SYW270 – Developing Your Best Workflow

[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 270. In this episode I’m chatting with creative team member Monica Moriak about finding your signature scrapbooking style and developing a sustainable creative workflow for each season of life.

[00:00:45] Jennifer Wilson: Hey Monica, welcome to Scrapbook Your Way.

[00:00:47] Monica Moriak: Hi Jennifer. It's great to be here. I love the podcast, so I'm excited to be able to be one of the members on it.

[00:00:52] Jennifer Wilson: Yes, we've had so many conversations over the years inside of the community, and I can't wait to share more about your scrapbooking story and your process on the show today. Can you share a few details about yourself to have our audience get to know you better?

[00:01:08] Monica Moriak: So I, uh, am married. I have a husband. I have two sons, both of which are adults and out of college. Um, Aaron is in Milwaukee, uh, works from home, and Brendan is in, um, Pasadena, South Pasadena. Um, Aaron is a computer programmer, Brendan does orchestration for film and TV. So they're both doing the things that they love,

[00:01:32] Jennifer Wilson: Love that. Yeah.

[00:01:33] Monica Moriak: Yeah, so I do work in education equity.

[00:01:36] Monica Moriak: I'm on the local school board. Uh, and I have an opportunity, I'm from the state of Delaware. So I have an opportunity in the tiny state of Delaware to, uh, um, really get involved and maybe make some significant changes. Uh, with the people I've been introduced to and people conversations. So I'm excited for that opportunity. We'll see how it goes.

[00:01:58] Jennifer Wilson: You know, that's exciting. We have a completely dysfunctional school board right now with a lot of infighting. And so, uh, I am heartened to hear that you feel like there is progress to be made in your area.

[00:02:13] Monica Moriak: Um, yeah, I don't think you're unique in that I am on an incredibly dysfunctional school board. Um, really, really dysfunctional. So much so that the I, my body reacted to the stress of it. Um, so, but there is definitely progress. There's lots of underlying people who are hungry for the change and opportunities, so I'm focusing on the opportunities.

[00:02:38] Jennifer Wilson: Good, good. I yeah, I sent sending you lots of energy to continue all the like, you know, mental and physical strength that you need need to do that work. It's important.

[00:02:48] Monica Moriak: Thanks.

[00:02:49] Jennifer Wilson: So Monica, what is exciting you right now, both in scrapbooking and in everyday life?

[00:02:54] Monica Moriak: So everyday life, I have a couple of things actually. So next week my family, so my husband and I and my two sons and one's fiance and the other's girlfriend. Are doing a 10 day trip on the train up the coast, the West Coast from LA to Seattle. So that is very exciting to see how that goes, and it'll be no cars involved is the idea. The six of us traveling together for 10 days could be interesting. Um, but there are, there, everybody's great. We've been planning it. Everybody's trying to be very, um, uh, like, go with the flow.

[00:03:36] Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

[00:03:36] Monica Moriak: And so I think that's gonna be a lot of fun. So I'm looking forward to that because that's immediate. Um, but the other thing that's really excited me is, uh, Aaron and Alex are engaged and have, um, asked if I could help a little bit with the wedding planning.

[00:03:50] Monica Moriak: So we're, have a venue, we have a date. So we're kind of knee deep in the beginning stages of wedding planning. And I love doing that stuff. I'm excited for them. I think they're fantastic. Um, the wedding's in Milwaukee. So it's, uh, I don't know. I like event planning. I like the details, so I'm excited that they asked me to be part of it.

[00:04:13] Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes. What a wonderful like way to capitalize on your, your own personal passions and, and skills.

[00:04:20] Monica Moriak: Yes, yes. So scrapbooking, um, it's interesting because I think I'm just coming out of a lull. I've been working on a project that's important to do that I really want to do, but it's more photo based. Um, and my favorite part of scrapbooking is the design. Playing with product. Um, I love the photos, but I want to know how I can make them shine. Um, and so I'm actually looking forward to things are a little quieter now with education, schools out. Just, um, planning some getting back to my fun, taking a break from the, the photo project. To get back to, uh, playing with product, and doing some challenges. And, um, we just got new, um, creative team, Simple Scrapper, creative team assignments. So that excites me as well. It's like, Ooh, great, somebody needs something. I have a deadline. I can do it.

[00:05:15] Jennifer Wilson: I love hearing that. I love hearing how much from so many team members, both ours and others, how much those deadlines motivate them, um, in, in ways that their own internally imposed deadlines can't always do.

[00:05:28] Monica Moriak: No, I don't have my own internal deadlines. So I just look for other ones.

[00:05:34] Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes. Yes. So what about your memory keeping bucket list? Are there stories that you haven't yet told that you really feel like you need to? And what is one that stands out to you?

[00:05:44] Monica Moriak: I thought every time you ask this question on the podcast, you know, I think about what is mine. And sometimes something will hit me like, Oh yeah, no, that's a good story. And then nine times out of 10, I'll scrap it in the next week or so.

[00:06:00] Monica Moriak: Don't know that I'm, I don't have anything like, Oh, I need to get this information for my kid's legacy. Or, it's just kind of what pops up and what feels important at the moment.

[00:06:11] Monica Moriak: I realize as much as I admire those who are sharing these stories for their generations , future. Um, that's not who, who I am. Like, it's not that I'm not sharing those. Um, and we talk a lot. It's a lot of oral, um, sharing in our families.

[00:06:35] Monica Moriak: But, uh, Um, I think if I started thinking about that, I realized I get overwhelmed by the sheer volume. And what really is important, what isn't important. So I kind of go with what feels important at the moment. And and follow with that.

[00:06:52] Jennifer Wilson: Is it accurate to say, because you just mentioned that you don't really have internally imposed deadlines, uh, that when you do feel inspired, you have learned to take action immediately. So that you can actually close the loop on that?

[00:07:06] Monica Moriak: Yes, I do. Um, I'm someone who scrapbooks a lot. Not as much recently, but generally I scrapbook a lot. So yeah, if I, if something inspires me, I'm probably going to do it within the next 24 hours.

[00:07:18] Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. I love that. I love that you can just jump on it and you know how much, how well that serves you. Um, I'm sure there's listeners who can maybe pick that up and, uh, might realize how much that would benefit them for sure.

[00:07:32] Monica Moriak: Yeah. Yeah. It's taken me a while to get to that.

[00:07:36] Jennifer Wilson: Oh, I'm sure. Yeah, it takes practice. As all of these things do in terms of understanding yourself and how your own personality preferences to the way your brain works. How that intersects with your scrapbooking and your life supporting your scrapbooking, so. That's what we do every day at Simple Scrapper. I mean, that's, those are the things we're always talking about inside the community. And of course, here on the podcast. Can you tell us a little bit more about your scrapbooking backstory? How did you get started and how did the hobby evolve?

[00:08:12] Monica Moriak: So my official foray into this was through Creative Memories. Um, Brendan was a newborn or an infant. Um, and so 2000, maybe 2001. I thought it was fall of 2000. And a friend of mine invited me to a party. You bring some photos. And I love the idea of doing that. I love playing, doing some crafty things. Um, I wanted someplace to put my kids photos and something to do with them.

[00:08:42] Monica Moriak: I love the interaction with other people. And so I kept doing these things. Got some basics. I love the basic simplicity of their original plans. And so I just keep working on that. Um, I'm a natural chronological thinker. So that worked with my brain. Um, does not work with the amount of things I do and the amount of photos I take. But it did work with my brain.

[00:09:07] Monica Moriak: Um, And so I, uh, after a while I realized I couldn't keep up with it. Uh, Creating Keepsakes came out, um, at some point, or I became aware of it. And I was impressed with all of the beautiful pages. With layers of flowers and paper and I look around I'm like and where's the photo, right? And there's this little 2x2 photo tucked in someplace, right?

[00:09:34] Monica Moriak: And it was beautiful artwork. But for me the photos, right? I wanted something that was better than just a photo album. So that's why I was doing it. After a while, I was like, okay, I can't keep up. I made the decision when my kids were in elementary school that I'm going to do what I can. I'm going to go to crops.

[00:09:57] Monica Moriak: I had a monthly thing that I did with a friend. And I'm going to do whatever I can. I worked mostly on the kids scouting albums and school albums. When they were young. So those are done. Um, but the rest of it, I, I'll get to it later. I always told myself, my kids will have a time when they don't want mom around, so I'll have more free time.

[00:10:21] Monica Moriak: Um, I was wrong. I was right that they weren't gonna want me around. I was wrong about the more free time part. Um, but, uh, and, then we took a trip from Minnesota to through South Dakota to Mount Rushmore. And I was like I need something to do on this trip besides just read because that's a lot of time just sitting on whatever that interstate I 90 up there. And we had just gotten a laptop.

[00:10:51] Monica Moriak: I had come across my Grandfather's doodles. Which are incredible pencil drawings. So I thought it'd be fun as to try a photo book. I scanned in all of those doodles. And when I say doodles, some of them on the back of an envelope. Some of them were on the back of a list for the grocery store. Um, just literally whatever he could get his hands on.

[00:11:14] Monica Moriak: These are very detailed pencil drawings, but for him they were doodles. And I thought this would be a great gift for my parents. I had the new Apple Mac book, um, laptop. And they had a program. But you could make photo books with I thought, Oh, I can do this. And I did the whole time we were doing it. I'm like, Oh, I got it all done on that trip back and forth. Cause then we had to drive back for a family reunion in Wisconsin. So it was two and a half weeks that we were gone, I think. So I did get it done.

[00:11:45] Jennifer Wilson: What year was this? Just to give us some like time context.

[00:11:48] Monica Moriak: Was 2008.

[00:11:50] Jennifer Wilson: Okay. Okay.

[00:11:51] Monica Moriak: I think it was 08 that we did that. Yeah. Um, And I, I thought, well, there's, there's something here. Uh, but I didn't really do much with it, um, for a few more years.

[00:12:03] Monica Moriak: And in 2014 ish, I was like, I, I am traveling a lot. What am I, what am I gonna, like, how am I gonna do this? Like, I can't keep, scrapbooking, paper. If we're always on the go, that's just really hard. And I was a little overwhelmed with the sheer volume of books, the size of the books. I love the idea of photo books. And I found, I think that's when I first found, like Shutterfly was out, I think that's when Mixbook came out, like around 2013, 2015.

[00:12:42] Jennifer Wilson: That sounds Right. Yeah.

[00:12:44] Monica Moriak: So I did a few things on their place and I was like, oh, this is kind of nice.

[00:12:48] Monica Moriak: I liked Mixbook better than Shutterfly because back then you could upload your own things to it. So there are all kinds of free places to get digital kits and things like that. So there were some choices that I could do. Mixbook was great, but I needed something that I could do offline. Because we were back and forth to Virginia, uh, New England.

[00:13:15] Monica Moriak: We were just, we, we love to travel. If we're going to do something with family, we're like, all right, everybody in the car, we're, we're going to go. And we do these things. But I wanted to work on something. Um, while we're doing that. So I needed something that was offline. And I looked at Photoshop, but I didn't want to pay that price, uh, and came across something called My Memories Suite.

[00:13:39] Monica Moriak: And at the time, I think I could get it for like $30. It was very similar to MixBook, but it sits on your, um, computer. Um, and I, I did, I used that for a couple of years. Uh, You can upload your own things, they have a lot of stuff. You can't upload your own PSD files. But they had a ton of templates anyways.

[00:14:03] Monica Moriak: So I did quite a few pages through that. But then I realized I kind of wanted to do a little bit more. I looked back in at PSE, um, Photoshop Elements. And it just, I don't, I'm generally tech savvy, at least I used to be, and that didn't really resonate for me. And at this point, I had an iPad, and you couldn't use it on an iPad.

[00:14:28] Monica Moriak: So somehow, and I have no idea how, probably a Facebook ad. Affinity photo from Serif came across my, um, my desk, essentially. And I looked into it and I could get it for the iPad when it was on sale for $10. And it was comparable to Photoshop. I thought for 10, I'm going to try it. And you know, it has a learning curve, but there are a lot of great tutorials out there.

[00:14:56] Monica Moriak: So I just started playing with that and I fell in love. That program is, I think it's really easy to use, especially once you've been working on it. Uh, and so I use it on my iPad. It was an iPad Air in 2017. 2016. Uh, and I used it there for, uh, a year, I suppose, before I literally, the iPad died. It just was like, Nope, or you've used me up.

[00:15:27] Monica Moriak: So I bought my first iPad pro and use it on there, uh, for three years. Three years until that, um, actually gave me the red screen of death. So in 2020, I bought my current iPad. So that's lasted me four years. I feel, I feel pretty, pretty good about that. Uh, and I've since added it to my, uh, my laptop as well.

[00:15:54] Monica Moriak: So I can go back and forth. Um, in the meantime, I got a job in 2017 as well. Shortly after that for the university of Delaware doing photography. And I told them I use Affinity Photo instead of Photoshop and they had no problem just buying the program because full price it was $50 as opposed to adding me to their subscription for something.

[00:16:20] Monica Moriak: So I used that. I always found it interesting is I, on my laptop, I was really good at processing photos. And on my iPad I was really good at scrapbooking. But if I were to switch the two, it's, I struggled. Because they were different parts of the menu that you use. And so I was like, well, where is this in, in this operating system? So I always found that kind of humorous.

[00:16:49] Jennifer Wilson: Do you still, do those tasks separately?

[00:16:52] Monica Moriak: Uh, I do photo processing on my laptop. So anything I'm doing for the university or I do on my laptop. But I do scrapbook interchangeably. And I'll move back and forth between them. Depending upon what I'm doing.

[00:17:06] Jennifer Wilson: I will link a couple episodes that we've had before talking about affinity photo and scrapbooking on an iPad. But I am like, I'm curious, what is your chosen like storage solution so that you can get all your digital files and, uh, photos synced between everything?

[00:17:23] Monica Moriak: So I, I am all Apple, so my photos live in Apple Photos. And that syncs completely between them. My, all of my digital stash, stock, all of my digital stock lives in iCloud. Which is, uh, 2 terabytes. Uh, and I probably got over a terabyte, definitely over a terabyte of digital product. There's a lot I could probably get rid of. But it's not like in the way. I don't actually see it. It's not causing problems. So that's not where I want to put my time. It's kind of where I tell myself. That's a future if I need to. Um, unfortunately memory is fairly inexpensive. Um, at least for me. Uh, so that's, I like doing that because I can go back and forth. One of the reasons I do right now that I do more scrapbooking on my desktop than my iPad. I'm home more, so that definitely makes it easier. But the iPad has been struggling with search on in the files. And I know another scrapbook member has been having similar issues. And I think it's a it's an OS problem. Because I can search on my phone fine. And they Apple has separated all their operating systems.

[00:18:49] Jennifer Wilson: Interesting.

[00:18:51] Monica Moriak: Uh, it's, um, somewhat frustrating, but since I'm largely a kit scrapper, I'm not going in and searching for a red button. Uh, that's very rare for me. I choose a kit that looks like it's mostly going to work because of the color or the elements that are in it. And I am 75 percent of the time going to use that kit. And I'm going to, I like the challenge it gives me to say, all right, how are you going to use these elements to create whatever it is you're trying to create on this page? And I've I've learned a few things and come up with some things that I didn't think I would like. And I'm like, Oh yeah, no, actually that works okay. So that's kind of one of my guide rails is sticking with a single kit.

[00:19:40] Jennifer Wilson: On the point of the search not quite working, I've noticed recently just with Apple's updates in general, they seem more willing to break things. Like break compatibility with other, with other programs. Than they used to be. Like in the past, I don't remember having any problems with, uh, a major operating system update and then having things that just don't work anymore. And I I've, I've seen more of that recently.

[00:20:09] Monica Moriak: Yeah, I have always been a, I'm someone who waits to see how things shake out. Because, like, especially with the Affinity Program, because it usually does lag a little bit, right? They're trying to get ready for it, but I'm not sure that they know their updates, how they're going to work, until Apples is out. And, so I just, I kind of respect that that's a, a process. And that there's a lot going on behind the scenes that I am completely unaware of that.

[00:20:40] Jennifer Wilson: For sure.

[00:20:41] Monica Moriak: Um, my time on the school board has really taught me to say, yeah, there's like, You're at, you're seeing the tip of the iceberg and there's so much more underneath that need to be considered. And so it has taught me a little bit more patience, I think, and a little bit more perspective on, well, that's not ideal, but, um, I'll just, I'll wait. And so I I do try to do that, but I have sort of noticed that, but I've always kind of just held off. I think you use a lot more programs than I do. That, or maybe aren't like I stick largely with Apple programs, except for Affinity.

[00:21:19] Jennifer Wilson: Sure. Sure. Um, this is just a curiosity. Do you remember how you found Simple Scrapper? Because you were a member for a long time before you joined our creative team. Um, I feel like I know you quite well because you've just been around so much and always willing to kind of contribute your experiences and thoughts and ideas to the community.

[00:21:37] Monica Moriak: I, so when I was finding things, uh, like Affinity and looking at digital and stuff, I was, I needed a new community. I needed to know more about what was in the scrapbooking industry. I, I mean, I hadn't been following it at all. I, I pretty much stayed out of that. Um, because it was overwhelming. And I never really jumped back in until my kids being in high school I was like, okay, I need something. I got a little bit more time. What else is going out there? I was interested and I came across your book club. And I love the idea of the club. And so I remember the book clubs. I don't remember all the books that we read.

[00:22:18] Monica Moriak: Um.

[00:22:19] Jennifer Wilson: I don't remember all the books that we've read at this point.

[00:22:21] Jennifer Wilson: So it's been so many years.

[00:22:23] Monica Moriak: I, 2018, probably 2017, 2018. I think maybe a little earlier than that. I think 2016, no, 2015 was the first time I did LOAD. And and so, um, when I think, when I say these numbers out, these dates out loud, I'm like, Oh, maybe it was longer ago than I thought. But I know, I must have been a regular member by about 2017. Because I did the 2018 Planning Party.

[00:22:56] Jennifer Wilson: Great memory.

[00:22:58] Monica Moriak: Yeah, I was, I was, well, I still have that book. I have a, I actually scrapbooked it. Because that was one of the first times I really said, okay, let's stop and think, what do you want to do?

[00:23:08] Jennifer Wilson: So thankfully, uh, Gmail has great search. Uh, you first became a member on May 19th, 2017.

[00:23:17] Monica Moriak: All right, there we go. I,, I, I love that. And so I, I think I did a quarterly or something for a while. And then I like, uh, I, I'm staying. I am all in. This place is fantastic. Um, and that was probably the first subscription I ever purchased.

[00:23:34] Jennifer Wilson: Wow. Wow. I'm honored because I know some people like subscriptions are, uh, There's like a mental block with it of the recurring payment.

[00:23:43] Monica Moriak: Yes. And there definitely was for me. We had two kids in private school. We were a one income family. And two kids going to be going off to college. Um, I was definitely very much like picky about where am I putting my funds. And I just decided this. This was money well spent, and I have never looked back. I tell everybody that they need to join, that it's probably the best money you could spend for your, not just your scrapbooking life, but just generally improving your life.

[00:24:15] Jennifer Wilson: Oh, thank you. That's thank you for the kind words, Monica.

[00:24:19] Monica Moriak: You're welcome. So

[00:24:20] Jennifer Wilson: Um, your background is in chemistry, mines in geology, water science. And I'm wondering if kind of having I know both at left and right brain parts of us going on, do you think that attracted you to what we do at SimpleScrapper? Because it's not just about how things look, it's, it's how your hobby works.

[00:24:41] Monica Moriak: Oh you know, I'd never really thought of it that way, but maybe. Um, I often wonder about what is it? I generally am attracted by community and people. Um, so that varied. My father was an engineer and my mother was an artist. Um, I

[00:24:58] Jennifer Wilson: Oh, I love that.

[00:24:59] Monica Moriak: Definitely leaned towards the engineering side. Um, I really wanted to go into psychology or education, but was strongly encouraged to go into the sciences.

[00:25:12] Monica Moriak: As someone who was a female in the late 80s with an aptitude in math and science, and is definitely an obliger and people pleaser, I went and got a chemistry degree. And then everybody in my little department, James Madison, was going to some sort of grad school. Whether or not it was to get a Ph. D.

[00:25:34] Monica Moriak: in chemistry, whether it was to go to pharmacy school, med school, dental school. I think there were ten in my graduating class. Everybody went to some graduate program. So I applied for Ph. D. programs. I applied to some top programs up and down the East Coast. I got full rides to, um, UNC Chapel Hill, George Washington, Ohio State, and we ended up at Ohio State.

[00:26:01] Monica Moriak: And I was in their PhD program. And I don't know, a few months into it, I was like, what am I doing? And I can look back and say that it was full on obliger rebellion.

[00:26:11] Monica Moriak: Um, and I love the science, but I love being with people more. And so I, I, I was done. I just couldn't. I managed, I stayed and got my master's.

[00:26:25] Monica Moriak: So they walked me through so I could stay and get a master's because my husband was going to be there anyways, finishing his master's. Um, and then I left and I got a job in it. Um, and I thought it was really, I was tired of school, which is probably part of it, but five years into working in the pharmaceuticals, uh, I.

[00:26:46] Monica Moriak: I didn't have any true, I didn't have any passion for it. It was a slog. And I have an aptitude for math and science. I have to work at it if I'm gonna keep doing it.

[00:26:59] Monica Moriak: And I didn't have any interest. And now I had two children, uh, we're like, okay, let's take a step back. We can afford to go one income for a little bit.

[00:27:08] Monica Moriak: And then my husband got trans transferred down from Connecticut to Delaware. So that was kind of all she wrote. And I started back into education at that point with my kids going to school. Yeah.

[00:27:19] Jennifer Wilson: Do you think your own experiences in being an Obliger, um, helped encourage you to foster your own children's passions? Because you mentioned earlier, they're both in careers that they love and are excited about.

[00:27:34] Monica Moriak: I, I think so. Um, I definitely wanted them to explore what was important to them. And my husband and I both worked hard to introduce them to a bunch of things.

[00:27:45] Monica Moriak: The two, the boys are very different. I've always, they're polar opposites, um, in so many ways. So they introduced each other to things.

[00:27:55] Monica Moriak: Which was very cool. This one person's doing it. So this is easy to add a second one if they're interested. Um, so Aaron, I mean, Aaron started playing golf when he was 18 months old. And he just, He didn't want to play t ball. He wanted to put the little ball on the ground and hit it with the bat like it's a golf ball. And my husband hates golf.

[00:28:15] Monica Moriak: So this, who knows where this came from? So we just kind of, all right, let's try this. You want to try soccer? That's fine. You have to play a season. Oh, you want to play again? That's fine. I, we introduced them to lots of different sports and just, um, It was all about experiences and where did they want to take those?

[00:28:40] Jennifer Wilson: Well and I think your love of like travel and new experiences also kind of connects with that. I can just, yeah, I get a sense of who, how you have operated as a family.

[00:28:51] Monica Moriak: Yes, yes, And my husband grew up traveling back to relatives driving, and I grew up traveling back long trips, um, and always stopping in a different place to explore here or there, seeing something different. So we did the same things with our kids. And most of what we do is experiences.

[00:29:09] Jennifer Wilson: So diving back more into your scrapbooking, you mentioned earlier that you are a kind of a prolific scrapbooker and how digital has lent well to that consistency. What is your longest streak of creating a layout a day.

[00:29:27] Monica Moriak: My longest streak is 26 months

[00:29:30] Jennifer Wilson: Wow.

[00:29:31] Monica Moriak: And I stopped it intentionally. Because I needed to focus on photo management and I wanted to be more intentional about maybe stories and what I was going to do with them. So I, picked July 1st, I guess. To be the first day that I, intentionally did not create a layout.

[00:29:53] Jennifer Wilson: I, yeah, this is super fascinating. Cause it sounds like you're, we can't necessarily focus on multiple things at once. So your focus on like, okay, what's the next layout? What's the next layout. Kind of took the focus off of figuring out what stories are important. You know, um, figuring out your style, which we'll get into in a bit. And of course, photo management and, and doing more and getting more in depth with that.

[00:30:21] Monica Moriak: Yeah, when I first started and I started through LOAD. And I wondered, oh, let's just do another one. Like what? Why not just do another one? And I, I kept going even through my mother's death. One of the things that I realized, because I am definitely math and science leaning, is I needed to really concentrate on doing something creative every day in order to keep that muscle working and moving.

[00:30:52] Monica Moriak: Um, I don't know that I'm in the same place now because I've done it for a while. I can kind of move back and forth. But in the beginning my, design, color, all of that stuff was not natural at all for me. I liked it. I wanted to do it. But that was not a natural thing. Understanding what colors went together.

[00:31:14] Monica Moriak: I mean, it took me a while to really have to tell myself, if you were, say, decorating a mantelpiece and you wanted things to be balanced, I would have made them for years, where you put the exact same things on, on either side, right?

[00:31:30] Monica Moriak: Yes, that's balanced, but it's not all that interesting, right? Uh, and so I had to really work at the creative side.

[00:31:38] Monica Moriak: And I sought out places to learn some of that to, to, um, there was Get It Scrapped had a lot of interesting things back then. That I would, um, go in and read. I think I actually may have done a membership there briefly.

[00:31:54] Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. I mean, they were excellent with, with the design education for sure. And especially for digital scrapbookers. What does your rhythm look like now in terms of balancing creating with the maybe more administrative parts of your hobby that also deserve attention?

[00:32:11] Monica Moriak: So I am very thankful that Peggy started the Monday night photo management. And that is my, my time to catch up. Uh, I honestly started working on figuring out what a system would be 2017, 2018, maybe a little bit later than that. Uh, because at that point, It was Photo Stream. There had to be ways to move things over. I wanted to know what I had and delete like I couldn't. I don't like to constantly search through the same thing over and over again looking for something. So I want to look at it, make a decision, or at least a first pass decision, group it together, and these are keepers, these are not. And I was still using my DSLR, um, in fact that was my main camera, I, at that point, phone cameras weren't as big a thing. Um, or at least not the quality that we see now.

[00:33:08] Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

[00:33:09] Monica Moriak: So I needed to move those, those pictures over. They were being backed up and stored formally on my laptop, right? So there was a whole process in order to make this work. And so I kept tweaking that process. And a large part of that process is the same today. But I've had, I've had conversations with several people who are now members. Um, about what my process has been over the years.

[00:33:37] Monica Moriak: Um, so Monday nights is my night to do all of that. I take advantage of like our Stash Bash, our Refresh, our Finishing Days to sometimes throw in some other things that need to happen. So that I'm on top of the organizing new product or memorabilia. Uh, I added two Fridays to help kind of with projects and scanning old photos or memorabilia. Right. I'm still working on those things. But I have at least the photos. That is something if I miss a week, I know it's going to take me, I need to allow more time the next time. And I need to plan out when we are, um, traveling. And I need to make sure that I allow time in my schedule to go through those photos. Like I can do a first pass while we're traveling, but eventually they need the, the full, the full Monte, as they say.

[00:34:38] Jennifer Wilson: Mm hmm. No, I think it's, it's been so interesting, you know, that particular crop, the photo management crop is mentioned so often, uh, on the podcast by, by members. Um, and I think that giving, you know, we talk about with certain products that give home for your stories. I think one of the things that we do is that we give you homes for certain types of tasks.

[00:35:03] Jennifer Wilson: We make sure that you can kind of cover the gamut without, um, confusion and overwhelm. And all the in between parts. Yes, you should keep creating as much as you can. And we're excited to support you. But here, let's focus on organization. Let's focus on tying up some of those loose ends. Let's make sure we're diving into our products. Um, we're kind of covering all the bases and, and also giving you that rhythm, um, with the things that we do week to week as well. And so, yeah. I love how all of this has kind of come organically from our team. Um, and, you know, members like you who were volunteering their time before they were, um, part of the, the bigger team as well. So it's, yeah, it's fun every single day, for sure.

[00:35:49] Monica Moriak: It is, it is. And I, I like, well, I, I like helping people. I like to see people succeed. Uh, and someone wants to try something, um, then I would like to help them with that. I, I love Affinity Photo, but I recognize it's not for everybody. Um, and, but I don't want people to not try it because it seems like it's too hard. Um, I think everybody can do it and we can walk you through that to get you started.

[00:36:18] Jennifer Wilson: I have found it as a Photoshop longtime Photoshop user, I found it I find it pretty easy to pick up. Because I've tried so many other tools over the years. Like for example I always say I will never understand how to use Illustrator, but I found Affinity Photo incredibly easy in comparison. Yeah, there are a couple things that you have to, like, train your brain, like, this doesn't work the same way if you are a Photoshop user. But, uh, I've, I found it really easy to pick up. And obviously the convenience of being iPad and computer is really nice today as well.

[00:36:53] Monica Moriak: Yeah. I will say when I first started on the iPad and I wanted to learn something, most of the tutorials would be for Photoshop. So I'd have to Photoshop and then translate it into Affinity and then think, okay, and so where are those commands in on the iPad ? So it was like a, a double, double transcription there.

[00:37:15] Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I, I would say that was kind of how I had to learn it was, okay, I want to do this thing. What does that icon typically look like and where can I find it? Or what are the words that they use to describe that thing rather than just kind of a natural, okay, I'm going to press this button automatically. Um, I had to think through what is it that I'm trying to do. How do they implement that?

[00:37:36] Monica Moriak: I do think Photoshop has a lot more automatic stuff that people, uh, tend to want to use more, at least from a scrapbooking side. A lot of the interaction I have with people using Affinity Photo, are photographers or other type of designers. Um, not so much, at least my interaction hasn't been lots of scrapbookers, the Facebook groups and things, um, it's interesting to see the composites and the creations they do. It's, it, I think it's comparable, but I, I feel like, uh, it uses a lot of I don't know, there's just a lot of things that I don't even delve into.

[00:38:15] Jennifer Wilson: Well, and specifically in terms of what maybe digital scrapbookers are looking for, are you talking about the uses of like styles and actions and things like that?

[00:38:23] Monica Moriak: Yes. Yes, and even like the, I think the shadowing and that type of stuff. Um, I think Photoshop has the same. of those automatics. Whereas Affinity is like, okay, you can do anything you want. What do you want to do?

[00:38:36] Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yeah. I, yeah, I noticed that. I was like, oh, I can really put this anywhere in terms of like, you know, the other side of the page. I really need to control where the shadow is if I want to make it look realistic.

[00:38:49] Monica Moriak: Right, right.

[00:38:50] Jennifer Wilson: Because it's its own separate layer.

[00:38:52] Monica Moriak: Right. And you can make separate layers for shadows. Which is once I've done it, I was like, Oh, that makes sense. But in the beginning, it wasn't obvious. It's not just say, it doesn't automatically make it a separate layer. There's a step you can go to create it as a separate layer.

[00:39:10] Jennifer Wilson: Let's dive in more to your personal style because this is something that I've kind of observed in you over the past few years. You have found like a huge creative comfort zone using Katie Pertit's digital designs. So what is it about her products that work well for you?

[00:39:27] Monica Moriak: I think her products coordinate well with each other.

[00:39:31] Monica Moriak: Uh, when I was first introduced to Katie Pertiet and her Designer Digital website, I was completely overwhelmed trying to figure out where things were. And I was like, Oh, I'm not really that artsy. Um, that's not really for me. And so I kind of didn't, um, do much with it.

[00:39:47] Monica Moriak: And then she was eventually, she was the only designer on her website. The other, Cathy Zielske and some other people had moved on to other places. And, uh, then she created her new website. And I, I can't even say why I, something drew me to it. And I was like, Oh, let me, let me try this. And the more I played with it, the more I enjoyed it.

[00:40:12] Monica Moriak: Like I can look through my years of scrapbooking and I can see that artsy ness, um, sort of come through. And it's not super artsy, but there's that movement that there's this,

[00:40:25] Monica Moriak: mild, subtle touch. Where there's, um, some masking, um, there's like, I can't do a white background. I know you love your white card stock.

[00:40:36] Monica Moriak: I do, I don't like any plain background. I want some texture. I want like paint look, watercolor look. And I just, the more I see people do it, I was like, Oh, let me try that. Or, Oh, here's a challenge. And all right, they used paint. How am I going to add this on? And it's, it's, you just kind of grew a little bit here and there as I settled into what my style is. I think I like the fact that she's the only designer there, essentially. Her daughter does some designs, but they're all in the same boat. Where so many other websites have great product and great designers. But I think it was overwhelming for me.

[00:41:16] Jennifer Wilson: Sure. That, that makes sense in terms of like making decisions and, uh, because everything coordinates well, you can trust that something you bought five years ago is, is probably going to, to sync well with something you buy tomorrow. Um, if you need, uh, a specialty type item, um, that you can search for from your stash.

[00:41:37] Monica Moriak: Yes.

[00:41:38] Jennifer Wilson: Did it take time to kind of really figure out what your style was? Like, how did you know that you felt like settled? And when did, when did you kind of stop really acquiring things from other stores?

[00:41:50] Monica Moriak: So it took me a long time to figure out what my style was. And I think just from a design standpoint, I, you know, I started because I wanted my photos to have a better home than slipped into a pocket in the photo book, in a photo album. And as I, I still had all these photos, so I, I really had my early pages have lots of photos on them.

[00:42:15] Monica Moriak: And then I would do a page that had maybe three photos in a line. Cause I only had a couple of photos. And I was like, Oh, that's really cool. I really liked that. And then something else would come up and my brain would be like, Oh yeah, okay, now you can make this line. And for a long time, I was like, no, you just did a linear page. You can't do another linear page. I really thought that like telling myself, no, that's the same thing. You have to do it differently. And a couple of years ago, I think I finally, it was like, this is ridiculous. You can draw millions of linear pages. And they're not, going to look the same. Like stop fighting this. And I really do credit Simple Scrapper and just the constant, like, what's your way. Think about, you know, what's important to you. And, and I think a lot of the feedback as I was sharing my pages in the the group, about why people liked them, right? Um, and just being surprised by the designs are really enjoying the designs.

[00:43:11] Monica Moriak: And I, I was kind of surprised by that in a lot of ways. Uh, and the amount of feedback I get around white space. Uh, which I realize is what I need. Um, the photos still shine. But I'm going to have a lot of places that a lot of open space on my pages. And I'm going to have a photo or a line of photos, um, somewhere on the page.

[00:43:39] Monica Moriak: And, uh, I am very happy with that. I actively chose to stick with just one designer because I wanted to share more online. And part of sharing is to be able to share like what you used as well.

[00:43:59] Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

[00:44:00] Monica Moriak: And so It's easier to put up what you've used if you haven't used that much. So I just that was my whole kit that was like sticking with one I think you're doing a challenge and you need to do that one person's product. It was just slowly but surely, I was like, you know what?

[00:44:22] Monica Moriak: I'm going to make my life simpler because it was very complicated and shortly after Aaron left with my mother dying and then helping my father, I was like, you know what? I can make my life simpler. Decide once. I'm going to use Katie Pertiet's products. Except in January, I'm going to use Katie Pertiet's products.

[00:44:39] Jennifer Wilson: And January is for the Lily Pad month of challenges.

[00:44:42] Monica Moriak: Yeah, The Lily Pad Month of Challenges. So that's the other place. Um, that the month of challenges in January is a great way for me to kickstart, um, getting creative again. Because I definitely slow down during the holidays as I'm hanging out with family and doing, um, Christmassy things and making memories. Um, in order to scrapbook them later.

[00:45:04] Monica Moriak: Uh, and I love, now the, the month of challenges, you get 31 challenges. But they don't have to be submitted that day. And I have learned some incredibly new techniques. I have taken something that looked like, how am I going to do this, and then been able to say a page that, you have to fill the page with embellishments, which is like not my style at all.

[00:45:30] Monica Moriak: And if you look at my page, which is filled. It, uh, also has a lot of white space, because the embellishments can all be the same color.

[00:45:37] Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes. That's really cool.

[00:45:40] Monica Moriak: I follow that right in to LOAD.

[00:45:43] Jennifer Wilson: Okay. And LOAD is layout a day for those who aren't familiar.

[00:45:46] Monica Moriak: So I, scrapbook, January through February is definitely a big time for me.

[00:45:52] Jennifer Wilson: And then when you come back to kind of your own, like your own rhythm, your own guided experience, does it feel like, uh, like, I don't know, to me, to me, it seems like settling into your favorite comfy chair.

[00:46:07] Monica Moriak: Yes. Yes. Yeah, I love to pick up my iPad and sometimes I just have a story I want to tell. There's some new product. I just kind of want to get lost in the design. A lot of times there's a photo that I saw in my photo management. I'm like, Oh yeah, I really want to do something with that. Um, there could be a challenge. And so a lot of times it's, you know what, pick it up. Let's, maybe we talk often about go to your room, sit down at your desk and see where it leads you. Um, if I pick up my iPad and open up my program, put some photos on there, like, alright, let's see where does this go? Oh, I want to add this here and I can do a page in 30 minutes or I can take two hours to do the same page. It depends on how I feel and what time I have.

[00:46:50] Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes, yes. Now, you mentioned earlier that you're a photographer at the University of Delaware. Uh, how much time are you spending on that these days?

[00:47:00] Monica Moriak: So my current position is more, uh, organizing their photos. So I'm in less than ten hours a week. I'm not authorized to work more than 10 hours a week. I work around four to six hours a week depending upon the week. Um, when, so it was a friend of mine from our previous college hired me back. She knew that I didn't have that much time. She wanted some help because they, that college was a little disorganized. Uh, so anything that I could do would be worth it. Um, cause right now education equity is my primary focus. And so that is where most of my time goes. And then my own personal self care and my family are the next focus. And my family doesn't, other than my husband, who's also very busy. Um, my kids don't live near me. So it's, I have to be very intentional when we're going to visit.

[00:47:57] Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes. And how, I'm curious, are you using what are you using to organize their photos? And I may be asking this for my own other job purposes, because, uh, at our, at the University of Illinois and our program, we have a huge challenge with that as well.

[00:48:14] Monica Moriak: Um, yeah. So right now they have a bunch of servers that have things on them. They have a SharePoint drive that I think they need to get rid of. Uh, everything's being moved over to a Google drive.

[00:48:27] Jennifer Wilson: Okay.

[00:48:28] Monica Moriak: A lot of stuff is sitting on somebody's computer someplace.

[00:48:32] Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

[00:48:34] Monica Moriak: So I use Google drive and Google photos and Media Valet in my first position at the university. But Media Valet is for photos that the university owns.

[00:48:46] Monica Moriak: And these are photos that may have been taken by the university. They may have been shared by somebody. Um, who was on a trip. I work for the College of Earth, Ocean and Environment. So a lot of stuff happens on boats in oceans, not near here.

[00:49:02] Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes. Yes. So interesting. I mean, we could have probably have a whole conversation just about that part as well. Now, you mentioned your mom's passing and how that impacted and you were able to scrapbook through it. And then more recently, your father passed away. Um, I've appreciated how open you've been about that experience. Um, and that we could, you know, hopefully support you through it. Is there any wisdom that you have for other memory keepers who are experiencing loss and grief, um, or will in the future as we all will.

[00:49:36] Monica Moriak: Yes, um, I thought about this. I, so one of the things I tell people is, um, take the photos. Um, make the memories. Um, do so much of, like, after my mother died, trying, and even beforehand, but trying to get my parents settled in a place that really would be less stressful for them. At least I thought it'd be less stressful for them.

[00:50:00] Monica Moriak: But my dad was, you know, Yeah, he was, he was agreeable. Yeah, we should do that. We'll get to that. But right now, let's hang out and talk for a while.

[00:50:09] Monica Moriak: I don't regret that we spent all that time talking. Um, I don't regret, my family knows I am the queen of goodbye selfies. I try very hard to take a selfie of the people I'm with, especially elderly family members and my kids. Because honestly, I never know if that'll be the last time I see them. And I know that sounds morbid. But I feel like when you recognize the finite of life, you're much more likely to be in that moment and take time to enjoy that moment. Than you might if you're like, well, alright, this was hassle, this was, this is too much, but we'll see each other again again in three months, six months. There'll be something else. And I've been, we had a party here. And a few months later, one of the members of the party, who was not much older than I am, died suddenly.

[00:51:04] Monica Moriak: I've had a friend lose a wife suddenly, right? That's my age. And, and, you know, part of it was she wasn't really caring for herself, she was caring for her family.

[00:51:17] Monica Moriak: Those are the things I think we need to enjoy the time, recognize that life is finite. But I also say scrap the hard things or take, I took a picture of my father, um, before I left the room after he died. I have a picture of him in the casket when we had to, my brother and I had to, uh, uh, identify, you know, confirm that that was him. Because we weren't there when he was picked up. I took pictures along the way. As he was dying.

[00:51:45] Monica Moriak: And those are hard. But I'm glad I have them.

[00:51:53] Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes. I am. I am glad you had the, it's not even a courage, but just the empowerment that it's okay to take the pictures that you know you want and need to have.

[00:52:05] Jennifer Wilson: Um, Particularly those of us who, and also to encourage others, maybe who aren't memory keepers in a traditional sense, to, to take the photos, um, so that they have them for the future.

[00:52:19] Monica Moriak: Yeah, especially getting yourself in photos. Do whatever it takes to, even if it's just half of yourself, right? It's just, yeah, a little bit if you. Figure out like, how do you feel comfortable with it and make sure you do some of that. You can always not do anything with the photos. But you cannot go back and get them.

[00:52:39] Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes. Thank you so much for sharing, uh, so much of your heart, uh, in this episode, as well as so many details of your process. Um, I always appreciate chatting with you and enjoying your wisdom.

[00:52:54] Monica Moriak: Thank you for having me. I had a lot of fun. Um, I love to talk scrapbooking. I, I love to talk. But scrapbooking and memory keeping and family, those are important things.

[00:53:05] Jennifer Wilson: Monica, can you share where our listeners can find you online and anything you might be working on later this year?

[00:53:12] Monica Moriak: So I am online on Instagram at Mo's Baskets. Um, I'm actually anywhere at Mo's Baskets, technically. Uh, I try to do some on Instagram. I'm largely not on Facebook. Uh, and. I've been working on a Pinterest board that's specifically my scrapbook pages. So that's also Mo's Baskets, I think, or no, it's Mo Scraps as a Pinterest board. And I really want to share more of what I'm doing. I love seeing other people's, I love sharing what I have. Uh, I do a lot of things with books that I'm like, Oh, well, I'm doing the pages now, but I don't want to share them until I finished printing them. So, uh, I create my own problems some days.

[00:53:55] Jennifer Wilson: Well, we all do. I think We'll include all the links that you've mentioned, uh, uh, that are personal to you as well as during our conversation in the show notes. Thank you again for spending time with me.

[00:54:06] Monica Moriak: This was great. Thank you for having me.

[00:54:08] Jennifer Wilson: And to all of our listeners, please remember that you have permission to scrapbook your way.