SYW188 – Catching Up on Project Life

[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 188.

In this episode I'm joined by LeeAnne Jones to hear how she transitioned from being a Project Life kit collector to a passionate pocket page scrapbooker.

[00:00:59] Jennifer Wilson: Hey, LeeAnne welcome to Scrapbook Your Way.

[00:01:01] LeeAnne Jones: Hi, thanks for having me. I love this podcast.

[00:01:04] Jennifer Wilson: Oh, I'm so glad to hear that. Thank you for joining me today. And before we get into our regular routine of topics, as well as our special topic for the day, would you share a little bit about yourself?

[00:01:16] LeeAnne Jones: Yeah, sure. So my name is LeeAnne Jones. I live in the San Francisco bay area. Um, for any locals, I live in the east bay. Um, I am married to my husband, Paul, for more than 13 years. And we have two daughters, Denali who is eight and Paisley who is six. We also have two cats. Nom Nom and Pepper are their names. And, outside of scrapbooking, I work part-time as a freelance writer and editor, mostly with lifestyle and travel magazines, but a few book titles as well. Yeah, that's me in a nutshell.

[00:01:53] Jennifer Wilson: Very cool. Thank you. So exciting you right now in memory, keeping and scrapbooking?

[00:02:01] I think the most exciting thing I'm seeing a lot lately, and I don't, it's not necessarily new, I guess, but maybe it's evolved a little, it's just like these incorporation of artist techniques. like there's always kind of been this mixed media thing. I guess, but I feel like I'm just seeing more. So I like, uh, for example, there's a scrapbooker I believe her name is Jenny Simon and she like incorporates her sketches and her paintings into her albums. She did like this insanely beautiful sketch of Betty White for a page. And then she hand painted her December Daily album with like, um, some like Hebrew lettering and it was just gorgeous. I'm trying to think of some other examples. Oh, recently Linda Jordan. She did like doodles and stuff on top of her photos for a Week In The Life. I saw another one, from Pink Fresh Studio. I believe her name is Annette. but she did this really cool hand painted background. I don't know. It just feels like this really interesting blending of these kind of art and craft techniques with the scrappy products. I think is really interesting. And I haven't really tried it myself, but I really want to.

[00:03:12] Jennifer Wilson: Yes. I think backgrounds sometimes are the easiest, but It's just such a thing where you can kind of just play and, also give yourself some room for experimentation to know you might totally make something crazy and not like it. And that's okay that's part of the process.

[00:03:32] LeeAnne Jones: Yeah. Yeah. I'm not very good at convincing myself that failing's okay. Even though I know it's okay.

[00:03:38] Jennifer Wilson: Alrighty. Well, I think that might come up later in our conversation, related to Project Life. But before we get there, we always love to ask our guests, what is one story on your memory keeping a bucket list. So this is something that feels really important to capture, but you've not done it yet.

[00:03:57] LeeAnne Jones: Um, so the list is really long. I am not the most productive scrapbooker so, I am very slow. I think I'm one of your earlier guests, this month was talking about like intentional scrapbooker I'm like, yes, that is me. But I think, I don't know. There's some big projects like documenting my second daughter's first year. Like I did that for my first daughter, but not my second. So that's a big one. And then, also I want to do just more about my life growing up. I feel like I've done a lot of, scrapping of my children. And one story that's kind of rattling around in my head is, like documenting stories about my name. Like obviously a big part of that is where my name came from. So like, my name is Lee Anne Marie, and each of those pieces are my mom and her sister's middle names. So that's cool. Yeah, that's really cool. But then I've also had these like really random stories throughout my life about my name, like when I used a nickname for awhile, which was Annie. When I happened to be in a college class with two other women, named LeeAnne. Which was like insane, cause I've not met, met them any. And then, there's also a woman who I've never met, but, uh, several of my friends have met and her, she keeps coming in and out of my life and in strange ways. Um, so I don't know. I just thought there's like all these stories about my name and I'd like to kind of bring them all together somehow in a scrapbook page or maybe multiple pages.

[00:05:23] Jennifer Wilson: Oh, that's so fun. What a great idea. I've not, I've not heard stories of that, but I'm, I'm kind of brainstorming now on all of the ones that I can think of related to my name. Sometimes I go by the nickname Fer which there's a whole story behind that. And so, yeah, I think I definitely have to do that too. So thank you for sharing the idea.

[00:05:43] LeeAnne Jones: No problem.

[00:05:44] Jennifer Wilson: All right. So I invited you on the show because you've been sharing on Instagram about your process of catching up with past years of Project Life. And can you start by telling us a little bit about your history as a memory keeper? How did you get started and kind of, how did you evolve?

[00:06:03] LeeAnne Jones: Sure. Yeah. I mean, I think I started as so many people did with Creative Memories. My aunt hosted a party and, you know, a consultant came over and showed us how to make a page. I think it was, I know I was a teenager and I was trying to think of like, at what point, but I think it was somewhere around the mid nineties. I loved it immediately. I felt like it combined, like, I love telling stories. I love photography. I love design. And then I'm also just kind of really sentimental. So it was a combination. Um, and I, I do remember back then, I kind of have this like rebellious thing where I kind of liked to do things differently, but I remember back then, I, you had to trim like the 12 by 12 feet paper to fit they're like proprietary album pages. They were like a little bit shorter. And I was like, absolutely not. Like I'm not doing that. And so I was like, told the consultant, like I'm getting my own stuff. And so I would get my own, you know, protectors and albums at Michaels or something and do my own thing. But I definitely did that, like Creative Memories, style shapes of photos and that kind of thing for many years. What's kind of cool about that. Actually I want to mentioned is like, my family. So after that point, they started gathering to do scrapbook pages together, craft nights, craft weekends. And since then, since the mid nineties, some people have stopped, you know, they've moved on to other hobbies, lots of quilting and cross stitches happening, but we still get together like me and my mom and my sisters get together once a week to craft. And it's just awesome. So I love that, like our hobbies can bring us together like that.

[00:07:39] Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes. I hear that. So often with groups of friends and family members, and I think particularly scrapbooking because it is so personal and it's just, it's our lives done creatively. And it's, so it's often kind of, even so much more than other crafts can bring you together. Maybe I'm just biased, so. So we're gonna talk specifically about Project Life or pocket page scrapbooks. If you had to explain this format to a complete beginner, uh, maybe even to yourself, back in those original days, what would you say about it?

[00:08:17] I think always kind of start with like the physical aspect of it. Like I tell people it's kind of similar to like those old photo albums from like pre 1980s where there's slipped photos into the pockets. Except these albums have different sized pockets. Not only hold photos but your stories and, ephemera. And, and then I'd probably share that it's very, time-bound, it's about documenting, uh, like everyday life chronologically over a year. And that there's some variation in some people devote a page or a spread to a week or a month. and I do mine monthly, I don't know if that would be sufficient, but that's probably how I'd started it.

[00:09:00] Jennifer Wilson: Well, I think going back to old photo albums, I think is perfect. I recently found my grandpa had this photo album from a vacation and it was basically like the those Project Life mini books, where it was, you know, two up four by six photos and then a spot on each side for journaling. And he'd filled it all out. He pulled a little card out and he'd filled it out and put it back in. And it was like, wow, that's so familiar yet, not.

[00:09:29] LeeAnne Jones: Right. It's wild.

[00:09:31] Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, yeah, totally.

[00:09:33] LeeAnne Jones: Things always coming back in a different way.

[00:09:36] Jennifer Wilson: So specific to your Project Life journey. How did that evolve for you? Have you been doing it for a while? I'm curious how your, uh, creative world shifted from making layouts to doing pockets.

[00:09:51] LeeAnne Jones: Yeah. So I did layouts for, for a long while. You know, it kind of evolved, but, but layouts, 12 by 12th standard layouts were a thing for me for a very long time. Um, I think I first saw Project Life, while reading blogs. I was like super into blogs for a while there like 2008, 2010 ish. And I had, you know, the Google Reader, RSS feed of like every person who blogs on the planet.

[00:10:17] Jennifer Wilson: Ah, rest in peace, Google Reader.

[00:10:19] LeeAnne Jones: Oh my gosh. Right.

[00:10:20] Jennifer Wilson: I really stopped reading blogs after Google Reader disappeared. It was so sad.

[00:10:26] LeeAnne Jones: I, that honestly might have helped like change the landscape there with that disappearing. It's just, just wild.

[00:10:33] Jennifer Wilson: I think So. Yeah. Anyway, sorry, go ahead.

[00:10:35] Oh yeah, no worries. So I think I saw, you know, some chatter about, you know, Becky Higgins Project Life was a new thing and it just seemed so different. And I think at that point, it, it seemed to me like it might be easier or less time consuming. Um, I actually don't think that's true, but at the time I thought that. It just seemed more simple, I guess, than making a, you know, looking at a 12 by 12 blank page and creating something. Um, but the thing that made me buy my first kit is the Midnight kit from, um, Liz Tamanaha. I believe. I'm trying to think of when it came out, it had to been like 2, 2012, 2013 and I just thought it was so cool. Like, it was just so graphic and trendy. And, and then I remember finding out about Studio Calico and literally for many years I like bought things because they looked cool, but I was completely stalled out on actually, doing Project Life, um, for, yeah, for a long time. And as I was trying to think of when that was, and I think it was probably when I had my first child in 2014. I was like, I want to document, you know, her first year and all these moments. And I just saw all those supplies, you know, and I was like, let's do it. Let's just get in here. And what's funny is I, um, just a few years later, after buying so many supplies, I kind of, like, I didn't like the rounded corners anymore. And like, it's so funny, I don't know if you don't use things right away. It just kind of changes. But I think I ended up using like a totally new kit from like Simple Stories, to do her, her documenting. And then I, um, subscribed to Ali's, Ali Edwards Stories By The Month. But, yeah, I, that's kind of, when I started was after the birth of my first kid in 2014. But to be honest, like once I had kids, it was very limited scrapbooking time. So it was like, I did that baby album for her and I didn't do a ton after that. I kind of just kept working on that over many years. And then fast forward to 2020, um, in the pandemic, that's when I like really, really got into Project Life.

[00:12:53] Jennifer Wilson: You know, I think your story is going to feel so familiar to many of our listeners. Both terms of buying product, that you have really good intentions for. As well as, having, you know, the seasons of life really impact how much time, energy, and motivation you have for your hobby. Like sometimes we're just like all in. We're so excited and we're bursting with ideas and energy. And sometimes it's like, I can't, I, can't muster the extra oomph to go into this room or to do anything else in the day. So I think that's very, very natural and normal.

[00:13:31] LeeAnne Jones: Oh good.

[00:13:33] Jennifer Wilson: So we fast forward to 2020, and that's when you've really gotten into it. You've already mentioned a couple of types of products, but what projects are you really relying on for your Project Life and your pocket pages these days?

[00:13:46] LeeAnne Jones: Uh, So right now I'm doing mostly Elle Studio and that's because I'm on the creative team there. So I'm doing, you know, three or four projects a month with those products. And I love how they're simple and they're bright. Um, and both of those things to me are appealing. And I also like that they're very flat. I'm always trying to get, my goal is to get two years of Project Life into one album. And I know to some people that sounds like really wild, but to me, like, I just don't want that many albums in my home. So having those kind of, lots of cardstock die cuts and things over, you know, wood veneer and chipboard is, it's very useful to me in that endeavor. I also love Ali Edwards. It's like, um, I have many Stories By The month kits that I haven't used yet, then I'll go back to and use someday. And then I always do Day In The Life, which I love. And that's always just a spread in my Project, Life album. I kind of buy from wherever when things catch my eye, get excited about them.

[00:14:50] Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, no, that's great. And I think you've shared so many different tips there in terms of like keeping, your individual cards thinner. So that over time everything adds up to thinner album. Um, and really kind of, I don't know, I feel like you very much customized your hobby to what you need. as you've evolved. Particularly in this kind of new season for you, where pockets are exciting and are fun for you again.

[00:15:20] LeeAnne Jones: I hadn't thought about it that way.

[00:15:22] Jennifer Wilson: Have there been any challenges that you experienced with the format? And maybe this goes back to more of your false start, but even today, are there any things that kind of frustrate you or you beat your head against the wall about.

[00:15:35] LeeAnne Jones: Yeah, I think, um, like I said earlier about like, I originally thought it would be simple. Like, I'll just thought um, I think when it started out, I mean, as you mentioned, your, your grandfather's album, it's like, I thought you just pop in on four four by six photos, and then you write the stories behind them on like the four three by four cards and you're done. But I think for myself and for many of us, it's like, we treat each pocket, like it's its own page and it needs to be designed. And so it's like, there's eight layouts on this one page and they all have to look good together. So

[00:16:08] Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

[00:16:08] LeeAnne Jones: It's a little bit, um, yeah, it's just a little bit more, uh design-y than I expected at the beginning, but, um, I guess to overcome that I just tend to lean into a very colorful color palette. So, you know, all my random photos from a single month, they don't all go together. They're all different colors. So when I look at my supplies, I'm always reaching for like, you know, the multi striped journal tag or, just making sure there's lots of different colors that repeat throughout the page. And I feel like that brings it some balance.

[00:16:46] Jennifer Wilson: No, that makes sense too. I think that's the coordination aspect, I think is sometimes a stumbling point. Like, does this, does this look good altogether? I think the grid helps it kind of unify, but, I think that could be something that definitely. Uh, I dunno, it gives people pause and makes them, you know, not feel finished if it, if it doesn't feel totally balanced. So the colors are in harmony, so.

[00:17:12] LeeAnne Jones: Yeah, I dunno if something for me, I just want that balance. And I know for other people, it's not that big a deal, but.

[00:17:19] Jennifer Wilson: So it's, it sounds like you recently completed an album that was for 2018 and 2019 together. Can you tell us a little bit more about that project?

[00:17:29] LeeAnne Jones: Yeah. So I mentioned earlier, like basically like hoarded Project Life supplies until the pandemic. And it's really honestly true. I was definitely like a collector more than a scrapbooker. But, the first year of the pandemic was like really hard, for me and my kids. Just the ages that they were, you know, their, our first school year cut short. Play dates stopped. Playgrounds closed. My kid did not do well with all the things on Zoom. She would, she would just cry.

[00:17:57] Jennifer Wilson: Hm.

[00:17:58] LeeAnne Jones: So. I dunno, it was just rough, you know? And so, um, at some point I just kind of looked at all my supplies and I was just thinking, like, it'd be fun to look back on, you know, the, before days as

[00:18:14] Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes.

[00:18:16] LeeAnne Jones: You know, so I, I just picked a month and I just started. And the first spread I think took forever because I was overthinking everything, but I don't know. I just felt like some kind of DIY therapy where it was like, the world was a bit of chaotic. My family was hurting, living in it, but scrapbooking, I could just kind of live in like those better times. And, yeah, it just really motivated me. I just thought it was just really, it felt good to do it. So I just like really went to town and like, I just went through 2018 and then went into 2019. And, once I got going, it kind of reignited my interest in scrapbooking in general. So I kind of started doing other projects, you know, Day In The Life. I did some more 12 by 12 spreads. And so my, my album process slowed down a little. I actually just finished the title pages for that album, like a few weeks ago. Uh, but it's done and it feels amazing. Like it's like the first full, you know, Project Life album for me. And, um, yeah, I'm just like stoked about it. It's my favorite thing. I'm like, this is the first thing I'm taking if we had to run out of our house, you know.

[00:19:36] Jennifer Wilson: That's super cool. I'm curious, are you planning on doing additional past years or keep, are you planning on doing 2020 or even years?

[00:19:46] LeeAnne Jones: Yeah.

[00:19:46] Jennifer Wilson: More recent years?

[00:19:48] LeeAnne Jones: I did work. I didn't need one spread from 2020. And it was like really hard and it was like, uh, some of those months are still kind of like an open wound for me. And I, I hate to sound like, I feel like I'm sounding dramatic, but I think for a lot of us, it was really hard to have all that stuff, um, going on in the world. But anyway, so I haven't gone back to it. I'm not going to sweat it. Like I just, it'll happen. So for now, I'm just moved on to 2021, which for me personally felt a little bit more, uh, normal and that's, doesn't have kind of the same weight to me as 2020 did. So yeah, I'm keeping pace with 2021 right now, like a year behind. So I'm working on September, 2021 right now in 2022. Um, and that's feeling good. And I actually do want to go back to pre 2018. Um, so starting this year, I was like, oh, I'll do one old page and one new page every month, but I don't really have the bandwidth for that. So I'll have to have a different, a different plan, but I'd love to go back and, and do some of those older years too. I just, it'll be really fun to have all that documented.

[00:20:58] Jennifer Wilson: For sure. Now I'm curious. When you sit down to tackle a month, how do you approach it?

[00:21:06] LeeAnne Jones: So, uh, yeah, I have kind of a pretty specific process and it's, um, it's a bit lengthy and I probably should like tighten up here and there. But basically I move all my photos off my phone regularly, like every few months and onto my computer. So they're generally there waiting for me. So I just, they're organized by month and then year into folders. And so I just start looking at all my photos and I, I mean there's many, thousands for each month. So I will do, I'll delete duplicates and weird stuff. It's amazing how many photos I take of things like on the shelf, in a store.

[00:21:48] Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yeah.

[00:21:50] LeeAnne Jones: Delete all those weird things. I rename the files in a way that makes sense to me. And I really delete about two thirds of the photos each month. That's how much junk I have in my camera roll. But then I go through again, once I've done that edit and I kind of tag my absolute favorites and then I just count how many favorites I have. So if I have 20 favorites, I'm like, oh, I can totally keep this to one spread. That's going to work. But if I have, you know, 50, then we're going to maybe need two spreads or an insert or something. And then I just start printing and, kind of laying it out on my desk in order of like my favorite photos first and then making the harder choices about what to cut toward the end, you know? Um, and then in terms of like journaling and stuff for like these older years, I just look, I looked back at my Google calendar. Because that's where everything is personally and for my family. So I just kind of see what we were up to. I look at my social media feeds for that month. What else? Oh, I have a, a Google doc that I log kind of funny or sweet things my kids say. Um, so I'll look there to see if there's anything worthwhile putting in a quote somewhere in the page. Yeah, I feel like at least for 2018 and 2019, it was easy to kind of get my head back into the past and like, I feel like I could document it accurately without missing anything big. I don't know if that's going to be the case as I go further back, but so far it's been, it's been workable.

[00:23:25] Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, it sounds like you, I love kind of this customizable approach where you're not rigid to, okay, it is, you know, exactly this many spreads per month. You look and see, okay, what does the volume of stories that I have with photos that I have and how, what, what feels like the right amount for that?

[00:23:46] LeeAnne Jones: Yes. I like love to keep it all to one spread because as you know, I'm like trying to fit in lots in one album, but sometimes they're just too full and that's fine. Like do a couple of little spreads or do a six by 12 insert. I'm totally up for that.

[00:24:01] Jennifer Wilson: So you said 20 photos would be like totally fine for one spread. So what does that mean about kind of the shapes and sizes of photos that you tend to use?

[00:24:11] LeeAnne Jones: So I'd still have to cut a few at that point, but at least it's like, I know it's in the ballpark of one spread. But, yeah, I like to mix it up. I use, uh, I always have a few four by fours and then always several three by fours. And then often I'll, uh, I do two by twos, often on top of a journal tag with like a pretty pattern on it. And then, I like photo collages, especially for things where it's important to me, but it seems like it wouldn't be that important to other people looking through it. So, uh, one example is like, I love going to art exhibits. So I might do like a four, four photo collage on like a four by four print with like a little caption off to the side where it's like, it just takes one pocket and it's not taking the place of things that are more important to my whole family. Does that make sense?

[00:25:08] Jennifer Wilson: Oh, it totally does. I think sometimes our photo libraries are so kind of imbalanced. They don't really reflect what kind of the pie plate of our life looks like. It reflects what we take pictures of. And some things we don't take pictures at, but they take a lot of our time. And some things like that we really enjoy personally, we take lots of pictures of. Like, I don't know, not necessarily dumb things, but you know, more insignificant, more everyday things that are valuable to us. And, yeah, that balance is always an interesting thing when we're trying to kind of document holistically, I guess.

[00:25:49] LeeAnne Jones: Yeah. It's like, I know that this album is ultimately told from my perspective. And I actually, I put on my title pages. I'm like life and our family as told by LeeAnne Jones. Cause it feels like this is my perspective on our life and it could be totally different from my husband's. At the same time, like I do want to kind of include these more personal things that I enjoy. Cause it's you know, it's the creative project that I'm working on. So I'm always trying to strike this balance of like, it means a lot to me, and it includes like a whole look at what I'm into, but it also is meaningful to everyone else in my family who wants to take a look at it. So it's this little dance.

[00:26:26] Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I think that's one of the things that I love about a scrapbooking. Particularly the emphasis on the when we're talking about Project Life or memory planning or anything that's a little bit more in the, I don't know, smaller scale, both story-wise and physically wise often. Allows us to bring in more of those personal stories, I think. So we've talked a little bit about kind of real time documentation versus looking back, and I'm sure you've scrapbooked either on layouts or whatever, something that happened more recent at some point, or even, you know what you're doing right now for 2022. How do you compare the, the way you tell stories, the type of stories you tell, the thing, the things that are important versus not important. When it's very recent versus less recent.

[00:27:16] LeeAnne Jones: You know, I am not sure that I've really scrapbooked, like in real time, ever. Like, I don't think about that. I'm like, I think it's almost always been at least a year behind. Like even right now, I'm doing 2021 in 2022, you know? I don't know. I think it'd be hard for me to compare, but I do like looking back, it feels like a little bit less,maybe less stressful. Like I know I'm already looking back, so I'm never behind. And then, um, also it's like, I like the perspective a little. I, it could be interesting to have, you know, that real-time perspective. Absolutely. And I, I have, I don't have that really, but I do like looking back a year or more, it's like you have a bit fuller of a perspective where you can, I don't know, you can just describe things more completely. And I kind of liked that. Um, yeah, I mean, maybe that's my next adventure is like more, more real time scrapbooking, more currently lists and stuff like this.

[00:28:23] Jennifer Wilson: Well, and the flip side of that is you should do what works. And I think there's others that can, can learn from that and embrace that permission to, not be behind by always being behind. Like you just said. I've talked several times with folks about, okay, if we're always not finishing our December Dailies, why don't we use the new products from this year to scrapbook last year's photos, because we already have them. And we can just make it a project. It has boundaries. like here's the photos, here's the stuff. Make a book.

[00:28:57]

[00:28:57] Jennifer Wilson: And always like, be intentionally doing it one year behind. So I think there's, there's something to be said for that as well.

[00:29:04] LeeAnne Jones: I really liked that idea, honestly. Like, so as we're talking now, all the December Daily products are coming out and I love them so much. Like every year I watch all the things I even do, like the Prep Day with like no intention of doing the project. Like, I love It.

[00:29:20] Jennifer Wilson: It's fun, yeah.

[00:29:21] LeeAnne Jones: Yeah, and I will buy a few things, you know, I'll buy, you know, individual things. I don't buy like the whole kit. Cause I just know that I'm not gonna do it, but I do have Christmas and December documenting in my life. And so the products are helpful to me. I just haven't done that time bound thing, but I like your idea of just making it like we're going to look at last year.

[00:29:43] Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I just, I think for those who maybe are continuously feeling stressed about it, I think there's something to that. And the fact that you've kind of shown that it's a sustainable approach. You haven't felt kind of pressured to, to switch back and forth like, oh, well I, I'm just not doing the, the current stuff. So I have to do that, no, you feel solid in saying, okay, this is what I'm working on right now. And I want everyone to feel solid and secure and excited about what they're doing. All right, so do you have any advice for someone who maybe isn't a similar boat and wants to either start or finish documenting a past year? And they're now from our conversation, super attracted to the pocket pages, the Project Life format, if they haven't been already.

[00:30:33] LeeAnne Jones: Sure. I mean, that'd be awesome if we inspired somebody here. I would just say start. I mean, for so many years, I was watching instead of doing. You know, I was like collecting instead of crafting. But then once I started it just like lit a fire, you know? And I feel like the starting place doesn't even matter. I say I started with 2018, but honestly, I started with September, 2018, which is super random. I just it's felt like a month that was a good month, you know. And so I went from September through December and then went back to January and made my way through the rest of the year. So I'd say, yeah, I'd say just like picking a place in time that excites you. Like an incredible week or an incredible month. Just cause it's fun to document. And then go from there in like whatever order you want and eventually you'll fill an album and then that'll motivate you to fill another. I think that'd be my best advice.

[00:31:33] Jennifer Wilson: Oh, no, I love that. I think that's really important. and particularly the, sometimes we all need our own permission to scrapbook out of order, however, that looks for you. That you don't have to start with January. I know when I've done Project life type albums, which I'm not, I only, there's only one year that I really did the whole year. I felt intimidated in January. Like that first opening page had to be beautiful. And then, you know, the January cover page. Oh my gosh. Like it has to. like be epic. Um, but then by the time you get to the end of the year, you're just like scribbling all over the page and you want it to be done. Uh, So I think bouncing around can, can help you a little bit, I think, too, kind of take out some of the intimidation factor.

[00:32:14] LeeAnne Jones: Yeah, it's interesting. You mentioned the title pages. Cause that was where I ended because I was just like, I have no idea what I would put on a title page. I just, it completely stumped me. So I just went past it. That's just like, I'll figure this out later. Um, and then I ended up, can't remember where I saw it. Think on social media, I saw someone else's title page, and that kind of gave me the idea. But I just ended up printing a photo of each of us in our family, like my favorite one from that year and made them black and white, because I just felt like I really wanted to feel a bit more creative with the title page, with like some bold prints and things with the, you know, the pockets. And yeah. Like, I, it was like, wow, I don't know why that was so challenging, but I'm glad I didn't start there because it would have just kept me stalling longer, you

[00:33:02] Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes. I think it's okay to like skip past the thing. Maybe feeling stuck on and just go back to it, that's a great tip too. Well, LeeAnne this has been so fun. Thank you for joining me. Can you share where we can find you online? Anything that you might have new or coming up towards the end of this year?

[00:33:23] LeeAnne Jones: Yeah. So the best place to find me is Instagram. Um, about a year ago I created a separate profile just for all scrapbooking all the time. So, it's Scrappie Annie and that's, an IE on the end of both words. Yeah, in terms of what's coming up. I mean, I would love to film a really nice album flip through for YouTube of this one that I finished and then future albums. So I'm currently in that like research phase. I need to get some equipment to like, hold up my phone and stuff like that. And, you know, learn iMovie. No big deal. But whenever that does happen, I'll be sure to share that on Instagram too. So Instagram is where it's

[00:34:03] Jennifer Wilson: Sounds awesome. Again, thanks so much for spending time with me

[00:34:07] LeeAnne Jones: Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. This has been fun.

[00:34:09] Jennifer Wilson: And to all of our listeners. Please remember that you have permission to Scrapbook Your Way.