SYW168 – If I Were to Start from Scratch

Kim Edsen 0:00

So maybe if I had gone to more, like a monthly overview or a different sort of way to capture my everyday moments rather than like your quote unquote, like traditional like daily or weekly Project Life approach, I think it maybe would have changed my scrapbook evolution.

Jennifer Wilson 0:14

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 168. In this episode, I'm joined by Kim Edsen to catch up on our personal and creative lives as well as reflect on one of our favorite questions. How would you scrapbook if you were to start from scratch today?

Jennifer Wilson 0:43

Hey Kim. How have you been?

Kim Edsen 0:45

It's springtime in Iowa, it's, we had snow over the weekend, it's raining and cold so but we are still enjoying our little chickens. They are growing in leaps and bounds and having fun with them. And started to gather some of our garden things as far as like purchases for things that kind of can take some of the cold weather so kind of looking ahead to summer, some sunshine for sure.

Jennifer Wilson 1:12

Yeah, even though it's been so cold here as well like when the birds are chirping and the flowers are peeking through it just I feel that renewed sense of hope and optimism and like let's get outside and and get out of this house after many many months indoors.

Kim Edsen 1:28

Well and like I was lamenting the cold this today and my husband said was keeping an eye on like, you know, by the weekend it will be better. Like we're going into summer in the warmer weather not like going into winter. So like that is reassuring, for sure.

Jennifer Wilson 1:40

Yes, yes. On my end, I am happy to report which some Instagram followers may already know but I finally painted the office closet.

Kim Edsen 1:50

Exciting. I saw that. It looks good.

Jennifer Wilson 1:52

Yes, it feels like almost like a I'm not sure what's the word for it. But like you know, when the surprise is known, and it's so far like in the past that it doesn't it's not fun or interesting anymore. So I don't know the word for that. I don't know what it is. Anyway, but it is done. I am still starting to like put things back in it. But I feel really good about my paint choice. I it was kind of it was not just a painting project in itself. But it was also a sample of the particular type of paint that I wanted to paint throughout my whole house. And I wanted to kind of learn its properties and check out the finish and all that and I am really happy with that as well. I also purchased a 4000 degree Kelvin also known as cool white light bulb for that closet. So it is warmer than daylight which tends to be super cool. So that I can get better color reproduction. Because as of right now like the generic light bulb we have in there makes it look more forest green than you know. Ashy blue green, you know like a muted teal. So I wanted to be accurate looking so I'm gonna swap up those light bulbs but I just feel good that I finally kind of started the ball down the hill.

Kim Edsen 3:18

For sure. And I will say like we've experimented with different light bulbs over the years and that makes a huge difference. It's kind of crazy actually. But that definitely makes a difference. So yes, and I'm glad that you like the paint choice as far as not just the color but also like the consistency and the comfortability. Because that is one thing I don't think I really appreciated back in the day when we were like a new homeowners. It took me like you know a few houses and remodeling projects to understand that the brand and quality of your paint does matter. And so...

Jennifer Wilson 3:49

it, yeah, it definitely makes a difference. And I'm just really excited to have washable walls everywhere. Even though Emily is getting bigger, I know you know we still have cats and we have handprints and we'll do weird things with art supplies. So just having washable all throughout the whole house will be really nice.

Kim Edsen 4:09

No, for sure.

Jennifer Wilson 4:11

So what about inside of memory keeping crafting what is interesting you right now

Kim Edsen 4:16

So I recently got a Close To My Heart card making kit. It's been super fun. I have looked off and on at card kits over the years and even you know questioned members for suggestions and I think what I had realized is I did not want a card kit in which I got a bunch of tools that I had you know like stamps and dies and all like you know accumulating of these things. I just wanted to be able to like assemble I didn't want to have to make the individual components and color it and all those things. So the Close4 to My Heart kit, it does come with like a small stamp block and a small or stamping block or like acrylic block, a small stamp pad, and then a selection of sentiments. But other than that, like, you're just basically popping out the little elements and then kind of assembling them. And I've been doing them with my daughter. And so we kind of incorporated some of my extra embellishments, like we pulled out the old Stickles and some sequins. And so it's nice, because they'll give you like inspiration where you could just copy exactly what their example is. But we've also found it fun to kind of alter their suggestions and kind of make it our own. So they have kits three times a year, so they're every four months. And so this was the January through April kit. And I'm planning to keep it going to get. So you can buy like a year subscription or go like one at a time. And so I am planning to get the next whatever, May, June, July, August one as well. So I've been very, very pleased with that. And I also like a lot of times over the years to in addition to like the different kits having all the supplies that I didn't want to accumulate, it was not always like the sentiment. So like, we primarily do like birthday cards, and thank you cards. And I feel like this Close To My Heart kit, at least the January through April version, were all very usable cards. And some of them like we did one last night that I think was meant to be more of like a Valentine's card, but we just switched out the stamp sentiment and then you could use it for any sort of celebration. So I liked that flexibility as well, because they seemed like cards that one, they're fun to make. But also like that, we can actually use.

Jennifer Wilson 6:24

Well, that sounds so fun. I love I've I don't know what it is. And not only the older I get, but the longer I am part of this world and creating things as part of my job, the more I also really, really appreciate being given something and some instructions and say here make this. Because I love making things but don't always have that creative energy to design it from scratch, and I'm not trying to make something original. I'm just trying to enjoy the process. And the end result.

Kim Edsen 6:55

Yes, I think that's also why I always have enjoyed counted cross stitch too, because at some point I just I follow along and use like you know, this thread color in this thread, or this, you know, particular stitch. And then you know, you end up with this result. So yeah, kind of along those lines, kind of the paint by number, enjoy the process of that process. So definitely has has been a fun thing for us.

Jennifer Wilson 7:17

Very cool. So I recently just got an Archer and Olive notebook. It is the travelers notebook size, with the vegan leather cover and the mermaid on the front. And I will include the link for it in the show notes. Of course, I've been looking Archer and Olive notebooks for a long time. I've had so many guests on particularly recently, who are who do bullet journaling, journaling and memory planning and have one or many of these notebooks. And so I finally just kind of dove in and I am going to work on kind of a learning journal. I you know, I read a lot of books and articles and watch videos and listen to podcasts. I'm always like, consuming information, but I don't really do anything with it. And I wanted a place where I can store just the most essential nuggets, takeaways for the future to increase the likelihood that I'll actually act on those or absorb them and, and apply them in some way. And so I'm just trying to have fun with it, keep it low pressure, follow some examples of how others are setting up their pages and just trying to kind of get past my fear of messing it up, like I have with so many blank books in the past, to just dive in and have fun with it.

Kim Edsen 8:36

Okay, so these notebooks are new to me. So what makes them so fabulous?

Jennifer Wilson 8:41

They have 160 GSM weight paper, so it is really thick, you can even paint on it, it's not going to bleed through. There's no ghosting. So it's really the paper quality.

Kim Edsen 8:53

Okay.

Jennifer Wilson 8:54

There's a lot of books out there that have a really nice binding and are really attractive overall. But these are particularly known for the paper quality.

Kim Edsen 9:02

Okay. Makes sense.

Jennifer Wilson 9:04

Yep. I'm, yeah, I'm very thrilled with it. And it so happens that many people use the Pigma Micron pens and the Zebra Mild Liners with them. And that's what I use all the time. In my regular planner and my Hobonichi anyway. So I felt like I wasn't going to have to buy a bunch of new tools and supplies to to use this notebook. Not that you really would but, you know, sometimes paper types, like certain types of writing implements. And I was glad that I could just dive in with the things that I already had.

Kim Edsen 9:40

Yeah, well, and it definitely helped some of the right tools for the job too. And it makes sense to have kind of like a repository for all those kinds of words of wisdom. Like I have a Trello board that's like nonfiction wisdom. And I put some of that type of thing in I don't always refer to it that often. So like that's always the trick, right? It's one thing to like start but then you have to actually access it. So...

Jennifer Wilson 10:01

Yes, yes, for sure. And I've really not wanted to like, keep a black hole of information somewhere like, even in Trello. And I've tried various things over the years, I wanted something that is more digestible and easy reference. Intentionally not exhaustive. It's not supposed to be like every single quote from this book that I liked. It's like, what are the nuggets that I want to then do something with? So I think this will help do that.

Kim Edsen 10:31

Awesome.

Jennifer Wilson 10:32

Yeah. So what about Bucket List Stories, what is a story that you still want to tell?

Kim Edsen 10:39

So this is one that has been on my mind for years, as so many of these stories are, and it's this kind of talking about the use of my Cricut within like a memory keeping. Because it has been one of those things like when I got it the girls were, you know, teeny tiny babies. And I would be scrapbooking kind of late at night and the room next door like our bedroom and my husband would say how he would hear the sound of the Cricket kind of like humming away and how it was kind of this homey little comforting sound. So from that aspect, but also the idea of like, I have like pictures of the girls throughout the years, like we would do like different creative projects together with it. And then even up until like, think even over the pandemic they would still I had like a paper doll cartridge. And so they would basically create this, this whole world of these like people and settings and whatever the through this Cricket and how all the different things that we would do with this machine kind of over the years and how it has impacted. I don't think just even like creativity, but also like a relationship because it was kind of something that like we shared together was like this creative process of like using this, this machine. So even though like it's kind of packed away, and we you know, aren't using it now. I feel like it kind of has had, like a pivotal, pivotal point in definitely my crafting story for sure.

Jennifer Wilson 12:04

Oh, yeah, that's such a cool story. I love how it's not just about what you made, but how it made everyone feel and how it built relationships and really what you did with it. And that's so much of what our crafting is, is what it how is it making us feel? How is it connecting us better to our stories and our people. So that's such a great example.

Kim Edsen 12:24

Yeah, and I have kept like, over the years, some of their like when they would make like the paper dolls. Because there'd be like a whole scene that was like Thanksgiving ones or Christmas ones or they once did where you put them on, like skewers and made it like almost like a like puppet play type things. And so I think that was some of my challenges with going digital, you know, if it was a paper layout, I would just like stick them on there. But the concept of wanting to like scan them and include those images somehow into the story, I think is kind of like put that project on pause a little bit. But I feel like you know, I'm better able to like kind of process how I'd want to represent those images within a digital layout. And I have kind of a bits and pieces album with like pocket pages and stuff where I can like stick some actual physical mementos and things into. And so I think I'll still keep the actual little paper doll type things, just a selection of them and put them in there. But then also have like a digital representation of them within like my actual scrapbook.

Jennifer Wilson 13:28

Oh, that's really fun. Yeah. I love how we can kind of have best of both worlds. Yeah.

Kim Edsen 13:32

Oh, yeah, for sure. Not one or the other, for sure. So...

Jennifer Wilson 13:37

So I would like to tell more of my work story, particularly my work in water. I've not made hardly any layout about those about, like my education. And so the water science and then working for EPA, and having since worked for the University for so long and getting to work with my husband. Like I've told probably more of those stories here on the podcast than I have in my own scrapbooks. And so it's time to to document more of that. And, you know, it's certainly not the bulk of my work anymore these days. Simple Scrapper definitely takes more of my time than anything else. But it's still an important part of my story and something that I do still enjoy and appreciate. So it's time to maybe do a timeline type layout.

Kim Edsen 14:25

Oh, yeah.

Jennifer Wilson 14:26

I feel like I'm not quite sure yet. I haven't really thought that much about the format. I kind of want to see maybe what photos I might have. I definitely don't think I have as many as I would like. So something that maybe doesn't rely on as many photos and it's more about the words. Maybe some like water motifs that that represent things. So we'll see but it's definitely something that as I was sitting here thinking about my Bucket List story, it was kind of like a glaring gap in my albums and so I definitely want to fill that up with it. One layout or possibly, you know, multiple layouts.

Kim Edsen 15:03

And you also might find like, it could be helpful just to sit down and start writing out the story, because I think sometimes doing that kind of help, kind of reveal what type of format or structure would be best suited to that story. So that also might be a place to kind of start to is just getting the words out and seeing what evolves from there.

Jennifer Wilson 15:26

Oh, 100%. I think that's a great suggestion. Because this is definitely something that has enough moving parts that I just need, like a big piece of paper, and let's just start mapping things out of you know, when things happened, and what they meant and all that. And then I think that'll give me a better idea of how to, how to break it down or even some design suggestions.

Kim Edsen 15:46

Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson 15:49

So our topic for today is a little bit different. We're not focusing as much on what's happening next inside the membership though we do have a few sneak peeks at the end. But I really wanted to talk about this question. It's a question that I've asked inside the membership for so many years now. And one we even asked again, just last week. And it's this idea of if you could start from scratch with all the knowledge experience that you have now. But no guilt, no obligation about past purchases or projects. What would you do as a scrapbooker? And why? And so before we kind of get into our answers, I would love to hear kind of just an overview of how your scrapbooking has evolved. Because I think our paths have kind of, we crossed we intersected somewhere in the middle there. But we've taken different paths to where we are today. And I want to just kind of refresh our listeners perspectives on that before we respond to the big question.

Kim Edsen 16:46

Okay, so I started with like, 12 by 12 layouts, because I think that's what you know, I saw like magazines, and you know, at my local Archivers. And, but pretty quickly discovered, like the worlds of like Ali Edwards and Cathy Zielske. And so I was very open to mixing in different page sizes and kind of formats within like a 12 by 12 album. Or making, you know, like a smaller six by eight. Like Week In The Life album or December Daily or those sorts of things. And then in like 2010, I went big into Project Life, starting out with like the daily, you know, daily photo card approach, and then did that for a year. And then I kind of went to like a weekly overview for several years and then like a monthly overview. And then along those same times, I was still doing kind of one off layouts, in addition to the Project Life albums of kind of more meaningful stories that I felt like weren't really represented in, you know, this Project Life format. And then I got to the point where I was accumulating a lot of albums and kind of feeling overwhelmed just in the, the volume and like the mass that they would take up. Then I determined I also wanted to get more into hybrid, and wanted to be able to print onto the strictly onto the back ground, background of my layouts. So then I converted to eight and a half by 11. And smaller at that point, and primarily did hybrid where I would design the layout, like place the photos, do the journaling and kind of have like a rough idea of the design within like Photoshop Elements. Then I would like print out the photos in my journaling and then use like actual paper elements to build my layout. So then I was eight and a half by 11 primarily hybrid, and kind of ended the Project Life sort of thing. And that worked for a few years, many years actually. But then I still kind of always had that feeling of like Gosh, every time I added like a new big chunky three ring binder to my shelves, like it felt like at what point like is too much too much. And I had since I had been doing the hybrid for so long. You know, I would occasionally dabble in like a full digital page but felt like I still really liked the tactile experience of going with the hybrid. Being able to play with the paper products. But then I think I just reached like a tipping point where I didn't want, I wanted like the freedom to scrapbook what I wanted without like feeling I guess dismayed by the accumulation of like more albums. And I found that with photo books. So I would like create full digital layouts and I have them printed as photo books that I can get a large volume of layouts created and told and bound in a much smaller like physical footprint than I could with a traditional like three ring binder album approach. So in like 2019 I started that process of transitioning to fully digital. Kind of started out with like a few trip albums. So I went very basic with kind of words and photos and then I went like very just template focus where I just repeated it and then kind of more layered templates. And that's kind of where I'm at now.

Jennifer Wilson 20:03

Yeah, I love I've loved seeing your evolution. Because you took it very kind of stepwise methodical, which I think kind of fits your personality as well. To say, Okay, I'm going to do this thing, and then I'm going to add this particular skill or this format to it, to gradually increase your comfort level. And it's just been, you know, it's been really fascinating to watch. And to just see how it's just made you enjoy the process even more.

Kim Edsen 20:30

Yeah, cuz I think if I started out of the gate, trying to do like the full on layered templates, maybe that would have been overwhelming. And I think that's why I've done in the past and found it like difficult to kind of see the end result. You know, and you're like the middle of it, because that's the thing, if you're not printing out individual layouts, and you're waiting for the bound book. Like, I mean, there's definitely a lag time between, like when you're creating it, and when you get the finished product. And then, you know, I didn't want to be like disappointed. So that's why it was helpful, I think, to start with, like the travel albums, because it was a very concise like beginning and end. And it was able to get those to kind of assess kind of my feelings on like, the design process, and like the results and like, what printer I use, and the paper choices, and all those things. So that I'm to the point now where I feel pretty confident in, you know, the developers and the products that I choose. So that I'm that I'm pleased with my layouts, because it's one thing to go through the whole process and think it'll be good. And then I don't wanna like get a book and be disappointed. So it was good to kind of do it. And that's step by step approach with those, like first travel albums, and then I did the December album. So then I could actually see like the finished results and kind of take that into consideration, I guess, going forward.

Jennifer Wilson 21:44

I love that. So like it's so practical and kind of an elegant way to handle it. I perhaps did everything the opposite way. I started fully digital, and jumping right into how many layers can I get on the page together, using templates pretty quickly. Once I saw what they were capable of, and how much better they can make my pages. And I did that from 2008 to 2011. And then, when I was pregnant, I started feeling this itch to to be more crafty in a tactile way. And so I started doing mini books, and my daughter's kind of like my pregnancy birth album is literally half fully digital, but printed out. So like digital pages that I printed out and then adhered back to back. And then there's a hard break that at my daughter's birth, everything after that is 100% physical. So it's like I had this like total line in the sand with with my relationship with digital scrapbooking. And then it kind of, I did maybe five digital layouts after she was born. And I still really love those particular pages. But then all of a sudden, I just kind of stopped and I started acquiring more paper supplies. And now today I really kind of volley between, you know, more layered, more imperfect pages, and the hybrid style that you were describing, because I definitely saw you making those pages. Sometimes even in person. I was like, Oh, I really like that process. And I love kind of the precision of it. But I don't always want to create in that way. So I definitely have a mix from hybrid to ultra paper, cutting with scissors, you know, Shimelle style these days.

Kim Edsen 23:40

Well, and then your Project Life. Yeah, your photo book.

Jennifer Wilson 23:43

Yeah, that was what was gonna say is that I have this Project Life photo book that kind of still allows me to dabble with digital elements. And satisfy some of that, some of that urge. But the same thing you were talking about with just volume, I'm able to save some of the bigger stories for layouts, they're not always big, but ones where I feel like this is a photo that I really want to make a layout. Whether this is a story that I really want to tell in a layout, and then put a lot of the smaller stuff in the photo book so that I am reducing the overall volume in my library.

Kim Edsen 24:21

Yeah, so that's interesting how you have different projects for the different scrapbooking approaches. That's kind of how you can like enjoy them all without kind of feeling overwhelmed. Because I think that was the part of my challenge too. In the beginning when I was like doing hybrid and maybe some digital and some paper it was kind of like well, how do I decide? Like how I'm going to tell this layout and like what format it's going to be and so forth. Whereas like at some point I just made the hard break and said it's just all digital. So...

Jennifer Wilson 24:51

Yeah, well and I'm not someone that can say this is the size I do and stick with that for the rest of my life. I have just like too many creative interests, I like trying new things. Sometimes I want to do really small, sometimes I want to do really big. So I just kind of have built, built the structure around that to support it. And to embrace the fact that that's how I best create. And then when I've tried to put too many boundaries on myself is when I start feeling like I don't want to do it anymore. So...

Kim Edsen 25:27

But yet you still have some boundaries. So like, I think that's the balance, too. There's some kind of rails, but then it's not the stifling gives you flexibility more than limiting.

Jennifer Wilson 25:37

Yes, yes. And even kind of going back to as much as I think that 12 by 12 albums are super bulky. I appreciate that I can have multiple sizes of layouts inside of them.

Kim Edsen 25:48

Yes.

Jennifer Wilson 25:49

So there is there is a plus to that.

Kim Edsen 25:53

Oh, for sure. And to be able to just like slip your memorabilia in and you know...

Jennifer Wilson 25:57

Yes.

Kim Edsen 25:58

I really like that tactile side of, of where it just feels like, like a quote unquote, like true scrapbook.

Jennifer Wilson 26:04

Yes, yes. Even though it weighs 100 pounds.

Kim Edsen 26:06

Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson 26:09

But let's, let's go to the question of you could start from scratch, would it look exactly like your scrapbooking now, or would there be some, some tweaks to that?

Kim Edsen 26:19

I don't know that I would have done Project Life in the manner and length of time that I did. Because why I do appreciate that it holds a lot of like our everyday stories, I don't necessarily feel like they all necessarily needed to be told. I don't I think that would have maybe helped with like my album overwhelmed because it's doing Project Life in addition to layouts, then you're accumulating just like I was accumulate like two albums a year, just that way. Plus, on top of any, like if I was doing like an additional like Week In The Life album or December Daily or whatever. So that was just, I think that was adding to the overwhelm. So maybe if I had gone to more of like a monthly overview, or a different sort of way to capture my everyday moments, rather than like your quote unquote, like traditional, like daily or weekly Project Life approach, I think it maybe would have changed a little bit about how my my scrapbook evolution.

Jennifer Wilson 27:16

Oh, that's so interesting. Because, you know, it's again, this is opposite because I never, I was always very resistant to especially kind of a weekly format to Project Life because I didn't think I'd ever be able to keep up with it, I kind of knew that I wouldn't be able to. And so I've never attempted a traditional pocket page album in that way. And and it was only in these recent years when I realized I could kind of tell the small stories informally in a photo book, where I even attempted to try to capture our whole year in one album.

Kim Edsen 27:51

Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson 27:54

So if I were to start from scratch, I think I will, like I almost feel embarrassed about this answer because it's a little bit different than how I scrapbook now. I, if I didn't have any supplies, and weren't, like, subscribe to things and really kind of embedded in it, I would probably have my photo book and most of my photo projects would either be, here's this year's like family yearbook. And then here's some other photo books for vacations. And then I would do art journaling, with paint and other little things to get out the creative part. And that's probably all I would do. Like I love those things. And those are kind of my core right now. But I still love the paper layouts, but if I really like let's just say I moved to a tiny house or something, it's never going to happen. But if I did, then I would probably willing to get rid of all my paper scrapbook supplies just because of how much room they take up. And you know how much space you need to create in that manner. And so as much as I do absolutely love it if I were to truly start from scratch because of a lifestyle need or or because I had no guilt about letting go of everything then then that's yeah, that's what I would do.

Kim Edsen 29:18

I also think I invested in I never did belong to like a subscription kit club or anything like that. So for the most part, I was always very cognizant of what was getting added to my stash and always tried to keep kind of a lean stash. But I did go through a period of time where I thought I wanted to, I think it was maybe it was like the Project Life years where I was doing that and it didn't feel as creative and so I thought it would wanted to get into like cardmaking. And so I was getting all these stamps that were kind of more specific to cardmaking and then I think it just recognized like I didn't enjoy like the fussy aspect of like, you know stamping and die cutting and coloring and like assembling. Like I much prefer like this card assembly kit, where it's like, oh, I just take these pieces and build a card, right. Or I take this pack of ephemera, and turn these into cards, as opposed to creating all the elements myself. So that is like, actually, as far as like supplies go, I would probably have just not gone down that road, or I would have recognized that a little bit earlier. And not had the need to, like collect, you know, several dozen like Distress Inks thinking that like this was gonna be the answer for me or whatever, but and it's like you've learned from those processes. So I think that's the big key to at some point, it's okay to like buy something. And then to learn from I think the problem is when you just keep going forward blindly, without kind of pausing to assess whether that is meeting all of your needs or not?

Jennifer Wilson 30:45

Well, I think that's that's the beauty of this question. Because it doesn't mean that you're going to make a change.

Kim Edsen 30:50

Sure.

Jennifer Wilson 30:50

But it does mean that you're going to entertain the idea of, is there a direction that I'm already heading that I want to head? If there is some sort of life change? Like, let's say, we decided we're going to travel for a year in an RV? Like, how would I scrapbook? Well, I do it on my computer, because that's probably the only thing I'd have with me. You know, so there's just, I think it's helpful to go through the thought exercise, because it helps you be more secure in the choices that you are currently making and prepared for future choices as as opportunities come up. And yeah, I just think it's just part of being a kind of a thoughtful prepared scrapbooker, which maybe we're, we do a little bit too much of that. But I I think it's important and fun.

Kim Edsen 31:40

Well, I think it you end up being more satisfied scrapbooker because you're not feeling maybe weighed down with all of these purchases, or these experiences or formats or whatever that aren't serving you. So it does, you know, there's definitely a payoff to like taking the time to pause and consider how you feel about these things. So I think it does make you enjoy your hobby to a fuller degree for sure.

Jennifer Wilson 32:05

Well, I think that it can also, it's going to take time, sometimes, particularly if you are, you've got this big stash. Okay, so if your goal is to have less stash and to create with less stuff, then okay, we have to start using the stash or somehow letting go in other ways. And it might take time to do that you can still enjoy it along the way, and yet have an objective that's shifting somewhere else. I remember the first time that I asked this question was probably like 2013, 2014. And my answer has always been more photobooks since the very beginning. But it took until the past couple of years to actually really start implementing that, because I had to really think about how I wanted to do it and how it fits into everything. And and do I need to adjust my product intake, my purchasing behavior in order to support that? And yeah, now I'm actually I just switched from getting the physical Story Kit and Story Stamp to getting the digital one with the Story class, because that's how I'm mostly using those products is in a digital format these days. So...

Kim Edsen 33:17

Yeah, I think it's interesting to like we talked about, like, take that pause. And to look at that. And to understand, like you said to that it can take time to make that evolution because at some point, you know, you didn't get where you are overnight, like it was a process too. So to kind of, I guess a value of that and kind of set a new direction will also take time and to just be okay with that and to accept that.

Jennifer Wilson 33:42

Yes, that's actually a great segue to our final segment here. Simple Scrapper started in 2008 as just a blog to document my own journey in scrapbooking. And of course has become this amazing community a, an online home for scrapbookers. And next week, actually, when this goes live, it'll be this week on Thursday, April 28. We are unveiling a brand new website, a new logo and you're invited to come celebrate with us at an event called Start Fresh. And so this is part workshop where you're actually, we're going to work through a special thought exercise with all of you to help you figure out how you want to start fresh in scrapbooking. And then it's also a party to celebrate this big brand update for Simple Scrapper. And so if you visit start.simplescrapper.com you can RSVP and get all the details about this event. So I'm just I'm so excited for it. It's such a long time in the making. And I've definitely had to have, like patience with the process just as you were describing. That even though you kind of know where you're heading, it's going to take steps to get there and that's definitely how I feel about this project.

Kim Edsen 35:00

Yeah, I said longtime coming is actually the words that were in on my lips. But before you said them, so yes, I know this has been near and dear to your heart for a long time.

Jennifer Wilson 35:09

Yes, yes, and I'm just I'm so excited to share it, our members have already seen a little bit of a peek inside the community. And then we're unveiling everything to the public on the 28th. And with this transition come, some staff changes as well, including your departure, which I'm quite sad about, but totally supportive.

Kim Edsen 35:30

Yeah, um, we've had some like health issues within our family in recent months. And I am just discovering that in order to be the best possible caregiver for my family, and also just self care for myself, I just need to kind of lighten my load a little bit. So I can focus entirely on that. And I'm going to be like, in the recent weeks, especially like, I haven't been able to give Simple Scrapper like the time and attention, like I feel like the member really deserve. And I think, you know, it's time to, you know, take a pause and like, hopefully, once we get everything back on track. Like, you know, in our family and health wise and whatnot, they'll definitely be back as like an active member within the community. But I just need to pause and step away for a while. And that also is going to apply to like the photo management business that I was launching recently. So why like, again, just kind of clear the deck so I can put all my focus and you know, mental and physical energy into my family and my own personal health. So that is where we are now.

Jennifer Wilson 36:32

Well, we definitely wish you all the best. And I personally want to thank you for all the support that you've given me, given our team, given our community over the past, I think we just identified recently, five years, right? Wow, it's so hard, the time goes by so fast. And as you mentioned, you are a member first and so I'm looking forward to seeing what you do as a member again in the future.

Kim Edsen 36:57

Yes, thank you appreciate it. And it definitely goes both ways. I've taken a lot from our time together too.

Jennifer Wilson 37:03

And we will include a link in the show notes to a Facebook post and an Instagram post thanking Kim for her time, if you want to wish her well on that. So again, thank you Kim. And to all of our listeners, please remember that you have permission to Scrapbook Your Way.