Everything AE/Ali Edwards

I did DITL Thursday and am proud to report I actually completed it Today! Huge accomplishment for me lol. So much more manageable than WITL. I do love WITL but all of my albums remain in progress. Anyway I loved this year’s DITL kit. It was the perfect size and the focused themes made it easier. It reminded me of the older mini kits. Hope they do more like this. Still undecided if this will end up in my PL or a dedicated DITL 6x8 album but it’s done.

Wow… surprised how many pages back this thread has fallen… kinda cute on a “release day.”

A couple take aways… the SOTM kit is ok. A lot more recycling and I like more of it than I thought I would. Mind blown how few add on options there are (for those of us that ordered all the DD we wanted during boxing. Even though I like a decent amount of it… I’m still pretty bored with the same same sameness of it. I thought it was cute Ali was holding the foiled heart vellum and called it a repeat, then the very next card she picked up was also a repeat. 🤣

The scrapbook kit.. omg. I never realized how much I hate the word “grit.” In over 20 years of scrapbooking, including a divorce, several breakups, being a single mom of teens, working full time, being a hiker/outdoorsy kind of person…. I’ve never once used the word grit. And I don’t plan to start now. Especially after listening to Ali say it 75 times in 4 minutes! Goodness. I liked very few of the journal cards… this is an easy one to say nope to.

I saw the “Mix and Match” kit and couldn’t help but laugh that that’s literally the stuff they couldn’t give away in years of sales and they want $27 bucks for it 🤣 I may consider the class though, in a future class sale, because that stuff truly represents the “leftovers.”

Thinking about the new announcement that SC will no longer do a documenter kit… I wonder if Inked is pushing Ali to clear the warehouse?

The SBTM is fine. Not one of my favorites this year, but fine. Although it is the third time this year for that die cut pack with the “these words” and “these stories” just in different colors. This particular die cut pack has big pieces and tags that can be harder to use in PL. it’s fine- I still like it and think it’s a good value, I’ll just use some pieces and stash the rest. Getting pretty bored with some of the repeat cards like currently celebrating… looking forward to any changes in next year’s SBTM. I remember Ali saying they’d be using some new dies for die cut packs which would be great. I think what I would most want to see would be a new embellishment each month like we use to get- like plastic word strips or vellum
Flowers- similar to the story kit. Having something different each month was fun and mixed it up. Now it’s all paper (besides the vellum cards) and I just would appreciate a new thing/different texture each months. Especially since the monthly story kits are leaving.

I actually like the grit kit. Grit isn’t my favorite word but I can work with that sentiment. Dd also had that as her team word for dance so I could use it there. Also, much of the kit doesn’t actually use the word grit - perseverance, courage, etc. I liked the mixed media papers and the messy font paper. I like the wonky circle chip board and the flowers and phrases and colors. I’m also feeling sentimental that there are only three story kits left so I am planning on getting them all even if they aren’t my favorites (I skipped school as it was unusable to me- I’m not telling past school Stories and dds are long out of school).

honeypea… I had no idea that was an education buzzword at one time. Not sad I missed that!

paget… I did find myself liking some of sentiments and other words… but that WITL font didn’t sit well with me then, and I still don’t like it.. especially paired with the graphic, bold, odd (to my eye-) color combo! I wish I could buy just the digital, because I agree, there are some pretty cool phrases I would maybe use, but not at that price point, color and font hahaha Enjoy!!! Also, I subbed to the story kit from the first month (from day one…) for 5 or 6 years. Cancelling felt like a very very sad thing to do. It was right for me though. But I’ve loved picking up these kits regularly, and really look forward to them. This will be sad for me too, to see it come to an end.

I can only imagine documenting in general must be really scooting to the digital realm…. SC and Ali both ending these subs..

Oh, I forgot to mention in my previous post lol on the SOTM… I am super happy to get to the November kit, since every kit, ever, focuses on brown, and see the gold foiling. It looks like it will look glorious! And I love the big punctuation!

Bwahaha

The audacity of lumping together old shop items into one “Mix and Match” kit.

I LOL'd as well. The stuff nobody wants, all together! it's the "Misses, I'll Pass" kit. pretty surprised the sewn hands aren't in there (still inward-shudder at that one) - maybe they finally gave up.

I do think it was creative to make kits out of it and offer a class to go with it for inspiration. Do I want it? No. But I give props for trying something new to move the uninspiring merch. I do think it’s priced too high considering people weren’t buying those items at the sale prices already. Is that class included for free as part of the kit? If not, it should be!

Just saw an instagram story with Ali, they are no longer going to carry pleather albums. The only albums they are going to carry are project specific albums (ie: WITL, Dec Daily, Travel, etc).

She suggested going to scrapbook.com for project life albums. Problem is that I do 6x12 albums and AE hasn't carried them in about 2 years (I did bulk up a few years ago when they had a big sale). But scrapbook.com doesn't carry this size either.

Thank you!!!

This is my thoughts as well. I am alphabetted out, lol. 

I don’t mind the alpha series but would have appreciated some diversity in size as well. I also prefer the smaller fonts. Or having some sets that included icons. I just ordered the Halloween & Christmas set from SC, they’re fun and different. I don’t think AE does an adequate job showcasing the alphas in action other than DD when people specifically ask to see them.
28.99 was too much to be the main add on imo. I guess it just simplified the design process and cut down on the inventory issues they seem to be having? Lots of talk about inventory this year.
I am a little bummed about the 9x12 albums being discontinued. I tend to prefer more rings to less. The pp seems to sag less imo. Would’ve been nice to get more notice for stocking up purposes. The Sb.com ones are certainly better priced. Really wish someone would make linen albums in this size.

I really like the 9X12 velvet albums from SB.com. I used them for my disney scrapbooking.

Is it a Christmas alphabet stamp or something else?

It's a Christmas alphabet stamp similar to the Halloween alpha, with ornaments and things in the place of some letters.

www.studiocalico.com/shop/stamp-set-6x8-christmas-alphabet-by-goldenwood-co