SYW209 – Organization Your Way

[00:00:00] Jennifer: 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 209. In this episode I'm joined by two members of my team, Peggy Collins and Amy Zwart, to share our initial thoughts on 2023 and offer a preview of the Organization journey at Simple Scrapper.

[00:01:04] Jennifer: Hey Amy, and hey Peggy. I'm excited to chat with you on this week's episode. How are you doing, Amy? I'll have you go first.

[00:01:12] Amy: Hi, Jennifer. Hi Peggy. Um, good to be back, um, doing well and ready to dig right in.

[00:01:22] Jennifer: Is there anything that's new personally with you right now?

[00:01:25] Jennifer: I know you're always seeming to be in hockey season.

[00:01:28] Amy: Yes, Exactly. My son just finished a hockey game last night, of course. Um, and then I think kind of some fun things are I made a 23 in 2023 list for the year. So that is forcing me to kind of take action on some of those things. So I have a trip with my daughter coming up to Chicago, so that was one of my, my goals for the year was to figure out a little mom and daughter trip. So we are excited about that.

[00:01:57] Jennifer: Yeah. that sounds really cool.

[00:01:59] Jennifer: All right, Peggy, so what is going on with you right now?

[00:02:03] Peggy: Yeah, things are good. I am, uh, about a little over halfway, we are having our first snowbirding adventure. We've come down to South Texas. I have a view of the Gulf of Mexico out my, uh, sliding glass door right now, which is really fun. Very different than at home in Colorado, so it's going really nicely. It was cold here last week, not as cold as at home, but it was pretty cold. But we didn't get any precipitation or anything. So we will be out, uh, Doug's out walking right now and we'll get out for a walk later today. So it's super nice to be able to be outdoors so much at this time of year. So.

[00:02:41] Jennifer: Yes, for sure. Now, do I have it right that you're kind of experimenting with different locations for your snowbirding?

[00:02:47] Peggy: Yes. I think we'll, we'll play with this and figure out different places that we're gonna go. We're, we're also planning to go to the Bay Area in the spring this year. There's an art exhibit that we wanna go to in San Francisco, so we're gonna try a little, little break there and a little break in the mountains so that Doug can ski when we get back home. So yeah, we're, we're trying all sorts of things. He's calling it dabbling and boy, are we dabbling.

[00:03:14] Jennifer: Sometimes that's like the a hundred percent right call is to, to dabble and then, you know, maybe eventually you'll make a decision. Or maybe the decision is that we like to dabble.

[00:03:24] Peggy: Well, he is very much a creature of habit, so I'm very proud of him that he's like, let's just try things. I'm like, absolutely. Let's just try things. So it's it's going really good.

[00:03:35] Jennifer: Now, do you mind sharing what's the art exhibit that you wanna go see?

[00:03:38] Peggy: There is an exhibit of John Singer Sergeant work, and it was at the National Gallery this winter, and we couldn't, we were, he was still working and, you know, 9 million reasons why we couldn't break away to go out. So it's moving to the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. So we're, this spring, so we're gonna go try and catch that.

[00:04:00] Jennifer: Oh, that'd be awesome. So fun.

[00:04:03] Peggy: I love San Francisco, so it'll be fun.

[00:04:06] Jennifer: Yes, it's such a great place to visit. I can't say I would ever wanna live there, but I love visiting.

[00:04:10] Peggy: Yeah. Way too much traffic for me, but yeah, I, I'm excited to go visit again.

[00:04:16] Jennifer: Well, and even with, you know, Amy's visiting Chicago. It's another place where I love to visit but I've lived here in central Illinois so long that I can't really handle like the big city.

[00:04:27] Peggy: Yes.

[00:04:27] Jennifer: So. All right. So let's dive into some scrapbooking. What's exciting you right now in your hobby? Peggy, do you wanna continue on that?

[00:04:37] Peggy: Sure. So it looks like I might actually be able to reach that elusive, caught up on my travel scrapbooking this year. It'll be temporary, uh, because we'll take a big trip to, we're supposed to go to, uh, Switzerland in the late summer, so it won't last. But it does look like maybe I might get there for, you know, a couple months, be able to say I'm all caught up.

[00:05:00] Peggy: So that would be very exciting because I have been years and years and years behind for pretty much my entire scrapbooking career. So, kind of a combination of using some different strategies from really focusing on it last year. Actually the last two or three years, but last year, you know, when I decided to count time, I decided kind of to have a certain, um, buffet of projects in flight, but that one of them would always be a travel project.

[00:05:32] Peggy: And so I've knocked out six, I think last year, um, and am on target to knock one out this journey. I've got a couple smaller ones that I can knock out next journey. So pretty excited to kind of see a finish line that I might be able to cross. Um, it's so much easier to do this stuff in more, more real time?

[00:05:54] Peggy: Not, not necessarily. I, I've been better about journaling in real time also. But to be able to do a trip that was last year versus five years ago, it's so much easier. So,so, would really to, uh, get there and then try to, you know, at some level stay caught up on things like that. I try not to worry about being caught up because I think that can be kind of a, um, sticky thing that we get ourselves in.

[00:06:21] Peggy: And then it starts to be a negative thing. But in this case, it would feel really great to kind of have some things knocked out. So two more big, if I finish this one I'm working on here. Then two more big National Park trips. Uh, to Utah that I gotta figure out how I'm gonna do those. But that's really what's, and then my trip last year.

[00:06:40] Peggy: But I'm gonna do that, something down and dirty and easy. Maybe, I had done a trip last year where I did Project Life um, style, or actually I did it in Project app. Project Life app. And then I did some like hybrid by adding some embellishments, you know, some physical embellishments after I got it back printed. And I'm kind of leaning towards that for my trip last year, uh, to Idaho. But the National Park trips, the photos are, are really the star. So I want to do something a little bit different. So it might be quick trip travel, might be something else. I'm not sure yet, but, so that's exciting.

[00:07:22] Jennifer: Yeah, a hundred percent. I'm curious, were there any trips you kind of let go of as, I don't really need to do a project on this?

[00:07:30] Peggy: Um, well, so last year my, that trip that I did with Project Life was our trip to, uh, St. Petersburg in Florida for a week. And we just didn't do a lot, honestly. We hung out in the condo. The weather wasn't great. So we did a lot of sitting on the couch reading, watching videos. We, we just a super relaxing trip. And so that one I just was like, I can do this in two pages and a little bit of a fold out and call it good. Um, in terms of actual, I'm sure there's some trips of way back. Like, I have a trip to Glacier National Park that has, I think two pages done. It's not at all a complete representation of that trip.

[00:08:14] Peggy: Um, so I have some stuff back in the 2000s when I was kind of in my lull of scrapbooking that I probably won't go back and do. But this, this would catch up everything that Doug and I have done together. Um, and everything that's you know, kind of significant trips. All my Europe stuff is caught up, so the stuff that I'm the most worried about are, are done.

[00:08:37] Jennifer: Yes, yes, yes. What a, what a huge milestone. So that's super exciting. Amy, what about you?

[00:08:43] Amy: Well, I'm maybe the opposite of being caught up, Peggy. But that's ok. That's, ok.

[00:08:50] Peggy: It's not a metric. Don't use it as a metric.

[00:08:53] Amy: Yeah exactly.

[00:08:53] Peggy: It's not a good one.

[00:08:56] Amy: Too funny. Um, so my, my new thing that I'm excited about is I, because of the community, I, um, became aware of and joined in on Liz Lamoreux’s February five things. And so this is a journaling project for the month of February and journaling is even kind of a heavy word cuz it's listing, it's five things a day based on a prompt.

[00:09:21] Amy: And the reason I kind of got excited about it is one of the things I was trying to do in my Project Life this year is kinda the, the stories that don't have photos or don't have like extra, extra things to go with. That I feel like I'm kind of missing. And so I thought this was a good way to kind of help help me back into, you can just write things down sometimes and it doesn't have to be specific to that day or you know, to that situation and you know, the things that can come out of that.

[00:09:56] Amy: So it's been pretty fun so far and I'm to keep up because it's just literally a Project Life card that I'm writing on. Giving myself time to think about differnt things.

[00:10:06] Jennifer: Yeah, sometimes we need like extraordinarily doable goals in order to build momentum. Because you know, big projects can seem intimidating cuz it requires lots of thinking and decision making and lots of lists. But you can sit there and respond to something very easily and I think that just often is, is what is needed to go from maybe not feeling super excited to feeling even more excited on the other side.

[00:10:33] Amy: Right, right.

[00:10:34] Peggy: Amy what are you gonna do with them? Are you gonna put 'em in a big block or are you gonna spread 'em through Project Life this year? Or what are you thinking?

[00:10:41] Amy: I think it's gonna be a big block, like use one of the page protectors that just holds the, you know, the two by three cards or three by four cards, sorry. And, uh, you know, keep them all together and kind of dating 'em, you know, to keep 'em in order if that even matters in the end. Um, and just using like a, a matching, you know, kit of cards for it that I just had in my stash.

[00:11:04] Amy: So, um, so yeah, nothing too extreme, which also, back to Jennifer's point, makes it very doable. And an, an interesting kind of side note on even this, this project coming up is that we had recently in the community had a discussion about how do you decide, like, what's your criteria for saying, yes, I really do wanna do that class, and you know, what, what are the reality checkpoints you should put on it?

[00:11:30] Amy: And so this one was a very like, oh, that sounds interesting and unique. I've never done anything like it. I've heard of other ones that then when I've looked into, you know, how they do listing have been little more, I'll call a little more introspective or a little deeper than maybe what I was looking for right now. And so, not that the Liz one isn't deep or can't be, but it also felt very, you know, easy level to me.

[00:11:57] Amy: So I liked that and I really felt like that was again, something I could complete and enjoy the results of. So kinda putting it through that criteria was a, was a good little test for me.

[00:12:10] Peggy: I loved that conversation for one thing. Yeah, I thought that was so smart to kind of have a list of questions that you ask yourself in that moment. Because I think it can be very easy to just succumb to the FOMO in the heat of the moment and I have absolutely done that. And to have some sort of list that says, wait a minute, just run down this list of five questions and, and does this offer some clarity?

[00:12:37] Peggy: And I think that was really valuable. The other thing, I just love Liz's, um, ability to give you permission. Like she's, she's, she's one of our people, right? She, she absolutely, um, recognizes that people come at things in a different space or a different energy and absolutely does such a nice job of making space for that. So I really love her work.

[00:13:02] Amy: Yeah, and I wasn't, um, very familiar with her other than through maybe some of the kind of tie-ins she's done with Ali Edwards on One Little Word. And I don't even do that project, so I'm sure there's more tie-ins on that. But yeah, I've heard good things about her in the community as well.

[00:13:17] Amy: So I think that was again new to me and kind of a easy level access to try something new.

[00:13:25] Peggy: Very fun.

[00:13:26] Jennifer: Yes, yes. It just makes me think about how you mentioned that word, permission. And sometimes I feel like we're, we give a lot of permission to not do things. To put things aside, to, to recognize that we are only human with limited time and resources and energy. And so that means we have to make choices even though we don't necessarily want to, ideally. Sure, we'd love to be able to do all the things, but it's just not realistic. So we have to, to incorporate that, the lens of permission of it's okay to let go and to not scrapbook every photo and to not do every project that looks, you know, it might even, it still might be amazingly fun and perfect for you. But if you're not going to be able to follow through, then it's only gonna lead to more guilt later. So.

[00:14:16] Amy: Yeah.

[00:14:16] Peggy: Right. And that's kind of what I liked about the questions though, because I think it also gave you permission to say yes. Like just like exactly what Amy discovered, right? That it also you to identify the times when you should let yourself say, oh yeah, that, that totally makes sense, and let's do that.

[00:14:35] Peggy: So I think it's harder to say no. I think in our, in general right. It's harder to say no. So it, that's absolutely valuable. But I think there's also times that it's, it's valuable to give yourself permission to say yes. So

[00:14:52] Jennifer: Yeah.

[00:14:52] Peggy: Fun.

[00:14:54] Jennifer: My one thing is actually kind of small, but I had had this experience where I was trying to do some clear embossing, um, on an embellishment. Cuz it was a little rough textured and I wanted it to be smooth. And I discovered that my VersaMark ink pad had molded and that my clear and bossing powder had yellowed. So clearly these were both way too old and I had some members recommend, um, Brutus Monroe products. And so I have some, uh, embossing ink pads coming in, a couple different colors as well as this particular shade called icicle, a clear embossing powder. And so I'm excited to play with those. I am anxiously awaiting my Scrapbook dot com order right now.

[00:15:37] Jennifer: It just says like, traveling through the network. So we'll see when it arrives. But you know, I I, I've seen this happen throughout my life. At some point you're in a place of re replacements. It's not just about I need new things. It's okay. I need to actually replace these old things that are no longer serving me for one reason or the other. Um, and I think that's a, I don't know, it's kind of a healthy way to shop, I guess.

[00:16:06] Peggy: Yeah.

[00:16:07] Jennifer: It just makes you feel good that like, okay, I'm taking care of my stash of scrapbook supplies or, or whatever it is.

[00:16:15] Peggy: Also a good reminder that this stuff doesn't last forever. Which I always think it's going to. It's gonna last forever, right. I, I'll get around to using it. It'll last forever. No, that actually doesn't work. Peggy.

[00:16:29] Jennifer: Yeah. I mean, I still have things from when I was like from the mid eighties when I was a kid, and some of those things do still work, but you know, a lot of them kind of disintegrate when you try to use them.

[00:16:39] Peggy: Yes. I'm always stunned by Stampin' Up ink pads. Man, those things just go on and on.

[00:16:46] Amy: Yes. Yes.

[00:16:48] Peggy: I occasionally have to re ink. But not very often really considering how, well, I haven't bought a new stamp, uh, ink pad from Stampin' Up in probably at least five years, and they're all still going strong. Like even the little tiny ones that they very first like, but they still just chug along. It's amazing.

[00:17:09] Amy: Yeah. I recently went through mine as well because I thought, ah, that, you know, they take a lot of space. I'm not using them as much, and I, I clearly would still keep them and want them, but I wonder how many of these are still good and I think I threw like 3 away.

[00:17:26] Peggy: Right.

[00:17:26] Amy: These Like wow, this is amazing. Yeah mine are from long, long ago.

[00:17:32] Peggy: Good stuff.

[00:17:35] Jennifer: Before we get into our bigger topic for today I wanted briefly touch on bucket list stories and to kind of twist the question up a little bit. So I'm curious, what is one story that you are pleased or proud that you have already told? Amy, do you wanna jump in on that one?

[00:17:54] Amy: Sure I have a I have a win from over the weekend even so.

[00:17:59] Jennifer: Oh, oh nice.

[00:17:59] Peggy: A new one.

[00:18:00] Amy: Yes Yes A new one. And it's it's definitely it's a tie in I I've done the Before Your Story class and I have my project as far as all the pockets and the journaling are completed but not the layouts that are for the even more special things, right. So it's a little bit of irony in that the more important things are things that are not done. Um but one of the people that I love um layouts that I wanted to do was about my aunt. And she you know was a single aunt when I was younger and then eventually got married and they didn't have children. And I've always been like a special kid to her. She's been a special person to me. So it was really fun to go back and look through photos and think about the stories and the times that you know that I wanted to document. And then mixed with that I signed up to do the immersion of the Hello Story class this year. And the first lesson is a timeline lesson. And I all of a sudden put that together that. Hey I have this story that I want to tell in all these photos and it's across you know my whole lifetime. And then you know the the format of the the timeline tied with my aunt and all these stories finally came together. And it was definitely stressful because I just wanted to fit all of on. So I do feel like I lost a little bit of the like design that I was going for in the beginning in the matter of you know try to smush it all together and get it on there. But in the end I am happy with how it turned out and with the stories that were told. You know down from a couple of things that she gave me as a child that then my children have used. And so while I didn't pictures of me sitting at this little desk that was actually my godfather made me and she helped you know design and decide to give me and some other like a little sewing quiet book that she had made for me. Um well I don't have photos of that from my childhood of me playing with those things or sitting in the desk. But then each of my kids have used them so I included some photos of them to help you know show the item and you know kind of the age when I used it. So it was really fun to bring that kind of full circle. Feel good about it. And then the the one photo that I do wanna add yet is I also had a chance to see this aunt and my mom and another aunt recently. And I said Hey I need to get his selfie. So I made them take a picture with me and I'm gonna include that on kind of I ended up doing like a flip out title page for a two page spread. So I'm gonna add just a small little photo on the front of that as well. So.

[00:20:49] Peggy: Oh my gosh, Amy, that's delightful. That's just beautiful.

[00:20:56] Amy: Thank you. Like yeah Um I'm so excited because it definitely had turned into like a story I wanna tell but it's such a big story and it's so important to me. Like I'll never get it right, right. Like all the things that get built up in your mind about how hard it's going to be. Um and then finally having like a format to use to put it together. Um and I should also comment I had gone through as part of the Before Your Story course I had gone through some memorabilia that I had saved from my childhood. And so I found a couple things that were very specific you know to this aunt and thought well I dunno if I'll use that or not. And then they did they did make it on that page. So kind a fun you know little other pieces that were included as well.

[00:21:44] Peggy: Oh gosh, I can't wait to see it.

[00:21:46] Jennifer: Love how that timeline format is so powerful. And like just, um, helps you kind of even visualize so many different stories that maybe you've been, um, wanting to tell but couldn't figure out quite how. And so that gives kind of a grounding point for it. I mean, I thought of a new story just while you were talking, so.

[00:22:07] Amy: That's, that's the other power of you know and we can talk about this more later but in doing like the Hello Story class together. The power of the stories that it like stirs in you or you know brings up all the things that bubble up as other people are doing It has been really fun so far too. Just you February is the second lesson so it's not like they've been you know 10 lessons already either and it's been been fun to have that come up.

[00:22:39] Jennifer: Yes, yes, yes. Peggy, what about you? What's, what story are you pleased to have already told?

[00:22:44] Peggy: Yeah, I think I, I know you've mentioned this layout on, on the podcast, I don't think you and I have talked about it. But I made a layout. So most of my bucket list stories are, many of them are around my parents. Um, and one of them was a layout that I made, uh, that talked about my mom had a, an extended, like a month long stay in ICU before her death of, after surgery.

[00:23:08] Peggy: And she was very, very ill. And for months after her death, that was the only picture I had in my head was her when she was sick. And it was awful, that's not what I wanted to remember. And so there was a party at Christmastime, she died in May, and there was a party at Christmastime. And on my way to that party, I. in my mind's eye, could see her in laughing. And so, oh, I'm gonna get upset. Thought I could this without upset. Um, so anyway, I made a layout about that moment because it was just so striking. It was like, oh, thank God, I'm like, not gonna be the only picture I have in my ma mind of my mother for the rest, the rest of my life.

[00:23:55] Peggy: So it has a great picture on it, um, of her her best friend who was the hostess of the party I was going to. Um, I just love it that, I love that I remember it so vividly. And, and also that as somebody who reads it later, just my nieces in particular, you know, grief is hard and it's ever changing. Like, and often when you don't expect it to change. You're like, oh, when this is, when it's gonna change like, like I'm driving and now like, okay, this is weird. So anyway, I really love that layout for lots of reasons. I love the papers I used on it and, and the story it tells and, and the moment and all of those good things. So.

[00:24:47] Jennifer: Yeah, it's a page.

[00:24:48] Peggy: Significant one.

[00:24:51] Jennifer: Well, and I think it shows that we have the power to, to shape our stories and our memories. Um, and yes, it may be one of the most difficult memories that you have, but you can choose like what kind of structure that you wanna put around remembering it and, you know, you're choosing to focus on this particular moment. And I'm sure there it connects to other moments that happened before of her at this Christmas party.

[00:25:20] Peggy: Oh yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

[00:25:22] Jennifer: Yeah. Yeah, we will definitely include, um, that layout in the show notes for this episode so that folks can see it if you're willing to share publicly. So.

[00:25:30] Peggy: Oh, yeah. It's out there.

[00:25:33] Amy: I think another thing I, I like about that like that it definitely does sound like a beautiful story Peggy. And I, I agree about the the grief is ever changing you know in the moments. But I also know that when you scrapbook a story that the layout itself, like even if you don't go look through your layouts frequently. But the layout itself can bring you back to like where you were kind of in your headspace or even physically like when you created it. Or you know can have more feelings behind the page. So I I kind of like a a story like that is documented but then it's also another way that when you come across that that layout either in your albums or just in your mind that you can revisit that happy feeling that you had again too.

[00:26:23] Peggy: Mm-hmm

[00:26:24] Amy: You know I'm realizing it's it's not all a negative grief memory that you have that you can have positive memories. It's a it's a sign of the moving forward side of things that happens too but.

[00:26:37] Peggy: Yeah. And I think one of the things that scrapbooking gives me is, you know, I, when you're in the thick of something like that, you think you will never forget a single moment of that whole, like that whole month. I thought, oh, I'm gonna remember every speck of that painful, awful thing. And you don't like, amazing. Thank God that your body, mind fixes that for you so that you don't remember all those. So, I remember, you know, big things. I don't, I haven't forgotten everything about it, but, um.

[00:27:07] Amy: Right

[00:27:08] Peggy: I think I would've continued to remember that story about that moment. But I don't know that I would, maybe it would've slipped away.

[00:27:15] Peggy: And I do wanna remember it. And I do wanna remind myself that grief is ever changing. Grief isn't always, know that there are moments of, of solace in inside of there. And so, and 15 years later, I still am so happy to have that written down. So, it's not, it hasn't been 15 years since I made the layout, but it's been 15 years since that moment. And you're like, wow, that's.

[00:27:42] Jennifer: Sure.

[00:27:43] Peggy: It's a long time ago at this point, but.

[00:27:46] Jennifer: My story is perhaps less bucket listy. Um, but in my very earliest days of transitioning from digital to paper, I made two really small mini books. One about college and one about grad school. And having those, they're very like big picture broad strokes. Um, has given me that permission to just pick and choose additional stories that feel interesting to tell rather than like, feeling like I, I haven't captured that.

[00:28:21] Jennifer: And so, you know, they're, you know, they're very, I guess, quote unquote, primitive. I don't know. They're, they're very basic because I didn't have a lot of skills back then, but I am, it doesn't matter cuz I am so glad that I have them. You know, that I wrote in them and I told stories about that time in my life and I've told, I've made additional layouts, um, that go on my regular albums with about really specific stories.

[00:28:47] Jennifer: But I'm just, I'm so glad I have these and I still, I wanna go and do one for high school. Um, which seems like, so almost so much of a bigger story for some reason that time feels so much, like the four years of high school feels so much longer than the four years of college.

[00:29:04] Peggy: Oh, interesting.

[00:29:04] Jennifer: Don't know if that's a universal thing, um, and maybe it's just because I have so much more like, tangible memorabilia. I have this giant folder of all these things from high school. Um, you know, like souvenirs from things we did and, you know, little notes I wrote in class and notes I got from boys or friends. And so, so many things like that. And so I think wanna leverage this, uh, pride that I have for having done these mini albums for college and, and grad school to then, okay, what's the best approach for tackling high school?

[00:29:46] Jennifer: Um, and I think it might be just, you know, let's do, uh, an introductory story and then put all that memorabilia in there. Like that tells so much of the story in itself.

[00:29:58] Peggy: Right you don't necessarily have to do a lot with it. It's just having it in a consumable way.

[00:30:04] Jennifer: Yes. Rather than in this folder that's apart.

[00:30:06] Peggy: Giant folder. Yeah. that spills everywhere and Yeah.

[00:30:10] Jennifer: And it's like it's ripped. It's, and the folder itself really needs to go on the album cuz it has all, it has my name on it that I hand, you know, I hand lettered and has stickers like, it is like very much definitive of.

[00:30:25] Amy: Part the memorabilia.

[00:30:28] Jennifer: A hundred percent.

[00:30:30] Jennifer: Um, so yeah, I think, yeah, this, I, I've gone on a little mental journey here myself, just listening to your storytelling ideas. And, and how you've done it. And so now I'm kind of excited to add that to a list of, of when I get these other things done. So

[00:30:47] Peggy: Never ending list.

[00:30:48] Amy: Can add too like I. I like this idea and I wanted to just comment that in the community we had a member, Debbie, share that she had like a similar timeline in her life of you know some pages she had made. And you know so glad when she looks back at 'em you know they make her so happy. But she had done them digitally and then never had a book printed because of course the project wasn't, quote unquote, done. She still some pages she wanted to add to it and some you know more stories to tell. And just you know in the last quarter I would say she decided It was dumb. There's nothing wrong with an incomplete album being printed and having those stories and memories captured and you know making her happy. And so it was a big turning point for her to say Hey I'm gonna go ahead and get that book printed and have it to enjoy it and move on. Cuz she you know realized she probably wasn't going to go back and do that at this point. So I just love Jennifer that you're recognizing that you know they were small projects that you did complete and have and want to do more of. And it's also just recognizing you know give yourself credit for what you have done. Is part of the what can make you proud too. Like Hey I have this and and like you said earlier too you can't always like go back and get the exact journaling from you know like for you from high school. It might not feel the same to journal it now but you still have memories and things that you can journal. So why not now. Like It's it's a great topic for revisiting you know the past and things that you know maybe you wouldn't do the same now or would have different ways of telling it now but having it in one way or another is always beneficial.

[00:32:41] Jennifer: Well and I think, looking back, there's so much, uh, more depth to the stories that we can add that we wouldn't have had in the, in that moment.

[00:32:50] Peggy: Right.

[00:32:51] Jennifer: This year will be like 25 years since I graduated from high school, which like, that's a night, that's an interesting milestone to reach. You know, the things that I would've written 25 years ago are like a million percent different than the things that I would look back on now. The things that I like, regret doing and the things that I, I, you know, don't regret. So.

[00:33:11] Amy: Right.

[00:33:12] Peggy: And I think that's something you sort of leave yourself open to doing when you do these incremental steps, right? Like there's part of the story is in that, right in this moment, I remember these things. I think these things about those memories, and this is the context today. And maybe the next time you loop back and you're ready to do some other piece or some other perspective you bring a different, twist to it. Like I, I've talked about the violin recital I had to give as a, a senior in college. In a very, I found it the other day, I was like, oh, well this is a very facts. Right in, in the Ali facts and feelings. But there's not really very much in the way of feelings. And there were, there were some feelings. Like, I I scrapbook those, but there, there were some feelings about that whole thing.

[00:34:07] Peggy: And so like that's, there's a whole nother, there's feelings about like, what I remember feeling in that moment. And then there's also, as I look back, like that's, that's one when I think back that's a, was a very major accomplishment. Um, and why, how did I pull that off? And what, you know. So from that perspective, I think you can get a different perspective in different seasons. I think sometimes we are all, uh, we can be mechanical about I need to get this thing scrapbooked. And like somehow in our head, there's a one way to do that. And there's, but that's not true, right? There's, there's different, and that's where you really start to get some depth into your projects and into your scrapbooks that I think, bring meaning for you, bring meaning for your viewers. Just really add a lot of texture and depth to what you're doing.

[00:34:59] Jennifer: Yes, yes, yes. very well said. And now, as we get to our official topic for the conversation after we've recorded almost a full episode here. Uh so I, I, I wanted to have you on together because you are the, the most kind of member facing, people that are on our team. You know, we have other team members, but most of them work kind of in the background. And I, I wanted to kind of, I don't know, just touch base on getting underway for this year. Um, we, we talked a lot at the end of last year about what our plans were, but how, like, let's ground truth that and see what's really happening and how things are evolving inside the community. So I, I'm curious, what kind of conversations are you hearing, um, from members about focusing their efforts for the year?

[00:35:56] Jennifer: Like, what are, what are they talking about and where are they focused? We've talked a lot about our, the ways that we've, we've been doing that ourselves, but what are you hearing from the members?

[00:36:04] Amy: I would say that and it's definitely tied with our journey of Habits but trying to find consistent time for memory keeping or photo management. And so trying to find a way to you know do it daily if that's what you're looking for or to have a set time. So there's there's been lots of conversations around how to do that. You know what does what does daily memory keeping look like to you. Um, what counts, what counts when you watch a video? Does that count towards your memory keeping? And you know and I know Peggy has a background in this with her time tracking for her hobby as well. Um, but just the conversations because you get to decide. You know if if you're watching a Story kit video from Ali Edwards and then You take that and it generates ideas you know that absolutely has helped you move forward. And so that's content that you've you've chosen to consume for a reason. Um you know what what inspires you what gets you going? And I think back to the the daily photo management side is also a I need my photos in order to be able to scrapbook. So I need to put the time in to have them available and ready for me. You know, when I want and I need to be able to find things back. So lots of conversations around all those things. And it's it's just been really fun and engaging to hear that. And you know there's it's part of the new year it's part of the Habits journey you know the timing is just perfect for these conversations.

[00:37:47] Jennifer: Well, and I love how they're very granular. We're not just talking about, you know, broadly finding time for scrapbooking. It's okay, what is it that you wanna do? You wanna do it daily, weekly, multiple times a week. You know, there's certain things you wanna do monthly. OKay now what are the ways that you might be able to achieve that and which ones might work for you? And we experiment and we report back, and then we, you know, make tweaks and keep going. It's, it's an evolution, but, you know, the more specific that we can get, the more kind of real, um, solutions, change, more improved outcomes. If we're going to talk in corporate, speak about it. You know, we all just want, like, everyone really across the board wants to, to be more consistent in their scrapbooking. And I love that we're getting really clear and specific about what that means uniquely to each of us. Peggy, what are you noticing from those conversations?

[00:38:50] Peggy: Yeah, I, I noticed this is often the case at the beginning of the year. You know, people start to make decisions around whether, what kind of everyday life projects that they're going to complete, whether that be Project, Life or whatever, different things that they're considering for that kind of what many people consider to be their annual, uh, albums.

[00:39:13] Peggy: And it was interesting this year I did feel like there was more of a pushback, more than usual, of people feeling like, they might abandon it. They might take a break from it. They might do it substantially differently because it keeps them from doing anything else. Like if you you are tied to that and it takes a ton of your time or you don't have very much time, and that's one of the things that you do, you can find yourself that that's the only thing you get to do.

[00:39:44] Peggy: And some of these bigger stories, some of these look back stories. Uh, get neglected because you just, there's only so much time in the day. So it was interesting to me to kind of, it happens every year. Um, but it did feel a little bit this year, like there was more, Hey, maybe I shouldn't do this. Maybe I really should think about doing something differently.

[00:40:05] Peggy: So, that was interesting. I think some people have decided not to do exactly the same thing this year or anything at all in that vein. Other people were like, no, I'm gonna keep doing it. Um, the other thing that was interesting was many people kind of had the realization that they get to the first of the year, they're behind on the previous year in whatever, be, air quotes for behind. But for whatever, you know, they didn't go in January 1st and they knocked out the week before in December, and they're ready to rock and roll on January 1st.

[00:40:39] Peggy: And so a lot of them of naturally I think, uh, feel like, oh, I should get started on this year because. I don't wanna get behind.

[00:40:48] Amy: Right

[00:40:49] Peggy: And then they, they've abandoned whatever portion of the previous year that they were behind, right? So if they were in September of 2022, they start 23. And now they've got, and they've got year after year after year, where some point they've pretty much stopped and started the next year.

[00:41:09] Peggy: So that was interesting. Kind of interesting to see what people wanted did or did not wanna do about that. But um, a lot of chit chat around those everyday life projects.

[00:41:21] Amy: Can I say I feel seen? Like this yeah, that is my story of Project Life and how it works for me. And you know add in a December Daily into that mix and it's like whoa what just happened. So yes those conversations are they're so great just to A, know that you're not alone in you know how it works and how it goes. And, and B, just trying to find new solutions or trying to figure out the core problem, if you will. You know is it that you didn't schedule time to do that. Or is it that last quarter of the year is just extra hard with you know holidays and school and other things. Or you know what, what are the solutions that as a group you can brainstorm together and come out with some options to try in the new year.

[00:42:09] Jennifer: Yes. Yes. And what's like, what's the ultimate goal here? I think I know for me that weekly slash monthly projects help me kind of keep up with my photo library, and that's one of my major incentives for working on them. But that is the ultimate goal is that I just don't wanna have a bunch of junk, which is often like, you know, screenshots and Instagram posts and all these things in my photo library. I just wanna have the photos I wanna keep. And so having having some sort of, you know, weekly routine in doing that, really helps me. And, you know, the choice of project is often based on, you know, my just creative desires at the moment, which includes sometimes not doing it. But, um, yeah, I think talking about your underlying motivation is also really important.

[00:42:53] Peggy: That's interesting. It's kind of like the project is acting as your accountability.

[00:42:59] Amy: Right.

[00:42:59] Jennifer: Hundred percent.

[00:43:00] Peggy: Yeah. It's when the housekeeper comes, I have to pick up the house. Right. So not, it's like I have to do the photos cuz I have to. Right. Yeah. It's interesting.

[00:43:12] Jennifer: Well, and I think, yeah, we've talked a lot about like stacking habits and you know, that's of all the things that we learned say from, you know, reading Atomic Habits and talking about habits over the years. To me that's personally been one of the most powerful of, okay, what can I pair together something that I'm already doing, and what can I do before, after, with that in order to then make something else happen?

[00:43:37] Jennifer: Um, and, for me, that's been extraordinarily powerful. And so for me it's like, okay, by 9:00 AM Monday morning, I always have this meeting. And so I need to have my photos done by then because then that's kind of the official like start to the new week.

[00:43:51] Jennifer: So, kind of switching gears here. In December Mighty Networks, our platform, released a major navigation redesign and, you know, we've done a lot of discussion behind the scenes and making sure things were organized well. And we still have some, you know, little projects here and there going forward. But I'm curious if there's been any, you know, additional ease that you've noticed yourselves or with the members in being able to, to move around the community.

[00:44:21] Peggy: Yeah. I thought our new retreat house worked great during Refresh. It made it so much for whatever reason, Refresh, the activities and the content, the way we were doing it, it just was just one level too low or something. And I always sort of was like, wait, where am I supposed to be? I gotta be, yeah. And, and I do this all the time, every month I'm like, or every Refresh, I'm like, where, where do I go again?

[00:44:46] Peggy: So to have it isolated out into that retreat house, there's a link to it in the left navigation, boom, boom I was in. And, uh, participating with just, just a couple clicks. And I really think that's gonna serve us well for all of our, journey events, each month.

[00:45:04] Jennifer: I agree. Cuz it makes it feel like you're, it's a place you're growing. And then, you know, we have these virtual locations every time as well. This one was in, it was a, a ranch in Montana, like a very luxurious ranch.

[00:45:17] Peggy: Looked divine. Can we please go there?

[00:45:20] Jennifer: So it just, yeah, I know. It makes me think, do we need to set virtual locations for Finishing day? Are we really this at home? Are we going somewhere together?

[00:45:27] Peggy: That's fun.

[00:45:28] Jennifer: Um, but I, yeah, I do think, I agree that that retreat house has been a, a big shift. Amy, did you notice anything?

[00:45:36] Amy: Yeah, definitely. And I, I think the retreat house is a great example of it too, is just that that left side navigation bar helps you not get lost now, right? Like it's, always there, you know how to come back to it. Um, so in a similar example would be the check-ins are now all in one place. So when you're looking for that accountability or that's part of your habit that you're, you're coming out to answer your Celebrate Monday or your, you know, Your Way Wednesday question or your Friday Refresh for the weekend, you know, you know where to go for them and you know, you can, you not get lost finding them.

[00:46:16] Amy: So I think that's been wonderful. The other thing that I would add is the new use of hashtags has. Like a, an added boost to being able to search something and, you know, pull those things all together. So I think we're still experimenting a little bit with where to put them or, you know, to have some universal hashtags throughout the community so that, you know, there's some consistency with it. But I think, you know where they are. They've, they've been very helpful so far as well.

[00:46:50] Jennifer: Well, and I think from both of the examples you guys shared, is that we've been able to organize things a little bit more functionally and then use the hashtags to, um, separate topics. And, you know, when you're trying to, to give people different experiences and opportunities to, to interact, um, with our content and with each other, sometimes like more functional, uh, layouts can be more helpful than, you know, trying to figure out whether or not Project Life belongs in photos or projects or planning or, or what, you know, like that. So wanna like, move forward on my thing.

[00:47:28] Amy: Right.

[00:47:28] Jennifer: Um,

[00:47:29] Peggy: And be able to find it again.

[00:47:31] Jennifer: Yeah. Yeah, so it's it was a long time coming and I'm just, I'm so glad we're on the other side of it. Um, I know that, you know, many folks over the years just didn't, didn't get along with it for one way or another. And now I think it's, it's just so much easier to know exactly where you are, what content options are available, what, you know, interaction options are available, and to not ever feel like you're like lost and not sure where to click. So I really appreciate that about it.

[00:47:59] Amy: Exactly.

[00:48:00] Jennifer: So, even more kind of behind the scenes, um, what are some of the things that you guys are working on right now? I , you know, podcast listeners will know that, you know, Kim was primarily my, my right hand gal for many years. And having, having two of you , has just made life even easier because we were able to like to collaborate, share different perspectives, and then also delegate a little bit more and, and take on different things in order so that to make sure that everything we're doing for our members is moving forward.

[00:48:33] Jennifer: So, Peggy, what's, what's on your plate right, right now?

[00:48:36] Peggy: Yeah, so we, you mentioned, I think last week on the podcast, but we got together and kind of looked down the road, uh, for a couple next couple three months. And so we're talking about Finishing day next month. We're getting things set up for Stash Bash in uh, March, working on getting a bunch of stuff together, a new set of prompts.

[00:48:57] Peggy: Uh, we kind of sneak peeked those during our November Stash Bash. But we're gonna round those out and, uh, provide a, a new, new list of possible ways to approach that. Um, and then I'm looking at a couple of immersions for the next two journeys. We're gonna, um, I'm gonna facilitate, uh, an indexing immersion in the organization.

[00:49:23] Peggy: So Organization journey, which is March, April, that's going to be, do you have something you need to index? For example, I really need to index my stamps, particularly my Ali Edwards stamps, because when I go to use them, it's an exercise in thumbing through every set of stamps looking through appropriate, uh, sentiments that I might add to my page.

[00:49:46] Peggy: So I know that there's, fortunately, I, I don't have a humongous collection, but it's a big enough collection that's taken a while when I'm doing that. So I'd like to get that done. Some people wanna index inks uh, or uh, their various products, right? Maybe you have a lot of embossing powders, maybe you have a lot of other kind of mixed media stuff.

[00:50:10] Peggy: Um, and it would be helpful to have some sort of index of that so that you could use that index to make your decisions before you're pawing away in your, uh, stash and trying to find the, the various things and pulling a bunch of stuff out. So, I'm gonna host something along those lines.

[00:50:28] Jennifer: I'm super excited about it personally. Because I have like, maybe like, I don't know, a fifth of my ink pads have labels on the side, which helps to like when you're looking at them. Um, I actually need to redo them cuz they're all like, they're grungy, they're like falling off. And so I need a new label solution.

[00:50:45] Jennifer: But then I also bought like dabbers, like, you know, just the little mini ones that go on your finger. Cause I was tired of like washing them and trying to make sure that they weren't gonna contaminate the other inks. And I'm like, screw this, I'm just gonna buy, whole sets one. Yeah, no they're not. And one for each color.

[00:51:02] Jennifer: But I really need to, now I need to create the little chart that shows which color goes where, because some colors are kind of similar. And I just just wanna just finish that project. I bought 'em, I've started using them and now I'm like counting, okay, which one goes here and I wanna use this one. So I have to pick the right one.

[00:51:18] Jennifer: And, um, I need to, to close the loop on that. And I'm really excited for your, for your version with that.

[00:51:25] Peggy: Yeah.

[00:51:27] Amy: Yeah, know others in the community. I was gonna say, others in the community I think will be on board with that as well, just based on conversations. So that's great.

[00:51:39] Peggy: Go ahead Amy.

[00:51:41] Amy: So some of the things I'm working on are the more on the day-to-day side of things with Let's Review posts and Member Profiles, which I have to say both have been super fun for me to even work on . Um, I just, I've always enjoyed the community and just kinda knowing what's, what's going on and being able to share that and make sure that people see some of the, you know, the fun conversations or the, the solutions that people are coming up with. And, you know, getting others to pipe in and, and share on that has been a lot of fun.

[00:52:17] Amy: Um, we also just did accountability groups and kind of a little experiment, so all of us were involved in that. Not just me, but another fun way to kind of see how that, how that went for people and getting a new, new idea out there. Um, and then the other big thing that we just finished up was a Photo Crush Immersion during this journey, or it's just finishing now, I guess.

[00:52:43] Amy: So, um, that's also like just the great resource in the community, you know, not just from each other but the, the Photo Crush course itself. Um, and then we also had member Sue come in and do kind a Q and A and, you know, people got to ask a lot of questions and people got to share a lot of information just about photo management and keeping things moving and technology and backups and all the things.

[00:53:13] Amy: So those have all been fun to be involved in. And then coming up, um, I'll be working on some of the tools and tutorials, library items and trying to build, build up that library, I guess you could say. To make sure that people know what we have and where things are. Kinda overview of Q&A that happens alot.

[00:53:39] Jennifer: Yeah, and I think because you're the one that's often kind of directing people to where can I find this item? Or, you know, I'm, I'm not sure about these, you know, a glossary of acronyms, like things like that that we often get questions about, and you're often very on the front lines of that. I think this is gonna be a really like helpful resource. And then your, I mean yeah, especially with your Let's Review post where you're often linking back to those items as well. Because something was mentioned and we have questions about it, those have just been invaluable for, for our community. And, I, yeah, I've been thinking about maybe we should be even emailing those out to members every week, just because, you know, every single week you get thank yous on the post. For Thank you for putting this together.

[00:54:27] Jennifer: So, um, I think we need to make sure that all the members are seeing that even if they're, they haven't logged in yet this week, so, yeah. Very cool. Um, so as we've been talking about, we have been in the Habits Journey. This continues through February. Um, we've talked a lot about photo management as a habit, and I think this is just such a, like a foundational thing for the beginning of the year.

[00:54:51] Jennifer: We, we wanna have that fresh start. Um, do you have any additional kind of, uh, solutions that are being shared to, to tackling these photo management challenges?

[00:55:04] Peggy: A lot of people are talking about finding a consistent crop time. Which I, of course am about because I have a consistent, I have a Monday night crop that is committed to this and it's served me. So I think I've been doing that for, I think it's been at least 3 years. I think I started it during the pandemic, or just before, and it, it just makes such a difference to have an hour a week.

[00:55:28] Peggy: And I literally, it's not, it's fairly unusual that I linger beyond the hour. It's, it's an hour and I'm out. It's a weeknight. I'm gonna go eat and get, get my evening going. But yeah, it's, it's pretty powerful. So I think I had a big bump in RSVPs and some, and attendance is up a little bit, so I think that is something that, either they're doing it with me. I think Monica has one on the calendar on a early Friday morning. So there's a couple of different crop times that are, you know, designated as photo management. Not that anybody's checking to see if you're doing your homework, but it is something that kind of sets the, the expectation that that's the time that you're gonna do that.

[00:56:11] Peggy: And honestly, a week, an hour a week just makes a humongous difference. It's not, my whole library is not organized, do not be confused. But I have photos ready when I'm ready to scrapbook, and that is really, and I have photos off of my phone and on my computer. And those two things are just hugely helpful in keeping your momentum going on all of the other things that you're trying to get done.

[00:56:39] Jennifer: You know, that reminds me that, um, member Melissa has been doing this kind of daily look back. So she's just trying to kind of keep up with, you know, deleting any, you know, excess photos every day, but also looking back to that day of previous years and culling the excess from back then. And even, you know, identifying like, oh my gosh, I forgot about that. Maybe this is a story that I wanna tell. But just the, the simplicity of, okay, we're only looking at one single day over past years. And, um, you know, you could do that a week at a time as well. But I think it's, it's helpful for finally feeling like it's not just about the new photos, but how can we go and, and tidy some things up from the past as well.

[00:57:22] Peggy: This task is never ending. It's kind of like you could spend all of your time doing photo management and you could have a pristine, beautiful library and do nothing else. And it's, at least for me, it's not very creative, creatively satisfying. So it can't be that I can't spend hours, cuz that'll be the end of it.

[00:57:45] Peggy: I'll, I just, if I'm facing five hours this week of photo management, I can tell you I'm not spending, I'm spending time on my hobby this week. Right. That's not happening. But but if you tell me I have to spend an hour, I'm like, all right. I suppose I can probably manage that. Yeah, I think it's it's, just one of those, it's like organization, right? People I think a lot of times feel like can't start until it's organized. And, and if you do that, it's, it. You could spend a year, I mean, depending on how big your, your supply stash is, you could, and it's also never ending. You're gonna take something else in. You're gonna use something up. It's just one of those things. And so those sorts of tasks have to be something that you figure out how you're gonna do part of it on a consistent basis, I think, versus trying to think that you can make it a big project and get it do done, quote unquote done. There's no done. There's no done on photos, there's no done organizing.

[00:58:45] Amy: Right.

[00:58:46] Jennifer: I think that's a really important distinction. Like what's, what needs to be a habit or a routine, which, you know, can be, is, is less habitual. And our, the podcast episode that came out, uh, prior to this at the, actually the beginning of February when we're recording this, is all about routines and how they're different from, from habits.

[00:59:05] Jennifer: This is the one with Ashley Brown. So I think that will be really helpful for that conversation as well. And distinguishing that from, okay, this is actually a project and needs to be a project. And those are very different kind of behaviors that we need to set up around those.

[00:59:19] Peggy: Yeah. Dana K. White talks about this all the time for her house, right? The dishes are not a project. You cannot projectify your dishes. You just have to do them. You can't projectify your your photos, right? You just have to do it on some regular interval so that you're not in a hole that keeps you from doing what you need to do.

[00:59:41] Jennifer: Yeah, Well, and I loved how you much you connected this with, with organization because that's the journey we're going into next. And you mentioned how Stash Bash is gonna be a big feature of that. We're really excited to bring back, you know, official Stash Bash events three times a year. And I'm curious, from your past experiences, how do you think Stash Bash helps members?

[01:00:03] Jennifer: Amy, do you have any perspective on that?

[01:00:06] Amy: Yeah I think it's absolutely what Peggy just said about photos is that it gives you permission. To not organize all the time. Right? Like, like when you come across those labels on your stamp pads, Jennifer, and you say, oh, I should stop and do that right now. No, you should not. You should keep stamping your layout and you know, do the creative time and then say, here's a good, you know, mini project I can do at Stash Bash is I'm gonna label all my, my new ink pads or, you know, change out the old ones. So I, I do think it's very similar to what we just talked about with photo management that you can, you can never be done organizing or there's always a different way to try, but you don't know how you're going to use your products if you never get to the using side either. So creating.

[01:00:59] Peggy: Good point.

[01:01:00] Amy: Really shows you. Yeah, the creating is what really shows you, you know, if your setup is working or not. And you know, the farther away from creating you are, then you don't know how you should be organized. So I really like that Stash Bash gives you that permission, you know, to do that. And the second thing about Stash Bash is the energy of the whole group together doing the things right, you know, and no one's organizing the same things. Like, it's not like, oh, today we're doing our, our ink pads or whatever. But just having everyone working on a project together and being able to, you know, push through. The before and after photos are always amazing and fun, so. I love it.

[01:01:46] Jennifer: I have to say before we go on that Amy, I feel a little seen slash called out because I have stopped mid-project to work on labeling my inks.

[01:01:57] Peggy: I think we've all been guilty of that at some point.

[01:02:01] Jennifer: Cause somehow it just seems easier.

[01:02:04] Amy: You just gave that perfect example.

[01:02:10] Peggy: It's a very refined version of procrastination.

[01:02:14] Jennifer: Yes, you have to have a certain level skill to procrastinate that hard, so. So, Peggy, you've been really kind of taking the lead on, updating our challenge list. We, we've had so many Stash Bash challenges over the years. It's been so fun to, um, explore this, this concept and our categories are culling organizing and creating. And so why do you think it's important that we kind of divide them into different sectors?

[01:02:45] Peggy: Yeah. I think there's a couple reasons. Um, one of them is that people have different ways that they want to clear their stash, right? Some people want to cull and destash and get it out of their space. And some people want to use the stuff, right. That's, that's the category I fall into. I don't feel, I, I'm happy to get rid of a thing or two now and again, but I don't wanna have some massive destash of half of my supplies. That's not appealing to me. I, for the most part, I like the stuff in my stash. I think if, if you look at your stash and you go, yeah, I don't like any of that, or boy, I'm not, I, that's not my style anymore. But for the most part, I look at my stash and I'm like, I love that. I, I want to use that.

[01:03:36] Peggy: Um, and so I think we all kind of come at it from a different perspective of how we wanna do it. And sometimes it's that you can't find the dang thing that, you know, that you have that you love and you know, it's in here somewhere and where did I put it? And so depending on which, where you're kind of on that spectrum kind of, we wanna give you a variety of ideas about how you might approach it based on kind of those different strategies. And I also think that you have different energy at different times, right? So maybe this spring, I'm, I'm ready, I'm sick of looking at all this stuff and I'm gonna release some stuff. Or I've got a, an awesome opportunity.

[01:04:20] Peggy: I've got a brand new scrapbooker who's ready to go and they want some stuff. And they need some stuff and I could help them do that or, but next fall, I've got all of my December stuff and I wanna get into my December Daily and I wanna get that all organized so that I can be ready to rock and roll come November 1st.

[01:04:39] Peggy: So I think different times, bring different needs as well as just different personalities and different, and frankly different stashes right? My stash fits where it needs to go. I do not need to do some fundamental demolishment of half of my stash. But if, uh, I was overflowing and I was, you know, Doug was like, uh, the family room is now all your craft room again, which is what it used to be.

[01:05:07] Peggy: Um, so, you know, that would be a different season. Right. And I would need to be more on the culling end of the spectrum. So I just think that there's, it's, there's not one answer if, if there was only, only one answer, right? These things , there's never just one answer. And that's what makes us special is that we do, we recognize that it's not one answer for everybody, and we offer you the opportunity to customize it to what you really need.

[01:05:36] Peggy: And I think assortment of challenges is just one more example of how we try to do that.

[01:05:44] Jennifer: Yes, yes, yes. I, I feel like we need some sort of like question list decision tree quiz, something to help, to help members figure out where they should be focusing their efforts for.

[01:05:55] Peggy: Oh, that's interesting.

[01:05:56] Jennifer: Each, round.

[01:05:57] Peggy: That's a fun idea

[01:05:58] Amy: Yeah, that's.

[01:06:00] Peggy: Jotting that one down.

[01:06:02] Jennifer: So this has been just a delightful conversation. I, I love that was able to, to bring in both of your perspectives, in this episode. But if you had to step back and, and think about the year ahead, what is one particular thing inside the community that you're excited about?

[01:06:16] Jennifer: Amy, I'm gonna tag you.

[01:06:17] Amy: Sure. Um, I can't say all of it? That's, you know, I'm just looking forward to all of it.

[01:06:25] Peggy: It's hard to pick.

[01:06:27] Amy: Um, yeah. Um, you know, we just talked about Stash Bash and I am excited to have Stash Bash back and also have Finishing Days. Now, I did make a scheduling decision and I'm gonna miss the first Finishing Day, but I'm gonna try to make my own in some kinda way as well.

[01:06:45] Amy: Um, but those community events have been from the beginning, some of my favorites and just really feel productive in them. Um, but then when it comes to actually creating, I am very excited about the classes, the immersions to do together. So Hello Story is a full year, um, and I think Terry is also talking about doing Shimelle's Most Magical Scrapbook class.

[01:07:11] Amy: And I have a backlog of Disney things that would be fun to pull out and kinda get going on again, revisit where I'm at. So those things tied with just the regular things, the crops and the journey journals and kinda making a plan and adjusting as needed to go on. I just, I love the community's focus and encouragement, I guess, on that, and being able to be there for others in the same way. So those are things that are making me excited for the year.

[01:07:45] Jennifer: I love how we can bring members together with layers of, you know, accountability, support, encouragement, around classes that they've purchased elsewhere, because we all have a backlog of things we would like to do, but sometimes we just need that little oomph, and it's not currently being taught live. And so how can we, you know, create that groundswell of energy to, to keep moving forward on it together. Peggy, what are you excited about?

[01:08:14] Peggy: Can I say ditto? She took exactly what I wrote down.

[01:08:19] Jennifer: Ah, that's so funny.

[01:08:23] Peggy: Yeah, uh, Stash Bash I think is gonna be awesome this year. I think adding that back in a more substantial way will really help people out. And, uh, Finishing Day, just the way it got tweaked last year and the way we're approaching it with the, a little bit of prep time with Saturday of super productive time.

[01:08:42] Peggy: I just really have enjoyed watching, even though I too have struggled to keep it protected on my calendar. It's been really fun to watch other people get, um, a lot done. And I think I'm gonna try really hard. I, I also have conflict on the first one, but gonna try protect April's. Um, but yeah, I think it's a super valuable, event for people, uh, to be able to have. And having that little bit of prep, um, really seemed to be a secret sauce for folks that really helped 'em get some more done during that event. So, good stuff.

[01:09:18] Jennifer: Yes, yes. And you know, my perspective is a little bit different. While I'm a hundred percent excited about all of those things as well. Um, you know, one of my jobs is to help introduce, you know, our podcast listeners and those who aren't members to, to what we do inside. And so we're working on a lot of different ways to give a taste of the experience to, um, find out what it's really about, not this kind of black box.

[01:09:46] Jennifer: You know, having these conversations is part of that, but you know, there's some more fun things that we have planned for this year and not really ready to announce anything yet. But that's one thing that I'm thinking about is how can we, help everyone kind of understand the power of, you know, personalization and um, you know, all the things we talk about on this podcast in terms of Scrapbooking Your Way, how can you live that?

[01:10:08] Jennifer: And, you know, how can we introduce even more, um, scrapbookers to that so that they can be pr happy and productive scrapbookers as well alongside all of us, so. All right guys. This has been terrific. I appreciate you so much. I know we can find both of you inside of the community and you can also find me on Instagram at Simple Scrapper and I look forward to chatting again soon.

[01:10:35] Peggy: Take care ladies.

[01:10:37] Amy: Yes, this great.

[01:10:38] Jennifer: And to all of our listeners, please remember that you have permission to Scrapbook Your Way.