SYW268 – Using Lists to Create More Consistently

[00:00:15] 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 268. In this episode I’m chatting with creative team member Janelle Horsley about her scrapbooking inspirations and strategies, including how lists are the foundation of her creative consistency.

[00:00:45] Jennifer Wilson: Hey, Janelle. Welcome to Scrapbook Your Way.

[00:00:47] Janelle Horsley: Hi, how are you?

[00:00:49] Jennifer Wilson: I am doing okay this morning. I'm excited to chat with you. Can you share a little bit about yourself to help our audience get to know you?

[00:00:57] Janelle Horsley: Yeah, I am from Arizona. I'm married with three kids. My husband and I are both dentists here in Arizona, and I'm just here for all the scrapbooking.

[00:01:09] Jennifer Wilson: Oh, okay. I did not know that you and your husband were both dentists. How interesting. Did you, did you guys meet in dental school? How did all that like come about?

[00:01:18] Janelle Horsley: We, we actually met our freshman year of undergrad at the university of Arizona. And then I was going to go to dental school because my parents are both dentists. Um, so I convinced him to change his major from, um, or his track from pharmacy to . Dentistry. And so we went, we went through the application process together. And so here we are.

[00:01:40] Jennifer Wilson: How fun. How fun.

[00:01:42] Janelle Horsley: Yeah.

[00:01:43] Jennifer Wilson: So Janelle, I always like to ask our guests, as you know, one scrapbooking thing that they're excited about, as well as one like everyday life non scrapbooking thing that is, uh, bringing you, you know, joy and light right now.

[00:01:55] Janelle Horsley: Okay. So for scrapbooking related, it's gotta be bright colors. I love all the vibrant colors. Um, I'm looking for them because it's my, uh, One Little Word is Bright. So I'm always on lookout, lookout for bright colors, rainbows, all that stuff. And then for non scrapbooking related, I finally finished the book club book that we started for Live Your Story, Stacey Julian's, uh, membership group. I finally started the, or finished the book that we started in summer of 2022. It's called Joyful. It's called Joyful by Ingrid Fetell Lee

[00:02:32] Jennifer Wilson: Yep.

[00:02:33] Janelle Horsley: Um, and so now I'm like really diving into it. And trying to, I started a Joyful sketchbook and I'm trying to look for all the things that just kind of bring me joy. Because it's kind of one of my life words, ever since I was little. So just the book is really awesome and I love how visual it is. And it's, it's, It's inspiring a lot of stuff for my scrapbooking and inside interior design stuff.

[00:02:57] Jennifer Wilson: Oh, that's so fun. And it shows that just because you can't always maybe do something live or when others are doing it, if you can keep it on your list and, and actually dive in when you can, there's still so much benefit to those types of things.

[00:03:13] Janelle Horsley: Yeah.

[00:03:13] Jennifer Wilson: I'm curious about your, your bright color thing. Has that been always what you've been attracted to in scrapbooking or have you had like shifts over the years? Because I know that for me, I used to be all about muted colors and now I'm all about the bright colors too.

[00:03:31] Janelle Horsley: Uh, I probably, I have always probably leaned toward bright colors. Like my favorite colors when I was, you know, really little six, seven, , were teal, purple, and pink. And my favorite color, my favorite colors now are still teal, purple, and pink. Um, so I've always been, I've always loved saturated, the, if I have a saturated choice or neutral choice. I'm always going to pick the brights.

[00:03:54] Jennifer Wilson: Nice, nice, nice. Now shifting gears here, we always of course like to ask our guests about their memory keeping bucket list. So these are stories that feel important to capture, but for some reason you haven't done that yet. Is there a story that stands out to you?

[00:04:09] Janelle Horsley: There aren't really a lot of past stories that stand out to me because I think I've done them all. I think I've made, yeah, I think I've made, I can't, I have it in Lightroom and I've, I have over 4, 000 scrapbook pages. So there, it's got to be there somewhere. It's got to be in there somewhere. Um, but right now the story I feel like needs to be told is our Memorial Day trip.

[00:04:31] Janelle Horsley: We go to California every year to visit one of our, uh, my husband's best friend. Um, so that is on my list. And, um, the fact that this is our 19th year celebrating together. Um, and we got lucky cause he's in the Navy. So, this is our ninth, this is our, I think, ninth year celebrating in California. So this will be our last year being able to drive to go see him before they move. So that's kind of a big story that I felt like, is on the list.

[00:04:57] Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. That's such a wonderful tradition. I, yeah, I saw that on your Instagram. And I was, yeah, I was curious to learn more. So I'm glad that you mentioned that.

[00:05:06] Janelle Horsley: Yeah.

[00:05:06] Jennifer Wilson: So, okay. So let's dive into learning more about you. Can you tell us more about your memory keeping approach and philosophy and how you got to really feeling like you found your way in scrapbooking?

[00:05:19] Janelle Horsley: Yeah. So I think since I was a little kid, I've always been the journaler, the keeper of the calendars. If anybody was doing anything, I was the one that wrote it down. So I think I've always had that journaling part just from when I was little. And my daughter's the same way, so it's probably a genetic thing. Um, so, uh, so that was kind of easy for me, that part of scrapbooking was easy for me. Um, the photography came in probably when I was in junior high. My parents gave me a camera for the first time. And looking back at those pictures, um, I definitely had the same like friend, like I definitely had the same eye for photography that I do now, which is to take, um, everyday life, pictures, pictures of friends, pictures of the stuff that's important.

[00:06:05] Janelle Horsley: So that kind of carried too. Um, but it wasn't until I was a freshman in high school, um, that I started actually scrapbooking. I got, for my graduation present from high school in 2001, um, a friend of ours gave me a gift card to a local scrapbook store. And I felt obligated to use it, of course. So I went in and I picked out a bunch of papers and I started assembling what became a two volume chronological scrapbook of my life up to that point.

[00:06:37] Jennifer Wilson: Wow. Wow.

[00:06:39] Janelle Horsley: Yeah, it, it was, it took me a couple of years. And, and I don't know why I did it that way. But even back then I was grouping things together by categories. I put all the Christmas, yeah, I put all the Christmas pictures together. I put all my child or early childhood stuff together. Um, you know, Easter's I kind of had always done that chronological slash categorical thing.

[00:07:06] Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

[00:07:07] Janelle Horsley: I did start when I was born, but then I grouped all of my random pictures together. Um, so that took me a couple years and then I got burned out. And I took a break. Um, and it wasn't, I think it was in 2006, I was actually studying for my dental, our dental board exams. And I thought I would really, I think I would really benefit from learning how to do digital like sketches and drawings to learn how to study. Or to, give myself a motivation to study. So I bought a Wacom tablet. Which is like, wait, this is like the early days of, you know, internet, anything, anything.

[00:07:45] Jennifer Wilson: It's nothing compared to an iPad now.

[00:07:48] Janelle Horsley: No, no, no, nothing. Yeah, so like, uh, so I remember opening the box and there was, you know, it came with Photoshop Elements. And then I think it came with actually some random scrapbook stuff, like scrapbook digital elements. Um, and so I remember the learning curve was high. And I remember wanting to throw Photoshop out the window.

[00:08:10] Janelle Horsley: It was crying because it was so hard. But I pushed through and I kind of learned. Um, and then around the same time, I kind of discovered, Cathy Zielske and that was like in the heyday of, you know, scrapbook magazines. So they were all out, see, Creating Keepsakes was out. Um, I, and I found Simple Scrapbooks, and then found Stacey Julian.

[00:08:32] Janelle Horsley: And so that was really what triggered, that's what really changed my whole pathway. Um, so I started making digital pages in 2006. And that's what I've been doing mostly since then. Um, that's, But I think that's where I find the biggest joy. I still do, I do do a physical Project Life album every month. I do a Design A page protector like each month. Um, and I've been doing that since 2013. And then all of our vacation albums, I try to put in Design A page protectors because it's easy and it's like, I can just, do it quickly and it's done. Well, relatively quickly. Sometimes it takes me like six months to kind of fill it in. But so yeah, it's a digital scrapbooking. I think that's, that's kind of pushed me. I think it gives me like a purpose to do all the things. To like even go out and experience things. Because I'm like, Oh, I have to scrapbook it. So that's kind of, um, that's kind of what is the motivating factor for me most out of all the scrapbook stuff I do.

[00:09:40] Jennifer Wilson: Okay. I have a couple of questions for you. One is what do you do with your completed layouts? Do you print them in books? Do you put them in albums? Do they live in your Lightroom?

[00:09:51] Janelle Horsley: Yeah, they live in my Lightroom mainly. So I think I've only printed, I've only printed a handful of holiday pages. Because I have, I started a holiday album and I felt like, oh, something needs to go in here. So I kind of printed some random pages. Um, and then in 2020, I started making books for the kids, like 8x8, Shutterfly, the free, what used to be free books.

[00:10:18] Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

[00:10:18] Janelle Horsley: And so, um, I committed myself, I set a low bar for myself. I said, okay, I'm only going to do this every other year for them. Um, so this is, I'm on year, the third batch of, yeah, of, of their little books. So, um, so yeah, that's really all I've printed as far as prints.

[00:10:40] Jennifer Wilson: Okay.

[00:10:41] Janelle Horsley: Yeah, I try, I have, it's, It's hard because I, I, want to print them. But then I also know that there's a lot of pages that I'm not ready for the kids to see yet. Um, so just putting them in an album and saying, Oh, here you go. I don't, I don't think some of them are, are appropriate yet for them to know, to really get a sense. And then there's so many, I don't know how I would choose. So I just kind of, I just make them and they go into Lightroom, as part of my process. And if I need to share them on Flickr, I send them to Flickr. Um, sometimes I'll batch a bunch of them together and share those out with people. Um, my poor family probably sees very few of them. They're here on my computer if you want to see them, but they're, you know, um, but yeah, that's on one of my bucket list things to figure out what to do with them.

[00:11:43] Jennifer Wilson: Sure, sure. And that will evolve over time, especially as your kids get older and you feel more comfort in them, you know, reading some of those more personal stories.

[00:11:52] Janelle Horsley: Yeah.

[00:11:53] Jennifer Wilson: I had another follow up question as well about Project Life because it sounds like you've been doing, you've been very consistent with Project Life for more than a decade now. So, um, what's What, what do you attribute to that consistency?

[00:12:09] Janelle Horsley: I think, I just, that, since I don't print my digital pages. I think that's the most quote unquote, um, instant gratification.

[00:12:21] Jennifer Wilson: Okay.

[00:12:22] Janelle Horsley: System that I have. That part, that's the part of my system that's more, more instant. Even though now, well, not as instant anymore, because Costco stopped printing.

[00:12:32] Janelle Horsley: And that threw a whole wrench in my whole workflow for Project Life. Um, so now I'm only printing every six months or a year. Um, so it's not as instant feedback as I like. But I just have it on my list every, at the end of every month. I pick my eight cards. I have a little post-it note map that I keep in my planner for each month. Um, so as the month's going, I'm already, you know, sketching out, what we did that month. And I just try to keep it to the eight. I try to keep it to the eight cards for the highlights of the month. Like any trips we take, um, you know, school starting, school's ending, um, any big projects that the kids are working on. Um, but then in between each, each layout, I'll stick a baseball card size protect, page protector. Like just the, they're literally baseball card protector, page protectors. Um, and I have a stack of, of two and a half by three and a half cards that I have already cut up. And I'll decorate those at the beginning of the month with the color that I've picked. And then those will be for my, you know, every random, thought, every day, random ideas or, um, things that I notice. Or stickers, or stuff that the kids bring home. Candy wrappers seem to be a big, uh, like, thing that I find in the trash. So.

[00:13:54] Jennifer Wilson: Sure.

[00:13:55] Janelle Horsley: So I'll dig those out and put those in. Uh, but that makes it fun and hands on, but not overwhelming. The thing that makes it easy for the 3x4 cards is that I make sure they're the flat ones. I don't try to decorate them or anything. I just, um, as they come out of the box, like I still have Becky Higgins, a couple core kits, like stray core kits. And then I'll add in 3x4 cut out, cut apart sheets. And as long as they're flat, I don't try to add anything beyond, like, what's printed on them, so I just try to keep that part simple.

[00:14:29] Jennifer Wilson: I'm curious about when you're doing the journaling. Are you doing it at like the end of each month, during the month along the way, or when your photos come back?

[00:14:38] Janelle Horsley: So, the 3x4 cards, I always wait until the end of the month for those. Just so I can get an overview. I usually wait until the very last day of the month, or the next, or the first of the month. Um, just because I don't know what's going to happen. I don't want to write it out, and then all of a sudden, oh, this, this thing happened also that kind of corresponds to this and I could put it on the same card. And just like write a little bit about it. Um, the baseball cards, I try to, I try to do those throughout the month as I'm inspired to do them. I keep a little list in my notebook that I keep for scrapbook stuff. I keep a little list that's numbered from 1 to 18. And I just jot a note. If it's something that comes up and I can't write it on the card itself right then, I just write it on my little list. And then write a reminder about like, this is what I wanted to say, or this is how I wanted to decorate it. So I have those 18, that list of 18 going like from the beginning of the month. And then I fill those out. I fill those out randomly. Sometimes I, I can do a whole batch of six or seven a day in one day. And sometimes I have to wait until the end of the month. Cause I just don't have time.

[00:15:47] Jennifer Wilson: Sure. But I love how you have this like, uh, month to month formula that has really worked well for you. And, you know, allowed you to adapt even when, when Costco's not, not printing for you anymore.

[00:16:01] Janelle Horsley: Yeah. It was hard. It was hard. It was hard last year. Because it, I, I didn't realize how much that was a part of my process. Because, I would set, I would set a goal to have that done, have them uploaded to Costco by the first weekend of the month, so I could go pick them up. Um, and then that also triggered me to make sure my pictures were in order. So I had to make sure that I was staying on top of, of, culling and, and favoriting and, and picking those pictures as they went along. So that when the month was ready, month was done, I could just go get them. And it helped a lot too, that we loved our Costco photo people.

[00:16:42] Janelle Horsley: Like they were, they were, they're our friends, we would chit chat with them, so like going in every, every month was like a, it was like a ritual for us. So losing that kind of hit in a couple different ways, but I didn't realize, made a difference to me.

[00:16:58] Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. I, especially when my daughter was younger, I went to Sam's Club a lot and similarly their, their photo center has gone as well. And I always just remember having, having conversations, having to prove that they're not professional photos. I'm like, no, I'm Yeah. just a mom taking photos.

[00:17:16] Janelle Horsley: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:17:19] Jennifer Wilson: Um, on that, on that note, so you have three younger children and now that we have kind of a sense of how you are scrapbooking, how do you find balance between telling their stories and also telling your own?

[00:17:33] Janelle Horsley: I used Stacy Julian's 12 system. And I started, I took her class, I think I took that class in 2017 finally. And her, if for anyone, anyone unfamiliar with her system, it's, she has 12 topics. At that time she was doing 12 pages a month with those topics. Um, and the topics are stuff like fun, everyday life, rituals, , people, personality, I can't remember the rest, holidays, me, pictures, pages about me. So, I have been using that system since 2017. So I've been making 12 pages almost every month for that long. Sometimes more. So when I'm, starting a list of those 12 pages. I am kind of always looking for balance. Like there's always a page about me because that's a topic. And then at least one of the kids will be doing something that makes me think, Hey, that would be an awesome page. Like this is a good story to tell about them. This is important to them. This is important to me. So that will end up on my list. And then by default, I like to keep things balanced. So all three kids get a page about them at in some form or fashion on one of those lists on the, on my 12 list. So that's how I keep that balanced. Cause I, cause then I know, and then now knowing that I have to fill those books,

[00:18:52] Janelle Horsley: I kinda, I, I, it forces me to actually scrapbook more about them than I do me. Um, cause I, a lot of my stories are older stories. I do a lot of family history stuff. Um, so I do have to keep the balance more toward, more toward them, actually. Like it's harder for me to balance it. their pages, um, because I kind of think they're at the age now there's, my kids are, um, six, 10 and 12. So they're starting to remember the stuff that they, they will remember. And so I kind of feel like I don't want to tell their stories without their input. So that makes it a lot harder for me to do, to do, their pages. Because I have to go track them down. Like I have to, I have to go, like, physically like peel them away from whatever they're doing. Bring them over to my computer, interview them, you know, write the journaling for them. And a lot of the times I ask them, like, they just ended their first session of swim, swim lessons. And I asked them all. Hey, You know, what was, what was swim like? And two of them said, I swam. I was like, Oh, okay, great. Thank you for being so helpful. I'm trying to do this for you. Um, so one of the things that helps me, um, is that every month on their birthday day, I give them a sheet that they have to fill out before the end of the day, or else they don't get whatever computer time. You know, they have to do that before they earn computer time, um, and it's a currently sheet. So it's like, um, so I have them write down, um, what they're listening to, what they're playing, what they're drawing. It's a long, it's a long list. It's actually surprising that the six year old fills it out completely every month. Um, cause it's about like 10, 15, items.

[00:20:48] Jennifer Wilson: I think when my daughter was six, she would be way more likely to do that than she is now at 12.

[00:20:52] Janelle Horsley: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's true. I can see that. Yeah. Yeah. I can see that.

[00:21:00] Jennifer Wilson: You want me to do something?

[00:21:02] Janelle Horsley: Yeah. Yeah. The oldest one has been trained though. So he knows that he doesn't get computer time unless he does it thoroughly. Yeah. Cause I, I, If there's only one answer on it, I send it back. So, so, I don't know.

[00:21:20] Jennifer Wilson: No, I, I, I love that process. One thing that stands out to me is do you ever get, like, tempted or distracted by all the shiny new ways to approach telling your stories, new projects. Because you have this, like, you have this amazing rhythm, which I want to highlight as, like, being a, a huge reason you feel caught up, but then.

[00:21:45] Janelle Horsley: Yeah.

[00:21:46] Jennifer Wilson: There are so many other ways that we could do things.

[00:21:49] Janelle Horsley: Yeah, I mean, as far as techniques and.

[00:21:53] Jennifer Wilson: Like sizes and formats, you know.

[00:21:55] Janelle Horsley: Oh, as far as, oh, that, I don't know. I, as far as formats, I don't know. I think I, I think I'm just a creature of habit. So I've tried a couple, I've tried a couple mini albums. I don't really love how they fall apart, you know, over time. Because I, I'm notorious for not using enough glue or tape or whatever. So like I've tried, you know, I think over the, over the years I've tried all the different things. I've tried little albums with page protectors in them. They were fun. But I didn't really like storing them. Um, so I think, that kind of keeps me from wandering too far away. Um, and if I do find a technique or a product or something that, that catches my eye, I can usually find a way to incorporate it into my 12 pages for the month or, or plan it for an upcoming page. Um, so I can kind of get a feel for, oh, do I like that? Do I, do I want to start doing that more often? Or, um, so it's that 12 pages that are just like my base, my home, I guess, for trying out new stuff. Um, and I don't just work on 12 pages at a time, I'm usually, typically, I have, like, lately I've had 2 or 3 lists in progress at the same time.

[00:23:21] Jennifer Wilson: Okay.

[00:23:22] Janelle Horsley: So, I, I, when, when I started in 2017, I just arbitrarily started January, 2017. Um, and then I've kept that up since then. So I'm right now, like, we're, what are we in June? So right now my batch, quote unquote, batch of pages is October, November, December's pages.

[00:23:44] Jennifer Wilson: Okay. Okay.

[00:23:45] Janelle Horsley: Like, I somehow got ahead. I think it was probably a combination of doing a couple of layout a day challenges. They got me quote unquote ahead. And I keep telling myself, if I fall behind on my list, if October comes this year and I haven't finished my list, I will just start over. I will just, set it ahead. I will just cross out October and write February of 2025.

[00:24:11] Janelle Horsley: So, so that it's not, you know, it just, I just named it. You know, by the month, because that's how I started. But it's really just an arbitrary, arbitrary, push.

[00:24:22] Jennifer Wilson: But I think those kinds of benchmarks can be really helpful and they show how we tend to have periods where we are scrapbooking a lot more. Um, where we have lots of energy, lots of stories to tell, lots of like creative energy. And then maybe times where things fall back. Like I think for the. during the summer when we're outside more doing more things.

[00:24:42] Jennifer Wilson: Sometimes we are not scrapbooking quite as much. And so if you can feel like you can like maybe get ahead towards your goals, that will get you closer to the goal by the end of the year. Um, if there are other parts of the year that maybe where you, you fall back and have other things going on. So, um, I think it's a really fun way to just like measure your progress.

[00:25:03] Janelle Horsley: Yeah, yeah, it's, it's been really fun to have those lists. I think that's probably why I've kept it up at the pace that I have, I think. And having them too, I write them on a little yellow, half legal pad. So that's only for my 12 lists. , And having them all visible in one place, the ones that I'm excited about, or that I have to do for assignments. Having them all on one small sheet, helps me batch things together. So I can go through all the pictures and see okay Which pages are missing pictures and I can cross it off. I really love lists. So I'm the kind of person that puts stuff on the list just to cross it off. So so that's been really helpful. Yep.

[00:25:45] Jennifer Wilson: I understand that quite well.

[00:25:48] Janelle Horsley: Yeah.

[00:25:49] Jennifer Wilson: So switching gears a little bit. Um, I noticed in your photography and you already mentioned that you maybe have been taking pictures this way for as long as you can remember. You definitely share a variety of perspectives, like scales, like sometimes they're very close up, sometimes the whole scene. Um, What are you typically thinking about when you're taking photos? Like how does that, how does that work for you? Because I think not everybody naturally thinks that way.

[00:26:21] Janelle Horsley: Let's see. So I think the main thing I'm thinking about as I'm taking a picture is do I want to see the whole object in this picture or is there some detail that I'm going to tell a story about later? Usually I approach a picture like that. And it's not, um, I usually have in mind my six, my, my Project Life album. So that helps me decide orientation. Like, is this going to be my, one picture for the, do I think this is going to be my one picture for that represents this event in Project Life for me. And then it'll be horizontal. Cause I have no other, I need a horizontal picture to fill the, fill the spot. Um, cause I, I also set that rail that I try.

[00:27:06] Janelle Horsley: I will, I will tend to, I, I will put vertical pictures in, in Project Life if I need to. But I prefer to have a full four by six. Just, you know, just to I don't know, just easier, I guess. Um, and then if it does need to be vertical, I'll just throw, I'll just make, try to make sure I have two vertical that will fit. Um, so that kind of, that kind of helps guide what I take, how I take pictures. Um, and then, like I said, if it, if it's a detail, I'll, I'll look at it through the lens of a macro, like I have a macro lens. So that actually seeing through that lens helps me kind of think if I don't have it if I'm not using that lens It helps me think that way.

[00:27:53] Jennifer Wilson: Sure. Sure. Yeah. No, I get it. I get it. So it sounds like you're, when you're taking everyday photos, like just, let's just say later today, you're kind of typically thinking this is going to go, I'm taking this because I want this in Project Life. Um, when you are looking at your list though, to create layouts, are you typically mining past photos? Um, and just like, just taking from what you have?

[00:28:20] Janelle Horsley: Um, I think it's a combination of both. I do both. I do, I do, take pictures in preparation of pages that I know I think I'm going to take, that I have, like, in the pipeline. But a lot of it is just, a lot of it is just taking pictures. I don't think I actively always think, Oh, this is going to go somewhere.

[00:28:40] Jennifer Wilson: Okay. Okay, sure.

[00:28:41] Janelle Horsley: I don't have, I don't have that. It's mostly when we're out on a, it's mostly when we're out on trips is when I'm thinking, Oh, I need a four by six for this. Um, but everyday everyday life stuff, I kind of squish, I squish into the vertical format. Yeah, I mean, I try to make it up as I go. I, sometimes, like, a lot of the times I will just go grab those pictures at the end of the month. Like, I, like, if I'm telling a story about the kid's school, I don't really take pictures specifically with Project Life in mind. I'll take pictures just because we're, you know, we're going to the, we're going to their concert or, uh, we picked them up from school and it's, it's Week In The Life or that kind of thing. I don't know if I do a lot of that kind of planning, every day, you know?

[00:29:32] Jennifer Wilson: Well, and I think there's to agree. It becomes habit. It's like a subconscious type of thing where like this is just part of how you live is you document your life along the way.

[00:29:44] Janelle Horsley: Yeah. And my family knows that too. I was surprised, uh, because my husband took my older son to an event. Um, at night, one time, a couple weeks ago. And I thought, oh man, I'm not gonna get to get pictures, and sure enough, he comes back, and he has pictures for me. So, all, every, all the kids and him are, they kinda, they're on board, so they kinda know.

[00:30:07] Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. No, my daughter just, um, she accidentally washed, uh, a lid. You know those little like, um, frozen lemonade cups you can get at theme parks and probably the grocery store too. So she accidentally washed the lid for one of those and she's like, here mom, like, I mean, you can just put it in the trash. She's like, no, you need to save it for, for your scrapbook. You can like, you can cut out the design so it's flatter and all that. And I'm like, okay, great. I love it.

[00:30:33] Janelle Horsley: Yeah, it's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. I think I've just been doing it for so long that they know. And the kids, uh, the kids will often say, Hey mom, can you take a picture of this for me? Can you take a picture of this for me? And I'm like, do I have to? Like, I don't know if I really want this picture. Cause I have a lot. So do I? Okay, fine.

[00:30:52] Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, no, that's what we do. That's what we do. So you recently participated in the 100 Day Project. So what did you focus on for that and how, how did it go?

[00:31:03] Janelle Horsley: Um, it went okay this time. Um, I think I've also been doing that since 2017 every, every year. Um, I don't know why. It's another one of those things that's like, uh, it's kind of a habit at this point. Um, and I feel like it's, um, it's one of those quiet things that, that changes my life over time, but I don't notice it.

[00:31:28] Janelle Horsley: So I just keep doing it. Um, so this month, this year I focused on doing word art. And I felt successful because I, I often, when I pick what I'm doing for the hundred day project, I just link it to whatever I'm already doing. So I knew I was going to make scrapbook pages. So I counted those scrapbook pages. Any journaling that I did, any, um, design title work that I was doing, I counted that. Um, and then it also kind of forced me to get out my watercolors and hand letters and stuff. Um, but I wasn't consistent this year, as I usually have been. Um, just because it was a busy, it was a busy season this year with all the kids in school, so. So it was okay. I feel like I've been more successful in the past, but it's, it's fine. I just come along.

[00:32:18] Jennifer Wilson: I think, as you said, that this is something that no matter how much you do, that doing it again and again, like, uh, builds your skills at consistency at, um, focusing on details. And you learn something from it, whether you did every single day, all hundred days perfectly or not. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:32:42] Janelle Horsley: Yeah, so it was good.

[00:32:43] Jennifer Wilson: So one thing that has stood out to me is that you take steps to protect your families and your own privacy on your layouts and your social media posts. Can you, and primarily that seems to be through blurring, I'm sure it's also by exclusion. But can you talk more about the types of things you choose to blur? Um, what tools do you use?

[00:33:04] Janelle Horsley: Yeah. So a couple of years ago, I decided that anybody that's not in our immediate family was going to get blurred. Um, just because I have family members who are like, they are anti, you know, Social media anything. So they didn't they don't like their picture being I don't post pictures of how they post pictures of them anywhere. Because they they preferred not to be on online at all. So that kind of pushed me to try to think okay, how do I need to tell these stories but still keep everybody not mad at me for sharing their stuff online. Um, so as far as faces go, that's my role. Anybody who's not in, who doesn't live in my house right now, gets blurred. Um, and as far as information, I obviously, I blur, obviously locations, um, any specific places that we go to. Um, Uh, especially places that we go to often. Just, just because I don't want people to know, you know, our routines, I guess. Um, and I, and I kind of try to think about, um, if some random, random stranger, like not the scrapbooking community, I feel like I can share a little bit more than I can with just the general public. But I just try to keep in mind that, um, that anything I put out there could be seen by people. You know, some random person who's crazy. So I kind of try to keep that in mind. Um, and then I also, as far as my journaling is, uh, my rule of thumb is if it's something that could make somebody look, um, paint somebody in not a great light, if they were to go into public office or get elected for, try to get elected for something, then I'll blur it.

[00:34:49] Jennifer Wilson: Okay. Okay.

[00:34:50] Janelle Horsley: Anything that's kind of like questionable or that could be misinterpreted or if it's something embarrassing that the kids did when, you know, when they're little. I mean, they're growing so I, I try to leave out anything that could be, could be used down the road as, as, you know, something that would, something that would affect them down the line. Um, and as far as blurring, like the actual act of blurring, I take it into Photoshop. I take a screenshot of all my pages and then take a, um, take a blur filter to, each, to, to the little parts of it that I need to blur out. And then on my phone, if I do it on my phone, I use the app called Big Lens.

[00:35:32] Jennifer Wilson: Okay.

[00:35:33] Janelle Horsley: And I'm not sure if that even exists anymore. I have it on my phone, but I don't know if it's downloadable. Um, but I think I heard about that from Cathy Zielske.

[00:35:40] Jennifer Wilson: It rings a bell, so we'll link to it if, if it's still there.

[00:35:45] Janelle Horsley: Yeah.

[00:35:46] Jennifer Wilson: Now, since you started doing this, like, do you feel like a greater degree of confidence or security in sharing?

[00:35:53] Janelle Horsley: Um, kind of. I am always so worried that my words will be twisted or misconstrued or misinterpreted. Especially with all the blurring. Because people will kind of like, if, if I read it back, I'm like, uh, what was I trying to say there? They will fill in the blanks, you know, with, with what they think. So, I mean, it gives me, it gives me a little more confidence to know, okay, my kids aren't going to go like, kidnapped or whatever because of something I put on the internet. Um, but, um, as far as, I, I don't know, I, I'm not sure about the, I'm unsure about the confidence part. Cause I, I don't know, I, like scrapbooking has always been just my, my personal thing, so putting stuff out on the internet is kinda, is kinda still, still nerve wracking after all the, even after all these years.

[00:36:49] Jennifer Wilson: So is, has being part of creative teams kind of created that tension for you that you feel like you need or should share, but maybe you would prefer to keep your pages to yourself.

[00:37:01] Janelle Horsley: I think for my creative team pages, I, I am very careful. I am more careful about those than I am just with my general pages. I try to pick stuff that's not, I don't know, I do, pick my assignment pages differently than I just do my general pages. And I can't really put my finger on what, what it is. I think I try to give a variety of things. Like events and, um, you know, personality pages and all those different topics. Um, so I try to give a I have a variety. And I try to, uh, I try to make it, I try to make those pages, I try to pick pages that are more universal. I guess that's probably my, main like deciding factor. Is this something that, a lot of people could relate to, or is it useful to, to share about, or is it too specific of a, like my time and place in society kind of thing? Um, so I try to, try to kind of think about that when I'm picking pages for, for assignments.

[00:38:00] Jennifer Wilson: Well, I can tell that you're a very thoughtful person and that I get a sense that you're quite organized as well. We've already talked a bit about how the list that you like to keep. Um, um, is your yellow notepad part of like a bigger system of keeping track of ideas and plans? Um, and including your team assignments, like how does this all fit together for you?

[00:38:23] Janelle Horsley: Yeah, it's definitely a small little piece of my puzzle, for my scrapbook stuff. So, my main, main creative hub, I guess you would call it is, is Scrivener, the Scrivener app.

[00:38:35] Janelle Horsley: And I have it set up so that it syncs to, uh, from my laptop to my phone. So if I'm going somewhere, I can sync it to my phone and I'll have it with me all the time. Um, and then because it's such a big file, I, I kind of offload some of that stuff into an archive file that I keep on my laptop. So I do have all of my page ideas and everything all on my laptop, um, from over time. And so that has been, been my biggest place. Because I write a lot in there. It's a really great writing app. Um, so that's where I, um, you know, do you want brainstorming. And we drive a lot, so on the commutes, I'm constantly thinking, what should I put on these pages? Like I have these 12 pages coming up, uh, what could I say in them? And so that's kind of my brainstorming process. And if my husband's driving, I have my laptop out and I'm writing down stuff.

[00:39:29] Janelle Horsley: Um, so that's my creative hub as far as ideas and plans, I guess. Like my overall, like all the detailed plans. And then I have a Mead hybrid note binder. So it's like a three ring binder, but it's kind of like a notebook you can flip over. And it's not, it doesn't take up the space as a, of a three ring binder. And that's where I keep all of my extra, extra stuff. So all the classes I'm doing, um, all the notes, all the, I, what are they called? Like the syllabus. I put the syllabi in there. Um, I have a sheet that's for just for simple assignments. It's, uh, I think it's actually from 2023. It's the Journey Journal sheet that has Create, Create, Corral, Connect, Consume. So I do fill that out every month and that's where I keep, um, or every other month. And that's where I keep my, a post it note with my assignments on it for Simple. Um, so as soon as the assignment comes out, I write my little post it that says, what the challenge is, what the topic is.

[00:40:33] Janelle Horsley: And then in pencil I'll kind of sketch out, okay. Which I go through my lists and I look at what's coming up, what's actually on my list already. And I kind of look there first and see if anything, any of those pages would work. Like, you know, if, if I already have a sketch in mind for a page, obviously I can't use that for a template challenge. So I kind of. I kind of just go through my immediate lists first and see if there's anything on those lists that can work for an assignment. And then I kind of narrow it down, and if I don't have anything, I just make up a new page.

[00:41:08] Jennifer Wilson: Sure.

[00:41:09] Janelle Horsley: , I also have a teal notebook, like a Mead, just like a Mead notebook. Uh, eight and a half by five and a half notebook, where I keep sketches. So all those 12 pages, I, for each batch of 12 pages that I have in the list, I draw a little sketch for each of them. So that's a home for, like, everything that kind of comes up. So if I see a design, I'll just sketch it out on there. Or if I'm going through stuff and have to quickly write down, like, oh, let me use this color scheme or put something here that's on the sketch. I just draw it in there.

[00:41:44] Jennifer Wilson: So this is such a fun system and I love how it mirrors how you scrapbook. Because you scrapbook both digitally and, uh, with Project Life in a tactile format. And you have both of that with your organization as well. So, I mean, it just shows that sometimes we have, we have to satisfy our brain's desires to live in both worlds.

[00:42:08] Jennifer Wilson: um, As much as possible. So.

[00:42:11] Janelle Horsley: I tried to get rid of those, my yellow legal pad once and it failed. I could not make any pages at all. So it has, like, that's the, that's the linchpin, I guess, for my system.

[00:42:23] Jennifer Wilson: I, I totally get it. Sometimes when I am feeling like I can't quite get the lay of the land with what I need to do, I default to a system that I started using like 20 years ago. Um, and it's just, you know, it's just gotta be a big piece of paper and map everything out and, uh, it works. It works.

[00:42:41] Janelle Horsley: Yeah.

[00:42:43] Jennifer Wilson: Janelle, this has been such an illuminating conversation. It has been fun to get to know you better. Can you share where our audience can find you online and anything else you're planning on working on this year?

[00:42:54] Janelle Horsley: Yeah. I have my blog. It's sometimes randomly updated because that's the last thing on my list. Uh, but it's it's at projectsinspired. wordpress. com.

[00:43:06] Jennifer Wilson: Perfect. We'll link it up for you.

[00:43:08] Janelle Horsley: Awesome. And then, um, coming up, I'm just going to try to survive the summer. It's going to be supposed to be like 108 today, probably.

[00:43:18] Jennifer Wilson: Oh gosh.

[00:43:20] Janelle Horsley: Getting through the summer is, uh, my main goal.

[00:43:23] Janelle Horsley: And then in the fall, when the kids go back to school, I'll probably start another 100 day project called 100 days of class, which is another one I, I do every year.

[00:43:32] Janelle Horsley: Um, and that is kind of just learning things is my focus. So I'll listen to a lot of podcasts, I'll count taking the kids to school is going to be counted if I can't fit anything else in. Um, I'm going to try to work on Ali Edwards Start Here class with the Simple Community, and I think that's about it. And keep doing my 12 pages.

[00:43:52] Jennifer Wilson: I can't wait to continue following your journey and, and hope, hope you do survive the summer well.

[00:43:59] Janelle Horsley: Thanks.

[00:43:59] Jennifer Wilson: And so all of our listeners, please remember that you have permission to scrapbook your way.