SYW282 – How Do You Stay Aligned?

[00:00:00] Helen DeRam: I felt very aligned in that way, in the natural world. And I thought about, in the future, looking back on kind of like the change in our natural environment and climate and things like that, that I'm sort of quietly documenting myself.

[00:00:20] 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 282. In this episode, Helen DeRam joins me for an update on the Aligned project. We reflect on Summer and share our perspectives on the final season of this endeavor: Fall.

[00:00:49] Hey Helen, it is nice to chat with you again.

[00:00:51] Helen DeRam: Hey Jennifer, it's always great to chat with you.

[00:00:54] Jennifer Wilson: For those who maybe haven't heard you on previous episodes, can you share a little bit about yourself?

[00:00:59] Helen DeRam: Sure, I live in northern Illinois with my husband. I am a IT director by day. I love scrapbooking, gardening, antiquing. I'm a bird nerd. And I'm also on the creative team for Simple Scrapper, which I love.

[00:01:15] Jennifer Wilson: Yes, I love having you as part of our creative family here. Now, like, one quick question related to your day job. There was like that weird Microsoft thing a few weeks back. Did that throw your organization into total chaos too?

[00:01:28] Helen DeRam: Thankfully it did not.

[00:01:30] Jennifer Wilson: Okay.

[00:01:31] Helen DeRam: Lucky on that one.

[00:01:33] Jennifer Wilson: Yes, for sure. I know that our, like, it wasn't my computer cause I work at home, but everyone in the office, like they were completely locked out for like three days. It was crazy.

[00:01:44] Helen DeRam: Thankfully I didn't have to go through that.

[00:01:46] Jennifer Wilson: Wonderful. So what's exciting you right now?

[00:01:49] Helen DeRam: So inside of scrapbooking, have you seen the Pretty Little Studio, You Are My Sunshine line? It's very.

[00:01:58] Jennifer Wilson: See it. I liked it.

[00:01:59] Helen DeRam: I love it. And I actually just got it today. The mailman brought it and I was very excited. It's just so beautiful. And it's very summery. It's very maybe different, I think, from what I would normally pick, although it does have a lot of florals. I say that, but at the same time, it has florals. It has a lot of like, watercolor painterly doodly things and little critters, which I love. So I guess it's sort of, you know, in my wheelhouse. It's just that it's like really bright colors, but it's beautiful. And I'm so excited to use it. So, um, I would definitely recommend checking it out. It's very different, I feel.

[00:02:40] Jennifer Wilson: It is. It is. And there's a lot of like different parts to the collection that have different kind of styles of things too. If you like more vintagey or less vintagey. Yeah, that whole, when that whole line came out, I was like, wow, there's a lot of stuff here. And it's really, it's really neat.

[00:02:55] Helen DeRam: It's really interesting too. I thought. They have single sided papers and then double sided papers for all the designs, but they are the same weight. So I ended up getting mostly the single sided. Just because, you know, I don't have to make a decision then.

[00:03:12] Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, that's interesting. I wonder what the thought process behind that was.

[00:03:17] Helen DeRam: I don't know, I thought it was very interesting. I've never really seen both in a collection like that. So.

[00:03:22] Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, usually you see like the single sided in the pads some of the time, but not all the time. And then the double sided is the individual sheets.

[00:03:31] Helen DeRam: Right, I looked several times to make sure that the weight of the paper would be the same,

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

[00:03:37] Helen DeRam: It is, because I ordered a couple double sided, and it's the same, so, yeah.

[00:03:41] Jennifer Wilson: Very cool.

[00:03:42] Well, inside of scrapbooking I have, kind of starting on this layout that was an outgrowth of our recent Refresh Retreat. And we were talking about stories of passion, and I definitely was a huge reader as a child, more than I have now. I still have that passion inside of me, but there's still like, there's so many barriers, and that's not the story. But I have like I've saved over the years, like my absolute favorite books of all time.

[00:04:15] And I have this little collection on the shelf. Of course, my daughter has no interest in reading any of them. Um, but there was this one book that I could not figure out what the title was. It was like an, it was not a print book. It obviously wasn't that popular. It was just happened to be this random book about.

[00:04:33] I knew it was a mystery. A girl went to camp, but there were horses and she happened to be blind. And, you know, this is like a youth fiction type of book. And I finally found it and I ordered it on Amazon. It was like $10 and it came to me and it's in pristine condition. And I'm like, Oh my gosh, this is the book. I have not.

[00:04:54] Helen DeRam: I love it.

[00:04:54] Jennifer Wilson: I've not read it yet, but I'm like, this is going to be terrible. I know. Because I love this when I was in second grade. So, but I have it and I'm going to, I'm going to photograph it with my other saved books with Where the Red Fern Grows, and Just as Long as We're Together, and like all my favorites, Ralph S. Mouse. And I have, yeah, I've been gathering my book related scrapbook supplies and my childhood favorites is going to be a layout with maybe like an insert about like all the different series that I read. Like, you know, Babysitter's Club and Sweet Valley High and Sunset Island and all those kinds of things. So.

[00:05:31] Helen DeRam: That's so great. I love that. And I love that you tracked down the book. That's great. Because there's actually a book from my childhood that I read probably when I was 12, and it was a, it like the biggest book I read at the time. It took me, you know, I don't know if it was all summer, in my mind it was all summer. And it was sort of like a fantasy, it was like a brother and sister in this fantasy world on this big journey, and every once in a while I try to find it, and I, because I have no idea what the title was, but, so I love that you found the book and ordered it.

[00:06:04] Jennifer Wilson: Have, I mean, was it like, uh, like Bridge to Terabithia or.

[00:06:11] Helen DeRam: I don't know.

[00:06:13] Jennifer Wilson: Like the Forgotten Door, like, okay, well, we'll have to figure this out. This is going to be like a post recording quest because we must acquire you your book as well.

[00:06:23] Helen DeRam: Okay, good. Thank you.

[00:06:27] Jennifer Wilson: What about outside of scrapbooking?

[00:06:30] Helen DeRam: Outside of scrapbooking, we just completed a new patio project and we got our new patio furniture and we're going to have a party in October. So I'm excited about that and decorating for fall with mums and pumpkins and all that kind of thing. So. What about you?

[00:06:50] Jennifer Wilson: That's fun. I recently acquired some fall decorations too. I'm like, I'm not a, I'm like a, I don't know, a budding decorator. I've acquired, I acquire things very, very slowly over the years. And so I've added a couple more things. Um, but the thing I'm actually excited about is, It's going to be a preview of what will be next week's episode when this is airing.

[00:07:14] So next week's episode is a conversation with Alissa about our planning process. And so I will not say too much right now because I don't want to give it all away, but I want to I want our listeners to keep this in their mind that I liked my new purchase of a planner for 2025. So, and I talk all about why I bought it, but it hadn't come yet on that episode and it just arrived today and I'm like, this is really good.

[00:07:42] So I'm sure we'll talk more in the future. Um, but I wanted to share that as a, I don't know. A pre note for that episode.

[00:07:53] Helen DeRam: Excellent! I can't wait to hear it. I haven't, uh, I haven't heard it yet because I do edit the podcast. So I was actually just going to be starting that one and I'll be excited to hear about your planner.

[00:08:05] Jennifer Wilson: Yes. And so, and there'll be lots of other conversations. I'm sure we'll all talk about how it's going and all that. And I'm sure there'll be pros and cons, but right now I'm like, this is what I've been, I've been looking for.

[00:08:17] Helen DeRam: Excellent.

[00:08:18] Jennifer Wilson: What about bucket list stories?

[00:08:20] Helen DeRam: So there's actually, it's been on my bucket list for a while and it was, um, Shannon Manton had done a layout about the music that she listened to in different periods of her life. And I, that just stuck with me and I have it on my list. And I, um, I'm kind of starting to pull that together and remembering all the different bands.

[00:08:42] And, um, the reason it kind of like bubbled to the top is, i, um, a die cut pack that I purchased recently has a bunch of little cassette tapes in it. So I thought, Oh, that'll be the perfect embellishment to use along my sort of music timeline. So I'm excited to do that.

[00:09:00] Jennifer Wilson: That's really cool. I have a list of concerts that I've been, I keep updating it when, you know, I am able to go to a show, which is not very often anymore. Um, but for some reason I haven't felt like now is the time and I have the perfect products to make this yet.

[00:09:16] Helen DeRam: Yeah, very good. And then do you have tickets too?

[00:09:21] Jennifer Wilson: You know, I, I do have some. I have like, I have a backstage pass to Hootie and the Blowfish from 1997 ish. Um, so I think I do have a few small items. And so I think I will include those as part of it. Um, and I don't really have a ton of photos. So I think that's part of the challenge is I have like a few photos from over the years, like a few pieces of memorabilia, nothing extensive.

[00:09:52] So it definitely feels like it is like a a double page layout, um, with a lot of journaling. It's even too much for a timeline, I think. So yeah, I haven't, I haven't quite figured it out, but it is one that I'm like, kind of always on the lookout for, of like, is now the time. I just haven't had like the products that really felt like this is perfect for it.

[00:10:12] Helen DeRam: Right, right.

[00:10:13] Jennifer Wilson: But maybe, maybe next year. Maybe, you know, I'm, I'm continuing to subscribe. And maybe I haven't talked about this on the podcast. I started resubscribing to the story kits

[00:10:25] Helen DeRam: Oh.

[00:10:26] Jennifer Wilson: Then the next day she announced the changes to the Story kits. And I'm like, okay, I can go with the flow. They're going to be like quarterly and be both, you know, from the smaller sizes up to 12 by 12. And so there'll be four next year and, and maybe there'll be something that goes with that. I don't know.

[00:10:48] Helen DeRam: Yeah, well, good. And maybe, you know, maybe that's more, more doable than getting that monthly kit that can just overwhelm you quickly.

[00:10:56] Jennifer Wilson: Correct. I was just feeling super inspired by the quiet theme that really caught my attention. And I'm like, Oh, I need this. And I need this not just in digital. I want the stuff. And I actually scrapbooked with it right away. Um, and have other stories lined up.

[00:11:14] Helen DeRam: Oh, that's great.

[00:11:15] Jennifer Wilson: We'll see. Like, I don't know. I feel like everything is sort of ebb and flow with, I need kind of external input into my inspiration to get me to start making things again.

[00:11:25] Helen DeRam: Okay. Yeah.

[00:11:26] Jennifer Wilson: So, I think having something arrive at the mail helps me a lot.

[00:11:32] Helen DeRam: Oh.

[00:11:32] Jennifer Wilson: It just can't be too much, then I get, then I'm drowning right?

[00:11:36] Helen DeRam: It's the happy medium, but it's good that you know that. So.

[00:11:39] Jennifer Wilson: Well, and like the, I love like pre ordering a whole collection, but then it comes like four months later and I'm like, I'm not like in that same moment as when I ordered it. So there's like a, a weird, I don't know, time dichotomy or something there. I don't even know how to describe it, but it's like anticlimactic a little bit.

[00:12:04] Helen DeRam: It is. It is. It's the whole shopping thing and putting things in your cart and getting excited by stuff like that's its own thing. And yeah, it is different when it arrives. It's a different feeling. But that's probably a whole separate episode.

[00:12:20] Jennifer Wilson: It is. Like the other day, my Amazon cart hat was like over a thousand dollars of random stuff. And no, I didn't buy any of that, but it was just like, well, I like, you know, here's three different things, three different variations of this one thing. So let me just add them. And, you know, then I can compare them and. Some of that does satisfy like the urge of just the window shopping. And then you delete it or save it for later and who knows what you might do in the future. But I don't know. There's definitely like a, uh, I don't know. I'm sure there's a lot of biochemical things happening in our brains to support that.

[00:12:56] Helen DeRam: I'm sure. I'm sure.

[00:12:57] Jennifer Wilson: So you're here to chat again about the Aligned project. And when I was thinking about how I wanted to focus this conversation, I really wanted to think about the idea of staying aligned. So we're entering the, as of this recording, the last season of this project. Uh, when this goes live, it will be, you know, several weeks into it.

[00:13:21] And, um, I think we're definitely thinking about what happens next. What have we learned and what do we want to take into the future? And so that's the kind of lens I wanted to, to kind of, to give us for the conversation. Um, but to, to start off, one of the things that we did in the summer was to, declare what kind of summer you wanted to have. So I wanted to check in with you to find out what kind of summer you wanted to have. And did you, did you feel like you had that?

[00:13:55] Helen DeRam: Well, I wanted a lazy girl summer, which was probably wishful thinking. But, um, you know, kind of like those lazy days. You just spend the day outside on a beautiful, perfect day with ice tea and a magazine and you have nothing to do and you just let the day take you. I think maybe we had like one of those days. But, um, what I did realize, and it was actually one of the last prompts that we did for Summer Aligned is, you know, I kept feeling like, I'm not, you know, I'm not living the summer I wanted. But I, there wasn't anything I did that I didn't want to be doing at the time I was doing it.

[00:14:41] And so it made me realize when I look back, like I, it, maybe it was different, but it was still good. And, you know, I recognize that and kind of came to this realization, like, it was still a good summer. I'd really have nothing to lament. And maybe the things I had on my list, I can just put on my list for next summer. So how did you feel?

[00:15:04] Jennifer Wilson: Before I answer, I have a question. Do you think that's more the norm than not? Like that type of experience? Like, yes, we can say this is what we're going for and maybe make steps towards it. But is anything ever like how we plan it? I don't know.

[00:15:25] Helen DeRam: Well, probably not. Right. And I think the difference is, are you upset that it wasn't what you thought it was, it's all expectations, right? Are you upset that it wasn't what you thought it was going to be? Or do you just take the time to realize, well, it wasn't what I thought, but it was this and that, and that was still good, you know, so.

[00:15:49] Yeah, I think that's probably life, right?

[00:15:53] Jennifer Wilson: Well, I think sometimes just like the aiming towards something is the, it changes it. It's having the attention, the intention in that direction probably changes decisions, whether they're like conscious or unconscious.

[00:16:10] Helen DeRam: Yes.

[00:16:11] Jennifer Wilson: The fact that you can look back on it and say, you know what, it was good. Like that's, that's kind of what we all want. You know, that means we weather the ups and downs. Um, and if we hadn't set any kind of intention, we might not have done the one or two things that we did do.

[00:16:28] Helen DeRam: Yes. Yeah. That's, that's a great point. I didn't even think of it from that angle, but yeah.

[00:16:35] Jennifer Wilson: So by the time that I got to that prompt, and this was an early prompt, but it was much, much later than we had written it. Um, I ended up saying that I wanted to have a sanguine summer. And this was a term that like, it's like one of those words that you kind of know what it means, but you really couldn't define it if you had to.

[00:16:55] Um, and it means optimistic or positive, especially in an apparently bad or difficult situation. And I had felt like the summer were like, just got off to a bumpy start. It wasn't just all like, let's go to the pool and relax. Like there wasn't actually a lot of that at all. Um, but similar to you, despite that, like, I felt hopeful.

[00:17:17] I felt optimistic. I felt like, you know, things were going to be okay. Um, even if maybe when we first started talking about it, I was like, Oh, you know, slow girl summer. That sounds really nice. Or, you know, tomato girl summer. Like last year we grew so many tomatoes. I ended up like getting canker sores from eating too many.

[00:17:37] And this year I'm like, well, you guys really need to buy like much many fewer plants because I'm not going to eat them. Because it hurts my body. Even though I love them. Um, so yeah, like, I don't think that our, the way we look at this, it doesn't have to be like, we don't have to be shooting for perfection. We can shoot for like, pretty darn good.

[00:18:05] Helen DeRam: Yes.

[00:18:06] Jennifer Wilson: If that's how we're feeling. Um, And we're all gonna have times where we're feeling more like rah rah and more we're like okay yep let's I can keep putting my foot in front of the other and um it's all gonna work out because I have I have the confidence in that.

[00:18:24] Helen DeRam: Right. Right. Was there anything that was new for you over the summer in terms of techniques or lessons.

[00:18:33] Jennifer Wilson: Where the heck is my book? Okay, um I think part of this was me feeling more comfortable with doing like just photos and journaling. Like it's okay I print a photo on transparent sticker paper and then I write something. And then by the end of the summer I would like draw a box and write in it. Um, and I felt, I felt good doing that.

[00:18:59] I did do some stamping, like just some kind of experimentation, layered stamping that I probably wouldn't have tried on a layout. Because I, you know, it turned out kind of messy, but that's okay. It was just part of the practice here. Yeah, I think honestly, putting my journaling in boxes was like the biggest, revelation because it gave more definition to the page rather than just some words on part of the page, if that makes sense. And maybe I'll, I'll try to include like just the one example of the spread that has that, or one of the spreads that has that.

[00:19:35] And then I also used some repetitive journaling papers. Like so in previous story kits a while back, Ali would include like a little notepad of journaling papers that you could use for multiple projects or like in repetition. And so I used eight of these here we go pads and talked about the types of things that we were, we were doing in the summer. And so I really, I thought that was fun. And something that I would like to do more in my memory keeping as a simple layout. It doesn't have to be complicated. I think that's part of what led me to thinking about story kits again is. As scrapbookers, we know we can make things way more complicated than they need to be. But maybe we just can write on the cards and throw some photos in if we have them.

[00:20:23] Helen DeRam: Right.

[00:20:24] Jennifer Wilson: So that's, that's definitely kind of creatively where my brain was going.

[00:20:28] Helen DeRam: Well, and that's okay. And it's, I think part of it too, is it's summer and whether it's, you know, exactly what you want or something else, it can be very busy and hectic. And, um, so, you know, maybe just keeping it simple, but still, you know, being glad that you're doing that, that documenting along the way.

[00:20:47] So.

[00:20:48] Jennifer Wilson: Oh, for sure. And so. Yeah, when we're recording this, I'm finishing editing the last of our Q and A episodes. And there's a particular point in there, um, where one of our members, Kaethe says that she just loved the Aligned project so much because it kept her connected to her hobby. And so in that episode, I, well, you know, I sent this question back to her and everyone else, like, is it the project itself or is it just the fact that the project was so approachable and doable? At whatever scale you were interested in versus the way we can make other projects that end up taking a lot more time and are much easier to fall behind on.

[00:21:29] Helen DeRam: Right, right. Oh, I look forward to hearing more about that.

[00:21:32] Jennifer Wilson: So what was new for you over the summer in terms of how you approach the project?

[00:21:37] Helen DeRam: Well, I actually, I wanted to do pressed flowers in my album. And I've done that randomly. You know, you stick a flower in a book and just hope for the best, and it usually works. But, um, there was a course, it's Modern Pressed Flower. She has just like a, you know, 45 minute course about, you know, how to press flowers so they keep their color.

[00:22:01] And I thought, I'm going to do that. It was very, like, spur of the moment. I saw it. I'm going to do it. I bought it. I started watching it. I went out, I got flowers, and I made my own little, you know, press to make it work. And, um, it was really fun, you know, they didn't all turn out, but the ones that did look really great.

[00:22:20] They're super flat and pretty, and they have their color. And so I put those in my album. So that was all new to me, , which, which was really fun to do something like that.

[00:22:31] Jennifer Wilson: What's the biggest tip in terms of having them keep their color?

[00:22:35] Helen DeRam: You have to change the paper like often. So you have kind multiple sheets of paper above and below the flower and you know, you kind of press them all together. And then like your first 24 hours, you want to change the paper. And then after that, like every 36 ish hours, you need to change the paper.

[00:22:57] Cause the paper is taking all the moisture out of the flowers. So you want to get the papers really damp. So you want to get rid of the damp paper, put in dry paper. And it takes about two weeks, maybe depends on the flower. You know, when they kind of are stiff, then they're done. If they're like, still like limp, then they still have moisture in them. So that's the biggest secret.

[00:23:19] Jennifer Wilson: And is that because like keeping it moist, the color would start to go into the paper rather than just the moisture.

[00:23:25] Helen DeRam: I think it ends up like it turns the flower brown somehow. Yeah.

[00:23:31] Jennifer Wilson: Oh, like oxidation.

[00:23:33] Helen DeRam: Something like that. Yeah. Or you can even depending on how you do it can get moldy. Um, But yeah, mostly, mostly they just go brown because the, I don't know, whatever's happening with the moisture, it's not being wicked away. So.

[00:23:47] Jennifer Wilson: Yes. That's so interesting. Cause we have, I believe we have actually more than one flower press. Because I have a really awesome mom who likes to send stuff like that. And, um, but I've never changed the papers. We just put something in there and then maybe later we remember it's there. So, um, that's, that would be something fun to experiment with for sure.

[00:24:07] Helen DeRam: Yeah, definitely.

[00:24:09] Jennifer Wilson: So are you changing anything going forward to the full project? So at this point we kind of just have gotten started.

[00:24:17] Helen DeRam: Um, nothing major so far. And I don't know that these are really big changes, but the last two seasons, I've purchased a little journal that, um, fits in my album and I kind of use it like a field journal. It's been really fun to use. I definitely want to do that again, but I didn't find one that had like the right look.

[00:24:40] So I'm just going to make my own, um, which I've done before, but not exactly that same way. And then I might have to change up, um, so I'm using a quadfolio album with 49andMarket, and it kind of all folds up and there's all these different pieces. And when it sort of comes together, you know, over time, depending on what is pressing on what, I'm finding that some of my photos are getting kind of bent in a way I don't want them to to be bent. So I think I might be more conscious of where I'm putting them. And try to prevent that from happening. So that's very, very specific. Um, you know, just for the physicality of my album and different things I'll be doing.

[00:25:28] Jennifer Wilson: Well, but it shows that the more you use a particular type of product, the more you learn. How to use it. Um, and so you can maybe prevent some of those things going forward. Or even to just be aware of it. Like, oh, when I fold this, is this bending something weird? Because sometimes you don't notice it until it's, it's too late.

[00:25:48] Like, I remember having albums where, um, I think these were the, gosh, I can't remember. They were a certain brand of smaller albums, maybe eight by eight, where all the pages would droop. Because they're, like just the way the holes were punched, there just wasn't enough support. And I would open my album and like every page would be creased because the pages were drooping in the album. And so, but you don't know until you take it out again.

[00:26:16] Helen DeRam: Right.

[00:26:17] Jennifer Wilson: Right.

[00:26:17] Helen DeRam: Yes. Are you planning on changing anything?

[00:26:21] Jennifer Wilson: So one thing that I was thinking about at the end of summer. Particularly when we were like mulling over whether or not we would do this again. Was okay, how could I make it more of a system. And I've always loved that look where you just have like photo on top, journaling below, so I was even thinking maybe like a 6x12, um, so I think I might do more of that for the prompts that, where it fits. So let me explain. So my pages are actually 8 by 8 right now in this art journal. And so I would probably do like a 3 by 8 photo across the top and then my journaling underneath, but I would do it for only the prompts where that, like, made sense with the prompt. So it adds, it would add some continuity to like throughout the section, but then there'd be some pages where I'm doing a collage or some other project, um, that fits my reaction to the prompt better.

[00:27:23] Helen DeRam: Sure. Yeah. That, I think that will look great.

[00:27:27] Jennifer Wilson: So I was thinking of just like setting myself up a template in, um, Canva or Photoshop where I could like, plop in the photo type my journaling, and, and print it out as like my eight by eight photo. And put it in there that way. So that's like, that's what I'm leaning towards. I haven't done one yet. I did set up a template when I was thinking about it before. Um, but anything that, that, at least for me. That I can do to add like repetition tends to make a project feel even more doable. Even when it's something like this, that is inherently pretty doable.

[00:28:02] Helen DeRam: Yes, yeah, definitely. It's just interesting because I always feel like when I sit down to do it, if it's more of a journaling prompt, I'm like, am I just going to write this out? I'm like, I feel like I need to do something completely different every time. Not that I do, because I don't. Because there is that, you know, repetition that helps, um, make it doable. But I also feel like I want it to be different. So, so it's just interesting. That's all. So is there any particular prompt that you're looking forward to?

[00:28:38] Jennifer Wilson: So when we were having our conversation, we were both, and maybe this is, I I'm just guessing you might be liking this one too. But I am really excited about the savor prompt. Um, because we're focusing more on like tastes you want to experience or, uh, gathering your fall recipes. Um, and specifically calling out taste as a sense beyond just like, cause we, we've done a lot of sense related sensory related things in this project. But to really like hone in on taste because of just all the, the fun things of fall. So did I get it right? Is that your favorite? Interesting one too?

[00:29:20] Helen DeRam: The first one I wrote down. So yes, yes, I love, um, all the fall things, you know, for cooking and baking and drinks and yes, so definitely looking forward to that one. Maybe more for the experience even than just documenting it.

[00:29:39] Jennifer Wilson: Oh, for sure. I'm, I don't know. I think I'm even kind of warming up to actual pumpkin. I've had a really, I don't know, kind of a, a, a, love hate relationship with pumpkin pie over the years. But I've recently had some that was like actually good. I don't know. Maybe I'm just really picky with like crust, um, or, just picky in general, but, um, I want to do some like experimenting with, with pumpkin for sure.

[00:30:06] Helen DeRam: Excellent.

[00:30:08] Jennifer Wilson: Maybe I just want to eat more than I want to document, but.

[00:30:14] Helen DeRam: Yes, me too. Eating and drinking.

[00:30:17] Jennifer Wilson: So thinking more about kind of that we are in the last season of this project. How does it feel to be at that point of, you know, three quarters of the way plus through a full year?

[00:30:30] Helen DeRam: Well, I was thinking about it. I feel really proud that I've been able to be consistent with this year long project, ultimately. I've never done anything that's been a year long project. And I didn't even really think of it that way. When we went down this road, you know, that's ultimately what we were doing.

[00:30:51] Jennifer Wilson: Mm hmm.

[00:30:52] Helen DeRam: Um, So I feel really proud of that. And, um, I, I'm, you know. I love all the seasons. I love fall. And so I'm looking forward to experiencing it and documenting it. But I'm also looking forward to when it's over, just like taking a little bit of a break. From, you know, weekly, weekly coming up with something. Um, while I love it and I'm, you know, feel really proud of it. And I was able to get my albums done. Sometimes it felt like, just like there's this constant, Oh, I need to do that. I need to do that. You know? So,

[00:31:29] Jennifer Wilson: Certainly. I think

[00:31:30] Helen DeRam: I was just going to ask how you felt about it.

[00:31:33] Jennifer Wilson: I think similarly relieved. Um, I think there's, there's kind of a catch 22 with me taking a less creative approach. That while it has been satisfying and not difficult, um, there's maybe less of an outcome. Like, it's more about the experience than the outcome for me. So there's kind of a mixed feeling with that. I am also thinking about, if I could keep up with some sort of weekly rhythm, what could I do on my own, in terms of like, if I had a goal of two layouts a week what would that look like and how would I plan for it and how would I keep myself accountable for doing that type of thing? Um, so I'm thinking about that type of stuff. You know, I'm, as you were talking, one of the things that popped into my mind was that I'm really glad we didn't start with spring. Because I think doing fall and then winter, I think would have made it for some reason, like very hard. Maybe it's just because of the different feelings and that and winter being a harder season. Like, so starting with it, like allowed us to start with momentum and optimism and hope for all that was coming. Um, versus if we were ending with it, I think that might've been a lot harder.

[00:32:53] Helen DeRam: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't even think about that, but definitely. I think it helped maybe get through winter, right? Like you said, there's hope and, you know, change in seasons, spring and summer are coming. And it was the beginning of the project. So we had, you know, maybe more excitement around it. So, yeah, that's a good observation.

[00:33:15] Jennifer Wilson: I think anytime you can put contrasts together, like you need lots of excitement during maybe a more difficult season of either the natural world or even, you know, metaphorically in our lives. When you can bring those together, I think that's where we do see productivity. Because even like excitement and a really fun season of like, say something like summer where you're doing lots of things. Those often are end up being a conflict. Because we don't have the time to even leverage the excitement that we have.

[00:33:51] Helen DeRam: Right.

[00:33:52] Jennifer Wilson: So yeah, just like really interesting to think about those intersections.

[00:33:57] Helen DeRam: Yeah, definitely. So that kind of leads into the next question, which is, what are you, what are your takeaways for 2025.

[00:34:06] Jennifer Wilson: Anytime that I can respond to a prompt, I will go somewhere with it, that's helpful to me. As personal exploration and understanding of myself. So I think as long as I keep doing that in one way or another, that's going to be really valuable. As I mentioned before, like, simplicity of actually simple pocket pages. Repetition and like journaling prompt type of thing. Um, that and yeah, I don't know. It's, it's interesting because I think there's a little bit more lesson from the experience of doing it. Than maybe how I, feel about how the light and temperature changes outside. And maybe that's just because I'm stuck in my office for the whole year? I don't know.

[00:35:01] Helen DeRam: Right.

[00:35:02] Jennifer Wilson: Like, I don't know. I just, I feel like I just, I work a lot. And as you know, my family, like my husband's working a lot, my daughter between school and volleyball and her very busy social life now that she's 13. Um, like she's doing her own thing. So I end up in here more working. So I think that definitely has, I don't know, it's definitely been a theme in the, my reflection. Um, and perhaps a, uh, a barrier or a hurdle that I've had to face in trying to feel that sense of alignment with the natural season. Because, uh, there's probably, there's weeks where I probably never leave the house. So, for better or worse, or for worse or worse, I guess.

[00:35:55] Helen DeRam: Well, and that, you know, may just be this season of life for you, and that could potentially change later.

[00:36:02] Jennifer Wilson: For certain. And yeah, I, I, it's weird because I love what I do and I, I am a homebody. Yeah. So I, it's also like, I can't really complain about it either. But sometimes I'm reminded, like, if I'm traveling, like, Oh yeah, being out in the world is kind of nice. Maybe I should do more of that. Like, Oh, I can smell things and look at the leaves and it's, yeah, it's always like a, Oh yeah, there's this whole world out there sometimes. That, uh, I get those reminders and I don't know if I would have been as attuned to them without this project.

[00:36:39] Helen DeRam: Yeah. Well, even just recognizing that, you know, you are experiencing the season maybe more personally and not directly connected, like you said, to the, the light or the temperature, you know? Yeah. Interesting.

[00:36:55] Jennifer Wilson: Definitely noticing this time of year as the light is going away cause we've had some really dreary rainy days and like, Oh my gosh, I am not going to survive winter. Um, time to, it is officially time to turn on the happy light again. I need all the sunshine, um, because those dreary days were. Bumming me out like crazy. I was all prepared to do this photo shoot for our upcoming Planning Party. And I'd started gathering items and I'm like, I'm going to take all these awesome pictures. And then it's like the dreary most overcast day and it feels like January. So. What are you going to take away? I hope it's like more positive than mine.

[00:37:32] Helen DeRam: Part of it is looking ahead to how I want to document next year. And I don't have the answer quite yet. Um, but the other part of it is including more personal journaling and whatever my documenting is. Because I feel like that was missing from what I was documenting. Like I document daily in an app in my phone, but that's very much like we did this. We went here, I did this, that. You know, and maybe a little bit of it was a bad day or it was a great day or whatever. But not a lot of that and not really a lot of introspection in the way that we've done with, you know, some of the prompts for each season. And I I like that. And I'm finding that when I'm looking back over past scrapbooks, I feel like some of that is missing. It's like, okay, I know what I did in 2014, but how was I feeling? I wasn't really recording that. And so I feel like I definitely going forward want to include that. And I don't think I would have thought about it had we not gone through this project.

[00:38:41] Jennifer Wilson: Do you think any of that like started to trickle into the layouts you made this year?

[00:38:48] Helen DeRam: I think so. I'm trying to think quickly about the layouts I made this year. We did, um, there was more storytelling that we were doing this year. And so, um, that is similar, but different, and you know, made me do some of that more. introspection about, you know, past events or, you know, moments I wanted to capture. So yeah, I think so. I think, I think it probably has. Yeah, I just don't know that it's necessarily like the type of journaling I'm thinking about is it for a layout.

[00:39:33] Jennifer Wilson: Sure. sure. No, this is, this is so fascinating because I maybe tend towards too many feelings and not in a bad way. But that's where I go with my journaling. If I can, if I end up writing more than one sentence, it's okay. Now, Jennifer's going to spill all of her feelings here. So, sometimes I actually feel like I'm missing more of the facts. And those are the stories that even my family is like, Hey, how come you never documented like any of these things that we did. But there's lots of layouts with you and lots of selfies and, you know, how you're feeling about certain things. And I'm like, I don't know. That's like, that's just, that's what I do. That's what I feel most comfortable doing. And that's how I feel most comfortable documenting. So I just like, there's no right or wrong, but it's so interesting how we're all different.

[00:40:23] Helen DeRam: For sure. For sure. Totally interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Cause I don't feel, like some of the things that the, some of the prompts and the journaling I did for Aligned, while they are in my album for the season, I don't know that I would necessarily do a layout.

[00:40:38] Jennifer Wilson: Sure. That's fair. That's fair. How do you think about this word aligned? Has your definition, like, shifted or changed? um, do you feel, like, closer to it or more understanding of it or not?

[00:40:51] Helen DeRam: I feel, I feel closer to it and I do feel like I definitely was aligned and really tuned in to nature. And, um, like, the journal I kept, there was like different ones. But in my album one I was calling like a field journal. And so I was noting all kinds of you know, birds or insects and butterflies and things that were happening, or not, in the garden. And I like that too. I like I'm looking forward to looking back on that if that makes sense. And I want to continue, uh, documenting that as well. So I felt, I felt very aligned in that way, in the natural world. And I thought about, in the future, will looking back on, Oh, that year when, you know, there was a lot of that weird bug or whatever. Just kind of like the change in our natural environment and climate and things like that, that I'm sort of quietly documenting myself.

[00:42:00] Jennifer Wilson: Sure.

[00:42:00] Helen DeRam: So I felt, I definitely felt more in tune with nature than I have ever in the past.

[00:42:06] Jennifer Wilson: That's Amazing, especially because I see you as someone who was already, perhaps, maybe, already very connected. So to be even more so and to have it inform kind of the things you want to do forward is, you know, a big success to me.

[00:42:18] Helen DeRam: Yeah, it, it, it feels that way. It feels good. How about you? How do you feel about it?

[00:42:24] Jennifer Wilson: I think something that stands out to me is the idea of realignment. Because as I was thinking about what maybe worked well with the whole project, was the fact that we met before every new season and we adjusted the prompts and the order of them. And, you know, really looking at what, what resonated or what turned out to be kind of like a weird way to look at something. And the idea of realignment rather than doing the same thing throughout the year or for every season. I think was really helped to keep it fresh and interesting. And I think that's something that, like that I will take away that I see alignment as a journey as a process of constant realignment. And that I think that connects back to what we were talking about at the beginning of the kind of summer you wanted to have and whether or not you had it. Is that we're always kind of realigning reality and expectation. Um, we're realigning our, our values with the experiences that we want to have. I've been thinking a lot about like, what kind of, do I need to like, a digital detox or something? Like, do I need to like, I haven't really been that active on Instagram this year, but do I need to just say goodbye for a period of time and not check it at all? Um, so it's made me just think about all the different types of shifts that we can make in our lives to to realign or feel more aligned with whether it's nature or other parts of our life.

[00:43:58] Helen DeRam: Yes. That's, that's great that you got that out of this project. That's amazing.

[00:44:06] Jennifer Wilson: Well, I'm not saying that, you know, everything is, uh, I don't know.

[00:44:10] Helen DeRam: Well, even, even just that you're thinking along those lines and, you know, sometimes it's like almost like a little light bulb moment, right? Like, I felt like I legitimately had this realization at the end of summer because I was like, you know, just like getting through the summer and all the things and I was like, Oh, but I'm not doing this and I'm not doing that. And I was like, Uh, I'm not having the summer I wanted, but then when I look back on it, it was like, yeah, but it was all still good, you

[00:44:38] Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

[00:44:39] So like, okay, if you had to give a big, like, a big, takeaway or thought or something, do you have anything else to add?

[00:44:48] Helen DeRam: I would say, I think that the way that we set it up with the weekly prompts, it was just the right amount of keeping the project going and touching it and aligning or realigning every week with how you're feeling in the season. Whether it's just something like, Oh, I love this picture of this pretty flower in my garden, or really more of a introspection. Like, how am I really feeling about what's going on right now? I think, just touching it weekly helped to keep the project going. It made it interesting as well, having the different prompts and changing them a little bit each season.

[00:45:29] Jennifer Wilson: No, that's, yeah, that's, that's, that's really valuable. And I think that having a collaborator made it more doable, more fun, more interesting. Being able to like share our different perspectives and bounce ideas off each other. And I think I'm excited to see that now that it's like, it's a thing, we have these lessons for an entire year. That anyone from here forward can start it with whatever season, they want to start it in and go through it. So I think something about having it more as a complete package now makes it even feel more real. And then everyone who went through it for this first year can share their experiences and as we're doing here on, on the podcast. And hopefully that will encourage more to, to jump in and see what they can get from it.

[00:46:17] Helen DeRam: Yes. Yeah, definitely.

[00:46:20] Jennifer Wilson: All right, can you share where our listeners can find you online if they want to connect further with you?

[00:46:26] Helen DeRam: Sure. I do have an Instagram account. It's hderam and then I also have, uh, YouTube channel. I did a few videos specifically for this project. Sharing my albums and I intend to for fall as well, just kind of showing my foundation album. The prompts and really, you know, the more detailed information on them is within the membership, where I can be found as well.

[00:46:55] Jennifer Wilson: Awesome, we will definitely link up with your Instagram and those videos on your YouTube channel because I can't wait for our listeners to check them out and get you know, the visual companion to our conversations.

[00:47:07] Helen DeRam: Great Thank you.

[00:47:08] Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Thanks for chatting with me. Thanks for being a collaborator with me on this project. Um, I always enjoy our conversations and, uh, both like specifically about this project or about new releases and scrapbook supplies are all the things like that we share in

[00:47:23] common as well.

[00:47:24] Helen DeRam: Yes, I feel the same way. It's been great to collaborate with you on this.

[00:47:29] Jennifer Wilson: And of course, to all of our listeners, please remember that you have permission to scrapbook your way.