SYW161 – How to Organize Printables

Danielle Menage-Jensen 0:00

It's it's sort of out of sight out of mind. You know, like the reason we surround ourselves and craft spaces with all of our physical products is because if you don't see them, you don't use them. So digital is hard in that respect because, you know, they are all saved on your computer. But if you if you set yourself up for success in terms of putting them in folders that are logical to you, then you know that's the way forward.

Jennifer Wilson 0:25

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 161. In this episode, I'm joined by Danielle Minaj Jensen of Nelly and Clem to chat about her irreverent sense of humor, being crafty weirdos, and creating a system to organize printables so you actually use them.

Jennifer Wilson 0:56

Hey, Nelly, welcome to Scrapbook Your Way.

Danielle Menage-Jensen 0:58

Hi, Jennifer.

Jennifer Wilson 1:00

I am so looking forward to our conversation. We have had so many fun Instagram DM conversations. And so I think this is going to be a hoot. And I'm just Yeah, I'm just excited to get to talk to you. Can you share a little bit about yourself with our audience?

Danielle Menage-Jensen 1:15

Yeah, sure. So I'm, my name is Danielle. But I'm Nelly to my friends and sort of everyone on Instagram. And I live in Sussex, in England, with my husband, Chris, and our giant, fluffy sort of monster cat Clem. I've been scrapbooking for around sort of September 2018. So not sort of massively long. I'm pretty much a newbie in comparison to everyone else in the community. So yeah, I feel a bit. It's early days for me. By day, I work at a law firm in London. I file sort of patents and designs and by night I design and sell printables on my Etsy store.

Jennifer Wilson 2:05

Sounds super fun. A taste of you know, city life and lots of work and, and then you get to craft.

Danielle Menage-Jensen 2:15

Yeah, exactly when I get home.

Jennifer Wilson 2:20

So what's exciting you right now in scrapbooking?

Danielle Menage-Jensen 2:23

Um, I suppose in terms of my sort of what I'm cracking on with at the moment, it's mostly just December Daily, still. No judgment here. But I'm on day 11 now and yeah, I I'm still really enjoying it. But my desk is sort of surrounded by December. I kind of feel a little bit like I haven't, haven't moved on yet. But I've given myself a deadline of March. So I have to finish in March because Ali Edwards has just announced the Day In The Life is on the 10th of March. So I'm like, right, because this needs to be cleared away before. I can't have to two projects ongoing at the same time. So yeah, I've got to, I've got to get the December Daily done. But yeah, and I suppose in terms of sort of people and things inspiring me. At the moment, I guess it's it's still very much Ali. You know, I feel like everyone, everyone feels that way. But But yeah, just everything she's kind of releasing at the moment. It's just bringing me like so much. So much joy and her new Story Kit is just like, ticking all the boxes in terms of my color palette. And yeah, so just, it's all looking very nice.

Jennifer Wilson 3:43

That's awesome. And don't feel bad about your December Daily because I still have a table over here that is full of all of my products. And my projects just saying Hey, are we gonna like wrap this up anytime soon?

Danielle Menage-Jensen 3:57

How far along are you?

Jennifer Wilson 4:00

Um, I would say two thirds, but I gave up numbers. So...

Danielle Menage-Jensen 4:04

Yeah, okay.

Jennifer Wilson 4:04

I could technically like, stop now, and it'd be good.

Danielle Menage-Jensen 4:07

Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson 4:07

But I do have like some, like, little mini kits of things pulled aside for specific stories. And so I have a list of what I need to do to finish and so my goal is by mid February.

Danielle Menage-Jensen 4:19

Oh, okay. I love it. Yeah, it's good to have a goal. Even if you don't hit it, like, you just need that mentally.

Jennifer Wilson 4:27

So we always like to ask our guests as well about their memory keeping Bucket List. So is there a story that feels really important for you to tell?

Danielle Menage-Jensen 4:36

Um, so the moment I kind of had a bit of a think about this, because I kind of think like, yes, stories I want to tell. And I kind of got really big into telling stories that have already happened in terms of like my parents and my grandparents, because my grandparents both passed away in 2019. And it was like, you know, within like a month of each other. It was a big sort of off, it was like a double, double wack. And, like, all the time leading up to that, like, everyone, my parents have been down more and everyone had been kind of coming over to see them more. And we just been getting this just like amazing stories from both of them. Just felt that my granddad's just a complete nutcase. And just I mean, that pair of them were and but just some of the stories that he came out with were just absolute madness. And you know, some things that I've never really heard before either. And I just sort of thought that I need to get those down, like I need to, I need to get them in some kind of book. And I need to sort of get get everything out of my, my mom. I need to sort of shake her, shake her down for the stories and get them all kind of in one place. So that just the whole family has them really because some things get so, so twisted or or forgotten. Or just kind of when the retelling happens, you know, it's a little bit as missed each time maybe. And I'm conscious that I don't want to kind of get that down before. The sort of the gems of it all, the kind of just sort of drift, drift out of the out of the stories. So I want to get down in one like big, big, big cohesive thing. So that's my, that's my plan.

Jennifer Wilson 6:19

You know, just to kind of affirm this goal that you have, I have a tiny related story. I had this photo that my grandfather had kept with him throughout his life until his death. And it was him and another man postwar and I was always wanted to know the story behind the photo and who was this other man? And we only had a few clues. And I did all this extensive research. And then just just this past summer, I was going through scrapbooks that my grandma had made in the 40s. And she had like three pages all about this photo, like newspaper clippings and various other versions of the photo that told the whole story of you know why it existed. And so I just have to thank my grandma for, for doing that. So that we would have the real story, not just the stories, we were making up what we thought it was.

Danielle Menage-Jensen 7:14

Oh, that's amazing. Oh, that's so fantastic. Yeah. See, that's what I want. I want the answers to the questions so I never have to not have them.

Jennifer Wilson 7:27

So I wanted to have you on our organization series to specifically connect to what you're doing with your Nelly and Clem shop because you create printables. And this is like a whole it's a category of supply that people are purchasing, printing, using and all of that. But it's not something that we talk a lot in terms of how do we organize it? How do we manage that? So I'd like to just start a little bit about can you talk about your evolution as a scrapbooker? I've noticed in particular, you have affinity for like small projects, like mini books and December Daily type things.

Danielle Menage-Jensen 8:03

Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson 8:03

And I'm curious, like, what is it about that size that you love? And have you always been into that size?

Danielle Menage-Jensen 8:08

Oh, okay. So, so let's go back in time, to 2018 when I first started scrapbooking, sort of after years of my mum, my mum was a scrapbooker. And she's like, desperate to get me on board. And for years, I just sort of resisted or resisted it. And I think part of it was that I, I have my job's really quite full on and I'm not home until late, the weekends really busy. And we moved, like for a couple of years, we were renting houses and we were just moving constantly. So there wasn't a lot of space or sort of could really be dragging big boxes of albums and things across London with me. So I sort of didn't have any crafty hobbies. That didn't happen for a long time. And, and then I kind of we settled down we bought a house and that's when I kind of started thinking yeah, maybe now is now is the time to to start doing this. So I started talking to my mom a bit more about it. I found out about Suse Fish because my mom's like, in love. I mean, I also love Suse Fish but...

Jennifer Wilson 9:16

Well yeah, I mean who isn't?

Danielle Menage-Jensen 9:17

Exactly. My mom was like, You must watch this woman, you must. So, so I sort of watched her videos, then I learnt about Ali and started kind of getting actually involved in, in scrapping and sort of sticking things down. And originally I was crazy. Like they kind of look back now at the things that are making, you're mad. Like I everything I did was 12 by 12. And it was enormous, like elaborate layout sort of Paige Evans style sort of stitching and all this kind of just everything paint and you know, all these things are happening on my layouts. And I think that got me noticed and sort of onto a couple of design teams. So, you know, that was, at the time, I just kind of thought, well, this is obviously the end game like, this is the goal that, you know, every scrapbooker wants to get to being in a design team. And obviously, that's not the case. And I didn't know that. I didn't know that then. But I did that for sort of a couple of years, and I really enjoyed it. And the best thing about it was obviously, not only being sent, like amazing products to use, but also getting this opportunity to, like, try a bit of everything. So, you know, it's like making mini albums and cards and, you know, 12, by 12, layouts, and all these different things. And it was, it was just a kind of fast tracked my sort of scrapbooking, learning through just all these different bits and pieces I was putting together. But then I think I kind of burnt myself out a bit. Just I took on too much, I think and after like about a year and a half, I just sort of thought actually, I kind of need to start re kind of calibrating and thinking about what I really actually want to do. So sort of one by one, I kind of started leaving the teams, and then that kind of made me think about the projects that actually brought me joy. Like what, you know, because I've sort of conscious that I was making for other people and making perhaps what other people might like to see. But then I started thinking like, No, you know, I'm here doing this, what do I want? So I started making all these like really cool little mini albums and was kind of little intricate, sort of flippy things with book rings, and just stuff that I that really brought me joy. And so I have been doing that sort of on and off any kind of project where I can make a mini album out of it, I'm like, I'm there. And then sort of off of the back of that, and making these kind of intricate little things. I've been looking around sort of the, I suppose, like, elements that I wanted to include in those projects that when I looked for them, I couldn't find them. So and you know, it's not like anything, I wasn't looking for anything like elaborate. I was just looking for like, sort of particular pattern paper that maybe wasn't very busy and just had like stripes on it or something. And I just couldn't find these things. So that's when I started thinking, you know, oh, maybe I'll just I'll make, make them myself and, and then that kind of Yeah, turned into a an Etsy store.

Jennifer Wilson 12:24

Now, I'm curious, do you have any, like, related education or work background? Or are you totally just like, self taught as a hobby?

Danielle Menage-Jensen 12:31

Um, yeah. It's, um, it's, it's a bit like everything I do. It's, it's not normal. I mean, I was really into art and design when I was at school. And then I kind of carried that into college with like, I did like art and design and graphic design. And then I just sort of dropped it all. I didn't want to go to university, I wanted to car that kind of, you know, you don't really get to be a graphic designer, if you don't put in the education. So I sort of gave up on that for a bit and kind of bumbled around doing random jobs. I was in like the automotive industry for like years and then went into, into like law. But I tried to kind of sneak, sneak designing in wherever I could. So I'd always find like a way to make, like, let's do a marketing campaign. I'll design it like, you know, do something where I can be like, Oh, I'll do I'll do the line drawings. Like don't mind me, I'll just, I'll just get involved. So I kind of try and sneak it into everything I do. But it's not something that I am, I'm actually like officially skilled in.

Jennifer Wilson 13:38

Can you talk a little bit more about like the particular like genre or niche of supplies that you feel like your shop is filling? Because you mentioned that you felt like there was a gap. There was something that was missing? And I'm curious how you would describe that.

Danielle Menage-Jensen 13:50

Yeah. So I've got to have this conversation with Meg who's on my design team. And she said like, Oh, you're like creating things for us, crafty weirdos. And I was just like, okay. We haven't really drilled quite down into what a crafty weirdo is. But I think that it's maybe it's sort of like for me it's quite self deprecating. It's that kind of British sense of humor, I suppose that is missing from these kinds of big, big American companies. Because I mean, they, you know, because they don't have a load of Brits sitting around moaning about the weather and just generally being very negative about everything. So there's, there's like a weird kind of mindset that's there. I think. I tap into that very easily. And I just think, particularly when I started scrapbooking, I feel like I started scrapbooking to the point where it was like the good vibes only time. Like people talk about the brown period, but I was there for the good vibe zone. And it was all too positive. And...

Jennifer Wilson 14:57

That was like preceded by the best day ever, period. Then it became good vibes only.

Danielle Menage-Jensen 15:04

Like I don't have good vibes. What if I don't have good vibes? What if my bad vibes are bad? I just want a card that says like not today, you know?

Jennifer Wilson 15:12

Yes.

Danielle Menage-Jensen 15:12

Or is a bit snarky or you know, has swearing on it. I swear, you know, like, I think I just wanted those things and they just they weren't there. So like my early kits are I mean there are a bit all all over the place. Eclectic, I think is the word. But I made like a feminism kit and like I did a true crime kit because I'm like big into true crime. And and then that kind of turned into sort of doing TV shows sort of specific kits for things like Shitts Creek and that like the American Office, and I just there was sometimes I just was like, I want like, I want a stapler in a jelly like, you know. There's things I want and they weren't there. So I want like a collection of David Rose's jumpers. Or sweaters, I always forget that. I talked to Americans, I have to say sweaters. No one knows what a jumper is.

Jennifer Wilson 16:11

I've watched Bridget Jones's Diary. Love Actually, I've watched enough movies to know what a jumper is, so...

Danielle Menage-Jensen 16:20

You see when I was first on em, I was on Hip Kit Club's team and I'm I made this. I joined in autumn and I made this layout where I talked about my favorite things about autumn. And I put in the list, fluffy, big jumpers, and someone messaged me on Instagram and said, What the heck's a fluffy, big jumper? And I said, Oh, it's like, it's like a sweater. And they went, Oh, that's not as exciting as I thought it would be. I was like, I'm sorry, sorry to disappoint.

Jennifer Wilson 16:50

Yeah, I remember the beginning, I was confused. Because to me a jumper was like, an overall dress.

Danielle Menage-Jensen 16:56

Yes, that's right. Yeah, yes. Yeah, we're weird.

Jennifer Wilson 17:01

You know, I think you are kind of particularly known for doing the TV shows, including pop culture things in, in your product. So why do you think it's important and fun to include those in our memory keeping?

Danielle Menage-Jensen 17:13

Yeah, I mean, I suppose is this thing that, you know, and I'm not alone in this, like, I love I love a quote, I love, I love a good TV, or like movie quote. And I just my husband is the same, like, basically the, like, the thing that bonded us was, like, love of sort of quoting the same TV shows and stuff. So yeah, it's always been. And I feel like just generally as like scrapbookers we're kind of always including in our documenting things like, you know, watching, we're reading, we're listening. You know, this part of the stories and they're also part of like the day to day stuff. So when we're not scrapping about, you know, like a big holiday, or, you know, like doing a December Daily, or, like a big, big thing, if you're just sort of doing a story, there's always going to be an like something in there, that was just like a nice thing that you were doing. Like your, as a family sort of sitting down to watch a film or something. And you know, and I just feel like, although you can, you can always screen grab like the movie poster or you know, like the album cover that it that's easy to do. It's, it's just nice if you have like, sort of those kind of scrapbooking sort of specific things, it's kind of made for us. So it's, you know, things that are in journal cards, shape and size, or, you know, a die cut that you can just kind of pop on top of something, I've tried to kind of make things that they are for scrapbookers. But they're still pop culture, but they work, you know, if you're making if you're doing Project Life, or if you're doing a mini album, or like a planner spread or, you know, like a six by eight album, it kind of they work for all the different projects that we do. So and they just, that's, you know, that kind of wasn't out there. So that was kind of why I wanted to kind of make them.

Jennifer Wilson 19:03

Yes, for sure. Well and I'm just, it just makes me think about like, the in particular, I've always had that connection to shows and particularly sharing them with friends and family. But I think during the pandemic, especially, oh, it sped you know, these are the things that like, kept me going.

Danielle Menage-Jensen 19:19

Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson 19:19

I rewatched all of Downton Abbey and watched Shitts Creek for the first time.

Danielle Menage-Jensen 19:23

Oh amazing.

Jennifer Wilson 19:25

So I think, you know, documenting those types of things really kind of, it stands out because it's important. It's how we, you know, kept our sanity together, at least mostly together.

Danielle Menage-Jensen 19:36

Yeah, we tried. But no, you're so right. It's just like, you know, not not every story has to be like, the greatest day ever. The biggest thing you know, like, it's, I always think that the projects that I love the most are the ones that I look back on when it was just like, you know, oh, what I was doing that week. You know, like when you look back on like a, like a childhood diary or something and it's just nonsense stuff, you know. But it's, it's those kinds of things that they, they're just your day to day lives. It's sort of, it's still special. You know, like, when you look back on it, you think, oh, yeah, I was watching that, or I was reading this. Yeah. And you kind of you go back to that, that time, you know, it really dates, it dates things, but in a, in a great way.

Jennifer Wilson 20:21

Mm hmm. Yeah, I can totally see that. I have some of my middle school diaries, like seventh grade. And it's comical.

Danielle Menage-Jensen 20:29

Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson 20:29

But at that time, those felt like the most important things in my life, you know, just like the things that are most important right now, might not feel that way in a few decades.

Danielle Menage-Jensen 20:41

But it's still fun to look at.

Jennifer Wilson 20:43

So I mentioned that we're in our organization and creative journey, right now, these are like two month themed periods, where we just dive in with our podcast episodes, and all of our content inside the membership. And I wanted to really talk about organizing printables, both on your computer and in the real world after you've printed them, and maybe after you've cut them out. But can you share a little bit about like, your own creative process? And using the supplies you design? Like, what does that look like?

Danielle Menage-Jensen 21:10

Yeah, sure. Um, so I mean, like, in terms of my, my own kind of designs, you know, I do kind of add them into sort of standalone projects. Like, I'll use an entire kit for like, one thing, or like, you know, I love, I love making a little mini book like, using like an entire kit, or like just sneaking a little paper here or there in like a six by eight album or something, if I'm just telling a story. And I want to kind of just sneak in one of my pattern papers. And I do that sort of just when I'm generally documenting throughout the year, I don't always share those things. So maybe, not necessarily because I they're like, particularly private story or anything, but sometimes I just, I just don't share everything I make on on Instagram. And then it kind of made me realize that, oh, I'm making these things. And then I'm actually, not actually sharing what I'm doing with them. Which is a bit stupid. That was when I kind of thought maybe I should actually have a design team. And then that would have people like, more frequently show what can actually be done with the stuff that I'm that I'm making. So yeah, so I kind of did that last year, and that's that sort of thing. It's, it's just turned, it's just six months now. And we've been doing that, which is really, really great. But in terms of sort of, kind of the principles, and you know how I'm kind of using them. I, I am quite sneaky, like if I can get now I'm doing PNG files with everything, I'll only print what I'm actually going to use. So it makes life so much easier. So there's no waste now like, I'm just sort of popping on in like an A4 document. And you could use like Microsoft Word, you could use anything it doesn't, you don't have to have like, you know, some kind of fancy Design Suite, you can just pop a PNG file in literally anything and print out on A4. So I tend to like fill an A4 sheet with all the things that I want to print. And then I'll print them all out. And then you know, I can just fussy cut, and I'm good to go. So that that's kind of, that's kind of how I was using them for for quite a while. But now I'm like a bit. A bit more. Sort of, I've got more tips. Basically, I've been doing this for a little while. So I'm a bit more. Yeah, I'm a bit more savvy with what I'm doing.

Jennifer Wilson 23:32

So I'm curious when you are printing do you then fussy cut or do you, do you use a Silhouette or Cricut? Or thing to do electronic cutting?

Danielle Menage-Jensen 23:40

Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson 23:41

What's your, what's your speed there.

Danielle Menage-Jensen 23:42

So I was fussy cussing for a while and I don't know about you, but people find it therapeutic, but I do not fit it therapeutic at all. Creates a rage in me that that cannot be sustained. But yeah, so I brought a Silhouette. I think it's like a is it the Portrait Free. So it's this sort of smaller size one. And I'm learning how to use it. But I and again, I've learned now that this isn't just me that had I thought I was just really, really stupid. Because I couldn't understand why I couldn't make it work. Why the software was so confusing why the paper thickness that it has in the program doesn't seem to actually correlate to the paper thickness of the thing that you have. But it turns out, it turns out that it was just created by a group of lunatics who just don't understand paper thickness. So now I've come to terms with that. I feel like I can get on better with it. Because for a long time I just thought I was just being really really dumb. But after watching lots of YouTube videos and talking to quite a few people. Cheryl on my design team I'm like, in love with her because she's had one for years so she, she's like the, the fountain of knowledge. So I'm constantly harassing her in her DMs when things go wrong, so I'm I am getting along better with it. I used it in my December Daily few times. And I've managed to like, I've now worked out how to use it outside of the print and cut sort of options. So I'm just sort of putting, feeding anything into it. I fed a load of glitter cardstock into it the other day and cut out some like, of Ali's lovely handwriting. So yeah, I'm getting, I'm getting better. And I'm now using that to cut my my die cuts out. And it's, it's just like, it makes everything feel so much more professional.

Jennifer Wilson 25:44

Oh, sure. Yeah, no, it's awesome. Do you have any particular tips for printing in ways that like, you're totally satisfied with like, favorite papers or anything like that?

Danielle Menage-Jensen 25:55

Yeah. So I found that, that there's like a thickness that works quite well, in terms of sort of whatever printer you have. And that seems to be like 250 GSM is like, the is a nice thickness. It's it's kind of I've been trying a few different papers now. And I found that that kind of is thickness wise, very similar to what Ali's using and sort of what Felicity Jane card, like journal cards kind of feel like. And it's like a matte white photo paper. Basically, if you can get hold of a matte photo paper, that's 250, that sort of seems to work well. And I've had a few different printers now. And none of them have kind of got jammed up with that. So it does seem to be a good thickness, I went thicker, and then that started causing issues. So yeah, there's like a sweet spot and sort of 250 seems to be seems to be it. In terms of printers, I'm still trying to find the, the ultimate one, I've had a few different ones now. And as like recommended by people, and I just I don't know, they're just not working quite how I wanted them to be. I bought this big sort of Canon beast like, mid last year. And he's like, he's like the TS 9500 or something. And it prints in A3 as well, which is why I got it because it was all like, I'm going to print gigantic photos and all this kind of stuff. But the print quality is beautiful. Like it's amazing. But it chomps through cartridges, and they're not cheap. So that that's kind of a bit depressing. So I have to kind of be quite careful what I use that for. And then I bought like one of these Epson ones that is like a sort of conserves ink, and you kind of fill up the cartridges yourself. And again, that's that is good. And the quality's okay, but it's, it's just not as good as the Canon. So, and I had an HP Envy and that was good. And I gave that to my mom, and I regret it. I was like, create space for the Canon, the Canon, is it and then the Canon arrived. And I was like, this is expensive. Not quite, not quite what I thought it would be. So yeah, the search continues for the ultimate for the ultimate printer. But I am kind of testing them out. So yeah, if anyone's going to get a printer ask me first because I can tell you if it's worth it or not. I'm going through them all.

Jennifer Wilson 28:44

You know, I've definitely had a love hate relationship with printers over time. If it's not something with the quality it's something with like the internet connection. Or it's, yeah, I think there's, there needs to be some innovation in that space. I would love to see Apple start doing printers so that we could just make them easy and simple to always and always work properly.

Danielle Menage-Jensen 29:05

Definitely. Wouldn't that be amazing. I know. And color balance is strange thing as well. Like sometimes it's really, really warm. And you just sort of think what's and if you do anything that lilac or purple, you just sort of this color doesn't represent anything on my screen like this looks brown and what's happened. It's just very strange. I find it, yeah, I find it very, very peculiar. And I've gone through all kinds of, you know, I've gotten like deep diving online to try to find like ways to change my settings and all this kind of color settings things and yeah, I'm still not quite had them had the joy. But I will, I'll tell everyone if I find the right one. I'll let everyone know and save everyone spending 1000s of pounds on redundant technology.

Jennifer Wilson 29:55

So I did Google, the equivalent of 250 GSM and paperweight And that's 66 pound. For those here in the US who look for their papers with that reference.

Danielle Menage-Jensen 30:07

Ah, thank you. Yeah, I was gonna say, it does confuse me sometimes. I forget that I'm in a different weight.

Jennifer Wilson 30:15

Yeah, no problem. So I find printables in particular are one category of supplies that I purchase, I download, and then I lose them. If I managed to print them out, even then I if I don't use them, if I don't like scrapbook with the pieces right away, I they just seem to float off. So I'm curious, you do you have any advice for someone who struggles to organize the printables both on their computer, and you know, when they've turned into tangible little goodies?

Danielle Menage-Jensen 30:48

Yeah. Sure. So, um, I mean, I attempted on the computer, like folders and sensible file names. I found are like key to success. So I have a folder for, I keep all my printables in a separate, like zone on my computer to ones that I purchased from other people. So I kind of deliberately tried to create that separation, because I have the, like the zipped files for obviously, uploading to the shop. So my formatting slightly different. So I do keep all of those in a different location on my drive, so I don't kind of get anything jumbled up. And I keep the everything is within its own kit name. So every kit has the name and in there is the is the paper folder, and then the PNG folder. And, you know, keep everything in its little, it's similar in like folders within folders to keep everything kind of organized. And then another way to kind of work is with with purchasing printables that I buy from different companies, I divide those into folders by the creator, and like creator's name. And then within that folder, I'll divide things up into like, sometimes if it's a kit, that's like a perfect kit, that I don't want to kind of separate out into little bits and pieces, I'll just keep that kit as it is. If it's maybe like a Story Kit or something from Ali, I'll just keep that as the Story Kit. And I'll have it labeled as such, because I kind of roughly know what's you know, in that kit. So I can go in there and know that there's some journal cards, know that there's some stamps, like, I know what's in that folder. But when it comes to something where I'm going to be making like a big project, and I'm going to be dipping into it all the time. So like December Daily, I've made a folder on my drive for all of my December principles. So everything goes into that folder. And it's like a Frankenstein's monster in terms of where the stuff comes from, you know, it's from, it's for everyone so that we bits and pieces from all different kinds of companies. And I just keep them all in that December folder. Because I know in December, I'm gonna want to scroll through all those babies and like pick out what I want and put them all in a in a doc and then print it. So there'll be stuff from, you know, Crate Paper in there. And you know that the AC Digital's website, which is like the best website, if people don't know about that AC Digital's it's, it's amazing. And I've got some kits on there that you know, they don't exist anymore. You can't get the stuff, you can't get the physical bits. But they just have everything they're so like Cute Girl and all those kinds of old, Carousel by Maggie Holmes. Like, you know, all the good stuff. I keep all of those as well. But I think if you're going to if there's a project where you know, you're going to be using bits and pieces from everywhere, then definitely have a dedicated folder for that. You don't need to move everything permanently into that folder, because you can just copy into it too. So you know, so that the thing will still stay in its original location. So if you have a Fa La La, Crate Paper Fa La La collection, you know, I'll still have that on my drive as a, as a folder with everything in it. But then I might go, Well, you know what I know I'm going to use that paper in my December Daily. So I'm just going to copy it, another copy of it into my December printables folder. So that's kind of how I work with that. Anything from Ali's Product Plays, because they all come in separate. You can download all the digital's but they all come in like folders within folders within folders.

Jennifer Wilson 34:19

Yes, yes, yes.

Danielle Menage-Jensen 34:20

And then when you're trying to like, I want to do that thing that she did. And then you go in and you're like, Well, I don't know where that is. Or you forget that it's there. And then when you want to do something you like, I'm sure I saw like make a thing with a tag and then you're there like 20 minutes later, can't go through these folders trying to find it. I just drag each individual, individual file out and pop it in that December folder. So I'm like cutting out the middleman.

Jennifer Wilson 34:45

Yeah, yeah. Anything you can do.

Danielle Menage-Jensen 34:47

Yeah, exactly. Because it sure is messy and it is complicated. And the problem with digital is that you forget what you have, like it's I totally get that it's, it's it's sort of out sight out of mind. You know, like, the reason we surround ourselves and craft spaces with all of our physical products is because if you don't see them, you don't use them. So digital is hard in that respect, because, you know, they are all saved on your computer. But if you, if you set yourself up for success in terms of putting them in folders that are logical to you, then you know, that's the way forward. But yeah...

Jennifer Wilson 35:26

I wanted to particularly mention like go back to AC Digital's because, you know, you mentioned that they have older collections. And so I think, you know, even, you know, just a die hard paper scrapbooker can then easily print out some of these embellishments to then coordinate with some of your older stash. Oh, I just have like these three pieces left from this older collection, it doesn't go with anything else, you can then supplement with some of these digital supplies. And so I think that's, that's a fun way to make sure you're using your stash, but then feel like you really have all the, you know, more of the coordinating pieces together.

Danielle Menage-Jensen 36:02

Totally Yeah. And I will say, one of the things that I've learned through purchasing these kits is that some of the older ones where they had like, only, obviously what was on the original product would have had glitter on it. Maybe like gold gold sort of sparkly glitter. And then on the scanned in digital version is like a kind of digital amalgamation of what glitter would look like. And sometimes when they print out, they don't look as great. It's obviously something within that, that kind of image that there hasn't been, it's a little bit more pixelated. But you can always do is you can chop those babies up, and you can pull them all apart. And then you can actually add in different textures to those printables. Like no one says that, you know, once a printable is printed, you can't fiddle with it. You know, like, I'm always pulling those things apart, and I'll put in actual real glitter cardstock. So or, you know, I'll back it on some glitter cardstock. So, that's a good way of making them look more real, if you're worried that. You know, because I feel like a lot of people are kind of a bit negative on the printables because you know, they don't have that same quality as a as a physical product you're going to buy, they just don't. But you know, there's all these little ways you can you can kind of pimp your printables up to make, to make them look a bit more, make them look a bit more like you bought them in the shop.

Jennifer Wilson 37:31

I think that's a class that you need to develop, Pimp Your Printables. So...

Danielle Menage-Jensen 37:37

But yeah, I mean, this is it, this how I'm kind of, as I say, I'm sort of everything I do is with a learning curve, and it's very curvy. I'm kind of, I'm definitely working out as I go. But yeah, there's no reason why the best thing about printables is you can, you can manipulate them. You know, you can change so many things on them, size, shape, scale, color, you know, you can add text on, you can remove text, with a with a, you know, if you get a color block, you can just block out certain things. You know, if you don't like it, block it out and write on top of it. So there's, there's more options, you know, then than having just a physical product.

Jennifer Wilson 38:16

You know what I was just thinking that using a Minc might help in the situation too. To pimp your printables. So, so many opportunities there. And I've not, I've honestly not ever thought about that. I certainly printed things, cut them out, use them, but I've never really turned them into more dimensional embellishments.

Danielle Menage-Jensen 38:35

Yeah, I think it's a happy mail thing. I think if you kind of do happy mail, you were a little bit more aware about what you can kind of do in terms of embellishments. I think, and I'm learning that as well. like I'm learning from, from I've got a few happy mail people on my design team. And they're like, next nevel brainiacs, in terms of the stuff that they can do with paper. And yes, I'm kind of like, squeezing all the information out.

Jennifer Wilson 39:06

So do you have any particular storage solutions for things that you've already cut out? How do you like keep track of them? Do you keep things together, or you just use them right away, and you don't worry about storing them? Yeah.

Danielle Menage-Jensen 39:16

So if I'm, if I'm working on a particular project, then you know, when I know that I'm going to use certain things, then that's when I will just sort of, you know, kind of put them all in a folder. Like put them all in a document and then print them out on an A4 sheet and then chop them up. But sometimes when I get my kits, and I want to, because when I sort of advertise them in the store, occasionally I'll just upload them as a digital image. Other times, I'll actually print them out, chop them up, and like take some photographs of them kind of on my desk. So then obviously, once I'm done with that, then I'm like right now we've got a million things to use. So anything that doesn't actually get used in a project will get popped in. I've got these little plastic drawers so I got them off of Amazon, I think the company's called like Osco, it's like O,S, C, O or something like that. And they do these little acrylic, acrylic sort of little stacked draw units, and they're really tiny. But you can fit quite a lot of paper in them. And so, a couple of years ago, I basically pulled all of my die cuts apart from every everywhere. And I was like, like, you're all living by color now like, yeah, you're not living by company anymore. It's not happening, because I couldn't find anything ever. So I put everything into like, a pink zone or a yellow zone. And I just pull them all apart. And they're all living in these little drawers that are, you know, my green drawer or my yellow drawer. And so when I'm making a project where I'm like, I want to put any yellow thing, I'll get the drawer out, and then I'll rummage through it. And any printables where I have, like a mainly one color will be living in those drawers as well, along with everything else. And the same goes for paper scraps, you know, they, they're going in those drawers. So I'm saving everything, because I'm so conscious of, you know, just chucking everything away, you know. So I'm trying to keep even my little weird off cuts, because you can punch tabs out of those, you know, there's, you always looking for that little scrap in a project sometimes. So when I find if I have it organized by color, that's the best way to kind of track stuff down. If that kind of makes sense.

Jennifer Wilson 41:28

Oh, it totally doesn't it. You know, it's important to, as you mentioned before, with even the digital files to organize how you might think about it. Because we all search for things a little bit differently. I'm much more about shape and size and color. And so it's important to just, you know, pay attention to your process and then organize that way because otherwise you might find yourself in a frustrating situation. And so I love this organization series, in particular, because you're like the 18th millionth person to mention those little acrylic drawers.

Danielle Menage-Jensen 42:02

Love the drawers!

Jennifer Wilson 42:03

Every, every single one of you use them differently and use them for slightly different things and organize them slightly differently. It highlights how, how versatile a storage solution is, but then customizable to your own creative needs.

Danielle Menage-Jensen 42:18

Yeah, totally. Because I know that some people would sort of think oh my god, just separating them out from like, that's not that collection. And I to be honest, when I first did it, I freaked myself right out because I thought this is, this is stressful. Am I ever going to put them back if I change my mind? There's always that fear that once you do it, that's it. You know, you're done.

Jennifer Wilson 42:38

Oh, sure. Yeah.

Danielle Menage-Jensen 42:39

But, but if you know that that's gonna work, you know, if you, if you kind of know how you're, like you say whether you're sort of focuses shapes, or if your focus is color, or, you know, or if your focus is collection, then obviously keep them keep them together. You know, like, originally, I had them by collection in the drawers. But yeah, it was just I found that I wasn't, I was like, Oh, I would just want to have like a little black word here or something. And I'm just like, well, I don't know where that is. Like going through drawers for half an hour trying to find something. So I find this works better for me. But yeah, you're right. You're so right. It's about thinking about how you, how your brain reacts and organizing it accordingly.

Jennifer Wilson 43:21

Yeah, even if you think your brain you know makes you a scrapbooking weirdo, so...

Danielle Menage-Jensen 43:26

Come to me, scrapbooking weirdos together.

Jennifer Wilson 43:31

Well, this has been so fun. Can you share where our audience can find you online and anything you have new or coming up this year?

Danielle Menage-Jensen 43:38

Yeah, sure. So everything is basically Nelly and Clem. So my Etsy store is Nelly and Clem and my Insta is as well. So it's just like all this one word. And then through my Instagram, I have like a link tree thing so you can basically access and there's like a Facebook, there's a buy me a coffee page, there's all kinds of different things. And I kind of have printables living in all those different places. So you know, if you want printables, they're all over the place. I've got some freebies on my buy me a coffee page, actually where you can download a couple of pattern papers and stuff. So that you know, you don't have to, you don't have to pay like there's some free stuff there. I try and put something up a month. So yeah, so there's bits and pieces there. In terms of stuff that I'm working on. I'm finishing off a new kind of upgraded, on my buy me a coffee, I do a mini kit a month. So I'm just finishing off the mini kit for January which is just like a kind of add on from my Valentine's Day kit. The same sort of color palette, which is cute. Very cat heavy. When I was looking at your...

Jennifer Wilson 44:49

So worht it.

Danielle Menage-Jensen 44:50

There's lots of cats happening on here, like that's fine. But, but yeah, and then I've got to be working on spring kits. That's kind of coming up. And then, and there's a few things, TV shows that I'm kind of, I've had a lot of people asking for an IT Crowd one. And also, what was the other one, IT Crowd and a Community. I think a few people wanted a Community one. So there's a few TV shows. I try and sort of make sure that they're ones that are available in the US. So it sort of makes sense to everyone. So I'll, oh, Ted Lasso, Ted Lasso was the other one. I've had a few people Oh, yeah, so everyone wants a goldfish cards. So yeah, there's a few things I need to, to work on. So they're all there in the brain they list as come out onto a program.

Jennifer Wilson 45:42

Sounds terrific. Well, we will include all your links in the show notes for this episode. And again, this is just so delightful. Thank you so much for spending time with me.

Danielle Menage-Jensen 45:50

No problem at all, thank you so much for having me. It's been lovely.

Jennifer Wilson 45:55

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