[00:00:00] Some of these ideas might save you money, some might save you stress, and some might do both. Hey friends, welcome back to another episode. I'm excited to sit down and chat with you. About budget friendly scrapbooking. We all know things are not getting any less expensive and scrapbook supplies were never quite cheap in the first place.

Jennifer Wilson: So I wanna talk about a variety of different perspectives and ways to think about how [00:01:00] to make your hobby a little bit more cost effective, whether that's diving into. Clever and unique ways of using your stash or other parts of your process that might use some tweaking.

I've got 12 different ideas here and these are not rules I want you to take what resonates. Leave the rest. It's all gonna depend on maybe where you often. Invest a lot of your hard to earn cash and where you don't care as much.

It is really going to depend on what type of scrapbooking you like to do, your style, and of course your existing purchasing and using habits. I'm hopeful that this episode gives you some food for thought and new perspective so that you can be more thoughtful with the funds that you have.

[00:02:00] All right, let's dive in to each of these ideas. So number one, and this perhaps is one that is a no-brainer, but it was important to me. To not tell you to just buy less. That's not the point here. You know, you can do that. I wanted to think about what are all the different ways that we can be a little bit more budget conscious in our hobby, and one is being strategic and creative about building kits from your existing stash of supplies.

You can build mega kits that could help you make many pages, or you can build single page kits for one particular story. But even the smallest kit can help you finish a page, with more purpose and intention and a lot more speed, and help you use supplies that you already own. And when you put them together a new configuration, it can give you more [00:03:00] creative momentum and excitement about using those supplies.

All right, number two, and that is to incorporate more hybrid scrapbooking into your hobby. Hybrid involves using your computer and printer, whether it's a printer at home or a way to print only what you need for your scrapbooking, whether that's a journaling block, particular papers, specific elements like stickers or die cut pieces.

You can. Leverage the relative inexpensive costs of an entire digital kit or collection, and only print the pieces that you need for your project. And as a bonus, you have the opportunity to reprint those items as needed over time.

Now as a connected idea also relating to [00:04:00] printing. My idea number three is to. Be more strategic about where and when you are printing your photos. So I would encourage you to use photo services, whether that's local or mail order for bulk purchases and more common sizes, like four by six, five by seven, eight by 10.

Reserve your home printer for those more unique or custom sizes, or projects where you might be making decisions more on the fly. When you do a little bit of both, you can gain the economies of scale of outsourcing your printing while also still maintaining some of your flexibility for printing at home.

And so you can think about. The different types of scrapbooking you do and when it might work best for you to order in [00:05:00] advance and order in bulk versus printing at home.

As a bonus tip, for those of you who are printing at home. Not only is it helpful to watch for sales and coupons and things like that for your printing supplies, but often there is quite a bit of savings in ordering larger quantities, particularly of your photo paper. So rather than going to the local office supply store and purchasing 10 sheets at a time, oftentimes the price per sheet is far lower If you're ordering a hundred sheets at a time.

All right. Idea number four is one that might be difficult, but I think is really, really important, and that's to. Really be decisive about what stories need a whole project. Sometimes one really well designed multi [00:06:00] photo spread, two layouts, even one layout or a couple layouts, can tell the story just as well as an entire album.

When you're creating a project, often that requires purchasing the album, all the page protectors and the supplies to create the whole thing, and that has a much higher cost versus creating one to a small series of layouts. So I want you to really think about what projects you have in the queue and.

Which ones really make sense, both from a story perspective and from your creative satisfaction to be projects and which ones could really be layouts or pocket page spreads, or whatever format works best for you.

All right, tip number five is something that I know a lot of you struggle with, and that is. To please resist [00:07:00] stockpiling. I fully support buying extra adhesive. So you have some for the future buying an extra album because it's on sale and you know that you have one album that's almost full. But I really want to encourage you not to purchase empty albums, particularly project oriented albums that may have a design, maybe a smaller size without a very clear purpose and timeline for that project.

So if you're someone that has a lot of empty albums sitting around, and yes, these are so full of possibilities and potential, but there also is a cost associated with them, and I want to encourage you to think about how you might shift your purchasing behavior to be just a little bit more reactive to your current needs and ideas rather than.[00:08:00]

Buying something because it's available now and you like it, there will always be something else later that you like just as much.

Tip number six encourages you to try on or embrace a more minimalist approach to scrapbooking. Particularly embellishments are often the most expensive part of our layouts. Especially those that may be a little bit more dimensional or preassembled. There can be some pretty pricey items. So when you create pages that focus more on the photos and story, really emphasize the white space and kind of a tight, simple or more graphic design, those often end up using fewer embellishments.

No, it's not to mean to say that you need to change your style completely, but if you are trying to be a little bit more frugal, how can you make the embellishments you do [00:09:00] have stretch a little bit further?

On a similar note, you can stretch the use of your paper supply. Now, most of us, particularly paper scrapbookers probably are never going to run out of pattern paper, but we can probably be more. Thoughtful and budget minded in our use of pattern paper. There's sometimes that abundance fallacy, we think we have so much we don't have to treat it, with much preciousness, but there is so much potential within our pattern paper.

So that's saving and organizing your scraps, using them creatively and with intention for future pages. And even that kind of tried and true trick of cutting the center part of a pattern paper out of. The full sheet that you're using as a background, 'cause all of a sudden you have a really large [00:10:00] area that you could use again for another page or even a companion to that page that you're already making.

Tip number eight is one that leverages a strategy that we teach inside of the Simple Scrapper membership, and that is using a creative hub or a centralized Idea Bank for your story management. When you get all those ideas out of your head and onto paper, including those you've already completed, that can help you reduce redundancy, avoid printing photos that you've already scrapbook and overall, save money by focusing on really matters most to you rather than.

Just, reacting and scrapbooking based on the whims you have of your most current photos and your newest supplies. Now, I'm not saying that that can't bring you a lot of joy, but if you are trying to be more mindful about your overall [00:11:00] volume, and of course the overall associated cost with that, using your creative hub, having the centralized location for all your planned and completed stories can really help you get a hold of that process.

My advice here for number nine comes specifically from some of my own experiences and those that I've seen from our members of choosing classes that require. Specific and new supplies for that particular class. And so my advice is to, when you are looking for a class to support your motivation, practice a new technique to look for classes that.

Encourage the use of supplies that you already own, that may have ideas that you can use again and again, and that just don't require a wholesale purchase of a lot of new and different things in order to complete [00:12:00] that class. With that as a bonus tip, you can always use your own creative mind to come up with adaptations, but I think for most of us, it makes sense to look for that flexibility, the personalization, that adaptability to your own stash. Now there will always be times in which you need something new. As I mentioned in the very beginning, the intent of this conversation is not just to tell you to shop less, but to shop with more intention and more mindfulness. And so when you do identify that there is something that you need.

Whether it's for a class, a project, a layout you wanna create, can you find something similar within your existing stash? Sometimes things that maybe you forgot you had, something maybe you bought in multiple. Um, things that will satisfy your intention, the mood you're going after. Even [00:13:00] thematically, are they close enough to be able to meet this need without having to buy new?

All right. Suggestion number 11. It is kind of a way to back into this budget savings and that is to set natural limits for your supplies by using containers, bins, limiting. Total folder size if we're talking about digital staes, or of course, even using your budget as these signals of this is enough of this particular item.

So the more that you can think about boundaries that are physical or even self-imposed, that can help you. That can offer you an additional lens of saying yes or no. So let's just say you're only going to keep the number of letter stickers that fit in this particular [00:14:00] container. So if you know you want to buy more because you saw some that are really cute, then you need to use up some that you already have or you need to say, oh, okay, maybe not now.

I have plenty. And in the future, I will consider buying that thing if it's still available or looking for something similar. But right now I don't need anything of that particular type. And I know it could be so hard because I. When things come out, we know they're not gonna be around forever, but as I mentioned earlier, there will be something else come along the lines, whether it's a new mainstream release or from a independent manufacturer or from your favorite digital designer that you love just as much, and that excites you even more.

And my final tip here is another way to. Further sustain, this approach and perhaps new [00:15:00] commitment to being more budget conscious in your scrapbooking. And that's to really place an emphasis and a celebratory factor on using things up. Using that last sheet of paper from a paper pack, the last item from a kit, the very last sticker on a sticker sheet.

How can you make this more part of. Your creative process so that you have even more incentive and deep seated motivation to use what you have.

All right. I want to remind you again and reassure you that you don't need to try all 12 of these things. Even one or two can make a big difference, and maybe you've identified one that feels like the easiest place to start, or maybe the one that could offer the biggest, literal bang for the buck for you in terms of being more.

Cost efficient with your [00:16:00] scrapbook, supplies, being more mindful of your purchases and getting a better use of your supplies. Scrapbooking should feel light, joyful, and sustainable, and I hope that you learn something new and receive some new perspective this week.

We've got some more great interviews coming up and a very special series later in October, and I am just so excited to be continuing to chat with you here on the podcast and I can't wait until next time. As always, please remember that you have permission to Scrapbook Your Way.

Caroline Gatenby: [00:00:00] Having some elements of crafting in every day, I think that's what is very important to me. So I often get up and do an hour first thing at the desk just to get something done. And that just makes a great start to the day for me.

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 307. In this episode, I'm joined by Caroline Gatenby to chat about the importance of crafting as she designs her empty nester life.

Our conversation includes how Caroline keeps her hobby streamlined in format, but detailed with a skill she knows extremely well sewing.

Hey Caroline, welcome to Scrapbook Your Way.

Caroline Gatenby: Hello.

Jennifer Wilson: I am [00:01:00] so thrilled to be chatting with you today. Can you start by sharing a little bit about yourself?

Caroline Gatenby: Uh, yes, I'm delighted to be here. Thanks ever so much for inviting me. Uh, I'm Caroline. I'm an empty nester. I have two boys in their thirties, one who got married last year, and one who's to be married next year. I've been married to Ian for 37 years and we have a sausage dog called Sergio who is 10 and he is had three IVDD back surgeries.

So he is an old chap now.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh yeah.

Caroline Gatenby: I live in Yorkshire, um, in a place called Beverly, which is sort of between York and Hull. So that's about me.

Jennifer Wilson: How long have you been a scrapbooker?

Caroline Gatenby: Well, I think, um, when I was off work with stress in 2009, I think I, I, I had six weeks off work with stress. And I think I decided then to look [00:02:00] for something to de decompress with. And that's when I came across it on online. And, uh, I've been doing it ever since.

Jennifer Wilson: Wonderful. Yes, that was definitely like a, I don't know, a really special and unique time. That's really when I really started getting into it as well, so. So we have two kind of more icebreaker questions. Do you have a favorite recent layout or project? What's it about and why is it your favorite?

Caroline Gatenby: Well, my favorite project has to be my Project Life albums. I think, um, I do, I do them monthly with, uh, Ali Edwards Stories by the Month Kit. And I just really use it like an illustrated diary. Um, I complete two nine by 12 albums every year. And, um, I like to have, uh, all our stories in there so that we can look back on the year and see what we've done.

But that's definitely my favorite project and I, I, [00:03:00] I love doing it.

Jennifer Wilson: We will definitely get more into that as we go on. But I'm curious how long you've done the nine by 12 size.

Caroline Gatenby: I think I started nine by 12 when it first came out. Was it probably 2017? I did get start in the 12 by 12 and it was just very unwieldy, I think, for me. And, and it's hard to pick up and look through. Whereas nine by 12 is much easier. Uh, and I love that the family liked to look back on them as well as me.

Um. I experimented briefly with the six by 12, but they, they weren't right for me. And I'm a bit sad now that the nine by twelves are disappearing because we just have no access to scrapbooking supplies here in the UK. It's just such a minor, a minor sport.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, that's, that's really unfortunate. And obviously all the trade issues aren't making anything easier, and nine by 12 was already harder to come [00:04:00] by.

Caroline Gatenby: Yeah, I know. I was really sad when Studio Calico and Ali Edwards stopped doing it. And I, I did buy enough for next year, and I'm just hoping that by next year somebody else might have reinvented it and we could start again.

Jennifer Wilson: I hope so. I hope so. So our other beginning question here, is there something that you're excited to do, use or try? It could be your hobby or in your everyday life.

Caroline Gatenby: Something I got into last year that I'm really, uh, excited about is I took a beginner's forestry course. And it's another aspect to creativity that I've always wanted to try. And, um, my friend school, old school friend and I went and, uh, did a six week course. And I really loved it. It was just a different outlet for my creativity.

And we're hoping to do the flowers for my son's wedding venue next year. So I think, [00:05:00] I think it was just something I've never done and I thought I always wanted to try and I've been really enjoying it.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, that sounds so fun. Now, do you typically do things from your own garden? Are you, do you go to the market and purchase flowers?

Caroline Gatenby: No. It would be purchasing flowers, definitely. Uh, my husband does a garden. I don't do the garden at all. Um, but I do like to have a go when I'm in the supermarket. I select some flowers and I do like to have a go, uh, when I get back home.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I am, I am not the garden person either. I think I can't, I, I could barely keep the humans alive. So the plants are kind of on their own. Uh, they are left to my husband and my daughter, so.

Caroline Gatenby: My, my dad was a, a big gardener, but unfortunately all he was interested in was food. So I didn't get, I, yeah, I didn't get, uh, any gardening tips for flowers from him. But I think it was something, I always fancied beam. When I was younger, I thought I might be a [00:06:00] florist. But my parents wanted me to become a teacher and uh, so I went off and did that instead.

Jennifer Wilson: What age level did you teach?

Caroline Gatenby: Well, to start with, I, I taught, uh, secondary school pupils, which was 11 to 16. And then I had a career break when I had the boys and I retrained to, uh, a different subject and different age range. And I went back teaching, um, five to 11. So I've done two different age ranges.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. Which one is harder or which one is easier?

Caroline Gatenby: Uh, it's difficult to say really because there were different topics. Uh, I was, um, a

Jennifer Wilson: Oh

Caroline Gatenby: Home economics teacher first time round with food and textiles, which was a real creative outlet.

Jennifer Wilson: No doubt. Yeah.

Caroline Gatenby: And then when I retrained, I did, uh, special needs. So that was a completely different aspect. So [00:07:00] that was a total, totally different thing, just special needs within, within an, uh, the normal school.

But even so, you, you're approaching things differently and the, the creativity was, was not as present as it was when I was, uh, working with my hands maybe.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, I think it's a different type of creativity to provide an educational experience. All right, so I scrolled back on your Instagram as far as I could before just like wouldn't reload anymore. And you've been doing this for so long, um, and you have such a combination of cozy crafty things, just a lovely like lifestyle type of account. Um, you seem to take pictures of your garden, even though you're not doing the gardening yourself. But you know, lots of baking and home decor, and of course your little sausage dog. What else should we know about what your life looks like?

Caroline Gatenby: Well, I've always been [00:08:00] creative in different ways. Um, I was quite musical when I was younger and I was in a choir, church choir with my father and played an instrument and things like that. I think that, um, when I was teaching three or four days a week, I, I, um, went back part-time after having the boys. Um, I then got involved in supporting my elderly parents, so I think there's been sort of a period where you're looking after your children, and then that seemed to trans transfer into looking after parents. And it was only last year when I, I finally lost my mum. Um, that I, I've suddenly realized that I've got all this extra time. So previously I think what I was doing on Instagram, just things that were generally happening in my life. Whereas now I've got much more time, I'm spending [00:09:00] time actually enjoying my crafting more and sharing more. Which is something that's relatively new in a way. I'm being more conscious in my sharing. So crafting brings me a lot of joy. And, I find documenting even the bad and the good.

Through losing my mum that I find it very my cathartic. So it all sort of comes out in, in the creativity that I do.

Jennifer Wilson: Sure. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's, I think it's all of those things together, uh, become very meaningful and particularly scrapbooking. It's such a, it's a such, such a part of us. And that kind of element of it being different than other types of crafts because it is our lives.

Caroline Gatenby: I think, I think when I was doing a December Daily in 20, I think it was 2016, and I wasn't sure if my dad was going to survive, and I remember thinking, should I be documenting this? And I am so [00:10:00] pleased that I did write what was in my head down when I look back now. Um, and yet some people don't like to put things in their, in their documenting that they find difficult.

I find emptying my head onto paper, is really good for me. So sometimes I cover up that documenting in Project Life, but some, sometimes just to go back and read that you know, at another time is very insightful.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes. And I, and I love, we have the options of how and, and when we're gonna share it, if at all. Um, but if we don't, if we don't get those thoughts out, they're gonna somehow manifest some way or the other. So thankfully we have ways of doing that, um, in, in the crafty realm.

Caroline Gatenby: Yeah. Yes, true.

Jennifer Wilson: One of the things that I often hear from folks who are in a similar season of life as you is that they have trouble, uh, structuring their time so they feel like they're using it well. 'Cause like, once you have more of an abundance of it, you know.

Caroline Gatenby: [00:11:00] Yes. Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Always feels like there's gonna be enough, but then the day is over or the week is over. So I'm curious how, how that works for you and how do you make sure that your, your crafts and your hobbies and, and the things that you love are a priority.

Caroline Gatenby: I think when I, I retired first before my husband. Um, and I, uh, loved that shift from all this pressures of schoolwork to suddenly having all this time to do all this work. And I threw myself into the baking and the, and the quilting and the sewing and the, and the paper crafting. And I used to say to people I could fill my whole day with that.

But, um, by having some elements of crafting in every day, I think that's what is very important to me. So I often get up and do an hour first thing at the desk just to get something done. And that just makes a great start to the day for me. Whatever else is going on, [00:12:00] if I've done that. Whether I get to that desk during the day or not.

If things take over, at least I've done something and I appreciate that time. Some of my reels are recorded in my dressing gown.

Jennifer Wilson: Nice. Nice. Yeah, no, sometimes that's what we have to do and we know if that's what's going to give us the best experience of the day and set us up for success and I love that.

Caroline Gatenby: Crafting makes me, me. And so I think that it's important to make time for that. 'Cause if we go away for any period of time, obviously I don't get to do as much. And then I come home and it's one of the first things I want to touch base with the day after we get back is put something down on paper.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, certainly. I always feel like the most creatively inspired when we're traveling and I'm like, wow, why don't I have my stuff here?

Caroline Gatenby: I have tried to take stuff [00:13:00] with me before and, and write things down in the moment because I think some things are better documented in the moment. But I, I tend to just make notes in rough and then do it more when I get back home. But I think that is true. And certainly I have an envelope with ephemera in when I'm away, certainly.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, let's dig into that a little bit more before we talk about kind of the core of your projects. How do you typically document your travels?

Caroline Gatenby: Well, if we have a foreign trip, we usually go abroad once a year. If we have a foreign trip, I, I usually try and make a little album independently, but that can take any format. Uh, I just do whatever I feel like making at the time. Um, I've been sharing some different travel, uh, booklets recently on my Instagram, and we tend to go to Sicily every year.

And you would think that documenting the same thing would be boring, but [00:14:00] actually I try and find a different way to put it on paper or a different format. Because I still like to, I still like to make, make a little book of it. But other trips that we make, uh, we have, um, a touring caravan and, um, other trips we make, like we've recently been to the lake district.

I would just put in a little insert within my Project Life in, in the month that we, we were there. So I, I do them in different ways. And, and all different page protectors in the Project Life to demarcate the, um, the travel insert.

Jennifer Wilson: Nice, nice. So. It's pretty clear that the real heart of your scrapbooking today is Project Life and then also the Week In The Life and December Daily projects. And you've been kind of, this has been the suite of what you do for a long time now. Why do you think that works so well for you?

Caroline Gatenby: I think that, um, I [00:15:00] discovered December Daily, way back in 2009. And I love Christmas and I think that is such a great way to document it. You can do it however you like to do it. And I've tried different formats again in that. I like to switch it up to keep it challenging. But I think that one I really like.

And, um, I find it easy enough to document every day or every couple of days. So I do it in the moment, but that's probably because of the, the, uh, where I am in, in my life at the moment. But, um, that, that I do, and try and get it finished before the end of December. So that it doesn't interfere with planning the next year's Project Life.

So that's a definite is December Daily. I've done it every year and I, I, will keep doing that one. Week In The Life I started doing, and then I missed a [00:16:00] year, and then I decided to do it not so deeply. And then recently I've gone back into doing it more deeply. I prefer the notebook format for that.

Purely really because of storage. But um, I have a minimal amount of area to keep all these projects. So I think that the notebooks are great for that. I tried doing it within Project Life, but it was too big. So I do like to do that, but I know why Ali refers to that as a marathon, not a sprint, because that can take a long time to complete. It, it's one thing to photo and record the stories. And then it's, it's another thing to actually then get it all the book after the event. But yeah, I can usually manage it.

Jennifer Wilson: It, it's so interesting how a project about a week [00:17:00] has such a different experience than a project that's about a month, know? Uh, and there, there might be the same number of photos.

Caroline Gatenby: Well, I think I put that during Week In The Life, I'd taken 800 photos and I thought, wow, not that you were ever gonna use all 800. But it was interesting to look back at what you did record over the week. And then to look at what you select. And I, I, if you look on Instagram, I only print out really small to fit in the notebook. But it, it's a snapshot of time.

And, and when you look back at my first one, which I went in the loft and found and, and recorded recently. I mean, that was very basic, but again, lots of things I looked at and I thought, wow, that, you know, I'd forgotten that. I'd forgotten that.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I [00:18:00] think we always think in the moment that we're gonna remember this 'cause it feels so vivid and so like clear and then time passes and those memories fade. And that's, that's such the joy of going back and looking at, at what you've documented.

Caroline Gatenby: I think in 2020, because we were all going through the pandemic, I made a conscious effort of really making that a, uh, a six by eight album. Because I wanted to be able to go back and look at that year. Um, and I think from the children's point of view in years to come, to go back and revisit, that will be very interesting. Um.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, certainly.

Caroline Gatenby: I kept a daily diary as well that that year. And um, uh, I've parceled that up and um, I think that will be interesting to look back at. My dad did a daily diary for, oh, I think ever since I can remember. And, um, we've, we've got them [00:19:00] all in a box in the loft. So I ought to really go back and revisit those. 'Cause he took the time to write about his garden and what he was planting in the weather and all sorts. So maybe it's in the genes.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. That's so cool.

Caroline Gatenby: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: My grandmother did the same thing, but she did not pass those on. She wanted to make sure those were destroyed and nobody would ever see them.

Caroline Gatenby: Well, I, I did have a snapshot, uh, of, of looking through them one day, and a lot of it was garden related and weather related, but there were other things that were amusing that you'd put in there.

Jennifer Wilson: Certainly, yeah, that's a treasure to have.

Caroline Gatenby: Yes, exactly, exactly. I always joke with my two boys that they won't be interested in all these books I've made when, when I'm no longer here. But, uh, but they just laugh. They just laugh.

Jennifer Wilson: So I'm curious about talking a little bit more about the [00:20:00] formats. Um, you mentioned how size and storage is what has led you to turn more towards notebooks. But what is it about kind of pocket pages that you like so much and have you always done pocket pages or was there a time when you made traditional scrapbook layouts?

Caroline Gatenby: I did start by making 12 by twelves. And um, I was a very early subscriber when, um, April and Scarlet started Studio Calico and I used to get their monthly kits. And I did, used to do 12 by 12. But then I kept filling up all these albums and kept thinking, where am I going to put them? So, um, in 2011 I did, um, a, a layout every week and then a monthly roundup layout.

And I suppose that was what then led me [00:21:00] to Project Life. Because I thought, effectively that's what I'm doing. Um, and by doing it in the Project Life format, I think I switched to the Studio Calico, smaller kits that used to do then the document kits. And I really, I really stuck with that format for, for quite a few years. And then when they switched more to Travelers Notebooks. I just didn't, I thought, this isn't gonna give me enough space. So I think what I like about Project Life is in doing it in the pocket pages gives me more space. Um, and I can do as many pages as I want for each month, depending on what I have to document. There is no rule or there are no rules. And, um, I can incorporate my creativity by making lots of flip ups and flip outs and page dividers and, and so it gives me the best of everything, I [00:22:00] think.

Jennifer Wilson: Well isn't, yeah, that's what we always want in all of our experiences. You know, let's optimize this and make it the best of, of all the choices.

Caroline Gatenby: Yes, I, think so.

Jennifer Wilson: I love how you found that for yourself.

Caroline Gatenby: Thank you.

Jennifer Wilson: So in terms of the notebook format, this has been such an interesting, uh, format, style and approach to scrapbooking as it has evolved over the past, oh gosh. Uh, uh, I don't even know how many, how many years it is now. But really in the past, like five to seven years, it's become just such this thing. What are some pros and cons, uh, to the notebook format of, of all sizes from your perspective?

Caroline Gatenby: For me, I think, um, they're quite compact. I've said that they're easy to store. You've got a fixed number of pages that you're working with, so, um, you can chop them about, take pages out, add pages in. I do stitch bits in and, and take certain [00:23:00] things out. You don't need to have a huge stash, um, to, to fill a notebook. And, um, I, I made a conscious effort a few years ago to really, um, declutter and, and have much less stash than I used to have.

And I, I think that's a bonus of notebooks. You don't have to have a huge stash. Um, uh, I think they're easy to take with you if you wanna take them with you, which some people do. Um, uh, but there are things against them as well. I think if you are going to do something. You, you've got a set number of pages and so you've gotta make whatever your story you're going to tell fit that number of pages.

Um, that's easy with the Week In The Life notebooks because they come with some pages [00:24:00] pre-printed, so you have to make everything fit in. But I have also worked out ways of adding extra bits if I want, if I want them in those. Um, you must be careful with a notebook to minimize the bulk, um, because otherwise they don't shut very well.

And, and so I do, um, I do tend to print on copy paper if I'm inserting anything extra. And if I want to insert something thicker, I would cut a page out to offset that. Uh, and the paper isn't always that thick itself, so when you're stamping, you can find it bleeds through. So I had an issue, I've had an issue with that before. So I tend to now stamp on copy paper and stick it in so it doesn't bleed.

I think it, it's, it's got like everything else, it's got pros and cons, hasn't it? But for me, I, I really enjoy it for, [00:25:00] for travel and for, um, Week In The Life. And I, I did do December Daily once in a notebook. I was inspired a bit by Heidi Swapp to try and then do it. She, she does an awful lot in notebook style things, doesn't she?

But, um, I found that some things, if I was trying to do a Project Life, like the Stop The Blur, it was all just too small for me for that. But I enjoyed doing it for December Daily and, and fitting it in a notebook.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, and each time we try, you know, matching a story with a, with a type of project, we learn from that and we decide if we're gonna do it again, or we're gonna evolve and try something else. So.

Caroline Gatenby: Yeah, that's true.

Jennifer Wilson: I'm curious about the decluttering that you mentioned. How were you thinking about what that you really needed to keep versus what you were ready to let go of?

Caroline Gatenby: Uh, that, that's interesting actually. I, I suppose like a lot of scrapbookers I had dabbled in different [00:26:00] things. I'd had a go with, um, some Tim Holtz stuff. I'd done some die cuttings, some card making, and, and I thought I'd just looked at everything and thought, what am I not using now? So that's how I started.

Um, some projects like, um. I'd been using the same stash for December Daily for a few years. So I thought, right. I'm going to put all that in a box and, and, and put that on eBay and just have a fresh start with some new stuff. Just to reinvigorate my mind, I think. Because I don't buy things every year and, um,

I think that you, sometimes you just need that refresh, that refresh. So it was a bit more, I wasn't using all the spray paints, I wasn't using a lot of the texture paste and, and stencils and things like that, that I'd had a [00:27:00] go with. And so I thought, right, let's, let's get rid of that and let's look at what you're actually using.

Uh, and that, that's how I made the start.

Jennifer Wilson: And how did it feel in terms of like your space and your ability to, to do what you wanted to do afterwards?

Caroline Gatenby: I think it worked really well for me. Um, oh, it's a long time ago now. I also streamlined all my stamps and, and I think it was, it was Laura Wonsik who had suggested, and in a class I took over Ali Edwards, that you curate your own stamp sets of things that you, you know, that go together. And just simply sifting out what you weren't using and retaining and organizing what you do use. Is, is just, it made the creativity flow much better somehow. 'Cause you've less to look through. So you, you, you're going to make your [00:28:00] decisions faster. Um, Ali did a great class, um, stash class a couple of years ago and I had, um, I had a look at that and I reorganized all my embellishments into just into two boxes. 'Cause I don't have too many. But again, now it's easy to lift that box out. Look what I've got. Is there something I want? And it's much quicker.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh yeah. I think that that particular conversation around embellishment storage changed things for a lot of people. Because I similarly have them in little trays now, organized by shape mostly, I guess, I use them way more than I did in the past. 'Cause before they were all tucked away, usually like with a kit in a small envelope somewhere.

Caroline Gatenby: Exactly.

Jennifer Wilson: And now it's like, okay, I need a circle. I'm gonna go in my circle bin and look for a circle and oh, here's the one that fits this layout. And then I move on. So they get a lot more love now.

Caroline Gatenby: I, I'd reorganized my office. I'm [00:29:00] very fortunate. We have a small room downstairs, which I use as the office. And I got two, uh, white chests of drawers from Ikea and I thought basically everything's got to fit in those two sets of drawers. Um, that I want use all the time. Then of course, I did get a Raskog cart 'cause it didn't all fit in. Do you know crafter who doesn't?

Jennifer Wilson: Still a pretty compact stash. Yeah. I have two in my office.

Caroline Gatenby: Yeah, exactly, exactly. And then I do have what I call my craft cupboard upstairs for everything backup. Like, you know, the big things like the Silhouettes and the Minc machine and things. They're all upstairs and they come out occasionally. But just by putting everything within reach in this small space, um, I, I felt cleansed, I suppose, in a way that I could move on.

Much, much quicker and, and I'm enjoying things much more. For [00:30:00] me, obviously it's worked. I look at my pages and I think they're not super designed. But they're quite full. But that suits me. I'm being me and my style. And I've got, I think hung up in the past on everybody else wasn't doing it like me and things like that. Whereas now I just do what pleases me and think, well, this how I like to do it and if I want to use these, I'll use them and that's how I'm enjoying it more.

Jennifer Wilson: That's amazing. I love it. I love your perspective and mindset around it. One of the things I know you love to do is to sew on your projects. So can you talk about how your, your previous background as a home economics teacher and, and your personal sewing, how have you applied those skills to your scrapbooking?

Caroline Gatenby: I sew on everything, and I always have, when I look back at my older projects, I've realized that right from the word go, I was [00:31:00] sewing. And I hadn't realized I was. So that's interesting, isn't it? Yes. I suppose it's because I taught textiles and the machine is very familiar to me and it's such a great way to attach different weights of things securely and it's just easy. , So I do encourage people to use it. And I, I try to demystify it a bit really, because I think a lot of people are afraid, uh, of the sewing machine. Um, when I was a teacher, I remember writing a, a booklet for the 11 year olds how to pass the sewing machine driving test. I thought that if these children can do it, anybody can do it. So I've started sharing more about, as I say, demystifying the sewing machine. But I, I like the texture that it adds to, to things as [00:32:00] well. So you, you get in that different, uh, element, even a notebook, um, you know, you can still stitch.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I, I have to say that I don't think I've ever regretted adding, taking the time to do it. And then particularly around December Daily time is when I tend to have the sewing machine out the most. And it always just, as you said, adds that fun texture and just a different element to it. So I enjoy that myself. I can understand the intimidation though. I, I think I've probably broken a needle or two, so.

Caroline Gatenby: I, I have obviously because I bought my super duper machine years ago when I made my wedding dress and when I was first engaged. And I, I have used that, but then, uh, I just bought a cheap one for to use on paper that costs very little. And, and I, I think for sewing on paper, you can just try it with anything. You know, if you get a one at the thrift store or, or whatever, you can just have a go and, and it just [00:33:00] brings something different to, to the project. So I, I would encourage everyone to, to have a go if they can.

Jennifer Wilson: So if you had to recommend someone look for a used machine versus maybe one of the ones that's more of like a, a compact, you know, brand new, inexpensive machine. I, I'm guessing you might choose the, to go to the used one.

Caroline Gatenby: Well, I, I tend, yes, I think so. Because there are some out there that people aren't sewing like they used to. The generation previous, everybody had a sewing machine. And, and, and then people are coming back to it now. I think, uh, you know, with the make do and mend, I think more people are coming to sewing. But certainly in my upbringing, my, my mum made quite a few of our clothes and taught me to use the machine at a very early age, but it was a needs must generation.

I think they made everything. [00:34:00] And we're a bit of a throwaway generation and I think people are turning that round now aren't, they. And so sewing machines are becoming much more, much more popular.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, and I think we're seeing all the downstream impacts of the, of being a unfortunately throwaway generation and lack of longevity of our products.

Caroline Gatenby: My younger son, he went to dance school in London and um, when he was younger, I used to make all his costumes and he sew pretty early on. And when he was in pantomimes and things, when he was working, he could then, you know, turn his hand to help repair mend and, and, and he sews. So he very active, uh, online and he, sews and, and, um, he was saying a lot, a lot of people are taking it back up in that generation.

Jennifer Wilson: That's wonderful to hear.

Caroline Gatenby: Hmm.

Jennifer Wilson: Any other tips that you would share for someone who wants to [00:35:00] start sewing on their scrapbooking?

Caroline Gatenby: Um, I think the, the thing to remember about sewing on paper is not to have the stitch too small, because if the holes are too close together, it'll just rip. So, um, so, um, have, have a stitch that's a length three or something like that. That's probably bigger than you would do on fabric. Um, so that it doesn't tear.

And if you are doing, trying to do an embroidery stitch or a zigzag, if those stitches are closed together on paper again, it'll probably just tear. So that, that's an important thing. Um, another tip would be if you do use it for fabric as well as paper, keep, keep a separate needle for each. Because paper blunts, um, your needle.

And I never stick something [00:36:00] temporarily and then stitch over it because the adhesive gets on the needle and then it sticks. And that means that you often end up with machine not working correctly. So I would say they're, they're some useful tips actually for sewing on paper.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, those are all excellent and probably mistakes that I have all made and had to learn from along the way.

Caroline Gatenby: Well, I tend to use mini bulldog clips or quilting clips to hold things together whilst I sew them. Um, and and you do have, definitely have more control if you're sitting than standing. I've seen a lot of people do sewing standing up on paper. Because it's just so quick and they want it to be done and finished. But I I, I have mine on the top of my Raskog cart and I do still sit down and you've just got that bit more control when you're sitting than you have when you're standing because [00:37:00] you're, you're controlling your foot as well. So effectively you're trying to stand on one leg whilst pressing with the other leg and control with your hands. So it can go horribly wrong.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, no doubt. Now the point you mentioned about, uh, having separate needles for paper and fabric, that goes the same for our scissors, right?

Caroline Gatenby: Oh, definitely, definitely. My children will tell you you risk the wrath if you walk off with the fabric scissors. I'm still, I'm still using the fabric scissors I took to, uh, uni, uh, back in the early eighties. So, yes, I've guarded those with my life. But, uh, yes. That's, that's how to upset, a a sewer is to walk off with their fabric scissors.

Jennifer Wilson: I, I learned that at a very young age as well from my mom and my grandma. So.

Caroline Gatenby: Yes. The children will tell you that.

Jennifer Wilson: So, kind of almost on the opposite end here, in terms [00:38:00] of the creative spectrum, you also love including hybrid elements in your projects. So what are the, the situations when you turn to your computer for the creative solution?

Caroline Gatenby: Um, I've, I've learned, I suppose, relatively recently, um, how to do hybrid. Uh, I, I have an old copy of Photoshop Elements and I've dabbled in it over the years. And I took couple of classes over at Ali Edwards, which were fantastic. Um, but I would go to that if I need more than one of something, or I wanna change the color of something, or I wanna change the size of something.

And certainly since I started destashing, I tend to buy digitals, um, for stamps rather than the physical stamps. In which case I would stamp it, um, and print it. And then put it in my project. I think [00:39:00] more and more as you said, postage and tariffs are intervening. That the hybrid is going to be, certainly for us in the UK to access some, uh, of the things you have available over there. It's gonna be, uh, more easily, through the hybrid than it is through, um, physical product. But I, I do like to change color and size, and I, again, I've just been sharing a few tips on YouTube because I think, again, people are afraid of Photoshop. And, and sometimes it is really easy to do something.

Um, and I'm not saying I'm doing it right, but this is how I make it work. If, if it helps you have a go sort of thing.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I think there's this kind of feeling that some people have that you have to learn how to use the software, all of it, every feature in order to use it for the one thing that you wanna do. [00:40:00] And so, no, you just need to know those, this, these small number of features, how to move things around, how to create some text, how to, how the layers work.

That's really, if you can understand the layers, you probably can do everything else. You don't need to understand the ins and outs of it. And I've been using it for, oh my gosh, since like 1995 now. I think. So, but I still don't know all the things. And I would not consider myself an expert by any means.

Caroline Gatenby: I, I, I'm not an expert and I don't know all the shortcuts, but I just make it, it work for me. And if I want a digital paper for December Daily, but I'm only gonna use one outta that pack, then I wouldn't buy the whole physical pack just to get that one paper. And I mean, that's relatively easy to just print that out.

But that, that's an example of, you know, just where I, I wouldn't always, um, be able to afford to buy every product, but hybrid is certainly a [00:41:00] way of accessing things for me that, that, uh, I might not be able to, to get physically.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, and I think both in, in terms of the notebook format and pockets, hybrid works really well because you're, you're not looking for as much dimension because you want it to fit and be compact.

Caroline Gatenby: That's true. And I think that, um, the class I took with Jenny over Ali Edwards, she, she just cut things out and then them with, um, with three dimensional, um, sticky pads and things. So you have the option, don't you?

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, no doubt. So to start wrapping up here, what project are you working on next?

Caroline Gatenby: Well, with the holdup, with the kits, this, uh, at this particular moment. I've just got my, um, July, August and September kit all together this week in the UK. So.

Jennifer Wilson: Gosh.

Caroline Gatenby: So I've, I'd already done my July [00:42:00] kit hybrid. So, Project Life is up to date for July, so my next thing is to start August. Um, and so I'm gonna be, that's my first, um, my first priority is to start documenting August in my Project Life.

Um, I'm also, um, making my son's wedding invitations at the moment for next year. Getting those printed off. I still haven't documented, um, a trip we took to Switzerland in April. So that's on my list. A little travel album for Switzerland. I've got a baby quilt to make for my niece who's expecting, um. On the 3rd of January. And then I'm getting about all this December Daily prep that everybody's talking about.

So I think I've got quite a few things on my upcoming projects list the moment. But there, [00:43:00] there is no timeline really. I, uh, I just enjoy doing it when, when I can.

Jennifer Wilson: It sounds like a full plate of fun. I mean, yeah. Uh, not much to complain about.

Caroline Gatenby: I, I've, I've got plenty to keep me busy. And if the weather's gonna turn here in the UK, which we're obviously heading into autumn. You have a few more days where you can sit in, sit inside, and enjoy, enjoy the crafting. We don't get an awful lot of sunny days, but we've had a really good summer this year, so I suppose there's, um, there's been, uh, more opportunities to be, uh, out and away in the caravan and things. So, uh, I'm looking forward to some autumn scrapbooking.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, maybe that was a, a silver lining to the kit delays is so you had the chance to make more memories so.

Caroline Gatenby: And actually it fell, it fell really well with the Week In The Life. I was able to really major on that and get that done. And so that, [00:44:00] that was great because I had a project I could do so. So that worked really well.

Jennifer Wilson: Wonderful. Wonderful. Well, Caroline, this has been such a great conversation. Can you share where our listeners can find you online?

Caroline Gatenby: Oh, thank you. Well, I share mostly on Instagram. Uh, I'm cannycrafter over on Instagram, I've been on there, as you say from the start. I used to have, um, a blog, uh, years ago called Canny Crafter and I lost it, trying to transfer it over from Blogger to WordPress. So literally I just, uh, share most things on Instagram now so you can find me over there.

And since Christmas, um, I've been trying to share more on my YouTube account. Uh, I have a crafty friend called Sandra, who I met through Instagram, and she encouraged me to start sharing on [00:45:00] YouTube. So I have, I have her to thank. Uh, as well as my son, obviously my youngest son who's taught me how to make reels because I didn't know how to do that. But he's really digitally savvy because he does a lot with his job. So I'm mostly on Instagram, but I do have some things on YouTube.

Jennifer Wilson: Wonderful, wonderful. We'll include both of those links in the show notes for this episode.

Caroline Gatenby: Oh, thank you.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Thank you again for spending time with me. I really, really appreciate it.

Caroline Gatenby: Oh, thank you. It's been a joy and I, I've loved talking scrapbooking with somebody. That's, that's been great.

Jennifer Wilson: No doubt I can do that till the end of time.

Caroline Gatenby: Thanks very much.

Jennifer Wilson: And to all of our listeners, please remember that you have permission to Scrapbook Your Way.

Jennifer Wilson: [00:00:00] I want you to start from where you are right now. Protect the future, then organize the past.

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 306. In this episode, we are just chatting. I'm gonna be sharing my five essential tips for simple photo management to mark the end of our photos journey inside of our community.

Inside of the Simple Scrapper community, we break the entire year into six two month blocks. We do this because a month is way too fast, and a quarter is somehow way too long. So two months has become the sweet spot of [00:01:00] finding focus, getting organized, making a plan.

Each of our journeys are themed and we are just now concluding the end of August 2025 with our photos journey. Throughout the years, it's been all manner of topics related to photos. We have discussion questions, conversation points at our live meetings, articles.

A wealth of touch points on this particular topic. And of course, the one that always rises to the top is photo management, photo workflow. How do we wrestle with the increasing volume of pictures that we need to manage, not to mention all the volume of photos from the past? And so I want to see if we can distill this down into five key points.

Consider these your foundational homework. This is where I would [00:02:00] like you to start. If you are a beginner on this journey, or even if you are totally not a beginner, I would love for you to use this as a check-in. Are you still hitting these key points? And is there something that maybe you need to go back to?

Because in the end, the most important part of photo management from our perspective here is being a scrapbooker. Yes, there are lots of ways to manage photos. A professional photographer, an artist, just an everyday average person who's not a scrapbooker, they are all going to manage their photos in different ways.

And so this conversation all comes back to are we taking the steps that support us in being creative, telling stories, capturing our memories? [00:03:00] Whatever your priority is in this hobby, is your photo management supporting that? So I want you to enter these tips with that context.

Now, before I jump in further, I do want to say that even though this two month period that we're concluding was the photos journey, this is a all year long 24 7 forever topic. So you will always find discussions in the community talking about photo management. And our Photo Crush classroom exists there to support you along the way, to help you develop your system for the first time or refine it for the 10th time.

All right, so let's jump in to number one. And I thought about starting this at the precipice of taking a photo, but that's not where I want you to start. The place I want you to start [00:04:00] is backup. I want your photos to be safe. That they're safe from computer failure, natural disaster, crazy internet hacking. There are so many things that could go wrong.

I want you to feel secure as you move forward because that little bit of anxiety or maybe even a lot of anxiety that's hanging over you about not having your photos together... let's say that is, in large part, likely because of the lack of backup, or maybe you feel like you don't have sufficient backup if you've worked on this in the past.

I want to encourage you to do something now. Something is better than nothing. It doesn't have to be perfect. Don't overthink it. Choose the option that is the easiest to get started with and can give you that peace of mind readily.

And I don't want you to [00:05:00] wait until you are perfectly organized, just like with your scrapbook supplies. I don't want you to wait to scrapbook until you're perfectly organized. I don't want you to wait to back up your photos until your photo library is organized. That doesn't make sense.

Backup systems will continually refresh themselves as you improve your organization. So the most important part is taking that first step. In general, it is worth paying for backup and it typically does not cost a lot, and you may already be paying for something that includes photo backup as a part of that.

And when you are evaluating backup solutions, it's important to understand how you might get your photos back if you need to retrieve them, whether it's an individual photo or all of them, understanding what that process would look like and how you would do it, that might be a deciding [00:06:00] factor for you.

So I've used the service Backblaze for a large number of years. I think it's been like 12 years and it has worked well for me and the few number of times I've needed to recover files I was able to do so. I've never had a complete failure but there have been times when something accidentally got deleted and I did need to recover it from that backup.

So whatever choice you make. I want you to not overthink it and dive in as quickly as you can. That is way more important than anything else for that peace of mind and that lowered anxiety that your memories are safe.

Number two here might be a little controversial, and I've probably said it before here on the podcast, but simple photo management can be achieved [00:07:00] by managing a fewer number of photos. So what that can look like is taking a fewer number of photos, and I understand how strange that can seem for a memory keeper for someone who is often the family member in charge of taking the photos, sometimes even asked by others to take the photos because we are photo takers. But you may have found that the availability of space, the readiness of having a camera in your hand almost at all times, means that you're taking more and more. So it may be that you can streamline your photo management by intentionally taking fewer. And one way that I've been able to do that is to make a mental shift at some point when I'm taking photos to more being in the moment.

And so that looks like turning my camera off, putting my phone down, putting [00:08:00] it away, and really being there in the moment that I'm capturing. And that allows me to have more of a personal interaction with that moment, and also is that conscious reminder that I don't need to have every single second of this event captured.

And so this might take some practice as you figure out what your sweet spot is, but even just having this intention that I am probably taking way more photos than I need to, can I be a little bit more intentional and mindful will go a long way for you.

If you are taking a lot of photos, and even if you're not, to be regularly looking at them and deleting what you know you don't want to save. It could be just those accidental photos. It could be the worst one of a series, the ones that quickly stand out as, I'm [00:09:00] never gonna need this. Let's just go ahead and get rid of that.

The more you can make that a habit, just part of what you do on your phone or your camera, the more future you will appreciate that when you're doing photo management. And with that also comes being extra mindful about screenshot clutter. If you go back through your photo gallery, how many images on there are screenshots that you took yourself, that somebody else sent you?

I have personally created a folder within my photo library called Reference. So for any of those images that I actually do think I might want to reference in the future, I move it there.

So I just have a home for, this is not a memory, but this is just a piece of information that I might need in the future. You know, some random places, wifi password or the brand of cat food that I can never remember the exact variety of you want, of course, put somewhere, but also at the same time, be mindful of all the [00:10:00] screenshots you don't want to save and to make those part of your regular deleting process.

Okay, we've got our photos safe, and we have a new mindset about taking photos. Now inside of our Photo Crush classroom, if you can create a single home for your photos, that is a place that you can operate from from here forward instead of constantly be chasing to get up to the present.

So what that means is creating a system that allows you to have the photos you take tomorrow and the next day and there forward, organized, and that's what I meant in the beginning by saying, protect the future. I want you to think about the future first. So we're backing up and we are getting those photos to a single home.

Then once you have a system in [00:11:00] place, you can start bringing in your past photos into that home. The point isn't to be perfectly organized. This system will always be living. It will always be evolving because there'll always be new photos and we'll always be adding more detail and nuance to the older parts of our library as well, whether that's adding captions or metadata or figuring out actual dates of photos that were dated because of, that's when they were scanned or the camera got reset and it said the photo was 1969, but it was a digital photo. So clearly it's not. The point here is that you have a home.

You have a plan for every new photo and you can start working the rest into that single home. And the bookend to this is also making sure [00:12:00] that you have an easy, repeatable way to get photos to that home. For some, it might look like complete automation. For others, it might look like airdrop from your phone to your computer.

For others, it might look like a cable. There are lots of ways to accomplish that, and it depends on your camera and the device that is going to be your home. That is something that we're constantly talking about and trying to troubleshoot for our members to make sure that they have the solution that works best for them, but anyone can Google how do I get pictures from this device to this device?

And that will give you a range of options to do so. So again, thinking about what is that single home? For my photos, the one that I will make sure is backed up and am I getting those photos to that home, the new [00:13:00] photos, easily?

Okay, so you might be thinking, wow this can be a lot and it can. We have often tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of photos, on our devices. I was just on a crop this weekend and a member had, I believe it was 69,000 photos on her phone and she had suddenly a run out of space. So we were working with her to figure out what is the best solution to free up that space while making sure that she has plenty of backups.

And it turns out she did, she had multiple backups.

And so I want to emphasize that any steps you take count, every little bit that you invest in photo management is going to move you towards a better place, an easier [00:14:00] time using photos for your scrapbooking. And so I want you to embrace every small step and that it will take lots of small steps to get from A to B, B to C, and beyond.

And as we mentioned before, the point is not to be perfectly organized, it's to scrapbook. The point is to keep improving our systems so that scrapbooking can continue to be the priority and the management we need to do to support it, feels simple and easy and is more of a background activity.

And how do we do this? We have to actually show up consistently. That is kind of one of the biggest central hearts of what we do here at Simple Scrapper, is to help you show up consistently by encouraging you about what you should be doing consistently and these [00:15:00] key touch points. So touching your photos on a regular basis, whether that's on your calendar, whether it's a daily habit.

The more that you can stay connected to them, the easier it will be to take those small regular consistent steps forward.

And so finally, kind of a partner to the small steps and this idea of consistency is to make sure that you are looking at your photos regularly. So not just managing them, touching them, looking for what to delete, making sure things are in the right place. Look at your photos. Look at how things have changed.

Look at the people and the places in your images. This will be your everlasting most important source of stories and inspiration for your scrapbooking? Yes, [00:16:00] our products and our conversations and videos and all the things we do in this hobby, whether that's the shopping aspect or the community aspect or the classes we take, all of that feeds into us with new ideas and perspectives and formats and approaches.

But scrapbooking is ultimately personal. It's about your stories and which ones that you want to tell, and you identify those in the end by choosing photos to go with them. For the most part, sometimes we do no photo layouts, right? So I want you to make sure that you are looking through your photos both present and past on the regular, because this will not only support you in staying inspired and excited about your hobby, but it will also give you that additional touch point to allow organization and photo [00:17:00] management to happen organically. Let's say you're looking at July 2015 and you're browsing through and you see, oh, there's a couple of those random screenshots and here's some bad photos, and oh, I see that we took a trip and I like to tag locations, and so maybe I wanna make sure this location is tagged.

Whatever you like to do, the more you are connected with it and the more you revisit your library as part of how you scrapbook, the more that you will find yourself taking these small steps without even thinking about it.

So to step back here, we didn't talk about specifics because that's gonna be so personal to you. How you're taking photos, where you're taking photos, the devices that you have, the places that you want to keep them, both physically and in the cloud. That ecosystem is something that [00:18:00] you already have likely and need to develop and refine over time.

That's where conversations can really make the difference. That's where guidance and support for your scenario really helps you follow through on those specific applications.

In the end, this is a framework for you to check in, for you to start for the first time, for you to think about, how can I make sure that my photo management process is as simple as it needs to be? Or another way to say that is no more complicated than it needs to be to support my scrapbooking. Just like I would never tell you that you need to have all of your scrapbook supplies organized before you can scrapbook, You don't need to have your photos organized or managed before you can scrapbook.

I want you to keep that perspective of [00:19:00] continuing to move forward, making sure that you are protecting the future, and then allowing the past to fill in the gaps. So to conclude, I hope this serves as a reminder that photo management doesn't need to be complicated. This is your system, your strategy. These are key touch points to check in and see how you're doing, but ultimately it's going to be your 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 305. In this episode, Franky Shanahan returns to the show to share how scrapbooking opened the door to new hobbies and personal growth. She discusses the joys and challenges of being a beginner as well as how she balances family life with documenting memories.

Hey Franky, welcome back to Scrapbook Your Way.

Franky Shanahan: Thank you for having me. It's really exciting to be here again.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, I am looking forward to [00:01:00] our conversation and checking in on you. Can you remind our audience a little bit about yourself?

Franky Shanahan: Sure. Um, so my name's Franky. I run a copywriting business called Love Audrey, and I'm sort of known by that name online quite widely. That's my Instagram handle. So, um, yeah, that's, there's a little, sometimes a little bit of confusion about whether my name's Franky or Audrey, but yeah. Um, I'll answer to both.

Um, I live in Bristol, in the southwest of the UK, uh, which is, um, a city about two and a half, three hours from London. Um, and I live with my husband Carl, and we have two children. Um, our eldest Isabel, is 20 and she's currently at drama school in London, just coming to the end of her first year there. Um, and our [00:02:00] youngest Jessie has just finished,

literally last week he's just finished his GCSEs, which here they're, they mark the end of secondary school. Um, so, uh, he's got a very long summer break ahead of him. And, um, then he'll be going to, um, college in the autumn to study professional cooking. So he wants to be a chef. Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: How fun.

Franky Shanahan: I'm looking forward to, um, eating all lots of free food in my future, thanks to his, uh, chefing.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, I bet. I bet. I was just curious, will your daughter come home for the summer after this term, or will she stay in London?

Franky Shanahan: Yeah, she, she'll, she'll come home certainly for some of it. She has to move into new accommodation for her second year. So they, they have the use of the house. She's in a shared house at the moment. Um, there's sort of, I think six [00:03:00] of them all together. So it's quite a, quite a, a packed, um, student house and then,

um, they have the lease runs out at the end of August. So, um, we sort of have to do a bit of back and forth and moving her into her new accommodation and things. But she'll definitely come back to Bristol for some of it. And we're going on a family holiday, the, the four of us. So yeah, she'll, she'll be back for some of it.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, how fun. Yeah. It seems like this is kind of a, a transitional point of like, you're not quite an empty nester, but you know, your children are spreading their wings and, and figuring out their lives.

Franky Shanahan: Yeah, we're definitely, we're definitely on the way. And, um, yeah, I sort of been describing myself as a, a partial empty nester.

Jennifer Wilson: Uhhuh.

Franky Shanahan: For the last year. It's definitely been, um, even though it's just one of them that's, that's left it, it really changes the, the whole dynamic of the household. And, um, you know, just at a very basic level, for the first time in my life, I'm outnumbered [00:04:00] by men, uh, in, in my own home.

So I've definitely felt, um, yeah, that, that, that's sort of been a different experience. We've always had a nice equal balance. Um, and I grew up in a house. It was just my mom and, and my sister and me. So it was a very female house household. Um, so yeah, it's been different not having Izzy here.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, fun observations you can include in your scrapbooking. Um, I'm curious if you have anything, uh, favorite, like what's a recent layout or project that you've really loved working on?

Franky Shanahan: It feels strange to mention it, uh, in the summer, but it's, um, not that long since I finished my December Daily 2024. So I always work on mine after December and I kind of, I kind of use the first few months of the year, the, [00:05:00] you know, when it's still winter and pretty miserable here in the UK to work on my December Daily.

And I always aim to be finished by kind of March, April, which is when spring finally arrives. But I took a little bit longer this year and I really only finished it, I think it was like the first weekend of May. So it feels quite recent. Um, but yeah, I loved, I loved December Daily and I love the feeling of completing that album and, um. Lots of hard work and and effort. And then it's kind of all done and you can it away and take a couple of months off and then start getting excited to do it all over again.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, that's very true. We, we do do that to ourselves, but that's part of, part of the joy, and particularly I'll ask you a little bit later about kind of this idea of repeating projects and why we love doing that. But before we get there, another icebreaker question. Is there something new that you're excited to do, use or try either inside of [00:06:00] scrapbooking or in your everyday life?

Franky Shanahan: Well, this year a big focus for me and sort of, I guess you could say, um, a new hobby of mine is gardening. Um. we of finally got round to renovating our outdoor space. Um, it was sort of March, April time. Um, and we've been in the h we've been in this house for sort of 13 years now. And, um. It's got a very, I don't know, it's probably, I don't know how, if it's easy for Americans to imagine, but we live in, it's just a sort of quite a small terraced house and the, it's obviously in a city.

The garden is not a big space. It's a small urban garden. Um, and it previously was just all decking and I didn't really have any space to, to grow anything. Um, and I used to sort of, you know, I had a few pots and things, but it wasn't a particularly inspiring space. And, [00:07:00] um, it was mostly dedicated to the children and having, you know, a bit, a little patch of outdoor space where they could do what kids do outside, you know. Um, but we were finally able to renovate it properly earlier this year. And we put in some raised beds and I've really just gone all in, uh, on learning about gardening. Learning as much as I can and about growing things. And, um, and I've just been loving it. It's just, just brilliant and, um, I think, yeah, it's been more joyful than I even imagined it would be. I knew, I, I knew, you know, I knew it would be good for my mental health to have an outside space and, um, but yeah, it's been even more impactful I think, than I imagined it would be. And I'm really excited to make a scrapbook about that process and about my first, my first year of, [00:08:00] um, of growing and yeah, the process and, um, what that's been like and the, yeah, the transformation.

I've got some really good before and after photos and, and the, the difference is quite dramatic, so yeah, I'm excited to do that.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, there's something special about being a beginner. And I'm wondering like, okay, so if we think back and, and for our audience to give some context here, we chatted back three years ago on episode 162 where you were a new scrapbooker. Now you're a new gardener. I'm curious if there was something new that came before scrapbooking.

Franky Shanahan: No, I think, I think, um, scrapbooking was kind of the gateway to trying new things. And I think I remember saying to you that one of the things that motivated me to return to scrapbooking 'cause I had sort of dabbled in it previously and as a child and things. But one of the things that prompted me to sort of explore it again as an adult was that I [00:09:00] realized that I was the only person in my house who didn't have a hobby.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Franky Shanahan: And I think it, kind of opened the floodgates to wanting to try new things and learn new skills. And have creative outlets or things that were just for me that I did just for fun. Um, and yes, I, I would say scrapbooking was the, the beginning of that. And it also that, you know, I think when we spoke, I'd only been scrapbooking for about six months. Um, so I was really new. And I think it that helped, that process helped me get comfortable or Yeah, feel more comfortable being a beginner. Because it's not, it's not something that happens very often as an adult unless, unless you actively seek out that experience. You know, there's a period of our lives when we're growing up, when we're, you know, children or when we're starting out in a career where we are being, we are forced to be a beginner many times. [00:10:00] Um, and then that kind of just goes away.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, it's like it's a muscle you have to keep using to, um, to keep strong.

Franky Shanahan: Yeah. And I think that, um, scrapbooking helped me. Yeah, work that muscle and it gave me a little bit more, yeah, made me, made me braver to, to try other things, to try other hobbies as well. And I'd say gardening. Yeah. That's sort of the result of that really.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, it's beautiful and I can't wait to kind of see how your garden unfolds. I have yet not gotten that kind of inspiration. I feel very increasingly indoorsy, but I'm happy to let my husband, uh, take on the gardening as he becomes maybe increasingly more outdoorsy and, um, is enjoying tending that part of our life. So I just appreciate it. I guess.

Franky Shanahan: Yeah. Um, my, my mom is not a gardener, but my, um, my stepdad very much is, and, and she, [00:11:00] that's her hobby, is enjoying the fruits of his labor, I think.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Franky Shanahan: Sitting in the beautiful garden that he creates for her. So.

Jennifer Wilson: There. There's something to be said for that too. So when we last chatted, you've been scrapbooking, as you said, for about six months. What does your hobby look like then, and what does it look like now?

Franky Shanahan: Um, that's a good question. I, I was mainly working in I think when we spoke, I was mainly working in, um, travelers notebooks. I was using a lot of, um, Studio Calico supplies, which obviously sadly, um, no longer really exist in the same, quite in the, in the same format. Um, I'd made, I think I'd made a scrapbook about the previous summer, so summer 2021.

I'd scrapbook a lot of stories and memories from, from that summer. And I was partway through working on my first December [00:12:00] Daily. Um, which I had yeah, discovered in the autumn of 2021. I had allowed myself to buy a very small amount of supplies. Um, because I was kind of like, oh, I dunno if I'm gonna like this. And obviously shopping.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Franky Shanahan: Ordering from the UK, you know, it's not the cheap, it's not the cheapest, you know, the, the shipping and things as expensive. So I was really, I was really apprehensive about spending too much money because I didn't know if I was gonna enjoy it or if it, you know, I would do it. Um, and yeah, I was kind of, just getting to grips with that project for the first time and, um, watching a lot of YouTube videos and learning a lot about all the different projects. I think I remember saying to you that I didn't, I hadn't quite fully grasped the, sort of the flow of projects throughout the year. All the sort of different document, different opportunities for [00:13:00] documenting or community documenting. And um, yeah, I was just really in a phase of just learning what the hobby could be. Rather than, yeah, I wasn't sort of fully in it yet. I don't think in, in a way I was still still figuring, figuring out what I wanted to do and, um, what I enjoyed and what sort of fit in with my lifestyle. Was also quite sort of, I would say, kind of quite offline with it. I wasn't really sharing.

Any much of what I was doing anywhere online. Um, I was posting a little bit about it on, on Instagram. But more from the point of view of, um, focusing on the fact that I was trying a new hobby, not really sort of necessarily sharing the things I was making or, um, I, I kept it a bit more sort of private to begin with.

I, I wanted it, I didn't want it to be sort of part of all the other content that I put out as part of my, my sort of work, work persona [00:14:00] online. so yeah, it was, yeah, I was just very much in a learning phase and figuring things out.

Jennifer Wilson: I'm curious if that December Daily project, um, participating with others, you know, acquiring supplies, like really diving into that, shifted the way you were scrapbooking after that.

Franky Shanahan: Yeah, I, I would say so. Um, I think I, it was a, it was a really good way to discover lots of, um, people within the community, uh, especially on, especially on youTube and, um, Instagram as well. And just, I, yeah, lots of different styles, different ways of approaching it, um, and, yeah, it definitely, I, I, it definitely sort of, I, I was pretty hooked after that. And I, I realized as well that I, I, I knew that I'd made it a little bit harder for myself [00:15:00] by not buying more.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Franky Shanahan: I definitely, after, after that project, I felt because I was able to complete it and, and I really enjoyed it, it definitely, it sort of legitimized it for me a little bit. It made me think, okay, no, I, I can invest in this hobby. Um, I am using the supplies. I am enjoying it. There are multiple benefits. So yeah, it was, it definitely was a real. Um, yeah. Helped kind of, yeah, pulled me in. Pulled me in, and then that was it.

Jennifer Wilson: And then kind of, yeah, set you loose from there.

Franky Shanahan: Yeah. Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: So obviously you've, um, one of the big things is, is the growth of your children and, you know, you, uh, spreading your own wings and figuring out the next, uh, the next passions that you have. But has anything else changed in your life in this past three years that maybe has impacted your time, energy, and motivation for [00:16:00] scrapbooking?

Franky Shanahan: I would say, I mean the world has changed a lot. Uh, it's, it's really easy, I think to forget we, the last time we spoke, it was very early 2022 and I, I, you know, I dunno what it was like where you are, but very, here we were still very much in the pandemic. I mean, it was, we, we, you know. Life still wasn't back to normal at that point here.

And my children's schooling was disrupted for quite a while. Um, beyond that, that point as well. So it wasn't, it wasn't normal, it life at that point for us really. Um, so, and that's changed obviously massively. Um, and I think we, we still weren't really able to travel or anything like at that point really very much.

I mean, we did go away. We were able to, to go away later that year, later in 2022. I [00:17:00] think they, the first trip we took was we went to visit my sister in Australia. The minute they opened the borders to Australia, we booked um, flights. 'Cause she was pregnant with her first baby and we hadn't seen her in three years.

By the time. Um, yeah, by the time the border has reopened in Australia. So yeah, I think it's really easy to forget how different life was at at that point. Um, and yeah, I suppose the biggest change really is that my children have grown up a lot in, in that time. It's a period of rapid growth and change those late teenage years, I think.

And um, you know, I definitely have an adult child now, which is a different, a different experience. Um, and like, yeah, like you said, I'm not quite an empty nester, but I'm on my [00:18:00] way to being one. And hobbies and scrapbooking in particular have become, I think, really important to me. Because of that, because I do have a lot more time to myself. You know, I joke sometimes that I've, you know, I'm becoming a bit obsolete. No, you know, people don't need me like they did, um, you know, 3, 5, 10 years ago. So it is, it is a different season of life. A very different season. Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: My daughter is 13, almost 14, and I'm just trying to wrap my brain around, uh, her being an adult within four years.

Franky Shanahan: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: And I'm like, how, how does this, this, this little person become? And she's so mature in some ways, and so still a little girl and others. Um, and so it's, just i'm, I'm holding on for the ride, I guess.

Franky Shanahan: Yeah. It, it's, it just sneaks up on you. It's, you know. It, it just happens very fast and sort of all, you [00:19:00] know, not very slowly and then very fast all at once. And you do sort of suddenly realize that, you know, um, they're, they're suddenly very grown up and yeah. It's exciting though as well.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. You feel like you've, I mean, you've done your, your, primary job as a parent is to raise them to become functional, you know, happy adults, right? So,

Franky Shanahan: Yeah. Roots. Roots and wings. That's what I always say. That's the job, isn't it? Give them roots and give them wings to, to fly away.

Jennifer Wilson: I, I love that, that metaphor. That's really beautiful. Um, so I'm curious, what things have you experimented with, tried out for yourself, and what worked well and maybe what did not work as well?

Franky Shanahan: So, um. I still love working in notebooks. But I haven't stuck to this traveler's notebook format. I tend to use a more sort of, uh, I [00:20:00] think it would be A5. I, I think, is it A5?? They call it a medium. I use, and I can never pronounce the German name of this brand, but I mostly use, is it the, I, I don't even know how to start to pronounce it.

Jennifer Wilson: Leuchtturm?

Franky Shanahan: Yes, yes. I knew you'd, I knew you'd be good at, I knew you'd be able to do it.

Jennifer Wilson: I dunno if I'm saying it right, but that's just how I

Franky Shanahan: How you would say it.

Jennifer Wilson: I'm sure we'll have some German listeners correct us.

Franky Shanahan: So it sounds right to me. Yeah. I, I tend to use what they call their medium size notebook for a lot of my scrapbooks. Especially, um, travel scrapbooks. Which is one of my favorite things to, um, work on. Um, I use the sort of the dot grid and usually a soft cover notebook.

Um. And I, I love working in those. And I've also really grown to love, um, six by eight albums. And that is from December Daily. Um, that was the, the first time [00:21:00] I used that. And I really enjoy, uh, working in that size. Um, and I really, I've, I think from maybe the second time I participated in December Daily, I really, I really got into sort of adding more interactive elements into my pages and I love doing that.

I love kind of creating flip outs or, um, just yeah, different, different sort of, yeah, interactive elements on the page. And in terms of things that I've tried that I didn't get on with, I'd probably say, and I feel like this is what is very common for people to say on this podcast, but it's probably mixed media.

Yeah. Um, and, yeah, for, for the, I think for similar reasons that other people have voiced before, but it just doesn't really fit well into, [00:22:00] um, my lifestyle and how I have to scrapbook. So I scrapbook at the same desk that I work at. 'Cause I work from home, so there's a lot of, packing my work stuff away and then pulling my scrapbook stuff out and. Um, I just, yeah, I can't sort of, don't really have the space to leave things drying or, um, make as much mess as mixed media sort of creates, I think.

Um, so I leave that to other people. Um, I love, I love watching other people and obviously. Yeah. I love seeing it when people bring it into their projects, but it just doesn't, doesn't fit for me.

Jennifer Wilson: So early on when I did not really have a workspace and I was transitioning from being digital to a paper scrapbooker, I discovered the beauty of a box. So anything that I was going to [00:23:00] do that was like, back then, it was all about the misting, but I was also doing some stencils and some other things, or even just letting something dry, just having a designated like, messy box. Gave me an ability to like, contain it. It couldn't get on other things. And then I could also put that box somewhere where it'd be out of the reach of, of children and pets. Um, to dry if I need it. Not that I want to like force you into mixed media, but for those who maybe are, uh, feeling like their circumstances make it harder, that is one strategy that worked for me.

Franky Shanahan: Yeah. Yeah, no, that's, that's a good way to approach it. And actually, I, in my latest December Daily, I finally had a go at heat embossing, and that's quite, that's kind of quite. You know, there's a potential for mess or the supplies are a little bit more involved. And, um, and I have actually started [00:24:00] to work downstairs, our dining table a little bit.

And that is partly because with my, yeah, with the children being older, that's more realistic now. Like I could, I can have stuff out and not worry that someone's gonna, you know, spill juice on it or, you know, that kind of thing. So, maybe it's in my future, maybe I'll go back to it, but.

Jennifer Wilson: I just wanted to share that last December I accidentally spilled like almost half a jar of glitter embossing powder on the floor. I don't even know how it happened. I think it was a cat or I sneezed, or it was just a weird circumstance and there's still glitter going everywhere.

Franky Shanahan: Oh Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not completely anti mess. Um, but I do like to feel like I can contain it or clear the decks quickly if I need to just because I have to work in the same space that I create in, I think. And yeah, but who knows?

Jennifer Wilson: So [00:25:00] we know that you are continuing to enjoy December Daily. I'm assuming you're gonna plan on doing it again this year.

Franky Shanahan: Yeah, definitely.

Jennifer Wilson: And are there any other projects that you've enjoyed kind of revisiting?

Franky Shanahan: So I've done, I've joined in for the last few years, uh, with Little Summer Joys. Have you? Yeah. Um, so Summer is my favorite time of year.

Absolutely love it. And, um, I, I really love documenting our summer. Um, not just, not just travel, but just, yeah, the, sort of the things that I look forward to all year.

The things that when I think of them, that's what gets me through winter. Um, because I don't like winter at all. So, um. Yeah, I love, I love documenting them and that's been a really nice project to, to do repeatedly. Um, and it's been a, yeah, that's been a nice way to sort [00:26:00] of, um, capture the children growing up a little bit as well.

And travel scrapbooks is something that I continue to do. Um, I have like a , a notebook. It's kind of a perpetual notebook just for mini breaks and day trips that I add to whenever we go anywhere. Um, and I love doing that. And then for sort of longer, holidays, I will do sort of standalone scrapbook as well.

Jennifer Wilson: And so do you have an idea of how you want to approach your upcoming travel?

Franky Shanahan: I've actually been agonizing over it a little bit because, um, I, I'm feeling quite drawn to doing a six by eight album just because it's a 10 day trip, which is sort of the longest trip.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Franky Shanahan: Done in a, in a few years. Um, and I keep looking at my notebooks. Um. And how [00:27:00] chunky they are and trying to work out if I could fit 10 days in one. So we went to Paris last year during the Olympics, and I think we were there for five days. And it's definitely over half full. And I'm just really, I just trying to work out if it would, if 10 days will fit in a notebook or not, and whether, or whether I should just do a six by eight album, um, and give myself more space.

Jennifer Wilson: That's a tough call. I think you have to, you'd have to plan it out to make sure it fits. Rather than hoping, because then you might end up with not enough space at the end.

Franky Shanahan: Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah, and also just waiting to see what this year's, um, travel collection is like from Ali Edwards. 'Cause I really, I really love, um, her travel collections. So I think.

Jennifer Wilson: Maybe will make the decision for you.

Franky Shanahan: Yeah. Um, but I'm, I'm [00:28:00] excited. Uh, that is, I love travel scrapbooking so much. So, um, whatever format I end up with, I know I'll enjoy, I'll enjoy putting it together.

Jennifer Wilson: No doubt. Yes. I think that's, I think that's a really common thread. Um. Even folks who maybe are more interested in, let's say, like relationship or personality, scrapbooking versus everyday life. I think travel tends to be something that is kind of a universal desire. 'Cause you know, these, these are special adventures that we take. Some of us take more than others and some, um, but when we do get to take them that change of scenery makes it, you know, all the more impactful, I think.

Franky Shanahan: Yeah, and I think for me it's when I feel like I have the most head space for the creativity. Yeah. And, and just, I think especially for photography, like I feel like I take my best photos on holiday, not just because, you know, potentially you're somewhere [00:29:00] beautiful. Or there's, you know, but I just have more head space to be a bit more intentional and really think about how I'm gonna capture things and what I want to remember.

And, you know, there's just, you're more relaxed, hopefully. So I think it's just, it's just a different type of documenting, isn't it? To, um, capturing things every day, not, no, you know, not that one is more important than the other, but, um, I just, I just enjoy that. I, I enjoy the head space and the opportunity to lean into that part of the hobby as well.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I think we can't underscore enough this, the idea that when you do get away, we tend to think differently, act differently, come up with ideas like, uh, and maybe find some sort of new, like motivation or intentions for when we come back. I don't know. There's something like really, really powerful about it, and I think as long as you're paying attention, there's a lot to learn from it? I don't know. [00:30:00] I, at least that's the way my experience always is, so.

Franky Shanahan: Yeah, it's, it's like a big reset, isn't it? Like a big reset button. I think, you know, if you are able to have a relaxing holiday, that's, it's a big sort of creative reset almost sometimes.

Jennifer Wilson: No doubt. So you've been creating content as part of your copywriting business for a long time. Um, but recently you started a Substack called Larking About what are you writing about there?

Franky Shanahan: I mean, mostly scrapbooking. But also sort of creativity and creative play more generally. Um, and, and my hobbies. Um, but yeah, a lot of, a lot of scrapbooking is being written about over there.

Jennifer Wilson: And kind of what, what, nudged you to say, I need a different place to write about this than other places that you already had.

Franky Shanahan: Yeah. So. In 2024, I chose as my word of the [00:31:00] year, at the beginning of the year I chose play. And I made a conscious decision to prioritize creative play for the whole of 2024. Um, and it was such a positive thing that I did, and it was so transformative in so many ways, and I learned so much from doing that. That I just really needed to write about it.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Franky Shanahan: That's my, that's kind of my default. That's how I ended up doing what I do anyway, is how, you know, I, I was, I started a blog at the time that everybody was starting blogs and it was always about writing about the things that were, um, inspiring me or, you know, lighting me up or sparking my creativity.

And I think that, um, I just realized that I had a lot to say about these things. And I did [00:32:00] at one point start a separate Instagram account and sort of had a go at sharing over there about scrapbooking. But I, I mean, I really admire people who can run multiple Instagram accounts. I can't. It's just too much.

Um, and I think my, sort of business slash personal Instagram account takes up a lot of my time and energy and, and, and creativity. And I just couldn't juggle two. But I was, yeah, I, I wasn't writing, writing sort of anything, um, long form about, um, scrapbooking or about my hobbies more generally. Um, so Substack felt like a good place to do that.

Um, I didn't want to put it on my blog and kind of confuse the content over there, which has to be a little bit more business focused. Um, so, so Substack arrived for me at, at a good [00:33:00] time, or I discovered Substack, I should say. It's actually much older than people realize. I think it's been around longer than people realize, I think.

But um, yeah, I discovered it and I can definitely see a bit of a scrapbooking community emerging over there. Um. You know, Ali Edwards is writing there now. Um, and, uh, Kristen, Are You, Kristen? Kristen Tweedale. Is it her surname? I think? Yeah, she's over there as well. Um, writing every day. Um, about her daily pages and shares, her daily pages practice over there every day. Um, and I am, I'm slowly finding people and I definitely think there's a community emerging over there as well.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, it's such an interesting thing. It, it very much reminds me of those early days of, of blogging when it seemed somehow so easy to find people and, and find all these blogs to read, and, and nowadays it doesn't, it doesn't seem that way. So I think Substack kind of [00:34:00] recreates some of that, that natural connection that we had.

Franky Shanahan: Definitely and also there, um, what they call Substack notes. Which is, is, very similar to early Twitter, feels like to me. So I feel like that's another place where people are connecting. Um, and it does, it does definitely sort of hark back to an earlier internet time, um, in a lot of ways. Um, I do think the platform does, has so many ways that you can use it, that it can be a little bit overwhelming and if you're not familiar with it.

It can sort of, people can be confused by it, and I think it's useful to just know that you don't have to do everything. It is ultimately an, an email platform. So you can just have what people write, arrive in your inbox and not engage with it in any other way if you don't [00:35:00] want to.

Um. But you can also sort of go to people's publications and read them like you used to read a blog. Or you can have the app and you can use the notes function, which is a bit like Twitter and you know, so I think it's kind of, you don't have to do it all, but there's a lot of ways you can interact with it if you want to.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. And it's like, you know, we're talking about trying something new and being a beginner at something. Like there's that, that sense of, uh, fresh start over there to a degree. And I, I, yeah, I'm excited to see what happens.

Franky Shanahan: Definitely, yeah, there's, um, it, I've, I've felt like a beginner over there as well for the last, um, six months. And I, it was also, but it was also good to realize that the fundamentals of it. Uh, you probably, you probably already have the skillset. So I was very anxious about [00:36:00] joining the platform and you know how to use it.

And then as soon as I did, I just felt like, oh no, I know how to do this. This is just long form writing. I've been doing this for a decade. I know what I'm doing. It's just a different means of communication. But the, you know, I know how to write a post.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes. I'm curious how writing helps you get organized, and I realize that's, that's a big question. But how does, like, how does it help you wrap your brain around all the things swirling in your head, um, your plans, your ideas, and I realize, yeah, that's a, that's kind of an open-ended, big question. But I, I think there's something that's, that's some good truth there.

Franky Shanahan: I love this question. Um, I think writing is how I process things, everything. It always has been, I think. From when I was very young. And I think it helps me figure out how I feel [00:37:00] about things. What my priorities are. It helps me assimilate ideas and think about how I can incorporate things I'm learning into my creative practice or my everyday life.

And I think as well that, you know, if we are talking about writing that reaches other people, you then have the benefit of, you know, potentially having feedback from other people and hearing their perspective and having them either tell you that the way you are thinking is, you know, or they're thinking the same thing or they'll help you look at it another way.

Um, so I think, yeah, it plays a huge part in that, in, in how I organize my thoughts and process them and set goals. I think especially. And explore things. In, particularly in scrapbooking and, and in my sort of creative practice. Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, to me it seems like very natural, the path that you've gone on. As you get more involved in the hobby, the more, [00:38:00] uh, thoughts we have. And if writing is your default for how you process these, we have to have a place to put it. Um, and if there happens to be a place that adds the benefit of, of community and interaction and and dialogue, then that's, you know, just, just a cherry on top. So I, I totally get that. Um, as someone else who often feels like I need to write this down to figure it out.

Franky Shanahan: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: So a couple different posts I want to mention. You recently, uh, had one that talked about your craft planner. Um, and many of our listeners will kind of know this to be similar to what we call a creative hub. And, and you said my hobby feels even more fulfilling now I have a craft planner to keep me on track. Can you talk more about what you include in this planner and the benefits you found of it?

Franky Shanahan: Yeah. So I started using a craft planner back in March last year. Um, I, I knew I wanted to at the beginning of the year, but it took me three months to get my act together. [00:39:00] And set it up and start using it. Um, and I was very much inspired by some conversations that I'd heard on this podcast. And also, um, by, uh, Linda Loves Creating, she's done a few YouTube videos about how she, um, I think she uses a Hobonichi um.

To, to as her, to have her craft planner, that's, she keeps it and uses it in that format. Um, so I was inspired by those and wanted to try it. Um, and I sort of decided to do it in a sort of, I suppose, like a bullet journal style really. I just use a notebook and I stamp out my own headings and my own sort of layouts.

Um, and I've. I'm now sort of obviously into my second year of, of using one. Um, and I've kept the same sort of setup. So I have a page at the beginning with, um, sort of projects and goals that I want to work [00:40:00] on this year. So, um, yeah, list of the projects that I hope to either, participate in you know, with, collectively with the rest of the community. Or, um, for example, one of the projects on my list this year is to complete Week In The Life from last year.

Um, 'cause I joined in with the documenting but didn't put my album together. So that's another project that was on my list for this year. And then I set myself some goals, particular sort of creative goals, crafty goals. Um, things that I wanted to try or, you know, um, take a scrapbook, online scrapbook class or those, those sorts of things.

Um, and then I set a page up every month, um, with my sort of to-do list for that month to move me towards finishing the projects that I want to finish. Um, and then for those bigger projects as well, like December Daily, [00:41:00] um, I have kind of, uh, an overarching list for that project as well. So, you know, 25 stories, tick, tick it off as I finish it kind of thing.

Um. And then I also have sort of space to add notes, um, and useful information, you know, photo dimensions, and um, things I, you know, if I watch, if I do a scrapbook class, I might take notes in the class and sort of have it all in one place. Um, and I also used my craft planner. When I did participate in Week In the Life last year, I just did all my journaling in there. So that I just knew where it was and I had it all in, in one place, um, for me to go back to when I started putting it together.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I mean sometimes half the battle is just knowing where things are and the more that we can centralize those things, it, it can be incredibly helpful when you are then going to, to make a project and, and figure out [00:42:00] what you were thinking in that moment.

Franky Shanahan: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: So on the topic of finishing projects, you also wrote a post about that, and I'm wondering, can you share a little bit of your perspective? Um, we'll definitely link to it, but I think one thing that I'm particularly curious about is how do you balance this desire to finish a project with the, uh, perhaps mutual desire to enjoy the process along the way?

Franky Shanahan: Oh, that's, yeah, that's a good question. How do you balance it? I guess for me it is important to finish things, for me personally. That's part of the joy of it for me is having a completed scrapbook. But at the same time I've got better at sort of knowing that I need to set something aside for a while. Or that finishing this right now is not realistic. Or that I can set myself a goal to finish something by a certain date. But it's also fine if it takes me longer. Um, you know, so I suppose [00:43:00] it's that it's kind of, I do like to have some boundaries for myself that I think help me stay motivated. So, um, I think the examples that I gave in the piece where that, for example, I, um, I wouldn't buy new December Daily supplies if I hadn't finished,

the previous years, that would be a rule for me. Um, but, but I've never had to enforce that rule because I've always finished them. So I, yeah, either it, you know, maybe that works for me. I've not tested it really because I've always, it's, I've always finished, I've always finished it before the supply, the next lot of supplies have been released.

So, um, that would.

Jennifer Wilson: I think it's buying the next year's supplies that really gets me lights, the fire to finish the previous years.

Franky Shanahan: Yeah, I see that for some, yeah. And I, you know, obviously some people, um, there's kind of like Christmas in [00:44:00] July isn't there?

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Franky Shanahan: People work on things at different times. So I think that's the thing, isn't it, that you've got to figure out what finishing something looks like for you. Um, and that's just a boundary that works for me. And, um, I know that in the summer, for example, I just wanna be focused on, um, on summer projects. I wanna be in that season and thinking about the documenting more than sort of creating or, you know, I just, I wouldn't wanna be working on December Daily in July. That just wouldn't suit me. So I think it's finding the limits that that work for you.

Um, I mean, I did that with Week In the Life this year, so I was so tempted to join in again this year. But I just felt that I couldn't justify buying the new collection if I hadn't put together the previous year's album. So I decided to use the, [00:45:00] like, the momentum that comes from, for community documenting because everybody gets so excited and people are sharing inspiration and people are talking about how they put their albums together.

And um, I decided to just kind of use that energy to motivate me to work on last year's and put last year's together. And I think if I successfully managed to finish that, then next year I'll join in again. And I think it's maybe okay to have a project that you do every two years or, you know, every three. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and I think a part of that is that finishing is really important to me. Because I have so many kind of tabs open in my brain in everyday life. And I don't want my hobby, what I do in my downtime, to have that aspect to it. Like, I don't want to have things hanging over me. And I know that's how it would feel to me if I did allow it to sort [00:46:00] of accumulate. Like I just know it wouldn't feel good, so.

Jennifer Wilson: I, I love that analogy, and I'm sure it's going to resonate with a lot of our listeners. For better or worse, I guess.

Franky Shanahan: Yeah. I mean, I think, yeah. Um, I, I like using my craft planner and I like having to-do lists. And you know, some people might, that might not suit, some people it might not feel very creative. That might feel too organized. You know, like creativity should be spontaneous, you know, you just do it when you're inspired.

Um, but the reality is that life's really busy. And if I'm don't prioritize it and I'm not really intentional with the time and the energy that I do have, then I won't be as focused and I won't necessarily get the things done that I want to. I won't have the opportunity to play if I don't approach it in that way.

Um, so I like a bit of order and that kind of, that sort of to-do list and, you know, being organized in that way. [00:47:00] But I don't want it to become something that is, yeah, hanging over me or that I feel like I'm behind. That, I would hate that. I just would hate to have that in my hobby. Because I have that enough in real life.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. Well, there's also like both, um, like being, well, being a human, but being a parent and then like existing within the space of the larger world. There's so much, uh, lack of control we can feel. And any ways that we can kind of, even give a full sense of control can be helpful. To, to feel like we are moving forward and things are okay. And to kind of like help you feel settled so that you can keep moving forward. I don't know, that's maybe a weird way to think about it, but.

Franky Shanahan: No, I, I think so, and I think as that can also look like deciding to intentionally set something aside and come back to it. Um, and then doing [00:48:00] that in a way that's, um,

gonna make that easy for you in the future as well, you know? Um, so be, yeah. Being a bit more sort of organized about that. Um, and that's, you know, that's what I did with Week In the Life.

I sort of, the way I boxed everything up and I made sure that I had my, you know, I'd, I had edited all my photos and they were in a, you know, in their own folder. So I knew that when I came back to them, I, it, you know, everything was kind of where it needed to be. Um, and I know it will be a different scrapbook because I'm not making it, you know, as straight after the documenting week. I know that I will tell the stories through a slightly different lens probably. Um, but that's fine. I think that's fine. And I might even include something at the end of the scrapbook to explain that. That it was, that I did put it together the following year. Um, [00:49:00] sort of, I don't know. Yeah, I was thinking I might include some journaling about that at the end. Um, just, yeah, just 'cause I'm not, because I'm not doing it this year. And I think it would be interesting to just even just have like a little note, you know, almost, you know, a note from the future. Um, you know, maybe just about things that have changed this year. Some, you know, but obviously, um, and that I'm documenting it retrospectively.

Jennifer Wilson: I think that type of note, um, particularly the bigger the project, the more that that can be, I don't know, as a creator, help you feel like you've given the right context to a future viewer of the project. Um, yeah, I think that's a really valuable addition.

Franky Shanahan: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: So stepping back here and, you know, you're still kind of a beginner scrapbooker because you've only been doing it for a few years. Um, you know, I guess, uh, not counting, you know, maybe your childhood experiences, but what has been your top lesson learned in [00:50:00] the past three years?

Franky Shanahan: I think I found this really, I find this question really hard actually. I to just, I suppose like to pick one lesson is quite hard. The, you know, I feel like I've learned so much. But I suppose overall I just think how powerful creativity and creative play and whatever that looks like for you, just how powerful it can be and how much I needed that in my life. Is probably, yeah, that's probably been the biggest takeaway. And I can't really, you know, I, I'm really grateful to past me who is like, oh, I'm gonna find a new hobby. Oh, I'm gonna try this scrapbooking thing. Because it's such a big part of my life now. I aim to scrapbook every day in some way. To sort of be connected to that hobby every day, even if it's just for 15 minutes. And it's just a really important part of how I look after myself, I think. And so, yeah, I think that's just the, the lesson is that it can maybe [00:51:00] seem like, I mean not, I'm sure not to anyone that's listening to this podcast, but maybe to someone who's not so familiar with it, it could maybe seem, you know, like quite a, a frivolous, you know, oh, it's pretty paper and you cut and stick and, you know, um, but it's just so important to me.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I think that that's, that's definitely what keeps a lot of us coming back, uh, year after year. Sometimes the motivations shift a little bit, but just the deep connection we feel to it is why we have, you know, 300 plus episodes of the podcast because everyone wants to just keep talking about scrapbooking.

Franky Shanahan: Yeah, yeah. Um, and I think it's also been a real antidote to perfectionism for me.

Jennifer Wilson: Hmm.

Franky Shanahan: And it's made me braver, creatively and, um, more willing to experiment, I think. And like I said in at the beginning, talk, you [00:52:00] know, in terms of opening the floodgates for trying new things and, and you know, trying new hobbies. Yeah, that's been, that's just been transformative, I think. 'Cause I think I was, I, I struggled with that being a beginner in the beginning.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. Yeah. I get it.

Franky Shanahan: Yeah, I think especially 'cause I do lean towards perfectionism. I think it's really hard to do something and not be instantly good at it. And that's part of the process. You know, you're not gonna instantly master everything. And I think I've learned to love that actually. Um, you know, I'm not saying, you know, when I mess something up or when something doesn't turn out, it's not, you know, it can be frustrating, but I definitely feel like I recognize that as part of the learning process and part of getting better and improving.

Jennifer Wilson: It certainly is. Yes. Yes. To conclude here. Do you have any other advice for new scrapbookers?

Franky Shanahan: There's so much amazing [00:53:00] content and information and resources available online, and I think just my advice would be to just, use them, seek them out. Um, there's so many amazing creators out there who are, you know, willing to teach. Um, whether that's, you know, in a, in a paid scrapbook, you know, in an online class or just more informally through their YouTube channels and other free content that they put out.

Um. Yeah. I mean, we are just so lucky to live in a time where if there's a technique you want to try, you can Google it and you can find somebody who's made a brilliant YouTube video telling you how to do it. You know, that's, I had that experience recently with teaching myself to heat emboss and just watching YouTube.

It's just ama, we're so lucky that we have, um, access to all that information and people are so generous in what they share. [00:54:00] Um, so yeah, I think, uh, that would be my advice and I've learned so, so much listening to this podcast. So if this is the first episode you've ever listened to, lucky you, 'cause you've got a whole archive to, to go back through. I've, I've learned a lot from the conversations on this podcast.

Jennifer Wilson: Wonderful. It's very kind of you to say.

Franky Shanahan: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, Franky this has been fun. Can you remind our listeners where they can find you online?

Franky Shanahan: Um, so I am loveaudrey83 on Instagram. Um, and I do share a bit of scrapbooking over there and lots of other things. Um, so creative things over there as well as my work. Um, and then obviously you can find me on Substack, uh, Larking About. I think, how does it, I don't, can never remember what the URL is. It's substack dot. com probably or something, but I'm sure it'd be linked in the show notes. Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Will be. Yes.

Franky Shanahan: Um, but yeah, I'd love to have some more [00:55:00] crafty friends over there if people want to come and join me over there. That would be lovely.

Jennifer Wilson: Wonderful. And do you have anything like new or coming up later this year, either in your crafty life or your business life that you wanted to mention?

Franky Shanahan: No, just, Yeah, just plodding along.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I can't wait to see what you do with your, your upcoming, uh, vacation album. .

Franky Shanahan: Yeah, that will be that. Yeah, that I'll be sharing that. And then, um, hopefully a completed Week In The Life album as well, at some point. That's, yeah, coming along. I'm staring at it out the corner of my eye.

Jennifer Wilson: Wonderful. Yes. Mine is also lurking about next to me. So. Again, this has been just so fun to reconnect with you and, and catch up on your journey. Thanks for

spending time with me.

Franky Shanahan: Thank you for having me.

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

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 304. In this episode, I'm joined by Molly Grimm of Knitting Wellness for a delightful discussion about the benefits of crafting.

Our conversation focuses on the studying aspects of a craft practice, independent of productivity or progress.

Jennifer Wilson: Hey, Molly. Welcome to Scrapbook Your Way.

Molly Grimm: Hi. [00:01:00] Thank you so much for having me.

Jennifer Wilson: I am looking forward to our conversation today and getting to know you better. Can you start by sharing a little bit about yourself?

Molly Grimm: Yeah. Well, I'm Molly. I am based in Auburn, Indiana, where I live with my family. So my husband and our two daughters who are young, they're six and two right now. And life here is a mix of small town community, a little bit of my creative work and just kind of the beautiful chaos of raising a family. I, yeah, I, uh, juggle a few different roles.

Uh, I run Knitting Wellness, which focuses on mental and emotional benefits of knitting. And I also do some marketing work in Auburn too. And yeah, knitting is where I find and and share online. Just some stillness, little creativity and some comfort in the midst of a pretty busy life.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. I can't wait to dive into that. I know we definitely [00:02:00] have many, uh, multi craft people here, folks who are knitters as well. But I think your message is so powerful. It really transcends the individual niches of, of crafting as well.

Molly Grimm: Oh, thank you.

Um, so I'm actually in central Illinois in Champaign, so we're like not that far apart.

Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Some point we'll have to try to connect at some fun place in between.

Molly Grimm: Oh, definitely. That sounds fun.

Jennifer Wilson: Did you grow up in Auburn or is is Indiana like your home?

Molly Grimm: No, I grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and I.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, so funny.

Molly Grimm: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: I was born in Paw Paw.

Molly Grimm: Oh, really? Oh, cool. Neat. Oh, that's awesome.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Molly Grimm: Um, I moved to Auburn after I got married, so I've been here almost eight years now.

Jennifer Wilson: Nice. Nice. So we always like to ask a few icebreaker questions to our guests. Do you have a favorite recent project? Um, you know, tell us all about it and why it's a favorite.

Molly Grimm: Ooh, I definitely do. I, and I just recently posted about it too. Um, my favorite [00:03:00] recent project, it's called The Flower Power Beanie by, um, stone Knits. And it's a color work hat that uses two different colors of like a fingering weight yarn, so that if you're not an knitter it just means like a really fine and soft yarn and it's really perfect for like detailed patterns.

And the design features are, were really fun. There's like these bold like floral motifs that just repeat all the way around the hat. And, and again, if, if you're not familiar with knitting, like color work is kind of like a technique where you knit more than one color in a row and it just creates different kinds of little patterns or pictures.

And in this case, flowers and it kind of looks complex, but it's actually like really meditative once you get into the rhythm of it. And the best part is like seeing the design like emerge as you stitch along. And it just, it feels really satisfying to do color work. It's one of my favorites.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh fun. We'll have to include a link to that in the show notes.

Molly Grimm: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Anything [00:04:00] you mention here, we'll do our best to find a link or if you can, uh, send a few to us afterwards, we'll make sure that our listeners can, can check those out.

Molly Grimm: Oh sure. Yeah, definitely.

Jennifer Wilson: So, is there something that you're excited to do, use or try? And this could be something inside of your crafting life and your knitting life, or just in your everyday life.

Molly Grimm: Ooh, that's a great question. I, right now, as far as like in the crafting life, I am, I'm really excited to be curating more resources for knitters and creatives who like to use their craft as a form of wellness. That's pretty exciting to me. Um, I've been working on a new project recently along with a licensed therapist that combines both, their therapeutic insights, so things like different kind of grounding techniques or mindset shifts with actual knitting practices. Uh, so I like to talk a lot about these things online, but now there's like a deep dive of resources coming soon with this project, and it's, it's been so fun for me to learn more [00:05:00] about.

Um, and I'll just share a few examples if, if that's all right. It's, uh.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Molly Grimm: Yeah, it's like sharing, like choosing, um, like relaxing knitting patterns, um, how to use color therapy when you're knitting. Um, some slow knitting methods to reduce tension. Um, and like a lot of different kinds of guided prompts or, or even like breathing techniques between your rows. And also just a lot of general therapy techniques that are really helpful, even if, even if they don't have, to like be directly related to knitting. Um, and it's definitely, you know, not the same as going to therapy. But it's like a gold mine of resources that are extremely helpful for mindfulness. And, you know, we, that's what we've been working a lot on behind the scenes. And I'm just really excited to create more intentional experiences. Um, and also like kind of form a community that helps people make something but also feel really, I guess connected and, and calm [00:06:00] while doing so.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes. That sounds amazing. Um, and I love how you're collaborating with other experts who can, kind of, can deepen your own knowledge and, and help your audience as well.

Molly Grimm: Yeah, it's fun.

Jennifer Wilson: I'm curious if someone is, let's say they're a new knitter and like they haven't quite found the flow where knitting, like it feels relaxing. Because you're just so focused on not messing up. Like what advice would you might you have in that situation?

Molly Grimm: I think, and actually that's a question that comes up quite a bit. It's like they, some people will say, I'm, I'm just new to knitting and I'm just not to that point where I can get to the flow. And that's totally understandable. And I think in, in that part of it, it's more about, if it is challenging to you, how are you giving yourself grace? How are you approaching the actual learning process and understanding that it is a learning process to get to the flow point. Like [00:07:00] anything, if you're gonna be good at something or if you're going to really take a deep dive, it's gonna take time. And I think again, just having that, that grace for yourself in those moments. And, and realizing that that's actually impacting your brain too, how you respond, uh, when things are challenging.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh yeah, great point, great point. We all, we do have control over our response, at least the vast majority of the time, and it does make a difference.

Molly Grimm: Yeah. Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: So I discovered your Instagram account, which you mentioned is at Knitting Wellness earlier this year. And I've been loving your post like just, it just fills me with so much joy to see messaging that that feels very aligned with the types of things that I try to share at Simple Scrapper. And here on the Scrapbook Your Way podcast, I haven't knitted in more than a decade.

Like there's a running joke that I started a scarf for my husband in 2006, and I've never finished it. That was like the last thing I knitted. I, I did work on it a little bit over time, but now it's like, I don't know, it's maybe a foot long, but I'm [00:08:00] not really a knitter, let's just say that. Um, but I, I know that our audience is going to just love what you have to say.

So I wanted to start by just sharing an example from one of your captions that really resonated with me, just to like, give some context of, of, of who we're talking to, um, beyond what you've already said, I guess. So this is just a quote from yours, and we'll include the image in the show notes. You don't need a perfect morning routine or a clear five-year plan or a burst of magical motivation.

You just need something small and steady. Like yarn in your hands, a rhythm your brain can follow a soft place for your nervous system to land. If you've been feeling stuck, this is your reminder. You're allowed to start quietly. Save this for the days when doing one row feels like a win. Tag a friend who needs a soft restart. Just, yeah. This feels me with like so many warm fuzzies.

Molly Grimm: I'm glad.

Jennifer Wilson: Can you talk a little bit more like about [00:09:00] the core messages you're trying to share and who like you really see as your audience?

Molly Grimm: Yeah. Um, I think at the core of everything I share is, is the message of how knitting or, or any craft just naturally seems to calm us down. The repetitiveness or even like just having a quiet focus. It all supports our nervous system in a really beautiful way. Um, you know, unless you drop a stitch or something, then you're, you're back into, okay, how do I fix this mode?

But, but when you're in the flow, I do think that it does support your nervous system in a really beautiful way. And when we pair those types of things with therapeutic insights, it makes the experience even deeper. At least for me It does. And I, and I feel like that resonates with. With my audience as well, and does it always have to be deep? No. But there are benefits to pairing our crafts with these therapeutic insights. And, and also there's a lot of research that [00:10:00] supports it. Just, um, to name a few. It's like the British Journal of Occupational Therapy. Harvard Medical School. Um. Mindfulness and repetitive motion.

There's, um, Craft Psychology by Dr. Anne Kirketerp I hope I'm saying her name right. But there's just a lot of research that does support it and a lot of untapped research, um, that I believe could be done.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, that's, that's really cool.

Molly Grimm: Yeah. Yeah. So having that touch of, of guidance, um, helps, I think, helps people just move beyond, like, Hey, this crafts or what I'm doing makes me feel good to, Hey, this is, this is actually helping me. And in some cases I do believe like it, it's actually helping people heal. And that's where knitting can, kind of go beyond just a hobby or, or your craft can go beyond just a hobby and it can be a really great tool for long-term wellbeing.

Um, and I think it's the difference of picking up your craft and just feeling better in the moment [00:11:00] versus actually understanding what your body or mind might be trying to tell you. So like, for example, learning how to recognize when maybe you're dissociating or maybe you're disconnecting doom scrolling. I know it was a popular word. Or just like checking out, um, versus actually resting, you know? So, and I think we've all been there too, especially during busy seasons if you, if you have littles or, or any kind of busy season. And, um, yeah, my, my. Audience is, it's mostly women who are creative. Um, and they're, and they're curious.

They're, they're deeply thoughtful and they maybe occasionally experience like some of life's overwhelm or that feeling of being stretched out way too thin. I don't know if you've ever had that.

Jennifer Wilson: Uh, yeah, just a little.

Molly Grimm: Yep. Yep. And, um, I've just noticed that [00:12:00] like a lot of them, uh, many of them are, are caregivers or they're professionals or just people who are always like, quote on for others. Um, and a lot of what they have in common is just like they're craving for rest or peace or something that just feels like it's theirs. Um, and knitting

for a lot of us just kind of has become that safe space within our community and just a form of, of meditation or maybe a daily habit that grounds us. Um, and a reminder that softness and slowness are deeply needed, especially when we're stressed out thin and especially in, in these types of roles.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes. So you mentioned like the phrase, checking out. If we think about the opposite of that is checking in. How can we intentionally choose that when we need it most? Checking into our hobbies or other behaviors that we know will serve our needs more than say the doom scrolling will.

Molly Grimm: Right, [00:13:00] right.

Jennifer Wilson: When this episode comes out, episode 300 will already have been released. In that, um, one of our longtime, uh, members, and she's our team leader, mentioned how she's actually turned to cross stitch as an alternative to scrapbooking because she's going through a harder time in life. And sometimes scrapbooking and memory keeping because this is so, like personal, we're telling the stories of our lives.

Sometimes we do need to step into something that is slightly less personal, slightly more repetitive. To to be able to get those benefits that we most need.

Molly Grimm: Yeah, I totally agree. And that's, it's so neat that, that she did switch over to something different that that just serves her at this time. That's such a great like way to be connected and understand that. And I think that there's a lot of people that, that aren't able to do that or even know that that's an option, which is, it's neat.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I mean, you always have the opportunity to change what you're doing, even if you feel like you've always done it [00:14:00] a certain way. And that goes for like, for crafts or really any part of your life. Just because you've always done something one way doesn't mean that you can't change and go a different direction.

If you identify that that is might, that might make your life feel a little better.

Molly Grimm: Right, right. Yeah. That's neat.

Jennifer Wilson: So let's talk a little bit more about you. How long have you been knitting and what types of projects do you most enjoy? Are you doing mostly, you know, wearables or other types of projects?

Molly Grimm: Ooh. Um, okay. My, so my grandma taught me to knit when I was 14. And it's kind of something that I picked up off and on again. So, um, I, and there's more to that story too, but the, I guess my favorite kinds of projects are, are, anything that's really repetitive but just beautiful in the repetition. So I love things like, like beanies and shawls and simple color work pieces.

Um, and I'm just, I'm drawn to projects where the rhythm of it is a little more [00:15:00] calming. Um, but there's just enough of like the creativity or maybe some texture to keep it interesting. And I also like a good challenge project too. That's, um, I kind of, like to have two projects going at once just to have the option.

So, um, but, but lately I've just been enjoying floral motifs and like maybe some softer neutral colors. And anything, anything color work that feels like seasonal. So like that flower power beanie I mentioned earlier. Um, and I'm still knitting like winter items in the summer, but add some summer colors and, and motifs to them.

And yeah, I love a good slow projects. I don't necessarily need to like finish quickly, but I definitely like, like to knit just to feel better while I'm making it. I don't know if that's the same for scrapbooking. I don't. How does that relate with scrapbooking?

Jennifer Wilson: Well, I think it just depends. I think there's some of us that can easily turn to our hobby [00:16:00] when we want to feel relaxed. And others that feel like they need to be relaxed in order to turn to it. Um, and so there is some of that mindset work with, okay, if I can just get started, if I can just do five minutes, you can kind of overcome that barrier, that activation energy that you might need in order to get to kind of the other side where there is more calm and peacefulness.

And so it's really a personality thing, I think to a certain degree.

Molly Grimm: Yeah. Oh, that's interesting. Neat.

Jennifer Wilson: I'm curious, you mentioned, okay, so these are the types of things that you're drawn to now. Has it always been that way? And have you found any types of like techniques within knitting that you've decided, I don't enjoy doing this, so I'm not going to.

Molly Grimm: Yeah, I, I love, like, I like to make sweaters and I like to make things that in include like structural aspects. But, and I started off kind of doing more of those types of [00:17:00] projects where there's a lot of shaping. Um, maybe like for a kid's sweater or for a sweater for myself or like cardigan type things.

But I've slowly just kind of transitioned to just things that don't require as much thinking. Like just something I can pick up and, and kind of go with. And, and it's more for me, again, like about the process of it versus what, what it ends up. Obviously I want it to end up in, in looking nice and, and being able to wear it, but I think for me it's just, I, I just wanna knit. I just wanna go with my needles. And so it's, I feel like that's been a huge transition, just the letting go of that pressure to make sure the final product is perfect, and just allowing myself to just create, and, and a lot of times I'm really surprised by how it does end up and how, how pretty some, some of the things do turn out even when it doesn't necessarily go according to plan.

Jennifer Wilson: So would you consider, like the ones you're drawn to, more [00:18:00] forgiving in terms of, um, not, as you said, not requiring that same structure? It doesn't have to fit perfect like a shawl doesn't have to fit perfectly. It could be slightly undersized or oversized and still be fine.

Molly Grimm: Yeah, right, exactly. Yeah. So like a, like a shawl it doesn't, I mean, they, for knitting, before you begin a project, you're, you're supposed to make a what's called a gauge swatch and that just measures your stitches. And, and I do make gauge swatches. I think they're really important for, for, different projects. But there's somewhere it's just like, okay, I just wanna start, you know, I just wanna make it.

And so haw is, is very forgiving when it comes to, um, not making your gauge watch. So it's just something that, like, if I'm gonna, if I have extra yarn or if I'm just gonna pick up something, I'm usually making something that's, that's knit, knit flat or knit in the round. Um, whether it's quick or a big project.

Um, I just kind of really like to stick with colors and textures that are way more [00:19:00] repetitive in nature. Just that way I can just kind of really focus on the process of it and my, my thinking and my thoughts too, if that's needed at the time.

Jennifer Wilson: Do you multitask when you're knitting or are you like trying to find a place where it's quiet and this is what you're focused on?

Molly Grimm: Yeah, well I have, so I have small children, so it's, it's hard to.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Molly Grimm: Have quiet. So, and maybe that's more of the reason why I'm picking these like simple, flat, flat lay projects. Because there isn't really time to do challenging all the time. Um, but I do think, yeah, I, I definitely do pick more of a quiet space if I have the opportunity. And I'm, I'm not that great at multitasking.

I used to listen to audio books while I did it, and I just found that i t was just too much noise even then with, with all the busyness that I have going on. So I just kind of, I took out the noise and after incorporating some of these like therapeutic [00:20:00] techniques alongside my knitting things really changed. Because knitting went from, Hey, let's finish this project as something fun to do to, let's be a little more intentional and actually like, work on our nervous system right now and calm down. And that was a huge shift from just picking up your needles to picking them up with more intention.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. I'm curious how it evolved for you to exploring more of the mental health benefits and, and was that connected to becoming a mom? The pandemic, you know, all the things that have happened in the past.

Molly Grimm: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: You know, five to 10 years.

Molly Grimm: Yeah. So a couple of things impacted that. And, and one, probably the most major of it is, is my mom actually decided later in life to go back to school and she got her master's in psychology. And she was learning all of these different things about mental health and, and therapy and things like that, and just sharing it with us.

Um, and just as a family. [00:21:00] And it, it really changed, it changed my life. It changed her life. And we're just like, our eyes were open to something that, you know, we had never really experienced before. Different tools and techniques, um, just to help us in, in everyday life. But, um, so that was, that was one piece of it.

And yeah, I, I really, I always liked knitting. But I really fell in love with it when I realized it could be more than just making something. Like it could actually change how I felt. Okay, knitting is not changing how I'm feeling. It's, it's what I'm doing and how I'm responding. But knitting is that tool that helps in that way. So it just became this way for me to really slow down to process and just to find a little steadiness in the middle of a pretty busy life. And I guess there's one more like as far as the mental health side of things, I, in 2023 after COVID and I had my first daughter in 2019 and my second was in 2022.

So I was a year [00:22:00] postpartum with my second daughter. And I just had like an, an extreme amount of stress personally at that time. And I was raising, you know, two littles and my husband worked out of town full time. And my, my mind felt fine, but my body started to kind of shut down on me at this point. Just from the stress and, and lack of sleep with a 1-year-old.

And, and this went on for, for a lot of time, and I just, I was not able to really explain it to anyone. Um, and at just at points I felt so disconnected, so not present. And I, and I didn't always know what was happening in reality. And it, and it was one of those things I just felt like. It felt like rock bottom, to be honest with you. It was such a horrible feeling.

Jennifer Wilson: Sure.

Molly Grimm: Yeah. And I was, you know, at the time I was also kind of like in and out of doctors' offices and hospitals trying to get some sort of reality back. And I felt led to pick [00:23:00] up my knitting needles. And, and just start posting my projects online as a way to help my brain recover.

Um, and, and to be completely honest, it felt really random. I hadn't really picked up my, my needles, seriously since like 2018 or before my, my first daughter. Um, but I felt very strongly to start knitting again. And what I was posting. I mean, if you go back to some of my first posts, like anything, you're learning how to post on Instagram and, it was super cheesy. And, but I just, I, you know, I didn't care. I didn't care that it was cheesy and I didn't even care what my knitting looked like at the time. Like I was so desperate to heal. And, I, I really, I had never said anything about what was happening or how I was trying to recover from this experience as I started posting. Um, but it was really interesting some of the feedback from people online and, and also in my community at the time in Auburn.

And it really, you know, there's, there's some negative, but there was [00:24:00] a lot of positive. And it, and it made me really passionate to keep going. Other people were like, yeah, I, I resonate with this and, and I was healing at the same time. And knitting was just one of those major tools that helped me. And it, and it definitely wasn't the only tool, but I just knew I needed to share some of these aspects of, of creating with others.

And I know that I'm not the only one who feels that. I'm sure. I mean, do you feel that way with scrapbooking too? I, I can imagine.

Jennifer Wilson: Uh, I have a particular project, uh, my, my rock bottom period was like 2021, 2022 as we were like, the, in the long slog of the pandemic and I was developing a lot of health anxiety in terms of just going out in public and being, you know, exposed to people. And I ended up doing a year long project in 2021. And I am notoriously horrible at your long projects, but I like you, I felt so like I have to do [00:25:00] this in order to get to the other side of this journey. And it was so, was so therapeutic to be, um being present in the moment. Making sure I'm capturing things regularly. Uh, journaling really consistently about how I was feeling the ups and downs. Um, and this is, you know, an, an ongoing kind of joke for, uh, those who are longtime listeners, but when I gave the book to my husband to read, he was like doing the final, like, you know, spell check, copy, editing, grammar check for me. And he's like, this is really personal. And I'm like, oh, this is like the public version of things. I write far more personal things on, you know, in my journal, in other projects that I do consider like more deeply personal, whereas this was like the public side. So it's, yeah, so I, I totally get it. And sometimes we do things more for fun and sometimes we do fun things more because we need them.

Molly Grimm: Right, right. Oh.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Molly Grimm: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Um, I am [00:26:00] curious, one thing that popped into my mind as you were kind of sharing your story was, did you feel a challenge in giving yourself permission to take the time, did you had already like, kind of leapt over that because you knew you needed it?

Molly Grimm: I. It was definitely about, yeah, taking, taking the time to do it. I think being here with two littles and that was, I mean, just mom, I'm just being mom right now. And everything went into the kids or went into taking care of the house and, and other, other aspects of my personal life too. And, and I think that was the piece that was kind of the barrier for me. Was you, you just need to take time for yourself. Like take, and I know everybody talks about, you know, self-care and things like that, and it was beyond just, you know, taking a bath or, or self-care rituals or things like that. It was like, we really need to find an avenue that can help you regulate. And whether [00:27:00] it be through knitting or through going for a walk or prayer or something different. It was we need something now out of desperation to get my body outta fight or flight.

Jennifer Wilson: For certain. And I think trying to identify what that is. Whether it's something that maybe you have sat down for a while or maybe it's something new that you've been thinking about and that you feel like you've maybe have been curious about trying. Like, I think there's so many options to to choose here.

Molly Grimm: Yeah. Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: So I have a couple like questions that are kind of go into more kind of common challenges, experience I think folks have. Um, and you know, I already mentioned this a little bit, but how do you think we can tackle this feeling of being so overwhelmed and we're like, I'm too overwhelmed to create, but that's exactly what I need. How would you advise someone in that, in that state?

Molly Grimm: Yeah. That, that feeling is so real, isn't it? Like when, when you're [00:28:00] overwhelmed and even something you love like, like knitting or scrapbooking or journaling can just feel like one more thing on the checklist. And.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, reading is that for me. I love reading and I've, you know, long time, lifetime, you know, I was, especially in the summers, I was like reading the full series of things. And now it's, sometimes I just, I can't shut my brain off enough to pick up the book. But I have to actively like, let's, let's do this, uh, 'cause I know that I will enjoy it on the other side.

Molly Grimm: Yeah. Yeah. It's always on the other side. It's like, just get there. Just start. And again, I think, I think that key right there is like, let's lower that barrier to entry and gently remind yourself that you don't have to finish anything to make it perfect. You just have to begin. Um, and, and sometimes that, like for me at least as a knitter, that just means you know, maybe casting on a few stitches or, or knitting a row without any expectations. And maybe sometimes it means just like sitting down and like taking [00:29:00] a few breaths before I begin. Which, which I really, I, I'm not, I'm hoping that that doesn't sound woo woo, but when you actually do that and take the time to breathe and just calm down. The truth is, is like creating, just, it doesn't have to be productive to be healing. It can be quiet. It doesn't have to be perfect. And arguably like it could even be invisible to others, but if it shifts something within you, I think that's the key. And, and two, I think having, for me at least, I kind of talked about this a little earlier, but, um, having like a small go-to project or just like something familiar

that you can return to without having to think too hard about it. So like, when life feels heavy, you don't, you don't have to decide what you want to make necessarily. You can just reach out for something as a comfort or like a safety net. And it just kind of creates a little more steadiness when things are overwhelming.

And, and [00:30:00] there's even research specifically with knitting that, that supports that. When things do feel overwhelming, having familiarity in a project is huge, um, for your brain and, and processing. So the, the most important thing is just giving yourself permission to create, badly even whatever that means to you badly. Or maybe it's slowly, or even, even not at all. I would argue too. Like just trusting that even the smallest moment of making can still move or shift something inside of you.

Jennifer Wilson: Would you ever like, just practice some stitches, like, not, like, not be working on a project, but like, oh, I wanna learn how to do this thing. Um, so I'm going to, you know, cast on a row and then, and then practice that, or I'm going, you know, try something new.

Molly Grimm: Yeah, definitely. I think I like to do that with some of the gauge swatching before a project. Or, or even if I'm not gonna make a project or just learn the new stitch. And I think there's definitely ways [00:31:00] that going through a learning process, like we talked about before, is, is beneficial. But if I'm feeling super overwhelmed, I probably wouldn't, wouldn't try to learn something new in the moment. I would definitely.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, good point.

Molly Grimm: Try to gravitate towards something that I, I know, I know a lot of the audience that, that I've talked to are people I've talked to, they'll say, I, I really like to knit dishcloths. Like that's my mindless project just to do, you know? And, and they have a million dishcloths. And I have a million dishcloths.

So it's like something like that, like either a gauge swatch or just something simple if you're feeling overwhelmed. But in, in moments where maybe I need to redirect or focus energy that might be maybe nervous. Or something where it's like high energy that just needs an outlet. Then I think definitely fueling it towards something like a learning, like more learning process based would be ideal, at least for me.

Jennifer Wilson: Is part of the gauge swatch process to kind of, uh, develop your [00:32:00] familiarity with the, with the yarn that you're using.

Molly Grimm: Yeah, that's, that's part of it. So.

Jennifer Wilson: How does it feel in your hand? And, and like, obviously what is the thickness and what, you know, compared to the pattern and, and what are.

Molly Grimm: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Gonna be? But even just like getting familiar with your supplies. Um, can kind Of make it easier and feel more comfortable with the project.

Molly Grimm: Yeah, exactly. That's it. It's, it's definitely getting familiar with, with the yard or, or, uh, even with the needles that you're using too, if it's gonna be the right size needle. Um, if it's.

Jennifer Wilson: Hmm.

Molly Grimm: Um, you're, you're measuring that swatch to see if it's for sizing purposes, if, if the sweater's gonna fit, or how many rows per inch, how many stitches per inch.

And it's really, it's more of like the math part of everything. Um, but sometimes it, it, I mean, it can just be just for fun, like swatch with colors. And I, that's one of my favorite things to do with swatches is just play around with some of the colors. And see what you can make. If you can combine yarns, like if you use the strand of like that really soft, [00:33:00] fine fingering weight, and then a really thin strand of, of of mohair, it's like super, like lace weight.

It's really, really tiny and thin, even thinner than the fingering weight. So when you put 'em together, you can completely alter the colors and, and it's like a joy for, for me and for I think for a lot of other people who are creative and who love colors just to play around with the gauge swatching.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. Yeah. I was thinking kind of the, the parallel to that might be like practicing stamping or doing a mixed media background. I think some of those things can feel, uh, intimidating. 'cause we don't wanna mess up our project, but we acquire all the supplies to do fun, colorful things. So sometimes we might just wanna practice and play without, and feel that permission to just do without finishing, without it being a project.

Molly Grimm: Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: So like on that, on that note, there's this tension point that I think a lot of folks feel that they want to feel [00:34:00] quiet and slowness, yet they have maybe a backlog of unfinished projects. They want, they want to feel that sense of accomplishment. I think this is a very kind of a human tension. We want to feel good, yet we also want to be productive and succeed in general. How, how do we reconcile that?

Molly Grimm: Ooh, yes. I.

Jennifer Wilson: Or is that like solving the, you know, the mysteries of the universe?

Molly Grimm: Right, right. Like such, such a good question. And, and loaded too. And, and can it be reconciled? Yeah. I. I think absolutely. I, and, and like you said, I think that tension is, is actually really human. Um, we, we crave like quiet and slow processes of creating, but, but we're also wired, and especially in our culture, I would argue, like to seek completion and results and just something to show for our time.

And in both of those instincts, they, they can exist at the same time. I would say. Um, and, I [00:35:00] guess the way that, like personally, I would try to reconcile if, if I am not always perfect at it, but like if coming back to that intention piece, so.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Molly Grimm: If, if I'm knitting for peace in the day or if I'm trying to ground myself, then the process is the, is the point.

I don't, I don't need to rush, but there's also times when finishing a project feels incredibly satisfying, especially when life feels scattered. It's, and I think it's, it's a, it's definitely okay to want that too, when life feels scattered. Just to have that finishing line. Um, but yeah, sometimes I'll just have two projects going at once.

I mean, that's that tension, right? One that's slow and meditative and maybe just for me. And then there's one that might be a little more goal oriented or like exciting to finish. And in that way I'm just honoring both of [00:36:00] those needs without forcing it. One to be the other. But I think in the end, maybe the real practice is just learning to ask yourself, Hey, what do I need right now? And letting your craft meet you there and not the other way around.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, and I love this idea of like, okay, we don't have to choose just one thing. We can kind of have a couple things on our plate that will meet our needs in the moment. Um, and we get to choose. And that, that can often feel very, oh, uh, encouraging to know that you have a choice and that you can, the, the point is to check in and find that intention and then feel like you can follow it.

Molly Grimm: Yeah, exactly. Yep.

Jennifer Wilson: So I'm curious a little bit more about your history as a content creator. So I used the way back machine to figure out when, um, when your domain was created. So you started your website as Wool & Cottage in 2019. Is that accurate?

Molly Grimm: Yeah. Yeah. 2018. 2019, um,

Jennifer Wilson: Okay.

Molly Grimm: I started Wool & Cottage.

Jennifer Wilson: [00:37:00] And so what was your initial vision?

Molly Grimm: Um, well, I, I actually started Wool & Cottage right after I moved to Auburn. Um, and, and I started by teaching beginner knitting classes at a local coffee shop in town. Um, I was super new to the area and I was just looking for a way to connect with other crafters. Uh, but there really, there really wasn't anything at the time, as far as community with crafting. So I, I just decided to start teaching and, and see what came of it. And, and it started to grow, which was fun. Uh, and then I learned, I was pregnant with my first daughter and I was also teaching, I was teaching kindergarten at the time too, so it was, it was also busy.

And, and I ended up setting that project aside and kind of just decided I'm gonna focus on being a mom right now. I just, that, that's all I have capacity for. And, and I did, I picked it up again when I started posting online in 2023.

Jennifer Wilson: [00:38:00] Okay. And so how did it come to the point where you decided you were going to rebrand to Knitting Wellness?

Molly Grimm: Oh yeah. Um, that was recent. I, I decided to rebrand Wool & Cottage when I realized that at the heart of what I was doing, it, it just, it's not about me and it's not about my projects. And it was, it was about how knitting and creating like, helps us feel better. And helps me feel better. And, and, and at the time I was, I taught two classes at a recovery house for women.

And, and it was so eye-opening to me how something like knitting or just creating and crafting, gave a sense of progress to someone who really felt stuck in a way I could not imagine. I mean, I had my own, um, my own thing that, that happened to me back in 2023. But, but just, you know, when you hear other people's stories and then you see what crafting does in, in, in all [00:39:00] of that, and the more that I talked about it, I, I realized like, there's a lot of people who use their craft and, and knitting too, as a safe, quiet space to process their emotions without pressure. And over time, the conversations I was having online and, and in person and, and the content I was creating and the way people responded, just made it really clear that, hey, this is, this isn't about Wool & Cottage, this is Knitting Wellness now. There's, there's been a shift.

Jennifer Wilson: Do you, did you, when you made, kind of made the shift officially, did you feel that in the response and, and how your content was resonating with people. Like, once you put your own intention into this, is this is really bigger than, than just me. How did that, how did that feel?

Molly Grimm: Yeah, it felt, I, I think it was, it was well, well received. Um, and it was incredibly meaningful actually. The, um, so many people just reached out. To say things like, I, I just didn't know how [00:40:00] knitting could help me like this. And, and your, your posts make me feel seen. And yeah, it, it's a craft, but it's also, I mean, when used intentionally, it gives you emotional permission to just be. And to rest and to slow down and to not be perfect. And I think that is what really resonated with people who are used to always being on all the time.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes, for sure. What do you enjoy about creating content? Because it sounds like, you know, in 2023 you really started as like, this came from your own need, and now you are doing it even more to serve others. Like what are the fun parts for you?

Molly Grimm: Yeah, my favorite part is, is, is this right here, what we're doing, like the connection piece. Um, it's, it's like when I share something, um, that resonates deeply with someone and, and they feel a little more seen or, or maybe, um, at times, like maybe a little less alone. That like, I just [00:41:00] really love taking like these quiet, like emotional truths, and a lot of them, like we often carry silently, I believe. And kind of putting them into words or visuals that just feel, I guess comforting. Um, comforting and honest.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Molly Grimm: It's, it's also, it's also comforting to create something that serves too. It's, um, I, like on my end, it's, it's, whether it's a reminder just to slow down or like a nudge to rest. And, and on a personal level, like content creation just helps me reflect even. And, and just stay rooted in, in, in what matters.

And it's a way for me to process too, in similar to knitting, but in a, in a diff in a different way. It's also like creating, 'cause you're creating content. Um, and, and that's, yeah, I love, I love creating content for that reason.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, I think that like identifying that you are continuing to receive the benefits [00:42:00] of the content you create, because often we most need to follow our own advice and that takes intention too. Like it's one thing to say it to others, but it's another to really to process it, take it to heart and apply it to our own lives. Because often if we can provide the advice that it does make sense for us too, I guess if that makes sense..

Molly Grimm: Right. Yeah, it does make sense. And that's so true. And, and I think as I'm creating this, it's, I am not a ball of peace all the time. Like, that's not, that's not what I'm trying to say. It's, it's more that I really struggle with this and so therefore I, I create out of my desire. And, and that helps me too, to regulate and to, um, achieve, peace that I believe is inside of all of us.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes. And to continue that, um, I don't like the word aspirational, but to continue that personal growth, um, we've, we've had a book club [00:43:00] for as about as long as I can remember here. And we, we take personal development books that are 99% of the time nothing related to scrapbooking. And we try to apply those thoughts to scrapbooking because there is so much, uh, potential that we have, uh, in learning and continuing to grow and improve as scrapbookers crafters, knitters and, and humans.

Molly Grimm: Yeah, so true.

Jennifer Wilson: So you've already mentioned, you know, one of the projects you're working on, but what other plans do you have for Knitting Wellness this year and beyond? Anything you are comfortable sharing.

Molly Grimm: Ooh. Um, for Knitting Wellness, I, yeah, I have that project that I talked about earlier and I, I really just see it continuing to grow as a space that blends craft and support for those who are just looking to feel more, more present or maybe, or maybe grounded. Um. I'm, I'm working on some more intentional resources that I mentioned.

Um, but I think [00:44:00] things, things like therapeutic aligned knitting and, and just community spaces even where people can connect through things like healing and creativity. Um, I would love to collaborate with more like wellness therapists and practitioners and fiber artists to explore how knitting can be integrated into recovery.

Um, and, and kind of like nervous system care and emotional regulation. Like I really, those are, I'm pretty passionate about those things. And, and ultimately it's, it's about helping people remember, like, that they already have what they need. And I'm, I'm really ex like, that's what I want to push further, I guess. Is, is just, you know, start simple with a project and, and I want to help people reconnect with that sense of peace.

Like I said, that already lives inside of them, I believe. Um, and knitting and, and crafting is a great pathway. Not not to escape, but just to come, come back to yourself with a little more [00:45:00] intention and just, and just presence overall.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, I, I can't wait to see what you create. I, I, I'm enjoying following your journey and, and will continue to do so, definitely. I hope we can stay connected.

Molly Grimm: Thank you. I think we definitely need to meet up in Illinois at some point. That sounds fun. I used to, I went to school in Chicago, so I'm, I'm familiar with that. So

Jennifer Wilson: Very cool.

Molly Grimm: We'll have to connect at some point.

Jennifer Wilson: So can you share where our listeners can find you online?

Molly Grimm: Yeah, I, right now I'm, I'm primarily on Instagram just at Knitting Wellness. Um, my website is knittingwellness.com and Facebook is still Wool & Cottage. Uh, we're in the transition piece of that, but, but right now, just Instagram and Knitting Wellness.

Jennifer Wilson: It sounds wonderful. Thanks again for spending time with me.

Molly Grimm: Thank you so much. I really had fun.

Jennifer Wilson: And to all of our listeners, please remember that you have permission to scrapbook, knit, or do other crafts your way. [00:46:00]

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 303. In this episode, I'm catching up with Alissa Williams about our memory keeping and memory making of late.

Our conversation includes a discussion of adaptation and evolution in our storytelling processes. Okay.

Alissa, welcome back to Scrapbook Your Way.

Alissa Williams: Hi Jennifer. Thanks for having me.

Jennifer Wilson: I [00:01:00] am looking forward to our conversation. As always. We do have an outline. Maybe we'll follow it. We'll see what happens here. Um, yeah, can you share a little bit about yourself so that our audience can familiarize themselves with who you are, where you live, et cetera. If they've not heard you on the show before.

Alissa Williams: Sure. I am a director of a small public library in Central Illinois where I live with my husband and my two teenage daughters. They're officially both teenagers now.

Jennifer Wilson: Wow.

Alissa Williams: Um, and yeah, it Wow is right. Um, and so we're living our best summer life here in the Midwest.

Jennifer Wilson: Will you go to the pool this summer?

Alissa Williams: Probably not.

Jennifer Wilson: Really? past.

Alissa Williams: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: You've really been into it and you liked reading your book next to the pool, and why is it different this year?

Alissa Williams: Well, my, my, my daughter, my older daughter is a lifeguard and does not want me anywhere near the [00:02:00] pool. Um. And my 13-year-old gets all the pool time she needs at camp, so, and does not really like to go anymore. So plus they're both old enough to go unsupervised. Um, so yeah, early on I had declared Sunday afternoons our pool time. And for about five years we would go to the pool from four to seven on Sundays. And then we would order, we'd order pizza from the pool and pick it up on our way home and watch a movie. And that was one of my most beloved summer traditions. And then your children get older.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Alissa Williams: COVID happens and it all kind of fell apart. Um, and ironically we moved. And now we're like two blocks from the pool and it'd be super easy for us to all go to the pool, but we don't. 'Cause we're in a different season of life.

Jennifer Wilson: So have you scrapbook that story about that particular season of life?

Alissa Williams: Oh yeah. I have probably like four pages of different, [00:03:00] pool pictures and talking about that. Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, I know that you're going to Florida next month, so I hope that you get to go to the pool there.

Alissa Williams: It's probably gonna be too hot to sit by the pool in Florida in June. It's probably gonna be like 80 and 90% humidity and I'm gonna die.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Alissa Williams: But yes, I mean, I hope, I hope to do that as well. I mean, I like to sit by the pool. Um, and actually what kind of replaced our public pool, uh, time was my, my brother-in-law had a pool at his house and we'd take the girls over there and barbecue and or go out to dinner or whatever.

And we did that for a couple years. But last summer, at the end of the summer, he moved to a house without a pool. So we're, so now my kids think we need to put a pool in our yard. And I'm like, no, I don't. I'd like to go to other people pools. Not my, I don't need my own.

Jennifer Wilson: Do you have enough room for a pool?

Alissa Williams: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, well maybe you should.

Alissa Williams: [00:04:00] No.

Jennifer Wilson: All right, so we've talked a little bit about season of life. How does that season of life right now with two teenage daughters, how does that impact what your scrapbooking, when you're scrapbooking, how you're scrapbooking.

Alissa Williams: Well, I mean, the easy answer is I'm not. I mean, I am, but I'm really, I don't. So, um, last late winter in November, my daughter made a club travel, heavy travel national volleyball team. And from January until the end of June, we go to tournaments on the weekends. And we are not home. And we drive her to practice 35 minutes away from our house three times a week.

Um. So it's been, this year has been a ride. Um, and my crafting has certainly taken a hit. Um, [00:05:00] so I've had to be, so when I was doing my planning for 25, I was not super ambitious um, in what? I decided I needed to do. And 'cause I knew I wasn't gonna have a lot of time. Usually January and February I get a lot done, but we had tournaments and then my younger daughter does archery through our school.

And those tournaments are, they're only one day. But, um, we're in central Illinois and most of the archery schools are an hour and a half to two, to two and a half hours away from us. 'Cause they're more in southern Illinois. So we would have an archery tournament and we'd have to drive two hours and then she'd shoot for 45 minutes and then we would drive two hours home.

So even on the weekends where we didn't have volleyball, we would have archery. So I just, um, I I did not get a lot done. Um, well, I [00:06:00] shouldn't say I didn't get a lot done, but I just did not have the time I was used to having. So I'm actually really looking forward to summer. Uh, as you mentioned, we have, so I have two more tournaments to go, two more weekends with tournaments, and then we are going to Florida for a week. Because of volleyball nationals, although we are trying to make that a family vacation.

Um, so once that hits, I will have more time. And I actually have more time now in the evenings because, you know, we're not running places all, you know, school's out. So our evenings are much freer. So I'm, I'm finding myself with some more open time and I did a lot of crafting Memorial Day weekend.

Jennifer Wilson: I need to rebut you here because I feel like what you have shared is not the full picture. Because you are someone who is excellent at taking the little pockets of time you do have and saying, I know I have this time. I [00:07:00] want to scrapbook. I wanna make a layout, and you do it.

Alissa Williams: Well, I should mention that. So there were two weekends, two tournaments that were team travel tournaments where she went with the team and was with the team. Typically on a tournament weekend, like I am her driver and have to get her to places and feed her and water her and all that stuff. But there was, at the end of February, we went to a tournament up in the Wisconsin Dells where she traveled with the team, and then I was more there just to feed her in between and make sure she was good and cheer the team on, which I've enjoyed. I've learned a lot about volleyball in the last six months, um, watching a lot of games. Anyway, I purposefully decided to make that more of a retreat weekend for myself. And I had my fall Let's Create Together, um, scrapbook kit from Scrapbook and Cards today that Megan Andrews does.

And [00:08:00] so I, I purposefully printed pictures before I left. Planned out what I was gonna do, and took that kit. And I made two layouts, um, after volleyball was over. 'Cause I, you know, we're typically this season we've been in morning waves, so you know, we're there from like eight to two and then, you know, we're back.

So, you know, after three o'clock you have the whole evening. And so I did that and I really did enjoy that. And, but I've, like, I'm not ordering, I. I think one of the last times on the podcast I talked about how I was doing Shimelle's Best of Both Worlds Kits. Well, I haven't done any of those since, um, probably last summer was the last one I ordered.

Although I did just order the June one because it's featuring her new collection. And so anytime she uses her new collection, I can get on board with that. Um, but also I found too that, I mean, those [00:09:00] Best Of Both Worlds Kits, you know, those are seven to nine layouts that she does with those, and that's a lot.

And I was very prolific those years I was doing it, which was great 'cause I was catching up on some stories from the past and it really worked. But as you mentioned, like I have less, It's not that I have less stories to tell, but I kind of have less stories to tell. In a sense that, you know, my, my girls don't wanna be in pictures.

Um, my weekends are mainly spent at volleyball. I have a lot of volleyball pictures. Uh, so I have been doing Project Life, um, monthly spreads this year, but not the same way. Last year I did monthly spreads and then I picked two stories a month to use my, uh, story cards. Story kits with, um, and I really like that to kind of spotlight two stories.

But I've even found, like in the first couple months of the year, I really don't have a enough of a, I don't have [00:10:00] a story I wanna elevate to that level. Or if I do, it's something I wanna do a page on. So I don't wanna double duplicate.

Jennifer Wilson: Sure.

Alissa Williams: Which is fine. I do still like doing the monthly spreads. Um, so I've been doing that.

Jennifer Wilson: Do you think you'll continue?

Alissa Williams: Maybe, I mean, I have a lot of pocket cards, so, and I do it nine by 12 now. And I do like the chronology and being able to see our year and kind of see the highlights of it. I, I do, I do like that. Um, it's a nice compliment to my Library of Memories. And I was thinking about this in that, because I'm only doing one spread per month. I could probably fit two years in an album, so that's kind of appealing.

Jennifer Wilson: That's nice.

Alissa Williams: So we'll see.

Jennifer Wilson: Okay. You don't have to have an answer.

Alissa Williams: Yes, I do. I'm a professional answer of questions. I need to always have an answer. So yeah, I mean, it is definitely different. Um, now I will say I did have a retreat weekend, um, [00:11:00] in March. And I, you know, was very intentional about what I wanted to get done. So I thought I was gonna become a card maker, but that's not gonna happen. So that's interesting. I thought that since my scrapbooking was slowing down, I would be able to use my supplies and I would start making all these cards. At this crop I went to, had brought these supplies to make these birthday cards, and maybe I was too ambitious in the project I picked, I don't know, I picked a card to copy. I bought all this stuff for it. It's too detailed. It's too meticulous. I don't like it.

Jennifer Wilson: So I'm curious, you went to the Tailored Expressions event and you seem to enjoy that. What was different about making cards at that event versus making them on your own?

Alissa Williams: Uh, they had prepped a lot of the supplies for you, so you did, you know, like, you, maybe you die cut, you would just die cut these candles and like a lot more of the prep work was done for you. You only made one [00:12:00] versus I was making 10 in a batch for this particular card. So making one, making a one-off, I don't mind.

But when you're doing 10 plus, like I be, I think it's Shimelle's influence. I've become less, um, of a perf, well, I've never really been a perfectionist. But like, it's messy, it's sloppy. It's not a lot like whatever. But with a card that you're giving someone, I feel like I felt more pressure to make it look perfect. And you know, I mean, it is a homemade card, so meh.

But it just, I did not find it as satisfying as I thought I would. And I did not enjoy the repetition of it all. So I, I mean, I have a few projects. Yeah. And now I know, and I can stop buying card making supplies in. Thinking because like that's what Cathy Zielske did. You know her kid, she was prolific, her kids grew up, she started making cards.

I thought, oh, I will just be Cathy Zielske when I grew up. No, no, I'm not gonna be, I'm gonna be Stacy Julian and just keep making pages and simple pages. And it's gonna [00:13:00] be great. But you are also living this volleyball mom life alongside me. So.

Jennifer Wilson: I am. And so for those who saw like our Instagram photo, we've been able to meet up a couple times because even though we live 90 minutes apart, our daughters play at the same volleyball club and they've been practicing the same nights for the past, uh, month and a half or so. And, you know, we both have carpools, so we don't, definitely don't always overlap, but we are spending a lot of time in Bloomington, Illinois. Um, your daughter's a year older though, so your travel schedule has been much more intense. Uh, it's given me a preview though, if, if she should make the team again next year of what, what we can expect. Um, but it is a lot to have, especially to have practices. Uh, and previously after school, multiple two to three nights a week, an hour away.

That's, you know, it's, it's a big time commitment. But at the same time, [00:14:00] I felt like I've had a little more time for myself. Because not here a lot. Um, and even when she is home and not doing volleyball, she's of that age where she plans things with friends and she's got this friend group, with one friend who actually lives out of town, but comes and visits his dad every other weekend.

And they always like plan to get together their whole friend group and they're, they're living their best teenage lives. And I'm trying to like figure out what this season of life is gonna look like for me, for me and Steve together. And I also think that kind of a combination of different personal factors have all come together to give me more focus and I guess creative stamina.

Like I can take the time that I have, even if it's in the evening and sit down and say, Hey, I'm just gonna putter with this for a while, and, and make some good progress. So, [00:15:00] I've done probably more than I normally would've in the first, you know, almost half a year so far. And I feel, feel good about where I'm at. Is that accurate? Based on your recollections? I called you out a little bit, so.

Alissa Williams: Yeah, no, I think that's accurate. Um, I think you are, you know, it is a weird feeling when you've suddenly gone to this like, oh, there, like, I think I messaged you last night. I was like, um, I'm alone in my home. There are no children here for me to feed or entertain. What is this feeling? Um, it lasted for like 15 minutes until my younger daughter came home from the park, but it was still like, what is happening?

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Alissa Williams: Um, and so this time opens up in a way, but also, like you said too, you know, like you, I, I spend a lot of time in the car. I spend a lot of time waiting in the car [00:16:00] and thinking about this hobby. Okay, can I quickly go through and delete photos. Can I favorite some photos? Can I write some journaling in a note? What can I do to stay engaged even when I'm on the road.

Jennifer Wilson: Do you do that? Do you work on your photos when you're in the car?

Alissa Williams: I have, yeah. Mm-hmm.

Jennifer Wilson: I don't do that. I do it sometimes, but not very often. Like I'm more likely to do it when I'm in the car with my family than I am to do it when I'm in the car by myself. 'Cause I think when I'm in the car by myself, I'm more likely to listen to a podcast, watch a YouTube video, even watch a Netflix show. Then I am to, I guess, have it be quiet and to do something. I don't know.

Alissa Williams: Sure. Yeah, that makes sense. So I think what I'm trying to do is capture the stories I wanna tell, because the stories about my, especially my older daughter who [00:17:00] doesn't really wanna be in the picture so much. Are more things about like the weird, not the weird, it's not weird, but like teenage slang. And like I have this whole idea for something with speech bubbles or I guess labels. 'Cause I don't have speech bubbles. I don't know. Maybe I need to buy some speech bubble.

Jennifer Wilson: Think I.

Alissa Williams: Embellishments.

Jennifer Wilson: Have a Story Kit that has a lot of those in it that I haven't used.

Alissa Williams: Well pack that for when I see you and you're bringing me my Week In The Life kit.

Jennifer Wilson: Will do.

Alissa Williams: So, trying to capture the things they say more, kind of like, it's almost like when they were toddlers and they said cute things. Now that they're teenagers, they say interesting things too. So capturing that in the moment and having just a note that I can quickly do that in is helpful. So, and just, trying to tell deeper stories or just more personality stories versus event based stories.

Jennifer Wilson: So this, this reminds me of one that I really need to [00:18:00] write down in my creative hub. The other night we went to go see the new Mission Impossible movie, and Emily did something that I did when I was her age. She started writing down like the really good quotes from the movie, during the movie on her phone.

And I don't know, I, I actually remember I used to bring like a little notepad with me to the movie theater because we didn't have phones back then. And I would write down the quotes and I was super into that. And I would find the little, like, wave files online and download 'em to my computer. And she was just like so into it.

And, and Steve was like, Emily, get off your phone. I'm like, she's capturing quotes because she finds this memorable. And I'm like, I can't, I can't stop her. So I just thought that was like hilarious and adorable and reminded me of myself, of course. And yeah, just those stories are, are really fun.

Alissa Williams: Yes. They're, there's. Well, and you know, that whole thing of seeing yourself reflected in your child is [00:19:00] wild. I mean.

Jennifer Wilson: No doubt.

Alissa Williams: It's, it, yeah. There are some stories there that I need to document too. Of how she says things that I'm like, now I have a filter as a grownup, so I don't say these things. But then she says like, exactly what I'm thinking, and I'm like, oh my gosh, this is okay.

Yep.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. So with all these, like our, uh, eighth grade promotion pictures, there were at least three people, if not more, that said, oh, she really looks like Steve. And when I said that to Emily, she's like, I may look like daddy, but I act like you.

Alissa Williams: Aw, you've got it, that needs, that's a page title right there. I would be one of those people who said she looked like Steve.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes. But that it is a good page title and to be able to share like all the things that maybe like the traits that she has, similar to Steve and those traits that she has similar to me. I should, I should definitely do that one.

Alissa Williams: Put that in the Creative hub.

Jennifer Wilson: So of the things I know it's been really important to you this year is to be planning specific [00:20:00] things that you want to do. And so I've kind of outlined this as shaping your memory making, but can you talk more about why you made that choice and what you are choosing to do?

Alissa Williams: Well, you know, we gotta have stories to tell, so we gotta take pictures of things. Um, also just, you know, as we talked about earlier, this, this time has opened up. Um, and so we have time to do things. And I have been leaning into that more. Um, I really enjoy going to concerts and seeing live music. And so I've done that more in the past two to three years.

Um, and then of course I scrapbook about them. And then my girls and I really enjoy going to the theater together to see most, mostly musicals. Um, and so. We just actually did a kind of crazy thing on Tuesday night and we drove to St. Louis, which is two and a half hours away, and we watched a show [00:21:00] at 7:30 at night and then we drove two and a half hours home. And it was a hundred percent worth it.

And I'm so glad we did it. And I'm glad that they, again, like we were talking about just a minute ago, sharing the same enjoyment of things and what you see in them. Like I always liked the theater as a teenager and I didn't have as many opportunities to go. So it's enjoyable to be able to give them the opportunity to go, but then also to make those memories together.

Um, because you know, we're not going to the park, we're not going to the children's museum anymore, together. What are we doing together? And this is one way we can connect together. And I wish I had recorded it more in the moment. Um, but during intermission, my daughter was talking about her top 10 musicals. And, that when we were just thinking back of all the different shows that we've seen and what would make her top 10 and what would make, you know, the other ones top 10. And so yeah, it was, I wish I had been capturing that more. 'Cause I could probably go back and recreate it. [00:22:00] But, uh, it was just a fun conversation. And just reflecting on how many shows, both touring Broadway shows, but then also we have gone a lot to regional.

Um, we have a strong community theater in Peoria. It always amazes me that depth of talent in community theater. And so, um, we've gone to a lot of those shows. We had a friend, who was in children's theater for a while and we would go support her by watching her show. So they've seen a number of productions, both, you know, big and small, um, stage wise.

And my younger daughter has enjoyed being in her school musicals the last three years. And so I think she gets something different. She watches it with a different eye, having been on stage and performed before too. So, and that's actually something I should ask her about. That'd be a good conversation topic.

So yeah, so we've been going to shows and I've been thinking about how, how [00:23:00] to document that. Um, and actually, I mean, we've seen three, we've seen three big shows in the last six months. Um, which is really kind of amazing to me. Um, and fun. And I'm glad that we've been able to do that and squeeze it in amidst the volleyball and the everything.

I mean, if I'd known it was gonna rain on Sunday, we would've gone Sunday to a matinee. Um, but my daughter was scheduled to work and so I kind of, with my own work schedule and everything was like, okay, Tuesday night we can go. Typically we have volleyball practice Tuesday night, but they were on break for Memorial Day. So, it all kind of the stars aligned.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, I just, I love how you kind of set a plan at the beginning of the year to these are the things that you wanted to say yes to. So you felt like you had permission to do crazy things and go outta your way to drive two and a half hours and back on the same day. I think that's something [00:24:00] probably a lot of us need to do more of. Because that's how we, make new memories.

We rarely have regrets of the things we do. We have regrets about the things we didn't do. Particularly when we're feeling like time is going so fast. So I, yeah, you get lots of applause for that.

Alissa Williams: Well, I mean, those are two, those come from two kind of scrapbooking adjacent things. Uh, the first is, you know, we read in the Simple Scrapbook community, we read Laura Vanderkam's book. Um. About, you know, a big adventure and a little adventure.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Alissa Williams: That was definitely a big adventure on Tuesday night, you know, and just trying to put that magic in her every day.

And then put this idea, I, I made a, on my 25 for 25 list, which comes from Gretchen Rubin, but I tied back to my One Little Word, which is, you know, Ali Edwards. I put, I wanted to go see four, four shows, [00:25:00] and I didn't, I was thinking a mix of local and Broadway touring. Um, and so far it's happened to be three Broadway touring shows, which has been great.

And we've gone with friends. And so that's been fun. I mean, obviously we went by ourselves on Tuesday, but the last two shows we've met up with people. And so that's also been enjoyable, um, as well. And then people know you wanna go, so then they invite you and just leads to more things. But my going to shows was part of my One Little Word, which we did not discuss earlier, um, in that I thought I was gonna do One Little Word this year.

I bought all this stuff. I was going to do a six by eight album, and I was like, Nope, not gonna do that. After couple months, I realized I, one, I didn't really feel like I had, it wasn't what I wanted to do when I had time to craft. I didn't wanna work on that project.

Jennifer Wilson: Sure. You ended up selling the kit

Alissa Williams: I, I did, I did, I sold, [00:26:00] I sold, I sold my kit. And, and released myself from that obligation. So that was a good pivot earlier in the year of just letting go of that. Realizing I, that that wasn't how I wanted to spend my crafty time. I love the project and I love, and it's been beneficial and I'm still trying to connect with my word and I still made a list of things. My list, my 25 and 25.

Jennifer Wilson: That's what I wanted to point out.

Alissa Williams: Yeah, it was all based on things related to my word so.

Jennifer Wilson: Think that's awesome. I think that if you can it really actionable with that type of list, that's one of the best ways to live your word, and it will come out through the stories that you'll tell about the year anyway.

Alissa Williams: Well, and I definitely will do, and I have done this in the past when I haven't done made an album. Is I have done pages about my word. And I definitely think this is a year where that is gonna happen, where I'll do a page, I don't always do a page for my [00:27:00] albums about my word. But I definitely think this is a year word. I can tell that story with some different pictures, and my word is heart, so you know.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Alissa Williams: A couple good die cuts. I'll be good to go.

Jennifer Wilson: So for me it's, I haven't been planning a lot of things. Part of it feels like if we have a spare weekend, we probably have things we need to catch up on. And then Steve's been traveling a lot again for work, so sometimes he's even gone 'cause he has to like leave on a Sunday to be able to be there for a Monday conference. Our one free weekend coming up here in June, he's gonna be gone for another conference and then he comes back and we immediately go to Florida for nationals. So it's, yeah, it's, not, there's not been a lot of additional things, but I think I've really been focused recently on letting go a little bit.

Like, I love taking photos, don't get me wrong. And sometimes I [00:28:00] do bring my big camera. I've brought it, brought it to a number of volleyball games during the school season and during the club season. And sometimes I'm using it to take photos at home. But if we're out or with family, I let Steve take the pictures more often I didn't always do that.

I would always have to take my own copy to scrapbook not necessarily trust. He's a good photographer. He has a good phone. It's, it's, you know, 95% of the time it's fine. It's more than, more than good enough. And it's helped me get in the photo more. It's helped me just be less uptight about the situation. So it's just been, it's been good all around to let go. And I think in general, when we can relax our expectations and how we approach situations, it's usually a good thing.

Alissa Williams: I think that's wonderful for you. Um, and something else that I wanted to talk about about this season particularly that [00:29:00] um, is someone asked me, 'cause they know I scrapbook, they were like, so, you know, what are you doing with all your volleyball pictures? You know, what, how are you, how are you handling that?

Or I, that's not the way they asked it, but just, you know, are you making an album? What are you doing? And the answer is, I don't know. And I have not done anything yet. So, adjacently, Stacy Julian is ending her membership at the end of the year. I'll cue all the tears. Um, but one thing I have learned from Stacy is to wait and to do these compilation pages, um, or do an extended story.

Um, so I feel less pressure to A figure out how I'm gonna document it, but also B document in the moment. Like, you know, I'm not making all the volleyball pages now I have lots of volleyball supplies that I keep buying. But I have [00:30:00] not. Um, and I wish I had almost waited a little longer because I have documented like junior high volleyball and, but um, but this club story, this club story could last more than a season. So like the first year she played local club, I did a page at the end of the season with pictures from games and talked more about the friendships she developed with these girls and, and, and just a little bit about the season and whatnot. I did an overall page. I don't know if I need to do a page at the end of every season.

It's kind of also the same. I haven't really, doc, no, I did one page about, they took an amazing picture, uh, in high school, like one of those like, you know, pep rally pictures. And I had to scrapbook it. And, but I haven't done anything else with like the freshmen, so I'm, I'm just waiting to see where the, these volleyball stories go.

And I don't know if they're gonna [00:31:00] go, you know, they could go in a six by eight album. They could go in a nine by 12 pocket. Like I don't, they could be an extended story, which is something that Stacy teaches about layered, you know, using different size page protectors to tell the story. Um, so I haven't, I haven't figured out how to do that, but I, that's okay with me. I'm just collecting them and trying to jot down the stories that I want to remember about this particular, like this particular season. So that is also where I am in that. I don't know how you're approaching volleyball, documenting.

Jennifer Wilson: Very similar. I have done one layout about the school season and it was really more about, it was more about Emily than the season itself. You know, I'm not that good with the facts on my layouts anyway. So that said, uh, a, one of our parents for the school season is a [00:32:00] professional photographer and so she took some really great photos at the end of the season and I have not scrapbook those yet. Um, so maybe that's the layout about like her three years of middle school volleyball. Just 'cause I don't necessarily think it's that important to choose photos from the whole time. Like maybe I'll do like a little collage and, but really the star photo is gonna be, you know, one of these really great ones from the end of the season. And so I, I guess I'm thinking of it similar to you, but I also don't wanna wait too long. I probably will document this club season by October, at least this year. Because I'm not as great with the documentation in terms of remembering things. And so I know I wanna just go ahead and get that done.

Alissa Williams: Sure.

Jennifer Wilson: And to capture kind of more in the moment [00:33:00] feelings because your reflection like four years from now, my, what I'm gonna think about volleyball is gonna be very different than what I'm thinking about it right now. I, I do think it's important to get some of those stories done and then over time there'll be more stories that span time, that show evolution, that, um, you know, reflect changes. Whether she gets really devoted to working out and becoming the very best, or maybe she decides that she's just gonna, she wants to play a little bit less. We have no idea which way she's gonna go right now we're trying to support all of her decisions. Um, so I think some pages not a huge number. I certainly would not scrapbook every tournament, every match. There's just, it's just not possible and it's, and it's really boring. Um.

Alissa Williams: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: And it's, it's it's, hard to take volleyball [00:34:00] photos of your kid. Uh, the best ones are often when they're serving because that's when they're the most stationary. So, but how many photos of your kid serving do you need? So.

Alissa Williams: A million. I have a million.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. we do take a lot of video and so I have gotten some really great photos from the stills capturing like stills from the videos. That's been helpful.

Alissa Williams: Hmm.

Jennifer Wilson: But yeah, it's de it's definitely like kind of a, a nebulous not clear path to documenting, being in a sport over a long period of time.

Alissa Williams: So two more thoughts about this. One been super inspired by Ali Edwards, who also is living her best volleyball mom life with us on the West coast. Um, and so she did a really interesting thing where she had a, she micd some of her daughter's teammates during warmups this past weekend. And it's [00:35:00] really cool, like you should, and what she captured and how she's choosing to document this.

So I've been super inspired by Ali, obviously always. Also been thinking about this in the context of my albums, which is a new thought approach for me. So I, last summer in the winter, um, went through and really did what I called album care on my Library of Memories and have, uh, put together definite, like, this is volume one for Lucy, this is volume two.

And kind of figured out, especially as we are looking at, you know, she's 15 and so not that I'm gonna stop documenting her when she's 18, but definitely we're in the less stories phase of her life. And so really grouping her albums and then saying, okay, putting a stake of, I [00:36:00] have a junior high album and now I have a high school album. And it's because of the lower volume, I definitely feel like I can fit her high school stories in one album. Maybe two, but probably one. And thinking, I don't want them to just all be volleyball pages. So, you know, thinking more about either, and maybe it's both. Maybe there's an extended story in her Library of Memories and then maybe there's a separate six by eight album that is her all volleyball.

But then it also, when you were talking, reminded me of a page I did. That, I took a picture of her that has like five pictures of her throughout her junior high, like from when she first came home and started, uh, peppering in our front lawn with a ball after an open gym at the end of fifth grade. To her, you know, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade pictures of her playing. And just kind of how she [00:37:00] felt, just telling the story of how she fell in love with volleyball. And how now she's all in on volleyball and just using a combination of pictures to tell that story.

And so I really loved, I love the, that's something that's my biggest takeaway from Stacy Julian is just being able to, to wait and then tell kind of that bigger picture over time. Um, I'm not worried about documenting my feelings because I don't have them. So, um.

Jennifer Wilson: That is not true.

Alissa Williams: I, um, but I definitely am trying to, to, uh, put captions on pictures when I have a story that I wanna remember or something that I wanna make sure that is part of that when I later tell the story.

Jennifer Wilson: You still say this, but I really feel like you've come so far in the past, let's say five years in terms of feeling your feelings, expressing them. Working on them. So I, I know we have all, we all [00:38:00] have lots of different stories we tell ourselves about who we are, but I also think you do have permission to change and maybe like take on a new identity of someone who has, who has feelings and is okay with that.

Alissa Williams: As an Enneagram 8 I don't like to feel vulnerable and thus do not like to share my feelings.

Jennifer Wilson: I understand. All right. Let's talk about priorities. So at Simple Scrapper, we work in creative journeys. We're in the May, June creative journey. At the time of this recording, are your priorities for this time period, if you have them at all? Is it just to survive the end of club season?

Alissa Williams: No, I mean, summer is definitely when I always feel like I have more time to scrapbook and create. And so I've been thinking a lot about what are my priorities and what projects do I need to work on? I said at the beginning that I have purposely didn't pick a lot of things when I put my crafty plans together. So, [00:39:00] I had picked six kind of overarching priorities for the year, as well as I have a couple ongoing things that I do. So, um, I have an Alaska album that I wanna make. And I sort of started thinking about it, uh, more seriously again, this past long weekend. Um, I wanted to do the backup bootcamp class that Ms. Freddy taught. And I did do that in January or February, and that was very, that's been super satisfying and has paid off in terms of trying to tell older stories or finding older photos.

Jennifer Wilson: That's great.

Alissa Williams: Um, yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Would you recommend that for others who maybe are, are kind of figuring out their systems?

Alissa Williams: Yes, I think it is excellent. And actually, uh, they we're trying to do some photo management backup at work and I'm finding her resources helpful there too, so.[00:40:00]

Jennifer Wilson: Wonderful.

Alissa Williams: It's amazing. Yes. Um, I. I subscribe to an entire year of the sc, the Scrapbook and Cards Today, quarterly kits. So those come out in March, June, September, December.

Also, I wanna pause here to give Catherine and the Scrapbook and Cards cards today team a huge, huge praise, um, for the way they're handling everything. I am signed up for the Crop and Create, that's happening next week at the end of May, early June, uh, for scrapbooking. And there was a whole issue with the whole tariff stuff, and they have been amazing.

And of course, since I'm signed up for the quarterly kits, there's an issue with shipping and the tariffs for those. And it's kind of a wild, wild west time. But they have been amazing in their communication and in their desire to, to make customers, they are a customer centered business and she has been [00:41:00] amazing in her communication and what she's tried to do for people. So.

Jennifer Wilson: Totally agree. Like really setting the bar for professionalism that many folks, not just in in our industry but beyond could, could learn from.

Alissa Williams: Yeah, I'm just, I am now forever brand loyal to them because they've been handling this with such grace. And it's amazing. So I just finished my March kit, did all the pages, uh, thought I had enough to do a bonus page. I don't, or I do, but I don't have a story for it. So I'm gonna put that in my kit envelopes, and then the June kit will be coming next week. So I'm on track with those. I said I was gonna do card making projects.

Jennifer Wilson: Not so much.

Alissa Williams: Cross that off, not so much. I have three, three small card kit projects that I'm going to do at my next crop weekend that I have. Um, I have a mini book I wanna do with a very [00:42:00] old Scrapbook and Cards six by eight album from Vicki Boutin that I never made.

And so that is a project I'm going to do at a crop weekend. 'Cause I always like to have a mini book project at the crop weekend. And then my last party was to work on my Story Kits, which I haven't done at all. And that may be a later fall thing.

Jennifer Wilson: Well. We were talking About your Alaska album. You asked me like, what should I work on? And I said, because of your options, the Alaska album was the story first option. That it was to me, I would choose that so that it didn't get too far away. Because with the story kits, there'll always be stories that fit those kits. So when you're working with more of a product first approach, which is totally fine, I'm not like trying to weigh them against each other, they're just different. And we might have different reasons for choosing them, choosing one over the other.

Alissa Williams: Yeah, and I do want to get this Alaska project [00:43:00] done. We, it was a year ago right now that we were there. And so I did, took extensive notes and journaling and I've got the basis, but like you said, I don't wanna let it get too far down the road to where my memory is totally terrible about it. Um, you know, of not remembering some of the stuff. I have done, um, a page for each of the girls' albums with a picture of them in Alaska, just to kind of mark that trip for them. And kind and put on the journaling has like their top three moments. Or, you know, Lucy said, well, what do you remember about what did, what do you remember at Alaska?

It was cold and wet. That's all she says. How was your trip to Alaska? Cold and wet. So I should have titled the page Cold and Wet, but. Uh, that was a missed opportunity. But anyway, uh, so I feel like all of these things are still reasonable, um, with what I have time for, [00:44:00] allotted for, uh, I have two weekend crops, um, one the summer and one in the fall.

And, and then I'll have a lot of time this summer. Um, so those are, I mean those are still my priorities. I think my biggest priority now is to make progress on this Alaska album. 'Cause I suspect I'm gonna be doing a little more digital stuff than I typically do, and that's easier to do at home. 'cause I don't have a laptop.

Jennifer Wilson: Sure.

Alissa Williams: And not at a crop. I might do finishing touches at a crop, but also I don't like to journal at a crop anymore. So, yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Maybe you'd feel differently if you were typing though.

Alissa Williams: That would also require said laptop that I do not own.

Jennifer Wilson: You could borrow.

Alissa Williams: Maybe it's time I, buy a laptop. Maybe that's the solution to my problems.

Jennifer Wilson: But I also do have a PC laptop I could let you borrow. So.

Alissa Williams: Oh, well that's kind of you. So yeah, I mean, my priorities haven't changed. I have done my ongoing projects. [00:45:00] I always do a birthday page now for each of the girls. I've just finished Abby's this past weekend with my extra page from my Scrapbook and Cards kit. Um, I just finished my seventh grade chatbook that I've been doing for each of the girls since kindergarten.

Jennifer Wilson: We have to talk about Chatbooks.

Alissa Williams: Yes, we do. This is why I just said that.

Jennifer Wilson: I, they, and I, I'm assuming this is going to affect everyone. Chatbooks has announced that, um, Meta has closed off their API for Instagram to be able to pull in, uh, photos and captions into photo book services. I, I'm kind of shocked, honestly.

Alissa Williams: I am appalled and mad. I, I was very frustrated when I found that I have not, I put less and less on Instagram, actually now that the kids are older. But, uh, it was at least an easy starting point to [00:46:00] pull in the pictures and captions. And so I had to, it took, it took longer but it was still, and I had to go in and caption everything and that was kind of frustrating.

Uh, and so my captions are not great, but they're fine. So Lucy graduated eighth grade last year and I did a Chatbook, and I had already decided that, again, volume of photos is so small that I wasn't gonna do anything. I wasn't gonna do one per year for high school. I might do one at the end of high school, but now I'm even like, if the Chatbook like, I might as well just print four by fours in a small album through Persnickety Box.

And maybe I'll just, maybe I'll do it. Ooh, maybe I'll do it that way. And then I could at least print like her freshman year photos. And then I wonder if I still have, did Becky, were there four by four Project Life [00:47:00] page protectors?

Jennifer Wilson: Uh, there are from, We Are Memory Keepers for the little, those little mini albums.

Alissa Williams: No. But like the 12 by 12 ones.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh.

Alissa Williams: With four by fours in 'em. I'm gonna have to look at my stash of Project Life page.

Jennifer Wilson: There were.

Alissa Williams: Oh, I just had a big idea. I gotta write this down.

Jennifer Wilson: Do you have a 10 by eight album? Because those have some four by fours.

Alissa Williams: Ooh, maybe I need one of those. Maybe I need to do all of her freshman year and a 10 album, and that would use up some of my cards too.

Jennifer Wilson: Why not just do all of high school and a 10 by eight of them?

Alissa Williams: That's what I meant. High school. I didn't say that, but I meant that.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. I think, I think this is something where you could lay out lots of different creative options and figure out, what is, which ones am I, would I actually finish? Which ones actually sound fun? And find out where the overlap and the Venn diagram is to be able to to pick a choice.

Alissa Williams: That's a lot of thinking. I don't do this much thinking about it. I just kind of like.

Jennifer Wilson: You do. I feel like you do.

Alissa Williams: Um, [00:48:00] okay.

Jennifer Wilson: No, just me.

Alissa Williams: Um, maybe you make me think this, overthink this like this.

Jennifer Wilson: Do you need me to create a worksheet for you so you can do this?

Alissa Williams: Obviously, uh, it's always a solution. It's a worksheet. Um,

Jennifer Wilson: We do have a flow diagram of how to choose the format for your project. And it's based on like starting with number of photos.

Alissa Williams: Problem is, I don't know the number of photos.

Jennifer Wilson: True. You don't, but you could pick in advance to say you wanna pick 25 photos per school year.

Alissa Williams: Yeah. Um, I guess the other thing I wanna talk about in terms of creative priorities is that I'm very committed to using my stash. So, for example, when we talked about my Project Life, I am using my Elle's Studio Kits that I bought and never used. And so, um. That has been very satisfying to get some of that supplies used up.

My goal with my Elle's Studio kits is to do [00:49:00] my Project Life spread and one layout with a kit. Um, and there is so much inspiration on their website for pages and on their Instagram feed for 12 by 12 pages of using their product that way. And so I, I really love that. And then, um, so I haven't actually, I bought the January kit, but then I had February, March, April, I have May, and I have June. And then I don't really have the fall stuff. So I'm debating between getting kits or just using what I have. Which I really should just use what I have 'cause that's really my commitment. But I didn't write it down, so I feel like I could buy stuff, which feels like cheating but I don't know.

Jennifer Wilson: Given that it's become, I, I don't think pocket page scrapbooking is going to go away. But we are seeing more cards that you have to cut apart yourself. We are seeing [00:50:00] maybe a decrease in the availability of page protectors and albums. And so I, I would, I guess my choice for you, my vote would be for you to use your stash.

Alissa Williams: Well, and that's fair. Um, so it will also depend on the designs.

Like sometimes I'm feel very called to a particular like, oh, I must have this particular card. I feel less less of that. And it's not really, it's not even fomo, it's just like, ooh, pretty shiny new. Uh, so I'm thinking about getting the July kit as just kind of a reward for you busting through my stash.

Jennifer Wilson: But once you get to August though, like I feel like you could basically make yourself a kit of fall supplies. That includes cards you already have, and then other fall items that would allow you to customize the cards, like papers, embellishment stamps, stickers. No.

Alissa Williams: That's too much work. [00:51:00] I don't have a lot of time see volleyball weekends.

Jennifer Wilson: You'll be in the school season. In the fall, you won't have as much weekend.

Alissa Williams: Oh yes, I will. Because when they play JV, they play more tournaments on the weekends. So.

Jennifer Wilson: I think you have some things you can think through and there's no pressure to make a decision right this moment.

Alissa Williams: Yes, I have been proud though that I have not really bought, um, stuff and that I only really caved. I, I mean, I look every month at Shimelle's. Best of both Worlds kits, but, I only bought the one for June. And partly it's too because I have, I have, I feel like I have a little bit of a backlog of stories where I know her layouts will help me get some of these one and two picture.

Because like what I've learned is the Scrapbook and Cards Today kits, she always does one two [00:52:00] page spread with a lot of pictures and then one single page. And that's great. But like Shimelle always does like one or two photos. Now I have learned a lot from Simple Scrapper member, Melissa Burnett, giving her a shout out for putting multiple pictures on a page and in creative ways and making photo collages because.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, yeah.

Alissa Williams: She has definitely influenced me in a few of my layouts where I'm like, oh, I should put a picture here instead of this here. Or let's make a collage instead of, doing. One photo or two photos.

Jennifer Wilson: Certainly. That's one of the things I love about the community and getting to know folks, is being able to learn from their specific techniques. And it's like, oh, I've never thought about doing it that way. I could try that. And then you pick something up and that's, that's how you do it.

Alissa Williams: Yeah, so we were talking about priorities. I don't even know what the question was anymore. I'm just rambling about my hobby.

Jennifer Wilson: So I have, like, I have [00:53:00] a, a current priority for this journey and then another priority for the summer. I am really focused on Week In The Life. I have made really good progress on last year's album. I've got all the photos, not just selected and edited, but printed, cut out, put in pockets. Um, I'm just to the point of needing to finish embellishing the album and writing my journaling. And so I, I feel really, I don't know, passionate, is that the right word? I feel like this is really important. Because of, I feel like this year and last year are just so different in so many ways that they.

Alissa Williams: Oh.

Jennifer Wilson: Almost feel like they're bookends of comparison. When I do this year's album, I wanna take some similar photos to be able to talk about what has changed. Um, and so I am prepping my album for this year. We'll be, I'm gonna be [00:54:00] documenting from this Sunday, June 1st through Friday, June 6th. I'm doing one day off. Then I guess the official timing, because I wanna include, um, volleyball tournament in that, and I have done that in the past.

That's what I did last year too, is I started a day early so that I could include waking up in a hotel room on Sunday morning as, as part of that story. Um, so I feel, I feel really good about that and it feels fun. I don't know that I'm gonna do it forever. I've always done the Week in The Life of, in some regard, like taken the photos and done something. I don't know that I feel as compelled to maybe do a whole album again in the future. But these two years feel like this good, like bookend of change. Um, and so I'm excited about that.

Alissa Williams: I'm also gonna do Week in the Life. We didn't talk about that.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Alissa Williams: I haven't done an album in several years. And I also am feeling like you in that this, there is enough of a difference between the last time I did [00:55:00] an album and now.

Jennifer Wilson: Well and you're gonna do, do it in the, by the numbers perspective.

Alissa Williams: Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: Really interesting.

Alissa Williams: Yes. And I also like you wanna capture this volleyball season, so I'm gonna, so we have a tournament, I'm gonna do the typical Monday through Sunday and we'll be gone for a tournament next weekend.

So, yep, I'm doing that too.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes.

Alissa Williams: Okay. What's your summer priority?

Jennifer Wilson: I want you to come boss me around and help me sort my memorabilia.

Alissa Williams: Okay, this is funny since you, we just did the replay of the episode where I came and bossed you around on your layouts.

Jennifer Wilson: I like, my memorabilia system is not that bad. I have boxes labeled from preschool through junior high. Time to make some, make a box for high school. But I also have some bins of stuff that has not been sorted yet. So I need to like, pull it all out, do a good letting go of some [00:56:00] items and get everything in,

its in its home. Probably do some photography of three dimensional artwork that I no longer need to keep. It's just gotten to a point where it's. It's sitting in a box in the floor of my closet and making it hard to actually get in the closet. Like the closet's still in pretty good shape, but the memorabilia is, is become a problem and I really need to tackle this. Uh, and I would really like to do it before we go, before Emily goes to high school in the fall and we're starting a whole new season of gathering items.

Alissa Williams: So we need to pick a date for me to come boss you. Is that what we've decided?

Jennifer Wilson: can do it on Zoom or FaceTime. But yeah, if you could come here, that would be awesome. I would appreciate it.

Alissa Williams: It's way more fun when I come in person.

Jennifer Wilson: So yeah, we will find sometime this summer

Alissa Williams: Okay.

Jennifer Wilson: During, probably during July when they're doing summer league volleyball. I don't know.

Alissa Williams: Yeah. Okay. That's good.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Alissa Williams: I can do that. I do. Will travel to boss people.[00:57:00]

Jennifer Wilson: So.

Alissa Williams: That's funny.

Jennifer Wilson: Final question for our conversation is, is there anything that has surprised you recently about yourself, your hobby, this industry is like, what's, like, what's maybe been on your mind?

Alissa Williams: I don't know. I've been thinking about this. I, I've been sad about the amount of shrinkage in our industry over the last couple years. And I feel now some with this tariff stuff and like Canadian companies not shipping to the United States. Um, that's challenging. Um, I, I guess I'm almost surprised that here I am 22 years later still making pages. You know. This hobby is still really important to me. And even as I feel like I have less stories of my girls to tell, I still wanna make time to tell those important stories. And, [00:58:00] you know, I guess I'm surprised that I'm not the card maker I thought I was gonna be.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Alissa Williams: I mean, I think too, this idea that I was gonna make 10 of these birthday cards, I think I'm more attracted to the idea of making a card.

Like I, because I was gonna be this fabulous card maker, I went off on this tear and signed up for the Scrapbook and Cards Today, card making event, and I have that whole box I haven't even tackled. Um, note it did not really make my priority list. Um.

Jennifer Wilson: Should you sell the box?

Alissa Williams: No.

Jennifer Wilson: Okay.

Alissa Williams: Because I, I wanna make those cards. And one of the reasons I had gone to Stamp Joy was I, I have a lot of stamps and I really like stamping and I wanted to do more stamping on my layouts.

I thought that this would teach me techniques for that. Um, but, and it has in a way, but I haven't stamped. Well, no, that's, I did do a layout where I did a bunch of stamping. So it all molds together. [00:59:00] Um, I guess, yeah, I'm surprised I'm not the card maker that I thought I was gonna be. That's not the new thing, but that I still have pages I wanna make and there are still stories to tell, um, that are important to me.

So, and I do have more time to spend, you know, like I talked about the Backup Bootcamp to, to do some of those, um, cleanup things. Like I talked about, you know, organizing my albums and I put them in all new, um, they all have spine labels and I'm working on title pages for everything. And just cleaning, doing some of that maintenance stuff that maybe I didn't have as much time for in the past because I was my crop time was so limited. I would just wanted to tell stories. 'Cause I felt like I had so many stories and it's not that I don't feel like I have so many stories. It's just, you know, the amount of stories I'm collecting has slowed.

Jennifer Wilson: Certainly.

Alissa Williams: What about you?

Jennifer Wilson: There's, I mean, there's a number of things. I think there's, there's a list of items that [01:00:00] always surprise me, but shouldn't. Such as, I always find ways back to my creativity, back into really feeling excited about the hobby. When I go to in-person crops, when I look through my albums and look at past layouts, when I really spent time in my photo library, like all the things that you would think of that we tell people to say, this is how you can reconnect with your hobby. Those things work. And every time I feel like, oh, I'm just like, feeling a little disconnected, am always able to find a way back. And I, I guess I've learned to trust that even more, even though it always does, like, give me this moment of like surprise and delight of like, oh yeah, it's still really there.

Like it's, I, I love this, this is important to me. Um, whether I'm doing a lot of it or I'm doing a little of it, it's, it's still just a part of my life.

Alissa Williams: Well, and riffing off that a little bit, I think, um, ever since my big renaissance at the end [01:01:00] of 2018, where in 2019, where I really got back into regular crafting after two years of really feeling like a failure and a fake scrapbooker. I figured out more of my system, my approach. I know that kits are the way that I wanna do it. I know that I'm in my copying era. So, leaning more into that has helped me be successful in continuing to stay engaged.

Jennifer Wilson: Like knowing what works for you, knowing your way.

Alissa Williams: Yes. So I know what works for me. I know having a kit that I can take on the road so I can make a page in a hotel room is really super satisfying. You know, and I can use these rails to continue to get the stories told and that is enjoyable.

Jennifer Wilson: That reminds me that something else that has surprised me recently, I've always thought of myself as a, like one to three photo scrapper in terms of layouts. [01:02:00] While I have done and more two page layouts. Recently, I've, I've done a number of pages, both single and double that had a lot of photos.

And I had this story I told myself of like, I don't make pages with lots of photos. I am, I'm not a Tracy Fox or a Melissa Burnett. I don't, I can't, like, I, that's not where my brain naturally goes. I naturally go to more of a Shimelle style layout with lots of layers and embellishments and a little, um, it ends up cohesive in the end. But it's kind of, you know, a process to get there. But I've really had fun and really felt proud of pages that I've made where I used a lot of photos. 'Cause it felt very satisfying. It was kind of, it was a challenge to put together. I just recently did one that had 31 or 39, I don't remember. I had to print them very small and they were all kind of collaged together. It was not a grid in any way. And [01:03:00] it was fun. So I, I guess I'm surprised by, going out of my comfort zone and and finding joy in that. I guess.

Alissa Williams: I think it's awesome 'cause like that 30, that 31 that, that layout you're referring to was amazing. And you are so, you do a variety of different things I think that are, quote, outside your comfort zone. You try different techniques. You, you know, you are very versatile in the pages you create, which is something I admire about you.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, thank you. Thank you. I particularly when we're doing a Refresh Retreat or a Stash Bash event, and you know, months ago I've worked with my team to come up with a prompt. I really enjoy like working on those prompts at the same time as our members. And I think that forces me to often combine a different bunch of different decisions that have been pre-made for me. Even though I made them myself, it, my past self made those decisions. Doesn't ever feel like that. It feels [01:04:00] like somebody else is giving me the prompt. Um, and that makes it fun to follow along. Because, you know, it, it could have been six months ago that we came up with that and assigned it to the creative team, and they made their layouts back then. But I'm just making it live and following along and, and playing and playing with members as as a member myself.

Alissa Williams: Yeah, I think that's fun. Um, I was just paging through my creative hub to look at what I talked or thought about. And I, you know, I keep this list of stories by the month 'cause I like a good checklist. Um, and that seems to be the way that works best for me. But I, talking about volleyball stories, there are pages that I wanna make about this volleyball experience.

Like I have, I wanna make a page about Lucy's tournament jobs. So they have to ref, you know, a match. And Lucy always has to be the down ref because no one [01:05:00] else on her team wants to down ref. But also she's very, um, unfazed. Um, because when you down ref, you have to be very confident in your calls. And there was one, uh, tournament where a coach like got in her face and was yelling at her for a call she'd made, and.

Jennifer Wilson: That's awesome.

Alissa Williams: Didn't phase her.

Yeah. And then she is always the player who stands next to the coach on the opposing team during warmups and passes the balls to the coach. Like, she doesn't field balls, she stands there. And so it, so I have pictures of that and I wanna tell that story.

Jennifer Wilson: That is so interesting because those are Emily's two jobs too.

Alissa Williams: So funny.

Jennifer Wilson: We need to like swap photos.

Alissa Williams: So much alike.

Jennifer Wilson: And make layouts about that, about our parallel journeys, so that.

Alissa Williams: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Could be fun.

Yeah. Emily loves to be down ref. Like it's, it, it is, part of it's because no one else wants to, but she actually really likes and, and she asks to do that. So.[01:06:00]

Alissa Williams: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. And she's always, I. Always the one with the ball basket. Um, it's, it's so interesting because she has, she is a leader in so many ways, and then also not one in so many others. So she's a little, she's very, introverted in certain ways, but not so much on the volleyball court.

Alissa Williams: Yeah. And then the other story that is about more about me and these weekends is my volleyball mom uniform. Um, as you know, I've purchased, I have a very set, um, set uniform of, although now that it's getting warm, I don't, it's kind of a little harder. But I bought some specific volleyball sweatshirts. And I just, especially in January and February around they go so much just I would wash them and put the back in the suitcase.

Um, so I have a very particular look at a volleyball game and I wanna just document that as well.

Jennifer Wilson: That's fun, especially since, you know, we're [01:07:00] often trading outfit photos and, um, I, I did a page of like a year of outfit photos and that was really fun. I was used, one of the last Story Kits. It was one of the first ones that had lots

Alissa Williams: Oh.

Jennifer Wilson: Mixed media. It had like flowers and a lot of green in it, and it was really fun to take all these little tiny pictures of outfits over the past year.

Alissa Williams: Yes. That was a good layout. They're all good.

Jennifer Wilson: Is there anything we've missed that we really need to talk about?

Alissa Williams: Well we could probably have a whole nother 30 minute conversation on planning and planners and organization, but.

Jennifer Wilson: Let's save that for next time.

Alissa Williams: Yeah, that's good.

Jennifer Wilson: By then, we'll probably be like in July or so, at least in that second half of the year where we're really starting to like question our choices and think about the next year. And that could definitely be a whole nother conversation.

Alissa Williams: Yes, it could and it will be, I'm sure.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, as always, I have enjoyed our conversation. Thanks for spending time with me. Can you share where our listeners can find you online?[01:08:00]

Alissa Williams: Uh, sure. I am on Instagram as alissarecommends. 'Cause part of what I do is recommend books. Um, I don't post as often as I was saying earlier, but I do post book recommendations. I don't actually post a lot about scrapbooking. Um, but it is a private account, you are welcome to request me to follow me.

Jennifer Wilson: Awesome. Well, I can't wait till our next time. And to all of our listeners, please remember that you have permission to Scrapbook Your Way.

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 302. In this episode, I'm interviewing Eve McNie for the My Way Series. My Way is all about celebrating the unique ways memory keepers get things done.

We're excited to have Eve as the July featured artist at Simples Scrapper.

Eve McNie: Hey, Eve, welcome to Scrapbook Your Way.

Hi Jennifer. [00:01:00] Thank you so much for having me today.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. I'm looking forward to our conversation and getting to know you a little better. Can you share some things about your life? Who are you? Where do you live? Who's in your family?

Eve McNie: Yeah, of course. Um, so my name is Eve, as you know. I am 37 years old, well, very nearly in a couple of months. Um, I am married to Stewart. Um, we got married in August, 2022. Uh, but we've been together for a little while longer than that. We met in 2015. Um,

Jennifer Wilson: Wow.

Eve McNie: Yeah, so we celebrated 10 years together in January this year.

So that was a big step. I am originally from France, from the southwest of France. I was born in Toulouse Uh, but I have traveled a, a little bit. Um, I spent a year in Australia, uh, it sounds like a lifetime ago. I now, it feels like a lifetime ago. It was 2011. Um, but that [00:02:00] was quite a forming year, I suppose.

It was my first time away from home for such a long time. I don't think I could have gotten any further away. Uh, the other side of, yes, the other side of the planet is probably what I needed, just to make sure that I would give it a good goal. 'cause being any closer to home, if things had gone a bit, you know, tricky with living abroad, I may have just gone home, which was not an option.

Living so far away. Um, I also spent a year in the us I was in Florida for a little bit. I was working at Disney, and then I moved to, yeah, yeah, there are a fair few Disney hardcore fans in the scrapbooking community.

Jennifer Wilson: No.

Eve McNie: Um, I'm not one of them though, weirdly enough. I, I used to work at Disney, but I never was a massive Disney fan.

Um, I don't mind Disney, [00:03:00] of course, I, you know, when I was a kid I watched all the, the cartoons and the movies, but I wouldn't, I've never scrapbook to anything Disney related or not yet anyway. Uh, and I finally moved to Scotland, uh, which is where I live now. Edinburgh, Scotland in 2014. Um, yeah, so that's my life.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, you have like, you have such a beautifully unique accent that I think picks up so many of these different places

Eve McNie: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Some, it's, it's very, it's interesting to listen to people because you can kind of, well, I'm, I'm a very poor, um, detector of accents. I kind of never know where people are from. Um, but yeah, it's, it's interesting to kind of see the variance in, you know, videos on YouTube or podcasts or anything like that.

I really enjoy just listening to the music.[00:04:00]

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes, yes. And it's just, I love that we have such a, that the technology today can bring us together all across the world and, and keep us as this, you know, vast community of scrapbookers.

Eve McNie: Yeah, it's so easy to, to make friends, I suppose, scrappy friends, internet friends, whatever. We may never meet, but we get to know a little bit about people's lives and they're so different, um.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Eve McNie: From one country or continent to another. That's, that's really interesting actually.

Jennifer Wilson: So, let's talk a little bit about your scrapbooking. I always like to ask some kind of icebreaker questions to our guests. Do you have a favorite recent layout or project? Can you tell us a little bit about it and why it's a favorite or special to you?

Eve McNie: Yeah, of course. Um, this one is actually quite an easy one for me just now because it feels still so, um, raw in a good way and exciting. Um. I was really [00:05:00] lucky to be featured as a sketch for day one for 30 days of sketches. Um, so that was June 1st. Uh, it was my sketch. Um, I was so excited to contribute to it.

It's such a fun series. I really enjoy scrapping with a sketch as the starting point. I just find it so inspiring. Um, it is also really, it's a bit of a responsibility, I suppose, in a way because I'm realizing seeing so many contributors using that sketch. That I will be in people's albums in a strange, you know, remote way.

Um, which is really, really fun. Um, so yeah, I was, I was really excited about that. And, uh, a bit of a milestone just a few days ago, I finally reached a thousand followers on Instagram which. Is, you know, it's, yay. I know. It's, it's, you know, symbolic. It doesn't actually mean anything. But I was [00:06:00] really excited about it.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, no doubt as you should be. Now, 30 days of sketches. Who, who organizes that? What website is it through or is it through Instagram.

Eve McNie: So yes, there are participants on Instagram. It is I think mostly a Facebook group. Um, but people also, you know, creators who have a YouTube channel also upload, uh, to YouTube. And I think that there is a playlist. So you can, if you're interested in, um, finding out, um, different takes on the same sketch for example, or just following one particular creator all throughout the 30 days, you can do that throughout the playlist.

Uh, and there should also be a hashtag on Instagram, I suppose, if that's the preferred platform.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, super fun. I will definitely link that up in the show notes, so it's not something that, I think if I came across it, I have since forgotten.

Eve McNie: Okay. Yeah. Fair enough. I'm not on YouTube, but I will try and participate a little bit to, um, uh, to the [00:07:00] Instagram hop. I dunno if it's a hop. Uh, but I'm a very slow scrapper, so I will not be scrapping for 30 days in a row. I just, I don't know how to do that.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. Well, we're gonna get to some of that in our conversation today about your process and your workflow. Um, but thinking about kind of right now in the present moment, is there something inside of scrapbooking or in your everyday life that you're excited to do, use or try?

Eve McNie: Um, yeah, I've been really chuffed about this podcast, actually. Um, yeah, I've been, uh, I've been thinking about it for a few days and, uh, yeah, it is really exciting. In terms of outside of scrapbooking, because I live in Scotland, we are, I suppose, growing up in France, I took the sun for granted. And now living in Scotland, it's a little bit of a different story.

So I am excited about summer coming back. It's still very cold here. It's, it's a gray day to day. There's not much going on. But I am excited about things coming back to life a little bit. [00:08:00] Um, you know, myself included, coming out of hibernation, if you will.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, it makes a huge difference on your mood.

Eve McNie: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Um, even when we had some rainy times and, and we're lucky that we, we do get quite lengthy seasons of all four of them.

Eve McNie: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: I was like, I could never live in a place like Portland or, I mean, I imagine even the UK is, you know, it could be pretty dreary a lot of the time.

I'm not sure that my mental health could, could handle that. I'd really have to adjust.

Eve McNie: Where do you live, Jennifer?

Jennifer Wilson: I live in central Illinois, so about, uh, two and a half hours south of Chicago.

Eve McNie: Okay, so it does get quite cold, I suppose.

Jennifer Wilson: We do get quite cold. We don't, we get like maybe two or three good snows every winter, but it's not co consistently snowing at all. Um, and it can get, you know, high nineties, a hundred degrees in the summer.

Eve McNie: Oh.

Jennifer Wilson: A few days, um, but high eighties are pretty, pretty typical for us in, in the, the, the dead of summer, but [00:09:00] right now it's June and we, it's like 68.

We've had a pretty, very pretty cool spring and early summer, so.

Eve McNie: Okay. Yeah. I think what's lacking in, well, not lacking, but the main difference between France and Scotland is that there isn't much of a range, I suppose in Scotland. The winters are not super cold, but the summers aren't very warm either. Um, it snowed. It snowed actually this winter, which was cool to see.

But it's more, more than anything, it's actually the darkness that gets me. You were talking about mental health and it's not so much the cold, it's more that there is absolutely no sunlight. I mean, it's not at Alaska but, oh, I missed that out actually in the previous question, Jennifer. I used to live in, um, Anchorage as well for, for a few months after Disney.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh wow. What, what took you all the way from Florida to Alaska?

Eve McNie: I know it's such a strange thing to do. Um, I suppose the funny answer to that is that my hair could [00:10:00] not stand the humidity of Florida anymore. It just needed a break. Um, but the real answer is I just wanted to see as much as I could. I had a limited time in the US because of, you know, I needed a visa. So I knew I had a, a timestamp on things.

Um, and I just wanted to, being so close relatively to Alaska, I just wanted to give it a go and see what it was like. Um, so yeah, that was the, that was a, a bit of a spur of the moment thing, I suppose, but it ended up being the, probably some of the best four months of, of my life for sure. I loved it.

Jennifer Wilson: Very fun. And as someone with, with, uh, wavy curly hair, I, I can understand the humidity in Florida. If I had to pick, you know, Florida or say Arizona for a retirement location, I would pick the one without the humidity for sure.

Eve McNie: Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Definitely.

Jennifer Wilson: So you are our July featured artist at Simple Scrapper, and that's, that's part of why we're having this conversation today for a My Way episode. [00:11:00] Um, what would you say to a non scrapbooker about why you love this hobby?

Eve McNie: Yeah. Um, I would say that what I enjoy the most about the hobby is having something real to flip through. Um, I love taking photos. Um, I have a camera that I don't actually use all that much anymore because, you know, camera on the camera on my phone is probably better than my actual camera now. So I just use my phone and it makes it less, um, lively, I suppose to, to flip through pictures.

I do do it and, you know, I flip through albums on Facebook, for example. But having something printed that I can turn the pages in is such a satisfying aspect of the hobby. What I really enjoy about it is that it makes me remember things that I don't think I would remember otherwise. I've recently [00:12:00] discovered, I don't know if it's my aging brain that I cannot remember much.

It's quite disappointing because I thought I had a good memory up until a few months ago where I realized that I don't. Um, so, you know, having things written down, um, pictures taken is just so, um, diligent, I suppose in a way. Um, I just really want to remember things as accurately as I can. And then I suppose there's also the, you know, let's go back to that crafty word and it's the satisfying aspect of making something. Being proud of, look at this. I made this. It's a little bit like maybe gardening or cooking. You know, you have something physical that you've made. It's awesome. I love it.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, when there's so many different connections to it, you can, sometimes it's, it's one of those that's the driving factor and sometimes it's another one, and so it gives you so many different levels of, of satisfaction on it.

Eve McNie: Hmm, definitely. Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: But [00:13:00] I fully understand that idea of, I thought I had a really great memory, and then the older I get, the more I realize that I have forgotten so many things and it just gets worse every year, so.

Eve McNie: Yeah, yeah. I mean, especially, you know, holidays for example, where you're so excited about where you're going, what you ate, where you went. And then a few weeks later, it doesn't take long at all. I just forget. I just realized that I'm getting my dates confused and I don't know what we did which day, and as you said, it doesn't get any better. It gets worse. So.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes, yes. So can you talk to us a little bit about how you got started scrapbooking?

Eve McNie: Uh, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Um, I had to look this up actually. Uh, it was in October, 2020. Um, in my head, I just consider myself a, a much more, a newer scrapper than 2020. You know, it's been nearly five years, but it doesn't feel like it has been [00:14:00] five years. Um, and I don't know what that means. I don't know if I'm not giving myself enough credit for, you know, doing it for so long, or, um, if time flies by when you're having fun. Um.

Jennifer Wilson: Maybe.

Eve McNie: Don't.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Eve McNie: Yeah, it could be, it could be that. Um, but the reason I started scrapbooking, um, so October, 2020 unfortunately, was, um, COVID times. It wasn't, um, I don't think we were in a lockdown per se in Scotland at that time, but there were still a lot of restrictions. Um, and as it turns out, we had just moved into our new apartment, so we ended up having a little bit more space.

Uh, we ended up being homeowners now at that point instead of renting a place. So a little bit more space. I wanted to make the place mine, and I had so much time on my hands that I thought, okay, let's just give this a go. Um, one of [00:15:00] the girls I was in Australia with, uh, Marianne, she is a scrapbooker as well. And she posted a few pages on, I think it must have been Facebook actually.

Um, and I thought, oh my gosh, this is so pretty, and I, I want to know more about this. Um, and I just started on a, down a rabbit hole on Facebook, on YouTube, on Instagram. I looked everywhere. I wanted to complete scrapbooking. I wanted to know everything there was to know. Um, and yeah, that's, that's how I started.

Um, we were also engaged to be married, Stewart and I. So I wanted, the first project I had, uh, was actually the story of us, um, in a sense. So I wanted to get a book done, uh, with pictures of the two of us throughout the years, and that was my first project.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, very cool. I would love to, for our listeners to hear in the comments of this episode, if you also got started scrapbooking, uh, in [00:16:00] 2020 or in pandemic times. Um, because obviously we had to, a lot of people picked up different types of hobbies during that time, um, when you had, uh, more restrictions on where you could go and, uh, yeah.

It's so interesting to think, and I would've never guessed that you were a, a newer scrapbooker, so.

Eve McNie: Yeah. Yeah. I could have taken up baking, I suppose. A lot of people did. Um, but it turns out that's one more thing I'm not very good at baking. Things go horribly wrong very quickly.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes. No, I just definitely did some, some sourdough baking in there, but I was just, I don't just like, I'm not good with plants. Like I feel like having a sourdough starter is like taking care of plants. You have to be really precise and make sure you give it the right amount.

Eve McNie: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: And I'm, I killed my starter pretty quickly, so.

Eve McNie: Yeah. It is alive, isn't it? It's meant to be alive. There was a trend, I think it was banana bread in, uh, in the UK. There was a [00:17:00] lot of banana bread being baked. Mm-hmm.

Jennifer Wilson: Fun, fun. Yeah. I, yeah, all kinds of breads are tasty, for sure.

Eve McNie: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: So what sizes or formats do you typically create in?

Eve McNie: Um, so mostly 12 by 12. And when I say mostly, I mean almost exclusively 12 by 12. Um, I'm much more of a single page scrapbooker. I don't really do double pages. I will sometimes do, um, companion pages, I suppose more so than double pages. So maybe a few, um, pattern papers, you know, from one page to another, but not so much a 24 by 12 canvas, if that makes sense.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh sure. Yeah.

Eve McNie: I don't know why actually. Um, it's probably because I don't scrap many photos as part of the same project. Um, I, I do like portrait photography, but more so landscape. And I, because I like [00:18:00] photo photography so much, I just print my photos maybe a little bit bigger. Um, I also absolutely love scrapping 12 inch photos. Um, I find that really, especially for maybe a title page, find that really appealing.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Eve McNie: The way I started was actually that project that I was mentioning before the, the story of us. That was in a spiral bound album. And I found that really restrictive actually. Um, that, you know, I didn't know what I was doing.

I didn't know what I was buying, so I tried something and that's the first format that I found. But I, I figured out that having to scrap in the order that, you know, the album was going to be displayed in, was quite restrictive. I just find it more inspiring to just scrap whatever photo takes my fancy and inspires me at the time.

Um, so that's why I, I moved away from that. Yeah, and it's now a, a screw [00:19:00] post album. I don't know what they're called. Uh, but yeah, I can just slot things in, um, as I go.

Jennifer Wilson: So I'm curious, how are you getting 12 by 12 photos printed.

Eve McNie: Um, I don't have a printer at home. Uh, so I just send them away. Um, there is, um, it's an app. I don't think they have a website. It's an app, um, where you just upload photos. You pick the format that you want them printed in. So the one I use is called Free Prints, and the good thing about it is that I believe it's 45 pictures every month. Uh, that can be printed for free and you just pay for shipping. Uh, which is something like maybe two, three pounds. So, you know, $5 maybe there's something very, very low. Very low. The cost is really cost effective.

Um, and the print quality is actually really good. Um, the 45 free prints are only for four by six formats, if I'm not mistaken. Um, [00:20:00] different four by sixes. You can have a gloss finish, you can have a matte finish, whatever you choose. Uh, but if you want to upgrade to slightly bigger photos, there's a, there's a charge for that, but it's still quite a bit.

Jennifer Wilson: Sure. Sure. Nice. Yeah, we'll definitely link that up in the show notes.

Eve McNie: Amazing.

Jennifer Wilson: So are there any particular projects or activities that you're focused on this year or are you tending to, as you said, follow what's interesting to you in the moment?

Eve McNie: A little bit of both. I would say, again, because I don't have a printer at home, I'm maybe a little bit less spontaneous with the pictures that I scrap because I need to plan ahead a little bit more. Um, I also tend to get overwhelmed. Might be a little bit too strong a word, but I print photos as I need them. I, I don't really, um, I don't want to have 600 photos printed out because I would find that, um, not appealing in the slightest. [00:21:00] Um.

Jennifer Wilson: Sure. It could be really overwhelming.

Eve McNie: Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Well, that's my, that's my brain. Um, anyway, um, the way I work is that I prefer having fewer projects done, but at least they're done and dusted. So I don't want to start a lot of things and not finish anything that stresses me out.

Um, so at the moment, I am focused on trying to finish 2024. Um, it's already well into 2025, so I'm not getting on too well. But I'm not, I'm not putting myself under too much pressure. Um, I will just move on whenever I'm ready. Um, I scrap a lot faster than I used to when I first started. Uh, I would still consider myself to be a, a slow scrapper, definitely. And something I haven't tried quite yet. Um, and it's an itch I can't really scratch. It's, I really want to [00:22:00] try a mini album. Umm, most, yeah. Like I said, most of what I do is 12 by 12, but I have those metal dies. It's um, it's in an awful shape, but it's got a funky edge.

A bit of a fancy edge, and I just think it would look so good as the cover of a mini album because it's a nested die set. It's got different sizes, so I can make the cover be a little bit bigger, obviously, than the pages inside. So I can see it, I can picture in my head, I'm just gonna have to try it.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, that sounds really fun.

Eve McNie: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, and yeah, like don't think every project we do has to be a, the, the, the deepest, most meaningful masterpiece. Yes, a lot of things that we do can be, but for something like that, it sounds like, um, you know, maybe like a little anniversary book of here's, here's our photos, um, from this past year of, of just us as a couple and, and give it for your anniversary or Valentine's next year. Something like [00:23:00] that.

Eve McNie: Yeah. Oh, definitely. The mini album I was thinking of is, um, autumn is my favorite season.

Jennifer Wilson: Hmm. There you go.

Eve McNie: You know, I, I don't think I would necessarily dedicate a 12 by 12 page to muffins or, or, you know, a pumpkin spice latte or something. But in a mini album, it doesn't take much space. It's not a big commitment, and that kind of makes sense. It's more of a, a mood board, I guess, than a, than a proper project.

Jennifer Wilson: I love that. I think that's a great idea.

Eve McNie: I miss Autumn.

Jennifer Wilson: Now, one thing that stood out to me, as you mentioned, you are trying to finish up 2024. So how are you kind of planning and thinking about that and keeping track of what's done and not done?

Eve McNie: Yes. So I have, I believe now all the pictures printed for 2024. And I would say I have about a third of the year done. Um, so what I do is I have [00:24:00] a yearly book. It's usually probably three albums, actually. Uh, and that's the day-to-day, you know, day trips, um, regular life. And if we go, um, on, um, either a trip or if we have maybe a long weekend, anything that has more than maybe three pages in the normal album, I will just have separately.

Um, so at the moment. I still have a trip to France last year to document. I still have a trip to Portugal to document. And I still have two thirds of 2024 to document. So, yeah. Um, I'm getting there slowly.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, I think anything that you can do to be able to visualize your progress and keep track, uh, helps you see that you are moving forward. Uh, you know, one layout a time, one photo at a time, and you know, we just keep going and add to our, you know, our library of memories as they [00:25:00] say.

Eve McNie: Yeah. Yeah. That's a good way of looking at it. And I am trying to focus on one trip, um, to finish before I start another one. Um, because like I said, I would rather have a completed album than two partial ones. Um, I just find it easier to process that way.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes. And there's a, you know, that huge satisfaction of being able to, something off for sure.

Eve McNie: Yeah. Yeah. And flip through it. I mean, I'm not a smoker, but you know, when people would, uh, when smokers would take a five minute break to have a cigarette, I just open an album and just flick through it. It doesn't take me long, and I don't spend hours doing it, but I love being able to, to touch something and just flick through the pages.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes, yes. No doubt. So, for someone who maybe has never seen your work, hasn't looked at your Instagram, how would you describe your style in three words?

Eve McNie: Now, this one was hard. I had to think so hard. Um, I just remembered something that, um, one of my [00:26:00] scrappy friends on Instagram, Wendy said, she said, I knew straight away it was you when I saw your page. And at the time I thought, what is she seeing? What does that mean? What's, what is my style? So I tried to have a look through.

The way I did it was I just opened my Instagram feed and I just looked. Um, so I would say something that jumped out is that my style is more muted, I would say, than bright. Um, I actually realized this a few months ago, to be fair. Because I applied for, uh, the design team call for Echo Park and realized that I was definitely not the person for them. Because I was trying to find bright, um, bright layouts, anything that would kind of appeal to them and their style.

So if you have, you know, Doodle Bug and Echo Park at one end of the [00:27:00] saturated scale, I'm all the way at the other end. Um, so yeah, muted is definitely one of them. I would say pattern paper heavy. I love paper. It's probably the supply that I, that made me get into scrapbooking. Um, I just, the, the, I love the feel of paper.

I love the sound it makes when you, you know, when you, yeah, I don't, I don't know. I'm a, it's the tactile, um, feel of it. Um, but I also started on the blank canvas having this, uh, post bound, uh, or spiral bound album. And I, I couldn't change the background of those pages. It was just, it was a kraft album. It wasn't a, oh, I moved on to white later on, actually.

But the very first one was a kraft base. And there are only so many scrapbook pages that I wanted to make on the same background over and over and over again. So I [00:28:00] was a bit starved. Um, at first, I suppose my first exposure to scrapbooking was, um, it didn't allow from a lot of pattern paper to be used, so I went the other way.

Um, once I realized that I could actually, uh, use pattern paper, I couldn't stop. Um, so I'm slowly making my way back to cleaner backgrounds and trying different things. But yeah, paper is, uh, is my great love.

Jennifer Wilson: I appreciate the, the depth that you've gone into on this response.

Eve McNie: I, I have been thinking about this for a long time. Um, okay. And so the third way of describing my style might be, and I don't truly know what that means, but I like this word clean. It doesn't mean bland necessarily or at all, even. But I like, um, geometrics, I like a bit of order. I don't do things [00:29:00] on the wonk. Um, I, um, yeah, I struggle with that. Um, I know that not, or it has been mentioned a few times in the podcast. I suppose mixed media is, uh, is hard, um, for a lot of people, and that includes me. It's not so much that it doesn't turn out the way I want. It's more that it never turns out in a pleasant way. I just, I just don't like the way it comes out when I do it.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Eve McNie: And I don't really use all that many die cuts either. You know, clean in the sense that it's, um, there's no more for the sake of more, um, on many of my pages, I would say.

Jennifer Wilson: So that said, when you're looking at your pages, other things that you are consistently doing in terms of products, tools, and techniques, so obviously pattern paper, um, but in a more perhaps restrained approach.

Eve McNie: [00:30:00] Yeah, yeah, definitely. I would say something that I circle back to almost every time I create a page, um, is tools such as stamps and, um, die sets, metal dies. I love tools. I suppose that's why I don't use die cuts nearly as much. I don't buy embellishment packs because I have so many tools here already. And I can customize embellishments a little bit more because, you know, I can color them differently. I can get them out of pattern paper, as you said. It just matches my theme a little bit more, I think. Um, the theme of my page, um, I absolutely love anything that has to do with cameras, film strips, photo frames, anything like that. I find that type of embellishment so easy to coordinate with almost any subject or theme at all.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, Yes.

Eve McNie: And I suppose.

Jennifer Wilson: I think I don't have any anymore 'cause I used them all.

Eve McNie: Oh really? [00:31:00] See, yeah, I found a really big pack on Amazon and it came with a hundred frames or something, so I'm still working through those. It's a really useful, useful tool to have. Um, and something that's a little bit maybe overlooked, um, as a tool, um, I find is sketches. Um, I mentioned it a little bit earlier.

I love having a sketch as a starting point. It doesn't mean that my layout is a carbon copy of the sketch. It's more of an inspiration piece than anything else. I used to have this weird conception, I suppose, that if you, if you didn't come up with every single idea for your page, it wasn't really your page. And I've moved away from that entirely. I don't think it's true anymore. I just think that having that little bit of a nudge, and we see so many things on Instagram, Facebook, whatever. We always get inspired. And a sketch is just another tool in [00:32:00] our arsenal of inspiring tools.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, and I love how they just, they give you the structure. Because it's using a sketch is different than using another layout. Because the layout has all the additional layers on top of it and it's fully embellished and has color. Whereas a sketch is, is showing you the relationship between photos and uh, supplies. Um, and I think it could be really helpful for kind of planning things out in a way that other tools are not, or looking at the blank page obviously.

Eve McNie: Yeah. Yeah, definitely. And I suppose, you know, when you see a layout that is particularly beautiful, and it may be from a creator that you love, that you've been following forever, it's a bit more intimidating because it feels like more, um, you know, something has already been made. And of course you can create a [00:33:00] different version of it, and it happened, you know, scrap lifts are wonderful. But it might be a little bit more intimidating to think, to compare what you're going to make to what the inspiration was.

Um, a sketch isn't intimidating to me anymore. We can dress it up the way we want. We can change the formats of the pictures. We can change where the embellishments go. So it's a really freeing experience because it just kinda gets us started and then creativity can just take over.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes, it's, it's much easier to edit something than it is to originate it from scratch sometimes. So one of the cool parts of being a featured artist is that you get to spend three months with us in the Simple Scrapper membership, and we have currently 783 sketches.

Eve McNie: Wow. Amazing.

Jennifer Wilson: So I can't wait for you to check those out and let us know what you think.

Uh, by the time you join in July, it will be, um, let's see, 8, 9, 10, 11, more than that. So 794 we're [00:34:00] almost 800. So, um, yeah, it's a fun thing we've been doing since, uh, 2010, 2011.

Eve McNie: That is such a good tool to have. That's, that's absolutely brilliant. And who, who contributes to those sketches? Is it members or is it your team?

Jennifer Wilson: So, for example, you, the layouts that you shared with us, uh, serve as inspiration for, uh, five of our new collection. Um, three more will be based on some of what our team members create, based on other challenges. And then we have a couple more that are related to kind of a more minimalist hybrid scrapbooking project that we're working on this year. So I would say like the first, I don't know, less than a hundred were based on my layouts. And then we went into this featured artist series where, you know, every batch was based on a different creator. So like a, such a wide variety of styles.

Eve McNie: Wow. Oh, that sounds really interesting. And I'm interested to see what comes out of, I don't know [00:35:00] if it's an analysis, but you know, what your team and your members will see of my style because that's, uh, that's, it might be completely different to what I think my style is.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh yeah. Well, so yeah, after we get done here, I will send you an email and share those examples, um, with you and they'll be available to our community, um, in July.

Eve McNie: Yeah, that sounds fun.

Jennifer Wilson: So going back to what you're loving right now, are there any trends that are standing out to you?

Eve McNie: Um, I don't know if it's a trend, um, but there is a product that sounds like it might be a little bit newer on the market. And these are paperie packs, I think I'm saying that right. Um, they're not so much, um, die cut packs, but they are much thinner embellishments and there are usually a lot more in a pack, maybe 200 or something like that.

Uh, and they are designed more for layering than for anything else. So, you know, you can make clusters out of [00:36:00] them of course, but they are very, very thin. Um, so they can be, uh, sometimes there are stickers in there as well. Um, for maybe more of a background work. I find them really interesting because they are usually very good value.

If you think 200 pieces in a pack, it sounds like it would be expensive, but they're not the ones I've seen anyway. Um, so I find them really interesting. Um, I am somewhat of a newer scrapbooker, so I've, I've not enjoyed rub ons before, but I keep hearing scrapbookers online saying, oh, the rub ons are back, and they're wonderful and they, you know, apply so easily.

Um, I, I didn't know rub ons before, but I do now and I really like them. Um, and I suppose anything that will give, um, a bit of dimension to my pages. A bit of, you know, texture I love chipboard or foam stickers, especially for titles. I find them really, [00:37:00] um, it just attracts your eye to a piece of information that's really important.

I love working on titles. Um, so having something that's a little bit more dimensional. Uh, is awesome, I think.

Jennifer Wilson: It's been so interesting to see, as you mentioned with like the paperie packs and maybe the resurgence of rub ons, how in some areas we're getting thinner and then of course we're having other things that are getting thicker. So just so much variety and dimensions, you know, the popularity of using, uh, foam dots to pop things up. So lots of different options for texture and, and dimension.

Eve McNie: Yeah, that's right. I never thought about it this way, but yeah, some things are getting smaller and some are getting thicker. Yeah, that's interesting. It's a little bit like, um, like phones, I suppose. We just wanted to make everything smaller. Then we realized that, oh no, I would like my phone to be bigger. So I suppose we've come full circle.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes. No doubt. And I, I never thought I would be in a place where I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna choose this slightly smaller phone than the bigger one [00:38:00] because they've gotten so big that like I have smaller hands. Like I can't, I can't take a selfie with this phone in my hand 'cause it's so large.

Eve McNie: Yes. I can relate. Absolutely. And if you add a case to it as well, because they're so fragile and the screens are so big, it adds weight. And I'm the same, my hands are small and they're just so heavy. It feels like I have a brick in my handbag. Yeah, I, I agree.

Jennifer Wilson: So you mentioned mixed media briefly about kind of just never quite comes out for you, but are there other things in scrapbooking that you've decided are just not for you, they're not part of your process or, or your, repertoire of, of things to do?

Eve McNie: Um, yeah. Yeah. So I suppose we touched a little bit on having different projects going at the same time. Um. It does not help my creativity. I know that having a bit of variety can be inspiring and that might be the way that some brains work. That's just not me. So, yeah, one thing at a time for me is, is the key, a [00:39:00] bit of an unpopular opinion maybe.

I really do not understand December Daily. I don't know why. Um, I usually have maybe two pages in each year, um, related to Christmas, because what more is there to talk about? I just, I don't know. Um, I just have a lot of Christmas related papers in my stash that I just cannot imagine I will use. Um, it's not that they're not pretty, they are usually really pretty, but I just don't have the demand in my photo library to, to scratch that, um, scrap, sorry, that much Christmas.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, I think, yeah, no, the, you could even say scratch that itch too for it. I think that, um, um, when it comes to that time of the year, everyone has different experiences, but two things that stand out for me are kind of the anticipation and excitement, like when the holiday [00:40:00] drinks come out and when you start decorating or buying new wrapping paper.

Um, so like all the perhaps more mundane experiences that that lead up you know, more official festivities, um, are part of it. And then also I tend to use that project to reflect back on the year as a whole.

Eve McNie: Hmm. Okay.

Jennifer Wilson: Um, in ways that I don't do elsewhere.

Eve McNie: Okay.

Jennifer Wilson: Um. So it's more like, I will definitely include stories in December Daily about, you know, wrap, trying to wrap up the year. And so to me it's like a bookend for, for the year as well.

Eve McNie: A bit of reflection maybe on the year that has come past. That's interesting. Okay. Yeah, and I suppose to some extent it, I don't have a bad relationship with, um, Christmas or, you know, that time of the year. Um, but I think I feel more strongly about summer and autumn than I feel about Christmas. [00:41:00] So that's where, that's usually when I spend a lot of time doing things in summer, in autumn, and that's the most pictures I have to scrapbook.

Um, that's, that's probably why I'm interested in maybe a mini album around autumn as opposed to Christmas, which is exactly the same principle. To be fair.

Jennifer Wilson: Well and I would at the same time, I will say that my December projects tend to include more black and white photos because sometimes that's the only way they're going to look kind of good.

Eve McNie: All right.

Jennifer Wilson: 'Cause of when it's so dark. I, yes, there's some that you can take very high contrast of Christmas lights, but just general, everyday photos tend to just not be as great if you don't have the light to take the good photo.

Eve McNie: Hmm. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you find that to be a barrier, Jennifer? If, if you don't like the photo you have taken of an event, do you still scrap it? Do you find a way to scrap it or, or is that a block?

Jennifer Wilson: It can be, I usually will find a way. [00:42:00] Whether that's through how I edit the photo, the size of the photo, choosing other related photos to supplement, like maybe the page becomes about this thing happening multiple times. Um, or sometimes I just really embrace that this is a blurry photo of a really, you know, special moment and I don't, I don't worry about it. Um, but yeah, sometimes I do feel kind of self-critical about the quality of my photos and that can influence if I choose to scrap it or not.

Eve McNie: Hmm.

Jennifer Wilson: That that's, that's an honest truth.

Eve McNie: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I suppose sometimes it's, you know, documenting the memory, the photo is important, but maybe the journaling is more important than anything else. Um, and it could be, yeah, either a very small photo or if it's maybe documenting a show. Maybe we can print out something from the internet that relates to the show, [00:43:00] maybe an article or something like that.

I did that for the COVID, um, period. Actually, I didn't have many photos to a scrapbook. Um, but I just printed out stuff from the internet, um, just to have something to document. And then it was more about, you know, my feelings and what I, what I wanted to talk about on the page.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes. And I've certainly done no photo pages.

Eve McNie: Hmm.

Jennifer Wilson: I've done pages where I had a photo in a pocket, like for example, um, had a cute photo. This is when my daughter was born, a cute photo of like the day before I went into labor. And then I had like this not very attractive photo of, uh, having just given birth.

And I put it in a pocket because it's like the least flattering photo ever taken of me. Um, 'cause my hair is in like six knots and wondering why this nurse is taking my baby. And.

Eve McNie: Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: It's, yeah, it was just, it, it was weird, but I wanted to tell the story. So it was part of that album, but that particular [00:44:00] photo is in a pocket because that's not the important part. The important part was the story of it.

Eve McNie: Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's so, that's so smart. And it would've made no sense not to document the moment because the photo was, you know, unflattering. Yeah. That's, that's the perfect way of doing it, actually. Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. And it doesn't like, and certainly I have documented other perhaps unflattering photos. It just kind of feels like what is the right choice here in the moment.

Eve McNie: Mm-hmm.

Jennifer Wilson: Um, this was happened to be a mini album, so it made more sense, I had a lot of other types of pockets and things. Um, so it made sense in, in that particular, uh, instance. So, yeah, I don't know. Like there's a lot of thoughts that go into it.

Eve McNie: Yeah. Yeah, definitely. So many things to consider. And, uh, do you use flip flaps? Do you, is that what they're called? Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Um, the ones that are kind of like mini page protectors, like that you adhere?

Eve McNie: That's right.

Jennifer Wilson: Have, I have used some of those. I don't use a ton. [00:45:00] I'm usually using them in a particular project. Um, I know I did one where it was my husband's growing up story and he had more photos than basically pockets that we planned had planned. So I used a lot of flip flaps that go over the pockets to be able to include multiple layers.

Eve McNie: Mm-hmm.

Jennifer Wilson: Of photos to make sure we could include all the photos that he wanted to include. Um, if it was my album, and this is what happened in my album, is that I ended up saying, I, I, I'm more ruthless, I guess I'm more willing to say, oh, well that photo just doesn't make it because it doesn't fit the formula of this project.

Eve McNie: Okay. Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: But I really wanted to, um, I don't know, follow his own storytelling vision for the particular project. I was just kind of the, the scrapbooker for it, but he was the storyteller.

Eve McNie: Okay. Okay. Interesting.

Jennifer Wilson: Kind of, this is a little bit of a different question, but kind of going back to your everyday life and, and how scrapbooking fits into it, where are you scrapbooking and when are you typically scrapbooking.

Eve McNie: Yeah. Um, so [00:46:00] where would mostly be, um, this room I'm in today, it is the everything room. Uh, it is the spare bedroom officially. Um, but we don't have many guests, so we don't really need a spare bed as such. Um, it's also my office, it's also the laundry room, it's the filing room. It's, it's the everything room.

Um, so it's got a little bit of everything. I have a lot of, um, it's one of those, you know, square, um, filing cabinet things. Um, it's not an IKEA one, but it's a very similar type.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Eve McNie: Fits the 12 by 12 albums perfectly. So that works for me. And although everything is in this room, if I wanna spend a little bit more time with my husband, I will have no issues moving everything to the living room and just, uh, you know, scrapping next to him. Which is absolutely infuriating for anyone [00:47:00] who's not me, because I leave a trail of devastation behind me when I do that.

Uh, I always forget something. Usually the first thing I realized I've forgotten is my pair of scissors, which is surely the first thing you would need, but nope, it does not cross my mind. Um, so yeah, between, between those two rooms, but mostly the spare bedroom. Um, and when, during the day, I, I work, so during the day, I would say I don't spend any time scrapbooking at all.

I do flick through albums, maybe at lunch sometimes. But I don't get any scrapbooking time during the day. So it would be mostly after work. Um, if the brain is not completely fried, um, after a works day. Um, it is mostly at the weekend I would say though. Um, it's just the two of us. It's just my husband and I, we don't have any kids.

We don't have any pets, so I am very lucky to be able to scrap whenever I [00:48:00] fancy really. Um, but I would say in summer we make the most of making memories and in the winter I scrap them. Um, so I'm much more active during the summer. And I spend a lot more time scrapbooking during the winter. Because there's nothing else to do.

Jennifer Wilson: How does that kind of, um, imbalanced. Does, do you think about that? Do you actively try to make sure that you're optimizing time? Does it just, is this, you know, are you a kind of accepting it at peace at it, or does it, does it frustrate you at all?

Eve McNie: I wouldn't say it frustrates me, but I can tell straight away if I'm going to be creative or not. And I, I, I can't force it. Um, I've tried, there was a, a period of a few months where I was on a few design teams and I felt a little bit more pressure to get things done. Even if it wasn't on the timeline, I [00:49:00] would've chosen for myself. You know, deadlines and stuff like that.

Um, but I try not to put myself under too much pressure 'cause I try and remind myself that this is meant to be a hobby. It's not my job. I really wanna keep the joy in the scrapbooking process. If it comes, if inspiration comes, if creativity strikes, I go for it. There's usually nothing really that stands in my way.

You know, I don't have a whole lot of commitments in life. . So, yeah, I just, I just take it in a very relaxed, with a relaxed approach, I would say.

Jennifer Wilson: That's wonderful. I think. Yeah. Um, some of us could, could probably learn from doing more of that sometimes.

Eve McNie: Mm-hmm.

Jennifer Wilson: Because I know just from my own experience, sometimes we can get a little hung up on, oh, I'm not, I'm not scrapbooking as much as I would like to, or I don't feel like it as much as I wanna feel like it.

Eve McNie: Hmm.

Jennifer Wilson: Um, or, you know, things are so busy, I just don't, don't physically have the time. So.

Eve McNie: Yeah, [00:50:00] sometimes it's the opposite way as well. You know, when you haven't scrapped in a while. I don't know about you, but I miss it. And that's how I know that it's going to be, you know, a good project, uh, for me to, to start. Um, and when I say project, it, it is just a page. Whenever I feel almost the need to do something creative, it's usually a good sign. It doesn't mean that everything works out the way I can picture things in my head. Usually it doesn't. But at least if I feel the urge, I don't try and make it happen. It just kind of happens.

Jennifer Wilson: I love that. I love that for sure. So you mentioned the possible trail of destruction when you're relocating. Um, are there any organization strategies that are working really well for you?

Eve McNie: Um, yeah, I suppose it's somewhat contained, um, to that room. Um, so I mentioned before Jennifer, I only print photos, um, [00:51:00] one batch at a time whenever I need them. Um, it is between sort of 40 and 50 photos at a time that I print. I don't usually have more than maybe three photos on one page. Um, so because I'm a slow scrapper, that does give me a bit of a runway, you know, a few pages to scrapbook.

Um, and I print photos maybe three to four times a year. I would say, give or take. Um, although my albums are in chronological order, I don't actually scrap in chronological order. I just scrap whatever I fancy within that year though. Um, yeah, I, I do need to try and get older pictures scrapped, but that's not the time that I have at the moment.

Um, so yeah. Um, albums are contained and then I try and keep supplies by theme. Not so [00:52:00] much by theme, but more by products. I mean. Uh, so all my dies are together. All the paper packs are together. It's very rare that I buy entire connections. I only have actually three of those, but they're kept together. Um, once albums are finished, I put them on that, you know, shelving and I order them by date.

Um, and then anything that's not already in an album, I keep in those big pizza boxes, you know, the big, uh, cardboard boxes

Jennifer Wilson: Yep.

Eve McNie: Just so they don't get damaged. Um. That's really, that's really it. I have a, an essentials bin as well, uh, for dies, for stamps, uh, and all the tools. Um, and that just makes it easier for me to grab the tools that I know I'm going to need.

Um, so I've got all my, you know, camera stamps and all that jazz together. Um, 'cause I know that I will always need them and I always fancy them.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes. It's, it's so good [00:53:00] to like know the things that you perhaps are always getting out. Let's just put them in a place where we don't have to always get them out so that we can use them quickly.

Eve McNie: Yeah, yeah. I know where to find them. I know where they are. Yeah. Apart from scissors, obviously that always go missing, but yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Maybe you need to put your scissors with those stamps then, so, so they always go with you.

Eve McNie: I do wonder it's stamping blocks as well that I just keep missing, uh, and losing. Because they are, you know, a critic and see through, I used to have four and I'm down to two. And I, I, I do not know where they could be. I've looked everywhere.

Jennifer Wilson: I get it. I get it. I lost my favorite stamping block at a crop. I think it fell outta the back of my car and it, you know, it's clear I couldn't find it on the ground and I, I wanted to replace that one 'cause it was like my, it was the perfect size.

So Eve, where would you like your scrapbooking to be in 10 years?

Eve McNie: Yeah. So in 10 years I would love to still [00:54:00] enjoy scrapbooking as much as I do now. And I would love to still enjoy going through the albums as much as I do now. Um, I would say just trying to be a little bit more efficient, um, in my scrapping as well. Maybe not agonizing over, you know, where should I put this, where should I put that?

And it's not so much trying to get more pages scrapbooked but I would like to go back, um, you know, maybe older photos to scrapbook. If I had more time on my hands. Because I was more efficient with the day-to-day newer photos, it would give me the opportunity to look back and maybe try and scrap those older pictures.

Um, yeah, hopefully in 10 years when I go through the albums, I won't find that everything has, you know, unstuck itself and fallen apart. Because I've already had one of those incidents and [00:55:00] like finding one single sequin at the bottom of the page, you'd know that something has gone wrong and it's just a disaster waiting to happen.

So fingers crossed that nothing terrible happens.

Jennifer Wilson: For me, it's often letter stickers that are chipboard letter stickers that fall to the bottom of the page. The foam ones, those seem to stick forever, but those chipboard ones just, they do not.

Eve McNie: Yeah, yeah. I've kind of learned to just add glue to everything. Even the stuff that looks really now I just add, uh, glue. Especially foam pads for some reason. The ones that I use anyway, the glue is not permanent, I don't think. Um.

Jennifer Wilson: Interesting.

Eve McNie: It might be because it's, you know, it's just from the craft store. It's not, it's not a branded, um, it's not a brand in any way.

So we could just be that I'm using the wrong things, the wrong supplies. Um, but yeah, I've already had a few incidents. So I'm [00:56:00] just going through, that's the, the good thing I suppose about going through albums regularly is that you can catch those. You know, one at a time, one letter at a time, or one flower at a time, and it's not just all at the bottom of the, of the page protector.

Jennifer Wilson: For sure, for sure. I use this giant roll of foam tape and I don't know if I got it from Simon Says Stamp or A Cherry On Top, but it was like, it was a house brand of their stuff and I feel like I, if you put it on wrong, you are not getting it off.

Eve McNie: Oh, yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Um, so it is super, super sticky. Which sometimes I like to, you know, nudge things a little bit and I'm like, well, I'm not gonna be able to nudge that.

Eve McNie: Nope. Yeah, yeah. That's decision made right there. Not moving.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. So, looking back over the past five years, what has being a scrapbooker taught you?

Eve McNie: Yeah, it has been a, it has been a journey actually. But I was, I would go back to the point we made earlier is that taking the photos and writing things down is [00:57:00] so important. Because I scrap a little bit later on, you know, after the fact. Not having a printer means that it will maybe take me a year to scrap a memory. And if I didn't have any notes, I don't think that I would be able to record the, the memory as accurately as possible.

And perspective changes as well with time passing. We don't feel the same way about an event after the fact. So having those two perspectives, I think is really useful. The notes at the time of the event and then distilled feelings, I suppose maybe a year later. Um. So, yeah. Um, scrapbooking has taught me that memory is bad.

Um, write things down and it's okay to change our minds about an event. We may have, memories of something and remembering [00:58:00] feeling a way, but no longer feeling the same about the same thing. And that's okay.

Jennifer Wilson: It definitely is. Yeah, and I think also sometimes we choose to maybe scrap something in the moment and then it has a different significance, and so maybe it becomes part of a future story. Just because you scrapbook it one way doesn't mean that there's not another story to tell.

Eve McNie: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Well.

Eve McNie: Yeah, yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: I'm curious though, where are you keeping those notes for as, as memories are happening? How are we keeping track of those so that you can have them for the future?

Eve McNie: Um, I have little journals. They're not, um, they're kind of a little bit better than notepads, but not um, fancy journals or anything like that. I actually mostly use them when we go traveling. Not so much for day-to-day memory keeping. Um, but I read, especially when we go abroad, uh, you know, places, names of places that I know I would not remember if I didn't write them down.

Um, or even the trivial stuff like which tackle feeling [00:59:00] that I have today. You know? Um, anything that, it's just, it's the simple things. But it's stuff that is probably the, the first aspect of a trip to go, um, what did we have to eat, you know, a year down the line. Chances are I wouldn't remember what we had last year.

Jennifer Wilson: Certainly, yeah, no, I'm trying to think back of like some of those trips that I'm trying to scrapbook in retrospect, like maybe there's a meal that really stands out because something was either really delicious or really weird.

Eve McNie: Mm-hmm.

Jennifer Wilson: But you know, everything in between probably isn't going to jog a memory unless you have a photo of it or you took some notes.

Eve McNie: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Um, what I did, we just came back from Prague, a few, a few, oh, actually it was last Sunday. So what I did on the plane back is I wrote down highlights of every day and what we saw. There was a sculpture trail throughout the town, and I just wrote down the names [01:00:00] of those sculptures.

Um, again, because I knew that, you know, in a few weeks time even, I might not even remember what day we did, you know, when, when did this happen? Um, in what order did we do things. Not that it matters a tremendous amount, but I just, I want to remember, you know, I'm, I'm terrified of forgetting something that's significant.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, and that's a strong driver to, to keep going forever. So, Eve, can you share where our listeners can find you online and follow you and anything you might be, um, uh, working on later this year or have newer coming up.

Eve McNie: Yeah, of course. Uh, so I am on Instagram. I am Caledonia Papercraft on Instagram. Um, I am also part of the Stick It Down Design team. Uh, it is a sketch, uh, page on Facebook and Instagram. I contribute sketches to, to the design team, and I also [01:01:00] create with those sketches. So I will be featured in August and December, which is super exciting.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, fun.

Eve McNie: Yeah. And, uh, I mean, it's July now, but in June, if you, if you go back to um, Instagram and YouTube, you will find me for 30 Days of Sketches as well, which is fun.

Jennifer Wilson: It is, it is. Yes. I love our community and the fact that I get to have these great conversations with memory keepers like you. Um, and we'll include all the links of things you mentioned in the show notes.

Eve McNie: Amazing. It was a really fun conversation. Jennifer, thank you so much.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. Thank you for spending time with me.

Eve McNie: I've really enjoyed this.

Jennifer Wilson: And to all of our listeners, please remember that you have permission to Scrapbook Your 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 Simple Scrapper and author of the New Rules of Scrapbooking. This is episode 301. In this episode, I'm interviewing Emiley Steinbruegge for the My Way Series. My Way is all about celebrating the unique ways memory keepers get things done.

We were honored to have Emiley as the June featured artist at Simple Scrapper.

Hey Emiley, welcome to Scrapbook Your Way.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, likewise. I'm looking forward to our [00:01:00] conversation and getting to know you better. We had some fun tech toils and troubles as we were getting ready, but I think we are all set now and ready for a good conversation.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Let's hope so.

Jennifer Wilson: So could you share just a little bit about yourself so that our audience can familiarize themselves with you, or at least put a voice to maybe who they're following on Instagram.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Sure. So my name is Emiley. Um, I live in the St. Louis area with my husband. We have a blended family with five kiddos. Our oldest is just about 20, and our youngest is nine. And then a bunch in the middle. So it's wild over here.

Jennifer Wilson: I bet.

Emiley Steinbruegge: We, I work full-time out of the outside of my home and my husband owns his own business and I do a lot of like the office work for that as well.

So we got a lot going on over here. Um, obviously I love scrapbooking, love crafting. I've been doing it for over 20 years. Yeah, that's [00:02:00] me.

Jennifer Wilson: Wonderful, wonderful. You are not far from me. I'm in, uh, the Champaign, Illinois area and I love to visit St. Louis. The, uh, Botanic Garden is one of my favorite places there.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Oh yeah. That's beautiful.

Jennifer Wilson: So, Emiley do you have a favorite recent layout or project and what really makes it stand out to you?

Emiley Steinbruegge: So my oldest daughter is a senior this year, and I've been working on trying to make a book of all of her, uh, senior pictures, like all the professional pictures we had taken, everything in her cap and gown. She's a dancer as well. So like all those professional pictures, um. And it's just been really sweet to look through all of those and get them all captured in one place.

And I'm hoping if I'm able to part with it, maybe I'll make a, a second copy. Um, but just to be able to give that to her so that she can take it with her as well. And, you know, always have that to look back on.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes. That sounds [00:03:00] terrific. I am, yeah. My daughter is only 13, but she's going into high school, so I'm already thinking about, okay, four years from now, what do I wanna be working on in terms of my scrapbooks?

Emiley Steinbruegge: Right. Is this gonna be her first year of high school?

Jennifer Wilson: It is, yeah.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Oh, that's exciting times

Jennifer Wilson: It is. She's at volleyball practice right now and that seems to be, will be our life for the foreseeable future.

Emiley Steinbruegge: One of my, um, my middle son plays volleyball as well. And yes, it can definitely take up some time.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, very cool. So is there something in our hobby or in your everyday life that you're excited to do, use or try?

Emiley Steinbruegge: Um, well, I was thinking of one thing. It's not scrapbook related, but my husband and I are getting ready to go on an adult's only vacation with, um, a group of friends. And we very rarely, you know, with having five kids, we very rarely do anything without them at all, and have only traveled without them. I think, maybe once or twice. So I'm [00:04:00] super excited to go with some adults and just have a week of no responsibility, no, no momming for a whole week. It's just gonna be fantastic.

Jennifer Wilson: That sounds amazing. And I only have the one kid, so Uh, yeah. Are you able to share where you're going?

Emiley Steinbruegge: Yeah, we're going to Punta Kana, which I've never been there before, but it looks gorgeous.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes. I hope you have a wonderful time and are able to like, totally disconnect and, and feel relaxed.

Emiley Steinbruegge: I hope so too. And of course I'm already planning all the pictures I wanna take and you know, all the scrapbooks I wanna create when we're back, so.

Jennifer Wilson: No doubt and like I can even think of several collections that would have maybe the right kind of colors and yeah, it's, it'd be fun.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Yes, exactly.

Jennifer Wilson: So this is one of our My Way episodes where we get to peek behind the scenes with our featured artists. So uh, starting with kind of a more abstract [00:05:00] question, what would you say to a non scrapbooker about why you love this hobby?

Emiley Steinbruegge: Well, there are so many things I love about it, but I will say my main reason that I love it so much is watching in particular my kids, but also, other family or friends that I've shared scrapbooks with. Watching them look through them and seeing their reactions to them. And, just like hearing them laugh about the pictures or the stories that come up when they're looking through the pictures. It's just so sweet. And my memory is horrendous, Jennifer. It's like terrible. So it is so great for me to look through too and then be reminded of like sweet, funny things that have happened in our family. And you know, just to watch other people enjoy that. It's just really sweet.

Jennifer Wilson: Well I remember a time where I really thought I was gonna remember more things, and now I fully understand that I don't remember anything and I'm glad I did what I did.

Emiley Steinbruegge: [00:06:00] Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: Try to leave myself more breadcrumbs now because I need them.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Yes. Me too. I, yes. I used to always think, oh, I'll remember that. No, no, I will not. Mm-hmm.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes. Too many, too many balls to juggle to keep those things in our brains.

Emiley Steinbruegge: That's exactly right.

Jennifer Wilson: So you mentioned that you've been scrapbooking for a long time. When did you start and what really precipitated that beginning for you?

Emiley Steinbruegge: So I remember very clearly it was either 2002 or 2003. It was the 4th of July, and we were at my aunt's house. My whole extended family had gotten together to celebrate. And my cousin had just started Creative Memories. I don't know if you remember Creative Memories, but um, it was very big back in the day. And she whipped out all of her, you know, things that she was working on.

And I just immediately was very interested. And so she set me up. I ordered a little mini album and the paper cutter and all the simple things, and just immediately [00:07:00] got started on an album on my dogs. And I have been hooked ever since.

Jennifer Wilson: Do you still have that album about your dogs?

Emiley Steinbruegge: Yes, ma'am, I do. And it is hilarious to look at it. Just.

Jennifer Wilson: Awe.

Emiley Steinbruegge: You know.

Jennifer Wilson: What a treasure though.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Yes. It's, it's really sweet.

Jennifer Wilson: I think one thing that's always stood out is that so many of us, we've, we've loved the crafty stuff, but we would go to the store and we're like, oh, like. You want it all, but you don't feel like you have the purpose behind it to justify the things that you wanna buy. And

Emiley Steinbruegge: Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: Scrapbooking gave us all a purpose.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Yes, 100%. I was always the kid who loved all like the stationary supplies, loved back to school. But yeah, like you said, I didn't really have a reason to justify buying all that stuff as a an adult. So.

Jennifer Wilson: No doubt.

Emiley Steinbruegge: This is it.

Jennifer Wilson: So tell us about how you typically create. What sizes, formats, and why do you think, uh, that approach works well for you?

Emiley Steinbruegge: Well, I typically am a 12 by 12 [00:08:00] girl. I take a ton of pictures and I like to include a ton of pictures in my memory keeping. Um, so the smaller formats don't really work out for me because, you know, I would have like 4,000 scrapbooks or something. And I've done both traditional and digital in the past. Right now I'm kind of in my traditional phase again. I just love touching all the supplies and playing with all the paper and all the things. But when I do special projects, you know, like the vacations or my daughter's graduation book or whatever, usually I do those digitally. I'm not sure why I lean towards that for special projects, but I just like them that way.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, maybe those projects often have even more photos. Um, so you need more of the, the compact space to be able to fit all the photos that you want to include.

Emiley Steinbruegge: I think you're probably exactly right. Yes. And you do a lot of digital too, right?

Jennifer Wilson: I do, and I [00:09:00] have a similar split in terms of if it's something where there's going to be a lot of photos, it's a longer story, I am gonna want to probably do a digital book for it. 'Cause I've not had as much success doing bigger albums that have lots of stories that are all on one topic. The ones that I've started are not finished.

So.

Emiley Steinbruegge: There's plenty of that.

Jennifer Wilson: I'm great at doing individual layouts and you know, one at a time. So it's about making the project more manageable and there's lots of like levers that we can pull. And one of those is the digital lever in terms of digital layouts or photo books or you know, all the things in between.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Yeah. I love the way you look at that. Yes. That's awesome.

Jennifer Wilson: So what are you really focused on this year in terms of projects, or activities, time periods, are you doing mostly news stories, older stories? Um, of course you mentioned your, your daughter's a senior book.

Emiley Steinbruegge: So focusing on is just [00:10:00] a very hard phrase for me in general. I am just kind of all over the place. I kind of do whatever I feel like I wanna do in that moment. So some of the pictures I'm doing are from when I was a kid. So like old heritage photos or then I'm also working on my daughter's current pictures. So I don't know, I, I probably need a focus. I could probably get a whole lot more done, Jennifer, if I made a focus. But I kind of just mood scrap. I feel like just whatever kind of mood I'm in, that's what I choose to work on.

Jennifer Wilson: I think as long as you are moving forward, even if you're moving, you know, one thing forward here and another thing forward there, as long as you continue to find momentum. Um. Not having focus isn't necessarily a bad thing if it's, you know, you're finding delight in that

Emiley Steinbruegge: Right. That's what I try to tell myself too.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. So if you had to describe your [00:11:00] style to someone who, you know, couldn't, couldn't look you up online and see your pages, um, what, what words would you use?

Emiley Steinbruegge: I would say I'm definitely picture heavy. I would say I'm more of like a uncomplicated, kind of classic cleaner style of layout. Um, and I like bright, bright colors in my layouts, is how I would describe me.

Jennifer Wilson: Do you feel like your style has evolved over time, or do you feel like you found your style at a certain point and you've kind of stuck with it?

Emiley Steinbruegge: Hmm. Well, I mean, looking or thinking back about my little Creative Memories album with my puppy dogs.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Definitely say that yes, it has evolved. And, you know, just looking at people online and getting inspiration from everybody that's out there that has all these amazing ideas. It's, it's very easy to, um, kind of [00:12:00] fall into that and, you know, start changing the way that you're scrapbooking too.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, certainly. Yeah, I've, there's been times where I'll like start keeping a list of these techniques that I wanna try and try to like, match them up with an actual project. And it's a lot. And so in the end, I ended up not using the techniques or in general, not using my stamps is, is one of them. And just doing what I would normally do. So.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Yeah, same. But we always have those ideas in the background, right?

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. Yeah. And sometimes we do sit down and we foc we start with that technique and we, we follow through, but.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: It's a challenge to incorporate them with intention.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: Are there things that you feel like you use the most often in your scrapbooking, whether it's particular types of products, line of products, tools, specific techniques?

Emiley Steinbruegge: Paper is my absolute favorite supply. I always wanna use all the paper. Paper's not that exciting, just if you stick it on a page. So, I try to find different fun ways to [00:13:00] use it. I love cut files 'cause you can use tons of different scraps of paper or, all the different paper just to back your cut file. I love to fussy cut paper out to stretch it a little bit further and use those like as embellishments on my page. Also I love Allison Davis. I'm not sure if you're familiar with her, but she has tons of sketches that are very like paper heavy, I would say. And so I love to look at her sketches and copy those as well.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, she's definitely amazing at doing kind of innovative designs with different cuts that you might not have thought of on your own.

Emiley Steinbruegge: She is, yes, spectacular.

Jennifer Wilson: So are there any trends that you're loving right now, or even the opposite trends that you're not gonna do?

Emiley Steinbruegge: Um, I'm probably, if you ask my teenagers the least trendy person out there. So I'm not sure, uh, if this is even really what you would call a trend, but. I love how social [00:14:00] media is really blowing up, particularly Instagram, with just tons of people sharing their creativity. Like I feel like it used to just be like the Shimelles or you know, the Amy Tangerines or just very, very famous people that were sharing projects online, and now it's everybody.

It's me, it's my best friend. It's.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Emiley Steinbruegge: I just love that people are loving, being creative and loving, sharing it with people and like creating this huge community of scrapbookers and crafters online. I just think that's really fun.

Jennifer Wilson: So I'm, how do I respond to this? I have like a slight counterpoint because I totally agree, but I also feel like I need multiple Instagram accounts because they give you what you look at. So if I go and look at something else, all of a sudden my feed is the something else, and it's not scrapbooking.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Yes, yes.

Jennifer Wilson: Feel like I have to be in these little silos. In order. Like I have my one that's like about, you [00:15:00] know, recipes and fitness, and I have my one that's about home, and then I have simple scrapper, which is about scrapbooking and creativity and crafting and all that. Because otherwise if I click on one random thing, all of a sudden it's all those things.

Emiley Steinbruegge: You're exactly right because I have noticed that my, uh, one scrappy mom, my Instagram for scrapbooking. Yeah. A lot of the stuff I'm seeing lately is cat videos and.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Emiley Steinbruegge: How to pose certain pictures, because I've been looking for how to do that for our vacation. So you're right, they do look at what you're looking at, I guess.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, and I've, I've had to like go in and like, I, I, I feel like I can reset it by specifically like searching for something and then clicking on things or just scrolling and then only clicking on the things that I want to see more of to try to like retrain it. But it gets off track so quickly. As soon as somebody sends you like a random meme, then when you open it, it starts sending you those. So.

Emiley Steinbruegge: You're right.

Jennifer Wilson: The technology is controlling us, but that's okay.

Emiley Steinbruegge: It is. That's a podcast for [00:16:00] another day.

Jennifer Wilson: It's, it is, yeah. Um, I mean, I use AI as a support system, certainly in the business for some of our writing projects, and it'd be interesting to see how we, like folks might use that for scrapbooking. I've, I've heard some members recently talk about editing their journaling, like they just start writing and then they have Chat GPT kind of polish it up so it sounds better.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Wow, that's brilliant.

Jennifer Wilson: Particularly if they don't feel like they're a good writer or they don't write well. Um, even just for grammar and spelling, I think it could be be helpful. So.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Oh yeah, that's really smart. I never think about using Chat GPT or anything like that. And my kids are always coming to me, showing me just all of this mind blowing stuff that they're doing with it.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Emiley Steinbruegge: It's crazy.

Jennifer Wilson: It is. It is. Anyway, yeah, as you said, that could be a whole episode on its own.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Yes, ma'am.

Jennifer Wilson: So the opposite of what you're loving. Is there something that you've decided over the [00:17:00] years, whether it's a supply, a technique, a size, or a format that you've decided is not for you? You did already mention the smaller sizes. Is that what stands out the most?

Emiley Steinbruegge: Yes. I was gonna say pretty much anything small just isn't for me. I've tried like traveler's notebooks 'cause they're so cute. I've tried little mini albums. I just can't ever make it work for me because I wanna put way too much stuff in there.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Well, and it's, you can kind of release that desire and say, I love it, but not for me. Like, that's kind of the best, happy medium that you can get is appreciating others, creating something and see if you can, uh, take an idea and apply it to your format, your size. Um, but to know yourself well enough to say, I, I shouldn't buy that.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Yeah, I shouldn't, doesn't mean I don't, but, yes.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. As someone who has a drawer full of traveler's notebooks over there that aren't being used. I get it.

Emiley Steinbruegge: [00:18:00] Exactly.

Jennifer Wilson: So with a busy family, where and when are you typically scrapbooking?

Emiley Steinbruegge: So when I first started scrapbooking, I would just go to like crops or weekends or whatever. But um, I quickly learned that I wanted to be able to do it at home too. So I made a scrapbook room in my house, and then as I've moved through the years, I've just kept making sure that I had one. Right now, it is not ideal.

I will say it is our dining room. It's like my craft, uh, office space. So immediately when you walk in my front door, that's what you see. And I mean, it's filled with lots of cute stuff, but I'm not always the tidiest scrapper. So it's not always, you know, very well put together. So hopefully my husband's trying to finish our basement. I'm hoping he can move all my messiness downstairs, so we'll see.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, good. What about when, like, how has that changed over time in terms of, [00:19:00] imagine there was a certain point when you were scrapbooking when the kids were asleep or napping and now that they're off busy doing their things.

Emiley Steinbruegge: So usually every Friday night we have like our, everybody do their own thing night. So every Friday night is usually my scrapbooking time. And then really just any time I can squeeze it in. I used to feel like I had to be able to dedicate enough time to complete a whole page or something. And if I couldn't do that, then I just wouldn't even bother with it. But now I'll just go in there really quick and even if I just mat a couple photos or whatever. Just to keep like a project moving forward. I'll just sneak a couple minutes here or there whenever I can.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. I love that. I love that. So kind of shifting gears to another topic here, are there any organization strategies that have worked well for you?

Emiley Steinbruegge: I laughed so hard when I saw this question. Because No ma'am. I am open to all of the organization ideas. I especially, like with my digital, all the [00:20:00] photos. I am just struggling with figuring out how to organize all of those best. And I keep trying. I try really hard, but I haven't found my perfect niche yet for my supplies.

Jennifer Wilson: What have you. Well, let's, let's continue on photos. What have you tried?

Emiley Steinbruegge: So I've tried putting them all in folders by, um, you know, like year and month and dividing them up that way. I've tried dividing them up by person. I've tried dividing them up by events. I've, I don't know. I just, I can't find something between, you know, like I have a nice, uh, camera and then I have my phone and then my husband takes pictures and my kids send me things. So it's just trying to keep it all straight, to be quite honest.

Jennifer Wilson: Have you ever tried any kind of software? Uh, including I think, is it Windows Live Photo Manager still? Um, because like the general concept is that if you can store your photos one way, you can look at them in [00:21:00] one of the other ways. If you're using layer of software on top of it.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Okay, so what is it called?

Jennifer Wilson: I, I know you have a pc, so whatever. The one that comes with Windows is. Um, I, it used to be called Windows Live Photo Manager or something.

Emiley Steinbruegge: I'm gonna look it up as soon as we're done here because.

Jennifer Wilson: I am gonna, I'll Google it right now. Windows Live Photo Gallery is discontinued,

Emiley Steinbruegge: Oh.

Jennifer Wilson: Renamed Windows Photo Gallery.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Windows Photo Gallery. I'm gonna have to check it out.

Jennifer Wilson: I would just search like Windows photo and see what, what pops up on your computer? Maybe it's called Microsoft Photos now.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Okay.

Jennifer Wilson: Probably.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Now you have a Mac though, right?

Jennifer Wilson: I do. Yeah.

Emiley Steinbruegge: So you don't use that obviously.

Jennifer Wilson: I use Lightroom, and Lightroom is available on both PC and, and Mac. Um, and I love that I can, it slurps up photos from my phone and then they automatically get transferred to my computer.[00:22:00]

Emiley Steinbruegge: And so Lightroom also organizes?

Jennifer Wilson: I move them into folders by month.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Okay.

Jennifer Wilson: But then I can use facial recognition or tags or even just drag and drop albums that aren't moving them, but they are creating groupings of them, that I might wanna use for a particular layout or a project. Or just if it's a tag, I can just see, say all the photos that are of my daughter and my husband together.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Wow. Yeah, I need to definitely look into something 'cause that sounds amazing.

Jennifer Wilson: It does sound like in my quick Googling here that it is called Microsoft Photos now in terms of what is, what they call it on, on a pc.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Okay, cool. Well, I'll let you know how it goes.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. Yeah, always happy to help. Um. Yeah. And you know, as part of being a featured artist, you do get a, a free three [00:23:00] month membership. And so there's a class called Photo Crush 2.0 in there that I think would be just perfect for you. 'Cause it talks you through like the thought process of how to get started with the system.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Sign me up immediately. I'll be in there. That sounds wonderful.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. Yeah. Happy to, to see you get started with that.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: Um, anyway, I guess going back to organization, uh, you were gonna talk about supplies.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Oh yeah, I was just say with supplies, I kind of organized by, um, season almost. So I keep like, you know, all my fall stuff together, all my winter stuff together. I mean, kind of just a basic organization system.

Jennifer Wilson: What of tools and other things? Do you prefer open or closed storage? Like do you wanna see everything or it doesn't exist? Or do you like things put away?

Emiley Steinbruegge: Ideally, I love everything put away in a nice, tidy little home, but I don't usually do that. [00:24:00] I usually tend to leave all my stuff out so I can see it all and remind myself that I have it.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Emiley Steinbruegge: When I put all of my like punches away or stamps away or whatever it is, I tend to forget that they even exist.

Jennifer Wilson: Now you create for some design teams, right?

Emiley Steinbruegge: Yes, ma'am.

Jennifer Wilson: So how do you kind of organize those projects in terms of like making sure you meet your deadlines and keeping products together and all that?

Emiley Steinbruegge: I keep all of those in a special box on my desk, um, grouped together by the design team. And then I have a paper planner and I just write little notes of when everything's due and, and keep track of it that way.

Jennifer Wilson: Awesome. Awesome.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Now our last two questions are a little bit, you know, big picture here. Where would you like your scrapbooking to be in 10 years?

Emiley Steinbruegge: I would love for all of these ideas that I have floating around in my head to actually have like come to fruition. I [00:25:00] have so many great projects planned. I just don't seem to have the time yet to, to do, but maybe in 10 years, my youngest will be 19. So I'm sure I'll just be sitting around with nothing to do, right?

So I'll have nothing but time to scrapbook and I can get everything finished.

Jennifer Wilson: I mean, yeah, not to make assumptions, but in terms of years from now, you also could have grandchildren. So, um.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Yes. Yes. So, yeah, see there's always gonna be more and more added, isn't there? But, but that's okay.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, as as someone of the blended family myself, I've like tried to do the mental math of all of this, and I just stopped. So my stepsons are now, oh gosh, they're 31 and 36. No. 30 and 34, sorry. Yeah. 30 and 34. But still those, that's old. I mean.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Yeah. So now [00:26:00] then, do you have grandchildren then?

Jennifer Wilson: No, I do not. But you know, it certainly could.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Right?

Jennifer Wilson: Haven't found the right, the right persons yet. So.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Yeah. Wow, that's exciting.

Jennifer Wilson: Um, so what has being a scrapbooker taught you?

Emiley Steinbruegge: I think, um, probably the biggest blessing that has given me, is just realizing that it's okay for me to do something just because it makes me happy. In life, I, you know, I tend to be very production oriented. And I look at my day, like how many things that I get checked off my list. How much forward progress that I make on a goal.

But with scrapbooking, I mean, yes, I have goals and there are albums that I wanna create and things that I wanna do, and I do wanna move forward with them. But also, if I just wanna sit down and play with a pretty piece of paper or fiddle around with pretty embellishments just because I want to, that's okay too. I don't have to be working towards a specific goal all the time.

Jennifer Wilson: I love that, [00:27:00] particularly when there's so many other parts of our life that are so like goal oriented. Sometimes we do need that permission to

Emiley Steinbruegge: play.

Yes we do. And scrapbooking, I think definitely gives us that.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh yeah, for sure. So Emiley, can you share where our listeners can find you online, anything you might be planning, um, for later this year?

Emiley Steinbruegge: Sure. I am on Instagram as One_Scrappy_Mama and Facebook one Scrappy Mama. Um, and like you mentioned, I'm on a few design teams, so, um, I have projects coming out for them every month. So yeah, I'll just be over here creating.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, and I can't wait to see what you create, um, for your Punta Cana trip. Be fun.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Me too. Me too.

Jennifer Wilson: Emiley, this has just been delightful. Thank you for spending time with me.

Emiley Steinbruegge: Thank you so much for having me. It was really such a joy.

Jennifer Wilson: And to all of our listeners, please remember that you have permission to Scrapbook Your Way. [00:28:00]