Hey everyone Happy Monday and welcome to my first post for my guest blogger series, I am so excited to start this series and more than excited to be starting it with one of the greatest memory keepers I know ... who in 2010 introduced me to Project Life after completing her December Daily ... welcome to my blog Ali Edwards!
So Excited that Ali is here to share with us, I remember opening that replied email from katie telling me that Ali was up for being a guest and I truly think I yelled out "no way, so awesome." how cool is that, I can tell you that Ali and Katie are an amazing team as you all know. We are all in awe with the recent release of her new site.
So here are the Q&A's I asked Ali.
Q -1. What is your current favorite project for memory keeping? Project Life, December Daily, Week in the life, day in the life?
A - I actually like them equally as well. I usually feel excited by the time the once-a-year-projects roll around and then am excited to pack them up again. Both December Daily® and Week In The Life™ are fairly extensive projects for me - especially considering the daily blogging/project photography/etc. I like the variety between the different projects and being able to change it up depending on the day.
Q - 2. Ali you are an Icon for the memory keeping community .... Who inspires you?
A- Oh lots of people in lots of different places. I'm inspired by people whose words line up with their actions. I'm inspired by people taking leaps of faith. I'm inspired by people who are in the arena working towards some greater good. I'm inspired by my parents and their zest for life - it's not a loud kind of zest but it's wonderful all the same. Three people on Instagram I find really inspiring lately are Chris Burkard (chrisburkard) - takes insane outdoor images, many of surfing in arctic regions, Alison Turner (alisontravels) - another outdoor photographer who's documenting her journeys living out of a camping van, and Bonnie Rush (agoldenafternoon) - she shoots lifestyle stuff and just has a really beautiful eye for light and detail.
Q - 3. What are your top favortie supplies, on your desk right now?
A - 1. Scotch Dot N Roller adhesive - always in use.
2. Tiny attacher - also always in use.
3. Stars - any material.
4. Labels - just such an easy way to get a few more words/details on a page.
Q - 4. Do you still do block scheduled time for Project Life? If so how has that helped your process?
A - I got out of the habit the last couple of months as my work has shifted towards working on things related to the new site. I'm working on May right now so that's a few months behind, but I'm okay with that. When we were following the schedule it worked awesome but as soon as something happened and we fell off everything else went off too. My goal is to get back on a schedule in the next month or so as I adapt to our new routines and responsibilities.
Q - 5. What do you think the future holds for the memory keeping community as it grows?
A - I'm really excited right now. I've always been a big believer that it didn't matter what method you use to get your stories told. I love being introduced to people who blog or use Instagram or journal who are connecting with the label of memory keeping - it's what they are doing and it's what I do. Scrapbooking just happens to be the avenue I employ to get my stories told.
Q - 6. What advice do you have for people just starting their memory keeping journey?
A - Figure out what matters most to you and embrace that. For me it's really always been about the photos and the personal stories - the imperfect ones and the ones that are so darn close to being perfect I can hardly stand it. Some of my stories are really short and some are super long - I love having that variety and I love mixing in the challenges with the successes to give a more complete view of my life. Start with the stories that are on your heart right now. They might be from this morning or ten years ago - regardless, start there because that passion will likely propel you to tell more if you can remember that they don't have to be perfect.
I hope you all enjoyed Ali being here today, I am truely grateful to you Ali for many different reasons mostly For the paving the way and sharing your stories with us, sharing your life with us ... connecting with us and of course for being a daily dose of inspiration! More projects from Ali Edwards below ...
For more information on Ali please visit her site, you have most likely already been there and are currently subscribed to her ... but if not you can find it HERE Thanks again Ali for being my first guest, this was so fun!
