SYW302 – My Way with Eve McNie

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.