SYW278 – My Way with Inessa Persekian

[00:00:24] 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 278. In this episode, I'm interviewing Inessa Persekian for the My Way series. My Way is all about celebrating the unique ways memory keepers get things done. We're excited to have Inessa as the September featured artist at Simple Scrapper.

[00:01:19] Jennifer Wilson: Hey, Inessa. Welcome to Scrapbook Your Way.

[00:01:22] Inessa Persekian: Hey, Jennifer. So glad to be here.

[00:01:24] Jennifer Wilson: Can you share a little bit about yourself with our audience so they can get to know you before we dive in?

[00:01:31] Inessa Persekian: Yeah, of course. So, um, I guess from a scrapbooking standpoint, I've been scrapbooking for probably over 20 years now. I think I started sometime around 16, maybe a little bit younger. But, um, it's been my favorite hobby since then and I just love it. It's evolved over time and it is something that just makes me really happy to do.

[00:01:57] In terms of kind of personal side of things, I, um, am married, have three kids. Uh, one of them is now in high school. She just started freshman year, so. A lot of excitement happening here.

[00:02:10] Jennifer Wilson: Yes, big changes.

[00:02:12] Inessa Persekian: Yes, so much change. Oh my gosh. Um, yeah, my, my middle son just started middle school as well. So now I've got one in elementary, middle, and high school, which is a whole lot of fun.

[00:02:25] Jennifer Wilson: I bet. I bet. So of course I love to ask our guests what's going on for them in their lives. So what's exciting you right now, both inside of your hobby and in your everyday life? As if you have time beyond, you know, having kids in multiple schools.

[00:02:40] Inessa Persekian: You know what I make time for it. That's everybody says that and I love scrapbooking so much. So I definitely make that time. Um, I think like personally, definitely, so my daughter, she's been doing dance for a long time and she's now in the varsity football team. Um, her freshman year. So lots of exciting activities coming up.

[00:03:04] They've got scrimmages and games. So I'm really looking forward to that, um, and just enjoying that time. And then, um, I think on the scrapbooking side, just really excited for all of the fall crops that are coming up. So I've got a couple trips planned, um, and just really excited to, to participate.

[00:03:26] Jennifer Wilson: All right. So are we talking about going back to the personal side? Are we talking about American football or soccer?

[00:03:33] Inessa Persekian: American football. Yep.

[00:03:35] Jennifer Wilson: Okay. Awesome. Awesome. Yeah.

[00:03:37] Inessa Persekian: Our high school has, so for the football games, they have a cheer team as always. They also have a dance team, so we're excited to see her on there.

[00:03:46] Jennifer Wilson: Yes, for sure. So I also of course, love to hear about the stories that you're interested in telling. We like to talk about our memory keeping Bucket List. These are stories that feel important to tell. Sometimes they're big, sometimes they're really small, but do you have an important story that you've not yet captured?

[00:04:05] Inessa Persekian: Actually I do. So, um, as long as I've been scrapbooking, I still have, um, so just a little bit, I guess, more about myself, but I, I was born in Ukraine and I came here when I was 10 years old. And when we came, we really brought very few things. Um, my mom had maybe a couple photos of us and the family, just a couple like personal belongings, but that was about it. So for a long time, I didn't have a lot of family pictures. And that is one thing that I really missed. So my mom and my sister, um, actually went back to Ukraine probably about 10 years ago. And thankfully, um, the house we had there, our extended family was, uh, was living there and they kept, um, our photos.

[00:04:57] So they were actually able to bring them back, uh, when they went. And I have the photos. They've been sitting in my box and it is the one project that I really want to document is really to create that family album, um, that we just don't have. And I'm not sure what's stopping me from doing that. I think it's a little bit of, you know, it, the photos are so special. They're, they're one of a kind. Um, so maybe a little bit of that fear of screwing it up. Um, but it is one of those projects that is on my list that I really want to tackle.

[00:05:34] Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes. That's yeah. It's such a treasure that you have, especially when you thought that maybe you would never see those photos again. Um, and I definitely understand that with things that feel so precious. As you said, like there's, this is one of a kind. Um, In my opinion, I would probably approach that very differently than I would approach just a layout that I'm going to make about, uh, with a photo from today that I could print 20 times if I need to. Um, it's, I think definitely I would, it's more about preserving those and then maybe somehow pairing it with journaling, but there's no, yeah, it's just a very different perspective for sure.

[00:06:16] Inessa Persekian: It is. Yeah. So I think I'm going to try and maybe digitize some of them just to have a copy that I can work with. And then, you know, find a method to really just preserve their originals.

[00:06:28] Jennifer Wilson: For sure, for sure. So this is one of our My Way episodes, because you're a Simple Scrapper featured artist. Um, right now we're talking about projects. This is one of my favorite parts of the year. I love figuring out how we can make a project more fun, more finishable. How do we stay motivated from start to finish? And how do we like get into those projects like the one you're just describing when sometimes it feels intimidating? So do you have a piece of advice that you might share about managing, um, one or more of your scrapbook projects?

[00:07:02] Inessa Persekian: Yeah, absolutely. So actually I thought about that and, um, I do like to organize, so that's really helpful. But, um, I think a couple pieces for me is I do, um, I do plan out my projects. So especially with having some design team commitments, um, I do have to be mindful about my time. Um, so I do plan those out in terms of what needs to get created and when I have to submit projects by.

[00:07:31] And then I also try to work on personal projects throughout the month as well. And I have a project card that helps me kind of organize all the materials that I have to work on. And then I have a project tracker. It's basically like a one page, not a spreadsheet, but just a one page piece of paper that I use to kind of track what needs to happen once. So that's my method. Um, for projects that are like more personal that I want to work on down the line, but I have, you know, I just don't have time to do right now. Um, I do have a secondary location for, the papers, the embellishments that I kind of keep to the side. And then when I do have an opportunity to squeeze something else in, that's my go to.

[00:08:18] Jennifer Wilson: So what types of things are on your project tracking sheet? So somebody wanted to create something for themselves like this.

[00:08:26] Inessa Persekian: Yeah, so, um, I have a couple things. So, usually it's for design teams. So, it's the type of project I need to create, what product I have to use. Um, if they're specific story or photos that I want to utilize. I will make a note of that, um, so that I don't forget by the time I get to the project. Um, and then I also keep track of, um, kind of the materials I want to use.

[00:08:53] Jennifer Wilson: Nice, nice, nice. So you mentioned that you started scrapbooking what, more than 20 years ago. How, like what prompted you to begin and how has your hobby evolved in that time?

[00:09:04] Inessa Persekian: So this is a fun story. Um, so my husband and I were dating in high school. And I don't know if it was randomly, but, um, I've always had an interest in, like, family history and photos. And I'm sure at one point I probably asked if he had a baby album, and he didn't. So his mom, she she kept a couple like notes in a small little journal. But she didn't have a lot of photos with the journaling. And I thought it would be fun to make him a baby album.

[00:09:37] So.

[00:09:38] Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

[00:09:40] Inessa Persekian: So I went to Michaels because I think that's all that was available at the time Made the baby album. Um, it was a special gift. I think I either gave it to him for his birthday or maybe Christmas, but that kind of started my interest in scrapbooking.

[00:09:56] Jennifer Wilson: Oh, I love that. That, you know, that's, it's definitely a different story. I've done a lot for my husband as well, and I can see like there's, um, yeah, it's, it's not only just a special gift, but it's amazing to be able to work with someone else to help capture, um, some of these important things so that you have that recorded.

[00:10:18] Inessa Persekian: Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, it was fun working with his mom on it. Tell me about this picture or how old was he in this picture? So it was, it was really fun.

[00:10:27] Jennifer Wilson: Now, do you have, uh, how have you approached documenting your own children in terms of like their baby albums?

[00:10:34] Inessa Persekian: So for mine, definitely like a 12 by 12 scrapbooker. Um, and for my daughter, her first six months of life, I think I have like two or three full, full albums. So with that, I realized by the time my middle son was born, it was probably not sustainable. So I took the approach of just waiting a couple months before I scrapbooked the pictures. Because I did find, you know, what you like in the moment changes over time.

[00:11:06] Jennifer Wilson: Oh, yes.

[00:11:07] Yes.

[00:11:07] Inessa Persekian: yeah, I definitely took the approach of trying to kind of narrow down the photos and the memory and the story that I want to tell. Um, but I will say I'm still very much, you know, I have lots of albums and I'm running out of space.

[00:11:25] Jennifer Wilson: So what sizes or formats do you typically create in today? And is, does that kind of, the idea that you have a lot of albums and running out of space, is that impacting your choices?

[00:11:37] Inessa Persekian: Not yet. Um, I still love 12 by 12. That is my favorite format. But I've also found a love for mini albums. So that is one thing when I first started scrapbooking, I was really focused on 12 by 12 layouts. And I really didn't see why somebody would create a mini album. Because to me I felt like, you know, what, what would I do with it?

[00:12:03] Um, I did take a break for a little while when I had my three kind of youngest, all of the, you know, very close in age. Um, so I didn't have a lot of time and I did some more Shutterfly albums for a couple years. And then I kind of came back to, back to our 12 by 12 scrapbooking. And through a couple different events, I actually found, um, a love for mini albums again and, um, that came through.

[00:12:34] Actually, Erica Rose Creates. She taught a class at She Loves Color and it was a mini album. And I absolutely fell in love with it. And that has now become part of my creative process as well as just a mix of your standard 12 by 12s and mini albums.

[00:12:52] Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes. Maybe I've had a similar journey where I'm like, you know, I'm, I'm really into storytelling and bigger layouts. And then recently I've been like, just give me all the product. Cause I want to shove it all in and make it as big and chunky as possible.

[00:13:06] Inessa Persekian: Absolutely. And they're just so fun to look at and flip through and they're easy. Like I find my kids now when they want to look at something that I've created, they tend to grab the mini albums. Just because they're so small, they're easy. They're fun to look at.

[00:13:23] Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I mean, I even don't want to pull my big, you know, they're not really 12 by 12 albums. They're like 15 by 17. I mean, they're huge. And they're heavy when they're full. Um, yeah, it definitely makes a difference.

[00:13:35] Inessa Persekian: Yeah, absolutely. But I will not stop creating them. I still love it.

[00:13:40] Jennifer Wilson: So whose products are you completely obsessed with? You know, which obviously the design teams you're on? Are there other things that you're purchasing? Can you talk more about like what you love?

[00:13:51] Inessa Persekian: Yeah, I mean, I, so brands wise, I, I love everything. My main kind of choices and colors that I veer towards are brighter colors. So, um, definitely not, I'm not a grungy scrapper. Um, don't do a lot of vintage. Um, so I do gravitate towards more of the brighter palettes. Um, I love Bella Blvd, Pinkfresh Studio.

[00:14:17] I know they've kind of paused on creating scrapbook products, but I do love their, their designs. Um, of course I love Paige and Vicki and, um, Simple Stories. Kind of some of the smaller brands. Um, I love sequins and bling and sparkle. So I have definitely a large collection of all sorts of product, um, in my stash. Um, but yeah, those are my favorites, and then cut files. So that is something that I like probably in the last five years I've used a lot more of. Um, so, and there's lots of, lots of brands out there.

[00:14:53] Jennifer Wilson: How do you like to store your sequins? I've kind of, I have to like hold myself back from buying, you know, sequins and especially like this fun sequin mixes. Cause I'm like, it's just going to become chaos.

[00:15:08] Inessa Persekian: Yeah, it can. Um, so I do primarily use Spiegel Mom Scraps sequins.. So they come in little, um, I guess plastic baggies. And I have a long plastic container that I just kind of set them in and, um, it works for me.

[00:15:26] Jennifer Wilson: Nice. Nice. Always best to keep it simple if you can, for sure.

[00:15:30] Inessa Persekian: Yep.

[00:15:31] Jennifer Wilson: So, you know, this is a podcast, but I love that we can describe some of the things that we do in scrapbooking. Um, what is something that you use or do on most of your pages?

[00:15:41] Inessa Persekian: Definitely, I like to use a lot of color and pattern. I love using foam. So if I can create layers with either adhesive or foam tape, with bending, with just layering different ephemera, you will see that in all of my layouts. And then I love finishing up with either some sequins or rhinestones or pops of color, but I love adding little bling and glitter details.

[00:16:09] Jennifer Wilson: Nice, nice. When do you typically find the time or energy for scrapbooking?

[00:16:14] Inessa Persekian: Oh man, you know what? I get this asked all the time and it ebbs and flows. So my husband knows I love scrapbooking. Like it's a huge passion for me. So he definitely tries to understand and give me that space to create. But usually it's, you know, after work, once the kids have gone through their activities and dinner, I will take some time to just go and create. Um, you know, my husband will watch some TV with the boys and hang out. And I prefer to use that time to scrapbook. So I will try to find time throughout the week. And then on the weekends, um, we'll try to do a couple hours just depending on what projects need to get done. And what's going on with family life. But I definitely make sure that I, I build in that time.

[00:17:07] Jennifer Wilson: Do you have any strategies that you lean on when you need to get motivated or ones that you're like constantly leaning on to stay motivated?

[00:17:17] Inessa Persekian: Yeah, you know, some months are harder than others. I think when I'm really running low on motivation, I try to maybe find a photo that just makes me happy and usually that does the trick. It gets me kind of thinking about, ooh, I want to, document it this way or do something with it. Or I'll find a product that I really like. Whether it's within a collection or just, you know, something that's stand alone. But if that doesn't work, I will look at social media. So I'll just flip through Instagram and see, you know, something just speaks my interest or inspires me in a different way. Um, I will look through magazines, so Scrapbook and Cards Today. Um, and usually that gives me an idea or some, like an element that I see and I'm like, Ooh, I really like that. You know, what can I do with that?

[00:18:15] Jennifer Wilson: Now, one thing we haven't chatted about. So I know you love 12 by 12. Are you mostly creating single pages or do you do any double page spreads?

[00:18:23] Inessa Persekian: Um, periodically I will do a double page spread. I'm usually a single page scrapbooker. But I would say, You know, if out of like 10 projects that I create, maybe one of them will be a double page.

[00:18:35] Jennifer Wilson: What influences your choice of doing that? Is it, you know, I just have so many photos or I have a fun idea or it could be anything.

[00:18:45] Inessa Persekian: Yeah, usually it's how many photos I have. So, I do tend to scrapbook smaller sized photos, and I can typically get a good quantity of them on a page. However, sometimes there's just those photos where I want them bigger, I want them more prominent, and that's where I'll go towards a double page.

[00:19:06] Jennifer Wilson: Sure, sure, for sure. Um, is there something in our hobby that you've realized is just not for you? You tried it, you gave it a fair shake, but you're like, you know, that's, that's for other people. That's not for me.

[00:19:17] Inessa Persekian: Actually, I had to think about this one. But, so after you know, I took a pause from traditional scrapbooking and I was doing Shutterfly. And then I got back into traditional scrapbooking. And one thing that I started testing was Traveler's Notebooks. And I made one of them and I realized it's just not for me. My, I like so many like chunky elements that Traveler's Notebook looked like an open book, like I couldn't close it. Just cause there was so much in there, so I'm like, it's definitely not a format for me.

[00:19:56] Jennifer Wilson: That's why we're putting like two and a half and three inch rings on our, the mini albums, right? Because they can support, uh, more thickness.

[00:20:04] Inessa Persekian: That's right, yup.

[00:20:05] Jennifer Wilson: So you mentioned organizing before that maybe that's something that you maybe enjoy or a little bit, uh, good at compared to others. Do you have any favorite organizing tips or solutions?

[00:20:16] Inessa Persekian: Yeah, well I definitely like to organize. To me, when something's organized, it just mentally helps with the clutter. So in terms of solutions, I try to have a container or space for everything. And, whether it's in my drawers or my table. And I do have a wall on the back of my craft room. That has all sorts of different storage units. So those really help. I do try to keep collections together, and then once I get to a place where there's just not enough pieces in a collection left, then I kind of separate them out and put them more into like a ephemera or letters, or just different embellishments. But otherwise, I tend to keep them together, um, just because it makes it a lot easier to create. Especially when you're low on time. Just grabbing a collection that has coordinating pieces makes that process a little bit quicker.

[00:21:12] Jennifer Wilson: Yes, for sure. Now, do you, when you're kind of, let's call it de kitting, or, you know, we're taking apart something that was a collection or a kit from the starting point. Are you organizing by category of supplies or do you go into color at all?

[00:21:28] Inessa Persekian: I'm mostly category. I don't do by color. Um, the only thing I would organize by color is my letter stickers.

[00:21:38] Jennifer Wilson: Mm hmm.

[00:21:38] Inessa Persekian: That's about it. Everything else is just more the type of product.

[00:21:42] Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes. I can see that too. I think that's basically what I did. I have like one side of like neutrals, like black, white cork, and then the other side is all the color.

[00:21:52] Inessa Persekian: Pretty much, yeah, that's me too.

[00:21:54] Jennifer Wilson: So I also like to kind of step back a little bit and ask these last two questions. Where would you like your scrapbooking to be in 10 years?

[00:22:04] Inessa Persekian: You know, this is such a hard question. I, I really don't know. I mean, other than having the opportunity to continue scrapbooking, that's really all I want. Um, you know, as long as I have the capability to do that, um, then that'll make me happy.

[00:22:23] Jennifer Wilson: So. Your youngest child, will they be graduated in 10 years?

[00:22:29] Inessa Persekian: Yes, they will be. Oh my gosh. But I'm hoping I'll still have lots of content to scrapbook by then.

[00:22:37] Jennifer Wilson: Yes, I'm, you know, I'm not afraid of, I'm not afraid of running out. That's for sure. There will be past memories that we have not yet documented, and then we'll be continuing to make new memories. They just might look a little bit different at that point. When, um, we and those of us who are in kind of a similar age bracket are empty nesters.

[00:22:56] Inessa Persekian: Yep, exactly, yeah. I'm like, we'll cross that bridge when it comes.

[00:23:01] Jennifer Wilson: For sure. Yes. So what has being a scrapbooker taught you?

[00:23:05] Inessa Persekian: It's taught me a couple things. So I think one is living in the moment, um, and really just taking in what's happening and knowing that I can always snap that photo and document. And just have that memory to look back on. Um, that is one thing that I always feel like my memory is horrible. So I just love the idea of being able to take that photo and kind of look back and kind of remember that moment.

[00:23:34] But I think, yeah, living in the moment and just going for it. You know, it's one thing where you might have a hobby that's got to be very precise. With scrapbooking it's really your creative process, your flow. So just enjoying it and not worrying too much about what it's going to look like at the end or if it's quote unquote good enough. So really just enjoying them.

[00:23:58] Jennifer Wilson: Yes. I think that's so important. And even if, you know, for other crafts, like I'm like quilting and knitting, yes, maybe quote mistakes are more obvious, but still it's something that you hopefully enjoy the process of and are enjoying the fruits of your labor. Just like we do in scrapbooking. Um, Yeah, it's we have a wonderful hobby.

[00:24:23] Inessa Persekian: Yes, we do. Absolutely. And you know what when people look at your work because you know, I have friends that enjoy it but don't scrapbook themselves. They just like looking at it and they don't know they just love it. They love seeing it. So it's really, you know, sometimes we get in our head and just enjoy that process

[00:24:43] Jennifer Wilson: Oh, for sure. I, I remember so many times where I've been working with products that just maybe were out of my like style comfort zone and I couldn't really get the page to look right. And so I'm like, you know what, I just have to like, let's just finish this and move on. And then I look back years later and I'm like, that page is fine. Like, sure. I may not really still don't like those colors, but it's. it's a scrapbook page. The story is told. Let's move on. Not everything is going to be a perfect masterpiece. And it was an experiment in understanding, Hey, guess what? I don't really like bright purple on Halloween layouts. It doesn't work for me.

[00:25:18] Inessa Persekian: Exactly. Always learning.

[00:25:21] Jennifer Wilson: Yes, this has been so nice to chat with you today. Can you share where our listeners can find you and what you might have new or coming up later this year?

[00:25:31] Inessa Persekian: Yeah, absolutely. It's been a blast. Thank you so much for having me on. Um, in terms of kind of where to find me, um, definitely on social media. So Instagram, Facebook. You can find me on YouTube, under Paper and Bling. So that's my handle. And, um, I also have a website. And I've got some fun upcoming classes and kits, um, that are fall themed. Um, all about the boys and Christmas. So check it out. Um, I've got more coming and just really happy to be able to offer, to offer those. Um, and I've got a class on Big Picture Classes as well that just went live. So that one's mini albums, um, and was really fun to create.

[00:26:16] Jennifer Wilson: Wonderful. We will include all those links in the show notes for this episode. Thanks again for spending time with me.

[00:26:23] Inessa Persekian: Thank you so much, it's been a blast.

[00:26:24] Jennifer Wilson: And to all of our listeners, please remember that you have permission to scrapbook your way.