Friday Files | Aimee Dow

 

 

A very big hello, welcome to Friday Files.  

 

All great life documenters know and understand that the 2 essential ingredients required to document a life is penmanship and photography. Now having said that, you do not need to be master of either but you do need to write and snap. 

Surprisingly or not, most people struggle with these basic elements, and our objective with the friday files is to demonstrate how you can document your life with a little more ease and detail. We call it the "Hollywood Script" and it goes like this...

 

<theme plus writing plus pictures> gives you the starting point for something epic.

 

So please join us each friday as we show you the essence interpretation of the hollywood script known as the Friday Files- we've provided a simple template.

 

And each new month we'll provide a brief with a few simple writing and photography prompts and of course our essence project inspiration based on the monthly brief, so you can create your own epic blockbuster.

Life is a little less ordinary than you think and we'd like to show you how you can craft a great life. 

 

Cheers,

Sal

 

ECT Team Leader

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Hi! I am Aimee and I am here to share with you my first ever Friday File.

The point of the Friday Files is to go deeper in to your journaling, rather than just letting your photos tell the story. It is a particularly useful technique if you want to scrap something intangable - a feeling, a thought, an act of kindness, etc. 

 

This month we were set the topic of "Me" and while there are copous pictures of me and I could just have just as easily used "currently" style of journaling, I felt it didn't really go too deep. Instead I choose to investigate something that has been on my mind a lot lately - How I spend my time.

 

 

 

The Journaling reads:

 

Every day there are little compromises that erode our boundaries. Slowly, but surely we define who we are by what we give up and what we hold on to. As I get older, I begin to narrow down the things I can not do without. Number one on that list is Me Time. I find that I struggle with patience, tolerance and a general lack of creative thinking when I am unable to spend time by myself.

I have never been the kind of person who feels lonely. I enjoy spending hours lost in my own thought or engaging in an engrossing solo activity. I do my best thinking in the shower and it should be no secret to anyone that, creatively speaking, my best ideas are the ones I spend hours tinkering with. Sometime this just means a cup of tea, a pen and a notebook. Other times it's more physical. It's a step by step process with my hands - following a recipe from start to finish or shuffling paper around until the sweet spot in a layout can be found.

Sometimes Me Time is not about developing ideas, but rather seeking new inspiration. Once again this is often twofold. I seek inspiration form outside sources such as blogs by those I admire, podcasts, books, magazines, Pinterest and other galleries. On the other side of the coin, Me Time is also devoted to teaching myself a new skill. I spent hours this past week learning how to create paths with the pen tool in photoshop, that will later be converted into a solid graphic.

I guess the thing I like most about Me Time is no matter how long I get, be it 20 minutes or 2 hours, I always come out the other end feeling like I've made progress and have taken a step forward."

 

 

It's interesting to note for this spread I did my journaling long before I took my photos. The photos are just there to show my current top 3 inspirations - as denoted by the little gems.

 

I have to admit, I found it very cathartic to get it out on paper and not just having the thoughts floating around in my head. I truly do encourage you to go the same and by all means post a link of the page in the comments. I would love to see what you have come up with.

  

Aimee xx

PROJECT MATERIALS LIST

 

- American Crafts White Cardstock

- Essence East Coast Fondation 2 Pattern Paper

- Essence East Coast Finishing Pack 02 Gems

- Essence East Coast Finishing Pack 02 Stamp Set

- Ann-Marie Loves Paper Wood Mounted "Be who you want to be" stamp

- Ranger Archival Ink (Black)

Comments

[TracyM #6773]

The Friday Files are going to be GREAT - thank you for the introduction and sharing your process Aimee :)

... I was going to mention it earlier, but I do struggle reading the grey documents (eg Friday Files Template Layout Samples and Friday Files Journal Document), even when increasing the screen view to 200%. Not sure if it's just me but thought I'd let you know, because I really do enjoy learning & being inspired by you all and don't want to miss a thing.

[Erin Yamabe]

Beautifully done, Aimee. Love your authenticity here:)