SYW182 – My Way with Becky Powell Reames

[00:00:00] Jennifer Wilson: Welcome to Scrapbook Your Way, the show that explores the breadth of ways to be a memory keeper today. I’m your host, Jennifer Wilson, owner of Simple Scrapper and author of The New Rules of Scrapbooking. This is episode 182. In this episode I'm interviewing Becky Powell Reames for the My Way series. My Way is all about celebrating the unique ways memory keepers get things done. We're excited to have Becky as the August featured artist at Simple Scrapper.

[00:00:50] Jennifer Wilson: Hey, Becky. Welcome to Scrapbook Your Way.

[00:00:51] Becky Powell Reames: Hi, Jennifer. Thank you.

[00:00:54] Jennifer Wilson: Yes, I am excited to chat with you today and get to know you a little bit better. Can you share, some of the basics about you, where you live who's in your family and all that?

[00:01:06] Becky Powell Reames: Yeah. So I live in Chelsea, Michigan, which is probably the opposite part of the country from where I wanna live. I would love to be somewhere sunny and warm. And I...

[00:01:19] Jennifer Wilson: isn't that where Jeff Daniels lives?

[00:01:21] Becky Powell Reames: Yes. Yes.

[00:01:24] Jennifer Wilson: I don't know how I know that, but I do.

[00:01:26] Becky Powell Reames: That's amazing that you know that. Yeah. He has theater here called the Purple Rose. And I've seen a ton of shows there. Yeah. I see him in the coffee shop sometimes.

[00:01:36] Jennifer Wilson: Fun.

[00:01:37] Becky Powell Reames: He's, he's much taller than you think.

[00:01:40] Jennifer Wilson: Oh,

[00:01:41] Becky Powell Reames: Which is surprising. Usually I feel like actors are shorter than you think.

[00:01:45] Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes.

[00:01:47] Becky Powell Reames: I am a divorced, single mom of two. I have two kids who are now essentially adults. I mean, they are technically adults. My oldest is Maya and she's 20. And then my youngest is Bailey and she's 19. And we have two rescue cats, Theo and Lilac, and at some point they will probably interrupt me, because that is their job.

[00:02:15] Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes. I have two cats as well, so they are so good at that.

[00:02:18] Becky Powell Reames: Yes, they. And I am a former elementary school teacher. And now I work in higher ed. I work at the university of Michigan, for the philanthropic arm of the university.

[00:02:30] Jennifer Wilson: Very cool. I live in the Champaign area, so we are a fellow Big 10 School.

[00:02:36] Becky Powell Reames: Yeah. I was born in Champaign.

[00:02:39] Jennifer Wilson: Oh, okay. So, so fun. Do you ever get back here?

[00:02:44] Becky Powell Reames: I've been back. I think twice throughout my life, with my parents who, you know, wanted to go back and visit.

[00:02:52] Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm

[00:02:53] Becky Powell Reames: You know, where I was born and where they lived. And yeah, I was, the hospital's still there that I was born at. I can't remember the name of it, but...

[00:03:02] Jennifer Wilson: Carle Hospital.

[00:03:03] Becky Powell Reames: Yes.

[00:03:04] Jennifer Wilson: That's. That's where my daughter was born, too.

[00:03:07] Becky Powell Reames: Oh, that's so cool.

[00:03:09] Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

[00:03:09] Becky Powell Reames: Such small world.

[00:03:10] Jennifer Wilson: She's only. For sure. Yeah, especially this town. This is the, I think college towns in general are like the ultimate small world towns, because there's so many people there from so many places. And then of course you have the locals who grew up there and it just, it's so interesting. There's somebody here who went to my high school in Texas.

[00:03:31] Becky Powell Reames: Wow. Yeah. I love college towns.

[00:03:35] Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, it's just, yeah, it's fun.

[00:03:37] Becky Powell Reames: I've always lived in college towns, my whole life, cuz my, my dad was a professor. So...

[00:03:42] Jennifer Wilson: okay, cool.

[00:03:43] Becky Powell Reames: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:03:45] Jennifer Wilson: So Becky, what's exciting you right now in memory keeping?

[00:03:49] Becky Powell Reames: I mean I feel like everything is always exciting me in memory keeping. I just, I love this hobby so much. And you know, for many it's not even a hobby, it's a, a , way of life.

[00:04:03] Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes. Yes

[00:04:03] Becky Powell Reames: I think one of the things that is really exciting to me these days is all the new, like independent companies that are cropping up. And I think of like Paper Person Shop, which, you know, she's not even that new anymore. But she was not that long ago and now we've got Layered Life. It's just really, I love the big companies, but I also really like the small companies, because I feel like. They really stick to their voice. And I think that's neat. And then stamping, which is really new to me, and probably nobody else, but , I like...

[00:04:46] Jennifer Wilson: So are you talking stamping on layouts, cards?

[00:04:50] Becky Powell Reames: Any of it. Yeah. I, I never, I've been scrapbooking for a long time, since 1998. And I never had any interest in stamping. You know, back in the beginning, I feel like it was like a butterfly or a teddy bear or , and now there's just such a variety of stamps. And like that, that Heidi, Heidi Swapp style of stamping that's, you know, all layered together and, it's just really fun and cool and interesting and new to me. So, I enjoy that.

[00:05:29] Jennifer Wilson: I think there's something about the stamping these days being more word, phrase, sentiment focused, that that's helpful to me. Because, you know, abstract shapes, not abstract, but like forms like a teddy bear. It's, it's more awkward to figure out how that's going to fit and make it look aesthetically pleasing on the page. And that goes for like die cuts too. We're talking about ones you receive or ones you're making. You know, there's something we always can find a place to put a little tiny rectangle on our pages versus something that may be a little bit more oddly shaped.

[00:06:05] Becky Powell Reames: Well, and I feel like the new, I don't know if it's new, but the popularity of Traveler's notebooks. I, I feel like even those little icons that maybe would look strange somewhere on a 12 by 12 page are perfect for, you know, a little Traveler's notebook or for the people that are into like memory planning.

[00:06:26] Jennifer Wilson: that's true. That's true as well. Yeah. There's a scale difference too. Especially we so many like this really small stamps. I'm always afraid I'm gonna lose them.

[00:06:35] Becky Powell Reames: Yes, I know.

[00:06:36] Jennifer Wilson: We've all had lost, you know, our photo polymer stamps to the carpet. And not sure quite where they landed.

[00:06:43] Becky Powell Reames: Or to the cats.

[00:06:44] Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Oh my gosh. The other day I found, what was I doing? I think it was emptying out a bag or was it a sweat? It was something that I had not gotten out in probably over a year. And I was putting it in the laundry or putting it away or something. And a, of course, a letter sticker popped out. I'm like, oh, that's where that T went.

[00:07:07] Becky Powell Reames: I always get really disappointed when I open an old scrapbook and all of the letters are at the bottom of the page protector.

[00:07:15] Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

[00:07:16] Becky Powell Reames: Or they're, you know, missing.

[00:07:17] Jennifer Wilson: Or I have a basket of mini books there's, you know, all kinds of letters hanging out in the bottom of the basket.

[00:07:23] Becky Powell Reames: Yep. It's always fun.

[00:07:26] Jennifer Wilson: All right. I also like to ask our guests about their memory keeping bucket list. So do you have one story that you've not yet told, but feels important to capture?

[00:07:36] Becky Powell Reames: I do have a story that I have not yet told that is actually a really personal story about our family. And so I probably won't even go into that here, but it, it is, it is so central to our family and our lives. And I, I have not yet tackled it. But I plan to, but as far as like, you know, something that I would share publicly, I would love to do, like a travel album of some epic vacation, you know, like to Italy or Greece or Ireland. Something like that. But as a single parent, that's, it's on my bucket list partially because I don't go on epic trips.

[00:08:27] Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

[00:08:28] Becky Powell Reames: So someday that's kind of the dream. I see all these, you know, amazing layouts and albums that people do from their, their trips and it's, they're, they're just incredible. And thinking about like, looking back at those years and years later, is really nice. Yeah, hopefully someday.

[00:08:52] Jennifer Wilson: Going back to your initial concept as well. I, I think that there's, you know, life is complicated and hard and there's always this question of how much of a story do you tell, or should you tell, or when do you tell that? And I, I mean, I have some of those myself, and it's just, it's something we all I think wrestle with in terms of who, our audience is, who we think, you know will end up reading this someday. And is that something you want to be passed down or not?

[00:09:24] Becky Powell Reames: right. Yeah.

[00:09:25] Jennifer Wilson: So it's interesting to think about

[00:09:27] Becky Powell Reames: Yeah. And, and not only that, but you know, this story and the way that I would tell it is, is not necessarily the way that, you know, my kids would tell.

[00:09:37] Jennifer Wilson: Yes, that's true as well. I think sometimes we have to embrace that we are the, the storyteller, we're the narrator, you know, and that's, that's what we have. So we can of course bring other voices into the story. But, we're the ones doing the scrapbooking.

[00:09:57] Becky Powell Reames: Yeah. And, and it's interesting because you know, my, my kids are like they're night and day they're, they're so different from each other. And one of them really loves hearing stories about, you know, the past and funny things I did in high school. Or, you know, hearing my, my parents talk about their, their time growing up or whatever. And she also loves to look through the scrapbooks. She'll just pull 'em out. She'll show her friends. We had 'em out at her graduation party and she was showing everybody and then my other child is just not interested really.

[00:10:32] Jennifer Wilson: Oh, fascinating.

[00:10:33] Becky Powell Reames: Yeah. So, and ironically, the, the story I'm speaking of is really her story. So makes it even harder to think about how I'm gonna tell this story someday.

[00:10:45] Jennifer Wilson: That's for sure. Maybe it releases some of the, the pressure though, if she doesn't have as much interest in it.

[00:10:51] Becky Powell Reames: Yes, that's true.

[00:10:53] Jennifer Wilson: So. Well, Becky, this is a, My Way episode because you're one of our featured artists for August, 2022. And we are excited too. We have a style challenge inside of our community based on your approach to scrapbooking. I wanted to kind of give our audience a little teaser about what makes you tick. We are talking about photos during this two month period. It's our Photos creative journey. And so I'm curious, what has been successful for you when it comes to finding, choosing, using, or sharing your favorite photos?

[00:11:27] Becky Powell Reames: So I learned from somebody on Instagram. I have a feeling, it was Heidi Swapp about using the favorites feature on iPhoto. Which, duh has been there forever. And I've just never paid any attention to it. I'm really terrible at like actually using the features of my phone. And so I started doing that, but I love a large format photo, so I am constantly looking to take and use photos that I can make really big. I love to print 12 by 12 photos and then just do a little bit of embellishing on them. I, I discovered Pernickety Prints, because I don't have a large format printer. Because they're like, you know, $9,000 and they are great. Like the photos I get from Persnicky Prints, I love, and I do all kinds of random sizes. Like I'll do like a 3 by 12 or, you know, a 9 by 12 or whatever. And it's just really fun to figure out ways to work with those. But then also I use photos that are really not great. I use photos that are blurry. One of my favorite old layouts that I've actually never shared on Instagram. I don't think is a, is a kind of a profile shot of my youngest daughter when she was about three and it's really dark and really blurry. And you can barely see her, but I can see her personality in that photo. And so I blew it up really big and used it.

[00:13:22] Jennifer Wilson: I love pictures like that. I think the ones that have attachment to you, you can, you can feel the story through the photo and that's, that's what really matters more than the perfect shot of somebody smiling.

[00:13:35] Becky Powell Reames: Yes, yes. I will take a candid over opposed shot any day. I even have my, my wedding photo I'm, you know, divorced now, but my wedding album, excuse me. We specifically looked for a wedding photographer who focused on candids more than posed. And even those are large format now that I think about it.

[00:14:01] Jennifer Wilson: Oh, fun. Fun. You mentioned that you started scrapbooking back in 1998. So can you tell us how you got started? And I'm also imagining that your scrapbooking today doesn't look like it did back then.

[00:14:12] Becky Powell Reames: Thank goodness, no. So I have always been a crafter. I just, you know, I love crafts in general. I used to watch all the shows on TV and I was a fan of Martha Stewart and, all those things. And so I would, I would call, I would do what I called cruising Michaels. I would go to Michaels and just go up and down the aisles and try and find new crafts to try. And I discovered Creating Keepsakes Magazine. I picked up my first copy and I took it home and I was like, what is this magic? it just instantly clicked for me. And I used to kind of think about my layouts, like, because I was a teacher still at that point, like miniature bulletin boards, cuz I was always really into making fun, interesting, attractive bulletin boards for my classroom. And to me, they were sort of the same thing just with photos added in. but...

[00:15:15] Jennifer Wilson: Did you do scalloped borders around the outside?

[00:15:17] Becky Powell Reames: I did.

[00:15:18] Jennifer Wilson: I love it.

[00:15:20] Becky Powell Reames: And let me tell you when I found scalloped scissors, boy was I excited. And so that's how my pages looked in the beginning, you know, very, this, this icon next to this photo next to this sticker next to this, there was no, I don't know. No finesse to it. It was just very, very basic. But I still loved it. And I look back at some of those and, and I still like some of them, but some of them I wanna rip out and do over again. And yeah, now I,

[00:15:56] Jennifer Wilson: Would you ever do that?

[00:15:57] Becky Powell Reames: Yes, absolutely. I absolutely would. I have this conversation often with my friends who scrapbook. And they're mostly of the, no, you don't go and do old pages over again, but I totally would. I would love to take old photos that I have on those pages that are, you know, dear to me photos. And put them with newer products and my, my style now, so that I could enjoy looking at them more instead of looking at them and kind of critiquing my old work, if that makes sense.

[00:16:32] Jennifer Wilson: It does. Well, and it's, it's hard. It's a, it's a tricky balance because there's always, there's no shortage of memories to scrapbook. And so what are the important ones? And what's the, what value, what's the real importance to you? The meaning behind it? If, if it would elevate it enough that you can appreciate it more and you feel more confident passing it down then. Yeah. If, if not, then maybe not. So it's yeah, it's definitely an interesting question to discuss.

[00:17:00] Becky Powell Reames: Yeah. And I always feel like I'm never, I've said this a couple of different places, I think. I'm never caught up and I am 100% okay with that. I don't ever want to be caught up because then what am I gonna scrapbook? I love the fact that I can go back and find pictures of my kids, you know, from when they were born or very young and, and work on those now and I just get to revisit those memories again.

[00:17:33] Jennifer Wilson: Yes. I, I do love that when I'm flipping through, I'm like, oh, wow. These are really great pictures. How come I've never done anything with, it's such a delightful moment to find those in your library. So let's fast forward to today. What sizes or formats are you typically creating in? And why do you like that suite of approaches?

[00:17:56] Becky Powell Reames: Yes, definitely. I, I kind of like all the sizes and, and that's a little bit of a problem for me. I, for the most part, I probably would say I do 12 by 12. I really enjoy the big space to create in because I like big titles and lots of embellishments and I like big photos. So, I, I, for the most part I do 12 by 12. I also do the occasional six by eight. Like when I'm doing December Daily or this past year 2021, I did my first October, I called it October occasionally because it was definitely not a daily.

[00:18:40] Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm

[00:18:41] Becky Powell Reames: And then I recently, you know, in the past maybe year have started experimenting with Traveler's notebooks. And those are fun. And. They're a little bit faster for me. I'm a very slow scrapbooker and so Traveler's notebooks are a little bit faster and I really enjoy the look of a full page photo in a Traveler's notebook too. So...

[00:19:09] Jennifer Wilson: Oh, yeah.

[00:19:12] Becky Powell Reames: Yeah.

[00:19:12] Jennifer Wilson: So interesting, like.

[00:19:13] Becky Powell Reames: Yeah. I the sizes.

[00:19:15] Jennifer Wilson: That's okay. Like I think if you are feeling good about the things that you're creating, you don't feel overwhelmed by it, then just keep on, keep it on, you know. Like it's, it's only when you feel that you do have that sense of feeling behind or overwhelmed or uncertainty about what the heck am I doing here is when you should start questioning. So if you're questioning it, then go for it. Love it all.

[00:19:41] Becky Powell Reames: I do. I love it all.

[00:19:45] Jennifer Wilson: So what kind of products are you completely obsessed with? Do you love everything there too? I love, I mean, right now I'm obsessed with stamps. I, I cannot, I'm a little bit embarrassed about how much my stamp collection has grown in the past two years.

[00:20:04] Jennifer Wilson: I don't think you should be embarrassed because I just had this conversation yesterday with somebody else and I, and I have with others as well. And I look at my own stacks of stamps that haven't even been put away yet. I think there's just, there's so much more available. Because they you know, are not that difficult to manufacture and I'm sure they have a good profit margin on them. They keep selling them and more designs and we just keep buying 'em so it, I, yeah, I have the problem too.

[00:20:35] Becky Powell Reames: When, when COVID hit. And we went into quarantine, you know, I suddenly had all this extra time. And so I really got into like watching YouTube videos and, you know, following new people on Instagram and, and discovering, wow, I have this like such interest in stamping. And so, yeah, I bought an obscene amount over that two year period but that also led me to new things like. I discover, you know, I've known about Close To My Heart forever. But I had never tried their inks. and so I'm obsessed with those now. I absolutely love their inks.

[00:21:18] Jennifer Wilson: What do you like about them compared to other inks? You've tried?

[00:21:21] Becky Powell Reames: So my two favorite inks are Close To My Heart or Distress Oxides and Close To My Heart, is it, it just lays on the stamp better. I have found I get full coverage with it. And I have a real problem with other ink brands doing, I can't seem to get like a solid stamped image except for Distress Oxides, which are a whole different breed and I love them too. I love being able to play with, you know, water and ink and making a mess, which is difficult for me. So that's been fun to learn how to be messy and not worry so much about like it looking perfect and clean.

[00:22:21] Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. Yeah. That's, it's definitely fun to experiment, especially when it's kinda outside of your comfort zone and see, like, can you push the boundaries of your comfort zone?

[00:22:29] Becky Powell Reames: Yeah. And then I would say I'm also really interested in, like I mentioned earlier, you know, some of the smaller shops. I, I love that they're putting out things that are different, you know, it's not just Christmas or Halloween or the zoo or whatever, it's things about voting and pride and just other things that people are interested in in life. And so that's really fun to see those products and to use them. And it gives you a whole new expression of yourself and...

[00:23:11] Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

[00:23:11] Becky Powell Reames: The people that you're scrapbooking.

[00:23:12] Jennifer Wilson: That way. Yeah. I love that way of thinking about it.

[00:23:16] Becky Powell Reames: Yeah.

[00:23:16] Jennifer Wilson: So if we were to flip through your albums, is there something that we would notice that you use or do on most of your pages?

[00:23:23] Becky Powell Reames: Yes. And if you had asked me this a couple months ago, I would've had no idea. But I've really been trying to figure out, like, what do I do a lot? What is my style? Do I have a style? I love color so much. I use a ton of color. I, I can use a rainbow product on a page. I will, I love a good title and I love to do like different sizes, you know, within the title words in different sizes and different fonts and different colors and stacking them really like, like a little puzzle and then large format photos, like I like I've talked about and embellishment clusters. I love a cluster.

[00:24:15] Jennifer Wilson: Hmm. Do you have any particular, like types of embellishments you always are buying more of?

[00:24:22] Becky Powell Reames: I would say like the, the die cut embellishments that you can get in in packs and then I like chipboard and sometimes I'll leave the chipboard as is. Sometimes I'll, you know, peel off a bunch of the layers. So it's more flat. I love shiny, sparkly things. You know, gems and glitter and glitter gels. And I don't know, I, I feel like in my life I'm so not into the sparkly, pretty, but then when I scrapbook, I love it.

[00:25:03] Jennifer Wilson: Yes. I, I, I love that. I think that's, we can express ourselves in different ways, even though you've, you would never, you know, put sequins all over your house. Put them on your scrapbook page.

[00:25:15] Becky Powell Reames: Yes.

[00:25:18] Jennifer Wilson: So when do you typically find the time and energy to scrapbook these days?

[00:25:24] Becky Powell Reames: I am mostly a weekend scrapbooker, I'm really, really slow. Like. I will, I will sit down on a Saturday at maybe 10 30 in the morning and I will work on one page until like five o'clock . I am just that slow. Part of it is that I just love the process so much, you know, I love figuring out planning. I don't plan any of my layouts in advance. I, I will sit down and I pick out either some product that I wanna work with or a photo that I wanna work with and I'll go from there. And maybe it takes me, you know, two hours just to figure out like placement of things. And, oh, well, I like this flower here, but maybe I like it better over here and that is so much fun for me. That slow, moving things around and playing, playing with product. So typically the weekends, you know, especially with being a single mom, you know, now that my kids are a little bit older, the weekends are my kind of free time, cuz they're off doing their thing. So yeah, Saturday and Sunday.

[00:26:51] Jennifer Wilson: That sounds really relaxing though. I think maybe you need to change the language around calling yourself a slow scrapbooker. Here I'm, I'm just, being like, trying to, therapize on.

[00:27:05] Becky Powell Reames: I was thinking you sound like my therapist.

[00:27:07] Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. Like, am I trying to like be your therapist here, but maybe you're just an intentional scrapbooker or you relish the experience of it. I think there's a lot of the way you described it is so, positive, peaceful, you know, nourishing that, say putting a negative connotation on it, of slow, doesn't seem to fit to me.

[00:27:37] Becky Powell Reames: Yeah. That's that makes sense. And yeah, it's, I, I guess I always think of myself as being slow because, you know, I, I, I follow all these other creative people who, you know, they put out so many pages in a week and they're also amazing. And so I thought, oh, I must just be really slow at this. Cuz I can put, I don't know, one or two pages a week. But, yeah. I don't know. I just love it. And I love taking my time with it. And I also, like I will have on, I think a lot of people like to scrapbook to music. I actually cannot scrapbook with music on. I find it really distracting, but I can scrapbook with the TV on. So I have a TV in my scrapbook room and I will turn it on and I will put on like old episodes of Designing Women or, you know, something like that. And I'll just let those run the whole time in the background. And I'll occasionally look up and see what's happening, but it's kind of like white noise for me and it helps me concentrate.

[00:28:44] Jennifer Wilson: Oh, that's so interesting. I, I can listen to like, Lofi just like chill, ambient music. But I can't listen to anything with, with lyrics when I'm trying to work. But then like, I think I watched all of like the first four seasons of Downton Abbey while scrapbooking.

[00:29:02] Becky Powell Reames: Oh my gosh.

[00:29:03] Jennifer Wilson: When I rewatched it, I was like, oh my God, I missed everything I was scrapbooking just kinda listening along. So it's, yeah, it's I definitely can appreciate some good white noise. I hear a lot of people listen to like Friends when they're scrapbooking, like things that this they've seen before are just kind of a comfort zone for them.

[00:29:25] Becky Powell Reames: Yeah. Yeah. That's exactly. I will not put on a new show. It's gotta be something that I've seen before.

[00:29:33] Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

[00:29:34] Becky Powell Reames: I also like Disney movies. I'll put on a Disney movie any day. Yeah, I, and you know, the ones with the it's ironic, the Disney movies with music are fine for me to scrapbook by.

[00:29:46] Jennifer Wilson: That's funny.

[00:29:47] Becky Powell Reames: I don't know.

[00:29:49] Jennifer Wilson: So, do you have any strategies that you use to stay motivated or do you even need to use those? You sound so passionate about the hobby. Does your kind of your interest or your energy for it ebb and flow over time?

[00:30:02] Becky Powell Reames: It does. Absolutely. I have days I, you know, I will be so excited. My, unfortunately my scrapbook room is the same as my office for work. And so I sit in here and I look at all these products while I'm working and I just think, oh, I just want a scrapbook. And so I'll be really excited for, you know, Friday night or Saturday to roll around so that I can scrapbook. And then it's like, Ugh, I can't think of anything good to do. I have, you know, the creative juices are like gone. It, it can be very hard sometimes. And especially if like there's a lot going on in the world, I'm very affected by, you know, bad news. And, we've had our share of that lately.

[00:30:49] Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

[00:30:51] Becky Powell Reames: That can really put a damper on my creativity for sure. But I have found that if I get in that head space, I will purposefully look for something new to try. Which is how ended up trying Traveler's notebooks.

Okay. Okay.

[00:31:14] Becky Powell Reames: So, you know, I'll try like mixed media or I'll try using punches that I haven't used in, you know, two decades. And trying to make them current and interesting. I'll just try some new thing. I also can sometimes get my mojo back by looking through photos. I'll just flip through, I keep two of these really long Ikea bins right by my desk and they have just stacks and stacks of photos. And I'll just kind of flip through there and, you know, maybe I'll find one and it'll just instantly speak to me and I'll say, oh, I have the perfect paper for this. Or, you know, I have this great embellishment I could use. And then Instagram of course is a great source of inspiration for me. There are just so many really incredibly creative people on there. Yeah. And so I'll, I'll go through there and I'll find some, you know, somebody's layout that I like and I'll think, okay, I can do a twist on that.

[00:32:27] Jennifer Wilson: I love that you have like, kind of a toolbox things that you can turn to. It's not just one thing. It's okay, what's, what's gonna work right now to, to get me going. Sometimes it's novelty, sometimes it's comfort. Sometimes it's, you know, just following along and doing what somebody tells you to do. So I love that we have options for that.

[00:32:46] Becky Powell Reames: Yeah.

[00:32:49] Jennifer Wilson: I'm sure over the years, you've tried a lot of different techniques. And of course you said you like all the sizes, different formats. Is there something that you figured out though? That just is not for you at all?

[00:33:00] Becky Powell Reames: Yes. I, as much as I would love to be, I will never be a memory planner scrapbooker.

[00:33:08] Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm

[00:33:09] Becky Powell Reames: It, I.

[00:33:09] Jennifer Wilson: Not even with all the layered stamping?

[00:33:11] Becky Powell Reames: No, I know. I've tried, I've tried so many times. I have so many memory planners that I've started, that have been abandoned. And I was the same as a kid. Like I had a diary. I can't, I don't even know how many times I started a diary when I was a kid and I would get like four entries in it that it would be abandoned. Memory planning is definitely one that, I it's just not for me. And then I feel like this is a, a kind of a trend that was popular years ago and has really come back in full force is shaker things. Yeah, like on cards or even on layouts or, you know, whatever. And that's just not for me. I don't like shaker anything.

[00:34:03] Jennifer Wilson: Oh, so interesting. I kinda I'm more into it only like in December Daily context, it's gotta be where I'm going a little bit extra. It's definitely not part of my everyday scrapbooking.

[00:34:16] Becky Powell Reames: Yeah. and I love and it's.

[00:34:20] Jennifer Wilson: Those are fun. I love,

[00:34:21] Becky Powell Reames: It's the, it's the perfect place to like throw in glitter and sequins and which I love in my scrapbooking, but yeah, it's just not, I don't know something about it.

[00:34:30] Jennifer Wilson: Maybe there's something about the sound of it that you don't like.

[00:34:32] Becky Powell Reames: Maybe, who knows.

[00:34:36] Jennifer Wilson: So, do you have any organizing tips or solutions that you'd love to share? Could be from inside your scrapbooking or even something else in your home, but something that stands out as, Ooh, I'd love to share that or that works really well for me.

[00:34:51] Becky Powell Reames: I, I love organizing. I, I watch all the shows. I've always been an organizer. I can remember when I was a kid, I would love to rearrange my room just so I could organize again. I don't know, my big thing is bins. I have a bin for everything, and I don't just mean in scrapbook. I mean, everything, everything in my house has a bin. I even have like extra bins in my laundry room that are just waiting to have things put into them.

[00:35:20] Jennifer Wilson: Nice.

[00:35:21] Becky Powell Reames: I think that for me, I have, I've learned at least with my scrapbooking that if I can't see it, I won't use it. And so I've worked really hard to. Organize my supplies so that I can see, or at least I easily know where to find the things that I want to use. But then I, like, I love swatch books. I love an ink swatch book. And I recently created a washi tape swatch book for myself where I just, I took all my washi tape and divided it up by color or by theme. And then I put strips, like, you know, I would have like a red washi page and any washi that was, you know, moderately or mostly red would go, I would have a strip of it on that page. Yeah. And then I put all the pages in page protectors and just stuck 'em on a ring and. Helps me use them more. Cause even though they were organized in the bin, in the container, I still wasn't ever grabbing that container. And now I have this book of beautiful washi right there on my desk that I can just flip through and see if something will work.

[00:36:48] Jennifer Wilson: I think those strategies, that perspective on what's really gonna work for you, you know, you need to see things. I know that the more like visual clutter I have, the more overwhelmed I am. So I need to, I, I don't like clear bins. I grew up, my mom loves clear bins. She has this whole closet full of clear bins and she buys me clear bins. And I know she's listening to this now, but I'm, I don't like clear bins. I like solid color bins. So I can't see what's inside. I might put a label on it. I might just know what's inside, but I don't wanna be able to see the stuff cuz it overwhelms me. And that like personality trait I think is really important in personalizing your organization.

[00:37:30] Becky Powell Reames: Yeah, I agree. I, I totally agree. And, and I've gone from, you know, at least with my scrapbooking, I've gone from all of my supplies being in my little rolling tote that I just kept in a corner of the dining room. You know, in 1998. So now I have this like ginormous room full of stuff. And so yeah, like working with it in the way that works best for me is imperative.

[00:37:58] Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm. Oh yeah. Especially the longer, the longer you do this, the more things you accumulate, the more, you know, wise and seasoned you become, the more you can tweak it and be able to say no to the new shaker die or say no to the other things that maybe are tempting or popular. Like memory planning and you know, like, no, I really can't do that. It's not gonna work out. So, I definitely. Have keep looking at memory planning things. And I see, I watch people's videos and I look at their pictures. They're like, oh, it's so pretty. And then how many times have I started it? Probably as many as you. So I know it's not, it's not for me either.

[00:38:41] Becky Powell Reames: I know, and they are so pretty and I love the layered stamping in them. Like it's the perfect place for that. Come on, Becky.

[00:38:49] Jennifer Wilson: For the people that it's perfect for. So

[00:38:51] Becky Powell Reames: Yeah.

[00:38:53] Jennifer Wilson: All right. So stepping back here, where would you like your scrapbooking to be in 10 years?

[00:39:02] Becky Powell Reames: That's a really good question. I don't know. I, I think I would like for my creative flow to be a little easier for me. But still challenging, like, there are, you know, there are Saturdays where I've been working on a layout from 10 30 in the morning until five o'clock. And I'm fine with that. And there are days where that's frustrating for me, because I would've really liked to have made two or three layouts today. And so I think, yeah, I, would like for my process to be a little easier but I always get nervous about there's a saying, and I don't know who said it. There are no new ideas out there and that makes me nervous when it comes to scrapbooking. You know, like when all the scrapbook stores started closing and the magazine stopped, I got really nervous and I started panic buying scrapbooking stuff online, like, oh my gosh, what if we lose this hobby? This is terrible. I need to have so many supplies so that I can keep doing this for the rest of my life, even if no one else is doing it. And I don't know where I was going with that.

[00:40:29] Jennifer Wilson: Well, I'm curious how you, how you feel about those items now?

[00:40:34] Becky Powell Reames: I

[00:40:34] Jennifer Wilson: Are you glad you have them?

[00:40:36] Becky Powell Reames: Yes, I am.

[00:40:38] Jennifer Wilson: Okay.

[00:40:38] Becky Powell Reames: I, and that's actually, one of my frustrations I have with Instagram is that we see so many gorgeous, beautiful pages, but everything's done with new product. Aand I purposefully try and seek out other creatives who don't necessarily only use new product. Cuz I have gorgeous collections that I've never touched and I want to, but I keep buying new stuff. But yeah, I, I'm still really happy with everything I have. And in fact, I had a moment the other day where I could remind, I could hear my mom's voice in my head. Had, you know, years ago saying I wish I had never thrown away that item of clothing, whatever it was because now it's back in style. And I pulled out a punch that I've had, like I, I mentioned earlier for like two decades and it was perfect. And I was oh, I'm so glad I still have this.

[00:41:57] Jennifer Wilson: You mentioned the panic buying. And that reminds me that I still have like probably 20 plus Hambly transparencies that I bought went on business because I was convinced that nobody was ever gonna make transparencies ever

[00:42:10] Becky Powell Reames: Yes,

[00:42:11] Jennifer Wilson: And yeah.

[00:42:13] Becky Powell Reames: Yeah. I,

[00:42:14] Jennifer Wilson: So I, I feel you there.

[00:42:15] Becky Powell Reames: Yeah. The one thing that I will never panic by again are rub ons. I threw away so many rub ons.

[00:42:22] Jennifer Wilson: Oh, gosh. Yes.

[00:42:23] Becky Powell Reames: Yeah. Those darn things.

[00:42:25] Jennifer Wilson: They dry out so bad. We need like a new storage solution for rub ons. Keep them in the freezer or something. I don't know what it is, but I'm so sad about all the rub ons that I've thrown away years.

[00:42:37] Becky Powell Reames: I know I had a bunch of Hambly ones that I threw away.

[00:42:40] Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

[00:42:40] Becky Powell Reames: Very sad.

[00:42:42] Jennifer Wilson: So Becky, what has being a scrapbooker taught you?

[00:42:47] Becky Powell Reames: I think one of the main things that's taught me is that it's okay to be messy and that, you know, everything doesn't have to be perfect. I'm a little bit of a perfectionist in, in real life. And that's almost impossible with scrapbooking, especially when you're getting into like stamping and mixed media and that sort of thing. That's definitely a big one for me. And noticing the little things, you know, like I realized about. I don't know, six or seven years ago that most of my scrapbook were ma major events. Christmas, Halloween, birthday. And, and that I wasn't in anything. And so I started putting myself in and I started noticing the little things and, you know, there are definitely influencers out there who helped with that.

[00:43:47] Jennifer Wilson: Mm. Hmm.

[00:43:49] Becky Powell Reames: And I think another one that's really important to me, that has kind of come to the forefront of my thinking about this hobby in the past couple of years is being very careful with myself around the opinion of the masses because I can easily get sucked into. Oh, my gosh, this post only got this many likes, that page must be terrible, but I love that, why did nobody like it? And I just had to stop thinking about it and, and not stop caring, but stop worrying myself with, you know, maybe everybody didn't like this exact thing that I did, but I love it. And that's okay. And.

[00:44:42] Jennifer Wilson: It really is. And I think it's, we're, we're learning how to find our own self-worth, self-confidence in a social age of, of likes and comments and shares and all that. You know, it's, it gives you a little serotonin boost for every like you get. Right. And they're training us to respond in that way. And so we have to kind of work around that to continue feeding ourselves internally. I guess

[00:45:16] Becky Powell Reames: Yeah. Yeah,

[00:45:18] Jennifer Wilson: It's a challenge for sure though.

[00:45:19] Becky Powell Reames: It definitely is. And you know, I try and lead by example with my, my kids, especially my youngest, who's very into social media and so.

[00:45:30] Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

[00:45:30] Becky Powell Reames: Gotta gotta, set the example.

[00:45:36] Jennifer Wilson: Well, Becky, this has been so fun. Thank you for spending time with me. you share what we can find you online and anything you might have new or coming up in the second half of the year?

[00:45:46] Becky Powell Reames: Yeah. So I'm so far, I'm just an Instagram person. I, I, I bought the I'm staring at it right now. The, the thing to put your phone in so that you can do videos and not done a single video yet. But I'm on Instagram and I am my happy crafty life on Instagram. And then I know that it will already have been released when this, airs, but I am in the summer issue of Scrapbook and Cards Today, magazine. My very first layout publication. I'm on page 68.

[00:46:31] Jennifer Wilson: Super cool.

[00:46:33] Becky Powell Reames: Yeah, it was very exciting for me. It's a layout of my parents. And so that's kind of cool too. I can share that with them and then I'm on the Syncopation Design, a design team and hopefully some others coming up soon. So yeah.

[00:46:53] Jennifer Wilson: Awesome. Yeah, no, thank you for spending time with me. And we're so excited to have you as our featured artist. I can't wait to see what videos you might create in the future too.

[00:47:03] Becky Powell Reames: Don't hold your breath.

[00:47:04] Jennifer Wilson: With, with your, your new camera device there but yeah, thank you so much. And to all of our listeners, please remember that you have permission to scrapbook your way.

[00:47:34] Jennifer Wilson: Before you go, this is your reminder that Finishing Day is coming up inside of the Simple Scrapper membership. We'll provide everything you need to make progress on your top priority. Visit simplescrapper.com/membership to see what it's like to be part of our community.