SYW213 – My Way with Tina Keyner

[00:00:20] 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 213.

In this episode I'm interviewing Tina Keyner for the My Way series. My Way is all about celebrating the unique ways memory keepers get things done. We're excited to have Tina as the April featured artist at Simple Scrapper.

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

[00:00:52] Tina Keyner: Hi, Jen. Thanks for having me.

[00:00:54] Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes I am looking forward to our conversation today, but can you kick things off by sharing a little bit about yourself.

[00:01:02] Tina Keyner: Sure, sure. Um, I am married, I have three daughters, um, recent empty nesters, so for around two years now, it's just been my husband and I and our dogs. I live in, um, Southern California, which is pretty much heaven. Literally, I am in the center of heaven because, 30 to 40 minutes in either direction, like 30 minutes to the north. I am at a lake in the mountains with snow. Um, you know, 40 minutes to the East. I'm in Palm Springs, 35 minutes to the South. I'm at Disneyland and 40 minutes to the West. I'm in LA so I literally say I'm in just, um, the middle of heaven.

[00:01:41] Jennifer Wilson: I love it. I went to grad school at UC Riverside, so I got to like have a little slice.

[00:01:46] Tina Keyner: You know.

[00:01:47] Jennifer Wilson: Of heaven plus being in the extra smoggy area for years.

[00:01:51] Tina Keyner: Yeah, those are, those are the great days, huh? Thank God we have the wind that blows that away every so often.

[00:01:56] Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm. Well, Tina, what is exciting you right now? Um, we're asking our guests this year to share both a scrapbooky thing and a non scrapbooky thing.

[00:02:05] Tina Keyner: Oh, what's exciting me right now, I'm actually excited to see more creators offering digital, um, digital things. Where, you know, I could just download them and print it myself. Because a lot of these creators are so talented and we probably wouldn't see them because they don't have the option to go print, you know, a hundred, you know, pads of paper or what have you themselves.

[00:02:30] Tina Keyner: But to be able to experience their art, um, online and to be able to download it in digit or to print it. I am, I, when I find a new artist that has some sort of digi digital printable I just get excited. So I am, that's probably what I'm most excited about in like the creative world. It's not even a tool or anything, but I'm just so excited to see more artists creating. Because I, I just absolutely love it. Sometimes I feel like we have to use whatever scrapbook items are just out there, because that's, that's what's out there, that's what's in Michael's or in Hobby Lobby or what have you. But now this opens up a whole new world with just, you know, people putting, their art online for us. So I'm probably most excited about that in the, um, scrapbooking world.

[00:03:17] Jennifer Wilson: You know I really relate to that.

[00:03:19] Tina Keyner: In on the other world just everything.

[00:03:21] Jennifer Wilson: Because, you know, and I think we have so many, you know, scrapbooking is not, it's clearly not just a US-centric thing.

[00:03:29] Tina Keyner: Right?

[00:03:29] Jennifer Wilson: We have scrapbookers all over the world who sometimes have a harder time getting their hands on supplies. And so I think, you know, having these digital items just makes it a little bit easier for everyone to get their hands.

[00:03:43] Tina Keyner: A hundred percent.

[00:03:44] Jennifer Wilson: On the latest and greatest really amazing designs.

[00:03:48] Tina Keyner: Yes. And with, with you saying that too, I noticed that some of 'em will have with you saying other people out of the country, some of them will have like an English version and then their, their language version. Which is awesome because not everyone speaks English. I know we're fortunate, but I mean, you know, I, I think that is just, it's just amazing.

[00:04:06] Tina Keyner: So I literally get so excited whenever I see somebody offering like, oh, I opened up a digital store. Oh, I have a download. I'm like, let me go get it. Yeah. And they're like 99 cents. So you can't, you can't say no to 99 cents or what have you. It's just, it's impossible.

[00:04:22] Jennifer Wilson: So what about your non scrapbooking thing? What's going on in real life?

[00:04:25] Tina Keyner: Non-scrapbooking. Actually, I'm, I am excited now that, I'm using air quotations, but Covid is kind of, you know, you know, more under control that we can travel again, because we're big travelers. So we've been, um, I, I took a little trip to Orlando last week. Um, we're heading to DC next week. Um, we're gonna spend a few days in Palm Springs and a couple weeks, so I'm, I'm excited that, uh, we're able to travel again because that's a big part of our lives. So I'm, I'm super excited about that.

[00:05:00] Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I, we are kind of like more in the middle. We're not non travelers, but we're not super avid travelers. But I just glad to be.

[00:05:07] Tina Keyner: Mm-hmm.

[00:05:08] Jennifer Wilson: Able to go somewhere and do something.

[00:05:11] Tina Keyner: Yes. Yes. Anywhere. Something

[00:05:13] Jennifer Wilson: Just, just to have.

[00:05:14] Tina Keyner: Yes.

[00:05:14] Jennifer Wilson: Variety to relax and to just feel.

[00:05:17] Tina Keyner: Yeah,

[00:05:17] Jennifer Wilson: A little more normal again after very, not very.

[00:05:20] Tina Keyner: Exactly.

[00:05:21] Jennifer Wilson: Normal years.

[00:05:22] Tina Keyner: Yeah. Yes. And I mean, we're still really, really careful. Like, I still wear my mask on the plane, I think, just cuz it's flu season and everything, you know, that's just a safe way to go. But, um, you know, I'm, I'm still very careful. I'm not very, you know, just, out there, you know, being reckless. But I, I do, I'm so excited that we get to still to travel again or like you said, just to get out there and like I said, and you know, cuz you were in Riverside. So, I mean, we went to Joshua Tree last weekend to hike. You know, I mean, little things like that, that we can drive to in California for me is just, It's just amazing.

[00:05:55] Tina Keyner: And my two daughters, cause I have three, two of them live up in San Francisco, so we're, we're lucky. We're able to go and, um, get away, go spend weekends up in, um, the Bay too. So I count that as traveling as well.

[00:06:08] Jennifer Wilson: Oh yeah. Yeah. What a delightful place to visit. So, so we also like to ask our guests about their memory keeping bucket list. So this is one story where, you know, you really wanna tell it. It feels really important to you, but for some reason you haven't yet. So what's on your bucket list?

[00:06:26] Tina Keyner: Oh, that's a good one. You know? I am lucky. I'm very fortunate that my mom did a great job of documenting literally everything. She was one of those ones that went on to like ancestry.com and did all that, and she did all the legwork for finding our lineage, our heritage. You know, she went back really far, even had the books bound for us.

[00:06:49] Tina Keyner: I mean, they're just amazing. And then she went a step further and did it with all the family recipes and it's an amazing cookbook. I mean, it's just, it's really good. And so I'm lucky I have all of those stories from, you know, her family from um, you know, all of our celebrations, you know, cooking wise, all those recipes that mean so much.

[00:07:11] Tina Keyner: I think moving forward I would kind of like just to tell you know, my family story and my husband, myself, um, and my kids and pass that down. Cuz I know, my kids get a kick out of reading the cookbook stories and you know, they use the recipe book and as long as I could pass down something as, as great and meaningful as that. I think that would, that would be my bucket list thing. I, I'm not even telling, it's on a whole different level. These books, I mean, they're literally bound and like a real book that you would buy at like Barnes and Noble. So they're, they're insane. Here are my little scrapbooking in, I'm like, oh, I put some stickers on this.

[00:07:52] Tina Keyner: And hers are literally like gorgeous. So I think one day maybe to not do the paper side of the scrapbooking, but to really sit down and use my creative, you know, my artistic ability and, you know, get into, um, Photoshop and Canva, all that, and really design a book that can be passed down, um, and bound like that would be great. That would probably be my bucket list item. My story.

[00:08:17] Jennifer Wilson: I love, I love that line of thinking just because, you know, we are often so caught up in the things that we're having fun with, which we should Cuz you know.

[00:08:28] Tina Keyner: Yes.

[00:08:28] Jennifer Wilson: First and foremost, this is about, uh, the experience that we're giving ourselves in the moment, but then also thinking about, okay, Here's what I've really appreciated having from my parents, grandparents, et cetera, other family members. And then what does that tell me about maybe a project that I should work on for the future generations.

[00:08:50] Tina Keyner: Right? Yes. Yes. And I love that. Um, but I do have fun with my creative side. Like all of my albums are very fun and colorful and creative. But then I also like the fact that, and I have all girls so I could, I could, you know, be the more obnoxious in my creative like colors and flowers and the better. But if maybe I had, you know, one of 'em was maybe more into the neutral colors or something, I probably would you, like to tone it down maybe and just make something a little bit more simple where they don't have to like lift the lever, move the flower, or you know, the sticker's coming off or something. So, um, and that would just probably be more timeless because I look back at some of my scrapbooks I have now, I'm like, oh my goodness, that was that phase.

[00:09:32] Tina Keyner: Or Oh my goodness, yes, I did use this. So maybe something that's a little bit more just timeless and classic to pass down would probably be, um, a goal of mine. It'll be hard, but it'll, it'll be a goal.

[00:09:45] Jennifer Wilson: Sometimes we have to be practical. So.

[00:09:48] Tina Keyner: Yes. And sometimes it's actually easier. You know, I'm like, oh my God. I didn't have to do anything than just you know plop it in a template. Okay. This was easy.

[00:10:00] Jennifer Wilson: So this episode is really all about you. Uh, you're one of our featured artists this year, and I'd like to start by giving our listeners a little teaser, because right now we are talking about organization at Simple Scrapper. So do you have one or two favorite organizing tips or solutions?

[00:10:17] Tina Keyner: You know what I recently discovered, probably, um, I wanna say before Christmas or, or what have you. Somebody posted a picture of their desk and then I became obsessed with it and I needed it all. I had to have everything. And it was actually, um, what she was using was one of the Totally Tiffany Stadium Organizer, so it's like a tiered wooden, um, holder, you know, and then it has little slots where you could change the size within the holder.

[00:10:49] Tina Keyner: If you had like stickers or something small or bigger stamps or what have you. You could actually change the size within the little slots and, uh, which within each tier and I, I became obsessed. I bought three. It sits on my desk now. Everything's in front of me, organized. I change it out for whatever I'm working on, on one of the central ones.

[00:11:09] Tina Keyner: Um, it has been a game changer for me cuz everything else is usually in my office in one of the Ikea little, uh, drawers. But this Stadium Organizer has it in front of me. It's easy to get. I'm not looking for it, like, oh, I have to walk over there to the door and get it. It's just been, um, it's, it's really helped me.

[00:11:30] Tina Keyner: So I'm gonna have to say that that Totally Tiffany's Stadium Organizer. I've seen 'em, I think I got mine at, um, Joann's, but I know, you know, she sells him on her site. I've seen 'em on Amazon, I've seen 'em at Michael's. So, um, that's helped me. That's helped me a lot. I can't believe I've, I've waited this long to discover it, but it's great.

[00:11:49] Jennifer Wilson: Well, we will definitely link that up in the show notes. I have one, but it doesn't have any kind of.

[00:11:55] Tina Keyner: You do?

[00:11:55] Jennifer Wilson: Customization to it. It's just like three levels, period. And so I'm very curious.

[00:12:01] Tina Keyner: Okay.

[00:12:01] Jennifer Wilson: About this version.

[00:12:02] Tina Keyner: So I'm wondering, I'm wondering if this is a, like a, a new version cuz it's the three levels and then within the three levels they give you these little like, like thinner chipboard or thinner wood type, um, little dividers. And then you could, there's little slots in them. So then I could make, within those three levels, I could make the, um, the section smaller or bigger.

[00:12:23] Tina Keyner: So I'm like, my because I have. I have one almost similar. It's just not tiered from Ikea and it's like a tin, like a metal, but you can't customize it. And so everything kind of fall or not, it falls, it just doesn't look as good. So with it standing up straight because of the little divider things, it's just, it's just pretty, we like pretty things and it's just, it's pretty every, all my, my things, looking at me, all my stickers and ephemera and what have you looking at me all perfect. It's just, I'm excited. I'm looking at it right now. It's just so good. So.

[00:12:59] Jennifer Wilson: So Tina, can you now like take us back a little bit. How did you start scrapbooking and how has your hobby changed in that time?

[00:13:06] Tina Keyner: And, and I say this and I don't know, but I think. Um, for me, probably like for a lot of other people, it started with Creative Memories Back in 94. Um, I went to a Creative Memory party and of course, um, it just changed everything because like I said, my mom had always kind of scrapbooked and documented. But to learn that there is a correct way of actually documenting your pictures that will make them and help them last longer, I think that was the game changer.

[00:13:33] Tina Keyner: So I started with Creative Memories, of course, 12 by 12, you know, cutting all the pictures out, like a star or a circle or what have you. Um, and then now it's completely changed. I mean, completely changed. Um, I no longer do you know, the big 12 by 12, um, layouts. I, I've gone smaller. Uh, I don't cut my photos anymore.

[00:14:00] Tina Keyner: I don't do that at all. Um, so it's, it's changed and I'm sure it's changed because of the, you know, the trends. But I've kind of been, I'm more confident now. I know what I like. I'm more confident in my designing, so I know what I'm good at. I know what I can get done. So, um, that's helped too. But I, I, I'm doing it correctly. I'm doing it with all the, the photo safe, you know, items. So that's kind of, um, it's just, it helps me. It's just, it feels good cuz I know I spend time on my things and money and to know that it's gonna last, um, years. It, it's just, it feels good.

[00:14:35] Jennifer Wilson: I am curious if becoming an empty nester made like, created any new shifts for you. Are you still scrapbooking as much when your girls were at home?

[00:14:43] Tina Keyner: A hundred percent I am, but I did change down to a smaller size scrapbook, cuz it's not a lot of pictures that I'm, I have anymore. It's just, you know, like my husband and I, and usually it's just me, you know. Um, so I don't have probably as many pictures. So I don't need one, the 12 by 12. I don't even need, like, you know, anything bigger. I don't mind bigger. I just, I never really have enough pictures to fill it up. So it has changed. You're, you're completely right. Uh, being an, uh, an empty nester now, I, I, I scrapbook smaller. It's smaller, but not less, I still scrapbook the same, the same amount. It's just smaller.

[00:15:23] Jennifer Wilson: Well I think thinking about, okay, how many photos am I taking in this particular season of life? You know, what are the types of stories am I telling? Are we doing big milestones, everyday moments that can guide you towards, you know, shifts in your format. For sure.

[00:15:39] Tina Keyner: Yes. And if I do have a lot of photos, cause I do have nieces, small nieces, um, I tend to just, um, I changed the format. So I'll do like the photo strip one, or I'll just try to get more photos on that paper by, by shrinking them down. So I, I, you know, on a layout, I could have maybe five pictures, but I've just shrunken them down. I haven't placed five, four by six pictures on there. They're now like two by three or what have you. So, um, but yeah, I just haven't, I haven't flipped back to 12 by 12. It's something I don't think I will do. Um, but I just, I just haven't yet.

[00:16:19] Jennifer Wilson: So we can't skip over that you are a Disney person. I don't know if you have like a preferred term for a avid Disney fan. Um, but how did memory keeping a Disney intersect for you?

[00:16:30] Tina Keyner: I, you know what? It's so funny because. I think everyone's like, oh, you're a Disney adult. You're, you're this, and I'm like, I, I just do Disney. You know, I, I don't know about the label. I know there's a million labels for people like me. But we've been going to Disney cuz we live so close for, since I was born, even before my parents went on dates. So, it's always been a big part of our life and, I, I've, we've just grown up with it. My kids have grown up with, with it. It's just a place of happiness for us. So we've always, my mom's always documented all of our Disney, our Disney days. And I did the same. So, and it's just that fun like, I mean, you can't just be angry. I mean, you're having a bad day, you're sad, what have you. Go to Disney, take some pictures, you come back, you relive that day all over again, or that, that vacation or, um, you know, what have you, all over again when you're documenting that day. So right now I've been known to take all my little cousins and nieces for their first time at Disney.

[00:17:26] Tina Keyner: So that's like my thing. Um, so I'll take 'em for their first you know, day it, it's with, not without a fight though. Their parents are usually like, I wanna be the first one. And I'm like, it's kinda my thing. Just let me do it. So, um, I, I absolutely just, just love that and being able to document all of the changes in Disney, cuz Disney changes so much. Um, looking back at the pictures from when I went when I was little to when I took my kids when they were little to now. Things have completely changed or been erased or taken, you know, taken out. So I feel like I have my own little, you know, Disney yearbook almost with all the changes that it, it's gone through. Completely.

[00:18:08] Jennifer Wilson: I have to say I have a preference for Disneyland because that's where I went growing up a few times cuz my, uh, my aunt lived in Southern California.

[00:18:17] Tina Keyner: Oh.

[00:18:18] Jennifer Wilson: So when I finally went to Walt Disney World, I was like, this isn't right. This is just different. You know, like it. It just feels like not, not quite the same. I.

[00:18:29] Tina Keyner: Yes. It feels like an imposter.

[00:18:31] Jennifer Wilson: Why is this weird wall here and.

[00:18:32] Tina Keyner: Yeah.

[00:18:32] Jennifer Wilson: It is an imposter. It totally is.

[00:18:36] Tina Keyner: I, I felt like that too. And I, I had to experience it for myself. Cuz I hear everyone like, Disney World's better. You have a small castle you have small this, you have this. But then when I actually went, I'm like, Oh, so this is your Small World. Okay. You know, like, oh, so this is your tea cups. Ours is, ours is prettier.

[00:18:55] Tina Keyner: You know, it's just different. Just like you said, it's very different and it's almost like an imposter that was like, oh, this, you know, this should be done like this or this, you know, and Disneyland is better or what have you. But you know, I have my love for Disney World. I mainly Epcot. We don't have an Epcot. I love Epcot. But Disneyland, you can't compare it. You just cannot compare the details. It's just, it's just on its own little, it's, it's on its own level completely.

[00:19:22] Jennifer Wilson: Totally agree. So you mentioned a lot about the scaling down of size. Can you talk a little bit more about the formats that you're using? Are we doing Citrus Twist albums, memory planners, all of it. You know, how are you creating these days?

[00:19:40] Tina Keyner: I am I'm a complete Citrus Twist album girl. I love that TN size. Um, I it will be hard for me to leave that size if ever they stop, you know, creating their albums or what have you. I think I'll always create in that size. It's just a fun, perfect size for me. Um, I do like, like the six by eight, um, format too, but that, that Citrus Twist album size. I'm obsessed with that one, that that's the only album I have or I continue to buy to this day right now. So whenever they have like their imperfection sale or what have you, I don't even care what color it is. I'm just, I'm there. I'm buying 'em all. And it's, for those of you that dunno, it's like an eight and a quarter by four and a quarter.

[00:20:28] Tina Keyner: It's like a TN size. So I had, I had been creating in TNs but the fact that it didn't have a page protector kind of bothered me, cuz I like for people to look through my albums and, but I don't like them to touch everything because then eventually, you know, that's fingerprints and that's, you know, what have you.

[00:20:47] Tina Keyner: So being able to create in that size and have a page protector was just heaven. Um, because when I'm, when I'm guest speaking somewhere, or when I have a conference or something, I take my albums with me and I, I lay them out for people to see. So I want them to see, you know, what I'm creating and what I'm doing, and get it filled for me. So to have them look at it now with a page protector, I'm like, oh, go to town. You know, you're not gonna, you're not gonna do anything to it. But before, when it was just the TN with no page protector, I was like, oh, oh, oh, you don't have to open that tab. Yeah. Like, oh, oh, are your hands clean? You know? It was just horrible.

[00:21:22] Tina Keyner: I was like that, that person. But now, In a page protector. I'm a completely different, like go to town. Yeah, take it to your table. Go look at it. So I'm a total Citrus Twist girl. Yes. That, that Life Crafted album will be it forever. Forever.

[00:21:39] Jennifer Wilson: I, I definitely have an appreciation for that, for the, the protection that a page protector offers. Obviously it's in the name.

[00:21:47] Tina Keyner: Yes.

[00:21:47] Jennifer Wilson: You know, I, I can also have fun with something that's outside the page protector, but I, there is a hesitation there because I do want people to look in my albums and I want them to still be in great shape and, you know, 10 years from now. So, it's you know, it's something to think about and think about what, what's important to you in this moment and, and how you're gonna do things.

[00:22:09] Tina Keyner: Yes, exactly. Anything that has a page protector, cuz I did try the, um, Studio Calico, um, oh my goodness, what's it called with all the little, the little, um, openings in it. Oh my gosh, I can't even, it's like the three by three by four cards and you can like place them in there. I tried that one and I, I did try that for a little while and, um, it was just big though.

[00:22:33] Tina Keyner: It was still a big, I mean, I'm, I'm creating on little, little templates, you know, with the three by four, but I'm still putting it on like a big, um, nine by 12 or 12 by 12 album. And so I, I quickly, you know, that was came and gone. But only because it had a page protector.

[00:22:52] Jennifer Wilson: Oh, so you're talking about pocket pages, Project Life style.

[00:22:54] Tina Keyner: Pocket pages. Oh my goodness, Jen, I could not think of that. Pocket pages. Yes. I tried it. I tried it because it had a page protector. I'm like, oh, I could do this. This is, you know, I could get into this. And then I'm like, I think I did a year. And I was like, yeah, that was fun. That was fun. That's not for me.

[00:23:12] Jennifer Wilson: Well, I think that's, important to experiment. Try something new and you know, be okay with the direction that it takes you.

[00:23:21] Tina Keyner: I did like the three by four cards that came of it though because I was in the Studio Calico. I think I did the monthly like um, kit for that. And so I have a ton of the three by four cards and I just use them on my, um, my pages now, I'll just cut it down or I'll use it intact, or I'll make it into a pocket.

[00:23:40] Tina Keyner: I use 'em to make, um, cards with, you know, birthday cards, what have you. So I do love all the items that you use for the pocket pages. It just wasn't for me after a while.

[00:23:51] Jennifer Wilson: Now, we know you love Studio Calico products, but I'm guessing you're not getting a Project Life kit or document or kit anymore. Can you.

[00:23:59] Tina Keyner: No,

[00:23:59] Jennifer Wilson: Talk more about the products that you're completely obsessed with right now?

[00:24:02] Tina Keyner: I, for years, and I haven't steered away from, um, Kelly Purkey, I think she changed it to Paper Person now.

[00:24:09] Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

[00:24:10] Tina Keyner: I will buy anything she puts out there. Her quality of her paper, the design, um, her stickers, they're just, they completely speak to me. Her, um, alpha stickers, um, I was in her monthly kit club for years, literally years. And then when she announced she was stopping and then almost like. Thank God for Covid. Cause she's like, oh, oh, I guess I'm not stopping. I can't travel anymore. I guess I'll, I'll continue. And then she turned it into a Paper Person and I was like, oh my God, thank you Covid. Cause I don't know what I would've done if she would've stopped creating

[00:24:45] Tina Keyner: Um, I really love her, her style. Um, It's just, it's just great. So Paper Person, and I love Everyday Explorers. I love their stamps, their style, their mini books. Um, those two are probably two of my favorite. And what I have, um, I own the most of, besides Studio Calico

[00:25:06] Jennifer Wilson: So definitely kind of, uh, saturated, uh, high contrast, lots of white lots of black.

[00:25:15] Tina Keyner: Yes.

[00:25:16] Jennifer Wilson: With brighter colors.

[00:25:18] Tina Keyner: Yes, completely. But then when I create for Disney, I'm like complete opposite. I like color, color, color. This page threw up more color and color, you know. So, I am just all over the place. You know, I think Disney just puts you in a different mood and I feel like I need to, sometimes, just parallel that happy feeling of, uh, that you feel when you get there with color, then afterward in my album. But sometimes they'll be a little bit more muted and that's when, you know, that was just, for me, that was a passion project. I did it just literally cuz I wanted to use my, my Kelly Purkey stuff or what have you. But usually for Disneyland, I, I create, for my Disney albums, very bright, very um, lively.

[00:25:58] Jennifer Wilson: Now you're also creating some of your own products now. Is that correct?

[00:26:01] Tina Keyner: Yeah, that only started because, um, I couldn't find what I wanted to use, um, Disney wise, you know, like my kind of feel and look that I wanted. Everything was kind of very, um, like cartoonish or everything was either black, yellow, you know, red. Just things that I probably would never use. If I'm in Adventureland, I don't need, you know, Mickey Mouse, you know, to be on a leaf or something. I just need colors that would, kind of accommodate what my picture, maybe of the jungle cruise. You know, so I, I, I try to create things that are Disney inspired for the lands that I'm in. Not necessarily, you know, just full blown, like just. Um, you know, Mickey Mouse. But you know, if I'm in Adventureland and I'm on the Jungle Cruise and I took a bunch of pictures, like, what am I gonna use? I'm, I don't have to get like some jungle kit just to use it. I kind of wanna use those colors or what have you. So, um, I started to make some things that others might be interested in using in their Disney albums as well. Um, that they were having a hard time finding.

[00:27:11] Jennifer Wilson: Ah, sounds fun. We'll definitely include a link to that in the show notes. So, Tina, what is something you would say you use or do on most of your pages?

[00:27:22] Tina Keyner: A hundred percent on every page I am, I am going to use the date stamp. Only because I don't create in chronological order. I create just whatever, feels exciting me right now or what, you know, what have you. So I tend to always date stamp it somewhere on there. Sometimes you might, it might, it might not be as like bold, but it's on there. Because I need to go back then and be like, oh, I have to put it in at least date order. So my date, and it's not a fancy date stamp. It's one that I got like at Staples or something. It's just literally, those old-fashioned library ones. It has, you know, the year, the month, the day, and that's it. But I religiously use that on every, um, every layout.

[00:28:08] Jennifer Wilson: I love it. I think, I don't know, there's just some sort of special feel to that. I love using my date stamp and I have, I think I have like all the years. I was born in 1980, and so I think I have a date stamp. that at least goes back that far cuz I've been collecting them over the.

[00:28:23] Tina Keyner: Oh, good.

[00:28:24] Jennifer Wilson: Years. So.

[00:28:26] Tina Keyner: You are good. I've kept the ones like from the nineties that, you know, that have, that have aged out and stuff cuz I'm like, oh, if I ever go back or you know, I could, you know. Do something. Um, so I have all my aged out ones too. But that's, that's so good. You've, you've beat me. I gotta find, I gotta get on your level. I gotta get some older ones.

[00:28:47] Jennifer Wilson: Time to check on eBay.

[00:28:49] Tina Keyner: Yeah, oh, that's a dangerous, that's a dangerous place for me. I forgot about eBay, honestly. And then I needed something and someone's like, check eBay. And I'm like, oh, it's been nonstop. Like literally I'm like, oh my God, they have this, they have that. They have this. And it's free shipping. eBay's dangerous for me nowadays.

[00:29:08] Jennifer Wilson: Oh oh, ok, I didn't mention it. So I wanna talk a little bit about kind of, I don't know, the meta context of your scrapbooking. When do you typically find the time and energy?

[00:29:22] Tina Keyner: Um, so my office and inside my, my whole house, it's, I, I need natural light. I need a lot of light. So one of the reasons why we picked this house was because the way the light or this house, I'm, I'm talking to you like you're in my house with me. Why we picked our house was, um, cuz when they were building it, we had choices. It was because the light shined in the windows first thing in the morning and it, it was just perfect and I needed that. So we, and we don't have any neighbors behind us, so we don't have any window coverings on, all of the windows that face the back of the house. In my office. I just have some for the side, just for decoration, but I never close my curtains.

[00:30:02] Tina Keyner: It ha it light. So anytime of the day where there's that natural light and my, I have a standing desk, so that's, that's pushed up against, um, the window. Anytime I'm creating, as long as there's that bright light, I am there. If it's like nighttime and I have to use like my, um, my lamps, even though they're like really good lights. It just, I'm just completely uninspired to work. I don't, I don't know why. I don't know if it's like a, I haven't figured it out, but it's, it's light. So ma, mainly anytime during the day, um, before sunset, I would say, um, that's when I find my, my time. Because I'm completely uninspired. That's why I don't do well at crops.

[00:30:44] Tina Keyner: All my friends go to crops. And they asked me to go crop with them for hours on end. And I'm like, I would be as, I would be talking to you guys or asleep. I'm a horrible cropper because once that sun goes down, I'm like, Nope, it can't work. I don't have my, my energy light. I can't do it. So, um, anytime during the day is, is my time to create.

[00:31:07] Jennifer Wilson: You know, I think that your story is gonna be helpful for many of our listeners who maybe, uh, have a similar thing. And maybe it's the opposite. Maybe it's the sun needed to go down for them to create.

[00:31:17] Tina Keyner: Yeah.

[00:31:17] Jennifer Wilson: To just observe, know, your behaviors, and then try to better align your, your habits with that.

[00:31:23] Tina Keyner: Yeah. I wish I could change. I mean, we even try getting like the light bulbs that, or like the daytime ones and stuff. It's just not the same. I mean, I'm not to say that I haven't like finished, you know, a quick project, you know, at night or something, but it's just, um, I really don't. I really, really don't. And I know this about myself.

[00:31:46] Tina Keyner: When I see like it getting late and later I'm like, oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. It's like I'm Dracula like, oh my God, there's sun going down. I have to, you know, I have to finish this. It's horrible.

[00:31:58] Jennifer Wilson: So along with time and energy, we also need to talk about motivation. Does your motivation kind of stay consistent throughout, you know, the course of a month or a year, or does it ebb and flow for you and how do you try to like, keep it going if it, if it does?

[00:32:12] Tina Keyner: No, I, I am completely up and down. I have ADHD so I can be completely into, you know, a project that I just printed a million pictures for, and then do one thing and be like, yeah, that was fun. You know, I'm, I'm, that, I'm gonna put that aside and then go on to something else. So it's really, really hard for me to stay motivated.

[00:32:34] Tina Keyner: The one big thing. The one good thing that helps me is that I'm a quick creator. So I, I, I finish things quickly, so my pages take me and I try to do like YouTube videos of, you know, me creating and I'm like, okay, no one's gonna watch. This was like literally six minutes. Like, that was so boring. You know, usually they're like, oh, what do I do? What do I decide? How do I, you know, and mine are just so quick. One because they're a smaller scale, and two, it's just, it, um, it just comes to me and then I just., you know, plug it out. And so I, I know I have to finish them too. Um, because if not, then they'll just go into the mysterious beyond somewhere, and maybe next year I might finish it.

[00:33:16] Tina Keyner: So , um, that's what, you know, helps me stay a little bit motivated, is I, I just have to finish it. So I would say, the pictures if they're exciting or if it sparked something like, oh yeah, that was fun. I should finish this, you know, then I'll, I'll quickly do it. That's what makes me stay motivated. I hope other people that's like the them too, because I see some of my friends and they literally will create in chronological order and they're like, I'm up to date.

[00:33:44] Tina Keyner: I'm like, I will never know that feeling. I will never know what it is like to be up to date and then to be finished with everything, you know, prior I, I just, that, that those people are literally Superman to me. Because I would never be able to do that. I am so all over the place. Like I was just creating Halloween the other day, like I was literally doing a Halloween page. So, I'm just everywhere.

[00:34:08] Jennifer Wilson: Well, and I think that's okay. I think there's some people, like we all have different priorities and for some like that is the priority. And for others there's, there are or competing priorities that maybe are a little bit stronger.

[00:34:19] Tina Keyner: True. Mm-hmm.

[00:34:21] Jennifer Wilson: So we've already talked a little bit about pocket pages not being for you, but is there anything else a supply, a technique, you know, something that you else you've tried and you're like, oh, nope, not for me at all.

[00:34:34] Tina Keyner: Um, other than the 12 by 12 format style, um, I'm game to try everything. You know, I've, I've tried watercolors and let that go. You know, I, I mean, I've tried. I've tried a lot. I've tried a lot. Some of it is time consuming and the whole waiting game, like if something has to dry or something has to, you know, I'm like, oh yeah, I don't know about that one.

[00:35:00] Tina Keyner: But, um, I would say I'm game for anything to try any technique or tool. It's just probably that bigger, larger scale. Um, for me, that's something that's not for me right now. Again, you know, I, I've tried it, so it's not like I haven't tried it and it hasn't worked cuz it worked for years, but right now it's just not for me.

[00:35:22] Jennifer Wilson: So where if you had to like step back and think about where you're going in the next 10 years, um, where would you like your scrapbooking to be, uh, in that time?

[00:35:31] Tina Keyner: Consistent. I would love it to be consistent. Um, up to date. Um, probably that's about it. I'm, I'm happy with my designing. That's kind of like my style, my little signature style, so I'm okay with that. I just would like it to be consistent, like maybe a whole year done. Cuz I'll do like nine, 10 months and then.

[00:35:57] Tina Keyner: Be like, oh yeah, I don't need to do those last two months and I do need to do them. But you know, I just, I think it's my ADHD saying, no, you really don't. So just being consistent and being maybe, I don't wanna say caught up because I don't wanna ever feel overwhelmed like I need to do that. But maybe just consistent where I finish the year. Um, maybe not in order, but you know, I just eventually finish, you know, the year. That would be great.

[00:36:24] Jennifer Wilson: That sounds like a good goal. So Tina, our last question today is, what has being a scrapbooker taught you?

[00:36:34] Tina Keyner: Ooh. Um, probably that a, um, a bad picture is better than no picture. I went back to school for photography later in life, just because I became so obsessed with my pictures. Um, I think they just weren't, I was seeing all these pictures and like, you know, Creating Keepsake, what have you, and their photos on their layouts were just insane on another level and I just wasn't able to capture that.

[00:37:02] Tina Keyner: So I went back to school to learn how to, um, work my camera and to be a better photographer. And it became a, um, an obsession for a while. Like I was just determined to get the, the best picture. But then, you know, I didn't always have my professional camera with the right lens and, you know, blah, blah. And this was before digital, so I had to learn on like a manual.

[00:37:25] Tina Keyner: I had to do aperture, you know, it was just, it was a whole thing. And for me as an adult to go back to school and there was math involved. I didn't know there was math involved. So it was, it was a, it was hard for me. But I, like I said, I didn't always have my professional, you know, camera with me and the right lens. It wasn't always, you know, the perfect thing. And I learned that when I just took my little cheapy camera that it, it, I had a picture still. So that was better than not having a picture at all. So I definitely, it taught me a good lesson. That a bad picture is better than no pictures at all, you know? I think that is probably, taught me my best lesson, is, just take the picture. Whether it's on your phone, on your cheapy camera, on anything. Just, just take it and at least you have something now.

[00:38:15] Jennifer Wilson: Yes, a hundred percent. So Tina, can you share what we can find you online? Anything you might have new or coming up this year?

[00:38:22] Tina Keyner: Oh, sure. Um, on Instagram, I am SocialPaperPlan. And on YouTube, same, um, even on TikTok, I'm trying to do that. I'm learning it still. Um, you could find me there. You could also find me at, um, my website, www.socialpaperplan.com. And I do for this year, we are starting to make paper packs, so, um, I'm a little excited about that.

[00:38:47] Tina Keyner: I, like I said, I found, um, a void in paper that I needed to, to use for, um, my trips to Disney and what have you. So, um, we're making them, so our, our first one will come out, um, in March, March sometime. excited that. Yeah.

[00:39:03] Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes. Thank you so much for spending time with me.

[00:39:07] Tina Keyner: Oh, thank you Jen, so much for having me.

[00:39:10] Jennifer Wilson: And to of our listeners, please remember that you have permission to Scrapbook Your Way.