is it! I could just quit everything I am doing and go tell stories and be happy. 

And I'm really glad I didn't quit. Thankful I pushed through and am really happy with the opportunity to continue to learn and grow and also to help others. And I'm so so excited to be able to use Ali's products to help me tell my stories. 

If you are interested in learning more about Ali's digital products, click here. There is a good mix of products including word art, templates and printable cards. Lots of options for telling stories regardless of whether you are paper based or fully digital or a mix of both. I also subscribe to her Story Stamp club because I use traditional stamps as well. 

Things you will likely see from me: a mix of it all! I love it all and can't help it! I use Ali's word art directly on photos before printing. I use her templates in my Week in the Life and December Daily. I also like making my own filler cards and journaling cards for Project Life with her supplies. I will have Project Life layouts as well as some more traditional ones and enlarged photos. I may even get the Sihouette working again! The cool thing is there are so many options and many ways to learn and grow as well. Can you tell I'm excited?!

Here are a few samples from me. Here I used one of her overlays from Designer Digitals to create a title card in my January 2014 Project Life. Her set is called Hello Life 12x12 Text Overlays. You can find that here.

Currently I have finishing up my December Daily on the brain since Ali introduced the preorder for this year's kit. 

Here is a look at how I use her templates as an overlay over the photos as well as printed the smaller 3x4 card out and just printed and used it in the album. You can find those at Designer Digitals here and here.

You can also see in my sneaks for  Catch Up with Project Life  how I used her December Daily 3x4 Journal Cards in my 2012 December Daily in Project Life. (available at Designer Digitals.) To find out more about that class and see those sneaks click here.

And seriously, the list could go on. I am thankful for all I have learned from Ali over the years and all I will continue to learn! I'm very thankful also for a good friend who encouraged me to apply. thank you!

And lastly, I will share a story that's still kind of raw and near to my heart. Putting together class content isn't easy for me. I always try to do too much and making it work + balancing family, work, etc almost got the better of me this round. Found myself on the floor for a few hours one day wondering how I would do it all. Wondering if I should just call it quits, etc. Somehow I found the strength to be brave and found the peace that it would all work out. Am very thankful for that moment. So when I saw Ali's Be Brave word art, I knew I wanted to capture that moment in a layout. Here is the digital version. I think I may print this out and add something, or I may not. We'll see.

Again, I'm so excited to be a part of this and very thankful for your encouragement and support as well!

So let's do this! #craftthestory