Angela Speir: [00:00:00] I've resigned myself to the fact that I will never, ever be caught up. I'll never scrap every memory that I want to scrap. So I pick and choose what I want, something that speaks to me, and I play and have fun.

Jennifer Wilson: Welcome to Scrapbook Your Way, the show that explores the breadth of ways to be a memory keeper today. I'm your host, Jennifer Wilson, owner of Simple Scrapper and author of The New Rules of Scrapbooking. This is episode 343. In this episode, I'm interviewing Angela Speir for the My Way series.

My Way is all about celebrating the unique ways memory keepers get things done. We're excited to have Angela as the July featured artist at Simple Scrapper

Hey, Angela. Welcome to Scrapbook Your Way.

Angela Speir: Hey, how are you?

Jennifer Wilson: Excited today. I am good. I'm looking forward to getting to know you better. Can you start by a little [00:01:00] bit about yourself?

Angela Speir: Uh, yes, I am a scrapbooker from South Mississippi. Um, I live on the beautiful Gulf Coast. Uh right by the Gulf of Mexico, and it's gorgeous. Wouldn't live anywhere else. Um, I am a mother and a grandmother. Um, I have three adult daughters, and I have seven lovely grandchildren ranging from the age of 11 to 21.

Jennifer Wilson: Wow.

Angela Speir: I've ... I know. I've recently retired, and so, and I am in the middle of a, um, scrap room renovation or scrap room move, whichever one you wanna call it. And I am stuck straight in the messy middle right now, so.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, I, I can't wait to hear more about that as we get into our conversation.

Angela Speir: Ooh. So.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, and I bet with those grandkids, I bet there's like, you [00:02:00] know, obviously you've been through all the milestones with your daughters, but now there's lots of milestones for them as well, and.

Angela Speir: I know. I have, um, I have one that will be a senior this year, the oldest granddaughter. And, um, I just sit back and wonder how that happened. Because, um, she's still supposed to be that cute little chubby baby that we had on the sandbar just yesterday.

Jennifer Wilson: Yep, yep. I get it, I get it. Mine is, mine is just about to turn 15 and I'm, I have a lot of feelings as well.

Angela Speir: Oh, yes. Well, you know, the thing is once she graduates, for the next five years I have one graduating every year. And then I skip a year, and then the baby graduates, so.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Angela Speir: Are doorsteps. So it's nice. Yes. Yes. It, it does. And you know, I, I miss scrapbooking the baby stuff a lot. Um, but every once in a while [00:03:00] I'll go back and grab one of those photos. But I do enjoy scrapbooking the, the teenage life.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Angela Speir: Such as it is. Um, you know, my oldest is, um, you know, he's 21. He just recently turned 21. And, you know, he lives on ... He's out on his own. And has a big boy job. And all that kind of stuff. So ... And he lives really close, and he.

Jennifer Wilson: Nice.

Angela Speir: Yeah, he comes and helps out and does stuff around the house for me sometimes, so it is nice.

Uh, my oldest moved to Colorado a couple of years ago with two of her kids, and, um, they're actually here for part of the summer, and I've enjoyed ... You know, I'm enjoying that.

Jennifer Wilson: I bet you can't take that time for granted, so.

Angela Speir: Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: So you're one of our featured artists this year. Do you have a favorite recent layout or project, and why do you love it?

Angela Speir: Uh, I do. Um, it's [00:04:00] not a layout, it's a project. Um, even though the oldest grandson graduated in 2023, I recently finished his senior album. Um, I had no intentions of making one, and a friend of mine made one for her grandchildren, and I was like, "Yeah, that might be fun." Not thinking that he goes to, or he went to a private school, was very involved in everything, and they took lots of photos.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Angela Speir: What started as a senior album turned into a two-album project.

Jennifer Wilson: Nice.

Angela Speir: Um, I recently finished it, and that was an accomplishment, and I love everything about it.

Jennifer Wilson: Now are any of your daughters also scrapbookers or are you the chief scrapbooker of the family?

Angela Speir: Uh, I have [00:05:00] none that are scrapbookers. My oldest daughter does junk journal and, um, she actually makes charms and stickers and those kinds of things and sells them.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Angela Speir: Yeah, she recently got into that. She does a lot of, um, like the Little Golden Books and turns them into baby books and, yeah, those kind of things.

Very different from what I do, but you know, she's very creative and very talented, always has been. She's just now started to embrace her inner crafty person, so.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Angela Speir: The other two could care less.

Jennifer Wilson: They could care less. Yeah.

Angela Speir: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Um, is there something in either your scrapbooking or your everyday life, something that you're excited to do, use, or try?

Angela Speir: I don't really... I don't know. I, um, I'm enjoying right now, the challenge of putting together my s- scrap room. [00:06:00] Um, and so that's really where my focus has been for probably the last couple of months. Um, I'm moving from a bedroom to a formal living room, or what should be a formal living room.

I've got some of my furniture here, and I have a huge order coming from IKEA, will be here Saturday. So because I live nowhere near an IKEA.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. Yeah.

Angela Speir: You know, my nearest IKEA is, you know, eight hours away, seven hours away.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, and I thought mine was far at like two and a half hours away, so.

Angela Speir: No. No. Um, you know, the closest used to be Atlanta, but we actually have one in Huntsville now, but Huntsville is still, it's a good at least seven hours away from me.

So.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah

Angela Speir: That what happens when you live at the end of the world, which is what I feel like sometimes.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh yeah, but it's so beautiful there, so.

Angela Speir: It is. Uh, you know, we, um, actually took a trip up the river [00:07:00] the other day to go have dinner as a family, and I was thinking the whole time, I don't, I couldn't live anywhere else. You know.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Angela Speir: So but, um, that right now is my focus. Uh, like I said, I'm in the messy middle. I have stuff scattered from one end to the other.

Um, my cabi- my upper cabinets have been installed. Um, I have some cube storage that's installed, but right now I'm waiting on my desk. So.

Jennifer Wilson: What do you anticipate would be the, like, kind of the biggest difference in how you're, like, using your space and using your different flat surfaces? Uh, 'cause it sounds like you're gonna have a lot more space overall.

Angela Speir: Yes. Um, I actually have a wall that's 187 inches long. That whole entire wall will be a desk. And, uh, I know, I'm so excited. Um, I hope [00:08:00] to... The plan, let, let me go ahead and preface that with the plan is to have a sewing station, a craft station, a die-cut station, and a messy station, um, for, you know, mixed media.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Angela Speir: um, that kind of thing.

Anything that's messy, watercolors, mixed media, anything I wanna do, have a, a dedicated space for that. And that is the plan right now. Yeah, my daughter has about convinced me to move my sewing machine to the other side of the room and use everything, every flat surface for scrapbooking. And yeah, that is a possibility, but you know, right now that's my four zones.

So we shall see if it turns out like it's planned.

Jennifer Wilson: Well and even just like thinking about that and knowing that you're more likely to do these various other things if they have a dedicated space. 'Cause oftentimes we need to move something and rearrange and [00:09:00] prepare, and that can be a barrier to, to doing the wet stuff or to actually sewing on a layout or doing any other sewing for that matter.

Angela Speir: Yes. Uh, even die cutting. You know, I love to, um, you know, create... I don't, I'm not a card maker, I'm strictly a scrapbooker. But I do love, you know, making, as my friend affectionately calls them, dickers, which are, you know, DIY thickers. And florals, that kind of stuff. I love die cutting all of that. But, you know, having to clean off an, uh, first of all, clean off a space. Because I'm, I spread. I'm a spreader.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Angela Speir: And you clean off a space, get my die cutting machine, get the dies, get this, get that, you know, fix it. Then put it all back up because I don't have a place to leave it out. And, you know, so that is gonna be nice. And my sewing machine is the [00:10:00] same way. Right now it sits on top of my cubes, so if I wanna sew on something, I have to get it down, find a flat surface to put it on.

So that, that was the main focus with, um, planning a new room, was to have zones. And be able to find my things when I want them. Because that's another, you know, um, having a small room, when I would get new supplies, I wouldn't have room with the other supplies, so I'd just stick them somewhere, and then it would be like, "I know I bought it, but I can't find it, so now what do I do?"

So that is one of the big focuses right now in the messy middle, is, like with like. And then hopefully by the time my furniture gets here and gets set up, we'll be ready to bin stuff and move [00:11:00] on, and I can get back to creating.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, it sounds great. So what would you say, we're kind of getting into our, this is a My Way episode where we really dig into kind of what makes you tick as a scrapbooker. What would you say to a non-scrapbooker about why you love this hobby?

Angela Speir: Um, I love this hobby because I love photography. I started, started as a scrapbooker, moved into photography, and found a way to mesh both of them together.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Angela Speir: Um, I also love being able to relive those moments again and again. Because when I pull out... You know, when I watch my grandchildren pull out scrapbooks and sit on the couch and look through them and laugh and giggle and talk about what that is or what they remember about that moment or, you know, if they find a picture of their mom or whatever. And they laugh and [00:12:00] giggle about her hair or her clothes, you know, it just makes my heart so full to be able to watch that.

And also, I love the creative process. Um, I am one who subscribes to the theory sometimes that more is more. Um, I love florals. I love the, um... You know, there's no quick layouts for me essentially. There could be, but the fun in it for me is being able to sit there and play.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Angela Speir: It wasn't always like that. You know, if you look back on my scrapbooks from my kids, I did not start scrapbooking until I had grandchildren, so, you know. But if you look back on my early stuff, you know, I was more of a linear scrapper, minimal embellishments, um, larger photos, you know. And because [00:13:00] I didn't have time for all the other stuff, you know.

It was make a memory, get it documented, and move on to the next one. Um, I've resigned myself to the fact that I will never, ever be caught up. I'll never scrap every memory that I want to scrap. So I pick and choose what I want, something that speaks to me, and I play and have fun.

Jennifer Wilson: I love your philosophy and, you know, also the recognition that things do evolve over time, and to kind of pay attention to what's, you know, tickling your fancy, 'cause that could lead you to a whole new place that's even more joyful.

Angela Speir: You know, I used to not be like that, but I guess with time comes wisdom. You know, I'm a grandmother now. I'm retired now. I have a lot more time than parents or grandparents that work full time or, you know, those kind of things. I also learned to make the memory and take the photo, [00:14:00] and one day it may speak to you and you'll have that time.

I just scrapbooked a photo of my 16-year-old granddaughter when she's probably about two. She's out by the pool. She's got a cute little hat on and her little smocked bathing suit. And, you know, I look at her now as a teenager who drives, and I still see that cute little girl with that crinkly nose and um, yeah, and so I get to relive that moment every day. And she f- she found it, and she was like, "Oh, y'all come look, it's me." And that just makes me feel so good.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes. It's really highlighting kind of that deeper inner joy that we get. So you mentioned that you started scrapbooking, you were already, you already had grandkids. So what really led you to the hobby? What kind of exposed you to it?

Angela Speir: I had a friend at work that her mother was having a Creative Memories, uh, scrapbooking [00:15:00] party. Like many others, that's how I found my way. I went to the little party. I bought a corner rounder, a pair of scissors, and a pen. And I came home, and at that point I was lucky enough to have a scrapbooking store locally, two of them actually.

And, so you know, I would go there and we would have crops, and I would go in and pick out, you know... I wasn't a collection scrapper because back, you know, in 2004, you know, 2005, well, actually 2004. There really weren't, you know, quote, collections like they are now that have tons of embellishments and, you know, that kind of thing.

And, um, so that's what led me making a baby album for my first grandson. Started with his ultrasound picture, first thing I ever scrapbooked. And then, [00:16:00] um, Hurricane Katrina hit, and we- I lost everything. I lost all of the scrapbook stuff that I had. And, um, so I took about, mm, probably a year and a half off. Because life had other focuses at that point.

Jennifer Wilson: Certainly.

Angela Speir: Then I found that corner rounder that I had bought, and it still worked. It went under saltwater during Katrina but, you know, hey, that sucker, I still use it to this day. And, um, so I slowly got back into it. That point I only had one grandchild. You know, everything he did was perfect, wonderful.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Angela Speir: You know, created all kinds of...

You know, he's five years older than the next grandchild, so, um, then they started coming once a year, sometimes two a year. And [00:17:00] so that's when things got crazy and things got busy.

Jennifer Wilson: How did that experience with the hurricane and the recovery from it impact kind of how you looked at photos and scrapbook supplies, not to mention other just, like, personal treasures and things like that?

Angela Speir: I learned very quickly that things are things.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Angela Speir: Um, it can all be replaced except for your photos, which we lost most of. Um, the ones I have are very, very water damaged. You know, Brantley's first year and a half really doesn't exist in photos. Um, you know, we were too busy existing. My daughter lost her house, we lost our house, and my mother-in-law lost her house.

So, you know, we were just too busy trying to rebuild and exist and... Yeah, but you learn. When you look out and everything you own is in a pile at the side of the [00:18:00] road, and you look across the street and everything your neighbors own are in a pile in the middle of the street, and you're sleeping on somebody's porch in August. And it's hot as heck, but you're glad to have a place to sleep, your priorities change really quick.

And you learn that those are just things, you know, it can all be replaced. And so it made me treasure those memories and treasure those priceless things that can't be replaced made me treasure those all the more.

Jennifer Wilson: Certainly, certainly.

Angela Speir: And, you know, I think that's one reason I love preserving memories is because so much of those memories, well, not the memories, but so much of the proof of those memories are gone.

You know, my kids' entire, entire childhood essentially was gone, you know, other [00:19:00] than what friends had, pictures they had, pictures that didn't get lost and, you know, that kind of thing. So.

Jennifer Wilson: Have you found yourself kind of going back and telling some of those stories even without photos? Or has that felt maybe even too hard?

Angela Speir: Not really. It was hard. Um, you know, I had a child, you know, um, my grandson was born in May of 2005. Katrina hit in August of 2005. So those days were hard, and they s- they're still hard. And, you know, I don't... I would like eventually to go back and scrapbook some of the memories. You know, the fact that we lived with no walls and concrete floors, and the sole furniture that we had were two lawn chairs and a 15 or 16-inch black and white TV.

And we slept on a mattress on the floor, and we had plastic drawers to hold our remaining clothes. [00:20:00] You know, um, I would love to, to scrapbook that one day because those are things that I want future generations to know. But it's, it's hard, you know? And.

Jennifer Wilson: I'm sure. I'm sure.

Angela Speir: It's just hard. And, um, so yeah, but we survived. And it's 21 years ago, and I'll never forget it because like I said, Brantley was three months old.

And, you know, so my daughter lived in a FEMA trailer with a three-month-old.

Jennifer Wilson: Forwarding to today and, you know.

Angela Speir: Mm-hmm.

Jennifer Wilson: You're creating a new space for yourself and celebrating your retirement, what sizes or formats are you typically creating in, and has that evolved over time?

Angela Speir: 12 by 12 is my tried and true. Uh, I love it. Um, I always will. For myself, that is what I create. The albums for my [00:21:00] grandchildren are eight and a half and e- by 11 or nine by 12. And, you know, I'm starting Anna Claire's, uh, senior album, and h- hers is a nine by 12. Brantley's was eight and a half by 11.

I'm not as fond of those. I don't like the rectangular format a lot, but it is much easier to create. Because a lot of times it's one photo that I have. You know, I'm not opposed to a one photo 12 by 12, don't get me wrong. But, you know, uh, you know, I'm usually taking pictures off of Facebook or Snapchat or Instagram, you know, that kind of thing. And those tend to print better when they're smaller.

And so that eight and a half and, by 11 or nine by 12 format just seems to work better. Um, like I said, it's not my favorite. I prefer a square format. [00:22:00] Um, I do, attempt... I've only completed it one time, but I attempt every year to make a December album in six by eight. And it's kinda like the eight and a half by 11 or nine by 12. It's not really my favorite format. I don't like the rectangle. I'm a square girl all the way.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, I think that's an important thing to understand about yourself and to knowing, like, what really works and what works with your brain and the way it sees shapes. And yeah, I think that's an important knowledge to have. And then to recognize, oh yeah, sometimes I can't do it because there's a, there's a really practical reason for it.

Angela Speir: And yeah, the, the longer I... Because I created Brantley's album not in chunks, but I created, I sat down one day and I, I pretty much worked on that until I finished it. And so the longer I scrap the eight and a half by 11, the easier it got. But I still didn't love it. I love the layouts and I love the project, but is it the favorite, my favorite thing I've ever done?

No. I, [00:23:00] you know, I just, it was more like I have to think about it. I have to think about what I'm doing. I have to think about proportions and, you know, how, how they work in that format, where with the 12 by 12, it's intuitive. You know, I, I can cut a piece of paper, stick it down, be like, "Yeah, that works," you know?

It wasn't like that with the, with the other ones, so.

Jennifer Wilson: Now, are there any particular projects or activities that you're focused on this year?

Angela Speir: My scrap room. That's, um... Until I get that done, I do belong to a message board where I, um, am in a challenge. It's a 40 layout challenge. We create four layouts a month for 10 months. And, my focus right now is to make sure that I get my four layouts a month done. And get my scrap room set up like I want it.

Um, it started out to be a short [00:24:00] project. I am now, April, May, June, almost three months in and it's still a disaster. But, um, I'm hoping to be able to have it completed and set up like I want it, and live with it for a while and make any tweaks, you know, by the fall. I, you know, I'm giving myself until, you know, Thanksgiving, Christmas, to get it done. Because, you know, I know that it will evolve and I know that, um, I'm trying my best to catalog and sort and label and do all that as I'm going.

Because I've never done that before. I'm not an organized person. I'm a seat of the pants person.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Angela Speir: And, um, so this has been eye-opening for me, [00:25:00] shall we say. I do like the way it's working, but it is, y- you know, it, it's a big undertaking. And, so, um, you know, I have great son-in-laws, I have great kids, I have great grandkids.

My granddaughter was putting together a Kallax unit at, um, you know, 11:30 last night so. Those kids can build some IKEA furniture, let me tell you.

Jennifer Wilson: They can. Yes. Yes. Well it sounds like you to like develop some additional patience, um, that this, this is a thing that takes time, uh, because of the scale and, just to allow yourself to kind of enjoy that messy middle too.

Angela Speir: Yeah, it's, um, yeah, I'm, I'm trying to let myself enjoy the process. Because it's something I've dreamed of for years. I've never been able to make it a reality, and so now I am. And I'm planning to make the [00:26:00] best of it. But yeah, that's my big project for the year. That's what I'm gonna focus on. And, um, that and making memories that I can scrapbook when I finally am back in my room.

Jennifer Wilson: Sounds good. It makes sense. So let's talk about your style a little bit. If you had to describe it in three words, what would you say?

Angela Speir: No more than three photos, one page, and embellishment heavy.

Jennifer Wilson: Okay, okay. Um, what kind of like, do you, are there certain like color palettes or patterns you lean towards, or are you kind of everything goes, I love it all?

Angela Speir: Uh, I'm a traditionally, and probably 95% of the time, I'm a white cardstock girl.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Angela Speir: I love pattern, but not as a background. I love to mat my layouts. I do that probably on 90% of the layouts I create. It has a white background with a, [00:27:00] some type of border on it. Um, and I love florals. Um, I think that came from scrapbooking so many daughters, and I have three granddaughters, and they're all right about the same age, so that makes it easy.

I love the texture, and I love the laser cuts from 49 & Market, even though some of their newer collections have not been, for me. But I still love their style and love what they, you know... Um, and I bought.

Jennifer Wilson: Of like gardeny one that came out that I was like, "Oh, maybe th- I think they're getting back into a groove," and I, I really liked the style.

Angela Speir: I know.

Jennifer Wilson: Of it.

Angela Speir: Well, you know, I bought Rust and Rubs and Rust and Rubs 2, which is one of their older collections, probably at least twice. 'cause I used a lot of the backgrounds and a lot of the stuff in Brantley's album. Um, and [00:28:00] then, you know, I love that. Um, and Simple Stories is my heart. It always will be.

They're my favorite manufacturer ever. I love the variety. I love, I love their embellishments. You know, they're not so wordy. I'm not a wordy person on my layouts. I am in real life, but, um, in- not, I don't ... I love Echo Park. I love their, um, their papers and their ... But their embellishments are extremely wordy, and yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: True.

Angela Speir: Only, you know, I can only put so many words on a layout.

So a lot of times if I do use Echo Park, I use cut files for a big statement where I don't need as many embellishments. Or I am in my, um, acrylic stash or my wood veneer stash or I'm in my dies [00:29:00] cutting out things. Um, yeah, I just don't find their embellishments, um, user-friendly to me and my style. But, um, I do love their papers though, so.

Jennifer Wilson: Well and I think, yeah, you start to really understand which, uh, what lines are gonna deliver you what satis- what levels of satisfaction and informs your, your purchasing in the future. And can kinda combine things to, to make your best, uh, suite of products, for sure.

Angela Speir: Yeah, I am a, I'm a have it all k- kinda girl.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Angela Speir: Which is why I like Simple Stories because I can get a little bit of everything. And, um, but I've also learned that there are some collections that, you know, I can buy three or four sheets of paper and a sticker sheet, and I'm perfectly happy with it.

Jennifer Wilson: You mentioned cut files. Are there other, like, tools and techniques that you use a lot in your pa- [00:30:00] on your pages? Like, if we looked through your pages, what, what would we notice?

Angela Speir: Um, I use lots of texture. Um, I love pop dots. I love dimension. I think part of that comes from the fact that I know that I'll never scrapbook everything, so I don't worry about how I'm gonna store stuff. You know, I know I see a lot of people that are like, "I already have 50 albums, you know, and, and my kid's only five, and what am I gonna do?"

Well, I don't have that concern anymore. I scrapbook for me. And I love pop dots, and I love dimension, and I love, yeah, mixed media to an extent. I used to use a lot more mixed media and then, um, I went to having no scrap room, and I was scrapbooking on my kitchen counter, and that was not conducive to mixed media. So I kinda had to leave [00:31:00] that.

Jennifer Wilson: Close to a sink, I mean.

Angela Speir: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Maybe too close.

Angela Speir: I don't think my marble... uh, I mean, my granite countertops would like it very much. And, um, yeah, but I do love that look. I love watercolors. It's my favorite media or medium. And, I like stitching. I love stitching on my layouts when I have time. Just I like a little bit of everything.

You know, I'm, I'm not... I don't... If you had to say I have a style, I would say single photo or double photo, and a lot of that comes because I do have to... You know, I steal things from Facebook or Instagram or, you know, my children are not photographers. My grandkids aren't either. So if I say, "Take me some pictures," you know, I get two.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Angela Speir: You use what you have. And, my least favorite thing to scrapbook are events. I do not like to scrapbook, [00:32:00] birthdays. I don't like to scrapbook Christmas. I prefer scrapbooking those one-off everyday memories because to me that's, that's who they are.

Jennifer Wilson: I like, I often will find myself like some of the best photos are from, uh, just, just r- random happenstance. Sometimes they are from those events.

Angela Speir: Oh yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Holidays or whatever, but I love to use those for the stories about the personality and what's going on in their lives right now or our lives right now. The, the details of the event sometimes are, are not as important to me as well.

So I, I, I share that with you.

Angela Speir: Yeah, I mean that, you know, that one cute picture that, you know, the kids took when they were goofing off on the sandbar or, you know, they're being goofy and, you know, the little cheesy grins. 'Cause I have a grandson that never smiles. You know, he has that, um, face that you just look at him and go, "Really, dude?"

You know? And, um, [00:33:00] and he's nine, so of course he doesn't want to co- I mean, he's 11, excuse me. Oh, he would die if he knew I said nine. Um, yeah, so he doesn't, like, really want to cooperate with anybody whenever you ask him to do something. So if I ever get a little cheesy grin from him or something that he's not in a baseball uniform, then I treasure those photos.

Because, you know, baseball is life to him. Baseball and football. If it doesn't have a ball in it, he doesn't want to have anything to do with it.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. Angela, is there anything in your hobby that you've decided is not for you? 'Cause it sounds like you do love a lot of things, but is there anything you're like, "Yeah, that's, I'm never gonna do that," or, "I tried that once and I'm good"?

Angela Speir: Complete mixed media backgrounds. Uh, yeah, I don't ... You know, mixed media to me is like a little, a little smooshing in the back or a little ink work, um, in my, you know, like stenciling my stamps. Or, you know, [00:34:00] that kind of thing, um, splatters. You know, as far as full-on mixed media, mixed media, that is, that's not for me. I don't.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Angela Speir: I never like what I make, and I know they say practice makes perfect, but if it doesn't matter to me, why, why bother? I mean, I can use my time better, well s- you know, I can spend it better. Really I guess that's ... Yeah, I, I don't like cutting my photos into like ... You know, I know some people have started, due to the junk journaling, you know, that has come into it, um, people cutting out silhouettes and putting them up.

That'll never be me. I don't, I don't fussy cut that well, and I don't like it that much, so the answer to that is no. And, and that's, I guess really those are, that's my main thing is mixed media. I love it. I love it when other people do [00:35:00] it. I think it's so cool, and it's so pretty, but I know me, and it's not for me.

It's not for me to make. You know, somebody wants to make it for me and give it to me, hey, I'm all about it. But.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Angela Speir: You know. But I do, and that's another thing about being a, an older grandmother who scraps and who's accepted the fact that I'll never be caught up is I can play. I can play and, and have fun, and really doesn't I don't feel the pressure that other, that some people feel. That allows me to have more freedom in what I wanna do.

Jennifer Wilson: Certainly. Um, when your space, uh, draws to a conclusion of, you know, "This is, this is good enough for right now, let's start living in it.

Angela Speir: Right,

Jennifer Wilson: What time of day do we think that you're gonna be scrapbooking? Are, is it all day long every day? Mornings, evenings? Like, what's your natural creative time?

Angela Speir: I, except on [00:36:00] Tuesdays. Tuesdays I, I have a Zoom that I scrapbook with friends from all over. Um, and that usually starts from 11 o'clock, well, for me, 11:00 o'clock in the morning, and then we usually scrapbook till about 5:00 or 6:00 at night. Other days, I'm not a morning person. I do not like mornings. Um, I think they should be outlawed.

Uh, my day normally starts around 11:30 or 12, so usually after lunch. Um, you know, and I will scrapbook into the night. I'm a go to bed at 3:00 o'clock in the morning kind of person.

Jennifer Wilson: Okay.

Angela Speir: Um, you know, I am, especially now that I'm retired and I don't have to get up and I don't have to go to a job every morning, um, I very rarely set my clock.

Um, you know, I get up when I get up, and I go to bed when I go to bed. But yes, I definitely am a afternoon night scrapbooker.

Jennifer Wilson: How did you [00:37:00] manage, like, beat that night owl tendency when you were working and wanting to get scrapbooking done?

Angela Speir: Oof. I, um, I scrap- yeah, I'm like, "Ugh." And I, and I did it for 30 years, so I mean, you know.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Angela Speir: That after a while it just becomes habit. But I c- yeah, it didn't take long to break those habits. Um, but I scrapbooked a lot on the weekends. Um, at that point, um, before COVID, um, I had a couple of friends and we ran a scrapbook crop once a month.

And then we also scrapbooked a lot of weekends together too. You know, we would go to other crops for, you know, and that was usually when I scrapbooked. I scrapbooked on weekends. I didn't, um, even though I was a night owl, and, you know, by the time I came home, [00:38:00] figured out what we were gonna eat for dinner, that kind of thing, I was like, "Mm, I ain't got the energy to scrap."

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Angela Speir: You know my husband was also, um He, um, had dementia for 13 years. So a lot of my time was taking care of him. And so that, you know, also was why I scrapbooked a lot on weekends. Because, you know, I wasn't so tired, and I could, you know, do things like that, so.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Angela Speir: But yeah, I, um, I was definitely not a prolific scrapbooker when I worked. Yeah, I scrap- yeah, I the, like, yeah, it, that went against all my natural tendencies. I should have been a night worker.

Jennifer Wilson: And my mom is the exact same way. She would love to stay up all night and, and sleep as late as possible, so.

Angela Speir: You know.

Jennifer Wilson: Uh, whereas I'm a, like I [00:39:00] wanna be in bed before 10, 10:00 PM, so.

Angela Speir: Ugh, not me. Ugh. I mean, I look... La- last night my daughter was staying here and w- like 2:00 she was like, I was like, "I guess I'm going to bed." And she's like, "Okay." So she has my night owl ten- my night owl tendencies also. So the girls went to bed like at 11:00 last night, and we were like, "Y'all are already going to bed?"

And they were like, "We're tired." I think they've, they've pulled too many all-nighters, and they're giggling. You know, they don't see each other often, so.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, yeah. That's cool to have them together though.

Angela Speir: Yeah, well it's hard because for the, you know, up until two years ago they lived like right down the street from one another. So they've, all of the cousins have all grown up together. Until Amy and them moved to Colorado two years ago. This is the first time my kids have ever moved away from home. And, um, as adults we've done a lot better than the [00:40:00] kids. The kids have had, yeah, they, they miss each other.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I bet.

Angela Speir: Lots of FaceTime. You know, thank gosh for FaceTime and that kind of stuff 'cause they definitely keep in touch.

Jennifer Wilson: So we've already talked on this a little bit, but in terms of organization and how, like what are you really carrying from your previous space to your new space? What things have worked really well for you that you're just gonna keep on working with?

Angela Speir: Nothing. Actually that's not true. There's a couple of things. Um, number one is paper storage. Um, I've used cubes for a long time. I like my cubes. I also have always, um, organized by collection or by, not by collection, by manufacturer. I still do that. That's the way my brain thinks.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Angela Speir: So that works for [00:41:00] me. That I'm ... The only difference is I've always stored collections and embellishments together. I'm actually storing paper by it- you know, paper collection by itself, and then I have bought these envelopes that are like an A5 size, and they have, um, Velcro, and the embellishments go in it. And they're labeled.

And the way my cubes are set up, in the, the top cubes I have paper. I have two bins per cube with all the paper. And then in the cube directly below it I have one large cube, and all the embellishments for that paper are in that cube.

Jennifer Wilson: Okay.

Angela Speir: Um, that is something new because collections with embellishments just take up so much room.

And, you know, it's wasted space. [00:42:00] So I've kind of, I've kept it, but I've modified it. Um, the other thing from my other s- craft space that I really like is I have a holder from IKEA. I don't even know if they sell them anymore, but it's the one where you can put your 12 by 12 paper and then your stickers, and yeah, that.

I, um, I have that on my desk, and I keep either, things I'm trying to use up, like if I have a ... you know, like if I'm working on like Brantley's album and I have like some- gears, wood veneer gears or whatever, and I have just a few left over. I would keep those in there to remind myself to use them. But I normally keep whatever collection or whatever I'm working with, the embellishments.

And then in the front, I usually have my edge distressor. I have, my, I use the Nuvo glaze, not the Glossy Accents, but that kind of thing. [00:43:00] I have, my dauber or a blending brush. That kind of, those little things. My tweezers. I'm a tweezer girl. Um, I love my tweezers. Can't scrapbook without them.

Yeah, those kind of things in the front. And then when I finish what I'm doing, I take all that out and then put something else in there. I do keep white cardstock in there at all times because I- I'm always looking for white cardstock.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm

Angela Speir: And those are really two of the main things that I'm bringing with me. Because my system didn't work. I didn't have a system. Like I said, I am not an organized person. I never have been. This is me trying to embrace my inner ADHD brain that, you know, trying to put things where I can actually find it. We'll see how it works. I'm using all clear bins, open storage where I can see it, because I'm also an out of sight, out of mind [00:44:00] person.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, interesting. Yeah I'm the one like, I don't know if you're familiar with the, the Clutterbug system. I.

Angela Speir: Oh, yes.

Jennifer Wilson: Need closed storage. I do not wanna see it, otherwise it is so overwhelming to me. I can't. Yeah.

Angela Speir: Uh, uh, I got to see it, which is my cubes. I do have closed storage, um, for some things. And I am liking that so far because it's things like my mixed media stuff that I don't really need to see. I know I have, and I know where it's at. Um, paper, I've got to see it. I, I have to. If I don't, I forget what I have.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. Yeah, I get it.

Angela Speir: So but yes, Cass has definitely changed the way I think about things, and, she actually was the one who gave me the big push to, finally take the leap and tell myself, "I can do this." So we shall see if she's right.

Jennifer Wilson: I think you can. You will, you will. [00:45:00] So with that in mind where would you like your scrapbooking to be, uh, another decade from now?

Angela Speir: Number one, I hope to still be scrapbooking because I will be old by then.

I would like for it to be to the point where my grandkids and my kids can look at my albums and remember all the good times and remember the emotions that were evoked, and to know that I love them. And they are the best parts of me and the best thing that's ever happened to me. And I want my layouts to be able to show that. And, you know, I hope to still be scrapbooking, um, the fun stuff, not birthdays.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Angela Speir: Not Christmas. My grandkids laugh all the time 'cause, I mean, like, some of them don't even have [00:46:00] first birthday layouts. They're like, "Nee Nee," and I'm like, "Uh, yeah, I'm gonna get to it, um, I promise." So y'all know I don't like doing that kind of stuff, and then they, they laugh and they're like, "We know." So, But that's what I... I hope that I'm still, uh, I'm still scrapbooking the memories that I want to scrapbook. The ones that make me feel happy and the ones that speak to my heart.

Jennifer Wilson: Ah, I love your, I love your approach and I love the way you think about scrapbooking. Um, my final question for today, what have you learned as being a scrapbooker? What have you learned about yourself, about life?

Angela Speir: I've learned that, life is fleeting. Uh, don't blink because they do grow up way too fast. You know, um, when my kids were little, I don't remember a lot of it, if that makes sense. You know, I was in the mix. You know, I was the one doing the raising. I was the one doing the, you know, baseball, all ... I mean, softball [00:47:00] and cheerleading and, you know, prom and, you know, those kind of things.

I was always the one that was the catalyst for everything. And, I was a stay-at-home mom for years, and so that was kind of... You know, I don't ... I mean, I remember things, but then I'll look back and go, you know, there's years that I'm just like, I d- I, I'm like just blank when I think about it. I'm like, you know, like how did they grow up?

You know, how can my daughter be in her 40s? You know, that's crazy. With my grandkids, you know, I had, I had time to appreciate it. I'm a very lucky person.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Angela Speir: Like I said, until two years ago I saw my grandkids on a regular basis, all seven of them. They lived very close, within 15 minutes of my house.

And, I've learned that, you know, t- time is fleeting. You know, when, when they're little, don't blink [00:48:00] because the next thing you know, they're driving and g- and, and they're graduating high school and, you know, and so you wanna soak up all those memories. Um, I've learned to take the picture, even when they say, "Nene, put the camera away."

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Angela Speir: My son-in-law, you know, he hates ... he'll be like, "Oh my God, she's in her photography mode again." And I'll be like, "Sorry, dude. You know, this is the way it is around here." And he's like, "I know." Um, my oldest grandson, the 21-year-old, you know, he's pretty good at corralling the grandkids even now because he's learned.

He tells them, "Just smile and then she'll stop." You know? So I've learned if I take the picture, then there's always one day to scrapbook it. And I've learned that I love to create. I love to be free to do me.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Angela Speir: And s- [00:49:00] it's, it is a, it's a passion of mine. I love making pretty things. And I love that they have meaning. And- They make me happy and that's who I scrapbook for.

I mean, I love that my grandkids love to look at them. I like that my kids like to look at them. But in the end, it's for me. It's to make me happy. You know.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Angela Speir: I am the memory keeper. I'm the only scrapbooker, you know, in my family. And yeah, but the thing is that in the end, I'm the one who has to be happy.

Jennifer Wilson: No doubt. I totally agree. Yeah. can you share where our listeners can find you online? Anything you have new or, or coming up in the second half this year? I guess, I guess it's your, all about your workspace for sure.

Angela Speir: Yeah, it's all about my workspace. Um, you can follow me on Instagram. Uh,

I am my_scrappy_adventure or [00:50:00] adventures. Is it adventure or adventures?

Jennifer Wilson: We will include the correct link in the show notes for the episode.

Angela Speir: Okay. Um, that is where I, s- share my scrapbooking. I also, it's also on my Facebook page, but most people, it's my personal page, and most people don't follow that.

Um, I don't have a scrappy's, uh, Facebook page. That's, it's all I can do to have one, and that's to stalk my family essentially. And, so that's it. I- no design teams, no, you know, no YouTube. I'm not tech-savvy enough yet. I would love to make YouTube videos at some time in the future, but, yeah, it's gonna be in the future.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, you're very scrapbook savvy 'cause your pages are quite lovely, so I appreciate you spending time with me.

Angela Speir: Thank you. It was great.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, thanks for the chat. And to all of our remember that you have permission to scrapbook your way. [00:51:00]

Shanel Pettijohn: [00:00:00] I do enjoy shapes. I have a lot of dies in different shapes. And when I sit down, I, I like to think of a scrapbook layout as building a visual story. So then I just let the story and the photographs guide my decision. Sometimes I let the paper and product guide my decision before the photographs. It could go either way.

Jennifer Wilson: Welcome to Scrapbook Your Way, the show that explores the breadth of ways to be a memory keeper today. I'm your host, Jennifer Wilson, owner of Simple Scrapper and author of The New Rules of Scrapbooking. This is episode 342. In this episode, I'm chatting with Shanel Pettijohn about her colorful, shape-driven approach to 12 by 12 scrapbooking and how her creative practice has evolved from raising three boys to embracing life as a grandmother

Hey, Shanel welcome to Scrapbook Your Way.

Shanel Pettijohn: Hi, how are you?

Jennifer Wilson: I am good. I'm looking forward to getting to know you better in our conversation [00:01:00] today. Can you start by sharing a little bit about yourself?

Shanel Pettijohn: Sure, I'd love to. Thanks for having me, by the way. I'm Shanel of course. I'm originally from Tennessee, but I live in Oklahoma now. I've actually been here for many years now. Um, I am an elementary school teacher. I've been teaching for 12 years. Actually, now I am a reading interventionist, so I get to work with students one-on-one who have some barriers to learning, such as dyslexia.

I really enjoy my job when I'm not scrapbooking, of course. And I have three amazing sons who are now young men, all grown up. Super proud of them as well.

Jennifer Wilson: I'm curious how your scrapbooking changed as your sons went on to their own lives.

Shanel Pettijohn: Yes, absolutely. You know, when you're, when you're raising children, and I had three boys, so it was a very loud, busy household, and I did set it aside for a few years. Because there just, I just couldn't work it in, [00:02:00] sadly. But now that I'm an empty nester, I have all the time to scrapbook, and I'm truly enjoying that hobby again, so.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, wonderful. I love hearing that. So Shanel do you have a favorite recent layout or project?

Shanel Pettijohn: I do actually. I made one last week. I created a layout that I'm completely smitten by. It has a layered sunburst that radiates across the page and has all the beautiful shades of blue with pops of color. If you've seen any of my scrapbook layouts, you know that I like a lot of color in my layouts.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Shanel Pettijohn: Um, this layout p- in particular, it just feels like a beautiful beach day, and I think that's why I love it so much.

The beach is one of my favorite places, and the colors of blue are so calming. So that has to be one of my favorites recently.

Jennifer Wilson: Awesome. Yeah, we'll definitely link, uh, share a link to that in the show notes.

Shanel Pettijohn: Okay, great. I'd love that.

Jennifer Wilson: Now, is there something new that you're excited to do, use, or try, either in scrapbooking or in your everyday life?

Shanel Pettijohn: Well, that's a great [00:03:00] question. I did, um, recently embark on a new journey, and it, it has to do with scrapbooking, but more on a very intimate personal level. I usually create 12 by 12 pages, and I love each of, each one of them. They're like a little piece of art all in themselves. But I started, um, in January a Project Life type scrapbook.

So it has pocket pages, and it's smaller, and I find that my journaling, weekly journaling of our stories is more personal and intimate, and I can share a photo or two to go along with that. So every week I sit down and review our week and what we did, where we went, what happened, and I get to write, um...

It's like I'm writing in a journal, I guess. I'm a big journaler. I've always journaled. I have stacks of journals laying around. So I li- I love to write. So this, this new scrapbook album is very personal to me.

Jennifer Wilson: And what size is it?

Shanel Pettijohn: It's nine by 12.

Jennifer Wilson: [00:04:00] Okay. Have you done Project Life in other sizes before?

Shanel Pettijohn: I have not.

Jennifer Wilson: Okay, so this is your first time. Fun.

Shanel Pettijohn: This, it is. It's my first time. So I do journal on my 12 by 12 layouts, but I journal on the back, and it's usually a very short blurb. So I enjoy the Project Life because I'm able to write more and tell our story.

Jennifer Wilson: How did you start journaling on the back of your pages?

Shanel Pettijohn: Well, again, I really enjoy the creative, artsy.

Jennifer Wilson: Uh-huh.

Shanel Pettijohn: Part of the 12 by 12 layout. So sometimes I will journal on the front, but most of the time I include the story on the back. Because, um, a couple of reasons. One, the stories are usually very personal to me, and when I share my layouts online, I, I don't wanna put that story out there with the details of my family. And number two, I just, I don't have room to write on the front. So that happens sometimes.

Jennifer Wilson: That makes sense. It seems like it solves multiple problems.

Shanel Pettijohn: [00:05:00] Yes, it does.

Jennifer Wilson: So tell us how you got into scrapbooking.

Shanel Pettijohn: Well, my first son was very young when I started, and I was invited over to a Creative Memories Crop. I think that's how a lot of us got started actually. But my neighbor invited me over to introduce me to scrapbooking, and I was just instantly hooked. So it really appealed to me, preserving our story, and I al- I've always taken a lot of photographs, so th- those are important to me. And what better way to marry those two than a scrapbook, right?

Jennifer Wilson: And so has your... It sounds like you've done predominantly 12 by 12 the whole time?

Shanel Pettijohn: I do. That's my, that's my preferred size. I do enjoy making mini albums as well. You know, little tag albums or.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Shanel Pettijohn: Four by four, six by six albums. But the 12 by 12 format seems to be the mo- my most popular.

Jennifer Wilson: And do you create single pages or double pages?

Shanel Pettijohn: I do mostly single pages.

Jennifer Wilson: Has it always been that way?

Shanel Pettijohn: Yes. [00:06:00] I, I'm not sure why. It's just my prefer- my preferred style, I guess. I, I find that a double page layout's a little intimidating maybe, so.

Jennifer Wilson: No, I could see that.

Shanel Pettijohn: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: So what is your biggest kind of why or motivation behind the hobby? You mentioned you started when your youngest son was, was quite little. A- and I'm always curious particularly at how that why even, you know, shifts over time 'cause, you know, now you're in a different season of life.

Shanel Pettijohn: I think the biggest why for all of us is just preserving our story, but it also allows me to nurture my creativity. Um, life moves so quickly, and scrapbooking allows us to capture those everyday moments and, and save them so that we can remember them later. And, and the creative outlet brings me so much joy.

It helps me recharge. It's good for my soul. It's almost like a therapy, you know. I need my scrapbook time as a, as a release from everyday stressors. So it serves a lot of purposes, I guess there's a lot of whys there.[00:07:00]

Jennifer Wilson: No doubt. I know.

Shanel Pettijohn: Yes

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, think we're all kind of bouncing around all the time, and it's whatever why is bringing us to the table, you know, that day that week.

Shanel Pettijohn: Very true.

Jennifer Wilson: It all makes a difference.

Shanel Pettijohn: Yes. And now I have grandchildren, so I get to scrapbook them. And as a-- I've been a boy mom, you know, three boys, and I have all granddaughters now, four of them. So.

Jennifer Wilson: That's exciting.

Shanel Pettijohn: It's been a shift in my scrapbooking as well, so it's exciting.

Jennifer Wilson: Did you f- did you find that you had to kind of, uh, adjust your stash? Like, maybe you had a lot of, a lot of the maybe more traditional boy colors in your stash, and you found yourself suddenly buying more pinks?

Shanel Pettijohn: Absolutely, yes. I mean, I'm not afraid to use a lot of flowers on a boy layout either, so. But yes, absolutely. I needed more pink in my stash.

Jennifer Wilson: So I notice in looking through your pages that you use a lot of different shapes. And I'm not just talking about like, you know, the rectangles that we use for pattern paper a lot, but, you know, the, the [00:08:00] composition is very shape oriented. How do you sit down and plan out, uh, the composition of a new page?

Shanel Pettijohn: I do enjoy shapes. I have a lot of dies in different shapes. And when I sit down, I, I like to think of a scrapbook layout as building a visual story. So then I just let the story and the photographs guide my decision. Sometimes I let the paper and product guide my decision before the photographs. It could go either way.

So colors really speak to me, and if I, if I see a pattern that I like and, you know, that I want to use, then I start from there.

Jennifer Wilson: Are you typically starting with a photo or story?

Shanel Pettijohn: I, I do it both ways. Sometimes I start with a product and sometimes I start with a photograph.

Jennifer Wilson: Are there any shapes that you particularly have fun working with? Like, which, which dies get the most use?

Shanel Pettijohn: I think the circles. I think that's evident in my layouts probably. The circles tend to be my favorite. They create so much movement on a page, and they just help guide your [00:09:00] eye around the design. Plus, they're also just fun and playful. You can do so many designs with circles, half circles, full circles, scalloped circles.

I stitch on them. So that has to be my favorite. Hexagons, probably my second favorite choice.

Jennifer Wilson: I remember back in the day I was always looking for a hexagon punch and I n- 'cause I didn't have a manual die cut machine at that time and I don't know that, I don't think I ever found one.

Shanel Pettijohn: I don't think I've ever seen one of those either. That's interesting. Never really thought about it, but yes.

Jennifer Wilson: So you mentioned that you do a lot of sewing. Are you, do you ever sew, like, around a circle, or are we sewing just across the circle? Because, you know, I, I feel like I have a reasonable amount of sewing experience, but I can't sew in a circle for the life of me.

Shanel Pettijohn: Circles are difficult, but I hand stitch. So I, I do have a sewing machine. I'm not real good on it, but I like to hand stitch on my layouts with embroidery thread. So, you know, before I stitch, I make the the holes with the paper piercer, so it's pretty easy to follow the circle that [00:10:00] way. Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: That makes perfect sense. Duh. Okay.

Shanel Pettijohn: Yes, no problem.

Jennifer Wilson: I never think about that, that people, some people are hand-stitching. I always just assume that, that it's a sewing machine.

Shanel Pettijohn: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: So tell us more about how you, how you do that. Do you ever find, like, it's hard to get, you know, you have too many layers and I can't, I can't pierce this anymore, or, um, how do you protect your surface beneath it?

Shanel Pettijohn: Yeah, you have to be careful when you're stitching. You don't wanna have too many layers on there, but sometimes I will do several layouts and save my stitching for later because it's just very relaxing to me. So I grab my stitching materials, my layout, I turn on a good movie, and I, I can stitch and watch a movie and just relax.

So that just fills my time, I guess.

Jennifer Wilson: Do you, like pencil in the holes first? Like do you measure out and, and, and draw dots or are you doing it kind of freehand?

Shanel Pettijohn: No, I typically like to draw with a pencil first. I use a ruler to trace my lines, or [00:11:00] in the case of a circle, I would use a smaller circle die on top of my circle on the page so that I can create an outline. So I draw it with a pencil and then I use my paper piercer to punch the holes. Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Nice. I'm learning a lot of, a lot of tricks here. So I, I need to rethink that.

Shanel Pettijohn: Good. Yes

Jennifer Wilson: Somewhere in the closet there is a whole box of embroidery floss, so.

Shanel Pettijohn: Yes, dig it out. Let's get started.

Jennifer Wilson: So you scrapbook a lot for design teams. Who are you currently working with, and what are your responsibilities for those teams?

Shanel Pettijohn: Uh, I currently design for Pear Tree Cut Files. I've been with them for almost a year, and then I design for Hip Kit Club. I've been with them for several months now. And there are a lot of responsibilities with a design team. But I think the goal is just, not just about creating projects to showcase product, but to create some educational content and build community for those brands.

So [00:12:00] I think those are important responsibilities as well. When I joined the Hip Kit Club design team, I was asked to create process videos on YouTube, and this terrified me. Because I had never done that before. And I am shy and introverted, so being on camera was a terrifying idea. But I have a few episodes now, a few process videos that I've completed, and my confidence is better.

My confidence is much higher than it was. Uh, there's always room to improve, but I'm getting better and, and more relaxed in the process now. So that's been a learning curve and a, and a good experience.

Jennifer Wilson: Do you do primarily kind of sped up voiceovers, or do you do real time?

Shanel Pettijohn: No, I don't do real time. It's voiceovers. Yes. So I had a lot of-- I'm not very tech-savvy, so I've had to learn a lot and it's, it's been good. I'm feeling good about it, so...

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, I'm so glad. Yeah, I think every year it's gotten.

Shanel Pettijohn: [00:13:00] Thanks.

Jennifer Wilson: A little easier. I, I mean, even with just the equipment we have now to make things easier.

Shanel Pettijohn: Yes

Jennifer Wilson: Some of the rigs that we had a decade, 15 years ago even, to be able to, to f- film or take photos over our tables were a little, little crazy. And now there's so many different things that are just meant for that.

Shanel Pettijohn: Oh, I'm sure. Yes. I'm sure it, it has changed tremendously in the last few years. It makes it a lot easier for us.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yeah, I, and I'm glad. It just means that more people, it's easier to share and to, as you said, continue to foster this community around our hobby, which is, is one of the best parts for sure.

Shanel Pettijohn: Yes, and I had no idea how many people watched process videos on YouTube. A- and now that I've started producing them, I also enjoy to watch other people, and I can-- you can learn so much, um, a new technique or a new trick. Um, they're really fun, amazing to watch, so there are some very talented YouTubers out [00:14:00] there.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, and a, a couple years ago I started taking some classes, and I'm like, "You know, I just want to, to, to be told step by step what to do. Because it's not gonna be necessarily what I would do on my own."

Shanel Pettijohn: Right.

Jennifer Wilson: Learned so many, so many tricks that I would've never, never thought to do or never even noticed on someone else's page, but then they tell you to do it and I'm like, "Oh, that, that does make a difference."

Like.

Shanel Pettijohn: Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: Taking embellishments and, kind of crinkling them and folding them a little bit, like especially die cuts, to, to make them look less just like a flat piece of paper.

Shanel Pettijohn: Yes, absolutely. We can learn so much from each other.

Jennifer Wilson: So when you are starting with a product or maybe you have a design concept, whether it's your, you know, your cut file or you're using a sketch, how do you go about selecting the photos and, and figuring out what this page is gonna be about?

Shanel Pettijohn: For the design teams, are we talking about those assignments or just any assignment?

Jennifer Wilson: Either. No, I mean, if anytime you're starting with a product or a design concept, and you're not starting with, you know, "This is a story I wanna tell.

Shanel Pettijohn: [00:15:00] Right. This seems to be the big debate in scrapbooking and, and it always has been, like, which comes first, the photos or the product? So.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Shanel Pettijohn: But, you know, the preference is up to the individual. I, I think both ways are just whichever way you prefer. Both ways are good ways to start. So, um, I've al- I think I mentioned earlier, I've always been inspired by colors and patterns, so for me, the product often comes first. And then I decide which photographs are gonna go with this layout.

Um, I do have thousands of photographs of my children as they were growing up, so a lot of selection there. But I, I like to do the design with the paper, the product, and then, and then choose my pictures. Uh, a neat little technique that I use often is if the photographs have colors that clash with your layout that you've just created, then you can always use a black and white photo.

I, I use a lot of black and white photos, [00:16:00] especially with bright colors or, or moody, subtle colors. They look phenomenal on a scrapbook page, so.

Jennifer Wilson: I just noticed this new collection that came out this week. It's actually a black and white collection for camping, and I'm like, "Wow, that means.

Shanel Pettijohn: Oh.

Jennifer Wilson: Any photo, any color photos are gonna go with this. I had never seen anything like that before.

Shanel Pettijohn: I love that.

Jennifer Wilson: what have you learned about your own process from designing on a deadline for your design teamwork?

Shanel Pettijohn: I think that was, uh, a struggle at first. I think it would be for anyone, because when you're... You know, it's a challenge when you have a product and a deadline, and maybe that day you're not feeling very creative. We all have those blocks. So I tend to pull out a sketch when that happens. Because I may not follow the sketch exactly, but it gives me a jumping off point, and it kind of helps me, uh, make the visual story in my head so that I can put it on the paper.

I try to stay ahead , on my calendar on [00:17:00] my design team assignments. So that I'm not waiting till the last minute to, to create something that's due tomorrow.

Jennifer Wilson: As someone who has their own team, uh, we're very appreciative of people who do that.

Shanel Pettijohn: Yes. I mean, I'm not saying there hasn't been a time when I cut it to the wire, but yes. Yeah, I think planning is very important. You just have to plan ahead, and I actually keep a calendar with all my assignments on it. So that I know what's coming up next, and I try to stay organized.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, no, and r- and yeah, my, my team is amazing. Some of them have been with me since the very beginning, so for 13, 14, 15 years now. It's kinda crazy. So.

Shanel Pettijohn: Oh, wow. That's amazing.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I have, I have.

Shanel Pettijohn: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Very, some very loyal, creators that,

create for us, so.

Shanel Pettijohn: Good.

Jennifer Wilson: So you mentioned Hip Kit Club before.

Um, for someone who's never worked with a kit that's like theirs, what is the benefit? [00:18:00] It's, it's different than working with a collection, but it is designed to go together.

Shanel Pettijohn: It, it is. And that was, I've been a subscriber to Hip Kit Club for several years now. Um, so the draw to me was that, um, much like Pear Tree Cut Files, the, the Hip Kit Club products are all designed and manufactured by them. So they're unique and exclusive in that you can't go to any online retailer or any local scrapbook store and purchase their product.

Um, it strictly comes in the kit. And they're, they're very, it's a high-end curation of paper, card stock, embellishments, and options to add on each month. You can add on an exclusive monthly die that they introduce during the month or stamps. They have a color kit that matches each monthly kit. So you have a lot of options there.

And honestly, the box, the kit is just a huge [00:19:00] collection of supplies for the money. So I always... That, that was my draw to the kits to begin with.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, and, uh, I mean, they are, they are massive. And I remember I'd, I'd already made, like, a bunch of layouts with, with two different kits, and then I kind of combined them together 'cause they, they were coordinated enough, and I'm like, "I.

Shanel Pettijohn: Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: Still have enough to make 15, 20 more pages here."

Shanel Pettijohn: Absolutely, yes. I love that as well. Uh, the Hip Kit Club, you can mix any kit from any month and they seem to go together. So even though the design and the colors are different from month to month, somehow they all coordinate together and I enjoy that part, too. I'm like you, I like mixing kits sometimes, so.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes. Yes. So I just noticed they launched a digital store. Can you tell us more about that if you're able to?

Shanel Pettijohn: Yes, they, they've always had an online storefront, but they did renovate it recently to include more [00:20:00] digital and hybrid products, I guess. Um, they're, they've introduced a lot more cut files than they normally have carried in the past, and I understand from Kimberly, the owner, that they're going to release a hybrid collection later this month.

So it will be a printable collection that will, that will include staples for any, any kit, uh, such as tags, ephemera in, you know, in solid and coordinating colors. So that you can just have those on hand when you need them, which is a wonderful idea. Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

I've had a lot of guests on that have talked about the challenges of shipping and tariffs and, and all these different issues, and it is becoming increasingly expensive, especially for our scrapbooking friends who live around the world to, to get access to physical supplies. So the complement of having digital items that they can print at home, um, is helping keep some folks connected to the hobby.

Shanel Pettijohn: Yes, absolutely. And Kimberly and Robert, [00:21:00] the owners of Hip Kit Club, they did just recently announce that they're going to, for the first time ever, pause their monthly kits for two months. Because they're moving their business and their home from one state to another. So that's a huge transition.

So for the next two months, we won't have the monthly physical kit. So I think that's why they have put a lot of energy and time into building their online store to offer those products during the time that their physical s- kits aren't shipping out, which is a... it's a great perk. Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, for sure. For who'd love to be on a design team someday, what would you tell them to focus on?

Shanel Pettijohn: That's a good question as well. I think you just have to put yourself out there. I was a little nervous about doing that at first. And I hadn't really thought about sharing my pages online until a friend encouraged me to do so. Um, and let your style shine. I, I'm like you and anybody [00:22:00] else, I like to...

I like all the new trends, and I like to-- all the new techniques that are always being introduced. But I, I like to treat the new trends like an inspiration buffet rather than a checklist.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Shanel Pettijohn: Yeah, it's very easy to get overwhelmed by all the layouts online and the new trends, but, you know, you have to filter it through your own lens.

Embrace your own inner voice and creativity. Um, we all have different styles, and that's what makes scrapbooking wonderful and unique. They're all different, so just like people. And you have to do what makes you happy. When I create a layout, and it makes me happy, then I know that I'm, you know, I'm satisfied with that layout.

I, I do like to put them online and share them with others, but, you know, don't get discouraged by the, the likes or the comments and just embrace your style. That, that would be my main advice, I guess.

Jennifer Wilson: I love that. Yeah. No, that's great.

Shanel Pettijohn: Thanks. [00:23:00] Thanks.

Jennifer Wilson: So how does your process differ when you are designing a new layout around a cut file versus, uh, a kit or other product or, or even a story?

Shanel Pettijohn: Oh, absolutely. Designing with a cut file is a little different than just designing a scrapbook page. I mean, the process itself bridges the whole digital design that we talked about earlier, with the physical paper crafting. Because you have to use an electronic cutting machine to cut your cut file out of paper before you get started.

So, um, there, and there's so many creative possibilities too. You can back your cut file with a solid or a pattern paper. You can distress it with ink oxide. You can color them by blending ink on them with a blending brush or hand stitch details. You can put them on your layout, you know, as a flat embellishment, or you can use foam adhesive, which is really fun with a cut file.

It creates the shadows on the page, and.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Shanel Pettijohn: It's one of my favorite ways anyway.

Jennifer Wilson: Well and [00:24:00] there's a, there's a technique I learned from card makers, um, and I haven't personally done it with, uh, electronically cut pieces, but I have with manually. Of layering multiples to, to create that dimension so it's not just the, the thickness of a piece of card stock.

Shanel Pettijohn: Oh, absolutely. That's a great technique. Yes. It kind of ma- it kind of gives it a look of a chipboard accent rather than just a card stock. Thick, yes.

Jennifer Wilson: So you, you did mention that you don't feel as, as tech savvy as others, but you are learning. Are there any particular tips or tricks about using your electronic die-cutting machine that have simplified the process for you?

Shanel Pettijohn: Yes. Uh, when I first began cut files, I would trace the cut file, you know, just flip it over and trace it backwards on the paper, and there's a lot of fussy cutting there. I'm gonna be honest, I, I, uh, do not enjoy fussy cutting anything, so it's just, it's not my thing. So, um, I did learn from another, as we talked about earlier, experienced process video [00:25:00] YouTuber, um, a way on the Cricut to contour the cut file so that it cuts the inside pieces for you.

And it doesn't... Yeah, it doesn't always work, but most of the time it does, and that makes the cutting much easier on a cut file.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Well and I think that, um, I would imagine that those who wanna use digital supplies like digital papers could, you know, back their cut files that way and then print and cut those, and that would make it even easier, so.

Shanel Pettijohn: Absolutely, yes. I love that idea. There are so many cool techniques out there.

Jennifer Wilson: I know, yeah, and it's, it's sometimes you mention, like, don't treat them as a checklist, but sometimes, like, I wanna, particularly around, like, maybe December Daily. Like I wanna try these different techniques, and so I make a list, but I always try to just match things up. Like, okay, I wanna try this technique with this story or this product.

Shanel Pettijohn: Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: With this story, um, to try to feel like I'm accomplishing multiple goals at once, I guess.[00:26:00]

Shanel Pettijohn: Absolutely. I love that. Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: So Shanel what are you excited about creating next?

Shanel Pettijohn: Oh, I don't know. I just love creating all the time, so.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Shanel Pettijohn: I'm more excited about, you know, what, what product is gonna come out next that I can play with. Even though I have a huge stash over here of things I need to use it before I do that. But I just look forward to my crafty time every day because I, you know, I, it just brings me so much joy.

Um, Kimberly and Robert, the owners of Hip Kit Club, I don't know if you know about their online community, but they created an online community on the school platform. It's called Craft and Connect. So that, for me, has been something I look forward to every week. They have an online crop on, you know, twice a week.

So, you know, if you remember the local scrapbook stores, you could go in to a crop, an all-night crop even, and, you know, you would talk with friends and create with [00:27:00] them and share ideas and, and that's what this community brings to me. So I do look forward to that every week. Um, I have made some tremendous friends on there from all over the world, and we meet, we scrapbook together.

You know, we're on camera. We can see each other, and we can talk to each other. I know it's not the same as being in person, but it's that sense of community that I think is so important. Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: They, I think they've done a really wonderful job with that community, and I love that it's, um... Our, our community is also off Facebook using a different platform. And I, and I love, uh, inviting people to, uh, have a sense of focus and concentration when they are engaging with their fellow scrapbookers rather than what perhaps Facebook does in terms of making us jump around to all the places.

Shanel Pettijohn: Yes, I completely agree. I love the fact that you've created a community as well. That's, that's so important because we share this common hobby with each other and, and you can make some really [00:28:00] close friendships in those communities.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I, we just, scrapbookers are the best. Um, just the, you know, kindest, most, most thoughtful people, and I'm, and I'm so grateful to be part of this community.

Shanel Pettijohn: Yes, absolutely. I am very-- I admire you and, and the, uh, the women that, that run the two company, that own the two companies that I design for. I just think that, you know, taking your creative passion and making it your, your livelihood and putting so much passion in, in, into your business is very admirable.

So.

Jennifer Wilson: Thank you. Yeah, no, it's, it's very cool to see for sure.

Shanel Pettijohn: Yeah

Jennifer Wilson: So can you share where our listeners can find you online and anything else you might have newer coming up later this year?

Shanel Pettijohn: Okay. I have an Instagram account that I use predominantly, and it is @shadell_craftwithme. That is my name, my username on Instagram, so. Also share products on the Hip Kit Club, [00:29:00] um, Facebook group and the Pear Tree Cut Files Inspiration Facebook group as well.

Jennifer Wilson: Thank you for spending time with me, and to all of our listeners, please remember that you have permission to scrapbook your way.

Leilani Schirmer: [00:00:00] I see a lot online about whimsy. But it is true. Like people need more whimsy in their life. Like it doesn't have to be so serious. Or as you get older I think people lose that sense of self. And you can still have fun and be colorful and have like a a bit of a childlike wonder even though you're an adult.

Jennifer Wilson: Welcome to Scrapbook Your Way, the show that explores the breadth of ways to be a memory keeper today. I'm your host, Jennifer Wilson, owner of Simple Scrapper, and author of The New Rules of Scrapbooking. This is episode 341. In this episode, I'm chatting with Leilani Schirmer about nostalgia, why we love looking back, and how she weaves childhood pop culture, physical media, and playful collections into her scrapbooking and everyday life

Welcome back to Scrapbook Your Way, Leilani.

Leilani Schirmer: Hi.

Jennifer Wilson: I'm excited to chat with you again. We have a really fun topic today. Can you remind our listeners a little bit about yourself?

Leilani Schirmer: Sure Hi I'm Leilani I [00:01:00] live in Mississippi with my husband and our two dogs and our cats and all the neighborhood critters that I always end up taking care of. Uh we also we also live on the same property as my parents I'm really close to them so we're neighbors. So that's really nice. Um and as far as my scrapbooking goes uh I've really scrapbooked as long as I can remember. I have scrapbooks back from middle school. And whenever I was really young I always was the one in the family that loved to uh organize the photos put them in the albums, all that kind of stuff. But I've been consistently scrapbooking and like doing Project Life things like that since 2018. And I started to share my stuff online in 2020.

Jennifer Wilson: Great. Yes, yes. So do you have a favorite recent layout or project?

Leilani Schirmer: Okay So I would say my alltime favorite project has to be Project Life. I'm I still do Project Life. I'm a I am a a tried and true Project Lifer. And I just love [00:02:00] everyday life memories. And so I I have a lot of fun still doing that. And I'm old school I do the week blah blah blah. And I do a 12 by 12 album. Which I know a lot of people try to get away from. They are huge but I love them. Um but another thing I am excited to do that's more recent is my summer junk journal. So.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Leilani Schirmer: I've done that like uh I think this is my fourth year. Um and I I love that one because it's a little bit different. I'll get a thrifted children's book and deconstruct it and take it apart but still use the front and back covers and all the pages inside and then add scrapbook paper. And I use the Cinch tool and then kind of create a summer junk journal So that's a fun one.

Jennifer Wilson: How do you decide what ends up going in the junk journal versus your Project Life? In terms of like maybe bought a fun summer bathing suit and you have the tag from that. Where does that go?

Leilani Schirmer: Yeah Okay so that would definitely go in the junk journal. That is [00:03:00] hard because I don't love to double scrap, you know. So it kind of depends. The summer junk journal would probably have even smaller micro stories of summer. Like I was mentioning to my friend the other day that I somewhat accidentally bought an $18 bag of cherries from Whole Foods. And so I was like I have to eat these cherries. So I think that that will go in the summer junk journal. And I probably wouldn't have mentioned that in Project Life, you know. But cherries are like a summer fruit. So I'm like maybe if I make things with it I would include that. Like you said the new bathing suit. But it will also house larger stories. Like me and my husband just visited his family in California. So I'm sure that's gonna go in there somewhere. And and it'll be a little bit of double scrapping. But in a totally different way than Project Life which are larger photos pockets. The the um junk journal is obviously gonna be smaller, and more like um I I don't know It doesn't have such a layout you know It's kind of like [00:04:00] anything goes in that one.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, it's really like kind of the opposite of Project Life.

Leilani Schirmer: It is yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: I'm curious before, before we go on, with your Project Life, what... Are you using a particular collection o- of cards these days?

Leilani Schirmer: So I usually use Elle's Studio um or Elle's Studio I never know. But I am on their design team. And I love Elle's Studio products. I think they're so fun for Project Life specifically. Because I love a theme. And I kind of love to like lightly theme my album for each like as the passing of the seasons go and things like that. So I think that they're like perfect for that and they have like a lot of small alphas things that are easy to use in Project Life. And this year and kind of last year I've been on a quest to not buy scrapbook supplies or a very small amount. Because I like most of us have a ton of stuff. So I've really been trying to use what I [00:05:00] have So that's kind of been my goto has been the Ellie Studio.

Jennifer Wilson: Fantastic. Yeah, they have really, consistently designed products. I love how no matter when you grab an item from, it's all gonna kind of go together.

Leilani Schirmer: Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: And be cohesive, so.

Leilani Schirmer: That's so true. I have past Project Lifes where the l the different layouts will be totally different and that doesn't bother me at all. But I have to say it's really satisfying to look through like a full Project Life album, and they're all different and themed. But it all kind of just flows together nicely and I do really like that.

Jennifer Wilson: So do you end up needing two albums to do a whole year?

Leilani Schirmer: I do. I do.

Jennifer Wilson: It's okay.

Leilani Schirmer: I uh you know I I see so much online about that. And I you know I don't have kids. And so I'm like you know what If I have to fill up every space in my house with these albums I'm gonna do it. I don't care I love my albums I love my 12x12 albums. And I'm gonna keep doing them. You know that's just the way it is. But I do wish I could fit it all into one. But it just doesn't happen. And I [00:06:00] do add in, the majority is definitely pockets. But in the past I have included like layouts of different sizes some 12x12 or smaller. But I don't really do those anymore. Um but I do sometimes do inserts in like additional pages. So it gets big.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I get it. I get it. I think sometimes we undervalue, uh, the experience and, like, the deeper why behind what this gives us in our everyday life, connecting us to our gratitude and a- and.

Leilani Schirmer: Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: Making us feel creative. And yeah, the, the, the story, the memory, the legacy part, that is important. But I don't think that's, that's solely or even dominantly what keeps people coming back to the table every day, every week.

Leilani Schirmer: Oh I completely agree. I mean for me I I do love looking back on them. Just just me. Um no one else really looks at my albums. But I do go back and look. But um.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Leilani Schirmer: With with not having kids, um I don't really have like Oh this is [00:07:00] a this is my legacy. This is I'm gonna pass these on one day or something like that. Like it is solely for me It's the practice of just creating and the joy that that brings me.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes, I love that. So I also like to ask our guests, um, this other question. Is there something new you're excited to do, use, or try? Um, either inside your scrapbooking or in your everyday life?

Leilani Schirmer: Okay I was excited about this one. Because um, so this year I have been, I don't know if you've seen this a lot but on my feed at least it was everywhere the analog bag. And people are trying to go more analog. Which I think goes along with the nostalgia story of today. But um so this year I was really wanting to focus on staying off my phone. And trying to stop doom scrolling. I mean we all do it but I wanted to try to help myself. So I did create an analog bag a few or like a hobby bag, um a few months back. So I just grabbed a bag that I had and I filled it up with [00:08:00] just easy things that I could play around with whenever I'm usually by myself. Um my husband kind of has later hours and stuff. So sometimes I have a lot of free time. And um yeah so I have my sticker book, my coloring books, word searches just fun things like that. But that's really helped a lot and I've enjoyed that. But another thing kind of going along with that same idea, is uh I've been sharing the past three months on Instagram, my monthly makes post. And so that consists of other crafts that I've been working on that aren't scrapbooking related. But still just crafty. So for instance I've tried out like air dry clay or making bag charms. I've made felt uh bday ribbons for my friend's little girl. And lately I've been creating my own nails. Like paint you know painting my own nails and and doing different nail art. So just trying out different crafty, whimsical, fun projects. Has been like a big thing for me this year.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I've really [00:09:00] gotten into nails myself. I never thought I would be this person, and now I'm like, "I am totally this person."

Leilani Schirmer: Oh I love that. I love that. It's so fun and making them yourself oh there's a whole new world. Like it's just so crazy how each and each craft has its own thing. You know. So there's so many different types of things I wanna try out with the nails.

Jennifer Wilson: Its own community. And like, you know, I really enjoy watching.

Leilani Schirmer: Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: A lot of YouTube videos. And so, like of course there's niche creators in that realm too. Those that do lacquer versus gel, and it's, yeah, it's, it's so fascinating.

Leilani Schirmer: Oh my goodness I haven't even gotten that far. So that's I'm sure I have a whole world to dive into.

Jennifer Wilson: So actually had a couple people say, "You need to have Leilani back on to talk about nostalgia. Because you've done some projects related to this. It's something that you are just like, that excites you and gets you interested." So I thought we could set the stage for this conversation by sharing our graduation years, which making people do math instead of knowing exactly how old we are. Um, just to like give [00:10:00] them context for what we consider nostalgia and what is, um, you know, what feels old to us, I guess.

Leilani Schirmer: Exactly. Well mine is 2005.

Jennifer Wilson: Okay. Mine is 1998.

Leilani Schirmer: Okay, great years.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, yeah. So, and also like a little n- enough, you know, separation there that we have maybe different things that we've been interested in, so.

Leilani Schirmer: Definitely.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. Like I saw a, uh, a preview today for the new Elle show on Prime Video. Which is from the Legally Blonde world. And I'm like, "Oh my gosh, that movie came out 25 years ago. And now like a teen Heartthrob who I liked from back in that day is now the dad in this show."

Leilani Schirmer: Exactly. Exactly. I don't mind you know if you don't wanna do the math um this year is my 40th year. Which is.

Jennifer Wilson: Uh.

Leilani Schirmer: Big one. Yeah it's a big deal. And.

Jennifer Wilson: It is. It is.

Leilani Schirmer: It's and so yeah it's crazy to think about all the you know these different [00:11:00] things like that like. Like you said you know someone who you relate to you're same age now they're the parent on the show. Or there's so many things right now that are um going through like the anniversary of you know like s bringing it back for the 30th for the 25th. All of that kind of stuff. So it is exciting for us that are into nostalgia. But it does kind of um you know it's a rude awakening sometimes.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, for sure. And I think comparing it to what we thought was old when we were young.

Leilani Schirmer: Oh my gosh.

Jennifer Wilson: Even trippier part to think about 30 years before the '90s was the '60s. How is that possible?

Leilani Schirmer: Yeah and back then I don't know it felt real It felt so long ago. Like the 60s seemed ancient. But the 90s seem like yesterday. So it's really weird.

Jennifer Wilson: So there's been a surge of Instagram accounts and probably, I, I guess there are YouTube channels too. I've certainly seen, like, you know, this is, you know, one evening on MTV from 1991. And it's [00:12:00] just, like, three hours interrupted that somebody converted from their VHS. And it's, it's just, it's mind-boggling, and it's so fascinating.

What do you think... Why do you think we love this so much?

Leilani Schirmer: You know I was trying to think about this one. And I think h as you get older you just naturally love looking back on the past. And thinking of maybe a simpler time. And uh definitely I feel as you get older you start to like notice your generation compared to the newer generation. And you think yours is obviously dominant. Like in my mind I think well the 90s is the best, clearly. And then you look at the young kids now and you're like What are they thinking. And I know people thought that about my time being a millennial. And you know all of that. But I think it's just it's nice to look back on um things from the past. I think especially now maybe everyone feels this way. See this is the part that gets you. But I feel like the [00:13:00] jump from the 90s to now with technology and with the way the world works is so different. And I truly do feel like it was a simpler time. Than with things like being able to rent movies burn CDs like appointment viewing. Like we had to wait and be patient and be like have that anticipation for things. And sometimes I think that's really missed these days.

Jennifer Wilson: I actually really appreciate it when like new series come out on Apple TV and they actually made us, make us wait a week. 'cause it does create appointment viewing again. We're like, "Oh, it's, it's out today." You know, maybe we're watching it on our own, you know, clock schedule, but still we're excited that the new episode is out and we're gonna watch it right away.

Leilani Schirmer: That is true Like sometimes I will be like Ugh I wanna binge this. You know I'm like annoyed and whatever. But it is really nice Or like if you are watching that with someone else and then you can like talk about the new episode. Cause that was things that we used to do back like in high school and stuff. And you would talk about the new episode of some [00:14:00] show. You know, and that's It is a little more fun I think.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, it helps, I think, individual episodes kind of stand alone more. Like, there's, there, you can talk about it.

Leilani Schirmer: True.

Jennifer Wilson: If you just binge the whole thing, you're really just, you know, covering the broad strokes of what happened, did you like it.

Not, you know, did you remember what happened in, you know, episode three? That was just crazy. Um.

Leilani Schirmer: Exactly.

Jennifer Wilson: I actually like watching shows these days, like even if I'm binging it, I watch it in tandem with a friend. So we kinda keep up with which episode we're on and try not to do any spoilers. But then we can talk about it episode by episode.

Leilani Schirmer: You know it's funny me and my mom kind of do that a lot. And also uh with one of my best friends. We we just started this but we were watching uh the newer season of Traitors. And we did that and it was so f it really did make it so much more fun. And I paid attention more. Like I wasn't on my phone and stuff because I knew I would want to like go recap with her afterwards. You know. So I found that yeah I was more in the [00:15:00] moment.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I have to, uh, kind of pull myself back on my Googling with shows that have already completely ended and I'm starting from the beginning. Because there'll always be that one fact in the headline that, you know, it- by that time it was common knowledge that so-and-so died or whatever. I'm like, "No, I don't wanna know."

Leilani Schirmer: Oh true. You know and i in that same idea a lot of times when I'm watching shows or movies or whatever. You know how you are. You start googling the cast. And and and a lot of them they they will have kind of traumatic stories or they will have passed. And I'm like Okay maybe I just shouldn't look at this right now. Whenever I'm trying to enjoy the movie cause a lot of times it's it's a movie from like 30 40 years ago.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, there's some things that don't age well for sure.

Leilani Schirmer: Exact. Exactly. Like I sh I just shouldn't know that.

Jennifer Wilson: So what are some of your favorite sources for nostalgia inspiration these days?

Leilani Schirmer: Okay I have two big ones and some smaller ones. Um because [00:16:00] this is basically my entire feed. This is all I consume. I'm like in the rabbit hole of nostalgia. So I have a lot. But two of my very favorite things are and and if anyone follows me in any way you're gonna be like Okay you've talked about this so much but I can't help it. My favorite podcast is the Cool Kids Club podcast. So it's a brother and sister, Amy and Justin. And they just It it's just really conversational. They're funny and silly and I just personally like them. But they talk about obviously nostalgia from the 80s mostly 90s maybe some early 2000s. So they go over just the the gamut of all the things from toys to shows to you know anything in the world that you could think of. Treats and um they'll do different holiday episodes and it's so fun. And I've actually been on their podcast uh a few times. And I talked about MaryKate and Ashley. Huge for me. And Lizzie McGuire. Also I was maybe a little too old for that but I loved Lizzie McGuire as well. [00:17:00] So uh they're really fun to check out. So that's my number one. And another thing.

Jennifer Wilson: We'll link the episodes that you've been on in the show notes for sure.

Leilani Schirmer: Oh okay. I would love to do that. They're super fun I mean I think if anyone's interested in nostalgia it'll be right up your alley.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Leilani Schirmer: And another big thing for me that kinda goes with scrapbooking or craftiness is the BFF Sticker Club. So I'm wondering if you've heard of.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, they've been on the show before. So.

Leilani Schirmer: They've been on the show. Okay. So I love Annie and Laura. And um I've been involved with the with the BFF Sticker Club since the very very beginning. I've gotta say I'm an original member. Um but And I went to camp a couple years They do a a sticker camp an adult sticker camp. Which is phenomenal, and so fun. So um I've made a lot of fun sticky friends through them. But they are a super great source of just nostalgia. Because as far as crafting goes that's what I've been trying to do with the monthly makes and like trying new crafts. Because [00:18:00] I think as we get older I don't know if this is everyone but I feel like for me I've always been a crafty person. Like I always say like I'm an indoor kid. I never went outside I didn't like to be outside in the heat. Like I like to do arts and crafts inside. So I've done that forever. And um I think as you get older everything has to have a purpose. So I feel like with the BFF Sticker Club they've brought back that nostalgic feeling of just creating something fun and silly just for the just just for doing it. You know just because it makes you feel happy. And so I love that about them. And of course collecting stickers I mean there's nothing more nostalgic than just collect just buying stickers. And it's fun to buy old stickers that you remember or find new uh brands and everything. So I love the BFF Sticker Club a lot.

Jennifer Wilson: Somewhere in a box somewhere is my original sticker book. I just don't know if it's here or if it's at my parents' house in Texas, but I know it still exists.

Leilani Schirmer: I love that. I don't have much from my childhood. I do [00:19:00] have a few kind of random sticker book pages. Um that I do have in my craft room. But I unfortunately don't have a lot of things like that. But those are prized possessions. So special.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, yeah.

Leilani Schirmer: I would say beside those I do have a couple more. I have um a Instagram account called I'm Stuck in 1999. And that one I know you had mentioned the magazines and loving um old magazines. And they share things like that magazine pages or just old ads and toys and just things that you might have forgotten. Like as you're you know and you'll you'll have a memory unlocked which is one of my favorite things. So I do follow several accounts like that on Instagram. But that's one of my favorites. So those are my top three.

Jennifer Wilson: Is called, uh, Teen Magazine Museum. And I remember my very first issue of Seventeen Magazine. It was the December 1990 issue. Winona Ryder was on the cover. I got it at the airport when we were traveling for Christmas, and that felt like, "Oh gosh, I am a grown-up now. I feel so cool. That [00:20:00] I have.

Leilani Schirmer: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Seventeen Magazine.

Leilani Schirmer: I love that.

Jennifer Wilson: Only 10 years old."

Leilani Schirmer: I love that. And I love that um the the accounts like they have some sort of almost like archival thing where we can go back and actually remember that. That's happened to me a lot. Where I'll be like Oh my God I remember this exact ad. Or I remember this exact magazine that had this. And.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Leilani Schirmer: Thing. That's been big I've kind of also fallen down the rabbit hole of American Girl dolls. And um I'm not ashamed to say that I bought myself an American Girl doll. And she's sitting proudly on my shelf. And I have I'll get into that. But anyways um she's adorable and I don't know if you've followed but but this year is their 40th anniversary of American Girl. So it's the. This is uh it was in 1986 my same year. So whenever it was created so it's pretty exciting. And you know they're known for the historical dolls although they have many others. Um but they came out with the [00:21:00] latest historical dolls they came out with maybe I don't know three years ago or so. Are uh Isabelle and Nicki Hoffman and they are historical dolls from 1999. So um it's they're adorable. They have all kinds of like relics like um Tamagotchis and blowup chairs and they're so cute. But it's hilarious because they are historical from 1999. But I did purchase one of them. And then I went and found I ha I had a American Girl of Today. Which was like the modern doll at the time in 1996. So I I went and found that outfit off of eBay. So Isabelle is now wearing proudly the exact outfit that my doll had in 1996. And I love it. So I do have a few other things I I didn't write any of them down but um from Instagram. I'll follow a lot of like American Girl nostalgia accounts as well which is always really fun.

Jennifer Wilson: I, I don't directly follow them, but I'm seeing a lot of like very [00:22:00] sassy things related to the American Girls dolls these days. Um, connecting to like, you know, maybe more politically correct versions of their historical past or what they would say today in this world, and yeah, some of.

Leilani Schirmer: Exactly. Exactly yes I've seen those.

Jennifer Wilson: So do you find yourself having more interest or feelings about your more childhood years or more of your teen years, or is it kind of a combination of those?

Leilani Schirmer: I think mine is mostly a combination. Whenever I look back at like my own childhood teen years I don't always have honestly a lot of idyllic memories from those times. A lot of that was was a little hard for me. And I think possibly that is why I hold onto nostalgia so much. So I don't typically reflect on my own past and my own memories. But what I just have latched onto is the pop [00:23:00] culture, the toys, the music. All that kind of stuff. So I think in general it would be more from like the 90s. Where I was four to 14. That was like just That's like the perfect time of of all that stuff in my opinion. Like right like we didn't have computers for the majority of that. And then you randomly get a computer and it's exciting and it's like the Wild West internet. Nobody knew what they were doing and all that. But also my teen years um I was what you would call a mall goth. I loved Hot Topic and I loved like Blink182 and indie music and stuff. So I do like cringe a little but look back on those times fondly as well. And I love early tech. So I love thinking about the the first phones the you know Nokia phones the Razrs the iPods and all of that I think is really fun. But for the most part I think I I more reflect on the 90s stuff for sure.

Jennifer Wilson: Interesting. Yeah, I think to me it's, it's a weird [00:24:00] combination of the stuff is more from my childhood. Like toys, the stickers, the clothes. Like, I remember these little, like, white fringe boots.

And then the teen years are more about how the music reminds me of what was happening in my life, like where I was, who I was with, um.

Leilani Schirmer: Totally.

Jennifer Wilson: What was going on then.

Leilani Schirmer: The music is way more important. Mmhmm.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. Especially for, for mem- like, for really taking you back. And, and even, like, my parents' music, that also really gets me too. Because that's what they were listening to.

Leilani Schirmer: Mmhmm. Exactly.

Jennifer Wilson: So you already mentioned the, your, uh, American Girl doll. Is there anything from the olden days that you've brought back to your everyday life, either as an original or a reproduction?

Leilani Schirmer: Oh yes. Oh yes. And my obsession right now is physical media in general. And also uh pr I think in February I purchased a kitchen [00:25:00] TV. So I have the cutest little white fat back TV. It's a nineinch screen so it's a little guy. And it sits in our kitchen and this has been the biggest source of happiness I've never been so obsessed with an inanimate object in my life. But I This this TV is like my child. I love this thing. It is so cute. And me and my husband we love to go DVD. So right now we just have a DVD player. I would expand to a VHS but they're like more expensive and VHS's are so much bigger. But we have a little DVD player. And um we've gone, like our We always love to thrift. But our big thing right now has been DVD hunting. So we have had so much fun looking for nostalgic DVDs from like our childhoods. And things like that It has been so fun. And every day uh our big thing is we have lunch together, before he goes to work. So we always put on some sort of like old movie or show. And we'll have it on. Sometimes we just like have it [00:26:00] on for the vibes. And sometimes we listen to it. But it has been so much fun to collect physical media. And we also have a little um CD tape player in our living room. And we have been building up a collection of like cassette tapes and CDs as well. Which has also been just a really good time. So I love it.

Jennifer Wilson: I'm curious if you're having challenges finding appropriate storage solutions for these items, or are tho- are those still existent?

Leilani Schirmer: Okay so this was li this was a big thing for me because I was like okay aesthetically we cannot have DVDs everywhere. And so I did a little spring cleaning. And in my kitchen we have this big huge builtin like pantry thing. And I you know I just had stuff in it that I needed to get rid of. I got rid of everything inside of these huge cabinets. And so they're blocked off so you can't see what's inside of them so you don't have like the ugliness of the DVDs. And I have so much storage for [00:27:00] DVDs. So I just lucked out in particular. That I was able to find storage solutions. But that can definitely be an issue. You know cause I I know years ago we loved to d I'm I'm assuming everyone was like this but like in our TV rooms like I know whenever I was like in high school we would just show off the DVDs. We would just have them out on a shelf and stuff. I feel like everybody just had the DVDs out and now it's like not something that you would really wanna show off. So yeah good question.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, 'cause I, I, I still have some binders of music, I think, and then we do have a lot of DVDs in packages, but they're all in the basement. 'cause I mean, we, our only DVD player right now is the Xbox, but it usually has a game in it, so.

Leilani Schirmer: Exactly And see like we have to have a a ton packed away somewhere but I don't know where any of those things are and so we've just been you know rebuying things um which has.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Leilani Schirmer: Been super fun. But yeah it is tough, whenever That's the thing about physical media It is just so much easier to [00:28:00] stream. But the joy that it brings you to open the box and put something in and be intentional. And also the DVD like menu screens. That's a lost art that we've forgotten about. Because those are so much fun. They're so much fun. And I'd totally forgotten.

Jennifer Wilson: Have you used any of like the, the art from old DVDs, VHS tapes in, in your scrapbooking or junk journaling? Or is it too like precious to do anything with?

Leilani Schirmer: I haven't actually used any of it specifically. Um a while back like a first project that I was this was years ago that I was documenting from my childhood. Though I did uh go on eBay and I I had a beloved um computer game and it was called Rocket It was about a girl named Rocket. No one knows of it really. But I found the little booklets that I could buy off of um eBay. So they were like dirt cheap. And I did use those in a couple projects. [00:29:00] But for the most part I just take it to Google and I'll just print off the movie covers or CD covers which I have documented tons of times.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, yeah. Oh gosh, my favorite video game from like when I was very little was called Peanut Butter Panic. We had a weird, i'm gonna put computer in quotes, it was a keyboard that attached to some

sort of cassette player that all attached to your TV. To play these games that were on cassette tapes.

Leilani Schirmer: Oh my God.

Jennifer Wilson: It was something about making peanut butter sandwiches, and then you had to eat peanut butter sandwiches, and like you were, it was a race to do it fast enough or something. I don't know. But.

Leilani Schirmer: I love that.

Jennifer Wilson: I was addicted to it.

Leilani Schirmer: I love that. Mine were like, um So I was I had a few computer games. I I've never been a video game kid. I never had like video game consoles or anything growing up. Um

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Leilani Schirmer: Love my computer games And whenever I was in the eighth grade so I don't know what year that is but like roughly 99 2000 something like that. We got [00:30:00] a computer like a big you know regular home computer and it was a Gateway 2000. And my parents were never I'm an only child and my parents were never interested in anything internet. Like they couldn't care less. So this was like my computer. They never sat at it. They never used it one time in my entire life. So it was amazing. And you got like games with it. You could get you know back then of course they had to gender everything so you could get the boy pack or the girl pack. So I got the girl pack of games. And it came with some iconic games It had an American Girl game. It had Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh.

Leilani Schirmer: Then Clueless. And you got to like uh check out Cher's closet and stuff. Which was really cool. And a Babysitters Club game. Which I am uh like a Babysitters Club crazy fan. So those were like really big for me. So a lot of really iconic uh computer games there so.

Jennifer Wilson: Did you see there's some speculation that Reese Witherspoon is gonna do something with Sweet Valley High?

Leilani Schirmer: [00:31:00] No but I love that.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. Like I was, I was way into that. Even I think almost, I wanna say almost before Babysitters Club. Like I think it's just 'cause what my friends were reading at the time, so.

Leilani Schirmer: I was I was a huge Babysitters Club That was like right at like peak time for me. But Sweet Valley I did get into. And I do have some old Sweet Valley High books still. And then I know whenever I was in like maybe high school they came out, I don't I don't know if they were like the same stories. But they were definitely modern covers. And that's what I really remember. Like they were they had like real people on them and it was like super like 2000s modern look of Sweet Valley High. But I always loved that So yeah that would be super fun.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, no, the ones I checked out from the library were always like the vintage ones that I think most of them came out, I wanna say late '70s, early '80s. I don't know for sure.

Leilani Schirmer: have a few of those.

Jennifer Wilson: So in terms of like things that you're accumulating, things that you've been, you've kept around for a long [00:32:00] time, how do you decide what to keep and what to let go of when we, we love the stuff and it, it gives us so many warm fuzzies and, and good memories?

Leilani Schirmer: That is hard. Um I one thing I don't have uh anything really from my own personal like childhood toys and things. I didn't like inherit a lot of things. So really I I love to thrift I've always loved to thrift. And that's a huge thing that me and my husband do together. And so I just love to look at it whenever I'm there find things point it out you know. We'll tell different stories while we're thrifting Oh I remember we had that exact thing or whatever. And we don't necessarily always buy it. But I do um purchase plenty of things and really it stays in my craft room. I have a few nostalgia shelves that are absolutely filled to the brim. And they have small things on them like chapter books and um like Oh I ha I do have my [00:33:00] Pog collection uh my actual collection so there's a lot of Pogs up there. And like there's some um Nickelodeon orange VHS tapes. You know things like that. So really it it's what I have space for. So if I find something that's like just top tier I'm keeping it like the American Girl doll. Or I did find a seethrough phone like with the cord one of those classic phones. The seethrough.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Leilani Schirmer: So that that has a perfect spot in my craft room. But it is pretty full. I have a teeny tiny little craft room so I really can only fit what I can have in here. But I'm I'm a maximalist at heart. So if I had extra space in my house I would devote. I I do follow I should have mentioned those cause I do follow a couple of accounts that have recreated childhood rooms and stuff. And I would totally have one of those. And I would just fill it up with everything I could find. So I don't think I'm the perfect person to ask what to let go of.

Jennifer Wilson: Sure.

Leilani Schirmer: I do my [00:34:00] best.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh my gosh, so many different thoughts. Like, A, that, that clear phone is still actually plugged in at my parents' house upstairs in what we call, like, the game room. I don't know if you have game rooms in Mississippi. It's like an upstairs living room.

Leilani Schirmer: Yes a lot of people do. We don't Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: I saw it, I saw it the last time that, that I was there.

Leilani Schirmer: That's amazing.

Jennifer Wilson: Did you, did you watch Stranger Things?

Leilani Schirmer: Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: And so, uh, towards the end when they had the little girl's bedroom from like 1986, and I'm just like, "Oh my gosh, I had that and I had that," and like.

Leilani Schirmer: Ah

Jennifer Wilson: I was the exact age. I know that's when you were born, but.

Leilani Schirmer: Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: I was 6 years old when she was two or seven or whatever. And it was just such a trip for me.

My daughter was like, "Uh, Mom, you're, you're flipping this is, what it is.

Leilani Schirmer: It's like you don't understand. I love that. Yeah. That's so fun.

Jennifer Wilson: So I mentioned earlier that I have a, a bit of a connection to things of my parents' generation. Because they listened to so much music, [00:35:00] especially in the car. Um, they played records a lot at home. Do you also find yourself kind of looking back further to those other, to other, other generations that, that give you those, those thoughts and feelings too?

Leilani Schirmer: Definitely. Not as much as my own you know personal. But when you mentioned the records um and music and things I think that's like a huge thing that probably a lot of us take from our parents. And um one thing we have a record player here at home. We do wanna upgrade. But we have a record player. And we have our own uh record collection but we have inherited my dad's record collection. So that's uh a new tradition I've actually just been talking about that I want to start is where like every weekend when we're home together to pick out one of the older records and listen to it from start to finish. And if we have like um multiple ones on the same band to listen to em and get acquainted with those. Or Yeah so I thought that that would be really fun. And [00:36:00] also since um last year uh me and my husband Will we both created a movie list of older movies that we'd like classic movies that we'd never seen but we'd always wanted to watch. And we've been kind of uh taking turns picking a movie and and watching those. And that's been super fun. And a lot of those have been from like generation before us. You know movies like Rocky and um I don't know a lo a lot of those kind of classic movies. That we never saw. So that's been really fun. And I also made a list. We we haven't seen a lot of movies so we were trying to branch out. So I made um a list recently of movies from 1986 since this is my big year. To try to watch and so like Ferris Bueller's on there and uh Howard the Duck. I don't know if you've saw that but that is an interesting one that we watched recently. Um I don't know if it. Yeah, I don't know that it was good but it was really a wild ride. That was a crazy movie. So that's been kind of fun to connect to the [00:37:00] older stuff.

Jennifer Wilson: I remember, like, when that came out on, I mean, I think it was on HBO, and at some point we had HBO, and I recorded it. And so I had, like, not even VHS, I had a beta tape of Howard the Duck. And I know I tried to watch it several times, but I was too young. I didn't get any of the jokes. It didn't make any sense.

Leilani Schirmer: It's really adult. It's way I mean you wouldn't think so because of the way it looks. But it's really crazy. I mean if if you haven't seen that or if you just need to remember that movie it is worth watching cause it's so ridiculous.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. Um, so let's talk more about scrapbooking. So what are some of the ways that you have included this interest and passion for nostalgia in your memory keeping projects?

Leilani Schirmer: Okay so I think just in general even with projects that I do all the time like uh Project Life of course. I also work in a Hobonichi I do like a undated [00:38:00] Hobonichi and just do layouts when or um journaling spreads whenever I feel like it. But I think like my general style is very colorful and playful and quirky and stuff. So I think that kind of just lends to a nostalgic feel. I've had a lot of people just tell me that with my regular scrapbooking. Like Oh this reminds me of something I would do you know whenever I was in high school or something. So I think maybe I just have a that's just my style perhaps.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Leilani Schirmer: I have done a few specific projects in the past. Um it was really early on into me sharing projects I like on Instagram and things. So it was probably in 2021. But I did create a book out of a Heidi Swapp Storyline Chapters like the smaller version of those. Uh that was called Childhood Documented. And I created prompts and I can't remember all of them now. But like a lot of them were typical prompts like music and uh you know your style icon and [00:39:00] collections that you had and things like that. And I would just Google images and then tell a quick little blurb about uh w whatever that thing was. Whatever it meant to me or whatever. And so that was really fun and it caught on a little bit within my own small area of the internet. And a lot of people started to do do their version of that. And it was really fun to see other like maybe people from the 80s. Or people from you know that were from totally different timeframes the 70s and stuff. Do their own versions of that. And that was a super fun project. And then um in maybe early 2024 I did a twopart project out of a Ali Edwards I think I definitely got them from Ali. But I think like the 3 by 8 little uh binder style album. So kind of a small one. And I did one about like my childhood so the 90s. And then one about the early aughts like my high school days and that one had a lot more like reflection [00:40:00] and tons of journaling also with pictures and some pictures from my childhood. Although I don't have that many. Uh like I have a lot of baby pictures but like no other pictures. So my pa you know I'm the only child My parents weren't into it My mom wasn't a mom that scrapbooked or anything. So it's like I'm lucky I got anything. But yeah so I documented those. I did that over on I did have a Patreon at the time. But I do have flipthroughs of all of those on my YouTube. Um but yeah so I've done several uh just specific childhood documenting. Mostly again focused on pop culture and things.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I definitely wanna do one of like the, the toys of my childhood. I've been thinking about that lately.

Leilani Schirmer: Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: 'Cause I think I'm maybe most likely to forget that. Like, I want to just make sure I get the images. Um, there's actually been some toys that my parents, like, bought for me again on eBay so I would have it.

Leilani Schirmer: Uhhuh That is so fun

Jennifer Wilson: It's... I mean, some of it's kinda silly. 'Cause it's like literally a toddler toy engine, but my dad always [00:41:00] worked on cars, and I thought, like, w- it was the most fun thing in the entire world to be able to, to put together this toy engine. So I have this Fisher-Price toy engine.

Leilani Schirmer: I love it.

Jennifer Wilson: Part of my collection.

Leilani Schirmer: It's crazy. Yes how much that like you know it brings you back and it's really so special. I don't know I love that.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Leilani Schirmer: Like I was really like I mentioned before really into Pogs. And having my personal collection I have a little Pog case and all my Pogs in there. I mean and my Slammers and stuff like that's really something. Because I remember those individual ones. And I would like play those like I was you know really really doing something. Like we were like playing poker and stuff back in the day with our Pogs whenever I was like in third grade. And also I do have my own personal Polly Pocket. So that's kind of fun too. But those are like the only things that I have. But I love looking on eBay and finding old things like that on eBay. That that's dangerous. Because you can really you know start to accumulate things that way.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I'm looking-- I'm here in my office and I'm [00:42:00] looking at my shelves and I'm like, A, there's plenty of room. And I need to pull some stuff out from the basement or bring it home from, from my parents' house. And B, some of my decorations here are very boring and don't need to be here. So they could be replaced by something more interesting.

Leilani Schirmer: Oh yeah replace them. Replace them. They gotta go. Mine really my room is kinda wacky. But yeah I have I have a lot of nostalgia stuff. As I'm looking around I ha definitely have Beanie Babies. I have um I loved Power Rangers and I loved specifically the Yellow Ranger either Trini or Aisha. So I have um some Barbies of that. I have some VHS tapes in here like I have the Babysitters Club. And um I just have a lot of random you know just anything that makes me happy I stick it in here.

Jennifer Wilson: I love that. I love that so much. I love that permission that you've given yourself and just to really, um, celebrate this aspect of your personality and, and have fun with it. We, we probably all need a little bit more of that these days.

Leilani Schirmer: That's what I think. Anything like I see a lot online about [00:43:00] whimsy. But it is true. Like people need more whimsy in their life. Like it doesn't have to be so serious. Or as you get older I think people lose that sense of self. And you can still have fun and be colorful and have like a a bit of a childlike wonder even though you're an adult.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes, yes, 100%. I, I think sometimes as maybe as, as women who are the predominant gender in scrapbooking, we, uh, perhaps escape that more than the men who I think they s- often grow up less.

Leilani Schirmer: That's true I don't disagree.

Jennifer Wilson: Only saying that because my husband has said that out loud. He's like, "I'm still just like a 10-year-old boy inside."

Leilani Schirmer: Yeah you think about guys a lot I mean not that there aren't gamer girls and things but you know I feel like there's a huge pass for that with guys and gaming, and things like that. And then it's like you know we get to have stuff too. For sure.

Jennifer Wilson: I love it. So can you share where our listeners can find you online? Anything else you might have new or coming up this [00:44:00] year?

Leilani Schirmer: Sure. Definitely my Instagram account which is leilani_scraps and I share a lot on there I do all kinds of posts and and I'm I'm very active on Instagram. And then also I have a YouTube. Same name just Leilani Scraps. And I do share definitely two videos a week. I do a huge range of things. Always Project Life but I constantly have other projects going on. I do like the Sisterhood of the Traveling Journal. I do um I'm doing a Martina Calvi Junk Journal series right now. I just had a vlog go up. Um so I do a vlog a month and it just has a different topic. This month's is the Summer Junk Journal which I'll be sharing. I do my Hobonichi. I just do like a large range of fun projects over there. So those are my two main things. I did have a Patreon for a while. And although that's not open anymore I do have my Patreon archive open. And I link that in all of my YouTube videos. So I have [00:45:00] probably hundreds of videos over there as well lots of process videos. And it's just 5 a month. Uh to get access to all of my past uh archive just in case.

Jennifer Wilson: Excellent. Excellent. Yeah, no, very cool. Now you have to tell me, what is Sisterhood of the Traveling Journal?

Leilani Schirmer: Oh Oh my gosh. Okay. It is so fun. So there's a huge community. Uh I didn't name this There's a huge community that does this online. But me and a group of mostly my sticker friends from that I originally met through the BFF Sticker Club. But you could do this with any obviously any group of friends. And everyone in that group I think there's six of us. We all created our own junk journal. So in any type of size style whatever you wanted to do. And you make a few pages introducing yourself and maybe make a few uh interactive pages that everyone could fill out about themselves. Like you could make a nostalgia page and you could say uh add a photo of yourself as a kid [00:46:00] or uh add you know do a sticker bomb here whatever. So you make your pages and then you're gonna send it to the next person in line out of those six girls. So then it travels around all around the US and we all just add to the existing pages and create our own pages. So then we'll eventually get our our journal back. And it will have like all kinds of spreads from all of the girls in it.

Jennifer Wilson: That is so fun. I love this concept.

Leilani Schirmer: It's really fun. And I have shared those over on my uh YouTube so you can see It's it's kinda neat because normally it's just my stuff over there obviously. But you get to see other people's styles. You know And then you get to add your own style to it. So that's It's like the first time I've ever done like a collaborative project like that so it's pretty neat.

Jennifer Wilson: So cool. Yes. Thank you so much for bringing such delight to our conversation today. Um, I'm definitely having lots of, lots of feelings and look forward to scrapbooking some of these topics myself.

Leilani Schirmer: Thank you so much. That means so much to me. I appreciate it.

Jennifer Wilson: [00:47:00] And to all of our listeners, please remember that you have permission to scrapbook your way.

Rebeca Ruiz: [00:00:00] having this space organized feeling good when someone enters here and don't see a lot of things that are not in the correct placement. So I'm so happy about that. And I know that I can sit at any moment that I want and create just for me or for design team or for a gift, whatever I want to do. Now I feel very good that I can do it.

Jennifer Wilson: Welcome to Scrapbook Your Way, the show that explores the breadth of ways to be a memory keeper today. I'm your host, Jennifer Wilson, owner of Simple Scrapper, and author of The New Rules of Scrapbooking. This is episode 340. In this episode, I'm chatting with Rebecca Ruiz about her craft room renovation, the massive decluttering project that came with it, and how reorganizing her supplies by collection has changed the way she creates

Rebecca, welcome back to Scrapbook Your Way

Rebeca Ruiz: Thank you. How are you, Jennifer?

Jennifer Wilson: I am great today. It's getting a [00:01:00] little bit warm here. I imagine it is for you as well, and, uh, I'm looking forward to our chat.

Rebeca Ruiz: Here is very, um, humid and very hot. It feels around 80, um, sorry, around 100 degrees.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh my gosh.

Rebeca Ruiz: Very hot. We are in the air conditioner all day.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I bet. So, um, for those who haven't listened to your previous episode, which we'll of course link in the show notes to this episode, can you share a little bit about yourself?

Rebeca Ruiz: Well, my name is Rebeca Ruiz. I am from Puerto Rico, a small island in the Caribbean. I was born and raised here. I have 48 years. I- my birthday was, I think last week or two weeks ago in, at the end of May. I have two daughters. One is 21, the other is nine years. And I'm with my husband. We've been married for around, oh, in July we, we will be celebrating [00:02:00] 23 years of marriage. So.

Jennifer Wilson: Congratulations and happy birthday, so

Rebeca Ruiz: Thank you. We are always at our home. We enjoying be- being here and we, when we travel, we want, we travel together. We like to spend a lot of time together, so we are family people.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm. Now, of course, I always like to ask our guests about things that are exciting them. Do you have a favorite, um, recent layout or project?

Rebeca Ruiz: Well, uh, I love all my projects. I, I really enjoy doing a scrapbook. This is like a passion for me. And when I share a layout, it's because I like it. Um, if I don't like it, I never share it. So I don't have any favorite. Maybe I can say that I'm very happy because recently I've been doing more layouts about myself, using photos of myself, trying to, to take selfies, and trying to [00:03:00] scrapbook about me. So this can be something that is getting me happy and something that, uh, I can say is a favorite.

Jennifer Wilson: Awesome. Yeah, no, I mean, that certainly counts for sure. It's hard to, it's hard to pick a favorite when it's all so delightful, right?

Rebeca Ruiz: Yeah, I enjoy playing with the papers and the products and creating. And I adding small details and telling the story sometimes about the family. Sometimes about one of my daughter or the other, my husband. They are all special. They, they are, they are for, for a story and because I want to document those, those moments and this is something that makes them special and favorite.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes. Yes. Now, is there something either inside of your scrapbooking life or in your everyday life that you're excited to do, use, or try?

Rebeca Ruiz: Well, right now I'm trying to do more in the paper craft, um, world. I'm trying to do more art [00:04:00] journal. Because I have a lot of stuff that I want to use for art journal because I bought it for that. And in my personal life right now, as I mentioned in the previous, um, question, I'm trying to focus more in myself to do more things for myself. Like taking time to enjoy a book or doing things that I like. But also, I have some new projects, family projects, that I want to do this summer, and I'm very excited about it. One of them is that I want to create a vegetable garden with my daughters. We are going into this new project, so we are going to prepare the, the, the, how you say, the soil, and prepare everything. Sorry, my first language is Spanish, so sometimes I am thinking in Spanish and translating to speak with you.

Jennifer Wilson: No problem.

Rebeca Ruiz: Some, some delay. [00:05:00] Well, um, and we are working on that to select the vegetable we want to try and preparing that to, to do it together. Since they are out of school, we can spend more time at home and doing those kind of stuff.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes, that sounds fun. What do you think you're gonna be planting?

Rebeca Ruiz: For sure tomatoes and peppers and things that I can use to cook. Those kind of, of stuff that I'm always using. Here we have, um, cilantrillo. This is, I don't know, um, it's, it's something you can see always in the Mexican food, the green leaves, tiny leaves.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. I love cilantro. Yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: At home, so it's very easy to, to have this type of, type of stuff. And we use it a lot, so it's going to be one of those that is important to be there in our garden. And tomatoes, because we consume a lot of tomatoes and [00:06:00] lettuce and peppers. So.

Jennifer Wilson: Sound, sounds great.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yeah. And do beans too.

Jennifer Wilson: Like, like green beans?

Rebeca Ruiz: All different kinds of beans we have because, um, in the Caribbean we tend to eat a lot of rice and beans.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: We, eat white beans, red beans, pink beans.

Also, the, the green beans and things for the salad, but we consume a lot of beans here.

Jennifer Wilson: Nice. Nice So you were last a guest on the show in 2024, so it's been about two years. What has changed in your life or in your scrapbooking in that time?

Rebeca Ruiz: Well, lot of things happened in two years. Um, right now, um, I ha- I'm having a new scrapbook area, a new crafting area.

Jennifer Wilson: Uh-huh

Rebeca Ruiz: I remodeled. I have some renovations here. So this is something new. And as I mentioned, I'm [00:07:00] trying to give myself more time, to enjoy the things that I have. If I purchase something, like a book, I want to read it.

I want to take care of my friends. I want to spend more time with family. So I'm doing all that stuff that I enjoy. And this is something that I'm trying to be more aware of. I'm trying to, care. I think maybe it's because as we get older, we think more of those special people and the family and things that really matter because that's the only thing we, we only have that no money can buy. So those are special moments.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, certainly.

Rebeca Ruiz: And what's important.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, and I, I think being a memory keeper, uh, helps us even keep closer to that idea than, than those maybe who don't have the, the luck of being in this hobby with us.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yeah, for sure. This hobby is special.

Jennifer Wilson: So you already mentioned that you are [00:08:00] scrapbooking a little bit more about yourself. Do you think that the photos and stories that you include in your scrapbooks have shifted as your children have gotten older?

Rebeca Ruiz: Well, I, uh, I think, mm, not a lot of, of it has changed. Only the thing that I'm trying to be more in the pictures. So I d- I finally bought a f- um, photo stick, um, selfie stick, sorry.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: Selfie Stick uh, be part of the photos, because I'm usually the person who is taking the photo. So, I always say, "I'm going to buy a selfie stick so I can be part of the photo," and I forget it, and I forget it. And now I have one. I place it in the car so I can have it accessible every time we go out. So let's see if, if I improve that and use it more and be more on the photos instead of being just selfies.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes. I love that. I end up doing it with just the, the reach of my arm, [00:09:00] and I, so I have a big head in the front of the photo, and then there's everybody else behind me. So I might need a selfie stick.

Rebeca Ruiz: For family photos, I, I use my daughter because short like me. I'm only five feet tall and one inch, five feet and one inch, so I'm short. She is like me, only five feet. But she can extend her, her arm a little bit more and photograph better. I think.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: She can see clearly. I use my, my glasses to see, so I'm always taking selfies looking for the opposite side. It's, it's not, it's not my best, um, talent to take selfies. She's good at it. So, uh, I, I told her, "Now you got a selfie stick, you can take better photos of us together and not being your face in the front, not having your face in the front.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: She's happy for that.

Jennifer Wilson: I love that. So you mentioned that you did some renovations for your craft room. Now previously you said you were gonna kind of build it outside of your house. Is that what you ended [00:10:00] up doing or something within, within the space that you already had?

Rebeca Ruiz: I, I had the id- the idea of making a room outside my home. That was something that I was, um, thinking a lot because constructing a room at this moment that the materials, construction materials are very expensive because of the things that are happening. And I was thinking about that and I was not sure if it is going to be a good decision or not. Because, not only because of the money I'm going to spend, but also because the room is going to be outside of my home, so I need to go out. And, uh, sometimes I wake up very early and it is very dark and I need to go out and I'm not sure about that. So I prefer to be inside the home. I don't want to spend a lot of money constructing a room and having a [00:11:00] bigger space, maybe to, to, to have more stuff that I need to organize, have more stuff that I won't be using, having more stuff that is going to need to be cleaned.

So after thinking a lot, I decided, no, I'm not going to make that room. Because it is going to take a lot of effort and a lot of things that maybe is going to make me craft less instead of craft more.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. That makes a lot of sense.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yeah, I decided no. I need to use what I have, use it, um, in a better way. That I can feel good, that I can use what I have at any time of the day. It doesn't matter if it's rainy, if it's not rainy, if it's dark or have light, I can be there and feel safe in that space. I decided to stay where I was. Just to make a renovation and change the things [00:12:00] that were not working for me, and this is what I did. If you want more detail, for example, in the previous interview in 2024, I told you that I had had the embellishments divided.

Some are in a place, other in other, just to, to fill the spaces that I had. This time, I took everything out of the r- of the family room. This is where I craft. I took everything, all my things out. The, the, um, living room and the dining room were full of stuff. And they were in that way for, like, two weeks, and with my OCD, that was crazy.

Jennifer Wilson: I bet, yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: I barely sleep because I want my, my dining room and my, and the home, um, in an open space that people can move and, and use the space. So it was something that was hard for me to have all that stuff, but it was needed. [00:13:00] I empty everything. I measure the walls I, I decided what things I should buy to use the space well so I can arrange more stuff in a better way. So after having th- having everything out, I organized the embellishments by collection. I decided which one I like, which one were damaged with, with the time, or things that I don't like anymore. So I, filter what I want to keep. And then I start buying the stu- the stuff, the furniture and everything. And start packing and arranging and putting them back in the space. The things I don't want, they were damaged, I throw them away, I recycle them. If they were in a good condition and I know of a friend that can use them, I gave it to that friend. And other stuff, [00:14:00] I just sell it, and I still have a few things that when I prepare a class, in-person class, I, I bring the stuff and people buy there if they want.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, yeah. That's smart.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: In terms of the fur- new furniture that you got, did you replace i- were you replacing items or adding items to your space?

Rebeca Ruiz: I replaced and I added. For example, um, I, I have here a brown cubicles. They are the same size as the IKEA KALLAX, but I don't... I bought them a few years ago in Costco. They came with, um, canvas basket, and there I used to store the embellishment. Those basket, I took re- to, um, rid of them because they, were a little bit old. That, that was the second time I replaced them. So I decided to go for something darker because the [00:15:00] humidity here in the, in the cream color of the canvas turns like with brown dots. Um, so I decided to look for something darker and this is how I get the new... They are like canvas, but they are boxes with lids.

So now they are closed, they don't get dust a lot. and I replaced that. I used to have some white, desk and I changed that completely. I remove it. It was damaged because during the Hurricane Maria, it got wet. Before staying in this home, um, this is the one, two, three... This is the four home that we live.

This is the one that we expect, expect to live until we die.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: So I think we are not going to change anymore. Unless God says other thing, okay? But if it's for us, we are going to stay here until we die. [00:16:00] And I decided to use the space better. Because I have two walls of the family room where I store my things.

So in this wall, I basically covered the wall almost until the ceiling. So here now I have the KALLAX cubicles. But also I have some of the BESTA they have that I can close the door and of using the KALLAX, I decided for the BESTA because of the space available. If.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Rebeca Ruiz: I use the, if I use KALLAX, there will be some inches of a space that won't be used. So I changed for the BESTA to use it in a better way. And then I decided to store in the family a f- few of the pattern papers that I have. Because in 2024, all my papers were stored [00:17:00] in, in a closet that I had in the master room. But now I have some of the paper because of the design teams, I'm constantly getting more pattern papers. So the, the paper stash grows quickly. But I decided to take near me the pattern papers that I want to use first. Those collections that I love a lot, that I can have on hand, and also the things that I need to work for design teams. So now those kind of stuff are near me, and in the closet, I reduce the amount of paper and I have things that I can later.

For example, right now I'm not going to use Christmas, so Christmas is there. Um, amusement parks are there. Um, cardstock, colored cardstock are there. If I have a collection that I want to use and I need cardstock in color, not black or white, I go with the collection [00:18:00] there. And choose what I want and take it to the, to the room.

It's easier for me now to, to find the things since now they are very organized by collection or by product.

Jennifer Wilson: That's fantastic. And I will also mention that we'll include links to any products you mention, like the Ikea furniture, as well as a link to your YouTube video where you give a tour of your space.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yes, I recently prepare a tour because it's hard to imagine the things, but it's better when you can see it in working. Now I can have, for example, for the paper, I use a, a product from IKEA, that is the Tonstad. I'm not sure if I'm saying it correctly, if Tonstad. And I went to IKEA, like, two or three times. And I, I need to tell you this joke because IKEA is not near from me. In Puerto Rico we only have, um, two IKEA [00:19:00] stores, only one of it have the products that you can buy and pick up at the moment. The other is just a showroom.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Rebeca Ruiz: The IKEA that have the products on, on inventory that you can get like, two hours away from me. But when doing this renovation, I went there, like, three times with a ruler, checking the spaces inside of the cabinet just to be sure that the inside space can hold the pattern papers or the embellishments. So I know the, the Kallax can do that, but I was looking for something to, to fill the space in between the k- the, the Kallax. So this is where I was measuring and deciding for the Besta and the Tonstad. Because sometimes when you see online the product, it says that the, the space is 13 inches of depth. But when you see it in person and you measure, the measurement inside [00:20:00] is 11 and a half because it takes some space with the door or the back. So I was making sure that the 12 by 12 paper can be stored there. And this is a lot of travels there. My little daughter, if you say IKEA, she is in a trauma.

She says, "No, please, I don't want to go third time to IKEA. I don't want to go there." She, she... I think she hates the store. She don't want any, anything out about IKEA at this moment.

Jennifer Wilson: The, the nearest IKEAs for me are each, uh, at least two to... two hours, up to three hours away. Um, so I'm... I definitely understand that of.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Needing to travel. Sometimes I've had things shipped. And of course it's very, very expensive to do that, and then you also risk that it might not arrive in one piece, which that has happened too.

Rebeca Ruiz: And, the measurement part that for me is very important.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Well, especially for [00:21:00] scrapbookers, 12 by 12 is a very specific and unique size.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yeah. I'm, I'm an industrial engineer, so for me, using the space properly and doing a, a good use of the, uh, of the space is something that is in, in my nature. I need to measure. I need to be sure that it can fit. So this is something that is part of me. And my husband just let, let me be. Because he knows how I am, and he says, "Okay, take your time. You just tell me when you're ready."

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: And he assembled them with my older daughter. And it was a family project during the month of December. Because it's a lot of furniture and things to, to change, all the Kallax and the Tungsta. And something else that I added for the printer and to arrange the old photos.

I have a lot of old photos printed. And I decided to have them here and store them in [00:22:00] some clear plastics, um, that I bought at Amazon. There I arranged the photos by year and some by event. Because if it was a vacation, well, I, I put all the vacation photos together by the year. And also have them by people.

I have a box if the, if, if, if the photo is about one of my daughters, I have a box for her. In case one day she move away and she wants to get the, her pictures with her, she can take that and, and it's only photos of her. So I had a lot of, I spent a lot of time arranging photos, arranging embellishments. Spent a lot of time arranging.

The furniture was easy to assemble. In a one, two, three days it was ready. But getting everything organized to fill that space, that was took me a lot of time. But I'm pleased and happy that I did it the way that I did it [00:23:00] because now it's easier for me to, find the things.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, certainly. Yes, it sounds like it. Uh, is worth that investment of, of time and energy if it helps you be a more productive and creative scrapbooker.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: So you mentioned the photo boxes that you... Are these the ones that, like, maybe hold 100 photos? Are they larger than that?

Rebeca Ruiz: They can hold, um, around 100 photo or a little bit more. Um, used to have those photo boxes that looks like shoe boxes.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Rebeca Ruiz: But they deteriorate, and with the weight sometimes they broke. So I was looking for something in plastic to get the, to, to maintain the photo away from the humidity. Because they are closed. And I found these boxes that have a lid and a closure, and inside they are divided in a small four by six, a little bit bigger, uh, boxes that you [00:24:00] can store the four by six photos. They are four by six or sh- or smaller photos.

Jennifer Wilson: Nice.

Rebeca Ruiz: If you have 5 by 10, uh, five by seven or eight by 10, you need another things to store that. But for s- four by six, that is what I had more, um, you can store that there. And I will send you later the link in case people want to check them.

Jennifer Wilson: Perfect.

Rebeca Ruiz: They are very good and comes with the, the dividers, the plastic dividers. So it's very easy to, to store and label.

Jennifer Wilson: So you mentioned before how you had your embellishments in all those canvas baskets. Where, how did you end up organizing those in the end?

Rebeca Ruiz: Previously, I had a Ziploc bag, resealable bag. That I had, for example, with the six by 12 stickers. Then in other, I have the chipboards. Then in other I have the brads or, or things like that separated by product. When I was looking for a [00:25:00] collection, I need to go to the stickers, to the chipboard, to everything to see if if I had something for that collection. So it took a lot of time. I took everything out, and I start sorting by collection. Now, in this new basket that I bought that have lids, I organize by collection. And to hold the things together, was looking for something that I can open and have the embellishments individually. I cannot use a tie wrap and the metal rings like the ones we use for the albums the ones that open. I think that are going to take a lot of space because they are not flexible. So I ended using, a thick thread. think it, they are from Dollar Tree or something like that, very inexpensive thread and thick. I think it can... It's [00:26:00] like a twine or something that can be used for crochet. But doesn't have a lot of loose, fibers. So I, I hold all the embellishment together with these threads. If they damage, I can replace them easily with another thread. But when I'm looking for, for example, example right now, if I want to do a summer layout, I go to my summer box and check the embellishment.

"Oh, look, I want to work with this embellishment." I took everything out. It's from the same collection. And I can look for the papers later or the opposite. If I have the paper that I want to look and they are summer, I go to the summer box and check for the collection products because they are together. So very easy now to, to reach for them.

Jennifer Wilson: So just to kind of summarize here, you took everything that was organized by type of product and reorganized it back into collections, likely how they arrived [00:27:00] at your house.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yes. Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: Did, did you find there were some things that, like, maybe you just had... It didn't really have enough to be even be called a collection anymore?

It was like a one-off piece? What did you do with those kind of extras?

Rebeca Ruiz: The things that I have a few that I w- won't be using, as I mentioned, I If they are in, not in good shape, I throw them away or gave it to another person. Because I usually works with the collection. It's so easy because a few years ago when I started in this hobby, I think in 2004 or 2005, I can't remember. The companies makes paper but the embellishment we can find were only a few, maybe a sticker and that's all. But now they make a lot of products and beside of getting some of them because of the design team. when I like a [00:28:00] collection, I like to buy, um, different products to have, um, different materials to work with. That's something that I enjoy, um, using chipboard, using sticker, using different materials just to add dimension to my, my project.

So now it's easier and instead of holding things that I know I won't be u- be using, I decided to take r- get rid of them and hold what I know I can use. And it ended being mostly collections. Some other items, for example, the know if you can remember Sassafras Lass. I have a s- I still have a few embellishment from Sassafras and they were basically chipboards.. That's the only thing I have. s- I'm still holding them because I have the paper and they.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: Are alone there in a bag, in a resealable bag. But in the category that they need to be, if they are baby or if they are summer, are there, [00:29:00] organized there. So I can go to the box and find what I was looking.

Jennifer Wilson: Do you have anything that's organized by color, or is that not a way that you think about your supplies?

Rebeca Ruiz: By color, I have the cardstock. It's much easier to have that by, by color. But the embellishment and the papers, I prefer to have them in a bag with the, all the th- the papers from the collection, but by theme. If it I have some theme categories, and if they don't fit in these categories, then I store them by manufacturer. The main categories I have are Christmas, Winter, Summer and beach, they are together. Love and wedding, they are together. If they are masculine, I don't have a lot of masculine products, so the masculine products, I have everything together. If they are, um, amusement parks, I have them together. And babies or kids, something [00:30:00] that is very baby or very kid-related or, or youth, I have those together. Everything else that is very generic, that I can use for any theme, I store by manufacturer.

Jennifer Wilson: That all makes, it all makes sense. And I think it also reminds us that sometimes we need to give ourselves permission to rethink previous decisions, because just because that decision was good for that time doesn't mean that it's still working for you today.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yeah. Sometimes we have things in one way, and then it is no longer way, um, working. I notice it is no longer way, um, working for me because I was storing in a crazy way. If I got something, I just want to store it wherever I can put it. Um, it ... I was in a moment that I don't care if it was a theme or manufacturer, if there is an empty space, I was placing it there just.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: So I didn't see it near me. And I said, "No, I'm not like that. I don't know where it's [00:31:00] going to be later. Because I know I will forget. So I need it... I, I think it's time to do this." And I can tell you, this renovation that I did in December, I was not thinking about it, but I'm that kind of person. I was here, and, um, was ... I was not happy with having some totes under the table with papers and embellishment. And looking my desk in a way that I, I was not feeling, um, when you get inspiration, I was not feeling inspired. I was not happy. And I told my husband, "I'm not going to make a room outside." I explain him why. I've, I've been thinking about this in the f- the last few days. I'm not going to make any room outside. I want to make a renovation here. I want to change things. So my Christmas gift this year, I want to be that you help me paint these walls, change [00:32:00] everything that I'm going to buy, and you assembly this.

And he was, "Are you sure you're going to do this in December?" And I said, "Yes. I'm going to do it now. I'm not going to wait anymore.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: Because later it's going to be worse. I need to do it now." I spent the, the Christmas, season here doing that. It was a lot. My family was happy because since I was at home, they spend a lot of time, um, playing, um.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I bet.

Rebeca Ruiz: Doing stuff here.

They were very happy to be here. Uh, but I was frustrated. I was so tired of being, um, and organizing and organizing and not sleeping well until I have the, places ready.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. Sometimes when you're in that messy middle stage, it's, it's overwhelming, and you just kinda wanna get to the other end of it, but it feels never-ending

Rebeca Ruiz: Yes, and for some people, having the things in, in places [00:33:00] like the dining room where it's not very stressful. Because they know they are going to arrange it little by little, which is the best way to do it. I shouldn't be stressed just to make it quickly. But my OCD don't allow me to do that.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Rebeca Ruiz: I was trying to concentrate on other things, but I just wanted to have my home visually, clean and organized for me. Because if, if it is not, I, I am not happy. I am not creative, and I am not me.

Jennifer Wilson: It seems like you'd actually ended up downsizing quite a bit of your pattern paper. How did you end up making those decisions?

Rebeca Ruiz: It was very hard because pattern papers are my favorite products all the time. From since I begin scrapbooking, pattern papers is my favorite product. You can do so much with pattern paper. You can cut, um, with dies. You can, do so many things with that, that having pattern paper sometimes is enough to create something beautiful. [00:34:00] So downsizing that was very hard but needed. Because as I told you before, because of the design team, I get a lot of pattern papers. And the stash is, is growing so fast, faster than I can use them. So I need to do something. And this is when I took... After having my, the family ready, all the embellishment and all the stamps and all this stuff. I go to the master room, open the closet, and start taking away all the pattern papers. Um, if you visit my Instagram, you are going to see a, a quick video, a reel, where I show you the stacks of pattern papers. I think it was in January that I made that. It was crazy. Crazy. So I, I sort them by team and by manufacturer, as, as I mentioned before, the way that I like to have the things. [00:35:00] And then I start checking one by one the packs. Some papers I have two or three packs of the same collection. That was easy. I only need one, so took away the other. That was the easiest part. The papers that the patterns I don't like anymore, that was easy for me. But other papers, for example, Cocoa Vanilla, I love their papers. I love their products, and they are from Australia. So for me in Puerto Rico, it's not easy to get them.

I need to buy them directly from them on Australia or but them online in the US and pay the shipping and all that stuff, for product. And one of their collections when I was checking, I have five and six papers of the same, and they have 12 papers in the collection. [00:36:00] And so imagine having five and six paper of the same.

Jennifer Wilson: That sounds like great for an album project though.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yeah, but that was difficult for me. I.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: Get... Yes, I didn't get rid of the Cocoa Vanilla papers. I- that's something I have to say. I get rid of other things to make space for them. Because I cannot find them here, and they were expensive, so.

Jennifer Wilson: That makes sense.

Rebeca Ruiz: Anybody's going to pay me for that. Or, or I don't know if, if my daughters ask for that, and I don't know if I'm going to give that to them, but I'll, see. Those are special for me. But most of the paper, that's what I did. If I have many of them, I reduce the amount. If they- I don't like the design anymore, I took them out. And by that, I can tell you quickly, for exam- I think, [00:37:00] like 24 inches of paper, I got rid of that for sale. I got rid of.

Jennifer Wilson: Wow.

Rebeca Ruiz: A few more inches as gift to my best friend. I think I gave her, like, eight or nine inches of paper. And others that were damaged, I, I just recycled it.

Jennifer Wilson: That's a lot of paper. So how, how much, how many inches did you keep?

Rebeca Ruiz: Oh, I can, I, I can tell you that right now, because near me at this moment I have two, four, six, seven, like 14 plastics. Those plastic, um, vertical containers, and I think they can hold from 80 to 100 piece of paper.

Jennifer Wilson: Uh-Huh.

Rebeca Ruiz: Here in the family I have 14 of those. And in my room I have more, much more [00:38:00] of those containers, and if I include the cardstock, it's going to be a lot more. Oh, no.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: I still need to get rid of some of them as I start getting more papers, I will need to continue getting rid. So right now on my side, I have a container that have last chance paper.

Jennifer Wilson: Okay, that makes sense. Yeah

Rebeca Ruiz: Yeah. Uh, I, I have a few in mind that if I don't use them, I need to start getting them away. Because this space is not going to grow. This is what I have, and it is going to stay in this way for a few years, or maybe until I die. And, the space is not going to grow, so I need to get rid as I start getting more stuff. To help me not get a lot of stuff, I'm trying not to buy new things. I'm only getting what I from the design teams, and I'm trying not to buy pattern papers.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I was actually thinking about that today. There's a lot of holiday collections that [00:39:00] came out today for pre-order, and I was like, "What if I just bought some embellishments that were different and that I like?" I'd never th- I'd literally probably never thought of that before, of not just buying all the things that I liked.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yeah. For me, it, um, um, when I say I'm not buying pattern papers, it also mean not buying embellishment. I'm not buying.

Jennifer Wilson: Okay.

Rebeca Ruiz: Trying to not buying anything.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: Because I like to have the embellishment with the pattern papers. And I know if I like a particular embellishment and I buy it to use with other product, I know how I am and I am going to buy the papers.

Sooner or later, I'm going to buy it. So to be sure that I don't buy any more papers, I'm trying not to shop. It's hard. It's hard because I think my favorite part in this hobby is shopping. I shop quicker than I craft, and I think most of us are in the same boat. We shop faster than we can [00:40:00] craft.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I think there's a lot of folks that think, you know, I've heard like there's, we have two different hobbies, but really there's three. There's the shopping for supplies, the organizing of the supplies, and then of course the using of the supplies. Those are three very different activities.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yes. A, a few years ago, I had a store in, a, a physical store in Puerto Rico. It was also an online store. My clients became my friend and they, we talk about that because brings joy to us just to shop, to see the new products and imagine what project we can do, what we are going.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: To create. But we buy maybe at the same time two collection, then the, in two weeks we go again and buy something extra, and shop faster than we create.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, I think you've made a really important observation, that b- not only just your creative preferences, but because of your design teamwork, you are often creating a lot with a single collection, and you love that, and it works well for you. And so that is, I think, an [00:41:00] important, you know, filter that you can use for new purchases. That it's, it's kind of gonna be all or nothing. Because I need to have all the coordinating things, and I'm getting enough, so that is enough.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yeah. But I also have stuff, um, when I travel, the, a few years ago in, in our travels, I went to JoAnn, to Michaels, to Hobby Lobby. And I got pa- um, the notebooks of paper, the paper pads. And they usually don't have embellishment. So I have those papers. They are beautiful. For those, um, pads, th- they usually came with two or three sheets of the same design. I broke the pads and I stay only with one sheet. If the sheet was very special with foil or something that I like, maybe I have two in my stash right now. The others, I've put them away for the, for the reduction of [00:42:00] the storage. And when I'm working with that, I need to check embellishment from other collections. So those that I don't have a embellishment for them, I go to the boxes and see what I can find by theme. Which is the easiest way for me, or a manufacturer if I remember that the colors of this manufacturer are similar to the colors I have in this pad, I can go there and find embellishment. But I still have papers with no embellishment, that I want to use. Hopefully, now that I have my space in a better shape that I can find things easily, can work with more stuff for myself, not just design team. I want to create for myself with products that I have from a few years ago or that I just bought because it's beautiful. I want to work things that are not only design team.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, no, it all, it all makes a lot of sense. And I'm, I, [00:43:00] I'm so thankful for you to share so much detail about this process. I think a lot of our listeners are gonna really enjoy this and, and be thinking critically about their own things as well. I'm curious if there were any other like, uh, like tools or stamps. Like did you declutter anything else or decide maybe even whole categories of things you were ready to let go of?

Rebeca Ruiz: I declutter everything. I declutter everything. And in my personal life, not the paper craft world, I'm always decluttering in the kitchen, in my drawers. I, I think I enjoy decluttering. hardest is decluttering the paper craft. But I declutter everything. I declutter my paints. If with damaged paint, if they I don't like the colors, I declutter the paints. I declutter the ink pads. I h- I don't know if you n- remember a company named Paper Salon.

Jennifer Wilson: [00:44:00] Mm-hmm. Yep.

Rebeca Ruiz: I had ink pads from Paper Salon that's very old.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: Are not going to believe that, but they work perfectly. The ink was working perfectly. But I know I don't use dye ink pads, so I took them away. I took away all my Liquid Pearls, all my Stickles. Because it's been years since I used them, so I got rid of them. Um, I got rid of a lot of ribbons. Because they were not in the best shape. Ribbon tends to, to damage with the time. So if they were not in good shape, I got rid of them. Something that I have a lot, and maybe this is some- the next thing that I'm going to declutter when I need space, are the washi tapes.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm. Yes

Rebeca Ruiz: I receive a lot of washi tapes from design teams. But I don't use them. [00:45:00] It's not a product that I use a lot. And you know that the rolls, you use a few inches, but they come with feet, feet of, of washi tape. You're not going sometimes to use all of that in a project. So a product that stay for a long time, but when they, they are old and you try to use them, they are not working. The glue is no longer working. They damage, especially here in Puerto Rico with.

Jennifer Wilson: With the humidity, yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yeah. They are a product that don't last long. I maintain them in the plastic container that they come. But, um, I know I won't be using them, so I'll be giving away to, to my friends or, or to schools and things that m- can use them, or kids. I know my, my daughters and her classmates would love a few rolls of, of washi.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Rebeca Ruiz: I don't know why kids [00:46:00] love tape so much. So I think that's the next thing that I'm going to get rid of, because know I won't be using all of that. So I need to retain what I can use and get rid of all those other products.

But as I mentioned, I declutter everything. Everything, rhinestones, pearls, ribbons, papers, stamps. I had a lot of stamps that never used before, and I know I won't be using them, so I gave them to my friend. Because she loves stamps, and her daughter too, so I gave that to her. And as that, I, I declutter everything.

Jennifer Wilson: How, how do you feel now compared to how you felt before you started the project?

Rebeca Ruiz: At the moment, I was very stressed, as I mentioned before. But now that everything is finished, um, I feel so good. Because I have things that I know, besides the washi, I [00:47:00] know I'm going to use. I have a plan in my mind for when I need more space, what to take away, and how to make new space. And I have a pr- few projects in mind that I want to create to start using what I have. And now I feel happy when I come to the family. Because since I am in the family room, when my daughters' friends come home. They are always in the family room. Because here they can play video games, they can watch movies, and they ended here. So having this space organized feeling good when someone enters here and don't see a lot of things that are not in the correct placement. So I'm so happy about that. And I know that I can sit at any moment that I want and create just for me or for design team or for a gift, whatever I want to do. Now I feel very good that I can do it.

Jennifer Wilson: [00:48:00] Oh, that's so wonderful. Yeah, no, it's such a, such a relief it sounds like, and I can't wait to, to see how it continues to shift your creating and your, your motivation.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yeah, I'm try- I'm, I'm thinking about going back to my YouTube channel to create more content. Because I don't make money with those videos, is the true. I don't have a lot of followers, um, a lot of view. But s- many people I know here, they enjoy it, so I enjoy sharing what I know with them. And maybe one day the community grows and I got mo- more followers and things. But in the meantime, I just enjoy sharing my knowledge with other people and creating and inspiring. If they are inspired, we will have more people in this hobby, so manufacturers can continue to create, and it is not going to die.

Jennifer Wilson: Certainly, yes.

Well and one of those ways that you're sharing is you are still teaching classes, I believe you were two years ago as [00:49:00] well, um, surrounding specific collections that you do sell to folks. Has your process around all of that changed at all since we last chatted?

Rebeca Ruiz: I, I don't think so. I've been teaching for many years. Um, things that I have changed is the way that I make the instructions. Every time I try to make them better. Because

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Rebeca Ruiz: I don't want people to buy a class and just leave it there. Because they don't know how to finish it alone. It is impossible for people to complete a class in two hours.

My classes, if I do them, online, I stay in the video until I finish everything. But when it is an in-person class, usually it's from 9:00 AM to 5:00, taking a break for lunch or, or some snacks. So sometimes it's difficult to finish everything. Something [00:50:00] that I to be sure is that I provide them visual material to make sure they can finish the class.

So it takes me a lot of time. I create videos explaining the things. I create videos showing them how to cut the papers one by one. I create videos for a special, um, technique if needed. And also I provide them photos and instruction. My instructions sometimes have 80 pages of photos and details. And tables and things just to help p- people complete that project.

And I am so happy when people tell me, "I finished the project because the instru- the written instructions were enough to complete that." So when I constantly receive that, I'm very happy about that. I know that I'm... all the effort and all the work I put on that is good and, and people can finish. So people continue [00:51:00] buying my classes, and then they tell other people.

Right now, I have a lot of clients from different parts of the world. And it's because they share with friends about the instructions, about the classes, and they are so happy that they invite others to, to do that. So I'm very happy with that.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, no, it sounds like your, your kind of natural attention to detail comes into play really well with this particular avenue,

Rebeca Ruiz: A lot of details there. A lot of details.

Jennifer Wilson: Your most recent class was w- with one of the Say Cheese collections from Simple Stories. So these are Disney themed. Um, that class has 14 layouts. How do you approach planning 14 pages from a single collection?

Rebeca Ruiz: Disney is one of my favorite themes when s- um, scrapbooking. We enjoy visiting the parks. So I have plenty of photos and everything that is Disney, I love it. I, at the beginning of the class, usually when I'm going to teach a class, I'll [00:52:00] prepare a class, I focus on 12 layouts. If after making the 12 layout I still have papers and embellishment, I create more so people don't have a lot of left over. Because those leftovers are going to stay there. I have

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm. Yes.

Rebeca Ruiz: People that... I have one, one friend that I... We, we start our friendship with, with the store that I had a few years ago. She went there and start buying and start visiting me for classes. We make a friendship. And after a few years, I noticed she always bought me classes. But she never bought products. And it is because she's been in this hobby for a lot of year, and she says, "I don't have the time to sit and think and create. What I enjoy is [00:53:00] documenting my photos, so when I have the time, I bo- I buy a class from any, any place in the world." She buy from everybody.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: She sits ju- just to create layout from classes or albums from, from classes. And put her photos there. But she didn't like to create. So all those products that left after she create are there, or she throw them, she gave away.

I don't know what she did. But she tell me she didn't likes to create. She wants to follow instructions and create something. So when I create my classes, I try to use the packe- the, the package of products that buy so you don't have left over. And for my process, I, when, when putting the kit together, I first think about the bases for my layout, what cardstock or special pattern papers I need for the bases. From that, I usually include the [00:54:00] collection kit, which are 12 papers, and three or four additional papers. And then I added the embellishment. I an s- I make some sketch to how to use, especially the double layouts. I usually three double layouts. That's six pages of the class, the, the half of the class. When creating double pages is the hardest pa- part because I l- I like, in my style, I like to have continuity from one page to another. So I need to use the same paper in one side and the other in a way. Something that coordinates well. I first create those double-sided page, and then I start creating the others and dividing the papers, using them. And if I have at the end more, like in this Mickey class, I created two more layouts for them as inspiration to use the leftovers.

Jennifer Wilson: Fantastic. Yeah, no, [00:55:00] I think, that kind of scratches an itch, as, as they say, in terms of using up every piece of it. And, um, feeling like you got a lot done in the process and, and had fun and also being able to follow instructions also is, uh, so a stress relief? If you will. Um, in terms of not having to make every single decision yourself.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yeah. um, we are living in times that people have a lot of stress.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Rebeca Ruiz: A lot of responsibilities. And so taking the time to create a class, a layout from a class is something that relax them. That helps them feel better. They can document their photos. I try to use in my layouts, photo sizes that are not too hard to get. People can, can use their photos in easily from the phone or from a camera, and just document the everyday life.

This is the, my favorite thing. I think I... In my albums, [00:56:00] you can see photos from vacations, but they are not usually the, the perfect photos, p- posing with a lot of things or something. No, they are photos that we as family took with our phones, or if I bring the camera, we took. And they are everyday photos.

Doing things at home. If my girls are cooking, if they are playing a video game, or if they are... A board game, I took photos of them. And this is what I like to enjoy, because at the end of the time, this is what we remember.

Jennifer Wilson: 100%. Yes.

Rebeca Ruiz: We remember something funny that happened on a vacation. Or something we eat that we really enjoy, or in the contrary, something that was so bad that we laugh a lot and, and we didn't want to eat, and w- we want to remember that so we don't go there anymore. Those kind of stuff is the things that I, I try to document in my pages. And, and I think that's something that people enjoy when they see, because they see, [00:57:00] um, layout with everyday photos.

Jennifer Wilson: They see you, they see your family, they see real life. For sure, yes. Rebecca, this has been so amazing. Thank you so much for sharing your time with us. Can you share again where our listeners can find you online? Anything else you might have new or coming up later this year?

Rebeca Ruiz: Well, right now I don't have any class plan, but I still have, um, a few kits of classes and digital instructions too. People can find me on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram as Simply Rebecca Ruiz. Um, you g- you have the links to all my social media, but they are Simply Rebeca Ruiz, the easiest way me. they can contact me for questions or anything that they want me to, to share.

Jennifer Wilson: And to all of our listeners, please remember that you have permission to scrapbook your way. [00:58:00]

Elizabeth Albers: [00:00:00] I have seen people do amazing creative things with templates, with my templates and with other templates, that I was like, "I would've never thought to take that direction with that template." So I think getting over that idea of like it's cheating. Think of it as a starting point, and go from there. Let the kit inspire you, let the photos inspire you, let the template inspire you. You can make it your own.

Jennifer Wilson: Welcome to Scrapbook Your Way, the show that explores the breadth of ways to be a memory keeper today. I'm your host, Jennifer Wilson, owner of Simple Scrapper and author of The New Rules of Scrapbooking. This is episode 339. In this episode, I'm chatting with Elizabeth Albers about designing digital scrapbook templates that help memory keepers document their stories quickly and consistently.

Elizabeth shares how being a scrapbooker first shapes every template she creates, and why she believes getting your pages printed is the most important step of [00:01:00] all

Hey, Elizabeth, welcome to Scrapbook Your Way

Elizabeth Albers: Hey, thank you for having me.

Jennifer Wilson: Can you start by sharing a little bit about yourself?

Elizabeth Albers: Um, sure. Um, I'm Elizabeth or Liz online. Uh, I, um, am the mother to seven children. I've been married to my husband for 20, almost 27 years. Um, we live in Western North Carolina. Um, recently, um, my oldest daughter just got married, so that was fun.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, congratulations.

Elizabeth Albers: Yeah. And last year my other, my second daughter got married. Uh, my daughter, my other daughter just graduated, so we're in this weird transition period with, we have four kids at, at home, three off doing their thing.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Elizabeth Albers: Yeah, so.

Jennifer Wilson: Super fun, yes. And how old's your youngest at this point?

Elizabeth Albers: Uh, she just turned 12.

Jennifer Wilson: Okay, okay. So still middle school age.

Elizabeth Albers: Yep, just now middle sc- getting into middle school. We're done with the elementary years. Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: [00:02:00] Yeah. Do, like, do you feel that kind of wistfulness of like, this is my last one type of thing, and especially with the other ones getting, going off to their own families?

Elizabeth Albers: Yeah. I homeschool too, so I'm seeing like the light at the end of the tunnel, but I'm.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, yeah.

Elizabeth Albers: I'm excited but I'm also like, "Oh no, this is, ah.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Elizabeth Albers: Six more years, you know?

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes. So I always like to ask our guests a few little icebreaker questions. Do you have a favorite recent layout or project that you've worked on, and why do you love it?

Elizabeth Albers: Oh, that's a tough question. So, um, every year I do a weekly scrapbook, uh, uh, album, uh, that shows our weekly life. It's just in a double page layout throughout the year, and that's... My most recent is usually my favorite just 'cause I love the project. I like looking back at those pages from the year. Um, but I was looking at another album that I'm working on.

It's a trip my husband and I took for our 25th wedding [00:03:00] anniversary two years ago to Hawaii.

And there's a recent recent page I created, um, of a beach we went to. And I was just looking at it now. I was looking through my pages, and it really stuck out to me. I really like it. Because it has, uh, the pictures are really big and beautiful on the page of the beach, and it just reminded me of our time there. Um, I think that's my favorite one. It's called Waialea Bay.

Jennifer Wilson: Um, Okay. Do you, do you have a shared online where we could link to it?

Elizabeth Albers: It is on my Instagram and my Facebook page.

Jennifer Wilson: Okay, perfect.

Elizabeth Albers: It's, it's a, it's a more recent post, so you should be able to find it.

Jennifer Wilson: Nice. Yeah, yeah, we'll definitely link that up in the show notes as well as, you know, anything else that you mentioned today. Now, is there something new that you're excited to do, use, or try, either in scrapbooking or in your everyday life?

Elizabeth Albers: Oh, I don't know. That's a tough question. Um, I'm, uh, I'm so in a routine of what I do. I have been very, um, inspired by, [00:04:00] um, hybrid scrappers. And I really want to try it. I really wanna try to do, like, a paper/digital, um, album. But, uh, honestly, I'm, I'm kind of afraid to try it. I'm afraid that, uh, I'll be really, almost kind of, like, be really hooked to it and wanna, wanna do that. Um, and time-wise, I just don't have time. But is something as my... I see my kids getting older and and having a little bit more free time, of something I would like to jump in and try to do.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes. So I, I remember one of my first YouTube videos a long time ago was like how I fit all of my scrapbooking supplies in one, one tiny cart. And that's because I was primarily a digital scrapbooker. And yeah, it's, it does spiral in- into the stuff.

Elizabeth Albers: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Because then you wanna try the other thing, and then.

Elizabeth Albers: Mm-hmm

Jennifer Wilson: It's mixed media, and then all of a sudden you have a whole room full of stuff.

So.

Elizabeth Albers: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: I can get that for sure. So you are primarily a digital scrapbook template designer. How did you get started doing that versus, you [00:05:00] know, choosing to do something more like kits?

Elizabeth Albers: So when I start... I, I've been-- I was a traditional paper scrapbooker before I started digital scrapbooking. Um

Jennifer Wilson: Do you still have any of that stuff or did you kind of let go of it at some point?

Elizabeth Albers: I have the albums. I don't have the stuff.

Jennifer Wilson: Okay.

Elizabeth Albers: I actually, I do have some of the fun scissors. You remember the, the fun.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh yeah

Elizabeth Albers: Scallop scissors and all of those? Uh, I did hold on to those just mainly for my kids, 'cause.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Elizabeth Albers: Projects and things, you know, that's always fun. So I do have some of that stuff, but majority of it is, is long gone. So when my kids were really young, we had recently moved to North Carolina. I had made some new friends, and a friend just mentioned, "Oh, have you tried digital scrapbooking?" I was like, "What is that?" I...

"Show me." Um, and so she introduced me to Photoshop. She introduced me to digital kits, and so I started learning, you know, how to use Photoshop. How to, how to use the kits. [00:06:00] Um, and I, one of... When I was a paper scrapbooker, I loved of designing the page and laying it out. That was my favorite part of scrapbooking to me. Um, so naturally that translated into digital scrapbooking.

Um, and when I first started, I, I used a lot of free stuff online, 'cause I didn't want to, I didn't wanna invest heavily in case this was something I wasn't too sure about. So there were free templates, free kits, you know, back in the day.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh yeah, especially back then too.

Elizabeth Albers: Yeah. So I started off with the free stuff and, um, I came across a template one day and I...

So I tried it out, I was like, "Oh, I... This is pretty cool. I could totally make my own templates." Um, because I- that's the favorite, my favorite part of, um, designing a page. So, and I think too, it was probably a little bit easier to jump into designing a template than to designing a whole kit. So.

Jennifer Wilson: Certainly.

Elizabeth Albers: I, I did.

And I did, I did try to... I, I dabbled a little, [00:07:00] l- very, very tiny bit into designing, um, some papers and some elements and things like that, but my knowledge of Photoshop and-- was very limited. And with the time constraints of my family and homeschooling, I just didn't have time to, dive into learning all of that really well. Um, so I stuck with templates. It was my favorite part. It seemed natural. So, um, that's how that happened.

Jennifer Wilson: Now, do, are your templates based off a layout that you made, or do you start with, you know, the, the, the empty blocks a- and the concept for it?

Elizabeth Albers: I start out with an empty page. Um, so, so I might be inspired by some photos I have or a page I might wanna create or an album I might wanna create. But for the most part, it is just a blank page, and I, um, start out with that.

Jennifer Wilson: Nice, nice. So your templates are described as eclectic, fun, and easy to use. What, what makes a digital template easy to [00:08:00] use?

Elizabeth Albers: Okay, so for me, I think an, a template that is easy to use has minimal extra stuff. So we

have the basic, you know, photo spot, some journaling. What's... I was thinking what... I... Okay, I'm gonna be honest. I create templates for my- myself, and so I think about what do I wanna, what do I want on a template for my own personal scrapbooking? I want photo spots. I want journaling. I want a place for a title. I want a place for a date. Those are the most important aspects of, of a page to me. So I, I start with that, and then I might add a few elements in to kinda balance it out or add some, you know, creative fun. So to me, that's what makes a template, easy to use is, is ba- it has the basic parts and, and it's easy to kinda plug and go. Um, I do... And, and then the eclect- eclectic part of it, you know, I have, I have some creative templates out there, my art journaling sets, um, some blended photo type templates. [00:09:00] So I get creative there too, but even those templates are, are simple as in that it has the fun parts, but it's still simple enough where you can just kinda put your stuff in there, and it can be done quickly and easily.

Jennifer Wilson: Sure. So without a lot of, I mean, you can choose to e- embellish to your heart's content but, um, it feels complete without that too.

Elizabeth Albers: Yeah. Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: So you mentioned that you do weekly pages, so this would be similar to maybe a, a paper scrapbooker's Project Life album.

Elizabeth Albers: Mm-hmm.

Jennifer Wilson: And, and you've talked about how you try to work on getting them done even during busy weeks.

Elizabeth Albers: Mm-hmm.

Jennifer Wilson: Can you talk more about how being a scrapbooker first and foremost informs how you design templates and the, the decisions that you make in terms of making series and different, different overall styles?

Elizabeth Albers: Yeah. So when I'm designing, especially on weekly template sets, I think, "What is my purpose this year? What do I want to make sure I capture on my pages for my family.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Elizabeth Albers: And so I, I, I want [00:10:00] to think about that first and foremost when I sit down to create a template or scrapbook. My weekly scrapbooking, um, the way I get it done quickly is when I design the templates, I design the templates to, um, be able to sit down and scrapbook them quickly. I think about what is my goal, do I wanna accomplish with my weekly, um, templates, with my weekly pages for my family.

So then when I sit down to, to scrapbook, kinda plug and go. I can get my pictures in there, I can get my journaling in there, I can add the few little fun things. And something that keeps me, um, keeps me on top of my projects, keeps me going, is that I sit down at the same, on the same day every week, and it's my number one priority is to get that weekly page done. So I make sure that's done before anything else.

Jennifer Wilson: What day of the week is that?

Elizabeth Albers: So usually Sunday afternoon or evening is kind of our break.

Jennifer Wilson: Okay.

Elizabeth Albers: You know, restful day. And so I'm like, "I'm

sitting down, I'm creating this page." Um, and this year's templates especially are... I've created them [00:11:00] especially simple. 'Cause I just know life has been crazy. So I even, even the week of my daughter's wedding, I completed my double page spread, which.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, that's amazing.

Elizabeth Albers: You know, yeah. So I was able to sit down within 30 minutes, get my photos. I had my template ready, and just go and do it. Um, so that's something that keeps me, um, designing the template so that I can quickly and easily create those pages, but then also having that time set aside every week where my family knows this is Mom's time. I know, like, this is my time to focus on this and not have any distractions of other things I need to get done. And then also think about my family because my scrapbooks for my family have been a huge blessing. My kids love looking at them. It's helped them feel like, their place.

They get to see how our family was formed. They get to see the activities that we do, the, the way we do things together as a family. So it's just, it's a priority.

Jennifer Wilson: I love that. I love that. Yeah. No, it's, you, you do have to choose to make it a priority as well and. I think [00:12:00] that's, that's the difference between someone who can get it done in a busy week and someone who it, it's a lot harder. So talk to us a little bit about your design process? Are you doing a lot of batching work, or do you really work on a, on a schedule, a rhythm?

Or are you kind of a more organic creator in terms of waiting for that piece, point of inspiration?

Elizabeth Albers: So mostly I would say I am a batch worker. Mainly I have very limited time. I... Usually my design work is done in the evenings after the kids are in bed. I have, you know, a couple hours in the evenings. Um, and so each evening I kind of have a thing, okay, Monday night's this. You know, my, I might be getting, uh, my, my template packs in packaged up and d- and zipped and all of that. Uh, Tuesday my, Tuesday and Wednesday are usually design nights. Thursday is usually getting my newsletter ready and marketing stuff. So I do s- kind of have that batch process. Now, I will say sometimes I get in the zone. And I, I get working on a [00:13:00] template pack or an album, and it's all coming to me, and I'm like, "I got it."

Like, I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna do this until it stops, until the creativity.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Elizabeth Albers: Just stops.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah

Elizabeth Albers: That happens sometimes. Um, but for the most part, I do have a... I'm a type A person. I have a schedule. I have a checklist. Um, so that's, that's how, kinda how that works.

Jennifer Wilson: I'm curious, and this is, this is kind of a follow-up question, um, what advice you might have to someone else who, uh, is an aspiring business owner but also has a very full, busy family life and is trying to fit these things into the margins. What have you, what have you learned about not even just your choices of what to do, but maybe even choices of what, what you can't do?

Like, I just don't have time for that.

Elizabeth Albers: Yeah. So I am a big list person, and so what I... And I, I make a schedule, you know, Monday through Saturday or Monday through Friday, at whatever days are available to you. And I, I have a very [00:14:00] detailed checklist, even if it's the simplest thing, and I try to really focus on that checklist, like not get sidetracked. You know, we can easily get sidetracked by the internet or by a fun little project over here or whatever. Um, so I go through that list every night, like am I, have I done this? Have I done this? Have I done this? But I keep it pretty simple, too, um, so that I'm, it's not, it's not overwhelming. And that's the, kind of the approach I take to daily life is, you know, even when it comes to thing as like cleaning the house.

Like if I can just clean for 15 minutes every day, I can, I can keep my house straightened up. If I can just sit down.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Elizabeth Albers: And, design a template for 15 minutes or sit down for 15 minutes and scrapbook, I, and I can do simple, do, do kind of that simple process every day. I can get something done by the end of the week.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes.

Elizabeth Albers: I would say break it down into the small chunks, make a list, don't get sidetracked. S- um, that's, and that's also my Type A personality. So that has [00:15:00] helped me sort of at the end of the day, especially when you're tired or worn out and you're like, "Well, maybe I'll just," you know. But I look at that list, I'm like, "Well, first I gotta get through this list, um, then maybe I can scrapbook or desi- m- do some fun designing or do whatever." But that list really helps me stay focused, um, to get done what I need to get done.

Jennifer Wilson: Well and I think for everyone, if you can really believe that 15 minutes counts and is substantial, like when you really do focus, put down your phone, and don't look at anything else, and do something for 15 minutes, you can get a lot done.

Elizabeth Albers: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: And sometimes it just because time can, uh, fritter away so easily, and I am 110% guilty of that, you don't, you don't always believe it.

Elizabeth Albers: Yeah. Yeah. So it

does. Those time chunks help.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes. So it looks like you have kind of different template series for your weekly pages depending on how someone wants to approach it. Uh, you have Tell Your Story series, a Note series. How do you approach [00:16:00] designing your weekly templates versus ones that are not for that type of storytelling?

Elizabeth Albers: Um, so weekly, my weekly templates, um, and my monthly templates, I would say I'm really focused on, I know how I would wanna approach that as a scrapbooker. I

want something where I can get these pages in and they have s- very specific things in them. You know, you have your journaling. If it's a monthly template, uh, maybe it has some specific things to do with that month that I know that are happening, like, you know, in June, or May and June you have end of school year or vacation.

So there's some, a little bit of maybe that thrown in on the template. So those specific things. But mainly my goal with those would be, uh, quick, easy, get it in there, get the main parts. Um, those, that's my goal for those types of templates. For templates outside of that, more, the more eclectic side, maybe the more creative side, so to speak, um, there's a little bit more freedom there. And I try to let [00:17:00] myself, um, think about me as a creative person.

If I just wanna sit down and create a page for art's sake, if that makes sense. I might add... I'm gonna add some of those fun things in there that maybe I don't try all the time. Or maybe my normal scrapbooker, uh, customer base doesn't try all the time, to give them some kind of encouragement. Like, think outside the box a little bit.

Try some fun journaling. Journaling like wavy lines or try some stamps.

Jennifer Wilson: yeah

Elizabeth Albers: Some, some things that maybe that you're not necessarily gonna use on those weekly or monthly pages where you're just trying to document your, um, you know, your year or your week in a quick and easy way.

Jennifer Wilson: Well and especially I think, you know, I've noticed with some of your templates, I mean, it's a, it's a truly original design where you're fitting papers to, to certain shapes that you may not come up with on your own. And so I think that, that really, um, highlights the value of, of using templates for getting started when you wanna do something.

You wanna have the freedom to, you know, choose all the things, but not have to [00:18:00] come up with the idea.

Elizabeth Albers: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: So we've mentioned that, you know, your audience is primarily digital scrapbookers. Mine skews a little bit more towards paper and hybrid, but I certainly have a lot of digital scrapbookers in the community. Um, what do you think paper scrapbookers misunderstand or underestimate about being a digital scrapbooker?

Elizabeth Albers: Hmm. I don't know. I'm, I'm... Uh, maybe it's less creative. I don't know, maybe it's not.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Elizabeth Albers: You know, it's because you're not working with your hands and real materials, so to speak. Um, but I've seen some beautiful, especially at Hey Scrapper, some beautiful, um, artists create these layouts using my digital templates, but making paper, um, pages with them.

So I think it's can be fairly e- very easily crossed over. And used as a start- a template can be used as a starting point, for those hybrid scrapbookers. But I th- I think they're both equally, can [00:19:00] both be equally creative.

Jennifer Wilson: Certainly.

Elizabeth Albers: So.

Jennifer Wilson: Do you think it's easier to be a digital scrapbooker in 2026 than it was in, say, 2006?

Elizabeth Albers: Probably. Because there are other programs out there to use

that, that are more drop and go programs rather than Photoshop had a, has a pretty high learning curve. Um, so I think in that way, and then obviously all, you know, we're all taking digital photos. So it's all the photos are digital. So if you're a paper scrapbooker, you know, that's another step.

You have to print those out. And, so I think, I think it's easier. Um, there's more resources, there's easier programs to use, um, than when I first started back in the day.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, yeah. Do you, um, are your templates delivered only as a PSD file? Do you provide the PNGs? And do you still, like, get a lot of requests for alternate formats and, and where you have to say, you know, "I can only do so many things"?

Elizabeth Albers: Yeah, I have [00:20:00] PSD, TIFF, and PNG, and then page files, um, for Ar-Artisan creators. I, have... The, the only request I've gotten is, um, probably to work with Canva and make Canva templates. And I've tested it out. I've tried, um, to see how that might work. Basic template-- my basic PSD templates will work in Canva. Um, the ones with more unique photo spots or journaling don't necessarily, aren't as easy to use. But you could still possibly use them as a starting point. That's recently the, the only, um, requests, um, I've been, I've received, you know.

Jennifer Wilson: It's so interesting cause I am, I guess I'm glad that Canva bought Affinity. Because Affinity's a great program, and they know how to actually do drop shadows, whereas Canva still hasn't seemed to figure that out.

Elizabeth Albers: Yeah. Yeah. I think that all, from-- I've tried different programs just so I kinda know, but I [00:21:00] do think, and I'm, been using Photoshop for 20 years, you know?

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Elizabeth Albers: Crazy to say. But, um, Photoshop is, I think has the m- you just have a lot to work with and a lot you can do in Photoshop compared to some other programs.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, certainly, yes. So you mentioned that you have some curiosity about doing more hybrid work. You might wanna start dabbling in that again, I'm sure that's part of being at Hey Scrapper. It, it tries to, to bridge this divide between the digital and paper communities.

Um, are you seeing more folks use your templates as a starting point for hybrid pages?

Elizabeth Albers: I've had-- I have seen a few. Especially at Hey Scrapper, and I think it's very inspiring, so I'm hoping that ki- you know, it kinda takes off and I think s- sometimes when I'm creating those more, um, creative or like art journaling or kinda have u-unique photo spots or unique pa- um, paper spots, I do have, actually have the hybrid scrapper in mind. 'Cause I think, um, this would be so much [00:22:00] easier if you use a template to get some of these shapes or some of the, these design elements into that hybrid, um, layout.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, it'd be so interesting to like have the template be literally all the pieces on the page, like all the layers separated, not overlapping, so that you could just clip your papers and then print that out rather than... I tend to think of like, of, of hybrid, like true hybrid as I'm gonna print the embellishments and either cut them out myself or do print and cut, and/or I'm gonna print out, you know, larger pieces of paper from that. But actually having like the clipped shapes printed out, that would be really interesting.

Elizabeth Albers: Yeah. There's, there's some scrapbookers at Hey Scrapper who do that. Maybe I'll, um, sh- give the links and you can share some of those pages.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, that would be fabulous. When you think about the scrapbookers who get the most out of your templates, what do you think they have in common? Like, think about some of your very best customers, maybe some of your creative team members.

Elizabeth Albers: Mm-hmm.

Jennifer Wilson: what qualities do they share?

Elizabeth Albers: I think, um, [00:23:00] that probably the focus for the pages are usually on the photos.

They wanna scrapbook their photos. They wanna keep it simpler. Um, the, the majority of pages I see that, that's, that stand out to me are that, that more people have used my templates is they... I can tell they want to show their photos off.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Elizabeth Albers: That's an, that's sort of that number one thing about, especially my weekly life or monthly templates is, is focusing on the photos and just the memories. Not necessarily all the, the extra stuff.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes, I love that. So I remember back in the day, I felt like there was such a debate about templates, and it was almost between digital and paper scrapbookers, and they're like, um, it's like digital was bad enough, but now you're gonna use a template too? Like, that's truly cheating. I don't know. I had a, like a, a Twitter, uh, [00:24:00] argument with Noel Hyman about using templates in, I don't know, 2009 or something.

And yeah, have, how have you seen that evolved, and is there anything that like, that you still want more scrapbookers to understand about using your templates?

Elizabeth Albers: Yeah. So I think, I, I think there's a, there's like been an ebb and flow with template use. And I think it took off, took off for a while. I mean, I know in

the beginning it was kind of like, "Eh, I don't know about this." But I, I think what people need to understand is using a template is just a starting point.

It's, it can be a creative.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Elizabeth Albers: Starting point. So if you're, if you are... I think there's could be two, two purposes with templates. One, and, uh, my weekly sets, my monthly sets, it is about documenting the memories, getting that in an album so that you can share it with your family and friends. Then there's the creative aspect of scrapbooking, where we wanna be creative and we wanna, um, a beautiful page that's our own, so- sort of has our own stamp on [00:25:00] it. Um, but that template again, is just a starting point. You can add or take away whatever you want to it. I have seen people do amazing creative things with templates, with my templates and with other templates, that I was like, "I would've never thought to take that direction with that template." So I think getting over that idea of like it's cheating. Think of it as a starting point, and go from there. Let the kit inspire you, let the photos inspire you, let the template inspire you. You can make it your own.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, I think with like so many things in life, it's much easier to react to something than to start with a blank page.

Elizabeth Albers: Mm-hmm.

Jennifer Wilson: I think that's why many of us feel like it's, it's easier to edit something than write something from scratch. Um, because we're reacting to it and making choices, yes or no. Do we like this? Do we not like this?

Elizabeth Albers: Yeah. Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: So it just gives you that place to start even if you completely change it and it looks nothing like the template when you finish.

Elizabeth Albers: I'm a homeschooler, so I'm applying this to other areas. Well, I think of, you know, when you're teaching your student to write a essay, you start with a [00:26:00] outline, right? You're not just gonna give a blank.

Jennifer Wilson: Yep.

Elizabeth Albers: Canvas of like, "Do whatever," you know? And as they use that outline, as they use that template, they get better and better and get more creative.

And so I think it can just be the same way. Like, it's, a template, if it's a good template, has that good core to it, you can build on it, um, and do what you want with it

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes. Definitely, 100%. I think one other thing that stands out to me is that I feel like if you start digital scrapbooking with templates and just learn how to do a clipping mask, like you don't have to know 98% of what Photoshop does, but if you can do those things, you

can, you can make your layout.

Elizabeth Albers: Yeah, yeah. How, that's how I started. I mean.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Elizabeth Albers: You know, and I think it's a great... If you wanna learn Photoshop, it's a great way to start.

Jennifer Wilson: So you've been at this since at least 2012. Was it before that? Blogging, YouTube, Instagram.[00:27:00]

Elizabeth Albers: So I started-- So my daugh- my, my daughter was, I remember we moved up here and she was about six months old, so that was 2008. When my

friend introduced me to Photoshop and digital scrapbooking. I think it took me about a year or two before I kind of s- kind of, um, took it into the blogging. I sort of, I think I started with a blog and just started sharing my pages, and I was, I started creating free templates. And that's how I started. And then I think, I cannot remember exactly when I started at Scrap Orchard. That was my first store. So that might have been 2000, that might have been 2012, 2011.

Jennifer Wilson: Okay. Awesome. How has, like how has your approach to showing up online evolved over the years? Especially, you know, since you've been in the, like the busy family season of life for, for so much of that or all of that really.

Elizabeth Albers: Yeah. So this is, uh, this, at, at the beginning it was a little bit easier because it was just taking off, [00:28:00] you know, blogging, Facebook. It, it was kinda easier to get into it and figure it all out, and I was, I was younger, I was more, like I kinda knew what was going on in that, that world. And as I've gotten older and more kids and, um, I would say that learning curve of social media, social, being socially present has, has gotten harder. I think 'cause there's just more out there.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Elizabeth Albers: I, this goes back to my tried and true schedule. Like I have some basic things I do, um, that just keep me present. Now it might not be the best way to do things currently. But it's... But I'm like it's, I'm, I'm doing what I can with the time that I have. Um, through my blog post. I still have a blog, my same blog. I still put my pages out there. I share my pages on Instagram and, you know, my new releases out there and Facebook. I every once in a while try to be creative, you know, and put a little reel or something like that. But I can't, that's something I'm having a harder time [00:29:00] finding time for or wrapping my brain around as I get, um, get older or I don't know, social media stuff changes. I guess the most important thing to me about being present online is I do wanna share. I love sharing my weekly pages. I like showing people how you can do this, you know, you can do this every week. You can

scrapbook a page every week and make an album for your family. I think that's probably my number one, uh, goal of being present online would be sharing my weekly pages and saying, "At the end of the year, you can have a complete album for your, for your family."

And then I sh- throw in my extra creative pages every once in a while that I've done for other albums or other projects. But I just wanna show people, "Here I am. This is my page. You can do this." it's, that's kind of my extent of, of what I, um, have time for online, I guess. So to speak, and sharing and being, trying to be present in that way.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, it sounds like that's kind of [00:30:00] deeply integrated with your motivation to keep designing, and like your your personal scrapbooking fuels your interest and passion for sharing these tools with your audience.

Elizabeth Albers: Yeah, and when I'm creating, especially my weekly set, when I'm sitting down and creating those templates, I think, I, I'll be honest, I'm a little bit selfish. I'm creating them for myself.

Jennifer Wilson: Sure. Yeah.

Elizabeth Albers: That is my goal. Like, I, I... if I couldn't make these scrapbook albums for my family, um, I don't, I don't know. I don't know that I would be doing what I'm doing.

Jennifer Wilson: Do you print your pages as a book at the end of the year?

Elizabeth Albers: Yes. Yep.

Jennifer Wilson: And do you have a, a service that you really love to use?

Elizabeth Albers: I've tried different ones. Uh, I've done Shutterfly and Blurb. I've done the, um... I've used Persnickety Prints to print 12 by 12 pages and put them in a three-ring album. The last couple years I've done Shutterfly. It just seems like the easiest and, um, the, um, you know, [00:31:00] you can get the...

wait for a deal, get it done, done pretty cheaply with a good deal. But yeah, and that's an, that's another important thing I tell people, and I want, wanna make people sh- you know, you're creating these digital pages, print them.

'Cause that's how people are really gonna enjoy them. And my family, mean, they...

I would say every week at least an, a scrapbook album is pulled out, and it's really fun. Or we'll do an event, or we'll think of... Um, my kids will be like, "Oh, I remember that." And they'll, they're like, "When was that?" And so they'll go find the scrapbook album, find the page. They're like, "Oh yeah, that was, you know, so and so, and that was..." So it's... having them printed is, I think, super important.

Jennifer Wilson: That's really cool. Yeah, no, I totally agree. Um, whether it's just printing photos, printing your digital pages, or actually getting your paper layouts into albums, we need to make sure that we're closing that loop and, and getting our work shared.

Elizabeth Albers: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: So last year you moved to Hey Scrapper after a long time with The Lily Pad. How has that transition been for you?

Elizabeth Albers: So [00:32:00] it's, uh, it's been great. I think it's helped me... The way Elif has set out the release schedule and, um, the calendar, it's, it's actually relaxed me a little bit.

So that I've had a little bit more time to try some new things and experiment. And I'm a, like I said, I'm a Type A person, so if there was a release every week, I- that's what I'm...

You know, I'm, I'm releasing something every week, and at Hey Scrapper, we release, make, uh, new releases every, uh, two times a month. So that has freed me up a little bit. So I've learned Illustrator some more. I've done some photography classes. Um, so it's actually helped my creativ- creativity a little bit. Um, and then also I love seeing, it's, it's a different... There's some different design styles there, and so it... I see the hybrid scrappers using my templates.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Elizabeth Albers: So it's, it's been inspirational in that way. Um, it's, it's been a tr- I mean, it's, it w- it was definitely hard moving away from The Lily Pad. It was... I was there for a long time.

A lot of, [00:33:00] a lot of people, a lot of, um, customers, a lot of, um, friends. But through social media and all that, we still... There's still connection there. So it's been, been good.

Jennifer Wilson: We will, we will link, uh, Elif's episode, um, that she did with us right when, uh, Hey Scrapper launched. Because she really talks a lot about how she wanted to create a, um, a designer supportive environment, and how important that was to the whole, the whole business model.

Elizabeth Albers: Yeah. Yeah. It's, it, it helped me, just be a little bit more relaxed in that sense, but then also focus on some other creative and design, like learning some different, learning some new things.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Elizabeth Albers: So yeah, she did a good job at that.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. If, if you, spaciousness is what breeds, you know, new creativity, new ideas, um, for sure. So just to wrap up here, is there one thing you want listeners to know about you or your work that doesn't always come through online?

Elizabeth Albers: Oh, I don't know. I thought about this. I, I would hope that I'm, I'm transparent [00:34:00] online with the way I scrapbook and the way I design things. So if not, if people don't know this about me, I, I do. I scrapbook, I design for myself. I'm always thinking about what... How would I want this page to look? Would I, would I personally use this template myself? so I, I, I think about that a lot when I'm designing. You know, also feel free to message me, ask me questions. Like I love, I love... I always say there's a couple things I love talking about. I love talking about scrapbooking.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Elizabeth Albers: And I love talking about homeschooling. So like anybody wants.

Jennifer Wilson: Okay.

Elizabeth Albers: To ask me any questions on those things, you know, just send message.

Jennifer Wilson: Wonderful. Can you share where our listeners can find you online? Anything else you might have new or coming up that you'd like to tease, um, for later this year?

Elizabeth Albers: You can find me at scrappingwithliz.com, that's my blog, and then Hey Scrapper. Um, and then you can find... Also, [00:35:00] I'm on Instagram and Facebook under Scrapping with Liz, so you can find me there. And, oh yeah, something I have coming up. Okay. So my family and I have a really fun summer trip coming up. It's, it's, it's big, and it's something we've been looking forward to for several years. And so keeping that in mind, I've been designing a special vacation album. That will be coming out hopefully in July. And I've, I've... As I've been designing it, I've been really thinking, how do I wanna scrap- how am I going to wanna scrapbook this vacation?

Thinking about the kinds of photos I'm gonna take and the kind of memories I wanna document. So I've kept that in mind. So that's a, that's gonna be a bigger album that's gonna be coming out in, July. And I'm hoping to have multiple different sizes of albums, so there's gonna be a variety, uh, um, for all different kind of, um, hybrid scrapbookers and digital t- 12 by 12 traditional scrapbookers. So, um, look out for that.

Jennifer Wilson: Can [00:36:00] you share whether the album would work for any kind of trip, or it's specific to a location or type of trip?

Elizabeth Albers: It, it will work for any trip.

Jennifer Wilson: Okay.

Elizabeth Albers: Uh, well actually, and it will be very easily, um, u- can be very easily used just for any sort of album. It's not gonna be a specific area or specific place, or even really specifically vacation.

Jennifer Wilson: Sure.

Elizabeth Albers: I'm calling it a vacation album. There'll be some vacation-type elements on it that you can definitely use or not use. Um, but I'm just thinking of the big, beautiful pictures I imagine taking on our vacation.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Elizabeth Albers: Uh, so it's kinda h- I'm keeping that in mind when I'm.

Jennifer Wilson: Wonderful. I can't wait to see it.

Elizabeth Albers: Also, I think it would work really well 'cause I have, I have two weddings that I still need to scrapbook. I'm thinking, "Oh, this, this might work really good for big, beautiful wedding photos too."

So, yeah, it should be good for, for any, any type of, uh, that, that [00:37:00] type of album. So.

Jennifer Wilson: Wonderful. Do you feel, like, intimidated to scrapbook your daughters' weddings? 'Cause these are so, like, so big and important.

Elizabeth Albers: It's, so probably. Because I haven't even started my, my daughter's wedding from last year. I haven't even started it. And I did ask her, I said, "So, want me to scrapbook this? Is this something..." She, 'cause she dabbled in digital scrapbooking a little bit. "Is this something you wanna do? What..." She's like, "I don't know, Mom, you do whatever you want." And so it is, I'm like, "I don't know." Too much freedom.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Elizabeth Albers: It is, it's, it's so, it is, it's... And when I think about my, my wedding album, I was a paper scrapbooker, did Creative Memories with all the fun scissors. So I look back and I'm just like, Ah, I don't know." I, I... So I, I wanna, I, I don't know. I haven't, it-- That's probably why I haven't even started or thought about it really, because it is a little bit daunting and overwhelming. Um.

Jennifer Wilson: I bet. I bet

Elizabeth Albers: But um, [00:38:00] think, I mean, it's definitely something I want to do, and it's on the back of my mind. Um, so maybe it will be next year's goal. We'll see

Jennifer Wilson: Sure, sure. Yeah, no, best of luck on that. Um, I'm sure you'll come up with a, an original beautiful idea for that too, so. Thank you so much for spending time with me.

Elizabeth Albers: Yeah. Thank you for having me. This was fun.

Jennifer Wilson: And to all of our listeners, please remember that you have permission to scrapbook your way.

Molove Lee: [00:00:00] I will always say that my first love is scrapbooking and memory keeping, and part of that is adding a photo. Like - we say in my family, "It didn't happen if there's no photo. You didn't share a photo in the text, so did it really happen?" So I have some of that in my memory keeping junk journaling to also add a picture to just about everything.

Jennifer Wilson: Welcome to Scrapbook Your Way, the show that explores the breadth of ways to be a memory keeper today. I'm your host, Jennifer Wilson, owner of Simple Scrapper, and author of The New Rules of Scrapbooking. This is episode 338. In this episode, I'm chatting with Mo Lovely about her journey from traditional scrapbooking to junk journaling, and how she's building a creative community through in-person events and online meetups

Hey Mo, welcome to Scrapbook Your Way.

Molove Lee: Ah, thank you for having me.

Jennifer Wilson: Can you start by sharing a little bit about [00:01:00] yourself?

Molove Lee: Sure. My name is Mo Lovely. A lot of people call me Mo. I'm married with two bonus daughters, living in Brooklyn. I am a teacher by trade. I taught for about 11 years, and now I'm the school counselor for about 11 years now.

Jennifer Wilson: How has that transition been in terms of like, which do you like better, uh, being a counselor or being an in-classroom teacher?

Molove Lee: They both have benefits and their kind of flaws. I did enjoy being in a classroom, but, um, I wanted to come out of the classroom with some of the evaluations they were, putting on teachers. So.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Molove Lee: I was like you know what, maybe I'll put school counselor in my back pocket for when I'm ready to come out of the classroom. And when I finished with my second master's, I was ready to come out of the classroom. I do love small groups, one on one. So I still have the connection with the students. But it's on the other side, not academics, [00:02:00] but more the social-emotional part, which I enjoy because this way I get to play with them and use some of my other talents in my office.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, for sure. And then you also have the really important context of having been in the classroom and knowing what they're experiencing in there, so I love that.

Molove Lee: So sometimes they can't even learn because of all of the other things.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Molove Lee: That's going on in their life. So, um, I have that. You know, I'm able to speak to the teachers about some of those things like, you know, "Be a little easy because..." You know, and I didn't have that when I was a teacher. So yeah, I have, uh, the pleasure of having both worlds, um, in the education system.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, that's one of the things. My child is now 14, gonna be a sophomore in high school, and it's been so interesting to see how, like, their education, it was so different from mine in terms of all the support they've had since, since day one in kindergarten for making them [00:03:00] well-adjusted people as best as they can.

Molove Lee: Oh yeah, so different. I don't, I, I shouldn't, uh, maybe I shouldn't say this, but I don't even remember sc- uh, elementary or middle school school counselors in the building. I knew they existed, but I don't remember them. But definitely in high school. But, um, it's mandated that all schools, I'm in New York City, all schools.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Molove Lee: Have at least a school counselor and/or social worker to meet the needs, especially after COVID. To meet.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, yeah.

Molove Lee: Those needs of the students in the classroom.

Jennifer Wilson: That's wonderful.

Molove Lee: And the support parents a lot, also.

Jennifer Wilson: So getting into the crafty conversation here, do you have a favorite recent layout project thing you've made?

Molove Lee: So I've been into junk journaling here recently. I would say the last two years maybe. I fell in love with attending events, and I wanna capture everything for the events. Like these, uh, conferences for planners and journals. [00:04:00] I'm, like, at the events and taking pictures and having people sign my journal and collecting all of the ephemera, the tickets. I recently attended DC Planner Journal Con in DC. I believe the organizer is Michelle. I loved the event. I had an awesome time. I met so many people. Not too long ago, maybe two weeks ago, I attended, uh, New York City Planner Addicts, um, in Maspeth, Queens. They had their 10-year anniversary, and I met so many people, and I learned so many things. So I wanna get it all into a journal. I don't know. I'm, like, obsessed with I gotta take notes from the speakers, and I wanna put the speaker's picture in my journal. So it's been, like, this whole crafty event of the crafting event. And I've been enjoying that recently. Definitely junk journaling is top on my list right now.

Jennifer Wilson: I love how, you know, with this particular [00:05:00] format you can get people to, to sign it. You can do things maybe that you wouldn't think of in more traditional scrapbooking or even more traditional journaling projects. Um, I love the, the combination of things and the freedom.

Molove Lee: There's definitely a freedom. Um, do come from traditional scrapbooking, if- I'm doing air quotation marks, right? Traditional scrapbooking and even Project Life, but junk journaling you can just glue the things down.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Molove Lee: And it looks cute. If, if it doesn't look cute, so what? I wanna keep this ticket here. I wanna keep this bracelet here, and it's just a place for everything here without any rules.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes. So is there something new that you're excited to do, use, or try either in your crafty life or in your everyday life?

Molove Lee: Um, surprisingly, um, I was inspired by, um, Ali Edwards. I call her, uh, the godmother of scrapbook. One of the godmothers.

Jennifer Wilson: Uh-huh.[00:06:00]

Molove Lee: One of scrapbooking, along with, uh, Becky Higgins. But definitely Ali Edwards I call the god- godmother of scrapbooking. She sews, like, pockets and does- she does some stitching on her pages.

And I asked Santa husband, for a sewing machine last year, and my birthday's also in December, and I got one. So I did sign up for.

Jennifer Wilson: Ooh, fun

Molove Lee: A class, and I made my first, um, denim tote bag. So cute. Um, and I've taken a series of classes. So I think it's evolving into something else. I haven't stitched one thing in my scrapbook, but I'm all about I wanna make a pillow.

Um, I want to make, um, another makeup bag. I want... So I don't know what it's evolving into. My mom definitely sews. She's made, um, clothes for my dolls growing up. She's stitched things for us growing up. So I definitely would like to one day make a quilt. So I don't [00:07:00] know. I'm excited and a little nervous.

The, the objective was to sew in my scrapbook, but I think it's growing into a little more than that. we'll, we'll see what's next.

Jennifer Wilson: Well and I think that it's actually, there, there is a degree of helpfulness to learn some of the basics of sewing on fabric before you try to sew on paper. Because I feel like it's a little, it's a little trickier than, than sewing on fabric. Um-

Molove Lee: True. But funny, funny enough, the first class that I took, they had us sewing on paper.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, really?

Molove Lee: How to do straight lines.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, nice. Okay.

Molove Lee: Mechanism of sewing. And I was.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Molove Lee: This is it. This is what I want to do.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Molove Lee: But of course we moved to fabric, but you know, they, I just learned some stitching on paper first.

Jennifer Wilson: Maybe your first, like, quilt could be like a quilted cover for your junk journal.

Molove Lee: You never know. You know what? But I do have a scrapbook from my aunt in, from Savannah. My first year of teaching, she made me a [00:08:00] scrapbook. Um, she covered it with, like, this plaid material, put some batting, I believe that's what you call it, inside.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Molove Lee: And she had, like, a little schoolhouse and some little kids stitched on the front cover. So, um, I'm, we not reinventing the wheel. My aunt's been this.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Molove Lee: For a little while now.

Jennifer Wilson: That's awesome. I love that you have that.

Molove Lee: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: So tell us more about your evolution as a memory keeper. When did you get started, and how did that change over time?

Molove Lee: Well, speaking of my aunts in Savannah, um, growing up, uh, as a little girl, I remember s- going to visit... My mom's from Savannah, and her two sisters are down there. And she had all these pictures, and she used to have us cut people out to make, like, silhouettes, and they would pop dot them and put them into scrapbooks. So I felt like I was jumped into scrapbooking through them. So, um, I did start off with some traditional scrapbooking, you know, with the photo mats, one or two pictures.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.[00:09:00]

Molove Lee: On a layout, a single-page layout. I quickly realized y- years later that I take way too many pictures, um, for that type of scrapbooking, that format. Um, I did transition into project... Well, let's say pocket page scrapbooking. Because I can house more than one or two pictures in, like, a two-page layout with the pockets. And, um, then I realized that there is something to be said about the daily, everyday, um, moments that can be captured by weekly Project Life. So the last three years I did do weekly Project Life. Along with, you know, special events. I may do a few extra pages on special events. But right now I'm behind in Project Life, let's- I'ma be honest. Because I'm all into junk journaling.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, do you find that the junk journaling is satisfying some of [00:10:00] what you are getting out of Project Life? Or are they very different for you?

Molove Lee: Okay, so I don't wanna get into the debate on what's junk journaling, but junk journaling for me includes a picture. There's rarely anything that I create that does not have a picture on it.

Jennifer Wilson: Okay.

Molove Lee: Um, because I am a scrapbooker, and if you ask, I can go to all the planner and journal events I want to, but I will always say that my first love is scrapbooking and memory keeping, and part of that is adding a photo. Like - we say in my family, "It didn't happen if there's no photo. You didn't share a photo in the text, so did it really happen?" So I have some of that in my memory keeping junk journaling to also add a picture to just about everything.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah

Molove Lee: So that's... I get that from the scrapbooking and the junk and the ephemera and the ticket stubs.

I feel like I have a nice... [00:11:00] I like the balance that I have with adding the picture, the memory keeping, and then the parts of the memory added is what I'm calling junk journal memory keeping.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, I l- no, I love it. I think you have to make it your own, and particularly since there are so many different creative projects that we could and want to do. And now with sewing, maybe you have other ideas as well. We can't do everything, so maybe we have to combine some of our interests into specific projects so that we're satisfying all those needs.

Molove Lee: Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: So, so what other approaches or formats to memory keeping, journaling, planning, scrapbooking are you doing today?

Molove Lee: Well I, I do enjoy, like I said, uh, Ali Edwards is the mother of scrapbooking in my world. So I do, um, every year, um, December-- Okay, so December's my birthday month, my anniversary month, and I love Christmas. So.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh gosh, perfect. Yeah.

Molove Lee: Yeah, so the last maybe six years I've [00:12:00] done December Daily, um, with, you know, Ali Edwards and, you know, some of her products. I do indulge in Week in the Life. Um, I do some faith journaling with scripture writing. Um, I also make ATCs, you know, artist trading cards. I just like.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm

Molove Lee: Those are smaller canvases for dolls or stickers or little phrases of encouragement. And I love a tag book. So, uh, these four by six tags that I create, um, and I bind them with a ring binder and put a bow on it.

It's like a mini scrapbook for me, a smaller canvas, a little bit bigger than a ATC. And I, I love adding pictures and ephemera to that. So it's like a mini scrapbook, and I like to use that as like gifts, um, to my girlfriends and family members, and like little memory keepsakes. So those are some of the projects that I- are ongoing with me.

Jennifer Wilson: Do you have any things that you're [00:13:00] specifically working on right now that you think of as a project? And, and I, I guess part of this question is, are you doing your junk journaling in terms of I fill a book and then when I'm done I start a new book, or do you have multiple books that you're filling?

Molove Lee: Multiple books only because there are multiple projects, like you're calling them.

Jennifer Wilson: Okay.

Molove Lee: I do have a junk journal that's... I don't have a title for it, but it is from A to Z.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, fun. Yeah

Molove Lee: Say if I'm working on a project, I have some stickers and/or even junk, and I have this, uh, cookie wrapper, and I have no place to put it, I put it in the C section of my junk journal for cookies. Um, if I have a sticker that's left over from something I'm working on in my junk journal, and it's green, I have a green page also in this junk journal, and I put it on a green page. So I do have a place to kind of put [00:14:00] everything, um, which is ongoing. When that book is finished, I'll close it and I'll, you know, share it with others when I go out to different events.

But it is shelved, and I'll start a new book. I do have some, um, running projects like that, like the junk journals. Once I finish, like, one junk journal, it's about a nine by 12. Um, it was a planner of some sort that I knew I wasn't going to use the way it was, so I just put scrapbook paper on each page and just junk journaled on top of it. And, um, here it is June. I'm about finished with that book. I'll finish it off and then it, and I already have a new nine by 12 album that I would like to start, for I guess June to the end of the... Until it's full. Then I'll start a new, quote unquote, "project."

Jennifer Wilson: I think that tip for reusing planners that didn't fully get, uh, get enjoyed, actually even planners [00:15:00] that did and maybe you don't need those pages anymore, that is still an awesome foundation for a new project.

Molove Lee: I actually won this, uh, planner at a, at an event, like a raffle. And I won it and I was like, "Oh, this is so good." And I'm like, "Oh my God." When I got home, I was like, "What am I gonna use this for?" And it was on my bookshelf for about six months, and then I was like, you know.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Molove Lee: What? I'm gonna junk it up." And everybody loves it when you, when they see it, you know? 'Cause I have junk, I have memories in there. I have all of the things in there. So but yeah, there's something to be said to repurpose. I repurpose old planners. I just cover the dates and keep it moving. Nothing wasted.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I love that and I love the, your, your A to Z and your color book for kind of all the extra bits that maybe don't fit somewhere else, but you've saved it, so now we have to put it somewhere, right?

Molove Lee: We do.

Jennifer Wilson: So what kind of supplies do you enjoy using beyond the things that you collect from everyday life?

Molove Lee: I mean, scrapbook So I do [00:16:00] have, still have a s- I do have a stash, right.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Molove Lee: Scrapbook paper. Um, I'm sorry, but I love Dollar Tree and Five Below right now. Um, you know, they do have some scrap paper. They do have stickers there. Cheap, um, know, that I can find a place for anything. I do like the brand, um, Simple Stories for their scrapbook paper, their ephemera.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Molove Lee: Bits, their frame, like little photo frames. Of course, I, like I mentioned Ali Edwards for her project-based, um, supplies that, you know, she puts out. And like I said before, the packaging, the wrappers, you know, along with everything else. Those are the main supplies that I use. My paper cutter, scissors. I do love a tape those are my basic supplies.

Jennifer Wilson: Now you've been on some like sticker creative teams or ambassador t- type teams before?

Molove Lee: Yes. I've been on a few, um, printables. So printables are really big right now. [00:17:00] Um, I've been on a design team for Chela Creates. Um, but currently I'm on a design team for, her name is Crafty Planner Queen is the shop. And her name is Robin. Um, she does like junk journal kits that you can print or you can purchase also, um, you know, pre-printed. She does, um, also what you call printables. You purchase a printable and you can print them on regular paper, sticker paper, clear sticker paper. And I'm also on a design team for Plum Soul Studios. Her name is Bernadette and she's a sh- straight stickers sticker club. Um, not sticker club, sticker shop. Um, she does sell like some T-shirts and some magnets, but her main, the main thing that I do with her are stickers.

Jennifer Wilson: Um, there was a conversation I had recently, I don't know if it was on the last episode, it might have been. At this point I ha- I've, I've been doing a lot of interviews in a row. Um, but we were talking about how [00:18:00] hybrid is becoming and will become kind of so important because shipping is so expensive, even within a country, let alone to other countries.

Molove Lee: Wow.

Jennifer Wilson: And so I love how that kind of bridges the gap to get folks access to, to fun ind- especially independent creative suppri- supplies that they wanna use in their projects.

Molove Lee: And I love that the printables, I, you can resize them, make them smaller, bigger based on the project.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Molove Lee: That you're working on. I love um, that you know, you have that ability to do that on a computer with printables.

Jennifer Wilson: So you mentioned you do still have, you know, scrapbook stash as, as I would expect. How are you storing the ephemera and junk that you're gathering? Is that next to your supplies? And h- and how does, how does kind of organizing all that differ from organizing, you know, pattern paper and embellishments and things like that?

Molove Lee: So my pattern, pattern paper I do keep by color, um, [00:19:00] or by kit. Like, you know, I have the school, school-based supplies together. I have the baby, you know, children papers together. But my junk I do organize by color also, strangely. Um, I do have, like, this binder with, uh, folder, folder pockets.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Molove Lee: Once I get some junk, you know, I may, depending on what it is, I may have to clean it up a little bit, like crumbs. Clean it a little bit and I do slip it in the color section, of this particular binder. Um, I do have several drawers with, um, ephemera, um, stickers, chipboard by season. I do organize by season. I do keep all my letter stickers together. But the junk definitely is by color. My paper is definitely by color. Scraps, uh, yes, I do keep a lot of scraps by color. So whenever I do need a [00:20:00] three, five, four piece I don't have to cut into a new sheet of scrapbook paper. I can just reach into my red scraps to grab that piece that I need. So I would say a lot of things are still by color, um, organized in binders. And I am a Ziploc girl, you know.

Um, I love a Ziploc, and I will put things in a Ziploc until I'm ready for them.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes. Now I'm curious if, um, you are finding yourself using more scraps now that you're doing junk journaling than you did in your scrapbooking.

Molove Lee: Um, I always use a lot of my scraps.

Jennifer Wilson: Okay.

Molove Lee: Um, I wouldn't say that, you know, I'm into junk journaling or more, that I'm using it the more. I would say still the, the sa- at the same pace.

Jennifer Wilson: Okay. Yeah

Molove Lee: Then remember I do AC- ATCs and I do tag books.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Molove Lee: So those are also good places for me to use those smaller bits also too.

So I'm always in the scraps.

Jennifer Wilson: For sure.

Molove Lee: Mm-hmm.

Jennifer Wilson: So let's [00:21:00] talk about some of these events that you mentioned. In particular, you just hosted an in-person junk journaling event this past weekend. Tell us about it, and, you know, were you, were you teaching? Was it like a crop? What was the, what was the situation?

Molove Lee: So it was more like a... It was so awesome. It was more like a crop, if you will. We had about 20 people at a local restaurant, um, Therapy Wine Bar in Brooklyn. I did tell everyone this is, this will be a working event, so bring your journals, bring your pictures, anything you would wanna create, um, use to create pages in your journal. I did give out goodie bags, being that the venue was named Therapy Wine Bar, I said, "Let me, you know, springboard a theme from there." So they did receive a goodie bag, wine-themed goodie bag with junk and ephemera and papers of wine and corks and, you know, wine quotes. But additional were available for them to forage.

I had [00:22:00] magazine clippings, I had, um, pa- other papers and other ephemera that they can use, um, if they wanted to for the event. Um, so what I would say it was more like a crop. But did give some guided prompts. Wine theme, of course. Um, some things like design your dream wine label. Create a page using wine colors like burgundy, blush, p- plum. Um, make a wine and dine bucket list. So I did, you know, give a few prompts. Some people did use the prompts and the ephemera and the little goodies that were given. Um, so it was, it was an awesome... The vibe in that place was so good. Even the owner was like, "Everyone's engaged." Um, she didn't even... She was like, "What is junk journaling?

Like, is, is it like vision boarding?" So, you know, I had to... Mind you, I had two conversations regarding junk journaling, I felt like she still needed to see it for herself to get, like, what we [00:23:00] were doing.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, yeah.

Molove Lee: And, um, she was like, "Wow." She was like, "Feel free to have another event here." Everyone engaged.

Everybody seemed to have a good time. Even some of the guests were asking other guests who were there, you know, in the restaurant asked about the event. um, I was very happy. Everybody left happy. They had their pages made. They were sharing and trading and looking at each other junk journals. Um, I was happy.

I love getting people together. I love sharing ideas. I love seeing other people, how they create, how they think and come up with their ideas. Um, I w- I'm really happy with the event and I, I look to have more. Um, especially in the part of Brooklyn where I live. I'm in Bed-Stuy, and I, I do travel to go to, you know, day crops or day events.

I do like meeting new people, but I was like, you know what, maybe there are more locals that are interested in junk journaling, so I'm glad that [00:24:00] I, I had it here.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, wonderful. I'm, I'm curious, like what was the range of experience level of the people that attended? Was there anybody like brand new to it?

Molove Lee: Brand new? No. I'm gonna be honest. So my guests were mostly, um, people who I've met, in the community, um, at other planner events that I've, I went to. Um, had one guy, his name is David. Um, he just launched his own label or brand, if you will, called Pinkiverse. He came to hang out. He brought some stickers with him. So I would say everyone had some experience in anything paper crafting. And you know, one young lady, she was like, "Well, what's it, what should, what can I do with this? Let me see one of your, one of your albums or one of your junk journals to get some inspo." um, I think that was the basis of the [00:25:00] event.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Molove Lee: No matter the level, your expertise level, you can still learn from anyone else that was at the event.

Jennifer Wilson: Well and everyone has, whether we're talking about junk journaling or scrapbooking or any form of crafting like this, that everyone has their own approach. To h- take these supplies and do something with them, and you can always learn something new that maybe you wouldn't have thought of from, from actually touching and, and viewing somebody else's project.

Molove Lee: Exactly.

Jennifer Wilson: So you mentioned that you've attended o- other in-person events as a participant. Um, have you done things in past years or is this a relatively new thing?

Molove Lee: Um, with junk journaling?

Jennifer Wilson: Or going to like planner events

Molove Lee: Um, I have. So I've been venturing out. I've been to a few, uh, like evening crops. Uh, it's this one young lady, I can't remember the area. But she has, uh, an event, bring your journal, bring your planner. This is a working event, with your ticket you get a happy [00:26:00] hour drink, you know. So a lot of people are, you know, come in, come hang out, bring your journals.

So I've been to quite a few of those events just to meet other people, hang out, learn from other people. So it's, it's popping up. Um, I went to even a free event, um, where all you had to do was make sure you, um, patronize the coffee shop and.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Molove Lee: Just come out. She had supplies out, and we just hung out and chit-chat and crafted for hours. So I think that's a thing, you know, it's this thing about, uh, analog and, you know, touching the things. And, um, n- lessen, um, decreasing your screen time and I think people are, quote, unquote, "buying into it" and like, "You know what? Maybe it is a good thing for me to get out and create something."

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I love this idea that, that our hobbies are at the center of what people are craving right now. And I, and I hope that it kind of, it helps to [00:27:00] reconnect folks with their, their creative side, you know, regardless of what format they choose.

Molove Lee: Exactly.

Jennifer Wilson: You've also done some online teaching and have a Facebook group. You know, can you tell us a little bit about that and anything you might have coming up?

Molove Lee: Sure. I do have a Facebook group. It's called Remember The Dayz, with ends with a Z. Um, where I post, we post ideas. I'm like, "Y'all wanna meet up, um, on this date? Let's work on a tag book. Um, purchase this printable at least so we all have, like, a starting point. Purchase this printable. Um, if you like, pull out some papers and things that you think will go with it, and let's create a, a page."

So we meet monthly. Um, our next meetup, uh, does not have a date yet, but we do meet monthly. The last time we met up, we made a tag book together. um, the month before that, we, um, created, um, what they call it, a Dutch door situation.

Jennifer Wilson: [00:28:00] Yeah

Molove Lee: Um, so, you know, we're here, like, creating together, figuring it out together. So they are classes where, you know, free classes, they're free, where we come together. Just let me know that you purchased the printable, you know, so you know at least the base of what we're using. Um, and then we create something in our journals or some paper craft together, and you have a finished product when we log off after two or three hours. So that page is on Facebook.

Jennifer Wilson: I love that. Sounds totally fun.

Molove Lee: And I do, um, host other classes. Um, I d- I've done, like, Thankful 30. That's in the month of November, where we prep a journal in O- in the October, and we, um, prep for 30 days to be thankful. I do give out prompts, um, I do give out, um, like, a little kit to start you off, and we do create a journal of 30 things that we're thankful for, um, in the month [00:29:00] of November. That's one project that we, we do as a class, a paid class where you get a kit, and then you take the class online.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, cool.

Molove Lee: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, yeah. Those projects are always so, um, gratifying. I mean, just, just to elaborate on the word. Um, but yeah, it's, uh, definitely very satisfying.

Molove Lee: Yeah, I have a lot of people when I post things, it's like, "Oh my God, this is so cute. How did you do that?" Or, "I would like to learn how to do that." So you know, I take some of, some of the ideas from the, you know, people. When they show an interest in, you know, something that I've created. And I say, "You know what, let me offer this," or, "Let me see if there's an interest for this." You know, and I think I'm more, I do not wanna sell things.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Molove Lee: A thing, you know, where you can make money, but I think I'm more on the education side where I wanna teach and share how I, create and make things in, you know, in my journals or planners. So [00:30:00] I'm more on the education side and I wanna share how to, rather than what to use.

Jennifer Wilson: Well and it's kinda ends up being best of both worlds. You can lean on what you know and do best, and then also support the shops that you love.

Molove Lee: Oh, definitely.

Jennifer Wilson: Keeps our industry thriving

Molove Lee: Definitely. I do have some, the favorite brands that I mentioned earlier that, you know, I do support and I do push. You know, when creating 'cause, you know, qua- good quality is good quality.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes. Well, Mo Lovely, can you share where our listeners can find you online?

Molove Lee: So you can find me on Facebook at Remember the Dayz Days, D-A-Y-Z. can also find me on Instagram, also RememberTheDayz21 and the name on there is Mo Lovely.

Jennifer Wilson: We will include those links in the show notes for the episode, as well as everything else that you have mentioned. Thank you so much.

Molove Lee: Thank you for having me.

Jennifer Wilson: And to all of our listeners, please remember that you have [00:31:00] permission to scrapbook and junk journal your way.

Marci Villanueva: [00:00:00] I'm in a phase and have been for a couple years where I am just really into the products, like the pretty products. I won't make a page that doesn't have some story on it. But maybe I would make a six by eight or even a 12 by 12 page with a small story. Just because I got a new collection of paper and it's so pretty and I just want to use it.

Jennifer: Welcome to Scrapbook Your Way, the show that explores the breadth of ways to be a memory keeper today. I'm your host, Jennifer Wilson, owner of Simple Scrapper, and author of The New Rules of Scrapbooking. This is episode 337. In this episode, I'm interviewing Marcy Villanueva for the My Way series. My Way is all about celebrating the unique ways memory keepers get things done.

We're excited to have Marcy as the June featured artist at Simple Scrapper

Hey Marci welcome to Scrapbook Your Way.

Marci Villanueva: Hello. Thank you for having me.

Jennifer: I am so [00:01:00] thrilled to chat with you today. Can you start by sharing a little bit about yourself?

Marci Villanueva: Sure. Um, my name's Marci Villanueva. I live in Edmonds, Washington, which is just north of Seattle. Um, I've lived in the northwest most of my life, and I live here with my husband, Rapheus. And I have two kids. One is in college, so she sort of lives here, but sort of doesn't. She's in her first year at college.

Jennifer: Mm-hmm.

Marci Villanueva: And then I have a 16-year-old who is obviously living at home. And then we also have a dog, Pepper and we have a 40-year-old Russian tortoise.

Jennifer: Oh, exciting. So tell me about, uh, your daughter going to college and how that transition has been. Because I'm just very curious and I'm gonna start asking everybody this.

Marci Villanueva: Yes.

Jennifer: She's, mine's only a freshman, but I'm like, oh God, it's coming so soon.

Marci Villanueva: Yes, it does come so soon. Um, those high school years, people say it goes quick and it really does. Um, our transition has actually been great. [00:02:00] She's going to Washington State University, which is where I went. And I think it helps that I know the campus really well. When she says she went to a certain building, I know exactly where that is. So it feels very familiar.

Jennifer: Yeah, that's cool.

Marci Villanueva: But she's done really well. She's made friends, she's doing good in school. Um, she actually, um, is coming back home, um, in about three weeks for the summer. And I think that is gonna be an interesting transition. It'll be so exciting to have her back, but it'll also be a different dynamic. 'Cause she's, you know, kind of a pseudo adult now and,

Jennifer: Yeah.

Marci Villanueva: But living under parents' roof, so it'll be, it'll be fun and exciting.

Jennifer: It's so funny to think about how when I was in high school, I felt like those years were so long, like I felt like I was in high school forever.

Marci Villanueva: Yes.

Jennifer: And now looking back, you realize it's just two seconds. So.

Marci Villanueva: Exactly.

Jennifer: So I always like to ask our guests a couple icebreaker questions. Do you have a favorite recent layout or project?

Marci Villanueva: [00:03:00] I would say, um, my favorite project right now is I'm working on a scrappy spiral notebook.

Jennifer: Mm-hmm.

Marci Villanueva: Heba Alsibai puts those out and makes those. And I'm using that as like my Project Life type documentation. So I do, um, approximately two spreads and they're roughly about six by eight. So two, six by eight type pages.

I actually think it's seven by nine is the notebook size. um, I do two spreads per month. And it, those are just really small stories. It could be one snapshot of a big event, and I'll just document that I did that event, but I might do a bigger spread somewhere else. But then I might document my coffee or might walk with my dog or just fun things like that.

Jennifer: Mm-hmm. And have you done like Project Life in other formats before this?

Marci Villanueva: Yes. I started Project Life in the [00:04:00] traditional sense that we know it in 2013. And I finished that album in 2014. And then going forward, there are different albums in different stages of completion.

Jennifer: Mm-hmm.

Marci Villanueva: Mostly pockets. Um, and then a few years ago I started doing notebooks. 'Cause I wanted 'em to be a little bit smaller.

I was starting to get too many albums and I thought I'd try the notebook style. And I do like it. I think it's, um, it feels like less pressure. The pictures are smaller. The, I feel I can use my stash.

Jennifer: Mm-hmm.

Marci Villanueva: Not everything has to be so matchy matchy. And so I'm liking that 'cause I'm really into using my stash right now. So I can use scraps and orphan embellishments and things like that.

Jennifer: Do you think having the, the foundation that has boxes, places for your stories, does that help you more than say like a blank [00:05:00] page, like just a traveler's notebook?

Marci Villanueva: I definitely do. Um, I, when I was into the pocket pages, the 12 by 12 pocket pages, I really enjoyed those. And then I tend to get bored kind of easily. So I moved into the notebooks and I do like the blocks. Um, 'cause when I'm not feeling very creative or in a design mode, I can just fill in the boxes.

Jennifer: Mm-hmm.

Marci Villanueva: Sometimes if I want a picture really large, I can print it so it covers say, four boxes. Um, and I can do my own thing if I want to, but I have that choice, so I like that.

Jennifer: Oh, I love that. Yeah. So of course I also like to ask our guests about something new they're excited to do, use, or try, and it could be inside of your hobby or in your everyday life.

Marci Villanueva: Well, I already mentioned, but I'm really excited for my daughter to come home from school.

Jennifer: Mm-hmm.

Marci Villanueva: We just went to parents' weekend, uh, last weekend. And for us it's a, a five and a half, [00:06:00] six hour drive. So we went over, we did a ton of activities, we had so much fun. And then we go back in three weeks to pick her up, move her out, and then bring her home. And I do think it'll be, um, a very interesting transition. Trying to her some independence when she needs it, but also be there when she also needs parenting. Or, yeah. So it'll be, it'll be fun and definitely a change.

Jennifer: And how will your younger kiddo, like how has, how has she dealt with that transition as well?

Marci Villanueva: So my younger kid, so my oldest is a girl, and my younger one's a boy.

Jennifer: Oh, sorry. I goofed that.

Marci Villanueva: No, that's okay. And um. He actually, um, he came with us to parents weekend and they get along really great now that they're teenagers. When they were younger they did.

Jennifer: Yeah.

Marci Villanueva: Not, they fought all the time. So it's now, now they have a really great dynamic and I love that.

Jennifer: That's awesome.

Marci Villanueva: It's gonna be interesting because he [00:07:00] still has six weeks more of school and she's gonna be out.

Jennifer: Yeah.

Marci Villanueva: I've already, I've already had to tell him just 'cause I know him so well. Just because she is outta school does not mean you are outta school. You still have to go.

Jennifer: Yes.

Marci Villanueva: So that's gonna be interesting. But hopefully she, she's looking for work and hopefully if she has a job that'll give her some, um, reasons to be outta the house.

And then it's not gonna feel like she's totally on vacation and he has to go to school.

Jennifer: Yeah, I can see that. But yeah, I hope, I hope it all. She has a great summer.

Marci Villanueva: Yeah.

Jennifer: So this is our My Way episode because you are our featured artist for June. Um, what would you say to a non scrapbooker about why you love this hobby?

Marci Villanueva: You know, I love, um, documenting, like small memories and stories. I had a situation recently where I, I needed to go look at an old album. I can't remember exactly why. But I pulled out one from several years ago and I was [00:08:00] looking for the specific story that I wanted to reference. But I saw all these pictures of my kids when they were little, um, that I had kind of forgotten about. And I had documented maybe little things they had said or things they had done. And I had totally forgotten about those things. Had I not had it written down or in some type of book that I could go back and reference. So I think it's so fun to be able to record all those memories. 'Cause I think a lot of them would get lost if I didn't have 'em written down. And then I also just love pretty paper and pretty stickers. Um.

Jennifer: That helps doesn't it?

Marci Villanueva: It, yeah, I think most scrapbookers probably when we were kids, I know I had the sticker book with all the scratch and sniff stickers.

Jennifer: Oh yeah.

Marci Villanueva: Yeah. And now I get to just play with stickers and paper and I just love it.

Jennifer: I am curious. When you're working in your spiral notebook and [00:09:00] you're also interested in using your stash, are there certain parts of your stash that you're gravitating towards?

Marci Villanueva: I tend to pick a collections that kind of inspire me for that particular year. Right now I'm trying to use a lot of.

Jennifer: Okay.

Marci Villanueva: My older, like Pink Fresh Studio and older Citrus Twist. I feel like they kinda have the same look a little bit.

Jennifer: They do. Yeah.

Marci Villanueva: It's a good way to pull out those products that I haven't looked at in a long time.

Jennifer: That reminds me of some, um, six by eight and six by six, uh, papers that I have in the closet that need to see the light of day, so.

Marci Villanueva: And those are papers I don't use very often for 12 by twelves.

Jennifer: Mm-hmm.

Marci Villanueva: And so they're perfect for smaller projects. Like little boxes.

Jennifer: Yes.

Marci Villanueva: That I wanna cut up a little piece of paper for or something.

Jennifer: Ah, so fun. So let's, let's go back a little bit. Tell us how you got started scrapbooking and, and why that came about.

Marci Villanueva: Well, I [00:10:00] have always been into pictures, which, um, even in elementary school, my parents did not take a lot of pictures. But the pictures we did have, I loved and I kind of hoarded them. And they were just, um, would collect their pictures in a shoebox. But whether it was family pictures, like grandparents, or of me. I just loved looking through 'em all. Then when we were, when I was in middle school, we lived in South Carolina for two years. 'Cause of my dad's job. And I knew that I'd be leaving and I would never see these people again. And you know, as a kid, your friends are everything. And so I made my first scrapbook. Um, it's not in the traditional sense that we think of scrapbooking today, but it was one of those magnetic page protector type things.

Jennifer: Mm-hmm.

Marci Villanueva: And I used construction paper to cut out titles 'cause that's all we had back then. Um, and I still have that scrapbook. I mean, the construction paper is totally faded, but it's like my first real attempt at [00:11:00] it. And so I've kept it. Um, the funny thing, when I do look back at that, I have pictures of all my friends and I did not write anybody's name next to their picture.

Jennifer: Oh gosh.

Marci Villanueva: I just, you know, they were the, my life.

Jennifer: Yeah.

Marci Villanueva: Like I thought I would always remember who they are. Um, and sure enough, I don't know, 40 years later, I have no idea what their names were. So that is one, um, reminder that to, at least write down some basic information next to your pictures.

Jennifer: Yeah, I'm thinking like I definitely didn't do that and I think I would remember most people, but I haven't also tried. Then again, I can never remember like, names of things that I used to know the name of. So I'm not sure I wanna try that. But it's a, it's a very important point, so that's why we should at least be doing that now if we didn't in the past.

So we know you create in your [00:12:00] Project Life style in the notebook, but what other sizes or formats are you typically creating in.

Marci Villanueva: Yeah, I tend to do most sizes. Um, I mean I started in 12 by 12. And actually going back a little bit after that, um, more uh, construction paper type scrapbooking, I got into after college, I got into Creative Memories. 'Cause someone invited to a party and that's when I got into the more traditional. That got me into 12 by 12 scrapbooking. So I've done mostly 12 by 12 and I have a lot of 12 by 12 albums. And then when life was really busy when I had little kids, I got into the pocket page 12 by 12. 'Cause that seemed like an easier thing to do. And I was busy and I could just put or cards into a pocket. And now that I have more time, 'cause my kids are older, I've been jumping around. And I kind of feel like every say couple years, I get bored of a certain size and I kind of move to a different [00:13:00] size. And right now I'm doing a lot of smaller format six by eight. Um, maybe even like a five by eight and a Life Crafted size. And that's what I'm doing mostly. But I often go back to 12 by 12. Maybe if a lot of classes are 12 by 12 size or sketches. So I do always return to 12 by 12. But right now I'm really enjoying the six by eight or the journal size, which is about seven by nine.

Jennifer: So for someone who maybe has always created in 12 by 12 or larger formats, um, what do you enjoy about the smaller ones?

Marci Villanueva: I think, um, sometimes the, the 12 by 12 blank page can be really intimidating and overwhelming.

Jennifer: Yeah.

Marci Villanueva: That's why sketches can be great 'cause it's a jumping off point. And for some reason the six by eight or something with, um, pre-designed blocks, is kind of taken the first step. [00:14:00] Away from my brain having to process what to do.

And then I also for some reason feel like I can be a little bit more playful or try new things in a smaller size. And I don't know why that is, but I am more likely to dabble in mixed media on a smaller size than I am a bigger size. I think that's just me. And I don't know why my brain thinks that way, but um, for me, I am, I feel a little bit more free to try different techniques or styles when it's smaller.

Jennifer: I can see that it just, it feels less risky. Um, you know, it doesn't feel as hard that maybe you might want to discard a smaller piece of paper versus a full 12 by 12 sheet.

Marci Villanueva: Right.

Jennifer: If you, if you were to, to mess up or really just strongly dislike what you created. Um, yeah, I can see that.

Marci Villanueva: Yeah.

Jennifer: Are there any other projects or activities that you're focused on this year? Or are you really just kind of telling the stories that you wanna tell and, and, [00:15:00] and don't have a particular plan around it?

Marci Villanueva: Um, my scrapbooking, I don't have a specific plan. Right now I am just in the mood to play and have fun. That's sort of my goal.

Jennifer: Mm-hmm.

Marci Villanueva: Um. I wanna play with my products. I'm on obvious two design teams, so I'm on obviously Simple Scrapper and then I'm on

Jennifer: Mm-hmm.

Marci Villanueva: Elle Studio. Um, so I get to play with their products every month, and that is super fun. I'm also, right now really busy. Because I decided to go back to school. And I'm working on a master's program right now. So I am actually doing a lot of creative work through that. And I'm not getting as much scrapbooking time this year. And so I think that's why I'm just really focused on having fun, playing, and whatever comes of that.

I, I have no, uh, objective of how many pages or how many projects at this point.

Jennifer: Yeah, it sounds like a great, a great balance for where [00:16:00] you're at in your life. What are you going back to school for?

Marci Villanueva: Going back for graphic design. I'm enrolled.

Jennifer: Oh, excellent.

Marci Villanueva: In a Master of Fine Arts program.

Jennifer: I can see that taking a lot of your creativity, yeah.

Marci Villanueva: Yes, it does. Um, sometimes I just need to like take a break. My brain needs a creative break for a little bit.

Jennifer: Has doing that work, has that started to inform like more of your scrapbooking? Or are they very separate for you?

Marci Villanueva: At this point in time, they're separate.

Jennifer: Mm-hmm.

Marci Villanueva: The projects I'm doing are not, um, related in any way. And, but they're still, my brain has to think of design or think of colors or, um, so there is some crossover in that way. Which is why I am only scrapbooking a few hours on the weekend right now, when I have time. And then I have to do my schoolwork during the weekday and then do my other adult responsibilities.

Jennifer: Those darn adult [00:17:00] responsibilities.

Marci Villanueva: I know they get in the way of everything.

Jennifer: So how would you describe your style?

Marci Villanueva: Oh, I always find this to be a hard question. I always want other people to tell me what they think. 'Cause I'm like, I don't know. I just do what I do. But, um, I'd say in general, I think my style is, um, simple, straight line. I like things very symmetrical rather than just some people can throw things on a page and it just randomly looks good. And I'm that kind of person that if I, I want that random scattered look. I spend, um, hours trying to like, no, that, that sequin should just be over, just a little bit over here. Um, to make it look like I just threw it haphazardly on the page.

Jennifer: Yeah.

Marci Villanueva: Yeah. Yeah. Um, but then I also think that, um, I like to be playful. I love embellishments. I like to probably over embellish my pages because then I can use more die cut, stickers, all [00:18:00] that kind of thing. So I would say it's a combination of, um, simple, but then also playful. Because I'm trying to use a lot of fun stuff.

Jennifer: Do you think that your, kind of, your, your why behind scrapbooking has shifted over time? Because you've mentioned the playfulness a lot, but then you also mentioned like wanting to have the memories. And obviously we're doing both of those, but, but how has that evolved as you've been a scrapbooker?

Marci Villanueva: Yes. I think it changes lot depending on what I'm doing that particular year or phase of life. Um, for example, when the kids were young and I was doing the pocket pages, I was documenting a lot of like things they would say or maybe the cute outfit I put them in or the activity at school.

So those were kind of small stories. Um, and more factual type based stories. And then as they got [00:19:00] older, um, and I was using more like Ali Edwards style products where there are a lot of prompt based. I was writing more stories. Longer journaling, which is really not something that I consider myself a big journaler.

I've never like had a diary as a kid. Never really liked writing papers at school. But, um, I got more into longer journaling when I was doing prompt based, using prompt based products.

Jennifer: Oh, for sure. It, I mean, it helps immensely.

Marci Villanueva: Yes. And then now I think I'm in a phase and have been for a couple years where I am just really into the products, like the pretty products. I won't make a page that doesn't have some story on it. But maybe I would make a six by eight or even a 12 by 12 page with a small story. Just because I got a new collection of paper and it's so pretty and I just want to use it.

Jennifer: So what are some of those products or even tools and [00:20:00] techniques we're gonna see most often on your pages?

Marci Villanueva: I would say, uh, again, I like to use a lot of embellishments, love puffy stickers. Um, I'm always trying to do like visual triangles. I'm always trying to balance the color. If I have a pop of yellow over here, I wanna make sure I have a pop of yellow over there, those type of things. So I think balance, um, and I like to be rather colorful.

I like, again, like the, the big collections and picking out the different papers and using several so I can get all the colors to match and blend with the embellishments and such.

Jennifer: Are there any particular trends that are standing out to you or influencing what you're picking up from your stash or, or purchasing new?

Marci Villanueva: You know, I'm sort of on a spending freeze right now. Um, and that's why I think I'm so into using my stash. Last [00:21:00] couple years and maybe starting in the pandemic, I started just, you know, buying a lot of stuff. 'Cause we were home and we were scrapbooking a lot. Um, and then I started accumulating too much. And like about this year or within the last year, I was like, I have so much stuff. I'm getting a little overwhelmed and.

Jennifer: Sure.

Marci Villanueva: I have too much stuff, it's harder to, um, actually be creative. Which everyone says, but it sounds sort of backwards that way, but it totally is.

And so I am just trying to pull out something older and go, Hey, I haven't used this in a while. Let's, let's pull this out and see what we can do with it.

Jennifer: Fun. I think. Yeah, when you, especially when you make it a fun challenge, you gamify a little bit and just know why you're doing it. You wanna use your stash and, and just make it more exciting than you can make it just as exciting as the new thing that's gonna come in the mail. So.

Marci Villanueva: Yes. Yes. And a lot of the stuff I'm like, oh, I didn't know I purchased this. I didn't know I owned this.

Jennifer: I know.

Marci Villanueva: Like new.[00:22:00]

Jennifer: Yes, I've been looking at the Ali Edwards sale and I'm like. I don't know a hundred percent which of these things I already have. So I'm not gonna buy anything. 'cause I don't wanna have to go through and and figure it out.

Marci Villanueva: That is a big problem for me. Yep.

Jennifer: Especially with like, with like alphabet stamps, I'm like, I, I don't have a, personally have a stamp index.

I don't find that, that's not something that I wanna have. A lot of our members do like having that. But I'm gonna flip through regardless to look at all the stamps. The, the names of them or whatever isn't gonna help me. Um, even a visual index, I'm gonna wanna see like the size and the scale and whether or not it has texture and, and all that.

But I'm like, I don't know which alphabet sets I have, so, um, I should just not buy any.

Marci Villanueva: I agree. I'm in the same boat. I have way too many stamps. Um, several refrigerator bins full of them. And I need to just pull them out and make sure I'm using them regularly.

Jennifer: So is there something through all of your [00:23:00] journeys that you found that really just does not work for you in scrapbooking?

Marci Villanueva: The one thing I haven't been able to get into is the, like, memory planning, documenting. I see other people on say Instagram. And I, their pages are beautiful and I'm like, oh, maybe I should try that. Kind of get fomo. I wanna do everything. But I just cannot keep up with, um. Whether it's a picture a day or filling out the whole week calendar, um, and journaling that much.

It's just, it's too much and I can't keep up with that. So def that's something I'm not gonna get into and buy stuff for 'cause I just know I can't keep up with it.

Jennifer: Well, and your, your notebook does provide a lot of that experience without the barriers of, of times in terms of having like days or weeks that are constraining things.

Marci Villanueva: Yes. And I think for me the flexibility with [00:24:00] the journal is better for me. Um, because then if one particular week I don't have anything going on, but next week is really busy and I wanna do two spreads of just that busy week, then it works fine.

Jennifer: Oh, I love that. I like, yeah, I like that freedom. That really appeals to me as well.

Marci Villanueva: Yes, so.

Jennifer: As you mentioned, you're on our creative team. What is your favorite team assignment and why?

Marci Villanueva: I really love the new sketches that come out.

Jennifer: Mm-hmm.

Marci Villanueva: Every two months. Um, for the design team, we get, we get to see all of them as you know. And we get to pick one that we wanna work with. But I think they're all so great and right now I'm actually having a lot of fun taking them and shrinking them down. So they're usually 12 by 12 or or a square shape, I should say.

Jennifer: Yeah.

Marci Villanueva: That you can make any size you want. But I've been using components on the sketch and making a six by eight or even maybe a traveler's notebook [00:25:00] spread. And that has been really fun. Again, it gives you the sketches, give you the jumping off point and.

Jennifer: Mm-hmm.

Marci Villanueva: They do the first step for me and then the rest I can play and, and do it the way I like.

Jennifer: Yeah, I love just having someone tell me how to, uh, orient the photos in relation to each other and maybe whether or not the papers are like under them or elsewhere on the page. And then I can go from there, but I just want somebody to make those initial decisions for me.

Marci Villanueva: I agree. And I tend to layer papers more, when I have a sketch. Because I'm like, oh, I didn't think I could put three layers of paper in that way. Um, but now I get to use all three different patterns. That's so fun.

Jennifer: Yes. Yes. And what about your least favorite? Assignment what's one's more challenging?

Marci Villanueva: You know, I would say the, um, the streamlined storytelling with the digital templates. I think those.

Jennifer: Mm-hmm.

Marci Villanueva: [00:26:00] Are great. 'Cause they're, they've got the prompts and they're easy to tell stories. But I like touching paper and stickers. Um, if, and so what, a lot of times what I'll do is I will do the digital layout. And then I'll print it off and then I will add things, physical things to the spread once it's done. So it makes it more hybrid.

Jennifer: Yeah, I love that approach.

Marci Villanueva: Yeah. So I get the best of both worlds. I can do the prompt and then I can also use some of my stash.

Jennifer: Perfect. Yeah. Yeah. So kind of thinking more about the, the lifestyle of scrapbooking, where and when can we typically find you scrapbooking? You mentioned right now it sounds like it's concentrated on the weekend.

Marci Villanueva: It is. So I tend to allow myself either Saturday or Sunday, depending what's going on, um, at least a half day. And I do have a scrappy friend that she used to live near me, but she moved to a different state and [00:27:00] we will Zoom, or FaceTime. We kind of crop at least a couple weekends a month together. And that's fun. I can, it's a good way to keep in touch. And in fact, we actually joke, we scrap up together more now that she's moved to another state than we actually did when she was here.

Jennifer: Oh, you know, I think that happens a lot. So especially when you have that desire to stay connected.

Marci Villanueva: Yes. so I'll, we'll do that. Um, at least one day during the weekend.

Maybe both if I can swing it. I do take care of my mom a little bit. She lives on her own, but I do go see her on the weekend, the opposite day that I'm not scrapbooking.

Jennifer: Mm-hmm.

Marci Villanueva: And help her with stuff. um. So that's about all the time that I get right now, which is kind of a bummer. But, um, I'll take what I can get.

Jennifer: Oh, for sure. And, and has this evolved over time? Like what were you doing, you know, five or 10 years ago?

Marci Villanueva: Well, so I was working part-time when the kids were [00:28:00] really little. And so I would at the time, 'cause I didn't have a scrapbook room, it was sort of, um, in a closet, so to speak. And I would put things out on the dining room table. Um, and I would lay out my book and then I might just put in a picture throughout the day or throughout the week.

I would just do little things here and there whenever I had five minutes or 10 minutes. Now I have my own room. Um, and so I can have all my stuff out. I can have it ready to go. I can have the project on the table. Um. But it helps me to have more concentrated time now. Now I don't really like the five or 10 minute breaks. I wanna have like a couple hours to really immerse myself from start to finish on a project.

Jennifer: Well, and I think understanding those preferences is important. Because maybe you keep trying, someone keeps trying to do the 15 minutes and it's just not working. Maybe [00:29:00] you do want to really make sure you get that mental, mental, uh, investment and flow of it, and you need to try to work things out a different way.

Marci Villanueva: Yes. And actually I'm also remembering, I think when my kids were, say like elementary school-ish. I would always try to scrap out of the house. Like I would go to scrapbook crops if I could, um, whether it was like Scrapbook Expo would come to town, I'd go there or there. There was a place, um, where someone rented like a library room, and I would pack up my stuff and I would go to that crop. But then now, and I think maybe it was the pandemic that did it. Now I don't like to leave my house when I'm scrapbooking. I wanna be in my room with all my stuff. I don't wanna pack it up. I don't wanna carry my stuff anywhere.

And so that has changed quite a bit too. I think it's a combination of just, phase of life, and [00:30:00] also my kids are older and I think that changes a lot of what I can and can't do.

Jennifer: Oh, certainly. Well, and technology also supports, as you said, cropping from home when you, when you can connect with others.

Marci Villanueva: Yes.

Jennifer: So let's talk a little bit about organization. Are you a super tidy person or are you a chaos All the time kind of person.

Marci Villanueva: Oh, I, I'm kind of a little bit of both. Um, it's funny, I am obsessed with organizing and decluttering podcasts. I listen to 'em constantly. I'm always trying to declutter my house. Not a minimalist in any way. But just the less clutter I have, the less I have to put away or clean or dust or all that kind of stuff.

Jennifer: Mm-hmm.

Marci Villanueva: However, in my craft room, that's a bit of a different story. I do not like to purge when it comes to my craft supplies. I, I, I don't know why. Every time I see something, I either remember the [00:31:00] project I bought it for, or I bought it 'cause it was pretty, and it's still pretty.

So I wanna keep it. I do try to keep my desk pretty tidy. If it's kind of chaos, then I don't feel mentally ready to start on the next project. So.

Jennifer: I agree with that. Yeah.

Marci Villanueva: Yeah, I like to clean up my desk between projects. Even if I'm using say the same collection. I will just.

Jennifer: Mm-hmm.

Marci Villanueva: Tidy things up. And make piles and be like, okay, now I'm ready to start. I also love my, um, project cart. And I believe it has six trays. And I will put future projects on each tray. Or if I'm working on, uh, a certain project, but I need to put it away because maybe I have a design team project that I need to do more urgently. And I can keep things organized that way. However, I also have piles on my floor that I need to deal with.

Jennifer: I understand that as well. I'm curious, with the project cart, do you find, are you able [00:32:00] to kind of keep it, keep it moving, or does it become another flat surface?

Marci Villanueva: Both. For both.

Jennifer: Yeah.

Marci Villanueva: I would love to be able to just start at the top tray and work my way down. But, um, what I find is I will set up the trays. With that intention, like, okay, these are the next six projects I'm gonna do. But then something will happen. Um, maybe, yeah, like I have a design team project that's due this week and I wanna do that first.

Jennifer: Mm-hmm.

Marci Villanueva: Um, maybe I'm taking a class and I didn't have time to finish those six projects and now the class is starting, so I wanna work on that. Um, so I think what I'm trying to do is not fill up all six trays right now. I'm trying to limit it to like two or three. 'Cause I don't really think I can get through all six, um, before something will come in and, and take my attention away.

Jennifer: [00:33:00] Well, that makes sense. That's a great course correction. Um, still allowing you to have something in the wings that's ready for you and also to know that it, you probably won't get through a list of six.

Marci Villanueva: Yes.

Jennifer: Plus also, there's so many. If, if you're not getting through the list, something else is going to become more interesting to play with as well.

Um, that's been one of my struggles is I love that, that prep. But then if I prep, if I over prep, I won't ever get to the bottom of the pile because something else, even if it's not an obligation, something else will catch my interest. Um, before that.

Marci Villanueva: That is absolutely true. I find that all the time. Yes.

Jennifer: Any other organization strategies that have worked particularly well for you or have we, we captured them all.

Marci Villanueva: I think, you know, I've got my paper really well organized on my Kalax shelf.

Jennifer: Mm-hmm.

Marci Villanueva: I've got these, kind of plastic 12 by 12 paper, I'm gonna call 'em in a bin. I don't know if that's really the right word. But I got 'em from scrapbook.com and they hold collections. And I've got all my [00:34:00] collections alphabetized by designer or by theme. So like, as an example, I have a lot of coffee themed, um, scrapbook pages. So in the Cs I'll have coffee. So everything will be by designer, but I'll have a coffee. And then I have a dog section. Um, but everything is pretty organized, so I know exactly where to go when I want

um. a certain collection or designer. The only downside to that is when I have everything together, if there is like, um, a random sticker or die cut that I could use on a different project like mix and match, I might not know exactly where that is. Like I might not remember that there was a lemon die cut in a certain collection and I'm doing a page about lemonade or something like that. A random example.

Jennifer: Yeah, I mean, but I, but I get it, and it's hard. I think no matter what, [00:35:00] what strategy you choose, it's always gonna be harder to find something. Um, like I don't, I organize my embellishments primarily by like, shape type. So flags, banners, circles, you know, leaves.

Marci Villanueva: Mm-hmm.

Jennifer: But then if I'm actually looking for, I want a bunch of yellow things, it's gonna take me quite a while to find all the yellow things.

Marci Villanueva: Yes. I do joke sometimes that it's like I organize this way, but I need to cross reference it

Jennifer: Yes.

Marci Villanueva: By color and then cross reference by shape and then cross reference by, yeah.

Jennifer: And I think that's why sometimes we tend to go more towards, like, I always wanna work with this collection. It all goes together and I don't need to look for other things.

Marci Villanueva: Yes. That is something I'm debating a lot with right now.

Jennifer: Mm-hmm.

Marci Villanueva: I do use collections primarily. Because everything goes together. Um, but then if I want to break things up, I don't go to the broken up stuff as [00:36:00] much.

Jennifer: Yeah.

Marci Villanueva: And so I'm kind of in this like gray area of what do I keep together, what should I break up? How am I gonna find it best? But for right now, I think, um, I've got a good system for me.

Jennifer: That's wonderful. One of the things that I've been thinking about was, uh, my Vicki Boutin stash and my Paige Evans stash. Those are very like, like, uh, visually distinct. Um, I'm, I'm liking to keep all of that stuff together rather than separated. Because I'm, I'm more likely to use it together even across collections. Because there's gonna be similar colors and motifs and, and just overall style.

Um. So I'm kind of experimenting with that to see is this gonna help me use more of it by keeping it together versus. Splitting it up into here's all my Vicki Boutin papers, but then putting my embellishments with everything else. Um, to never be found again. You know.

Marci Villanueva: Right?

Jennifer: Because they'd be no longer distinguished as a particular designer. So. [00:37:00] I don't know if there's one perfect strategy, but I think if we do a combination of things like you mentioned even doing, you know, manufacturers and themes, um, that can help.

Marci Villanueva: Yes, and it's reminding me maybe a year or so ago when you mentioned Paige Evans and Vicki Boutin I had them all by designer, had those designers together. But then when I needed a travel collection, I had kind of forgotten that I, both of them have done travel collections, and.

Jennifer: Yes.

Marci Villanueva: I then made a travel section and labeled it. And I pulled out the Paige Evans and the Vicki Boutin travel, and I put those in travel. So I think every couple years, sometimes my brain just starts thinking of things differently, and I sort of readjust. And maybe looking for those in travel will help now, or maybe in a couple years I'll move them back. Who knows?

Jennifer: No, that's a good point. Particularly if there's things that are like very, very thematic and you probably wouldn't be able to use them on something that's [00:38:00] not travel.

Marci Villanueva: Right.

Jennifer: Just like I, yeah, like all of my Christmas stuff is totally separate. So, um, once in a while I'll dig in there for something silver or gold, but but it's, it's does pretty well by itself.

Marci Villanueva: Yes. Yes. I do have Christmas in two Iris bins of Christmas. It's a little crazy.

Jennifer: Nice. So our last two questions are a little bit broader, broader, big picture. Where would you like your scrapbooking to be in another decade?

Marci Villanueva: Well, I definitely think I'll be scrapbooking for sure since I've been doing it for so long. I just can't imagine life without it. Um. I also, since I'm going to school for graphic design, I kind of would like to design some products. Um, I would really love to do that eventually. Um, I can't say anything right now, but I am, am in talks with one company and I might be having something come out sooner than later, but I don't wanna jinx anything.

Jennifer: Fun.

Marci Villanueva: So.

Jennifer: That's exciting.[00:39:00]

Marci Villanueva: Yes, that will be very exciting if I, it would be my first designed product and I will be ecstatic if it all comes to fruition.

Jennifer: Yeah, definitely keep us updated on that.

And then what has being a scrapbooker taught you?

Marci Villanueva: I have definitely learned to appreciate the small things. And I do think that my general like mood or personality is something that would not have done that if I didn't have scrapbooking. Um, for example, just appreciating my cup of coffee. I mean, I don't need to scrapbook my coffee all the time. But knowing that I had a peaceful moment on the patio with my cup of coffee when the sun was shining. That is something to be grateful for because not, that's not something that we can always do. And so.

Jennifer: Yeah.

Marci Villanueva: If I do a fun scrapbook page about that, um, maybe [00:40:00] I won't keep it 10 or 20 years from now. But maybe I'll look back and go, oh yeah, I forgot I used to do that. And that was a really busy time in life, and that was a really great moment that I was able to just sit for a little bit and enjoy the, the birds and the sun and something like that.

Jennifer: Yeah, those are the photos that I take that I'm like, I this feel, I feel something with this. And I need to have a home for it. And it sounds like you have a lot of home for that in your scrappy notebook. And maybe that's something I need to think about. Not that I need to think about anything. But um, but those are the ones that I'm like, yeah, like I really wanna document this.

And sometimes I do end up being a full page, even if it's something that seems really small. I just wanna play and express myself and to freeze that feeling, I guess.

Marci Villanueva: Yes.

Jennifer: Well, Marci, can you share where our listeners can find you online and anything else that you might share about what could be new or coming up?

Marci Villanueva: Well, you can find me on Instagram. I'm coffee_scrap_travel. [00:41:00] I came up with that, um, name when I was, um, just starting to post things and I was kind of embarrassed if people would like my scrapbooking, so I wouldn't put my real name on it. And now they won't let me change it.

Jennifer: Aw.

Marci Villanueva: I know. Um, and then I have a very small YouTube channel. I'm trying to get that going. And that's just my name, Marci Villanueva. And then with my schooling um, and design work, I actually have an Etsy shop where I have some scrapbook, um, cut files. And, uh, 3D cards and things like that. And that's just at Marci Villanueva Shop on Etsy.

Jennifer: Oh, wonderful. We'll definitely include all those links in the show notes to the episode.

Marci Villanueva: Great.

Jennifer: Thanks so much for spending time with me. This has been delightful.

Marci Villanueva: Thank you for having me. This, um, is my first podcast and so I'm super excited, um, and grateful that you invited me.[00:42:00]

Jennifer: We are welcome back anytime. For sure.

Marci Villanueva: Thank you.

Jennifer: And to all of our listeners, please remember that you have permission to Scrapbook Your Way.

Rachel Tallman: [00:00:00] this year I was kind of, falling out of love with paper crafting a little bit. Like, I just was like I needed to find my place in it again or find my spark again. So that's when I turned to junk journaling. And I'd seen it a lot online. And I specifically really like junk journaling for documenting my travels and my trips and stuff.

Jennifer Wilson: Welcome to Scrapbook Your Way, the show that explores the breadth of ways to be a memory keeper today. I'm your host, Jennifer Wilson, owner of Simple Scrapper and author of The New Rules of Scrapbooking. This is episode 336.

In this episode, I'm chatting with Canadian paper crafter Rachel Tallman about her journey through scrapbooking, junk journaling, and running a sequin mix subscription business. In our conversation, Rachel shares what it felt like to close that shop and what made the business model no longer workable

Hey, Rachel. Welcome to Scrapbook Your Way.

Rachel Tallman: Hello. [00:01:00] Thank you so much for having me.

Jennifer Wilson: This is going to be a fun conversation I am thinking, and I'm excited to chat with you.

Rachel Tallman: Yeah, I'm very excited to be here. I love chatting all things crafting.

Jennifer Wilson: Can you start by sharing a little bit about yourself?

Rachel Tallman: Sure. So my name is Rachel Tallman. I live in the Niagara region in Ontario, Canada. Um, I often describe it as in between, like, Toronto and Buffalo, so I'm right by the border. I'm, I'm, I'm right along the border there. And, um, great area to live in. I, I... So we don't have Target here, but I, I like to tell people that I kinda get the best of both worlds.

I'm 20 minutes away from Target in the States, but also I have free healthcare, so love that. But that's where my location is. Um, for work is... Yeah. Yeah, I love it. my job is, my day job is I work with adults with disabilities. So I basically just, like, take them to do fun things, go to the movies, [00:02:00] plays, musicals, classes, crafting, baking, all that stuff.

So, so that's what I do for work, kind of split my time between, between crafting and that. And, um, my hobbies, obviously crafting, paper crafting. I'm a huge reader. I'm a big Buffalo Bills fan. I'm a season ticket holder. I love to bake, travel, Disney. And traveling goes, like, great with crafting, because I love documenting my travels.

So yeah, that's a little bit about me.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, wonderful. Yeah, I, that, I love that part of the world, and that is super cool that you do get the best of both locations, so.

Rachel Tallman: Feel very lucky. Yes, I feel lucky.

Jennifer Wilson: Do you have a favorite recent thing that you've created, and why is it a favorite?

Rachel Tallman: Ooh, yes. So this year I kinda made it my goal to fall in love with paper crafting again. And not that I ever disliked it, but I've been paper crafting for maybe about 15 years or so now. [00:03:00] And, I've done scrapbooking, Project Life, happy mail, all sorts of things. And so this year I kinda wanted to try something new in the paper crafting world.

So I've been doing a lot of junk journaling the last couple years. But, um, one of my favorite projects this year is, um, a book journal, like a reading... Basically like a reading log that I've made. That's been really fun. I mean, I didn't invent this or anything. It's all over, like, social media and stuff. But, um, it's kind of a year-long project, and it's simple.

It's in like a traveler's notebook style notebook. And it's, um, just a way to, like, document what I read, but also like the stats of what I'm reading. So there's like book graphs and like a little like hall of fame of the books I'm reading. Um, like a diversity tracker, a book bingo, what I'm reading in my book club, what I, what I buy. And yeah, documenting the books I read each month and the ratings I give them.

So that's my latest favorite project. It's simple, it's easy, it's straightforward, [00:04:00] it's low maintenance, but at the end of the year I'll have a full album of all the books I read.

Jennifer Wilson: I love how that type of project fits in well with your desire to, like, rekindle your love. When, when we need to do that, often a simpler approach can be, um, really helpful.

Rachel Tallman: Exactly. I love it.

Jennifer Wilson: So is there something new you're excited to do, use, or try, either in your hobby or your everyday life?

Rachel Tallman: Yes. So I've actually, in the last month or two kind of been exploring different, um, hobbies or crafts outside of paper. And I've been needle pointing in the last month, which has been really fun. And like with, with scrapbooking there's like that... I don't know if it's like an instant gratification or what it is about finishing a layout in one sitting, and that's great.

But with needle pointing it's like, that takes a while. I've been working on this for, for weeks, hours and hours and hours every week. And it's taking a long time. But it's, [00:05:00] I think it's good for my brain to, to slow down with a project and not get the, the excitement of finishing it until... I don't know. I don't know how long this will take me.

But it, it's been, it's been kinda cool to try something. And that I'm sure I can incorporate in paper crafting somehow eventually. But, um, maybe it's like kind of a cousin to paper crafting. But I do wanna try cross stitching. That's kinda my next thing that's kind of similar to it. So, so those are two things.

Jennifer Wilson: I think those could be really fun for the cover of a mini album.

Rachel Tallman: That would be amazing.

Jennifer Wilson: So I haven't done any kind of, like, fiber crafting in decades. Um, can you remind us, like, what needlepointing is versus embroidery or cross-stitch?

Rachel Tallman: Oh, dear. Okay, I can try. I'm still new to it, but I actually, I just bought like a few different kits from, um, Michaels that were on sale. 'cause I just wanted to try something new. So I bought a few different kits. Um, [00:06:00] and yeah, one of them was needle pointing. And so cross stitching I think is on like a fabric, and then needle pointing is, I don't know if it's like, like a wax kind of thing or what it, what kind of material this is.

But also, um, the needle pointing uses like yarn, and cross stitching uses, um, what is that called?

Jennifer Wilson: Embroidery floss.

Rachel Tallman: Yes, that's the one. Uh, yeah. Um, yeah, so- I am still very new to it, but I am enjoying it, and I'm excited to learn more. And it's good, like, while watching TV. Instead of, like, scrolling my phone, I just find myself on, working on this project.

And I like to read, but, like, reading you don't have anything on in the background. With, with these projects it's kinda nice to have something on in the background and doing something with my hands. So it's good. It's helping me be on my phone less, that's for sure.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, 'cause, you know, sometimes it's really hard to resist the pull of the phone while you're watching TV.

Rachel Tallman: Oh, yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Or a [00:07:00] movie, and then you find yourself like, "Oh gosh, I missed that joke," or, you know, "What did say?

Rachel Tallman: Yes. It's such a bad habit, this... Though this last, like, 10 years or whatever it's been of, of social media and just, like, being so attached to our phones, like, it's so hard for our brains to just simply watch a TV show or movie now without grabbing our phone. It, it's, it's very interesting and something I gotta check myself with, for sure.

Jennifer Wilson: Well and I want all the info, like if I've seen an actor, particularly like those actors that are in everything. You're like, "I have to know where I saw this guy last or the six different things that I saw him in before." Um, and that drives my family nuts, but, um. I ha- I always Google those things.

Rachel Tallman: Yes. I'm like, "Where do I know that actor from? I've seen him or her somewhere. Like, where is this person from?" And you gotta Google it, and then you go in this rabbit hole of like, oh, that movie. Oh, that TV show. That, uh... Oh, they're married to this person, or their child. Yeah, I get it.

Jennifer Wilson: Wanted to chat with you today about paper crafting and the state of small business. Um, [00:08:00] you obviously, as you mentioned, you've crafted a lot of formats over the years, all centered around what I, I'm seeing as like a sense of joy in the products themselves. Um, before we get into more of the business side, can you tell us more about how you shifted from scrapbooking, Project Life, and into junk journaling this year?

Rachel Tallman: Yeah. So I grew up, like, watching my mom's scrapbook, like in the '90s and, and 2000- like early 2000s and stuff like that. Like scrapbooker childhood. Um, and so when I was a teenager I wanted to make scrapbooks for friends, and then when I got married about, uh, 10, 11 years ago I- was actually making... Okay, I wrote it down 'cause I forget what it...

Do you remember, like, there were these, they were almost like junk journals. They sold them at Michaels. I'm sure they sold them at other stores as well. Oh, Smashbooks. That's what they were called. Yeah. So it was, like, almost like junk journal style-ish, but that's kind of where [00:09:00] I started, like, when I... Like, about 10 years ago, like, when I really, really was getting into paper crafting, and that was a lot of fun.

But then I discovered more traditional scrapbooking and Project Life, and I dabbled in that. And about 10 years ago, I got really deeply into pen pals and happy mail and making, like, 3D projects. Um, and then that also, like, just being in the YouTube space and constantly watching YouTube videos got me into mini albums and creating these albums from scratch.

And I document my everyday life, but I'm... At this point, I'm probably like three or four years behind. 'cause I just haven't been keeping up. But hopefully one day I'll catch up. But I was kind of getting bored of scrapbooking and just needed something different. Like I was saying, this year I was kind of, like, falling out of love with paper crafting a little bit. Like, I just was like I needed to find my place in it again or find my [00:10:00] spark again. So that's when I turned to junk journaling. And I'd seen it a lot online. And I specifically really like junk journaling for documenting my travels and my trips and stuff. Um, last year I went to, for my 30th birthday, I went on a solo trip to Disney. And I brought a little, a, a really, really small kit of stuff to...

And a little, a mini printer, uh, to document my trip while I was there, and then I would collect junk as I went. And that was a lot of fun. And so at this point I've kind of combined... I, I know for a lot of people junk journaling is, like, straight up junk. You'll have a notebook and you'll put, like, literally just junk in it. So receipts, tags from, like, clothing that you buy, or like ripping up, like, paper cups or whatever, things like that, and it makes a beautiful spread.

And that's so much fun. It's accessible, it's affordable, it's something anybody can do. Um, but my type of junk journaling is kind of a combination [00:11:00] of that and scrapbooking. In the sense that my pages oftentimes look like scrapbook layouts, but I, from my trips I'll collect and keep everything. And my husband knows to, like, keep all the little paper place mats and the receipts and all the things.

So, um, I have that for my journal. So my type of junk journaling is kind of a combination of, of everything I've, I've tried over the years, and that's what I'm having a lot of fun with now. So it's a mix of memory keeping and journaling and the, the traditional sense of a junk journal. So yeah, I don't know if that answers the question.

Jennifer Wilson: It, it does. It's, it's awesome. I'm curious what size or format of kind of foundation of book you're using this year. Or are you using multiple?

Rachel Tallman: Okay. So for my day-to-day life, I'm still doing the traditional scrapbook. But for my, um, for my travel albums, I... I'm trying to get a ruler here to measure, 'cause I have the book out right in front of me, but it's probably like, um, maybe like, uh, 8 and [00:12:00] a half by 11-ish. Maybe a little bit bigger.

Yeah. So it's, um, the one I'm using for my trips lately are like a spiral bound, um, notebook from, like, the dollar store. Nothing fancy at all. And I usually end up taking out most of the pages 'cause it gets pretty thick. Because I'm adding layers and all that stuff. So, um, yeah, that's the last couple I've used.

Um, my book journal is, like, probably half that size though, so yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: I think it's really cool how junk journaling obviously isn't new. I mean, you could say that that's what my grandmother did in the '40s too, in terms of, like, bringing all those things together. But I love how this provides a different kind of entry point for those kind of your age and then, you know, and even much younger, down to even teenagers these days.

Rachel Tallman: Yeah, absolutely. I love it.

Jennifer Wilson: That excites me a lot about, you know, the future of, of crafting, and especially this whole conversation about grandma hobbies and the analog bag and, [00:13:00] and this kind of rejection of that constant online culture.

Rachel Tallman: Yes. When I first started scrapbooking, I was like, I kept it quiet around my friends 'cause I was kind of insecure about it. Like, who scrapbooks anymore? But, like, I don't know, I love seeing, like, even TikTok videos of young y- young people like teenagers or people in their 20s who are getting into memory keeping and buying little printers so they can print their photos.

I always tell my friends, "Print your photos. Put them around your house. Like, you don't have to make a scrapbook, but print..." Like, they're stuck on our phone. Um, but it, it's cool now to see. Um, in the last year or two I've also seen conversations online in Facebook groups and stuff. Just reminding people to, like, share your projects online so that, like, younger generations can see how fun memory keeping is and that we can...

So we can keep this hobby alive. And, and keep these small businesses alive that we love, 'cause we've seen so many of them close down over the last couple years. And we need to keep them alive. We need, we need more people buying [00:14:00] these fun products.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm, for sure. So it looks like you started playing with sequins and shaker pockets in 2020. So I mean, was this a joy-seeking activity, uh, given that time period?

Rachel Tallman: Yes, absolutely. Sequins are so fun and sparkly and colorful, and I like to think of it kind of like baking. Because I love to bake. And I love like with sequin mixes, you're just taking these sequins that are just one color and you're putting them together and you're making a really pretty mix. And it's like a little recipe that you put together and it makes something completely new.

And I saw a lot of my friends, um, and a lot of people online using sequins in different ways, like making these like shaker pockets or covers or, um, just different like interactive elements or things that like make, made noise or had texture, like made noise when you shake it or have texture. [00:15:00] And that was like exciting to me, like making, um, charms and like just stuff that's like, uh, more than just like flat paper.

So I was kind of intimidated by it and like using sequins and making these like 3D-ish elements or whatever, it kind of intimidated me. But once I tried it, it's easier than it looks, and it adds so much to a page or a mini album or whatever it is.

Jennifer Wilson: I think there's a lot of, like, trial and error. 'cause I've certainly done ones and it's like, oh, that worked out well, and like, oh, that really did not work out well.

Rachel Tallman: Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: Falling out. The, you know, you made something too thick and so it's not folding properly and.

Rachel Tallman: Yeah, sorry, I used the wrong adhesive or something. Yeah, I get it.

Jennifer Wilson: So how did that, that playfulness lead to a business for you?

Rachel Tallman: Well, I was having so much fun making these sequin mixes, and I, um, was just... I don't know, everything I made had sequins in them. So then I decided, well, I'll make a couple [00:16:00] extras, put it out there on Instagram, see if anyone wants any. If anyone's interested, I'll just put it out there and, um, and just have fun with it and see whatever.

Just share it because I have extra. And yeah, it, it went over really well, and so pretty quickly I decided to turn that into, like, an actual website. And, um, and then quickly after that I started to, um, do my subscription. So every month you would get three brand new sequin mixes. Um, and that w- that was really fun because then that just, like, kept me making sequin mixes every single month 'cause I needed three, three new ones a month.

And one of my favorite things I got to do every year was I did, um, like, a Christmas sequin mix advent calendar. So that was really great. I loved that. Um, that always sold out really fast because everyone loves an advent calendar, and there aren't too many crafty advent [00:17:00] calendars out there. So this was really fun.

I did some Christmas mixes, but then some non-Christmas mixes in case you couldn't go through all your Christmas mixes in the month of December, whatever. So anyway, tha- that was really, really fun for me. So that's kind of how it started. It kinda, it kinda went quickly and I just kinda put it together and, yeah, it was really successful in the beginning and, and just so much fun for me.

I do... Like, I make YouTube videos and, and Patreon videos and, and Instagram. I love all that. Like, obviously I love all of it, but this shop was like my baby. It was so much fun for me and I got to do, um, collaborations with Vicki Boutin and Paige Evans, and, um, other people, like other crafters, people doing crops, different things.

It was just some... I love to collaborate with, with people and businesses because I love to, like, bring our ideas together and, and bring their vision to life. I, I made... I also dabbled in, like, making bookmarks and I made, um, for anyone who is, um, a reader, I... If you know the author [00:18:00] Carley Fortune, we did, like, um, in my town we did, um, a fundraiser where she came and did, like, a little book talk and stuff. And I made some sequin mixes, um, that were in, like, um, acetate bookmarks with, like, a tassel and charm. And I made those to match her newly released book at the time.

So just, like, so many fun opportunities with sequin mixes, and people are always like, "You sell what? Sequin mixes?" Like, if they're a non-crafter they don't understand that, so it's kind of hard to explain. But yeah, it was, it was really, really fun.

Jennifer Wilson: Is there a particular mix that is an all-time fave? Like, this is like the most beautiful thing or the most fun thing I ever created, or do you love all your babies the same?

Rachel Tallman: Yeah, there's not necessarily one in particular, but any mix that was like a pink and purple pastel situation with gold in it, those are just my favorite colors to craft with. And there's not a lot of purple in paper crafting I feel like in, in a lot of collections. And I love purple, and pink, and gold. So [00:19:00] anything with that combination was just always so fun for me.

I always tried to do, um, one pink sequin mix at least in each month, and then I'd have like a colorful one and then either like a blue one or whatever. To try. Because lots of, lots of my customers also liked, like pink as well. So, um, I, I always try to incorporate pink as the main focus in at least one of the mixes.

But, um, yeah. And I also, I named, just because I had to, I had to Disneyify it some way. I, I named each of my mixes or most of my mixes after Disney characters. But you run out of Disney characters pretty quickly after like three mixes each month. You kinda, okay, how many like purple dress Disney characters are there?

You kinda run out of them. But anyway, it was fun.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, for sure. And, um, you mentioned the bookmarks. How did you start adding, like, new products to your shop? I know you're doing, um, charms as well.

Rachel Tallman: Yeah. Yeah, that just kind of came naturally just with, [00:20:00] with playing and with, with paper crafting and being inspired by other people. And just trying to figure out, what else can I do with sequin mixes that is maybe something that's more for everyone and not just crafters? And as I got more into junk journaling, I also, um, like repurposed like old Disney books into junk journals and, and was selling those, and charms.

Um, it was just kind of like whatever I'm crafting and feeling inspired by, hopefully like my love for that kind of is, is shown through what I, I make, and other people like that too. Um, so it's just kinda naturally what I am making and what I'm having fun with I just kind of added to the shop.

'Cause sometimes when I get inspired by something or I learn something new or I, I'm just having fun with something, I just can't stop making it and I'm just making like 20 of them. I'm like, "Hmm, what do I do with all of these charms now?" So yeah, it's just naturally what I'm into I guess.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes, yes, for sure. I mean, and that's, that's the natural way, and it comes out of what customers are [00:21:00] asking for too, and then what people are wanting to use.

Rachel Tallman: Yes, I never wanted to force anything. I don't wanna like just because I think this will sell better, I don't wanna make it... 'Cause I want, I wanna make it 'cause I love it, and I don't wanna, I don't wanna force anything I guess.

Jennifer Wilson: So you have such an infectious energy, which makes it all the more sad that you, last month, announced the closure of your shop. Um, what were some of the biggest factors in this decision?

Rachel Tallman: Yeah. So, um, it actually, the start of this decline was about a year and a half ago. There were some- like complicated like tariff things whatever popping up here and there. And some conversations starting. But then also at that time Canada Post went on strike in November. And then I think it was for about five or six weeks from November to beginning or probably about middle of December something like that. And that was kind of the first time I was like [00:22:00] whoa this it shook me a bit. Because um it was during my busiest season of the year like I said with the advent calendar. So I believe that year I either didn't do advent calendars or I just made a small amount. And just and I had a bunch left over. Um but with Black Friday and um like Christmas sales that's just I I depend on that time of year to help during the slow seasons. Usually the beginning of the year like January February is a little bit slower like post Christmas. Winter whatever. Um so I I think like a lot of businesses depend on that busy time of year to help during the slower times. But because Canada Post was on strike it made it really tricky. Um so there were some ways to get around it that I could ship anywhere else besides Canada Post. Like there were other or anywhere besides Canada. Because there were other um like carrier services that I could use. But I just couldn't [00:23:00] in Canada at an affordable price. Um so I was able to get through that. It was it sucked. But I thought it's all right next year next Christmas will be better we'll be back to normal. It's fine. So and then um August I think it's like it was like August 29th or August 30th the end of August of um 2025, um rolls around. And that's kind of when the tariffs came into effect. And I was seeing a lot of like businesses online kind of panicking and I don't know maybe I didn't do enough research into this but I just thought it'll be fine it'll all work out it always works out. Like it it'll be fine it'll work out. Um I yeah and I was just seeing a lot of like paper crafters um online in Facebook groups in their Facebook lives in Instagram uh Instagram lives. I was watching um from like I don't know Australia or [00:24:00] New Zealand and and here in Canada as well in the UK. Like people panicking a little bit because so much of our customer base is American. Um and like just to give a little bit of like perspective I googled this earlier just to make sure I had my numbers right but the Canadian population is 41 million people the American population is 342 million people give or take. So like I rely a lot on my American customers. And they've been so amazing over the years and, like, so supportive and just the absolute best.

I mean, like, just, yeah, I, I would probably say, like, 90% of my customer base was Americans. Um, so anyway, August comes around, these tariffs come into effect, and I just think it, it can't be that difficult. Like, when I drive over the border to, like, do shopping, like, go shopping at, like, Target or whatever 'cause I'm [00:25:00] just right over the border. I...

So if I go into the States and go shopping and buy stuff from Target and come back, a- as long as I don't spend more than $200, then I won't be charged, like, duties or, or not duties, but, like, taxes or whatever. Um, so, like, anyway, it's kind of a lot to explain. I won't go into the, the nitty-gritty, but, like, there is some leeway.

Like, if you spend, um, under a certain amount of money, then it's fine. There's no extra tariffs or duties or taxes or charges or anything like that. But then now, um, for Americans ordering from outside of the US, there's going to... There's now, like, a, like, there's now, like, um, like, a minimum. It's like it doesn't matter how much money you spend.

So anyway, Canada Post came up with this progr- this app, I guess, that you can take a picture of whatever product you're sending over, even if it's a gift. I, I looked into this even over the weekend just to make sure I was correct, but even if it's you're just sending a gift, they're not [00:26:00] purchasing anything, um, you still have to pay the tariff.

So anyway, on this app with Canada Post, I'll make this short, um, you take a picture of whatever you're sending, and the AI thing on the app will, like, determine how much, um, the, the duties, the tariffs will cost. Um, and so when I did that, I took a picture of my products, and you can adjust it if, if the AI thing is incorrect. But the tariffs would cost just as much money as the Sequin Mix subscription would cost.

So it was, um, my subscription was $12 Canadian, which is about $9 USD, um, and the tariffs, because of, like, the charges of, of the, the f- different fees, of course, there's always different fees that come up. Um, it was about the same. And I just, I... So you can still send there, but I just couldn't justify, like, charging my customers that much money for a $9 product.

It [00:27:00] just didn't make sense, and I had some lovely customers say that they will pay the tariffs, they don't care. But then I... A- and that was so nice of them, but I just heard so many nightmare stories from people of, like, like, if something was sent incorrectly or, like, put in the system incorrectly, like, if you input something incorrectly, like, the whole thing would be sent back, and I was just hearing these n- nightmare stories.

So I made the decision to I was thinking temporarily not send to the US anymore. Um, and that was really, really sad. But I thought this can't last forever. It's fine. But here we are and about maybe eight months later, whatever it's been. I just had to make the decision to close it down. And, and the other thing that was hard about it is in this, in August, I'm making like three sequin mix subscriptions ahead.

So I had dozens and dozens and dozens of subscriptions worth that was going to nobody. So, uh, 'cause I [00:28:00] had, I had worked ahead and I didn't see this coming. I didn't see this lasting this long. So anyway, fast-forward to the spring and, um, I just, I had to make the decision and I kind of saw it coming, but I just had hope that like these tariffs wouldn't last forever, and I just thought like there's gotta be a light at the end of the tunnel or at least like maybe like a minimum.

Like, 'cause it's only a $9 USD subscription. Like, it's not like it's I'm sending $9,000. So I thought there's gotta be some changes, but I never saw them, and I was just seeing business after business closing down and I thought that's not gonna... I'm, there's gonna be a way around this. But there, I just couldn't figure out a way around it, and so I had to shut down the shop, and it was heartbreaking and so sad.

And, um, it really sucked. But I knew it was the right thing to do because we couldn't go... Like, I, my, I have my website fees. I have the cost of buying the sequins. I ha- like, I even buy the [00:29:00] sequins from an American company. So like then there's like all of those fees and, and, and, uh, yeah, I just couldn't, I couldn't figure out a way around it.

And, um, I knew I wasn't the only one, so that was like, I guess, comforting in a sense, but it also really sucked 'cause i- it's not like, um, like I was doing something wrong. I, I could see other companies shutting down. So, um, yeah. Anyway, that's kind of long story long of the last number of months.

Jennifer Wilson: How are you feeling about the decision now?

Rachel Tallman: Now I'm feeling good about it. Um, because after every month I was just so worried, like how we're gonna get through the month with this business. Like, I have another job so it's fine. And I feel very lucky that I have another job to rely on. I have a husband who works, so like there's that too. But a lot of people, this is their entire, like, income.

This is what they use to pay their bills. So, um, [00:30:00] makes me much sadder for other people. Um, but it's was the right thing to do. I still ha- I I did a big, um, clearance sale when I closed down the shop, and I just had the most generous people buying so many things, and it, it was so lovely. I still have lots in storage, so maybe I'll do, um, an Instagram sale or something like that one day.

But, um, I still... I'm still around. Just 'cause my shop shut down doesn't mean I'm not playing with sequins. I'm still on YouTube and Patreon and Instagram and, and all the things, and crafting. But, um, it was really hard because this was my favorite thing to do. Out of all the paper crafting things, this was my favorite thing to do, and like this was like my baby.

Like, setting up this website, like it just felt so... It, it was, it was, it... I don't know. The shop just gave me so much life, and it was so much fun for me. So to shut it down really felt like a failure. And like, "What could I have done differently? What did I do wrong?" Like, how... 'Cause I tried for so long to like just make it work, like push through each [00:31:00] and every month.

But I just, reality just hit me, and I just thought, "I, I have to, I have to shut it down." I, the, it, and it's not a failure. I'm still crafting. I'm still in the crafty community. But it just, ugh, it just sucked. But it, uh, I... The emotions of it are, like the, the raw emotions of it are gone now. Like, I've kind of like worked through it.

Um, but you know, it's still like, "Oh, man. I wish I could still be doing that." But I know it's for the better and that I have other adventures ahead of me. And then it's giving me space, like I said, to fall in love with paper crafting again and to try book journaling and junk journaling and, um, needlepointing and whatever.

So giving me time to try other things.

Jennifer Wilson: So do you feel like there was a lot of intersection between what was going on in your business and, like, y- your personal passions in, in crafting, and then that was driving some of this decision to try something different?

Rachel Tallman: Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Um, and I [00:32:00] think because, like at that point I'd lost 90% of my customers, like it just feels discouraging. Like, it feels like, "What, what am I even doing here?" Like, and then you start like doubting yourself. Like, "Do people even like me?. Whatever. Because like I felt like- I don't know.

These people are gone, but it's not, not by their choice. Like, they would s- like, like I said, some of my customers were like, "I will pay the tariffs. I will pay it." And, and I just, I could, I didn't wanna risk it. But yeah, it definitely felt like I was, like, losing my passion a little bit for paper crafting because it felt like I was failing in the paper crafting world.

So then I thought, "What is the point of all of this anyway?" And it was so discouraging. But, uh, yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Would you ever bring it back if the situation changed, or do you feel like the door is, is closed?

Rachel Tallman: Um, yes, I would love to bring it back eventually, maybe in a different [00:33:00] capacity. I don't know. I, I haven't really thought about that. But the definite- the door is definitely still open if, if that were something that m- yeah, would be an option. It... I would definitely be open to that again.

Jennifer Wilson: Now, you mentioned, you know, the website fees. There's a lot that goes into running a business that the customer side, they don't see, they don't understand. Um, are there other challenges that you wanted to mention of having a product-based small business that our listeners might not realize, even beyond and before, um, these issues were, were making it harder?

Rachel Tallman: Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I would say, like, all of the other fees, there's even... There's a project I am, I'm working on that I, that we might talk about at the end. But, um, just, like, all of those hidden fees are just quite wild. Like the website and buying the product and then... And, and because I order, um, I order my sequins from the US, I will sometimes get, like, an extra charge because who knows [00:34:00] why, 'cause taxes or whatever.

There's always these extra charges somewhere. And I think the other thing that, um, is challenging in running a business, not necessarily specific to a product-based business, but businesses in general. Is that, and this was at least my experience with the tariffs, but it can be applied to anything, is that it just felt so unpredictable and out of my control.

Like, there was nothing I could do to change it. And it felt like nobody had, um, like, straightforward answers. And, like, everyone was just kind of, like, I was just hearing horror stories from everyone. And I just didn't know what was true, what was accurate. Like, some people saying that, like, if, if one piece of documentation is wrong on, like, somebody's delivery truck, then the whole truck's being turned around.

Like, you just are hearing these horror stories that, um, [00:35:00] again, I just don't wanna... I don't know what's true. And, like, there were so many different, like, tariff, I, I don't wanna say threats, but like so many different like now it's this percentage, now it's this percentage. And there was nothing that was straightforward, um, like which country is it?

My country, is it this, is it my product? Even, I think it was a year and a half ago, uh, before the Canada Post strike that there was, um, a rule where there had to be labels placed on every single product in the package that was being sent of where the product was made. So sequins are manufactured, most of them, in India.

So I went to the office store and I printed out hundreds and hundreds of these labels, I think this was last summer, um, made in India or manufactured in India or whatever it was. Um, because supposedly every single product in the package had to be labeled with the country. I think, um, yeah, there was a crop I went [00:36:00] to last year that had major issues with this and import fees.

And anyway. Um, for me it was easy b- because it's just sequins, but for people who are sending enamel dots and sequins and paper, all of these products are made in different countries. Anyway, I got a hundreds and hundreds of labels printed and then like a month, like three months later the tariffs are in effect. And now I have all of these labels that say made in India that I don't need.

So all of these rules that are just constantly changing is, it, you gotta keep up with it, but it's hard when there's no, um, single resource, I guess, to help guide you with that. So that, that's hard but, um, I guess that's just part of it.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, for sure. So tell us about what parts of the business are you're sticking with, things that you've already been doing that you've been loving and will be continue to do, and how folks can support you in those.

Rachel Tallman: Oh sure, yeah. So, so yeah, the shop is no more. But I'm still like on YouTube making videos [00:37:00] almost every Saturday. And I, I have a Patreon with videos that, more longer videos on Saturdays. And, um, and I think the, the thing... Well, probably a lot of people know this already but like just a reminder to, to anyone and everyone that like even just as simple as like sharing someone's reel or like what, liking a YouTube video or whatever are just, are free ways you can, you can support someone.

Especially for people who this is like their, um, source of income. Again, I have another job so, so it's all good. But, um, there are so many free ways to like support each other. Um, and yeah, so I'm still like in the paper crafting community doing all my things, just, just not the shop.

Jennifer Wilson: Are there any other ideas that you're exploring that you might wanna share?

Rachel Tallman: Yeah, sure. So, um, yeah, so I kinda mentioned something earlier that, um, I do have [00:38:00] something new and exciting coming up. And it's, it's pretty cool how things kind of always work out the way they're meant to. Um, but long story short, my mom and I are opening a small craft studio to host, um, classes in person.

So, um, that we're starting in the fall. Um, so it's a project we've been working on. A- and this kind of thing where it's in person is very new to me 'cause all I've ever d- I've done online classes and stuff like that, and things online, but not teaching classes in person. So that has been, um, a really exciting project.

We've been painting the studio and coming up with class ideas, and I'll be doing book journaling and junk journaling, and I would love to do, like, mini album classes as well. But all sorts of, um... My mom, u- um, who I'm doing it with, she, um, is into, like, floral design and, um, sewing and quilting and all that.

So we both, we're both crafty, but crafty in different ways. So I think we [00:39:00] complement each other well. So that's my next project.

Jennifer Wilson: That's so exciting, and I love that you're working with your mom on it and, you know, taking advantage of, of things that perhaps in some ways are easier to do right now in person. Um, and you can get folks across the border to see you as well.

Rachel Tallman: Yeah, I'm, I'm in the Niagara region, so if you're in Buffalo or Niagara Falls in, in the States, I'm just a, like a 20-minute drive away. Or if you're in Toronto or Hamilton or whatever, um, this is, this is a new little, little side project that is opening in the fall. So it's, it's gonna be fun. I'm excited.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, I'm excited for you. Um, b- before

Rachel Tallman: you.

Jennifer Wilson: are there any paper crafting small businesses that you wanna give a shout-out to? Ones that, you know, you would love to see others checking out and supporting?

Rachel Tallman: So I was thinking about this and, like, there are so many. I have so many friends or just, like, people I follow that I love. But, um, instead of naming each and every one of them, I actually last year [00:40:00] made, um, like a Google Doc that is on my Instagram profile that you... It's racheltallmanco. Um, you can...

It's just on my profile there that you, that you can click. And it's... Last year I asked the community to tell me every single paper crafting small shop or brand that you know of, um, to put on this list. So anywhere from... I, I'm working on, like, a US version of it, but we have, like, New Zealand, Australia, the UK, uh, Canada obviously, different parts of Europe.

Um, I don't remember all the countries, but, um, we have this whole Google Doc and with the links of the website of, um, small shops that are paper crafting. So I do have that list if anyone wants to access it. 'cause I, I know that it's, like, so easy and convenient to shop at, like, Amazon and, and these, like, Temu and all these websites, and they're super cheap and all this stuff.

But, like, it, it's, [00:41:00] um... We have to remember that the people who own these small shops are so passionate about what they do, and they love it just as much as you do, and they're, they're crafters making products for crafters. And, like, the people at Amazon or wherever the cheap stuff is from, they're never gonna love paper crafting the same way you do, or they're never gonna get as excited about an order as these small business owners would.

And I know it's more expensive, and I know, like, the status of, like, the world today is not easy to spend an extra few bucks on a, a hobby. Um, but if you have the chance to buy from small shops over these other big stores, I would definitely encourage it. And not saying I never shop at Amazon or any of these things. But, um, maybe if you're looking into something, look at, look at this list and these small shops first before you go to the big ones.

Jennifer Wilson: Thank you so much for sharing that, and we will include the link, um, as well as all the links y- things you mentioned in the show notes for [00:42:00] this episode.

Rachel Tallman: Awesome, you so much. I had such a lovely time chatting with you today.

Jennifer Wilson: Likewise, um, can you remind us again where we can find you online?

Rachel Tallman: Yeah. So, um, my Instagram is racheltallmanco, so you can find me there. And I'm the same on YouTube as well, and Patreon if you're interested. So those are the places you can find me. And for the craft studio, it's called Backdoor Craft Studio. So I did just start an Instagram, but I haven't started a website or anything like that yet.

So that is, that is coming, coming soon. But, um, still kind of in the works. But yeah, I am, I am posting on, on all the social medias my paper crafting products. So you can find me there if you're looking for a little bit of inspiration.

Jennifer Wilson: Wonderful. Yeah, thank you so much. You have such, as I mentioned, just so wonderful energy, and I wish you all the best,

Rachel Tallman: Aw, thank you so much. I appreciate that. It was, it was good chatting with you today.

Jennifer Wilson: And to all of our listeners, please remember that you have permission to scrapbook [00:43:00] and paper craft your way.

[00:00:00]

Kristine LeRoss: I'm choosing to document. Having my phone with me and taking photos of something that I find beautiful, and then I go back and I write down what I loved about its beauty or what it reminded me of. So I think it's just an opportunity to pause, right? To stop how blurry everything can be, and step into your life.

Jennifer Wilson: Welcome to Scrapbook Your Way, the show that explores the breadth of ways to be a memory keeper today. I'm your host, Jennifer Wilson, owner of Simple Scrapper, and author of The New Rules of Scrapbooking. This is episode 335. In this episode, I'm chatting with Kristine LeRoss about memory keeping and the Stop the Blur format.

Kristine shares how this approach to documenting weekly life became a lifeline during the transition to empty nesting, and what she's learned after two years of figuring out the format on her own [00:01:00] terms.

Hey, Kristine welcome to Scrapbook Your Way.

Kristine LeRoss: Hi. Thank you so much for having me, Jennifer. I appreciate it.

Jennifer Wilson: I think this is gonna be a fun conversation. I can't wait to learn more about you. Can you start by sharing some of the basics?

Kristine LeRoss: Absolutely. Um, I have been, well, scrapbooking, an avid scrapbooker since the nineties. Um, I had a, a family member who, um, was a Creative Memories consultant, so back in the day, that was kind of my introduction. I think I've always been a memory keeper um I have loads loads of memorabilia from, you know, way, way, way back, even prior to high school. Um, and so when scrapbooking was introduced to me, it was just like this language that I loved. It was just... I'm very visual, I'm very creative. Um, I work in real estate, so I do-- and I do staging. It just all came together. And then, um, the process really honed in. You know, I stepped away from, Creative Memories, and that was at the [00:02:00] early, you know, two thousands when we had so much access to companies and scrapbooking kits.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Kristine LeRoss: And things like that. And so I have been a die-hard twelve by twelve scrapbooker of those years, and you know, little memory books and things. But, um, Stop the Blur was something I was introduced to a few years ago, I think twenty twenty-three was when I first started. And I'm in a completely different season of my life now. I'm empty nesting. My daughter's out of the home. You know, when you have young kids, you have constant content, um, of things.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, no doubt.

Kristine LeRoss: You can do. And so I think It made me sad that I didn't have these big moments to scrapbook anymore, like to go on my twelve-by-twelve pages. And so this concept.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Kristine LeRoss: Came up, and it was perfect. Because it really just-- it fit into I was struggling in my life, I guess.

Well I can't wait to hear more about it when we get to that part of the conversation. Um, yeah, we are gonna be talking about memory [00:03:00] planning as an approach to scrapbooking today. So if you've been curious about that or wanting to get back into it, um, Kristine is a, a lover of this format. Um, but before we get there, I have a couple icebreaker questions that I always ask my guests.

Jennifer Wilson: Do you have a favorite recent layout, spread, or project?

Kristine LeRoss: Um, you know, up on, on the, um, Simple Scrapper site, I just uploaded a, a recent, um, Stop the Blur planner page that I love. You know, sometimes I love my, my weeks and sometimes I don't. But I loved that particular one, and it all came together. So I had just put that one up. Um, I'm trying to think if I did... I did a layout, like a twelve-by-twelve over Christmas, and I really liked that one as well. But those are, are fewer and far between, I think.

Jennifer Wilson: So you said you don't always love the weeks that you do in your memory planner. What kind of... Are there any defining characteristics of you really liking it?

Kristine LeRoss: Yeah. What I love-- So there [00:04:00] is-- Well, there used to be. The format's changed a little bit. So there was a monthly kit that came out, and there's a kit with the class, and then there's a printable that goes along. And in the kit is all kinds of little things. And so I think to me, when I have a week where it's just not a, a basic, boring, everyday week, there's, you know, elements in it, um, I'll pull those out, and then I decide, like color-wise, what kit I wanna use, and then it just-- it all comes together. It's, it's fun. It's like a puzzle piece, right?

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Kristine LeRoss: And so you're fitting the photos with kind of the verbiage that's on the printables and then the color formats, and it's just... It's this big design blob that all comes together, and I think, I don't know, that's-- I, I just find so much gratification in that.

Jennifer Wilson: I do find it is quite like a puzzle because there's so many smaller pieces, and you're trying to figure out how do we fit all the things we wanna fit.

Kristine LeRoss: And I'll-- Maybe we will talk about this 'cause it took me a couple of years, I would say two years, to try and to, to finally figure out the format [00:05:00] because it is so different than.

Jennifer Wilson: It is, yeah.

Kristine LeRoss: How my 12 x 12 brain works.

Jennifer Wilson: Is there something in scrapbooking or in your everyday life that you're excited to do, use, or try?

Kristine LeRoss: I love memories. I live in my memories. I love to look back in my photo memories. And so I think in general, I don't have, like, a particular, like, tool that I love, I don't think. Um, but I love to be able to document and put the memory on a page. And because when I go back and I look at that visual memory, I feel every single thing about it.

Jennifer Wilson: Hmm.

All right, let's jump in. Um, you've already shared a little bit about how you got into scrapbooking. Tell me about the time at which you made this transition from 12 by 12 to a brand-new format. Was it gradual? Was it abrupt? Did you stop scrapbooking somewhere in there and realize you needed a different approach? Tell us about how that evolution came about.

Kristine LeRoss: I think I wanna say that I started Stop [00:06:00] the Blur in two thousand and twenty-three. And my daughter was graduating from high school. She's my only child, and she was leaving for college, and it was just this-- a kind of this abrupt change of season for me. And so I love, I, I love watching Heidi create pages, and so the classroom content was fascinating.

But again, I was a- an immediate subscriber, but I didn't get the kit initially. I started with just the class and the, eh, the monthly printable. So it was the ideas. And so it was kinda me, like, lurking for months, you know, to see what was going on and dabbling in it and can't figure it out. And, um, so I was still twelve by twelve scrapbooking, but it wasn't-- I wasn't spending a lot of time in my creative space. I would say, that season was a little sad for me, and so I was having a hard time emotionally to transition [00:07:00] sadness to a twelve by twelve, right?

Jennifer Wilson: Hmm.

Kristine LeRoss: What I was called to then with Stop the Blur, it was-- it's more documenting. It's not a journal. I'm not a journaler. Um, I don't keep, you know, journals like lots of people do. Um, but it was a way to kinda bring in sadness and emotion and speckling that with, you know, other moments in life. And so I would say I was a, a big spectator for many months. Um, but I was gathering all of the, the resources and stockpiling my kits.

Jennifer Wilson: Why do you think that change in format was a better fit for this season of life? Was it just because it was a change? Was it because it was, uh, s-smaller, You were, you were telling maybe smaller stories?

Kristine LeRoss: Yeah, that's interesting. Um, I think like I said, it was, you know, I had so much emotion, and I didn't know how to translate that to a [00:08:00] twelve-by-twelve page. For me, you know, those twelve-by-twelves were always big, special moments, or it was, it was this weekend doing that, or my daughter was in an activity and doing that.

There wasn't a lot of me time. I think there was a lot of kids' activities. Um, and then, you know, everyday life going through, it can be very boring being an empty nester. You know, you wake up. You have my animals. I go to work. You know, I do the things. And, and if I don't stop for a minute and really, like, immerse myself in, in gratitude and noticing, and I think that's where, like, the Stop The Blur verbiage came into play.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Kristine LeRoss: It was literally making me stop to appreciate and know that this season may be different, but it's not empty. I can still fill it, but it doesn't feel... I'm not drawn to create with twelve-by-twelve that way. I, I feel more drawn to the planner pages.

Jennifer Wilson: Are you still creating [00:09:00] 12 by 12 layouts?

Kristine LeRoss: I am. Yeah, I am. Um, but I did one at Christmas, and I've got Easter to do, and, and I don't want it to be just big things, but yeah, I do. It, it just depends on what the project is.

Jennifer Wilson: Sure, sure. Now, okay, so for those maybe who aren't familiar at all with what we're talking about, maybe, you know, they've primarily done traditional layouts. Can you give us kind of a, a visual description of how this is different from other types of scrapbooking?

Kristine LeRoss: Oh, yeah, and I think it's very different than other types of, like, weekly journaling. Lots of people have weekly planners. And I, I, I think, I, I don't know, Heidi's system is different. And I wanna call it a system, but the way that she visually creates pages, there's lots of interactive bits. So rather than just, you know, putting stickers on, weekly pages and then kinda journaling or documenting what your calendar is, um, [00:10:00] it's a two-page spread, and there's different page formats. Um, but it's essentially a Monday through Sunday. Um, so you can write down special events that happened or items or emotions or things or what you're currently reading. Um, and then you take those elements, and you start to lay them out on a page. Um, you can do chronological, or you can just, you know, do a, a weekly summary. Um, but you use photos, stamping, um, folders, flips, like flip pages, waterfall pages. It depends on how many photos you have. I have some pages that are super thick because there's lots of elements. And it's different than just sizing down from a twelve by twelve, and I think that's initially what I was trying to do, was just scrapbook on a smaller format. But it's not really that. Um, it's really [00:11:00] diving into your days. But again, not in a calendar, you know, um, I've got this going on type of way. For me, it's more visual. It's like if I'm out and it's, it's lilac season, so there's going to be pictures of lilacs or, or what's on my coffee table or, But it's how, I guess, I envision my weeks.

So you-- there's no wrong way to do it. Anybody could put their week down.

Jennifer Wilson: How would you distinguish it from something like Project Life.

Kristine LeRoss: So Project Life to me yeah, is like cutting down those cards. So you've got folders. Um, what, what do you call this, where you slip in the, um, the pocket pages? It's not pocket pages.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Kristine LeRoss: It literally is, like, if I'm looking at a, a two by six space for a Monday, I'm not gonna slip in any type of pocket page. I'm gonna maybe write what the date and the day is, and then I'm gonna start to build elements on that day.

I might put a photo in there, or I might put a photo pocket, or I might put a [00:12:00] folder pocket or a flip for that particular day. And then I'm gonna dress up that day, and then I'm gonna move to the next day.

Jennifer Wilson: Are you rigid with trying to have something for each day, or is it sometimes you have three things for the week? What is your level of, I don't know, detail and desired precision, I guess?

Kristine LeRoss: Yeah. I am not at all rigid. So I have-- I really, really embrace that there are no rules. Um, Heidi has some format, like some general page guidelines. Um, I guess they'd be kinda like sketches in a way. There's two particular ones that you can use to jot down your notes. There's four things per day that you can jot down. And then there's another one where you can actually sketch your layout before you do it. I use those roughly. I definitely use the four things per day, to go in and just kinda label any highlights that there are. But I don't have-- I do not have a hard [00:13:00] and fast format. And part of what I love about their, switch to a new planner system is that there are pages now that you can choose from.

So there's three different page styles. So therefore my pages don't look the same every single week, and I prefer that. Because I like change. You know. And, it all goes with what's going on that week. But I also do not, um, journal every single day or every single week, um, at all. Because there are weeks that there isn't anything happening and I'm not going to sit and force myself to create something where I don't feel the inspiration. So I do try to go chronologically, but there are lots of weekly gaps in my pages and my pages are still very full.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes. Can you tell us more about the change in overall format and structure of the project? They moved from a bound book to something [00:14:00] new.

Kristine LeRoss: Yeah. Um, the bound book was roughly like seven and a half by nine pages. And they were... It was essentially seven days. So over those two pages it was, it was the week of and then you would do a Monday through Sunday with some notes. And every single day was the same. It had a different color, um, but so every page, you know, could essentially look in that same format. What I found-- Well, I found this, I don't know if this had to do with why some of the changes happened. But as you're building your pages in a tiny little notebook, it's not tiny I guess, seven and a half by nine, but your pages get really thick

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Kristine LeRoss: It becomes hard on one page to try to stamp and do all the things when there's a bunch of ephemera and things underneath it. It gets bulky. So one of the things that this new system does, the pages are all flat. [00:15:00] Um, and then they're hole punched and then there's a ring binder. Um- So it makes it so much easier to pull out two pages, and everything is flat. You can attach, detach, you can sew, um, you can put your brads on and then still put, um, like some, some tape or something over it to make it flat. So it's a lot easier. And then there was also the introduction to... there's dividers now that are more of a rigid plastic. So you can decorate or embellish, um, dividers between weeks or months. Um, there's also three different formats now. And so you can choose whether or not you still wanna have that original, uh, two-page Monday through Sunday plus the notes. Or there's different segments that you can add into. So they're just... For me, it actually felt more like, like a [00:16:00] December Daily album, like Ali Edwards does.

It felt like more of that format that you could now bring into Heidi's system. Because, again, Stop the Blur was very different to me than other memory planning that I see going on. Um, and so the closest thing I can, uh, relate it to is, like, what I do in a December Daily, where you've got choices on how you do your pages and how you bring things in.

And you don't have to use now, um, Heidi's pages, because if I have a ephemera or memorabilia from an event, I can put, um, a binder on it, and then I can also stick that in my, my planner and add that in. So it created so many more possibilities. And Heidi all the time, like, one of the things she says a lot is, "Possibilities are endless and expanding."

And I have that written next to my desk, and it's true. I mean, it's, it's endless. The creativity [00:17:00] and no wrong way, and everybody can create and add the way they want to. It's-- That's what I see this as.

Jennifer Wilson: Do you think all of your pages for a year will fit in one album?

Kristine LeRoss: Oh, gosh, no, because I've already tried.

Jennifer Wilson: How many albums do you think you'll need?

Kristine LeRoss: My gosh, for one year.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Kristine LeRoss: Yeah, probably four, I would say. Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Okay. Now, and one question I think we're gonna have from, uh, our audience, 'cause I know I get asked this a lot about other formats. How are you dealing with the backsides of your spreads? So you're pulling two pages out.

Kristine LeRoss: Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: And you're putting things on them that are three-dimensional. Now, in the old format you mentioned we don't wanna then stamp on the opposite side because it's hard.

How are you handling that?

Kristine LeRoss: So that's interesting. Uh, so in the old format, I still did it back to back to back to back because, your pages.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Kristine LeRoss: Were right in there. And so it just made more sense. And so now where I run into a problem is [00:18:00] that when I wanna switch, you know, I don't do the same layout every week, right? So then I have on the backside one side of what and one side of the other.

So, so far, because we're only in May, um, I'm able to kinda just... I haven't gone back to fill those filler pages. Because I still only wanna do the format I want for that week. So rather than force myself to use that backside at this time.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Kristine LeRoss: But what I will probably do with those backside pages is to go back in to do a one photo, you know, and, and paste that on.

Um, I will change up the format and do some fillers for those.

Jennifer Wilson: I also think it'd be a good use for some patterned paper that we might have stashed away.

Kristine LeRoss: Yes, exactly. All of my, my scrapbooking kits that I have, because I still have all my twelve by twelve kits, yep, you can pull those out and then, yeah, you can intermix. And isn't that great too? That there's, again, no format. You can add any [00:19:00] color or vision that you want to your pages. Absolutely.

Jennifer Wilson: So you mentioned you are lightly using some of the products to help plan your spread. How are you keeping track of, you know, the, the documentation aspect in terms of, um, are you creating along the way or are you gathering things separately and then sitting down to do the spread in one, you know, one sitting-ish?

Kristine LeRoss: One sitting-ish. So it takes me probably two to three days to do one spread.

Jennifer Wilson: Uh-huh.

Kristine LeRoss: It depends on how many you know, like, how much time I have in a week. Um, but I will sit down, and I will pull out this, this rough outline that Heidi has. Uh, there's seven days listed and then four things per day. So I pull that out, um, and then I pull out my phone 'cause I have everything documented. I use my, my iCalendar as my, kinda my journal or whatever's going on. So I flip through my photos. I will, uh, copy all the photos from one [00:20:00] particular week and then put them in a folder so that I have easy access to print them. And then I go through my calendar to see what was going on that week, and I jot down notes for my week.

And at that point, I may decide I'm not gonna - to document that week. Um, but if I am, then I start to just, to write my rough, rough outline of, of what was going on on those particular days.

Jennifer Wilson: There might be weeks where you decide, "You know what? I'm just, I'm not gonna do this. I'm just gonna skip it and move on to the next one."

Kristine LeRoss: Heck, yes.

Jennifer Wilson: Do you think that's a, an important permission? Like, are, are there other types of permissions that folks need to have, um, perhaps to feel successful with this type of project?

Kristine LeRoss: Yeah, I think that's super important. For me, I mean, I, I used to be a perfectionist. You know, I grew up as accomplishment and, and part of my big life learning lesson is that I need to live in the gray area. You know, everything is not black.

Jennifer Wilson: Hmm.

Kristine LeRoss: And everything is not white, and everything doesn't have to [00:21:00] be a particular way. And, uh, this has been huge in my life now to, um... Because Heidi's stamping isn't perfect. Um, someone asked me just the other day, I just posted one of my layouts on Instagram, and they were like, "But how do you protect your photos? Don't you have page protectors?" And it's permission to not have page protectors.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Kristine LeRoss: Because this to me, this is archival kind of, but it's not archival in the way that I think that I grew up learning about scrapbooking.

You know, everything has to be, um, archival safe and all of those things. And to me, this is a different format. And life is messy. Life is chaotic, and this is a way to bring a little bit more calm. But also to not have the rules unless you need them. I mean, if you're someone that needs to have chronological, and you need to have the rules to follow to make it all make sense in your brain, absolutely give yourself permission [00:22:00] for that. But it's really important for me to know that my permission is to create how I can that day. It's more important to me to be in my craft space, um, which is my safe space.

Jennifer Wilson: Hmm.

Kristine LeRoss: And have permission to feel peace.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, I love that. I love that. You mentioned earlier that a Stop the Blur spread is not just a small layout.

Kristine LeRoss: Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: What other kind of lessons learned have you, have you had to learn along the way, um, to adapt to this format that might be different from, you know, the way we approach layouts?

Kristine LeRoss: Yeah. Um, and, and that's why I say, like, for months I was a lurker. And I, in preparation.

Jennifer Wilson: Hmm.

Kristine LeRoss: For this, I, like, brought out all of my past ones so that I could look through. And, and some of my past ones are so awful. Because I was trying to figure it out. And I think that, um [00:23:00] What I have learned is that I can screenshot ideas, I don't, uh, follow those like a sketch.

Like when I was 12 by 12 scrapbooking, I don't know if you remember Pencil Lines. Um, Pencil Lines was a site that had sketches that you scraplift.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Uh-huh.

Kristine LeRoss: We, in our, in our group for Simple Scrapper, there's, you know, sketches. And so you took a sketch and you created your 12 x 12 layout. And it was so, you could do whatever you wanted with it, right? To follow that general sketch. And so I think with Stop the Blur, it's, it's not really like that. I mean, for me, I can, again, I can watch Heidi's classes and, and she's got all kinds of photos in every, uh, monthly class that's out there, and I can screenshot ideas. But it's not mine if I'm just lifting somebody else's journal memories.

Because that's their life and this is my life. So I may look at a [00:24:00] pocket that they've done, and I can create that pocket, and I can put it in there. But I definitely do not look at somebody's week and do exactly what they did that week with my week. Because it doesn't feel like that's mine.

Jennifer Wilson: That makes sense. That makes Do you do handwritten journaling, typed journaling, or a combination of the two?

Kristine LeRoss: I really love to print journaling on vinyl sticker paper, clear sticker paper. But

Jennifer Wilson: also.

Mm-hmm.

Kristine LeRoss: You know, that takes time, and I don't always have extra time. So I do a lot of handwritten journaling. Um, but not like beautiful journaling that you see in some people's calligraphy pages either. I mean, it's just my handwriting, um, top of a lot of the elements that are already laid out for me.

So it's ri- my writing definitely is sprinkled in, kinda like puzzle pieces. I fill in, fill in gaps.

Jennifer Wilson: And how do you approach, um, selecting and printing your photos for this project?

Kristine LeRoss: I look back at that week, like [00:25:00] I said, I will look back and I will put everything, not everything, almost everything from a week into a folder. So that I, uh, then I can look at the folder and decide which ones I'm gonna pull out. Um, it depends on like what photo goes with the story versus like, it... I tend to also screenshot lots of like memes or, uh, motivational, um, sayings. And so things that I want to use to document that week. Um, that's how I'll put them in, in a folder and then pull them out that way.

Jennifer Wilson: Are there certain sizes that you typically print in? Or is it all over the place?

Kristine LeRoss: It's all over the place, and that's become, you know, kind of a learning journey too. It depends on, again, what, what, what particular pages that you're using. There are outlines on the pages, so they're not blank. So it gives you kind of a template. So there are photo sizes that I'll print that fit into the template, but I don't print [00:26:00] every single photo for every single page on the template either.

I will maybe use, if there's five templates, I may use three of them for photos and the other two for embellishments or journaling or a folder pocket. Um, there's a lot of 2 by, you know, 2 by 1s or 2 by 2s, uh, because that's how, the format is for the pages. So I I follow that as more of a rough outline, but again, that's the permission to print a full, you know, 7 by 9 page or, or whatever it is you wanna highlight for that particular week.

Or there's also photo inserts, so I've got some, I guess more like a pocket page that you can, um, put in there too so you can add more photos, um, as opposed to just sticking them into a photo pocket.

Jennifer Wilson: That's fun to be able to have those things. I know that I've used-- I subscribed to the kits for a little while. And I've used the various components, and I'm s- [00:27:00] I'm there with my, trying to see it as well w-with my ruler, trying to measure like exactly how many, how many little, um, millimeters it is, the, the height and width of this.

Kristine LeRoss: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: And then I make a little box on the computer that's exactly that size.

Kristine LeRoss: Yes. Yes. Okay, and then so let's talk about that for a minute too because that was part of me lurking. So I have, looking back, I've got all of these like random pieces of paper that I've, I put out like the templates or I measured and I bought rulers and I did all this, but all that did was make my brain so fuzzy. Because then it became.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Kristine LeRoss: You have to do it this way. And you have to print it that way. And so I, I approach it differently now, but because I don't want all my photos to be 2 by 1, 2 by this, 2 by whatever.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Kristine LeRoss: But that's part of opening up the, the possibilities are endless and expanding. So they're not just in a 2 by 1 photo.

Jennifer Wilson: Do you include larger photos? I mean, you mentioned you wa- you [00:28:00] might wanna do that on the backside.

Kristine LeRoss: Yeah. Yeah, I do. Um, like I did a, a spread a couple of weeks ago, and one side was a full seven by nine photo. And then the other one, um, just was documentation on what was going on in that particular photo. And actually, that turned out to be one of the ones I loved the most too. Because it was so different, um, but it still complemented all my pages.

Absolutely.

Jennifer Wilson: Would you say that one is more like a mini layout than your other spreads?

Kristine LeRoss: Yeah, that was... It ki- yeah, it's more like a mini layout, I would say. With a large photo and then the journaling on the right side. Yeah, that's definitely true. And I did some sewing on it, so that was more like a traditional, layout.

Jennifer Wilson: When do you find yourself working on this? You, you mentioned that you're in real estate, so you're working, and I'm, I'm assuming not necessarily consistent hours. You know, it's it's.

Kristine LeRoss: Ah,

Jennifer Wilson: All the time whenever the clients need you, right?

Kristine LeRoss: Totally.

Jennifer Wilson: When can we typically find you, [00:29:00] or do you just try to fit it in when you can?

Kristine LeRoss: Well, you know, because Simple Scrapper has all these designated hosted crop times, I often am in a lot of crop groups throughout the day just depending on my schedule.

Good.

Now I have friends that I can join in with, and so it's not just me coming up here at any particular time. But I ki- I, I do look at the master schedule to see when there are hosted crops, and then depending on what my day is, I'll pop in there and get things done. Um, often I'm up here at night. I mean, a big part of real estate happens at night as well.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Kristine LeRoss: But there's lots of flexibility in my schedule. Um, and so I will pop up here in the evenings too. I think it really depends on what goes on. Um, right now my life is revolving around the crop schedule.

Jennifer Wilson: I love that. What made the difference for you in terms of deciding to become a member?

Kristine LeRoss: You know what? I had... I didn't know you... I, I followed you on Instagram. I didn't know there was a [00:30:00] membership thing. And so you sent me a Light Your Fire, um, questionnaire. And I loved it so much. And then I was like, "Oh my goodness, there's a group." Oh my... Uh, like it blew my mind. And that first week when I joined, I think I went to every single hosted crop, and I am announcing to everybody, "You know, I'm new here," and it's fabulous. I love it. I can't believe it's been going for so many years, and I didn't know it existed.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, I love hearing that so much, so much.

Kristine LeRoss: Loved it.

Jennifer Wilson: Do you have any other tips that you would share with someone who's curious about this format? Are there just, like, things that you've pulled away that have really made the difference?

Kristine LeRoss: I think that the name of it, Stop the Blur, I think really Is so intentional. I think the intention behind what Heidi creates, and she talks about it all the time. Life is fast-moving. Our life is stressful. Our life is overwhelming. Things are always going to go on out in the world, and there's no ways. But this is a way to slow down [00:31:00] and stop and be intentional and be in your present moment in your life. And that is what I love about it. again, I could just say, "Gosh, my life is so boring," and I could, you know, be sad and, and just forget all of this. But, you know, I'm choosing to document. Having my phone with me and taking photos of something that I find beautiful, and then I go back and I write down what I loved about its beauty or what it reminded me of. So I think it's just an opportunity to, pause, right? To stop how blurry everything can be, and step into your life.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, beautifully said, for sure. Do you... I mean, I'm sensing that you do include maybe some messier stories, some more difficult stories in this, whereas that wouldn't be the focus of a layout for you.

Kristine LeRoss: Absolutely, and that has been therapeutic. And, you know, it's kind of hard though too because I share these layouts publicly in my public Instagram, and sometimes I blur them out [00:32:00] before I post.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Kristine LeRoss: Them 'cause people read your journal and it is personal. Um, and I have struggled with not being a journaler, right?

I never carry, carried a diary or any of those things when I was younger. And so sometimes things I'm writing on a page, it's so personal. Um, and I wanna share it for me, but I don't necessarily want the world to read it. And, and sometimes I do. Because it's okay to be messy. And I, and I'm learning that as I am living life as well, that if we can talk about the messy things, we normalize it for other people because life can be sad. So I do use it, uh, therapeutically, and I actually just this week when I posted, um, my week, it had a lot to do with therapy and healing and where I'm at in my own therapy journey. And so those things are really important to me.

Jennifer Wilson: I love that you found this outlet and were able to, uh, embrace it at this particular time in life, which I, I will be going through in a couple years here, so I'm already kind of [00:33:00] thinking ahead, like learning from the, the empty nesters.

Kristine LeRoss: Yes. Yes. It is a different place in life for sure.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, Kristine, this has been so lovely to chat with you. Can you share where our listeners can find you online and anything you know you might be sharing later this year?

Kristine LeRoss: Absolutely. So, um, I do have an Instagram. Um, and it-- my name on Instagram is iamkristinefaith. And, um, I just share, you know, weekly layouts and, um, I share a lot of other content from other, um, makers. It's entirely only a maker account for me, so I, I don't follow politics on the account. I don't follow, you know, lots of doctors on the account. I only follow makers, and so it's a, a source of inspiration.

Jennifer Wilson: Wonderful. We'll definitely include that link in the show notes for this episode.

Kristine LeRoss: Thank you.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, again thanks for spending time with me. And to all of our listeners please remember that you have permission to scrapbook your way.

[00:34:00]

Miranda Webber: [00:00:00] if you're not helping yourself or keeping yourself healthy of whatever that is, you're not gonna be able to do things for others. But you have to do stuff for yourself, and if that means you're in the scrapbooking world and you love to do for others, start doing stuff for yourself. Because it's gonna make you feel better, and then in turn your stuff that you're gonna give away or do for others just looks that much better.

Jennifer: Welcome to Scrapbook Your Way, the show that explores the breadth of ways to be a memory keeper today. I'm your host, Jennifer Wilson, owner of Simple Scrapper, and author of The New Rules of Scrapbooking. This is episode 334. In this episode, I'm chatting again with Miranda Webber, a South Carolina scrapbooker and longtime YouTuber who is back for another conversation about her creative practice.

Miranda shares how a difficult personal season led to a creative hiatus, and what brought her back to the craft room with a new sense of [00:01:00] intentionality.

Hey, Miranda. Welcome back to Scrapbook Your Way.

Miranda Webber: Hi, this is Miranda Weber, #myscrappylife, and I'm so glad to be here again.

Jennifer: Can you share a little bit about yourself to remind our audience who you are and what you do and all that?

Miranda Webber: All right, well, welcome to the new ones that have not heard my first vlog or podcast. Um, and welcome to the ones that are returning. My name is Miranda, and I have been scrapbooking since my son... really got into scrapbooking since my son was, um... I was pregnant with him in 2003. So I've been scrapbooking that long.

Um, I now have a 14-year-old daughter. Um, back when we first did it, she was a little, a little smaller. Um, so she is going to be a freshman next, come next school year. And I am a full-time elementary teacher. Um, I've been now doing that [00:02:00] for, this is my eighth year. Eighth or ninth year. I can't even keep straight anymore.

Um, and then my husband is now retired. He was still active duty the last time, so now he's retired. Um, he has a job out, still out at Fort Gordon, 'cause we still live in North Augusta, um, South Carolina, so he's still out at Fort Gordon, but as a contractor. Um, and yeah.

Jennifer: Awesome. Awesome. Yeah, my daughter is 14 as well. She actually is already a freshman, but she's, you know, the youngest in her class, and I'm, I'm sure we, uh, I don't know, I'm sure we connected on that in the past. It's.

Miranda Webber: Yep.

Jennifer: This is such an interesting age, and it keeps getting more interesting.

Miranda Webber: Yes. For sure, for sure.

Jennifer: They are definitely in this phase of discovery, and I'm like, "Was I like this? I guess I was, but I don't, I don't remember that part."

Miranda Webber: I, I, I don't remember the defiance, if you wanna call... Like, discovery/defiance. [00:03:00] Or I'm gonna try to test the boundaries as much as I possibly can to the point of, like, wanting to pull your hair out.

Jennifer: Yeah.

Miranda Webber: I don't remember it either, but you know, I mean, I know that at 14 things have changed. You know, things, things are changing, if you know what I mean, for girls and boys and everything alike, right?

And, uh, I, I swear my daughter's gotta be, like, the only one that doesn't have a cellphone yet. But, she comes with me to school. She goes on the bus to her middle school, and then Dad or I pick her up. And I'm like, " Why does she need a phone?" And I feel bad for her, but then at some times I'm like, "Nope, I'm good."

Especially since after the C word, if you know what the C word is, it really got big with social media, right?

Jennifer: Sure.

Miranda Webber: Media. You know, so I was like, I'm just not ready for her to have that. So we're starting as a freshman next year, so she'll be- Um, she'll turn 14 in August, so I guess she'll be, like, the [00:04:00] youngest 14-year-old in her class.

We'll see. She's gonna ... She knows she's already getting ... It's one of her birthday gifts in August is her phone. So I'm gonna be diving into that this come fall. I'm a little worried, so if y'all are the praying type, pray for me because I'm ... I, I don't know how I'm gonna do with this.

Jennifer: You know, I was surprised at how, how disciplined my kiddo was in terms of good habits. I feel like they've talked about it in school so much, and other kids and their behaviors, so I'm, I'm sure it'll be okay.

Miranda Webber: I, I'm, I'm hoping s- yeah, I am too. It's just sometimes I'm, like, thinking, "Is she gonna do what the others do, or is she going to do the things we have taught her at home and go that route. And hopefully not feel [00:05:00] pressured?" Because, you know, that for- 14 to, like, I would say ... I guess for me it was, like, 14 to 16 was, like, that pressure stage, if you know what I mean.

Like, you're changing. You're in high school. You wanna fit in, but you wanna be yourself, and you wanna make sure you're doing things that you know is right, but then you see others do that maybe your parents aren't saying is right, but it's okay for them to do because Mom and Dad say on that end that it's okay.

So it's like that pressure stage that I think all of us go through it as teenagers. And so it'll be, it'll be interesting. I think I'm throwing in high school, phone, and then, she's as of right now, she, um, got into the IB program for her high school. And so she's gonna go play soccer there too.

So she's big into soccer. And she [00:06:00] still has stayed as a keep for her traveling team and everything. So she's navigating that. It's just all the other stuff that I guess maybe I feel like I've maybe sheltered her, but maybe I didn't.

Maybe I didn't, and I'm just being naive.

Jennifer: Well, maybe it's a, maybe it's a mix of both.

Miranda Webber: Yeah.

Jennifer: We ended up getting the phone in sixth grade, but it was because of travel sports. Because she was going on a bus and we're like, "How do we know when the bus is gonna come back if she doesn't have a phone?"

Miranda Webber: Y- y- yeah.

Jennifer: That's, that's what ended up being the challenge for us, is just like being able to, to pick her up from, then that time, at that point it was softball, pick her up from her softball games.

Miranda Webber: Yeah.

Jennifer: So.

Miranda Webber: She does have those watches. Like, we have a, like, a Verizon watch, so it's like a kid watch. So when they would do, like, field...

Yeah, so you know, like, we do those field trips and stuff? She would wear that, but she knew [00:07:00] that it was just on. And I would just track her that way just to make sure. But at the same time, she just knew that I was just using it to make sure if for some odd reason the bus would break down versus back in the day when we were all growing up that we'd have to wait for somebody to call or we'd have to go back to the school or some type of crazy thing 'cause cell phones weren't a thing.

At least here I can track her and be like, "Oh, something's wrong with the bus. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna have to meet them at the school," but at least I can kinda see where she's at and making sure she's okay type of thing. But other than that, I never let her use it.

Jennifer: Yeah. Like, uh- it was the Gizmo watch is what we had. I don't know if that's the

Miranda Webber: Yeah, we do too. Yep, yep, yep.

Jennifer: It's when it, it died is when we're like, "Okay, well, we have to either replace this or go ahead and get a phone." And so that's what we did.

Miranda Webber: Yeah

Jennifer: But.

Miranda Webber: Yeah. I, [00:08:00] yep, I gotcha, I gotcha. That's kind of where we were at. I haven't upgraded hers because we knew that this summer she was getting a phone. It was like, well, we'll just keep up- we'll keep, like, updating it and hope and pray it'll get us to close to August.

Jennifer: Yes, for sure. Well, we better dive into some more of these questions.

Miranda Webber: Yeah.

Jennifer: Otherwise we will never finish. Do you have a favorite recent layout or project?

Miranda Webber: I have been really being more intentional on what I'm doing. So without getting into, like, very deep, deep personal things. So January of this year was the first year probably a year and a couple of months. That I've been really doing a lot of layouts per month.

There was a lot going on with, like, friendships and life and just things in general for a little bit into 2024 and almost all of 2025. [00:09:00] Where I was on design teams for, I think I was up to six, seven, or eight of them. And they were very consistent, having two or three layouts, and I had to push those out a lot every month.

And it was always consistent when they would ask, "Hey, would you like to join back?" "Yes, I would like to come back," that, all of that, to where some of them closed. Um, some of them I decided not to join, again, for another term. And then I took a hiatus. Like, when all of them, either I said no or they were closing or decided not to have a design team anymore, I was like, "You know what?

I'm just not gonna do this." Now, kind of fast-forwarding in, in May-ish of 2025, The Scrap Room, Raquel, um, reached out to me and was like, "Hey, I know that you're guest - designing for me, in June. I was wondering if you saw the design team post [00:10:00] about it. Um, uh, we would really love to have you, but if you, if you can't, we, you know, we understand."

So I was like, "No, I saw it," and I was... And I sat here and pondered. I'm like, "Do I really want to do this at this time?" Because there were certain things going on in my life that I'm like, "Am I gonna give it my all?" And I was like, after a lot of thought, I was like, "Yes, I'll do it." I, I, 'cause I, kind of backwards a little bit.

When I did the guest designership for The Scrap Room in June of 2025, that was already in the works. Before all of the design teams kind of started to either I said no or disbanding, you know, in that respect. So I wasn't gonna tell her just because I took a break, I wasn't gonna do her guest design ship.

Because I'm one of them that when I say yes, I'm gonna do something, it's gonna get done. So I'm like, "Nope, I'm gonna do it," because it's only two [00:11:00] layouts a month. And I went from, I would say November of 2024 Up until May of 2025, there was zero layouts that went on. Zero.

Jennifer: Wow.

Miranda Webber: And I, a- a- and there was a lot.

A friendship is what really put me into this damper. And I had to get myself out of it, but I didn't know I was in the thick of it until, my closest friends have said something. And I was like, "I've got to start doing something for this. So that I can get back to doing what I love to do," which is scrapbooking.

So as I was doing this, I realized that my style has changed. I'm tired of producing 10, 12, 13 layouts a month. And producing stuff that I really didn't like. But I was doing it because I needed, you know, I had to do it for a design team. And I wasn't doing things for me. And for what [00:12:00] I wanted to do. I was doing it for them.

Even though they're my layouts and they're going to go in my album. So I would have to say since I have come back, I would honestly say there's not just one, but since I have came back full force in December of 2025 to current. I really enjoy what I have been doing. I can't say I do not like a single one of my layouts. Since I've come back because I've really been thoughtful on what I've been doing. And put into my layouts.

I still have my same mentalities of, if you can remember, 15 minutes a day, no matter what it is, you get in your room, you scrapbook, you edit. If you're a YouTuber, edit film, something, right? I still do that, but back then I wasn't doing that. And I [00:13:00] was in here to force out layouts, and then I came into this personal thing that really went too far into my life that I didn't realize it did, till I looked back at it.

And now I'm like, "Nope." If I don't like something, I stop. And I'm like, "Okay, let's rethink this." So I've kind of put that 15 minutes into thoughtfulness every day versus, "Oh, I gotta get this done. Oh, this DT needs to get done," or, "This needs to get done. I need to batch film. I need to do this." So it's more thoughtfulness of what I've been doing versus the other, you know, versus the other stuff that I was doing in the past.

And even when we did the podcast, you know, the filming the last time when we did this. Um, back then I wasn't really thoughtful on what I was doing.

Jennifer: So do you feel like that, this, this kind of, I don't know, the c- the coming back is also a sense of like freedom and escape, [00:14:00] where allowed you to, to dive deeper into your own style, and why you've been feeling so good about the pages you've made? Is that how you'd say it?

Miranda Webber: Y- yeah, because, I, I feel like when a person's not being thoughtful about things... Now, we can do things on the fly. We can, you know, sometimes you set yourself down a path and it may, you know, take a left or a right here and there, and you gotta kinda have that flexibility. And I'm not saying I'm very much rigid on what I'm doing, like it's gotta be this way or no way.

But it's wanting it to be more... I wanna enjoy what I'm doing versus producing so much for design teams and not liking what I'm producing. Even though they, you know, the world may like it, or the design team company may like it, or, you know, who's ever doing those. [00:15:00] I wanna like it for myself. And I've learned through, you know, talking through counselors, da, da, you know, all that fun stuff, um, that I had to get back to who I was and the way I used to do things, and that was being thoughtful and intentional of what I'm doing and how I'm saying things and how I'm putting stuff together.

Because when I look back at a lot of those layouts and through that time of where I kinda took a, a hiatus, in the retrospect of things, I wasn't doing stuff for me. I was doing it for everyone else. And if you don't take care of yourself, how can you take care of others and do things for others?

Jennifer: Certainly. Yes. Yes. Yes. yeah, it sounds very integrated between your life and your creativity and finding a new sense of balance.

Miranda Webber: Yes, for sure.

Jennifer: I- is there something new you're excited to do, use, or try in your scrapbooking or in your everyday life?

Miranda Webber: Well, I've been [00:16:00] reinventing, like, I've been kind of reinventing my, I guess, my rules of scrapbooking. So like, I know in here there's some things in here that we're gonna talk about that we'll get to. But it's like, I'm gonna bring up the chickens. 'Cause I,

Jennifer: Yeah.

Miranda Webber: I saw the note, okay? And I think it's kinda funny to say 'cause I have no chickens. I live in town, i've got houses all over me. My backyard is a wood line, and if you go past the wood line, there's another set of houses. But my last layout, and it was funny, so, um, I was, you know, reading the notes and I g- I giggled when you brought up the chicken thing. Because I'm like, "Why not?

I have a house. Doesn't mean I have to have chickens, and I can't not use this paper because I don't have no chickens in my, you know, in my layout.

Jennifer: It's just about the overall vibe of the [00:17:00] chickens.

Miranda Webber: I'm like, the chickens are up in a coop, and I've got pictures. To give y'all context, y'all, if you don't know what I'm talking about, the non-literal embellishments that some of these companies give you. To the people that are very literal, and I am in my life.

So, but in my scrapbooking world, a non-literal thing would be why would you have chickens on your layouts when, one, there's no chickens in your photos, and two, if I remember correctly, I had one outside photo and the rest of them were my inside photos of my downstairs.

And I have chickens up in the rafters because the paper, it's 49 and Market, and it's one of the papers, Whispering Way, I think. And it had the rafters, and the chickens were in the rafters. And then I added the little chicks and I added butterflies, and I think a windmill was on this one. And I'm not on a farm, I'm in town.

Jennifer: Well I [00:18:00] think this is where it's important, whether you're shopping for something new or trying to use something you have, that those things, like even like the weird llamas or whatever thing that, that you happen to have.

Miranda Webber: Yeah.

Jennifer: That could create a, a, party vibe or, you know.

Miranda Webber: Mm-hmm.

Jennifer: It makes you feel and the impression that you wanna give.

So maybe, you know, home is, uh, nostalgic or peaceful or, um, maybe it reflects your decor style even though you do live in town. So there's so many different.

Miranda Webber: Y- yeah.

Jennifer: Interpretations and reasons why you could pick a supply like that that has nothing to do with.

Miranda Webber: Correct.

Jennifer: With what it actually is.

Miranda Webber: Honestly, the reason why I got it was because of the Highlander cows that are in it. My decor in my downstairs. So I have a two-story house, and my downstairs is, like, my area. And then the upstairs, while I scrap room, my room is in the upstairs. We turned one of the bedrooms [00:19:00] into a, like, office-type space for me. And so the upstairs living room is, like, my husband's man cave. So the vibe up here.

Jennifer: Mm-hmm.

Miranda Webber: More the grungy, you know, man vibe. Downstairs I have blacks and grays on my walls, and my accent color is, like, olive, so it's like that Scandinavian style.

But my big elements are Highlander cows, and that's why I bought the collection, was because of the Highlander cows.

Jennifer: So there was a literal connection too, so.

Miranda Webber: There was, but when you put chickens on a layout, I, I... You wouldn't believe the amount of comments I got.

Jennifer: Yeah.

Miranda Webber: Like, "There's no chickens." And I'm like, um, you know, I'm not saying that I bought it because I used to live on a farm, but I could kind of interpret it to that.

I used to have chickens when I grew up. I used to have cows and steers and bulls and horses. I could [00:20:00] kinda tweak it back to that and be like, "Hey, you know, I'm acting like I have a farm without a farm 'cause I used to live on one."

Jennifer: Yeah, and you have-- That's, it's part of who you are, so...

Miranda Webber: Yeah. But truly though, I'm one of them that if the color matches, it, I use it. And that's always been my thing. You know, saying the two things that I always say is, "They made the collection for a reason. You bought it for a reason, so then use it." You know, so obviously, if the color matches, then use it. Who cares, you know, who cares what the embellishments are?

Jennifer: Yeah.

Miranda Webber: You know what I'm saying so it it can be hard. Um sometimes you can't get past the fact that it's a chicken. Not that anything's wrong with that collection but I understand because I used to be that person. I never purchased 49 and market like I don't know how I'm gonna use this. I have almost all of their [00:21:00] collections since I've came back to scrapbooking. Because I love their mutedness their very boho vibe. I'm just using them as an example because they're the ones that give you those non-literal things like a highlander cow and a calf and a chicken and a horse. You know the farm life.

Jennifer: What do you think changed for you to be so kind of, uh, not attracted to those supplies to really embracing it in terms of being, you know, anti-49er Market.

Miranda Webber: Yeah I think we evolve. You know, as a person, if you don't like learn something new every day or, you know, the saying of you can't just be the same person every minute of your life because you're not, then you're not growing type of thing. I think learning what I went through and learning what I didn't see.

Jennifer: Mm.

Miranda Webber: Changed my [00:22:00] perspective, not only in my personal life, but everything around me.

Not only in scrapbooking, but teaching, my personal life, and then just in general. And I think I was proactively not noticing something that I should have noticed, or at least in my mind, I'm like, "Why did I not notice that?" So now, because I didn't notice something that was so huge and important of who I was then, I'm being more intentional to make sure I don't miss those signs again. And I think that's why I was glad, not that I didn't want to stay on design teams, because I love the design teams.

I love doing all that. I did love doing all that. But I'm glad that that went away. I'm glad that I stepped away from my favorite thing that I love to do, which is scrapbooking, and got a [00:23:00] new sense of me.

Jennifer: Mm-hmm.

Miranda Webber: And then taking that sense into my scrapbooking, and that's when my style started to change. And I noticed that.

Jennifer: Would you say that you're more in touch with your feelings now through, by working with a therapist and really understanding and, and going through this process?

Miranda Webber: Oh, only if you could see my face right now. I, I, I gave you the stink eye on that one. I, I still don't do my feelings. I think, I'll be honest, I, I grew up where feelings was not shown. So- It's, it's hard to say, "Oh yeah, I'm, I'm in touch with my feelings." I may be, but I don't show it. And then, you know, you got the military because, you know, military, everything around 24 years of it, you don't show it, you can't show it there either.

So I think being in touch with those feelings, I'm probably there, and I probably was there, and going through all of that. I just [00:24:00] don't express it as maybe as what other individuals do, but I take that expression into my layouts. If you would go back to what I've done prior leading up to, like, the hiatus of things, and then you come into what I'm doing now, it's very different.

They're different, for sure.

Jennifer: So one thing that I notice is that you do scrapbook a lot of non-people photos, and I can empathize because my kid does not want me to take photos anymore. And so I have fewer things to often take photos of.

Miranda Webber: Yeah, so I started, . I know everybody does, like, a s- something like this of, like, 52 weeks of 52 photos of some sorts. You know, they call it f- you know, like, it's your one layout that you should do a week or w- you know, however you wanna do it. So back in January of 2025 when I thought I could try to get myself going again. Because I took such a long break [00:25:00] because of everything else, there was, like, a smidgen of time where I s- so tried to wanting to get back into this. I'm good. I f- I figured I got everything through. I knew what was wrong with me. I th- thought I fixed it, which I didn't. I thought I fixed it. Okay, I'm gonna do this. Well, I came up with, well, why don't I do 52 weeks of my favorite 52 photos?

That'll at least get me 52 layouts done. That's one layout a week. That should be easy to do, right? So I thought.

Jennifer: Do you respond well to challenges? Like, does that excite you?

Miranda Webber: It, it depends on how the challenge is given to me. So if a person just come to me and says, "Hey, I need you to "Be challenged with this," I'd probably look at you and be like, "Nope, not doing it. Because you're wanting a reaction out of me. But if somebody comes up and tells me, "Oh, you can't do something. Oh, watch me.

It's gonna get done, and I'm gonna do it more than what you expected me to do because I'm gonna make it look like I'm so over the top [00:26:00] that you're never gonna wanna challenge me again. Because that's where my mind goes. And that was kind of... It goes back, that goes back to my growing up. I had an individual in my life that would tell me I couldn't do things, and so I had to prove I felt like in that time, um, I had to prove to show, mm-mm, you don't tell me that I can't do something.

I'm gonna show you that I'll do it better than what you thought I was gonna do, and I'm gonna make it so over the top that you won't ask me again. And I think I kinda just made that goal with my challenges. I think at that time it was I don't mind scrapbooking the minute stuff. I don't mind scrapbooking a picture of my coffee cup sitting somewhere, in my room or my craft room or if that's all I only took for, like, three weeks in a row.

I don't mind taking photos of landscapes or, you know, do- you know, like my house. [00:27:00] Um, when we talked the first time, I- if I remember correctly, I think I was only in my house for, like, maybe a year, and so I didn't get to do anything. 'Cause I had to wait for the contractors to be done. So all my walls were white or builder paint white, and so I was like, "I documented all that. I took all those photos. Why am I not putting this in a layout?"

And so those were the things that I went back to when I started the 52 weeks, and then it... Like, I fell off again. Because I got back into that rut that I thought I so-called fixed myself, and I thought I was good. And then when, obviously, when I was talking about the Scrap Room, they asked me to join, and then going forward, the two a week or the two a month. Um, I kinda struggled in the beginning.

And obviously, um, I had conversations with Raquel and about that over there and [00:28:00] saying, "Hey, you know, give me some time. I gotta get back into the swing of this 'cause I haven't done a design team in well over..." By that time, it was, I would say, six, seven months.

Filming was rough 'cause, you know, you had to get back into the swing of it, right? I think knowing that I was in that harder time and, you know, that harder part of those chapters of your life and then coming out of it, I realized that it's okay that you don't scrapbook like everybody else.

I really enjoy doing what I'm doing now. There for a long time, I was doing it because it was required of me. Because I joined a design team. It's required for me to do X, Y, Z to get whatever out of it, right? Well and it wasn't, I didn't join them and was fighting through it. That was not it. I love the design teams that I was on.

I was on one of them for six years. The shop is [00:29:00] closed, but I was the OG and I was the only one left when she shut down her shop. So I wouldn't stay that long if I didn't like what I was doing with that particular company. But I think I was going through the motions and not really having feelings with it.

And I love that I got feeling back, even though I may not show it. But I know I have it because I see it in my papers. I see it in my layouts.

Jennifer: Well and There's something that-- about finding those stories that otherwise wouldn't be told. Um, I was, uh, taking my camera with us to a volleyball tournament last weekend, and I was trying to take some test shots on my desk just to make sure everything was working okay.

Miranda Webber: Mm-hmm.

Jennifer: I took a photo of my, my headphones, you know, and I wear these.

Miranda Webber: Mm-hmm.

Jennifer: Uh, noise-canceling headphones a lot nowadays.

And I'm like, "This is a d-- A, it's a decent photo, and B, this is actually a, a not insignificant part of my life where I'm wearing noise-canceling [00:30:00] headphones on the treadmill, in a Starbucks when I'm recording podcast episodes. Um, when I wanna watch something in the living room which is not what my family wants to watch." Uh, so that is a story in itself. And it's maybe not the one that would come if I'm scrolling through my library. I'm gonna think, "Oh, well, I haven't scrapbooked, you know, that birthday party." But if I really think about it, that is a very worthy story about what my life is like right now.

Miranda Webber: And that's the thing is, is that we, I feel like we as scrapbookers, we scrapbook everybody else's life, but we forget about ours. What about us?

Jennifer: Mm-hmm.

Miranda Webber: Me taking that photo every week about what my coffee cup looks like as an example, because I do do that a lot. I scrapbook those. I go back on Instagram if I posted it there or Facebook or whatever. Or say, if it was April, I [00:31:00] could go back in April, even though I may not have talked about it on social media, I could scroll through what was I doing during that day or that timeframe to be like, "Why did I take that photo?" And then scrapbook it. And I don't journal on my pages. I don't like to journal.

Very seldom do I journal. But I do a, video planner. And I sit and write down like what I did the video on, so, you know, if it's a hop or a design team, what day it's gotta film, just so that I can keep up with myself.

But then in there, I document my process so that I have something to talk about when I do my voiceovers. What inspiration came from and what the photo's about. So when you're listening to my YouTube channel, I try to use that thought process now versus what I used to do in the [00:32:00] past. In the past, I never did this.

I started this not necessarily because my, my counselor/life coach thought I should. I did it once and I was like, "This is nuts." Like, why? But then the more I did it, I actually enjoy writing down my process, writing down the materials I use, writing down what the photo is, and then document like the page numbers. Because those page numbers is how many layouts I've done so far in the month, the year, or whatever you wanna look at it.

So if I do the videos that I have done process-wise, like filmed in January, I'm up to 56 since January. So that gives me my knowledge of I've already surpassed 52 weeks, if you [00:33:00] think about it.

I've already scrapbooked more than what a year's worth of photos I should have done with my challenge that I did in January. That I started in January of last year. 'Cause I- we rolled it over into this year. 'Cause, the group that does it with me, I asked, I was like, "Hey, do we wanna do this again?"

They're like, "Yes." So I've already done 56. So that means I'm already four layouts over what I would have done if I would have just done one a week.

It feels fantastic, you know. And if I really truly wanted to go and look and say, "Hey, this is how many I've done truly since January, I would say probably 10 more we got added to that, so I'd probably be 65, maybe 66.

So that's fantastic. Because that's way more than I did in 2025. I, I, I think I maybe have done 30 layouts, maybe 40 tops in 2025.[00:34:00]

Jennifer: Well, it sounded like you needed the practice of taking photos. Again, the practice of, of filming, of recording.

Miranda Webber: Yes.

Jennifer: Understanding, you know, how we're gonna combine things together to find a new groove for yourself.

Miranda Webber: Yes. Yes, for sure.

Jennifer: So I really wanna talk about some of these things that you really do on every single layout, and it's so interesting. Because I started writing some things down. I'm like, "Well, maybe this is just, like, on this one." I'm like, "Oh, no, that she really does this on a lot of pages." And the the first one is so distinct is that you mount a pattern paper on a larger piece of cardstock. Like you... But you only cut... It's not like a one-inch border. This is, like, a quarter inch maybe around the edge. How, how did that get started? Was it functional or creative?

Miranda Webber: Mercy Tiara

Jennifer: Okay.

Miranda Webber: So Tracy Banks.

Jennifer: Yeah.

Miranda Webber: If you don't know who Tracy Banks is, she's from [00:35:00] Canada. She used to do, um, Mercy Tiara She's still on there. She does a Patreon channel, um, and that's where she does most of her stuff, and I've been a Patreon of hers for years. And it's a, it's a priceless plug here, but she did a very, very, very, and when I say a very bright layout, I was like, "What in the God's green earth is she d- she wants us to do what?"

And me, the very non-bright person, I'm like, "How in the heck am I gonna do this challenge?" Uh, i- so in the Patreon chat, or in, like, the Patreon thing, if anybody doesn't know, you kinda do, like, what we're doing here, but we get to see the videos. And we're live, and we can either talk there or get on Discord and talk, and, I literally said, "You're nuts." And Mercy Tiara's like, "No, you gotta do..." And I said, "You're nuts." So then she [00:36:00] started putting black cardstock around her papers, and I'm like, " Now you're wasting a black piece of paper. I'm like, "This is not making sense." So as she's going through this, I realized what she was doing was taking her bold papers and giving them a box within a box.

So if you look at it, it's like, okay, so that's, like, one box, right, for your layout. That's the outside. Well, then, if you want to make it look like your eye to go into the center, she was taking a black border, like a very thin one like you would do around your photo.

Jennifer: Mm-hmm.

Miranda Webber: Around the, those big, bright papers she was using.

And she's very much pattern on pattern on pattern, and I'm a very much pattern on pattern. Tracy and I were a lot alike when it comes to that. She would do patterns. It didn't matter to her. I, it didn't matter to me either. But she was taking those big, [00:37:00] bold, patterned papers that I'm just like, "What are you doing?"

And putting a black, thin cardstock around it. And it toned it down enough to make it very minimum, where it wasn't like, boom, it's in your face, and she used all these patterned papers. And that's what started my obsession. Sometimes I'll use other dark colors but it's typically white or black.

But that's why.

Jennifer: I, I mean, I'm familiar with her, but I, I haven't really watched her, her channel before. I, I love that concept of kind of grounding a busy pattern paper.

Miranda Webber: Mm-hmm.

Jennifer: Giving it a container to live within, rather than it it's just expanding and overtaking you. So.

Miranda Webber: Yeah, correct.

Jennifer: Now you also draw a border around the border.

Miranda Webber: Yep, I do.

Jennifer: And you, and you do that a lot.

Miranda Webber: Yes, I do. I do it on everything.

Jennifer: I love a good hand drawn border around a lot of things. I do, I do it very similarly too.

Miranda Webber: I know, and I'm trying to think of where that came from. It was [00:38:00] her too. I think if I remember correctly she did it and I loved it. And then I couldn’t stop doing either of them. It was like its almost my signature I get more comments about you didn’t line your paper than I do anything else. Because I changed it up. But yes, I do do that. I do the border within the border. I do the line borders, and I'll do it on... I do, I know why I started the line. Now I remember. So back when I was talking about, you know, the black paper on the pattern papers. Okay, so if you didn't wanna use up all your paper, I was telling them way in the beginning when I did this, take your pen and do the black border around. Or a white border if you love them white gel pens.

They're like my nemesis. But, um, those two, use those, and it's like a box within a box, so it tones them down, or it gives them dimension without giving them dimension. [00:39:00] So if you take those black pens of whatever, you know, you could use the thick ones. I use the fine Sharpies, you know, most people use for anything else but scrapbooking, and that's what I use around them. So if you don't wanna use all that card stock to make it thick, use the pen, and it still gives you that dimension.

Jennifer: Correct. Correct. Yeah. And I mean, some people will like cut out the center if they're matting something. I find a little fussy that there's... like doing it, um, but I understand.

Miranda Webber: Don't either.

Jennifer: Get the most out of your paper. One of the other things I noticed is that you are often, like, making... Like, yes, we, we often make like maybe embellishment clusters off the page, but you're making like layers of papers. Like strips of papers, or you're multi-matting your photos multiple times, and you're doing this kind of off the page, and then you're adhering this bundle down.

Miranda Webber: I don't need my foundation paper to be underneath my photos. [00:40:00] I have a glass mat. Um, any mat. It doesn't matter what type of mat you have, as long as you have, like, the lines. I just know where my 12, where my 12-by-12 is. So I use my foundation. I get that done, and a lot of times, that could be off drawing, or I need lines to make sure.

I'm one of them that I don't like crooked things. And if I use my foundation, it's not straight. Like, I mean, it is straight, but if I need it really straight, I use my lines on, like, my glass mat or whatever that I'm using. And then I'll just, if I've got that already adhered, I'll use then my background piece that I'm needing it to go on.

I'll bring that back in, make sure that that's lined up 12-by-12 straight. And then I'll place it down. And then I'll work in my, my corners. I always start in the inside and work my way out. a lot of times I don't use my photos as my [00:41:00] focal point. It's typically what the photos are about is what my, n- not even my title, it's my, um, it's what the photos are about.

So it could be the event or whatever and that's my style of do I want it in the center do I want it off to the side. Do I want the embellishments to be more of the focal point

Jennifer: Mm-hmm.

Miranda Webber: Or do I want the title to be big or is this going to be one of them that I need a cut file and I'm going to put multiple photos on. But I don't need to show the whole photo. A lot of individuals and there's nothing wrong with this they won't cut into their photos. They'll do four by six or three and a half by five or whatever other sizes they have. Right. And but to cut down them down it's like scary to them. And it's fine I get it but it's okay to cut out the white side like the white [00:42:00] stuff. Or I call it the white noise. There's no point there's nothing there so cover it up or cut it out. Because then you can add more things to tell the story outside of just the photos. And that's why I don't journal I don't journal. Because if you want to know something about the photos let me know I'll tell you. Because I'm I'm pretty good about remembering what this was.

Jennifer: Sounds like your video planner is kind of turning into a memory keeping document as well.

Miranda Webber: Yeah that too for sure. I I do I try to remember that not everybody scrapbooks like me. So when I am doing my voiceovers or my process videos I try to explain to them that I'm like look you can do it other ways. This is just how I do it. But you can take little bits of what I do and turn it into your own. You could take that the splatters or you could take me [00:43:00] doing the border like the cardstock and then cutting that little strip around to give yourself a little bit of something that's fine too. You can still do your style within everybody else's style.

You're just taking bits and pieces. It's just like a sketch. You're starting out with a layout that you're scrap lifting. You could literally just take the placement of the photo where you place it on yours, and that's considered a scrap lift. Because you used that as your inspiration, and that's okay. It doesn't have to be everything.

Jennifer: Yeah, yeah. Well and I think it's about it as am I taking the style? Am I taking a technique? Am I, knowing that there's so many different layers to a page that you're looking at that you can, um, absorb, copy, uh, keep for later, uh, whatever, whatever works for you.

Miranda Webber: Yeah, most definitely.

Jennifer: So you were talking about dimension, and I know like you, you're the one, you're gonna fold the butterflies. You're gonna like bring up the, the leaves of a flower.

Miranda Webber: Mm-hmm.

Jennifer: And [00:44:00] you also use a distressing tool quite a bit on a lot of things.

Miranda Webber: Yes.

Jennifer: How long have you been doing that?

Miranda Webber: Well, the dimension side, I think I've been doing... I learned a lot of that when I was in Germany. When we got stationed over in Germany, I met two very amazing friends that we're still friends now. One of 'em, our kids are the same age. We, we've, our kids have grown up. One of 'em... So one's a freshman. My daughter's an eighth-grader, and then she's got a sixth-grader. So now it's gonna be a sophomore, freshman, and a seventh-grader come this next school year, and we, we've learned a lot from each other. She's taken things from me, and I've gotten things from her.

And she's the one that's like, "It's okay to do these little things." Well, I've taken these little things and either added it to everything I did. I don't think I have a single layout in years that is not distressed. I [00:45:00] don't think I have... I, I, I don't know how far back I could go in any of my albums that wouldn't be distressed or have dimension of some sort.

Jennifer: And it's, it's so interesting because I've, uh, c- I came from digital scrapbooking to paper. Um, so I didn't come from like a traditional scrapbooking place, and I, I had learned about like even inking the edges and, and some distressing. But the distressing of die cuts is so genius to me because sometimes they're just so flat.

Miranda Webber: Y- yes.

Jennifer: This is a little piece of paper, um, of a, you know, a camera. But.

Miranda Webber: Yeah.

Jennifer: How can we make this look more organic to the page, uh, and just not so, not so two dimensional.

Miranda Webber: Well, yeah, it's even the stickers. I think for me it's the stickers that are the worst. And I think it's because you can distress like the paper embellishments and paper and all [00:46:00] of that. It's a little bit harder to distress a sticker. Now, can you do it? Yes, 'cause I've done it.

Um, I, I mean, I've done it just so that it's not so, like, like I placed it there and it's in the wrong spot type of thing. And, you know, sometimes I feel like, "Is this gonna look good?" Or I try to hide 'em. Like, I'll tuck 'em in under things so that where you can do dimension or you can do distressing to give it a little bit of life, there's a little bit more life to it.

Um, that's why I think I've gotten to like 49 & Market a little bit more, or like the laser-cut stuff. Because they have... Even though that they're flat, right, like, there, there's something to them to make them look more realistic than like a sticker. Or like what you were saying, like just putting a piece of paper down or a, a, you know, a die cut down and it's just flat.

Jennifer: Yeah, it's been so interesting to see [00:47:00] how the manufacturers are using different, like, weights nowadays. Like.

Miranda Webber: Yeah. Yeah,

Jennifer: The laser cuts and, um, oh, the, the paper repacks that have been in some of the Vicki Boutin collections. Um, some of those almost, like, me 'cause I'm like, "This is just so thin. What am I supposed to do with this?" But I think it is, it is giving us new opportunities for, for layering, for dimension, for, uh, playing with things in different ways.

Miranda Webber: Well, we've evolved, right? Like, we keep trying to evolve ourselves. So.

Jennifer: Yeah.

Miranda Webber: For, for example, like you were talking about digital scrapbooking. So I, I never did digital, period.

Jennifer: Mm-hmm.

Miranda Webber: I... And I have, I do have the printer. I have the Canon printer that prints out 12 by 12 papers from one edge to the other, and I do use it.

But I realize that I'm not one to [00:48:00] like do digital digital. Like, I'll get like the digital... Like, I don't do digital. Like, I don't go on... You know what I mean? Like, it's like hybrid. Yeah.

Jennifer: Yeah.

Miranda Webber: I'll print out the digital stuff, and I'm like, "I don't like how this looks and feels." Now, do I love the paper that I...

Yes. I'm the one that bought the paper to be able to print it out, right? So I know that the, it's not the paper, but I'm just like, I think there's something to say. And I don't know exactly what it is, but it's something about getting the paper in from other companies that makes my life a little bit easier.

Because when I print it out, it looks different than, say, you would print it, print out the same thing on whatever printer you have, right? And if we would put it together, we don't look the same. And I think that, like, messes my [00:49:00] OCD brain up. Because my printer and your printer should print out the same thing, but they're not going to, and it messes, it messes it up.

So while I tried hybrid, I don't necessarily enjoy it. But I see a ton of individuals that do it, and I love what they do.

Jennifer: You mentioned in one of your videos, like you enjoy making hard things simple. Um, in terms of like using mixed media, but not, not going to 110% or level 11. You're doing it like your level and trying to make it, uh, still approachable and fun for you.

Miranda Webber: Yeah. Well and that not just for me, but for other individuals that may not have dipped into it yet or don't know where to start. I mean, I love the junk journals. I mean, junk journals are huge. Um, a lot of people do 'em. And I was just at a crop, during my spring break, and, there was a lady that sat right next to [00:50:00] me, and she became a, like, my whole table, we all ended up becoming friends. 'Cause I went to a crop by myself and didn't know anybody else. But lo and behold, I did actually know quite a bit of 'em, I just didn't realize they were going, 'cause I've met them at other crops, and we ended up all kind of sitting together. And my table mate was doing a bunch of decoupage, all of this, taking,

they had the What is it called? Gel plate. Is that a gel plate?

Jennifer: The Gelli plate? Yeah.

Miranda Webber: Yeah, yeah. Okay, they're taking that and taking these random things and putting them on there, then rolling more paint on it. And I'm like, " What in the world are you doing?" And, and she was explaining it, right?

She flipped it over and she was showing me, "Well, this is what it'll actually look like," and I'm still like, " You are doing all that work for the bubbles?"

Like, I'm all confused. And so, like, that's the mixed media that I, I [00:51:00] c- I can't get my brain to, like... Like, I see it and I'm like, "But how are you gonna use it?" She did the first layer, and then she got my... This is gonna sound funny, but I, I know why she did it. So some of the really cheap paper towels you get have those weird pattern, patterns on them.

They're not just like plain. So she put that down as like the bubbles. Like, 'cause it ended up looking like bubbles after she pulled the, napkin off. And so then couple weeks later, she actually got to use whatever she made at the retreat, and she showed me.

It was a card that she made, and it actually looked gorgeous. Like, I would, if, if that would got sent to me, I would've been like, "Oh, this is so cool. I can tell that it's handmade." I really would have enjoyed getting that card, so whoever that is going to would enjoy getting that card. But in the beginning, my brain couldn't go that deep into mixed media. So I think [00:52:00] for me, my mixed media, I try to make it simple and easy to use. So that if you wanna make it more complex, go for it. But if you don't, here's a simpler way to do it. And so that's why, like, on my channel recently, when I joined the Crafty Maven Getaway, I used to be on her design team through Hannah.

I used to do it a long time ago. That was one of my DTs. But then she, had some life stuff, so then she quit the design team part of her business because she just couldn't keep up with it with everything else. She emailed me saying, "Hey, you made part of the design team." She gives me a call right away and she's like, "I don't want you to overthink your mixed media. I need you to be the simple one." And I was like, thi- 'cause I was like, "You ain't gonna get much more than that."

Jennifer: Yeah.

Miranda Webber: But she needed that. Part of her team, she needed that. Because she does, her focal [00:53:00] points are mixed media. Like, when she does her layouts, she has less paper and uses fibers.

So it's, like, all the texture-y, fiber-y type stuff with the mixed media. So that's her backgrounds on a 12 by 12 layout. She doesn't use a lot of embellishments or paper. She uses her mixed mediums and fibers for her background and her embellishments. I'm the opposite. I use mixed media for my background, and then use the paper die cuts and photos as the main focal point.

Like, the background's my extension to what I'm trying to achieve. Where hers is the other way around. While, yes, she wants her photos to be the focal point, but she does a huge, a bigger part of her layout is mixed media. So when I a- asked to see if, you know, wanted to do the design team call and turn myself [00:54:00] in for that part of it, um, and she came back, she's like, "I need you to stay simple.

I want you to use my stuff and do simple." And that's what I've been doing. I, you know, sometimes I make it a little bit more than others, but a lot of times you see me with stencils. I don't do a lot of backgrounds without the stencils. Splattering, all that kind of stuff is just typical stuff that I feel like most people do if they want a little bit of mixed media.

Splatters is the best way to go. If you wanna dip into it, splatters. Um, that's what I did. Before Germany, I never touched mixed media. Never touched it. You would never think with the layouts I've done that I've never touched mixed media in my life. It wasn't until I went over to Germany, met my two friends that I have now, those are the ones that got me into mixed media.

And I've, I've taken mixed media further than what they use, but they're the ones that got me into it, and they started me out with splatters. And then I [00:55:00] went from there.

Jennifer: I love hearing how you've kind of picked up these different things from, from different fellow creators and have molded them into your own style.

Miranda Webber: Mm-hmm. Yeah, so that's why I feel like if you get anything out of, you know, this episode of, you know, of the podcast, of this season. Don't think you have to act like every other scrapbooker. Stay true to yourself, pick up on things, try new things, but don't think you have to do what every scrapbooker does.

Stay true to yourself. Because you're going to enjoy scrapbooking a lot longer if you do that than trying to stay with everyone else and try to keep up with the Jones. You don't need to do that in scrapbooking. Take little pieces, work with it.

If it doesn't work, find something new if you want to or stick true to yourself. 'Cause you're [00:56:00] gonna feel better in the long run anyway, and you're gonna enjoy your layouts a lot longer. Versus looking at them and saying, "Why did I do that? Why do I need to do that?"

Jennifer: I certainly have, uh, a collection of pages from a certain time that, that, that feel that way,

Miranda Webber: Oh, me too.

Jennifer: Yeah. Now, one of the, like, the tools that you've been using to really make things simpler is these giant black and white paint sticks. So can you tell me what these are? I've not seen these before.

Miranda Webber: They're, they're, honest to God, they're Liquitex paint sticks. Go onto amazon.com and type in Liquitex paint sticks, and they're just, they're, they're a tube of paint. And you push down on it, and you just shake it, and it drops splatters. Like, um, you know how enamel dots look kind of like there's a little bit of a bump to it?

Jennifer: Yeah.

Miranda Webber: Like a cheaper version of that.

Jennifer: Okay.

Miranda Webber: You know, by the time that you buy enough enamel dots, you could have probably used one paint [00:57:00] stick for that timeframe, right?

Jennifer: Yes.

Miranda Webber: You know. So that's what they are. They're literally a paint stick. They're on Amazon.

Jennifer: Okay. We'll link 'em up.

Miranda Webber: Yeah. Yeah, and if you go to my channel, they're in my, they're in my description.

Like, if you click on the links, they take you right to Amazon. That's where they're at.

Jennifer: Yeah.

Miranda Webber: And they're white and black.

Jennifer: Yeah, I'm gonna definitely check those out because those two core colors, there, there's always a use for black and white splatters. Um, and my little bottle of, of old Heidi Swapp Color Shine Gold.

Miranda Webber: Oh.

Jennifer: Holding on to.

Miranda Webber: Y'all. Oh, my God. That, that gold Color Shine, that, that was the one that I said I was never gonna use in my life, and I've never, after I bought one I never bought it again. Because I don't think I sh- I, I'll probably be honest, but I'm almost betting I didn't shake it up well enough.

Jennifer: Yeah, you really do have to, to shake it well, too. And now I think a lot of the, the portion of [00:58:00] it that is more evaporative perhaps has changed, so the, the composition is quite different than it was, say, 15 years ago. Well, let's end, though, on a positive note with, like, kind of a, a quick rundown of some of your current favorites. Um, what about adhesives?

Miranda Webber: Stampin' Up!'s dimensionals. I, I have a full drawer of all of theirs. If they would ever stop selling theirs, I'm gonna be in trouble. That's my adhesive.

Jennifer: What about your liquid glue versus, uh, tape and foam.

Miranda Webber: That's the Art Glitter Glue. That's what I use. I know that some of them will use the Scotch one, um, that's the fine line, fine, in that fine liner bottle or whatever they call. I know that they're very comparable, so, um, I just know that mine is the Art Glitter Glue. And I've had the same bottle for three years. I just fill it up.

Jennifer: Oh, okay.

Miranda Webber: Yeah, I just ... 'Cause you can buy, like, the bigger bottles just like you can with the Scotch. [00:59:00] I don't know what they call theirs, but their Scotch glue, that's kinda the same thing. The thing that I notice differently between the two, and maybe, and I could be wrong, but I know with the Art Glitter Glue, it doesn't leave, like, there's not a hint of ... You can't tell that there's glue there. Where I know with the Scotch, it would leave, like, a white hue. It was, like, almost like it wouldn't dry all the way.

Jennifer: Okay, great, great. What about your favorite pens for outlining and.

Miranda Webber: Those are Sharpies, the Sharpies fine liner. That's it. That's all it is, black.

Jennifer: And I notice you're using, like, a tool to pick up sequins, and I feel like there's this whole world of, like, I'm guessing this comes from the diamond art world that I don't understand. This, this uh, sorcery, I guess.

Miranda Webber: So it is on Amazon. They're jewel pickers. So you know when you would do either ... Yes, they would [01:00:00] use them for those diamond art things, you know, 'cause those, those little jewels are super, super small.

Jennifer: Yeah.

Miranda Webber: You, like, honestly, go to Amazon, and you type in jewel picker, and that's what comes up. And I don't know what Houdini stuff they do, but it works.

Jennifer: Okay.

Miranda Webber: Just, it, it ... And it, it works so well to the point where it ... I, I won't go back. I used to use my, I used to use, um, my tweezers. I used to use, like, all of these things. Nope, jewel picker it is. And I have a set that I scrapbook with here at home, and then I got a traveling set. I bought two of them.

Jennifer: My Amazon cart is going to keep getting larger here, I think.

Ok, what's your favorite distress color right now?

Miranda Webber: Oh, that'd be the Distress Spritz by, um, Tim Holtz, the Antique Linen. I use that for almost everything. And that, if you guys, [01:01:00] y'all in your Heidi Swapps, go to that and you'll never go back.

Jennifer: Okay, okay.

Miranda Webber: I'm challenging y'all 'cause I know there's a lot of y'all out there still hoarding those white bottles with the black and white lids. Mm-hmm, I know them.

Jennifer: And do you have any other, like, secret hacks that you use or random non-scrapbooking things you're using in your hobby? Like, just, you know, weird tips that you would share, 'cause I feel like you've got, you've got some.

Miranda Webber: Um, uh, man, um, I think.

Jennifer: Well, there was one that I noticed, so I can say that.

Miranda Webber: What was that?

Jennifer: You were talking about how if you, um... We just tend to think of rub ons as something we add to the background, but if you wait and add them last, it adds more, like, texture and dimension to the page because you're adding them partially over things.

Miranda Webber: So I did a layout where it had a bunch of, um, it was a cut [01:02:00] file. So the cut file that I was supposed to use, you can use it either as a stencil

Jennifer: Mm.

Miranda Webber: Or you could use it as like a background piece to like put paper on it, and it was like the little stars. Not like a star star, but more of like a, like a weird diamond shape.

Jennifer: Okay.

Miranda Webber: Like, you know how the stars up in the sky, you know how they kinda have that little middle and like the twinkle and the lines kinda coming out of it.

So that was the cut file. Well, what I decided to do was I used the negative pieces, so the actual little pieces of that cut file. I put it on my background, the negative I guess, or like the template of the stencil. I put that down, and then I took the little star pieces and glued them in on my background.

And then I took the stencil off, and then I left those stars on there. Well, I [01:03:00] was, as I was scrapbooking, I, decided I wanna use some of these rub ons, and in my brain I was like, "Oh, shoot," you know, blah, blah, blah. Glad I'm doing a voiceover because I know I said stuff I shouldn't. I wanted this rub on on there.

So I was like, "Well, here I go. I'm gonna take this chance. First time I've ever done this." So I rubbed it on there and I was like, "Ooh, I actually kinda like this." I kinda liked how it softened up the starkness of these stars. But then, but then how are you gonna see the stars? So then that's when I got out my black little Sharpie, my thin one, and I outlined the black stars on top of the rub on.

So as you rub it in, right, you're c- you're going over whatever it is, like the paper embellishments, right? But if you push it down enough and you take your black, like I would do the fine tip and just outline those pieces, [01:04:00] you're actually giving it dimension. 'Cause if you would take and look, like bring the 12-by-12 or whatever you're doing and put it, like, eye level with you, you can see the dimension. It's like dimension on dimension, and that's kinda what started my reasoning on why I'm like, it's okay to put rub ons on top. You know, e- because I really liked how that was. And there was a lot of people that commented that they're like, "Oh, I never thought to do this." And I was like, "Shoot, you, you and me both."

I didn't know that this was gonna work. I thought this was gonna be in the trash, scrapping this whole thing, starting all completely over because I messed up, and it actually turned out to be a really cool thing.

Jennifer: Awesome. I'm so glad that worked out.

Miranda Webber: Yeah.

Jennifer: Miranda, this has been such a fascinating conversation. Do you have any, like, final tips or things that you wanna share about what you have new or coming up this, later this year?

Miranda Webber: Well, [01:05:00] I, I mean, I'm gonna keep focusing on, you know, doing my layouts, being thoughtful and intentional. And then obviously you guys can definitely find me on all my social media platforms. Um, none of them have changed since the last one, so if you're there, thank you. If you're new, come on over. Um, I do know that I joined two design teams since I have taken time off.

So I'm part of the Scrap Room design team, and then I picked up the Crafty Maven Getaway. So now I'm kinda back on some design teams. I'm being more intentional about that. So my thing is, the last thing I wanna leave you with, with y'all is just be intentional and make sure that you're enjoying what you're doing.

Because if you're not enjoying it, stop, rethink, and then restart. Because I have realized, take my own advice, and I should have done this a lot sooner, is if you're not helping yourself [01:06:00] or keeping yourself healthy of whatever that is, you're not gonna be able to do things for others. But you have to do stuff for yourself, and if that means you're in the scrapbooking world and you love to do for others, start doing stuff for yourself. Because it's gonna make you feel better, and then in turn your stuff that you're gonna give away or do for others just looks that much better.

Jennifer: I love it. I love it. Thank you so much for spending time with me.

Miranda Webber: Yes, you too, and thank you for asking me to do this again. It's always been a pleasure.

Jennifer: And to all of our listeners, please remember that you have permission to scrapbook your way.