SYW219 – Strategies for Storytelling

[00:01:08] 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 219.

In this episode I'm chatting with Jeanne Williams, a scrapbooker who loves to tell stories big and small. We’ll explore how product choices influence her creative process and dissect the strategies she uses to fill her albums with handwritten memories.

[00:01:39] Jennifer Wilson: Hey Jeanne. Welcome to Scrapbook Your Way.

[00:01:41] Jeanne Williams: Thank you. Glad to be here.

[00:01:44] Jennifer Wilson: Yes Can you share a little bit about yourself uh to kick things off?

[00:01:49] Jeanne Williams: Sure. My name is Jeanne Williams. I'm 57 years old. I live in Arlington, Virginia, with my husband of almost 32 years and two young adult daughters. We go back and forth between an empty nest and a full house. They come and go.

[00:02:06] Jennifer Wilson: I bet. How old are your daughters?

[00:02:08] Jeanne Williams: Um, my oldest is almost 24 and my youngest is about to graduate from college. She's 21, so.

[00:02:16] Jennifer Wilson: Okay Wow What an exciting time.

[00:02:18] Jeanne Williams: It is, it's a lot of fun. So, um, other than that, I've been a scrapbooker and journaler since high school. I have scrapbooks all the way back to then. And I've been doing more modern memory keeping and pocket page scrapbooking since 2013. Um, in addition to scrapbooking, I love the beach, reading, travel, coffee, and porch time. So that's little bit about me.

[00:02:43] Jennifer Wilson: Those all sound like delightful things I'm I'm ready to hang out, so. I I just poured coffee right here right before I popped upstairs to talk to you. So.

[00:02:54] Jeanne Williams: Oh, good.

[00:02:57] Jennifer Wilson: So Jeanne what's exciting you right now? We're asking our guests this year to share both a scrapbooking thing as well as a non scrapbooking thing.

[00:03:04] Jeanne Williams: Okay, well, in terms of non scrapbooking, my husband and I leave in a little over a week for a trip to Amsterdam and Belgium. So I'm really excited about that. We're going to see the tulips in Amsterdam, the Anne Frank House, and we got tickets to the Van Gogh Museum and we're also going to Antwerp, Brussels, and Bruges in Belgium. So we'll be gone for about 10 days. So that's something that I'm definitely looking forward to.

[00:03:31] Jennifer Wilson: Oh for sure. Do you have a scrapbooking plan for that already?

[00:03:35] Jeanne Williams: So I am not good at scrapbooking on travel. I finally realized that about myself. I used to always bring little journals, little books, little things to do, and it's just not my style. So I keep in my calendar, I keep everything I do during the treat trip. And then eventually I come back to it and do travel jour scrapbooking later. So, um, so I kind of just enjoy it while I'm on vacation.

[00:04:04] Jennifer Wilson: I love that and but those notes really help to bring you back into the moment.

[00:04:09] Jeanne Williams: They really do. I'm working on my travel album from a trip to Italy last fall right now. And it's great to have it all written down because then I can remember the details. So, um, that works out really well for me.

[00:04:22]

[00:04:22] Jeanne Williams: So in terms of scrapbooking, I'm excited because I am actually documenting, Week in the Life this week.

[00:04:27] Jeanne Williams: So, um, that's, Ali Edwards project and this is my ninth year doing Week in the Life. Um, the community documenting week is next week, but because we're going on vacation, I decided to document it this week. So I have my title pages done and my album formula set up. And this week I'm really focusing on taking the photos and I keep notes each day about what's going on, and I might start documenting a little bit this week, but mostly I'm just doing the photos and notes this week. So I really love this project and seeing what stays the same and what changes year to year. So I'm excited to be working on that right now.

[00:05:06] Jennifer Wilson: Oh for sure. And I'm honored to be part of your Week in the Life.

[00:05:10] Jeanne Williams: I know I'm excited. I can put this in my album.

[00:05:13] Jennifer Wilson: Yep Yep yep. So I also like to ask our guests about the stories they're interested in telling and in particular if there's one bucket list story. So something that feels important but for some reason you haven't captured it. So do you have a story like that?

[00:05:31] Jeanne Williams: I actually do. Um, it came to me right away when I was thinking about this. My mom has Alzheimer's and I really want to tell a story about my relationship with her. I have a lot of her old scrapbooks and I'd like to take some of the photos from us over the years and document us and our relationship over time.

[00:05:53] Jeanne Williams: It's a kind of hard story to tell because of her memory loss right now. But, um, she's still so important to me and I feel like this would be such a great story for me to tell and also for me to have documented for my daughters and my family in the future. Um, so that's something I keep having in my head, but kind of not getting to. So I hope that I will maybe do that over the next six months.

[00:06:21] Jennifer Wilson: Sending you lots of you know good vibes and encouragement to to dig into that one.

[00:06:27] Jeanne Williams: Thank you very much. It's, I think it'll be good, but it just, you know, sometimes the harder stories are hard to get into.

[00:06:34] Jennifer Wilson: Yes they are. They are. Especially when the maybe the hard parts are in the present moment still too.

[00:06:40] Jeanne Williams: Right. Exactly.

[00:06:42] Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm So I wanted to chat with you today about storytelling strategies cuz as I look through your pages I noticed that the story is always front and center. So maybe just to continue going down and giving some context. Why is scrapbooking important to you in in a big picture way?

[00:07:03] Jeanne Williams: So, um, it's interesting that you asked this question because I actually did a workshop in January taught by Linda Jordan that was about like Plan, Prep, and Play. But one of the things was to give your reason why for scrapbooking. So I had actually thought about that earlier this year, and primarily I scrapbook to tell my story. I mean, I come from a long line of storytellers, Irish Catholic family, lots of passing the stories down. So it's kind of a part of who I am. And I scrapbook mostly for me. It's how I make sense of my life. I process my feelings and lots of things that I'm thinking through my memory keeping projects and my journaling. So that's one of the big reasons why I scrapbook. It's also a really important way that I practice gratitude and try to live my life intentionally by finding the joy and the everyday moments, even just the small joys. I just find that like, it makes me appreciate my life so much more.

[00:08:06] Jeanne Williams: I also really love being a part of the scrapbooking community. I have met so many wonderful people through Instagram and sharing my layouts and stories, and it's just such a fun thing to be part of this community. People inspire me and lift me up every day, and I hope that I do the same for others. And then I think another big reason I scrapbook is cuz I love it. It's fun. It's a way for me to be creative and I scrapbook at least, probably almost every day or at least five days a week. So, so those are kind of my reasons why scrapbooking is important to me.

[00:08:45] Jennifer Wilson: I love how you kind of touched on the the full gamut of reasons and recognizing that we all have multitudes of reasons why we stay connected and that was yeah that was a great sales pitch for our hobby I I'm excited to uh.

[00:09:02] Jeanne Williams: It's a great hobby.

[00:09:02] Jennifer Wilson: We need to get those words out there to bring more more of the folks who wish they could be part of us and just haven't found that entry point.

[00:09:10] Jeanne Williams: Right. I used to kind of be embarrassed to say I was a scrapbooker cuz I feel like people thought like, what is that? That's so lame. And now I just totally own it. I'm like, I love it. It's what I do. If you don't get it, that's fine. But you know, we all have our things and um, it's just really fun to be a part of this community.

[00:09:30] Jennifer Wilson: Yes a hundred percent. It was funny yesterday I was at the dentist and the dental assistant asked what'd you do this weekend. Like well I went to a a girl's weekend and we scrap booked all weekend. And she's like oh that sounds really fun but but how do you have time to be a scrapbooker? So that's always you know the big question. I I think I get more you know admiration for it these days than any kind of, you know like that's weird or that's not cool. Maybe that's just the the season of life we're in.

[00:10:02] Jeanne Williams: Yeah, you're right. I think it's got, it's gotten, people appreciate it a little bit more.

[00:10:07] Jennifer Wilson: For sure. Especially since we take so many photos these days.

[00:10:11] Jeanne Williams: Right, right.

[00:10:13] Jennifer Wilson: So Jeanne what types and sizes of projects do you enjoy creating these days? I noticed a lot of different variety um in the work that you do.

[00:10:23] Jeanne Williams: Yeah, so I still love doing weekly Project Life in pocket pages. I always say that pocket pages are my jam. When I found Project Life in 2013, it just sort of changed the way I thought about scrapbooking. So I started with 12 by 12 weekly Project, Life then, and I switched to nine nine by 12 in 2021. So this is my third year doing nine by 12 weekly and I still do weekly.

[00:10:50] Jeanne Williams: A lot of people, I think, feel like as their kids get older and, they don't have as many people around that it's harder to tell the stories, but I just really love telling the weekly, everyday little things. My coffee, my yard, my feet. My daughters just laugh at all my feet pictures.

[00:11:09] Jeanne Williams: Um and so I really love doing, um, Project, Life and I like having, even though they take up a lot of space, I do like having those bigger albums.

[00:11:19] Jeanne Williams: I usually do two per year. So since I do weekly. Um, then I also keep an annual six by eight story album where I tell stories primarily with the Ali Edwards story kits. Cuz those are theme based. And so, um, each month, I tell a couple stories with those, um, themes, and I do both pocket pages in that album and full page layouts that are outside the pa re, um, page protector.

[00:11:48] Jeanne Williams: And then, as I mentioned, I'm working on a travel album right now and I'm doing that in a 10 by eight size, which is a lot of fun.

[00:11:56] Jeanne Williams: [00:11:56] Jennifer Wilson: Oh yeah, for sure

[00:11:57] Jeanne Williams: Yeah, it's, um, I love the full page 10 by eight photos and then I add in a d a bunch of different size page protectors in there as well. So it's got in and out of the page protector and different sizes, which I really like.

[00:12:12] Jeanne Williams: Um, I'm doing my Week in the Life and six by eight. And six by eight I really like for a Week in the Life and those projects, like December Daily. I've done most of my December Dailies in six by eight. Although the past two years I did use 10 by eight, which was fun. It definitely stretches me though.

[00:12:29] Jeanne Williams: Sometimes I feel like. I can do six by eight kind of in my sleep. And so when I have less time, it's easier for me to work on the, um, six by eight albums. And then I do an occasional mini albums or traveler's notebooks. Um, I like to do a summer traveler's notebook, a summer stories one, and so I'll probably do that again this summer. But mostly I do nine by 12 and six by eight. These days.

[00:13:01] Jennifer Wilson: So I'm wondering besides maybe travel projects are you mostly telling stories of the present?

[00:13:09] Jeanne Williams: I do mostly tell stories of the present. I sometimes refer to things in the past, but mostly I'm telling stories of the present. I just decided that I couldn't go back and do it all. It was like, It's not gonna work for me. So I tell, even if I tell, uh, I think Ali Edwards had a kit called History last Fall.

[00:13:30] Jeanne Williams: So I told a couple stories from my past, but through the lens of today. Um, and I just include those in my chronological albums as part of what I, the stories I'm telling now. So, um, so yeah, I mostly scrapbook the present.

[00:13:47] Jennifer Wilson: And how do you decide what gets captured?

[00:13:52] Jeanne Williams: So for Project Life, I just tell the little stories of the week often, just like a few highlights. Um, for my story album, the story kit themes often inspire my stories. They become sort of the jumping off point for the stories I wanna tell. For example, with the Make story kit that inspired me to tell, uh, one story about what I'm making right now.

[00:14:14] Jeanne Williams: Another one about what I'm making time for right now. I also love to tell stories about my daughters and how they are evolving and what they're doing. And, um, so those I can kind of be inspired by at any different time. I love to tell stories from around my yard, outside, at the beach, or to use stories of like outside. Use pictures of things outside to tell stories about me and what I am feeling or going through right now. I also like seasonal stories. For example, in winter I may tell skiing stories or holiday stories. Spring seems to be all about flowers. We have a beach house, so summer is a lot of beach stories. And then I just tell, include all the characters in my story as part of all of that. So I kind of tell the stories that come to me and I've realized that they don't ha all have to be big stories.

[00:15:12] Jennifer Wilson: Do you do anything to kind of keep track or to plan or to or is it more of like an organic process?

[00:15:20] Jeanne Williams: So I keep a task book, which is like just a on paper list book for all my tasks for each week and month. And I keep my memory keeping projects on that. I add stories as they come to me. So for example, I'll have like a bullet with like Project Life and the week I need to do weeks I need to do. Or, uh, which the Story Kit and the ideas that come to me under that.

[00:15:46] Jeanne Williams: Um, and then I also keep track of my projects weekly and monthly, and any design or guest projects I might have. If I'm out and about and I think of stories, I use the Notes app on my phone and I write them down. And I sometimes will even do that if I think of journaling that I wanna write for a particular story, I'll go ahead and just jot sort of an outline in my Notes app and then I can go back to that. So mostly that's how I tell stories is just through writing my ideas down and keeping track of them.

[00:16:19] Jennifer Wilson: Well and it seems like having a a routine as part of in your notebook of this is where I'm going to put this every week, that's you know half the battle. In terms of oh I wanna include that, okay what is it that I need to do to do that. No I have a system I at a bullet point right here.

[00:16:36] Jeanne Williams: Yeah, and I love checking things off that list. So.

[00:16:40] Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. Bet

[00:16:41] Jeanne Williams: I'm a list maker, so I like to write it down and then be able to check it off. So, and you know, I'm at a season in my life where I have a lot more time to scrapbook. I don't have kids at home. And so, um, you know, that's just part of my day. And I you know, sometimes that makes it easier. Um, and I am a bit of a finisher too. So, um, I'm someone who, if I start a project, I want it to be finished within the next month or so because it seems hard for me to go back to them.

[00:17:13] Jennifer Wilson: Yes it's important to recognize for yourself even with the the choice to not go back to too many older stories. Like just to know this is what's working best for me and embracing that.

[00:17:25] Jeanne Williams: Right, exactly.

[00:17:27] Jennifer Wilson: So I noticed that you hand write most or maybe even all of your journaling. Can you talk a little bit about your process? Do you pre-write anything on separate paper or do you just dive in? Um any kind of backstory to including your handwriting versus typed journaling?

[00:17:44] Jeanne Williams: So I don't know if I really have a process, but I've always been a writer. I worked in the writing and editing field for a while after college. Um, writing just comes really easily to me, and I also really like my handwriting and I like seeing it in my projects. So it's just a natural thing for me to hand write my journaling. When I do hand write it, I think about what I'm gonna say. But I don't usually pre-write it. Unless it's like something specific that I have to fit in, like a small space or something like that. But usually I just think about what I wanna say and then I start writing and try to make it in the fit in the space that I have.

[00:18:23] Jeanne Williams: So I don't know if that's like the best way, but it works for me. I think I also write so much because it really is how I process things. And so when I write it, when I hand write it, it really just kind of comes out. It comes from my heart. So, um, that's just easy for me. I do sometimes type up stories. I often type up, like if I have a reason why for a project or those type of things, or occasionally I'll have a longer story that I wanna tell, or a more intentional story that I feel like I need to go over, not just free, write it. And so then I will go to my computer and type that up. Um, so I do both, but I definitely like to hand write my journaling. And I also like including different types of stories in one layout. So sometimes I'll write a longer story on one card and then sort of smaller micro stories, um, in like bullet or list type journaling. So, I include both.

[00:19:27] Jennifer Wilson: Love that you're kind of you're you're aware of that and you're um as your mind is going to different aspects of the story the facts versus the feelings for example that you are trying to figure out okay where where can this fit.

[00:19:39] Jeanne Williams: Yes, exactly.

[00:19:42] Jennifer Wilson: And and since you are a lover of your own handwriting, which I think there's many of you out there but there's also many that don't. Do you have any favorite pens that you think ma make your handwriting look awesome?

[00:19:52] Jeanne Williams: I do. For years my favorite pen was the Sharpie fine point pen. I feel like it's changed a little bit or it's harder to find and so I've not been liking it as much lately. Um, so I've been trying out a bunch of pens and my favorite one so far that I've found is the UniBall 2 0 7 Micro pen. It like kind of slides really nicely on the paper and I like a fine point, so I like that one.

[00:20:19] Jeanne Williams: I also like the, um, Ali Edwards Design Precision Pen. Um, I love how she does like thick and thin pens. But, and I've tried that, but it just doesn't seem to work for me. I think it stops the flow of my journaling. So I just use like one pen usually. But, um, and I find sometimes with different manufacturer's cards, they have slightly different, um, finish on the paper.

[00:20:46] Jeanne Williams: So some pens work really well on some cards and not as well on others. And, uh, it drives me crazy when I go to start writing and I'm like, oh no, this pen doesn't work on this paper. So I like to have a few different pens around so that I can, uh, use them. So now I often test it on the back of the card before I start writing.

[00:21:06] Jennifer Wilson: Oh yeah that's a great tip I feel like I always have to test to make sure it's not gonna be too scratchy or too smudgy or or something.

[00:21:14] Jeanne Williams: Right, exactly.

[00:21:17] Jennifer Wilson: So I wanted to dive a little bit deeper into Ali Edwards products because I know you're a big fan. Um how do you, how do those projects help you structure your storytelling or create homes for your stories as Ali likes to say.

[00:21:32] Jeanne Williams: Right. So as I mentioned, I often use those monthly Story kits to inspire my stories. I usually do three to four layouts each month inspired by those Story kits. Um, so for example, just to tell you a little bit about my process, with the recent XO story kit. I told a story about each of my daughters and what I'm loving about them right now.

[00:21:55] Jeanne Williams: And I really like using a full page photo and then pairing that with pocket cards either in the pockets or maybe added to the full page pattern papers that come in the kit. And then I also like to use her story directed three by eight and six by eight papers that are in the kit to structure and hold my stories.

[00:22:15] Jeanne Williams: So I really kind of use those products as homes for my stories. And as I'm thinking of the story I wanna tell and the photo I wanna use, I go to the products and figures, which ones work with that story. And, and either the, the card inspires the story or a photo does, and I try to pair the items together to see how they work.

[00:22:40] Jeanne Williams: Um, and I used them in different ways. So for example, for the layout about my youngest daughter Anna, um, there was a four by six grid card in that kit and I used that to add embellishments and stamping to support the story. So that was sort of a more decorative element. And then I told the story itself on a journal card. And then in the layout about my daughter Catherine, I added a four by six journal card under a frame card, and used the prompt that they're on that card to tell the story, and then combined it with the full page photo.

[00:23:13] Jeanne Williams: And then for the story I did about my husband, I added some of the different types of journaling like I was talking about. I used one of the three by eight directed storytelling papers to list three things about us right now. And then I used the four by six journal card to write the story of our relationship, which is a bigger story.

[00:23:36] Jeanne Williams: It was a short description of our relationship. But, so I used the different cards and the papers from the as homes for the stories. And then I really add the embellishments to support the story and also to make it look nice. I love bright colors, I love using hearts and layering embellishments on photos.

[00:23:56] Jeanne Williams: So I, I don't know if that, I think that answers your questions, but I was just sort of trying to give an example of, um, I definitely used her story directed products to sort of structure and create the homes for the stories that I tell.

[00:24:11] Jennifer Wilson: It certainly does I I really appreciate the the depth of your explanation and we'll include links in the show notes to those pages that you described so that.

[00:24:22] Jeanne Williams: Oh, okay. Great.

[00:24:23] Jennifer Wilson: Folks can go visit those and kind of listen to you discuss your process as they they see the end result.

[00:24:30] Jeanne Williams: Right.

[00:24:31] Jennifer Wilson: Seems like it's safe to say that there's stories that you wouldn't have told without having these Story kits as a lens and a prompt for you each month.

[00:24:42] Jeanne Williams: That's true. And I, I, I think I, that's why I like them so much is because it gets me telling these stories. Um, and it gets them out of my head and onto the pa, paper and my, like, my girls love looking at my, um, projects online. Their friends love being in my projects, which is really fun. Um, but I don't, I don't know what they'll ever do with my albums. But I'm kind of okay with that because the process of it is what I love the most and I love being able to have told these stories and spent the time documenting them. And I hope they'll stick around. But like I said, part of it is just the process part.

[00:25:26] Jennifer Wilson: Yes yes I was thinking about this recently that you know of my like whole library I hope there's like a couple that my daughter is just really excited to keep and have. And then she'll have lots of other photos but I don't expect that she's gonna want everything. And just it's of putting it all out there to see, you know, kind of what sticks in the future. Because I know her memories are gonna be different and her, her perspective is gonna be different than mine. And so something that's so important to her may not even be something that I realize now in, in this moment of, of telling stories live.

[00:26:01] Jeanne Williams: Exactly. Well, I remember when I was helping my parents downsize, I found some of my mom's old journals and it was really, um, really cool to hear, to read what she was thinking like at that stage of her life. And some of 'em were around the age I was at that time, and I don't remember really thinking about what my mom was thinking then. Really, you know, I was kind of self-focused on what I was doing. So it was really cool to see some of what here are things from her point of view at that time. So maybe someday my girls will enjoy that as well.

[00:26:37] Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes, yes. So, kind of continuing in this conversation about including more depth and feeling and you know, the story behind the story. Um, you mentioned that writing comes naturally to you, but do you have any other advice for someone who maybe has trouble getting to that depth. And they, they can do the facts, but the next layer just seems really challenging.

[00:27:01] Jeanne Williams: Yeah, I mean, I think I've gotten better at it over time. Um, you know, when I first started scrapbooking, we just wrote, had photos and I wrote like the names of the people in the photo or the location of where we were in the photo. But when I got back into it 10 years ago, I think I loved the products and classes from Ali Edwards and others like her who really focused on the story, both the facts and the feelings.

[00:27:28] Jeanne Williams: So I think in my weekly Project Life I, I do more facts based journaling, and then in my story albums and One Little Word and things like that, I do more feelings based writing. But if I was to give some advice, I think that the story directed products from any designer or company out there really can help with writing the feelings. Take the prompt and write your response or how you feel about it. Um, for example, as that layout I was talking about, about my husband, the card that I used said a story of love, it goes a little something like this. And that sparked me to write our love story, quote unquote. So you can just use the cards and the prompts as story part sparks and the jumping off point to write your feelings.

[00:28:15] Jeanne Williams: Another thing that has helped me is it doesn't have to be a long story. Like, I think sometimes when you think about feelings, you think you're gonna have to go really deep. You can write about how you feel in bullet points and short paragraphs too. I'm always really inspired by those people and to be honest, a little intimidated who have these long typed up stories on all their pages because like that's just not how my brain works.

[00:28:41] Jeanne Williams: But, and I think that's again, why the handwriting is easier for me. It just kind of pours out. But like with everything, I think the more you practice writing about your feelings, the easier it gets. You know, you just gotta keep practicing it and, um, you know, take it little by little. But I think also, not to put too much pressure, you know, sometimes I'm like, is this a fact or a feeling? You know? And so sometimes if you just start writing, it's kind of a little of both. Um.

[00:29:08] Jennifer Wilson: Sure, for sure. Well, and you mentioned like you like to do like a summer traveler's notebook, but some of those smaller projects I think can also be maybe less intimidating just to kind of start the process of telling more stories. It's not like formal journaling, but it's not like a big 12 by 12 scrapbook page either. So that could also.

[00:29:31] Jeanne Williams: No, I think that um, sort of time limited projects can be really good way to get into scrapbooking and start working on it. So that's a great way for someone new to start is to do a smaller sort of mini album or project like that.

[00:29:49] Jennifer Wilson: I wouldn't start with weekly Project Life.

[00:29:51] Jeanne Williams: No, not proj, I was just about to say that. But not project not, and not like Week in the Life, cuz it's a big one.

[00:29:58] Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes, yes. And I think that that's a whole interesting conversation in itself is, you know, how would you introduce somebody new to the hobby, definitely those small projects. Because we have a lot of amazing different things, but we want, we want people to stick around. So it needs be something that's, that's finishable without, you know, figuring out all your different personal strategies and systems for getting it done.

[00:30:24] Jeanne Williams: Although I might argue that Project Life is not a bad way to start because it doesn't have to be big stories. Like you could even do like, um, I, some people do like just one page of like a nine by 12, so that's like three or four photos from a week and then a couple filler cards. So, you know, depending how your brain works, for some people that could be, or maybe even monthly Project Life, not weekly. But it might be a way to sort of dip your toe in the water.

[00:30:54] Jennifer Wilson: And I think the app as well can be that an entry point for those who may be, uh, feel intimidated about the embellishing portion, like to get the design right. Cuz maybe they've had a, a tradition in, uh, you know, the Creative Memories world back in the day. But they're coming back to the hobby.

[00:31:13] Jeanne Williams: Oh yeah. When I first started back I had all this Creative Memories stuff and I started trying to scrapbook and nothing looks like that anymore. And then I couldn't figure out how to fit everything on the big page and it was really feeling overwhelming to me. That's why I think pockets really helped me because they just were a place where I could, it was a holding place for all the stories and cards, and I didn't have to create the design myself, so then I was able to sort of grow from there.

[00:31:45] Jennifer Wilson: Oh, I love it. This has been so insightful. Thank you for spending time with me today.

[00:31:49] Jeanne Williams: Oh, thank you. It's a lot of fun.

[00:31:52] Jennifer Wilson: We will definitely include a link to your Instagram where folks can see all of your beautiful pages. Um, but can you share where we can find you online, like share your Instagram handle, any place else you are, and anything you might have new or coming up or what we can expect from you later this year.

[00:32:07] Jeanne Williams: Sure I'm on Instagram at JeanneMWill so it's J E A N N E M W I L L .And I post photos of almost all my layouts. Um, I also do flip throughs of my albums that are under my story highlights. Under each project, I have been working on launching a YouTube channel. It's not, um, so far it's just got my flip through albums on it and I'm trying to figure out my next step.

[00:32:34] Jeanne Williams: So that might happen. I'm not sure how long it will take. Um, I'm not on any design teams this year, but I love sharing my layouts and connecting on Instagram. And, um, I'll be participating in a few scrapbooking Instagram hops in the coming months. So, um, but I love being part of the community and, um, I think we all have so much to share.

[00:32:57] Jeanne Williams: I'm always happy to support anyone online or if they have any questions, if they reach out to me in messages or anything like that.

[00:33:06] Jennifer Wilson: That's so delightful and so terrific. Thank you again. And to all of our listeners, please remember that you have permission to Scrapbook Your Way.