SYW148 – More Digital with Kelly Sill

Kelly Sill 0:00

Yes, yeah and I think that as as you get older you know your priorities change and stuff and so I want to be downstairs and you know hanging in front of the TV or whatever with my husband. And but yet still working on on my pages and stuff. And app scrapping allows me to do that. It allows me to work in the car. I have done pages on a plane. I mean, it's just it depends on your lifestyle. You know, how, what is your lifestyle right now? And how are you going to make this work for you? I don't look at it as a hobby. I would love to get rid of that stigma. That it's, Oh, it's a hobby. You know, it's not to me it's a lifestyle. It's this is something I do every single day. I work it in every single day. So it's just, it's part of my life. It has been for 30 some years.

Jennifer Wilson 0:47

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 148.

Jennifer Wilson 1:06

In this episode, I'm joined by Kelly Sill for our conversation about inviting more digital into your life in 2022. Kelly is a longtime digital scrapbooker, a fan of app scrapping on the go and instructor of classes through her site Pixels to Pages. Hey, Kelly, welcome to Scrapbook Your Way.

Kelly Sill 1:24

Hey, Jennifer, thank you so much for having me.

Jennifer Wilson 1:27

Yes, I've been looking forward to this conversation and getting to know you a little bit better. Now, we're on an episode of Paperclipping Roundtable, like a long time ago together?

Kelly Sill 1:37

Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson 1:38

Okay.

Kelly Sill 1:40

We were on that together. And it's so funny because I was going to try to use those headphones that they sent me to use.

Jennifer Wilson 1:51

Yes, mine did to

Kelly Sill 1:57

a long time ago.

Jennifer Wilson 1:58

Oh, I think it was like a q&a episode I was I searched my email to see kind of like what our history was. And that was one of the big things that came up. So

Kelly Sill 2:08

funny. Funny. Time flies.

Jennifer Wilson 2:11

That's 100%. So can you share a little bit about yourself, though?

Kelly Sill 2:16

Sure. I've been married for almost 33 years, 33 years this month.

Jennifer Wilson 2:22

Congrats.

Kelly Sill 2:23

I live in Apollo Beach, Florida. We were a Marine Corps family for 26 of those 33 years. And we have two boys, two grown boys and a Yorkie. And yeah, so we're excited because our boys are now new home owners and we could get a bunch of their stuff out of our storage unit and put it in our garage.

Jennifer Wilson 2:46

Nice.

Kelly Sill 2:50

So it just happens that we are recording this on the Marine Corps birthday. So happy birthday Marines.

Jennifer Wilson 2:56

So awesome. So what's exciting you right now inside of scrapbooking?

Kelly Sill 3:02

Oh, goodness, well, actually, there's three things. Number one is I'm finishing up my December Daily from 2020. It kind of got behind last year. But that's okay. I've got three more days to go. And I'll be ready to dive in this year. And then the thing that's kind of exciting to me right now is the QR codes and I know QR codes, digital scrapbookers have been using them for a while and I was very apprehensive to...

Jennifer Wilson 3:32

Me too.

Kelly Sill 3:33

Well, and then I did one of my latest classes Memories Matter. I was doing a tutorial on how to use them because I know that there were people who wanted to learn how to how to put these in their in their digital spreads. And when I did it, I was like, Oh, wow, this is really cool. I need to do this more. And but, but then it got me thinking that you know, I really want to focus on how to get other video in there and I want to use the QR codes but I also want to learn more about videotaping and, and stuff in video, you know, family films and everything. And so there's a course that I wanted to enroll in. It's called DIY family films. And it just, it's I don't know, to me, it just seems like it would be a good fit for for digital scrapbooking and stuff. So Oh, yeah. That's what's exciting me right now.

Jennifer Wilson 4:33

That's super fun. Yeah, I don't know. I was I was very apprehensive about QR codes. I didn't want to dive in because I said, Well, this won't last so I'll have to be something else. Right?

Kelly Sill 4:42

I was the same way because I remember when QR codes started to come onto the scene not in scrapbooking but just business in general.

Jennifer Wilson 4:51

Yeah.

Kelly Sill 4:52

The people were thinking that you know this, this may not last you know, this may just be a big bad. But no, I think it's fair to say...

Jennifer Wilson 5:03

Well, the fact that it's now this built into the intelligence of your phone that you don't need a separate app for anymore, and you just hold your camera up and it goes somewhere on the web, it's pretty amazing.

Kelly Sill 5:16

I mean, the only thing that you would have to worry about is where you're keeping those videos that are being attached to you know what those places still be around, but but, you know, I think YouTube and Vimeo are here to stay for a while.

Jennifer Wilson 5:31

I would think so for sure. So shifting gears to a little more towards storytelling, we'd love to talk about our memory keeping Bucket List on the show. So these are stories that feel really significant or meaningful, and that you still haven't documented yet. So what's one memory on your Bucket List?

Kelly Sill 5:50

I was really thinking about this one. And it's something that has been on my mind lately, is the story of choosing to be a stay at home mom versus pursuing a career. And a part of that was my choice. Part of it was our military lifestyle, but I just feel the need to document why it was important for me to stay home with my boys. And, and then also, you know, once the boys were old enough that I went back to school to earn a degree, earn a degree in graphic design. You know, kind of like the struggles of starting a career later in life. So though, you know, I think all of that ties in together and I, yeah, that one's gonna take a while to document, I've got a lot to say about.

Jennifer Wilson 6:49

I'm sure. Yeah, no, it sounds really important, though. And just especially something you just want to pass down. I think some of these Bucket List Stories are things that you want, you want someone to know the why behind your story.

Kelly Sill 7:01

I think there's a lot there. There's a there's a lot that I think needs to be said and stuff, So. But I kind of picture that. I really like the editorial templates in the Project Life app. And I can totally see this going in into those templates.

Jennifer Wilson 7:17

Oh, for sure. For sure. Yeah. So you are known for your teaching classes in the digital arena, hybrid Project Life app. And so I am so curious to learn more from you today. And so this is part of our More in 2022 series where we're talking about how we can bring more of something. And I tried to like pick these different topics that people want to learn more about, experiment more with, and incorporate as part of their scrapbooking or their kind of creative journey in general. And so this is focusing on more digital in 2022. And can you like, take us back and start, tell us more about your journey as a scrapbooker?

Kelly Sill 8:01

Wow. I started scrapbooking. It's over 30 years ago now. I mean, it's been a long time. And so I mean, I've gone through all of the trends, and I've watched how this industry has evolved. And so I really started scrapping back in 1993. I was pregnant with our second son and I started off like, way back then. That was when Creative Memories started. You know, I think those who have been doing this, as long as I have, I think the majority of people started out with Creative Memories. And, you know, I was even a consultant for several years with them. But we've moved several times overseas, and so I was always hauling my physical supplies with me. So I could continue journaling and documenting our photos while we were overseas. But when we came back and we were settled in Virginia for a while, I worked at two different brick and mortar stores, I taught scrapbook classes, I organized crop with friends. And you ever remember hearing about Great American Scrapbook Convention?

Jennifer Wilson 9:10

Yeah, yeah.

Kelly Sill 9:11

I used to teach up there whenever they would come to the DC area, I would I would teach there. And it was like, during this time where, you know, I would look at the pages that I create, and they they just looked right, you know, they looked balanced and everything. And so I didn't know why. I mean, people would ask me, Well, how do you do that? What are you doing? I'm like, I don't know. I'm just putting it together. And so, at this time, my boys were old enough. My one was in junior high and one was in high school. And that's when I went back to school myself. I went to art school and got my BFA in graphic design and so that's why I learned Photoshop and InDesign and Illustrator. And also at this time, this was probably in 2005, maybe 2006, digital scrapbooking was was just starting out. And so the store that I was teaching at I developed digital classes for them. And those digital classes were called Pixels to Pages, which is my business now, but then had to leave that because we moved overseas again. And that is when I got rid of the majority of my physical products. I mean, I took some with me, but that's when I kind of made a transition to hybrid. I mean, you know, in the past, I have done digital pages and stuff, but I, I would consider myself back then more a hybrid scrapper. But then, you know, time went on, and this thing called the iPad came along. And I ended up getting rid of, like, I would say, 95% of my, my physical product. And you know, have been doing strictly things on my iPad once in a while on the computer. But, you know, in, I think it was in 2015, I ended up being on Becky Higgins creative, her digital creative team for Project Life. And right after that, that's when I started to get into the app. And then as far as really having that digital scrapbook experience on the iPad, that's where Affinity Photo came in. And when I was introduced Affinity Photo, it was when that software was just released for iPad in the I think was the summer of 2017. And I did my entire December Daily on that, using that app, and I've never looked back. That's how I got here.

Jennifer Wilson 12:07

Wow, what a journey. And it's just so interesting that some of it was like life circumstance with your family situation and moving. But then also just, yeah, I love hearing how scrapbookers have evolved over the years and kind of all those little decisions that led them to where they are today.

Kelly Sill 12:25

Yeah, and I just I you know, I I don't know how many other documentaries are out there that ended up turning this hobby and, like, going to school?

Jennifer Wilson 12:37

Yes.

Kelly Sill 12:39

To kind of formalize it and you know, figure out why. Why things look the way they do or come together the way they do. So yeah, it's been it's been an interesting journey. It's been an it's been an expensive journey.

Jennifer Wilson 12:53

Oh, yeah, I bet.

Kelly Sill 12:56

But it's, it's been a worthwhile one for sure.

Jennifer Wilson 12:59

Oh, yeah. So a kind of big picture here, you know, you're talking about, like, I'm imagining you like cozied up on the couch with your iPad. So you're, you're not you're not tethered to a desk, because you are doing more iPad scrapbooking than you are on a computer. Like what are the pros and cons today of having a more digital experience?

Kelly Sill 13:19

Well, starting off with the, with the cons, I think, you know, there's going to be a learning curve, depending on what software you're going to you want to use. You know, Photoshop Elements and Photoshop, you know, there's, there's, there's a learning curve to it, but the two of them are becoming so much more alike. So, you know, people are going to have to be willing to put a little time and effort into learning, you know, these these professional software programs. And then if you're doing true digital, like, you know, it's gonna have you chained to a computer unless you have a laptop because you can sit on your couch with a laptop as well. But so, there's that and then also, there's no touching or feeling of the paper and the embellishments and I think that's like a, that's a big con, especially if you're coming from that physical platform where you've been creating with those physical products for years. And you know, you're looking to make a switch, you're kind of going to be thinking, oh my gosh, how am I going to do this when if I'm not touching and feeling those papers and embellishments. But you know, there are those who are just starting now documenting and they're just going to dive right into digital. So they, you know, they may not have that may not be missing that. I think another con would be is that technology can fail. And so you should consider a big You know, have a good backup system. Because, you know, technology isn't foolproof. So, you know, back that stuff up,

Jennifer Wilson 15:10

Well that goes, whether you're digital or paper scrapbooking or doing anything, because we need to get those photos backed up, so...

Kelly Sill 15:18

Right. And you know, as far as the the pros of digital go, it's portable, you know, with a laptop, or if you're a mobile Memory Keeper, you know, you can take all of your digital products with you wherever you go. You don't, and you know, and you don't have to worry about using up, like, that favorite piece of paper. You know, sometimes the, like, when I was physical scrapbooker, I would, I would be afraid to use the products because I don't want to use them up. You know, I'm like, Well, what if I wanted to use this a year from now, and you know, I don't have it anymore. But with digital, you don't have to worry about that you you you'll always have access to it, you can print it off if you wanted to. So you can have a physical version of that digital file. And, you know, I think with digital scrapbooking and app scrapping the the real estate, on your shelf, with these printed books and stuff are minimal, depending on how you're going to print them. And if you were doing hardbound books, they're they're going to take up less space than if you were printing the sheets individually and putting them in a three ring binder. So I mean that.

Jennifer Wilson 16:39

Oh, yeah.

Kelly Sill 16:39

I gotta tell you, just to elaborate on that. We live down here in Florida. And so sometimes you would have to evacuate for hurricane and taking those big, bulky scrapbooks, you know, and putting them in the car and taking them to wherever you're going to evacuate to. It's a lot, and they're heavy, and they're bulky, and a lot of room. So that was one of the reasons why I went from physical to to to a digital platform. Yeah, and you know, I think if something ever happened to your albums, if you're doing this digitally, you're you can always reprint, you know, you can always go back and reprint them. And I think one of the other things that people don't think about, when you are app scrapping or doing this on your computer, you're learning. You're, you're learning a skill that can take you beyond scrapbooking. I mean, you know, you can use these digital skills to, you know, create party invitations or, you know, create flyers for your garage sale, or you know, you know, edit photos for a family member. You know, there, you can use these skills beyond documenting and telling your story.

Jennifer Wilson 18:09

Oh, 100% Yeah, yeah, particularly in this, in this day and age in which work is more remote and probably will continue to be and these types of digital skills are what that's what's gonna make you more employable, or even just, you know, more fun in the future. So...

Kelly Sill 18:28

Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, I mean, it, you know, and the, you know, software updates are always coming in, and there's always new software to be added or apps to be added. And so, you know, if you're that type of person who likes to keep up on technology, you know, you're you're never gonna get bored. That's for sure. There's always yes, a new to learn.

Jennifer Wilson 18:51

But I think that point about the your footprint of your memories is something that I think a lot of scrapbookers, particularly those who've been doing it for a long time are, are thinking about. And, and I don't want it I don't want to encourage it to weigh on anyone, but it does already weigh on some people. And it may be something that you kind of increasingly think about the longer you are a scrapbooker.

Kelly Sill 19:14

Again, people who have been doing this for as long as I have, you're talking 30 Some years of scrapbooks. So you know, you're going to be downsizing empty nesters downsizing. You know, it's a lot to move around. You know, and these these scrapbooks do take up a lot of space. So it's just something to really consider.

Jennifer Wilson 19:43

Sure, yeah. And I have, I was actually I started pure digital in 2008. And I was fully digital to 2011. And then I transitioned to being paper, but I have you know more than 200 layouts that I created in that time and they're in, I printed them individually and put them in binders. I mean, that's taking up a whole cube in my Kallax. If I could put those in one book, and suddenly have all the space back, even though I like how it looks on the shelf, I'm just thinking about long term, there's no reason for those to be in binders anymore.

Kelly Sill 20:18

Memory albums, I mean, there's just, there's hours and hours and hours put into, you know, creating all of those pages. But they're just bulky and they're so heavy. Yeah, yeah.

Jennifer Wilson 20:33

So kind of looking back over the past decade, plus, how, how has the digital scrapbooking world changed? It's so interesting to think about how it was just this, like, I don't know, very separate. And now there's so much kind of flow in between, I feel like, yeah.

Kelly Sill 20:55

Well, number one is portability. You know, back when I did do some digital, you know, you were again, just stuck behind your computer, and I didn't have a laptop back then. So yeah, it was always stuck behind my computer. But as time has gone by, and technology has evolved, you know, it's become more portable, I think the ease to find tutorials on how to use these powerful software programs. You're able to find your, you're able to find help, specifically for scrapbooking. I mean, you know, you can find tutorials on Adobe or, you know, wherever, that can teach you how to use their program. But the language isn't geared towards what we use the programs for. And I think, you know, it's just easier to find tutorials on how to use like Photoshop or Photoshop Elements that are specifically geared towards memory keeping, and not like your professional graphic designer, or, you know, your professional photographer who uses the programs.

Jennifer Wilson 22:10

Oh, 100%.

Kelly Sill 22:11

Or, you know, something else that I think has come about in the past, you know, 10 years and I don't use them, but the drag, the drag and drop options, I think that makes it a lot more easier for docking, documenters to make that transitional to, to digital. And you know, just the amount of digital product that is out there, holy cow. It's there, there's a lot, there's a lot to choose from, and, you know, just like there is it, you know, back when the brick and mortar stores were, were popular, you know, you had all that product, that physical product to look through. And And now, you know, things have changed. It's, it's all it's all about the digital, you know, and all these awesome designers that keep putting out great product.

Jennifer Wilson 23:03

Well and just the pace of releases is just so dramatic compared to, especially the I mean, the paper industry has obviously slowed down a little bit in terms of the releases, but then digital has just only kind of increased. So the amount of new stuff you could possibly buy is just mind boggling.

Kelly Sill 23:24

You know, I just I I love it. Because it's, you know, you can reuse these items over and over again. And when I purchase digital items, I, I tend to go for classic items that I know can, can stand the test of time. You know, so are things that I you know, I can easily change the color too, and just get more bang for my buck, you know?

Jennifer Wilson 23:49

Oh, for sure. Yeah, I think it's very easy to get into a pattern of always buying new for everything you do if you're a digital scrapbooker. But to really be thinking of it more like a stash like with that kind of the paper mindset of okay, let's gather what I have to create something new rather than just. Yeah.

Kelly Sill 24:12

Like manipulate what you have too because once you once you start to learn these programs, and you can like kind of look at your digital supplies in a different light. Like, what I was one of the pages that I just did in Affinity Photo for my December Daily, I was using some digital Word Art stamps by Ali Edwards. And I was combining two of the stamps to make a new one, you know, like one, one stamp had a word on it that I didn't want to use, but there were two other words on it. So you know, just kind of erase that one other word and, you know, combine it with Yeah, and you just, there's just so much you could do with it. There's so much. Yeah, just so much creativity there.

Jennifer Wilson 24:59

Just in just personalization and customization to yeah...

Kelly Sill 25:03

Yes, yes.

Jennifer Wilson 25:05

Is there anything that you're noticing kind of like the what if you have your pulse on the industry? What is trending right now or you think is on its way up whether you think it's lasting or not, you know, where, what's Where are we going?

Kelly Sill 25:17

The in this, this is a trend that I've noticed that comes that comes and goes, and I think it's coming back is really designing with fonts. I'm seeing a lot of mixing sizes and mixing different type styles together. I'm seeing using fonts for backgrounds. And, you know, also filling like large Sans Serif fonts with photos or patterns. And like I said, this trend as I see it comes and goes, but right now, I am seeing it being used in all sorts of advertising. I'm seeing it used in we've been watching a lot of sports here lately. So I don't know. It's something that I, that I take, that I take note of that. Fonts are big for me, so...

Jennifer Wilson 26:08

Oh, yeah.

Kelly Sill 26:08

I think I think that that is trending big time. And then the other thing that is trending is Canva. And it's a it's a graphic design app for your desktop or your mobile device. And I think it's trending big time right now because of Kim Hurst class through Ali Edwards. But I haven't I mean, I use Canva once in a while. But you know, I think app scrappers are, you know, kind of excited about that right now.

Jennifer Wilson 26:45

I think that could be a whole episode in itself, probably because I think there's, there's certainly some pros and some cons to using Canva.

Kelly Sill 26:55

Coming from a professional graphic design standpoint, these, these apps like Canva and over, you know, they were developed for businesses who don't have that graphic design department that can, you know, produce their ads for social media or, you know, quick print banners or flyers or whatever. And, you know, that's, that's the main purpose of those apps. But you know, as app scrappers, we will take an app, and we will figure it out how we can use it to ours. And I think that's important for mobile Memory Keepers to understand is that, you know, scrapping with these apps is it that's not the main purpose of this app. That is not the main reason why this these apps were created. They were created for businesses. I know as apps for Apple, we want our, these apps to revolve around us. You know, revolve around us, but, you know, sometimes it can get frustrating with with them, where they, they can't do what we wanted it to do, like we would have in Photoshop. Yeah, a little cautionary cautionary thing, but I think they're great. I mean, you know, for a person who doesn't want to go full blown into learning, a professional graphic design app, you know, over and, and Canva are awesome for that.

Jennifer Wilson 28:37

Well, and I use Canva daily for my web graphics. And it's not because I can't use Photoshop, I'm like, it's just faster to to drop in graphics, if I want to resize it for this particular banner size or whatever. It's just been a really speedy thing. But I yeah, I experimented with it a couple, you know, about a year ago for scrapbooking and decided that it wasn't a good fit for me. So...

Kelly Sill 29:05

And I do the same thing with, I use Adobe Spark Post more than Canva. And so and that's what I do, you know, like, graphics for Instagram or Insta Stories and stuff. It's because it's quicker. So, you know, but again, I don't use it for full blown scrapbook pages.

Jennifer Wilson 29:27

Now, one other thing that I've noticed that's kind of maybe trending and I maybe maybe I've just noticed that for a couple people that I follow, but like, pages that look like they're bound, like to have a spiral down the middle or look like it's it's folded and I'm wondering if like, maybe like the traveler's notebook trend has introduced that. That you want to look like you've created the spread that's in a book

Kelly Sill 29:52

That's in a book. Yeah. I've seen a little bit about that. But it all depends on your style.

Jennifer Wilson 29:59

Correct. True.

Kelly Sill 30:02

I'm not one that deals with like, real, realistic things like that? I guess. you know.

Jennifer Wilson 30:10

Yeah.

Kelly Sill 30:13

I just want, I just want my grids and put my photos in my grids. But yeah, I know, I've noticed I've noticed that too. And I think, I think there's even been some sort of talk about having your, you know, creating a page with that. I don't know, like a, like a six by eight or maybe a three by eight page and a six by eight book and then trimming it down. I guess once you get that, once you get the book printed and sent sent back, but I don't know. I just so you can have like a variety.

Jennifer Wilson 30:56

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Kelly Sill 30:57

In your bound book. I haven't experimented with that at all. I will just be afraid that things wouldn't line up on back to front pages if I was to cut it that's already been bound in my book. I don't know.

Jennifer Wilson 31:12

Oh, yeah, you'd have to really be careful, like, make the other side like a full page pattern or something. So that doesn't matter where you cut it.

Kelly Sill 31:20

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So yeah, I just don't know. If I want to be that adventurous.

Jennifer Wilson 31:29

I've definitely seen that for a number of years of trimming it down, even with like app pages, like leaving half the app page blank. So that is it's just, it's just why and then you you know, you trim that off. Also like hand journaling and photo books. And then I saw recently at from the December Daily Prep Day one of the examples she had put like gold foil letter stickers throughout her album as titles and it was beautiful. And it looks like she had ordered a book that had gold, gold foiling in it, but it was really this was an addition. Yes, yeah.

Kelly Sill 32:07

And that's something that was I was thinking about experimenting with in 2022 is adding stickers or something like physical stickers or doing something similar with those gold foil letters that you just mentioned, you know, in my in my 2022 albums. So yeah, but if I did that, that would also kind of take some mental planning too as far as where those would go, you know, make sure making sure that I'm leaving some whitespace and negative space for that and then.

Jennifer Wilson 32:42

Yes, yes.

Kelly Sill 32:44

I meant to put this here.

Jennifer Wilson 32:47

Yeah, I can see it requires a little bit more planning. But I think that's a kind of almost a fun way to maybe experiment and have some sort of tactile experience. I feel like in some way because of planners and traveler's notebooks, there's a lot more flat stuff that at the same time now we're in December Daily, and it's like, okay, no, we're doing all the chunky stuff at the same time. So we have all the options today.

Kelly Sill 33:14

Yeah, yeah, I think in Ali's, some of her digital December Daily products this year. Kind of involved that whole folding and...

Jennifer Wilson 33:27

interactive type of thing. Yeah,

Kelly Sill 33:29

Yeah. So I still need to order those, those yet.

Jennifer Wilson 33:34

So we've mentioned hybrid a lot as this kind of, you know, in between stage and hybrid could mean so many different things from printing out digital supplies, and using them in a physical approach, you know, to the putting stickers in a photo book. And it's almost kind of could be a gateway drug for somebody who's trying to transition from one to the other. So what's, what would you say is a good way to kind of dip that toe if maybe you're a paper scrapbooker and you're very traditional, and you want to start doing more stuff with your computer or your iPad?

Kelly Sill 34:06

Yeah, I remember experimenting, using my computer to print things out when I went when I was a physical scrapbooker. And I was, you know, doing instead of writing directly in my, in my pages, I would just create a Microsoft Word document and make my journaling in there and then cut it out and attach it to my page. So that is something that if somebody wanted to try, you know, that's just an easy way to kind of, you know, play around with that is just to create a textbox and in a micro, in a Microsoft Word document or if you're on Apple use use Pages. Yeah, whatever word processing program that you're comfortable with, print it out, and you know, mount that on your page. That way, there's, there's no Photoshop experience required. Now you would want to print it out on like, you know, like a matte photo paper and stuff. But you know, if you do have Photoshop, and you have some experience with it, a good way to do to dabble in it is just, you know, find a digital product that just has like circle tags or something and, you know, put all these circle tags on an eight and a half by 11 sheet. Or eight and a half by 11 page document and print that out on maybe like texture, scrapbook paper, and use a circle punch to punch it all out. And you know, use a pop out or something and attach it to your page. Those are really easy ways to kind of, you know, experiment and see if this is something that you would like, and then that, you know, there are some digital designers out there that will create a PDF of their digital files and include that in the kit. So, you know, don't be afraid to print those out and you know, and cut, so you're still getting that physical experience, you're still using your your tools and stuff, but you're just, you know, bringing in that technology to it.

Jennifer Wilson 36:26

I feel like you described my, my first hybrid experience exactly.

Kelly Sill 36:33

Like really fun with the fonts and stuff, you know, loading all those different fonts and using them and your journaling and everything. So...

Jennifer Wilson 36:41

Yeah, I remember getting some sort of like circle tag for like December Daily 2010. And I, you know, and I was I was digital at that time, but I was this is my transition to paper. And I'm like, Okay, I have all these things that I'm going to, I'm going to figure out how I'm going to print these out. And then how do I cut them out? Like, like, I send you a punch or something or I have to cut in a circle? And so it was like, I don't know what to do with any of this.

Kelly Sill 37:08

I know, love me a cirle punch and love me circle tags. I use them. I use them all the time.

Jennifer Wilson 37:17

Yeah. So maybe someone who's kind of thinking about going all digital. So Kim is one of my frequent co hosts on the show here. She's my teaching assistant, she recently went all digital. And she's like, she's absolutely loving it. But I'm curious what you would say, what are some of the considerations for like taking that leap?

Kelly Sill 37:43

Equipment, for one, you know, kind of, you know, is it something that you're going to want to strictly do on your desktop? Or do you have a laptop? Or do you want to, you know, do this on a tablet, so you need to consider that. And then also storage, I mean, you know, as physical scrapper, you can collect a lot of stuff, and it takes up a lot of room. Well, you can also collect a lot of digital stuff, and it could take up a lot of room.

Jennifer Wilson 38:17

Yes.

Kelly Sill 38:18

You want to make sure that you have plenty of storage not only for what you have now, but for what you can see happening in the future, what you can see, you know, other products that you might be downloading, you know, these apps and software take up a lot of room, a lot of space on your computer. So you want to make sure that you have plenty of storage. Also, you want to have a plan for backup. That's always, that's always important. And also how you want to go about organizing because you know, once you start collecting these digital products, they can get out of hand really quick. So I think you know, try to find some organization system that works for you and not all organizational, and that is really very personal because it's all going to depend on your workflow and how you create your pages. So one person's organization system may not work for you. So that's something that you would have to experiment and you know what and I don't want to say you know, if you want to go in all digital, and you have that fear of missing the physical products, you know, keep some of those physical products. Like right now, I mean really the only physical products that I have are those by Ali Edwards I have her December Daily products and then the Travel Collection. Those are pretty much the only physical products that I buy anymore because they're classic. I know they're not going to go out of style and you know, I really liked them. But yeah, don't, and yet, even though I am a full blown app scrapper, you know, it's fun to go back and do a smaller physical scrapbook project. So, like, a couple years ago, I did a three by eight album of our trip to the Everglades. And it was fun to like, you know, get back into using those, those products. But yeah, I mean, keep a small supply on hand. But you know, you can get anything, if you really want to go digital, you know, get rid of, get rid of most of them and keep those keep those products that are can stand the test of time. Like as far as tools and stuff, I kept my, my circle and square punches, because those are classic, those are never going to go out of style. So I, you know, I held on to those. And the other stuff I divided up I gave, I gave product to local elementary school, I just donated a bunch of papers and stuff to our elementary school here in town. And then I gave some to a, it's like this creative art center. And then I also took a bunch of stuff to one of the assisted living facilities to get just to get rid of it. I mean, I know I could have sold things on Facebook or at a garage sale or whatever. But I just didn't want to take the time.

Jennifer Wilson 41:30

It's a lot of work. Yeah. Well, you know, it can benefit somebody else, somebody else will enjoy it. And you're getting, you're getting something from it, you're getting space and peace of mind to be able to move on, for sure.

Kelly Sill 41:45

Yes, definitely.

Jennifer Wilson 41:49

I think one point that you made early on in this last segment was just about the experience that you're going to have, whether it's in paper, or digital. So that's what you need to think about is that it's not just about the finished result, but how is it going to feel to do this? Where do you want to be doing this? Whatever your hobby is? Is it in a space at a desk? Is it on the couch, like it in the car somewhere? Like, where do you want to be scrapbooking, where's it going to be effective and fun for you. And that's going to guide you to, you know, some of your decisions about how you're going to create?

Kelly Sill 42:22

Yeah, and I think that as, as you get older, you know, your your priorities change and stuff. And so you know, I want to I want to be downstairs and you know, hanging in front of the TV or whatever with my husband and and but yet still working on my pages and stuff. And app scraping allows me to do that. It allows me to work in the car. I have done pages on a plane. I mean, it's just it's it depends on your lifestyle, you know, how what is your lifestyle right now? And how are you going to make this work for you. Looking look at documenting now I don't look at it as a hobby. And and I, you know, I would love to get rid of that stigma. That it's Oh, it's a hobby, you know, it's not to me, it's a lifestyle. It's this is something I do every single day. I work it in every single day. So it's just, it's part of my life. It has been for 30 some years.

Jennifer Wilson 43:25

Yes, yes. Now, one thing we haven't touched on much is the is printing. And I think you have to really, you know, obviously you can change your mind over time as I have done. But just think about, okay, what am I creating? And how do I want to put it, do I need the, the instant gratification of printing it relatively quickly? Or can I wait for a full year to put everything in a book?

Kelly Sill 43:48

I'll be honest, I don't have everything, print up everything that I have done. I don't have all printed, I print my albums through the Project Life app. I know it's pricey through there. But just the ease and not having to deal with worrying about margins being cut off or anything on you know, through other resources. Yeah, just do it through the through the Project Life app. But like for my, the, like this little Everglades album that I did a couple years ago, I have a printer here at home that you know, I I print through and so yeah, um, things like that. I have to have that instant gratification, but things that I have created in the app, I know that the pages are there and they're backed up to multiple areas. I'm not worried about losing them or anything and don't get printed. Printed.

Jennifer Wilson 44:55

I tell myself that too. But all the layouts I still need to photograph.

Kelly Sill 45:03

I've always been a good, good about, like, when I was a physical scrapbooker I was I was always good about photographing them and stuff because I was sharing them on social media when I had one of my blogs and stuff. So. So those are all photographed.

Jennifer Wilson 45:21

I feel like my phone had I share so much kind of in the moment casually on Instagram now, that by the time that like, it's totally done, I'm like, Oh, I know, I have to like, set everything up and do it right. And so I have a big stack it really, it would take like, you know, less than a day, like a couple hours to like, really take care of it, but it's on my list.

Kelly Sill 45:46

It's on the list, it is on the list. So...

Jennifer Wilson 45:51

Now I wanted to kind of conclude with maybe some of your more advanced tips, cuz I know we have some diehard longtime digital scrapbookers here. So what are some tips or techniques that you love, but maybe don't get as much attention because but they're super awesome.

Kelly Sill 46:07

I think one big one that I'd like to share, but I don't know if people really take it to heart is when when I do my December Daily albums, I've I'm doing them in the app. However, I love the the physical version of the product. And I may not be using them in albums anymore, but I still buy them, I make Christmas decorations with them or whatever. But one of one of the main reasons that I purchased them is that those elements that have texture to it, like sometimes Ali will produce products that have a fabric texture, or their wood or their leather. One of the things that I love to do is take the digital version of that physical product, and try to create it to look like the physical, if that makes sense. So I always do a search for textured high resolution photos of say like, like leather, I will scour the internet for for a texture that looks like the physical version. And so I will bring that high resolution texture photo into the digital file of a December Daily say like it's a say it was a circle, say like it's a leather leather circle or something. And I will clip that high resolution photo to the digital file and use a blending mode. I can't remember which, I don't know if it's usually overlay or multiply blending mode. I can't remember which one that's usually foolproof. And it makes that digital embellishment look like the physical one. It's one of my favorite things to do. I do it every single year before December Daily starts I will download those, those digital files like a textured, textured embellishment, get all of that prepped before December Daily starts. So I have those those textured embellishments to work with.

Jennifer Wilson 48:31

Oh, I love that. That's particularly like, you know, there's a wide range in digital supplies. Some of them are more flat graphic design, and the majority of, of Ali Edwards products are like that. But then if you go further into the other digital realm, you have very, very textured realistic items as well. And those are some of your favorites. Because you like the look of that. And maybe you were paper before like that's, that's so fun. I love that.

Kelly Sill 48:57

So that's one tip that I always share with with somebody who has, who has been doing digital for a while is you know, bring in some textured high resolution photos and stuff. So...

Jennifer Wilson 49:12

Excellent.

Kelly Sill 49:14

You know, textured, textured background papers. And I mean, there's there's a whole thing that lots that you can do with that.

Jennifer Wilson 49:21

Yes, yes. All the opportunities for sure. So Kelly, can you share where we can find you online? Anything you have coming up in the new year?

Kelly Sill 49:31

In the new year? Yeah, I'm going to be having more classes in my Pixels to Pages classrooms, so I'm looking forward to that. Yeah, you can find me at pixelstopagescom. I'm on Instagram @pixelstopages and then also pixelstopages on Facebook.

Jennifer Wilson 49:46

Oh, sounds perfect. Thank you so much.

Kelly Sill 49:48

Thank you.

Jennifer Wilson 49:49

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