SYW325 – Simplifying Annual Scrapbook Projects

Megan Dosch: [00:00:00] Sometimes I'm not motivated. Motivation does not always show up. I may get a page done and I have called it done. It is good enough. It's gonna be fine, because the end of the day, it is the collection of the whole that makes the album not the individual pages.

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 325. In this episode, I'm chatting with Megan Dosch about how she manages multiple scrapbook projects throughout the year.

She shares her process for completing digital and physical projects by working in small pockets of time and embracing good enough to keep documenting without burning out.

Hey Megan, welcome to Scrapbook Your Way.

Megan Dosch: Hi. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, I'm excited to chat with you, learn more about [00:01:00] your hobby and how you get things done. Can you start by sharing a little bit about yourself?

Megan Dosch: I am a mother of three, happily married for 14 years. And yeah, kiddos are 12, 10, and seven and we live in the middle of Kansas and so we are getting just dumped on with snow today. So this is a perfect scrapbooking day for me.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, for sure. Yeah. Will the kids have school you think on Monday? Uh.

Megan Dosch: Uh, the rumor is it's supposed to be really dangerous temperatures, so not because of the snow, but because of the cold. I think they will probably don't tell them that yet, but like I think they will probably be out on Monday.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, they're saying that for here too, so we'll see. Um, so yeah. Do you have a favorite recent layout or project? Something that really stands out as a favorite?

Megan Dosch: Well, like I said, 12, 10, and 7.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Megan Dosch: [00:02:00] Um, kiddos are just getting older. And, um, I feel like things are really changing, and transitioning in like a great way. And I always say, um, each phase each stage with them is always my favorite. And once again, this is my favorite stages where they're getting older we're just doing more fun things. You know, they can just hang out and it's not so much of like, you know, cleaning up messes and changing diapers and that sort of thing.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Megan Dosch: But, um, my daughter, just the other, night, she 10, um, I was, I was tucking her into bed and she said, mom, would you please sing me a lullaby? And I haven't sung a lullaby for a while now. Um, you know, it just used to do do it every single night night, and just transitioned out of that. And so I did, I sang her a lullaby, and immediately when I got into bed that night, I thought, I have to make a scrapbooking page about this. I want [00:03:00] to remember that things have changed so much in just such a brief amount of time. And um, I know I've documented before in like their baby books what their favorite lullabies were and the meaning and the story behind them all.

But this one was just more of a retrospective look at we've been and how far we've come and how much it has changed. And what an honor it was that she would even ask me to do that. Because yes, she's 10 and yes, she's getting too old for that, but at the same time, she still my little baby.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm. Yes. Yes.

Megan Dosch: So that, that was literally when I threw it together in five minutes or less, and just documented how special that moment was for me as a mom.

Um. I, I've really printed it the next day and put it in the album already. So really important to document those little tiny micro moments that you just look around and realize that these are the [00:04:00] moments that I'm gonna miss someday, you know?

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, certainly mine is my, I have one daughter and she is 14. I do have two older stepsons. They feature less in my scrapbooking because they both don't live here. But my daughter still, she will, I will be in the recliner and she's like, mom, can I come sit on your lap? And she's four or five inches taller than me.

Megan Dosch: Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: But it's adorable and so special.

Megan Dosch: So special. They grow so fast and you, it's such a cliche thing that people talk about all the time, but it really does change so quickly.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes. No doubt. So is there something inside of your hobby or inside of your everyday life that you're excited to do, use or try?

Megan Dosch: Oh gosh. I guess not super new. Um, I have always been kind of a, an artist on the side too. So the last few years I've started doing more mixed media. And just getting messy a lot more than I used to. [00:05:00] Um, I've always done, not always, I get, we'll get into that later. But, um, I'm more of a digital scrapbooker, so actually getting my hands messy and getting paint everywhere.

Um, I look forward to doing that. My son, my youngest, he um, loves to do art with me, so he has been asking recently if we can do a big, messy art project and I want to do a big, messy art project. So that's something I'm really looking forward to doing with him.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, that sounds so fun. Now, have you always been a digital scrapbooker?

Megan Dosch: I have. So my mom was actually who started me with scrapbooking. Um, we started scrapbooking when I was. 12 or 13. And that was back in the day of like the, you know, fancy scissors that did the decorative edges. And.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Megan Dosch: We 12 by 12 behemoth and albums that, um, are so heavy to carry around. But, um, so I started off [00:06:00] physical.

Um, I started. Project Life physical. Um, I just happened to stumble across it one day in my local Hobby Lobby store and I thought, oh, this is really cool, and kind of picked everything up. And, um, within a year of finding that, I found that there was an app that you could use and it completely transformed what I was doing. Because up until that point, I guess. I should back up a little bit. I, um, I learned how to use Photoshop when I was in college, an undergrad. Um, actually learned how to use it in a biology lab. So totally not scrapbooking related at all. But I immediately saw like, you could use this for scrapbooking, I could.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Megan Dosch: Totally cut things out and put it on a page and journal and, um, started doing digital that way.

I discovered Project Life separately as a physical product. Thought this is super cool, I wonder if I could do it in Photoshop. [00:07:00] And, um, then discovered the app. And once I found the app, um, I just, it really took off for me, I guess. Before that it had been mainly, like Photoshop or Shutterfly books. I didn't start out as a digital scrapbooker, but early on adopted it.

Jennifer Wilson: Sure, sure. And you know, there's something really unique about the Project Life app. I've talked to so many people who maybe used to be a scrapbooker back in those days of, you know, the, the funny edge scissors and things like that. And like, you know, there are ways today that are nothing like that you think of scrapbooking that could just fit in your pocket while you're waiting in the carpool line.

Um, and so yeah, it's, there's, there is something really unique and special about it.

Megan Dosch: Absolutely. And it's something so portable that I can, you know, do it while I'm sitting at a sports practice. I can do it while we're traveling. I can scrapbook in bed. That's actually usually where I'm probably [00:08:00] scrapbooking. Um, I. So, yeah, it, it's so unique to be able to take it with you everywhere that you go because before you had like the scrapbook station, right?

That you had to, you had to get prepared and sit down and get all of your stuff out. And I still love doing that today. I still have my scrapbook station, but it's super, super fun to be able to do it anywhere in the world.

Jennifer Wilson: Certainly, certainly. Yeah. And we'll get more into kind of which things you still try to do, you still enjoy doing physically versus your digital projects. But I really wanna focus on that you really seem centered around doing annual and extended duration projects. Does that, is that accurate?

Megan Dosch: Absolutely. Yes,

Jennifer Wilson: And so can you tell us, like what, you've already mentioned Project Life, but what projects have you participated in or completed?

And you know, how many times if you have an idea.

Megan Dosch: Okay. Yeah. So, um, Project Life, when I discovered the app was actually in 2015. It was the year that my, it was when I was pregnant with my daughter, [00:09:00] actually. And so I had made a few albums for my son, my first son at that time, um, through Shutterfly. And um, even like a pregnancy, pregnancy album. Um, so I started the Project Life the year that she was born. Um, I love that album.

I have done it every single year since 2015. And then I went back and I actually did up until 2013. Because that was when my son was born. Um. So, gosh, 13 years.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. Yeah.

Megan Dosch: Of Project Life. Um, and I have printed that differently. I have done, um, photo books. I started off doing photo books, um, printed through Shutterfly. Um, I actually had one fall apart. That's, that's, they replaced it and their customer service is great and I was very [00:10:00] thankful for it. But it did fall apart and it kind of gave me a little bit of a panic attack. So I started printing through Persnickety Prints. And putting them into page protectors. And I loved when I did that because at the time the kids were very young and they did like looking through them with their sticky little fingers.

And having that protective coating over them just, um, made me feel a whole lot better. And I can replace pages if they get ripped or what have you.

Jennifer Wilson: That's a really good point. Yeah. Sometimes we think of those as less shareable than the books, but maybe not for the extra littles.

Megan Dosch: Right. Um, so I've done that since my daughter was born. I started December Daily, the year that my youngest was born. And I once again went back and I decided, okay, I wanna at least have each of their first Christmases. So I went back and started, um, doing 2015, and then I did 2013. And I thought, oh, well it's kind of [00:11:00] silly. I'm just missing like a couple of years in between there. So for a stretch of time I was doing two December Daily albums each year. And trying to fill in the gaps of the years that I was missing.

So I have all of those.

Jennifer Wilson: Okay. We had to pause on that. How, how did you juggle that?

Megan Dosch: um, you know, I. I like to keep it simple.

Jennifer Wilson: Okay.

Megan Dosch: The, I think the coolest thing about scrapbooking, and we kind of touched on this already a little bit, is how much things have just changed so quickly. So even though I'm making like the same page, I'm making the same layout. I actually. think it was almost easier to do two albums.

That sounds absolutely absurd. Um, two albums at the same time because I was making very similar pages. And just plugging photos into it and telling the story just a little bit differently.

Jennifer Wilson: There's Something to be said for that. I mean, yeah.

Megan Dosch: Yeah. And so I already had kind of a formula going. I had all of my stuff out already. I just had to, had to plug in the journaling and the photos. [00:12:00] And I, yeah, at one, I was really glad to have that done. I'm really happy to focus on one album now. Um, but I don't really feel like it made it that, that much harder.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, that's really cool.

Megan Dosch: December Daily. I started doing October Daily a few years ago. Um, I think this is my third year. 2025 was my third year of completing that album. And I always do Week in The Life. I started doing Week in the Life shortly after I discovered Ali Edwards, and started following her. I'm not sure. It would've been when my kids were in grade school. So it was later on, um, when I started doing Week in the Life. And I would just add it in with my Project Life. I, I would just make like some extra spreads.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Megan Dosch: Um, that were more on the, on the one Week In The Life. And then I finally started doing a dedicated Week in The Life, I think in 2020. or 2021. Um, so I've been doing that for several years now. [00:13:00] And, um, I always do Day in the Life. That's always in my Project Life album also. And yeah, I think, oh, and One Little Word, that's another one of my, my passion projects. Um, love having, having that focus. And in fact, I, I love, love the community that that comes with and, and the journaling aspect and more documenting myself. Um, because scrapbooking is also for me, more of a journaling outlet than just a creative outlet. So. Then I also, gosh, these, I, I do a lot of projects now that I'm thinking about it. Um, I, um, also do 52 weeks of Me. That has been a project that has kind of evolved. It started off as, um, a Hundred Day Project, which I have actually never finished. Um, I, I always start strong and I never actually finish those projects.

Jennifer Wilson: It's [00:14:00] okay. I've never finished that either, so.

Megan Dosch: Yeah, so I started off as a Hundred Day, um, project and I had like prompts. I, I can't remember where I got the prompts from, but prompts for each day that I was going to answer the questions. And I did eventually work through it all the way, but it was not in a hundred days, it was over the course of several years.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Megan Dosch: Um, and so then once I ran out of those questions, I thought I gotta find something else. And that's when I found, um. I love it all Shop on Instagram. She had these prompts that were really wonderful. And very open-ended. Which was great because you could, um, you could really take these prompts in lots of different directions.

And so I made those really to focus on me. Because I had noticed that I wasn't getting in the album as much at that point. Um. I had really been focused on documenting what was happening with the kids, and that was a great way to be able to just journal and write some things down about myself. [00:15:00] Um, and about that same time as when I started getting, um, into Ali Edwards Story Kits. So those albums are actually. Just kind of ongoing albums of the first half is Story Kit focused, so just theme based storytelling. And then the second half is 50 Days Of Me. So I kind of have them divided up. And I think I have like three of those at this point. So.

Jennifer Wilson: How do you distinguish the stories that are included in, in 52 Weeks of Me versus your Project Life versus One Little Word?

Megan Dosch: Um, sometimes there's overlap. There's definitely overlap. But, um, I think with the 52 weeks of me, I really focus on the prompts. Um, I like having like a specific, you know, like. I, one of the most recent ones was just like, currently or my to-do list. And so sometimes I'm putting those things into Project Life, especially when it's a quieter week or, or even a super busy week.

I'll actually take a photo of [00:16:00] like what my to-do list is, just so I can remember like how, once again, how different it was from, versus the grocery list that I had that was like, diapers formula. You know, all of these things. Now we're, now we're like, my kids wanted me to buy them a Roblox gift card.

Jennifer Wilson: It does change.

Megan Dosch: So yeah, I, it changes a lot.

Yeah. Um, so yeah, I, I, that's more of a prompt based. And, um, I I don't necessarily focus on that one as much. It's more like when I feel like I want to journal and I'm not sure what I wanna journal about, I will look at what the prompts have been recently and make a scrapbook page based off of that.

Jennifer Wilson: Cool. Cool. I like that. Yeah. It sounds like you've kind of, you've created, you know, a number of different outlets for yourself depending on, you know, maybe what you're interested in, what's really motivating you in the moment. What, what do you think what, uh, creative and storytelling aspects attract you to focusing on projects, and particularly ones that are ongoing [00:17:00] or annual.

Megan Dosch: I like having a start and a finish. Um. I don't really, I don't love the projects that are really open-ended. I like to know what the beginning is and what the end is. Um, I like, I'm, I'm a planner, so I like checklists. I like to be able to check each one of those pages off the list. Um, so yeah, the, the start and the finish, I think is what really draws me to, to the, the annual projects.

Jennifer Wilson: And what would we have to say about your finishing ability? Are you like a to the T, like I'm ending Project Life on December 31st. Is it somewhere in January or somewhere eventually?

Megan Dosch: Somewhere eventually. Yeah, it's definitely, when I get to the end of a project, like I said, I print them through Persnickety Prints. So I don't actually have the physical copy in my hands yet. Um, I have printed maybe like January through March at this point, because that's probably about the time that I finished 2024.

Jennifer Wilson: [00:18:00] Okay.

Megan Dosch: Because I'm so anxious to get those pages, of course I'm ordering them and saving on shipping. Um, but I think that's the driving, the driving force at the end of my projects is I really wanna print them. I really wanna slide 'em into those pages, um, into those page protectors and be able to flip through and, and actually see, see the product of our labor.

Right.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. And I think also when you are doing mail order, whether it's for a completed digital page or even with photos, that the, the incentive to do it in a batch, uh, to save on shipping is a, is a really big, helpful incentive.

Megan Dosch: Exactly, and I live in the middle of nowhere, so it takes it a while for it to.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Megan Dosch: Get here.

Jennifer Wilson: So which projects that are on your plate this year you anticipate being on your plate? Will you do digitally versus using any physical products?

Megan Dosch: So December Daily is like my physical product baby. Like I, I, that's where I set up [00:19:00] the scrapbook area. I have all of the stuff out. It's a huge mess. It is a disaster right now. Because we're still working on that as we speak. Um. That will definitely be physical every year. One Little Word ends up usually being physical.

I have tried act, this is interesting. I've tried doing it digital multiple years and I have started off thinking, okay, this year I'm gonna do it digital. I have it all set up. I think that's a big key to success is planning it all out and getting it all set up. And then I just need that connection with pen and paper.

Um, in my One Little Word, I, it's such a private, personal, um, scrapbook or journal. Um, that I, I just crave the creativity and I, I do put a lot of my mixed media in that album as well. So, um, that one I have now decided I'm going to stop [00:20:00] trying to do it, stop forcing it to be digital. It will always be physical. Um, and then everything else is digital. Ev just, just about every, yeah, so Project Life, Week In the Life, Day In The Life, and October Daily will all be digital.

Jennifer Wilson: And what sizes are these? Are they all similar sizes or different sizes?

Megan Dosch: Different sizes. Yeah, great question. Yeah. Um, I do Project Life 12 by 12. I actually found the sweet spot of, I really liked 10 by 10, but that size was obviously not popular with anyone else because it disappeared. So, um, eight by eight is way too small for the amount of journaling that I wanna put on three by four cards.

So 12 by 12, it is. My October Daily, I print in an eight by 10 from Blurb. Actually, that's the only one that's a little bit different. Because I like to do, they're, I actually design them as six by eight layouts in Project Life, and then I print [00:21:00] them in eight by 10 because that's what's available. Let's see, Week In The Life will be, actually Week In The Life. I do in 10 by 10 because I can print that on Shutterfly that way.

Jennifer Wilson: Okay.

Megan Dosch: I am, I'm always kind of cognizant of how tiny my journaling's going to look in those, and I'm trying to spread out the journaling as much as I possibly can.

Jennifer Wilson: Now that your kids are older, would you print your Project Life as a book? Is that ever.

Megan Dosch: Oh.

Jennifer Wilson: Been a consideration?

Megan Dosch: I don't know. I, I think I've gotten to the point where I just love the bit I, they do, they take up so much real estate, but, um, I, I just love them.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. You gotta do what you love.

Megan Dosch: Love that I can replace pages.

Jennifer Wilson: Now just just for clarity, anything you're doing digital you're doing in the Project Life app

Megan Dosch: Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: And do you use only Project Life product or do you bring in other product too?

Megan Dosch: No, I am, I [00:22:00] love Ali Edwards design. So I am using mostly her, um, journaling cards and embellishments. Um, that is what I will be using in 2026.

Jennifer Wilson: And so do you use any apps with the Project Life app in order to, you know, to, you know, app inception where you can basically do things on smaller canvases and then bring them in? Or is it all in the one app?

Megan Dosch: Absolutely. Yes. No, I, I am, I am an app scrapper for sure. So some of my, obviously Project Life is, it trumps all it is. It is the end all and be all. And you can make an entire page just with that. Uh, you don't have to have anything else. But I, um, I love Word Swag is another app that I use that has really fun fonts.

Um, so I will do bullet journaling with that or titles, um, with Word Swag. I do not love the freeform [00:23:00] font feature in Project Life. It is, it, we just don't get along. And so a lot of my journaling I actually do in GoDaddy Studio. Um, I have used Canva. Canva is actually not my favorite. I feel like I just, um, once again GoDaddy Studio and I just jive.

We get along really well.

Jennifer Wilson: I find Canva hard to use on the phone.

Megan Dosch: Yes. Yeah. And, and I wanna be doing it on my phone.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Megan Dosch: That's a question I get asked pretty often too, is, um, I sometimes will do it on my iPad sometimes. But almost always I'm doing it on my phone. Like all of my scrapbooking is done almost exclusively on my phone. Um. So, yeah, I love the GoDaddy Studio that way. It, it's just more intuitive to bring outside journaling cards and journal on them. And save them as a photo and bring them into Project Life as a photo instead of as a journaling card. [00:24:00] Um, and then the last one that I love and, um, I'm so afraid it's getting discontinued, but I've been saying that for like the last two or three years is the Collect App. it is, it's like my backup. Like that is so when I am running behind and I haven't been scrapbooking regularly, it is my, my fail safe. So it is where I just jot down one photo, one word, or not one word, one caption.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Megan Dosch: And, um, can easily export those cards and bring them into Project Life and complete a spread really easily with a caption already on there.

And I don't have to worry about putting any other extra journaling on it.

Jennifer Wilson: I've, uh, yeah, I've been looking for a replacement for it. Because I do fear it the same, and I've tried so many different apps to see, like, they say they might do something similar, but then it's never, it's never quite the same. [00:25:00] Um.

Megan Dosch: You're gonna have to keep me updated if you find something.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Megan Dosch: I'll do the same. 'Cause I am constantly looking. Um, I have, I also, I use, um, Day One journaling app. I, I have used it to make a kind of a, a scrapbook with it before. But I, I don't use it religiously. I use it more like as a monthly brain dump. Where I just kind of write down some of the highlights and the things that we did over the course of the month. Um, but I have gone through and tried to do like the daily, um, daily photo and caption and yeah, it just doesn't export the same. Um, yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: It'd be really cool if there was, even, even at six by eight in the Project Life app to be able to do like simple photo and caption like.

Megan Dosch: Right.

Jennifer Wilson: Like, you know, the functionality's there. It's just not part of their, you know, not one of their designs. But that would be brilliant. And a total replacement for Collect, other than like the calendar [00:26:00] aspect of it.

Megan Dosch: Know we just have to get the word out there that we need Collect supported. Like.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Megan Dosch: Who out there is an app developer that can help us out here?

Jennifer Wilson: No doubt. Yeah, that's, that's a hard one, especially with the different operating systems too, is, I mean, it's never been available for Android, right?

Megan Dosch: Right. I don't think it has.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. So at least you can, you don't have to maintain two of them. So, all right. Someone out there, we, we need this.

Megan Dosch: Please help us.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, and maybe some of the apps that are trying to do similar. Maybe there's a communication need, like, okay, what, who's the closest, who seems like the most engaged with online community, and would they be amenable to like listening to, here you are, you're like 90% there. If you could only do this, it'd be great.

Megan Dosch: It's so simple.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. Yeah.

Megan Dosch: One photo, one caption, and the date. That's all we need.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm. Okay. Before we continue lamenting too much. Let's, uh, [00:27:00] um, you mentioned that you are a planner when it comes to your projects. So let's, like take Week In the Life for example. How would you plan that out? Are you working like one day at a time or are you thinking like, I'm putting this particular card in the top left of each week, each day? Um. You know, in a, in a pattern, if you will.

Megan Dosch: No. So there's layers to that plan. So. Week In The Life is such, for me personally, an intense look at our everyday life. And um, I just love it so much it. It definitely Project Life, of course, I love. But Week In The Life I might even love even more. Because it's such a zoomed in view of what, what our lives look like right now. Um, so for my planning, I, the very first thing I do is I open a new note on my notes app in my [00:28:00] phone. I write down as soon as I find out, like when the community documenting week is, and if it works into my schedule. Then I will write out Monday and the date. Tuesday and the date. at this point I have done it so many times that I just copy paste.

Um, and I, I know there's examples of it on my Instagram. Um, but I am doing the date, usually I'm picking a focus for Week in the Life. And then I have a checklist. So I know in Week In The Life I wanna have a picture of my coffee each day, wanna have a picture of the weather each day, and I wanna have a picture of the news each day.

So I have that checklist. And so while I'm documenting, I'm journaling in that notes app. And then I'm also taking photos of course. And at the end of the week I put each all of the photos from Monday into a Monday folder. And I go through and I [00:29:00] start favoriting and editing my photos for each day. I now have my journaling. Um. So I three layers or two layers at this point. The third layer is going in and actually creating those pages in my Project Life app.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Megan Dosch: So I'll open up a new folder, um, labeled with the project name. So Week In The Life, 2025, 2026. And, um, start putting in my pages. And, um, I like to have them titled so that they show up.

I, I export everything into Dropbox. That's kind of like my backup storage. And that's how I get everything over to Persnickety Prints to print it. Or for Week In The Life, it would be going to Shutterfly. And so if I, I have found this, this was a, you know, learned process. I have found that if I label them appropriately, title them appropriately, then they will show up in the right order.

And that saves a [00:30:00] ton of time at the end trying to figure out where's, where are all the Monday pages and how can I put those together? If they're all labeled, 01 Monday, then they show up together and they're in generally the correct order. So, once I have the pages in Project Life, that also starts to act as kind of my checklist. Because like I have these blank pages that are just sitting and waiting for journaling and, um, photos. So as I go through, obviously as they're filled out, I'm exporting them out to Dropbox. I can see like, okay, right now for 2025, I think I'm somewhere in the middle of Wednesday.

I have not kept up with that album, and that's going to be one of the next projects on my, on my to-do list. But, um, yeah, so the, the Project Life actually kind of serves as my checklist actually.

Jennifer Wilson: That's, that's cool. And you, you mentioned those specifically having like your photo and story checklist for Week in the Life. Do you do the same for [00:31:00] your regular Project Life?

Megan Dosch: No, no. Project Life. I try, I, I try not to stress out about it too much. I definitely want it done by the end. I, I, I don't plan a whole lot other than making the pages. So I have all 52 plus pages that are already ready to go for 2026. I actually did that last night as it started snowing here. I thought, oh, I'm just gonna sit on the couch and watch some tv, and I got all of my pages ready to go.

Jennifer Wilson: So does that mean you use like Design A or the same like style throughout the year? Okay.

Megan Dosch: Yes. So I, I use basically three styles. I use Design A, I use, um, this, I think it was called Big Squared Away for, um, birthdays. So each of the kids gets a page for their birthday.

Jennifer Wilson: Nice.

Megan Dosch: And the dogs, the dogs also do too. And then for like, special events like sport, you know, like a sports season or like something [00:32:00] that I wanna feature for each one of the kids.

I will do one of the Big Shots. It's like, has the bigger photo. And that's also for first days of school, last days of school. So I have all of those ready to go. And then for Project Life, it is just as simple as I sit down at the end of the week and it doesn't happen every week. But usually Sunday nights I will sit down and I will go through, first I'll go through the Collect app, which is another reason why I absolutely have to have that app continue forever. I go through the Collect app and fill out the week. One photo for each day and the caption, that kind of gets my brain thinking like, oh yeah, what did we do that like over the last week? Like, what happened? You know, how quickly we forget.

Jennifer Wilson: No doubt. Yes. Yes.

Megan Dosch: So what, what happened

Jennifer Wilson: What happened an hour ago? I don't know anymore.

Megan Dosch: Exactly. um, once I have that filled out, then I will go through my photos and just look at the previous week and [00:33:00] favorite the ones that I like the best.

And I will edit those right away. I do not do anything crazy to edit them. I literally use the auto edit on my, um, iPhone and if I like it, I keep it. And if I don't, then I don't edit it. Um, pretty simple.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Megan Dosch: So.

Jennifer Wilson: Good to have rules for yourself.

Megan Dosch: Right. I used to go through all kinds of stuff to edit. I, I don't do that anymore. It's either good or it's good enough. Um, once I have that, then I'll start putting them into my page. And sometimes I'll go ahead and do the journaling right then and there. Sometimes I like to sit on the journaling and let it marinate a little bit. And, I think there's something to be said for journaling in the moment, and also journaling retrospectively. And um, I like both. I like both forms, so sometimes it's like I just wanna write down like this, we did this, this, this, and this, and then other times I wanna go back and kinda write down what my [00:34:00] feelings were about this, this, this, and this.

Jennifer Wilson: Could you talk more about how when you are planning out, you have all 52 weeks plus, you know, your planned additions. And maybe there'll be some additional ones that you're not a hundred percent sure of. But um, how does that help you, like, uh, work through it, like, see your progress. 'Cause that's how I work too.

And some people don't, don't think about that or don't work that way at all. So I'm wondering like, why, why does that feel so satisfying?

Megan Dosch: I don't know. I feel like it's checking. I will. I'm literally the person that will write something down after I have done it so that I can check it off my list.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, of course.

Megan Dosch: There's something just super satisfying.

Jennifer Wilson: I did something I needed to count.

Megan Dosch: Yes. And moving on to the next one. I think that is just the way I was made.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I know it does make it, make it a visual checklist. Um, like I'm always, when I'm doing projects like that, I'm always kind of flipping through and seeing like, okay, where's the smallest hole? Then I can fill in. [00:35:00] And um, yeah, it's very motivating for me like that too.

Megan Dosch: Right. And sometimes, you know, sometimes I'm not motivated. Motivation does not always show up. So, um, I may get a page done and it, I have called it done. It is good enough. It's gonna be fine, because the end of the day, it is the collection of the whole that makes the album not the individual pages. Um. So I may have already said that I'm done with that page, but I look back at it and I'm like, Ooh, that's kind of, it looks kind of sad or kind of plain. I should really like embellish some things. And, um, I feel like some days I'm just way more creative and I will go in and I will actually embellish previous pages that I did.

Um, and that's my creative outlet. And I don't have to think about like, what do I actually wanna say about this photo? It's just like, I wanna add a cute little heart right here and that that brings me joy.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. And I mean, our brain's like, that's using different parts of your brain if you're trying to do both at the same [00:36:00] time. Um, which sometimes we can easily switch back and forth and sometimes it's just not happening.

Megan Dosch: Precisely.

Jennifer Wilson: Are there other things you do when you're not motivated? Any like tricks you've used or are you just patient and wait it out?

Megan Dosch: Oh, I, I would say if nothing else, I will, you will find more pages in my Project Life app folders that have photos and no journaling. Because as long as I have the photos on the page, um, I think actually it was Becky Higgins at one point said, uh, may have been one of the classes that I took from her. That, um if you don't know what to journal, like, just sit down and imagine that your best friend or your mom or your sister or whoever is sitting right next to you and what would you tell them about these pictures.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Megan Dosch: So like, if I have the pictures on the page, I can tell you something about them. Um, it may not be once again like the, in the moment journaling of what was specifically [00:37:00] happening, but it does evoke a feeling.

So, um, I can, I can tell you something. And then I can go back and fill in that journaling when I'm, I'm feeling, feeling the writing inspiration, come on.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, certainly. And the things we write in the moment versus weeks or months later are totally different. Um, and they're both valuable, but in very different ways. I think.

Megan Dosch: I also find, uh, you know, I, I share socially I'm on social media. So. I, I don't always share my pages right when I make them.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Megan Dosch: Um, so a lot of times when I, it's so crazy to me. I'll post them. And I'll start writing my caption and I'm like, oh man, I should have told this story. And I end up telling the story in my caption.

It's like so many layers of scrapbooking here.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Megan Dosch: I'm scrapbooking about scrapbooking here.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, we do that too sometimes. So.

Megan Dosch: Yes, we do.

Jennifer Wilson: So, with so many different projects that you are into, what is your workflow within a given week? You know, you said you're also trying to finish up [00:38:00] December Daily. So like how, how, how often are you touching each project? Do you have anything that's kind of a, a routine or a rhythm?

Megan Dosch: I am working on Project Life pretty regularly, just about every week. Um, the other projects I try to work on One Little Word at least once a month. I get behind on it. Um, especially when, you know, life gets crazy. I, it's not, it never becomes such a priority that I'm not, you know, doing, doing the things that I have to do and the things that I love doing with my family. Um, it's, it's, when I'm feeling creative, when I have that free moment, you know, every so often I'll get these big. Like today for example, we're snowed in. We're not going anywhere. We're not doing anything. We're watching movies. I'm scrapbooking. Like my, my kids will circulate in and out of my scrapbook room with me. My daughter will do some art [00:39:00] projects. I'm sure my son will do some art projects. My oldest son, his Xbox is literally just right around the corner, so he'll come down and, and hang out with me as well. I have those, you know, every so often you get lucky and you have these big blocks of time, but I really, am, and in life too. I believe in like Atomic Habits. That was a great book that I read that, you know, breaking things up into tiny little bits. So if you have like 10 minutes to work on something, work on it for 10 minutes. And you will have by the end of the week if you do that, you know, four or five times, that's, 40 to 50 minutes, that's a lot of time.

Jennifer Wilson: Is. It adds up.

Megan Dosch: On the project. Um, so those little tiny pockets of time is usually where I am working on my scrapbooking. But every so often you get lucky and you, you get, you get some creative time to yourself.

Jennifer Wilson: Is it, are you often, can we find you working after the kids go to bed or another time of the day in terms of like finding those pockets?

Megan Dosch: Yeah, it's usually after the kids go [00:40:00] to bed. Um, although now, you know, once again, we're transitioning. They're staying up later.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh my gosh. I'm almost always go to bed before my daughter now, so.

Megan Dosch: Yeah, so they are not completely asleep, but I have said goodnight. And I have told them that I am going to bed and I will work on it for about, you know, five or 10 minutes. And, um, then I always also have to shut my brain off. So I am, I'm reading after that.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Megan Dosch: So it's, it's not a, a, you know, sometimes we'll go down the rabbit hole of staying up way too late, scrapbooking. But I try not to do that.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, we, too many things you regret later these days. It's not, it's not just, yeah. So many choices with, you know, I bent over too weird, or I stayed up too late and now everything hurts, so.

Megan Dosch: Yeah, I got up from my computer chair.

Jennifer Wilson: I know.

Megan Dosch: I don't, I don't know why that hurt.

Jennifer Wilson: Are there projects you've done in the past that you wouldn't do again?

Megan Dosch: I definitely won't do One Little Word digitally ever [00:41:00] again.

Jennifer Wilson: Okay. Yeah.

Megan Dosch: Always be physical for sure. I, I think I have, I say this now, check back with me. But I say this now, I'm, I'm gonna write off, um, the, the a Hundred Day Project.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Megan Dosch: I'm seeing a lot of that on Instagram right now, and I'm being inspired by it, and I am, I'm staying strong. I'm not gonna do it.

Jennifer Wilson: I like the idea of like a little check, you know, a checklist of just a hundred circles to fill in without any pressure of doing it on consecutive days. Like, I wanna do this thing a hundred times in the next year-ish.

Megan Dosch: A hundred days someday. I, I'm down with that too. I, I like that movement.

Jennifer Wilson: I think that the, the hundred times project I think would work better for some of us.

Megan Dosch: Yeah, I don't know. I, I don't think I've ever. don't think there's too many projects that I've done that I, I hated.

Jennifer Wilson: Are there like, are there projects where you like that you also have to keep restraining yourself from like, you know what, I love that for somebody else, [00:42:00] it's probably not for me.

Megan Dosch: I used to do, um, like a November gratitude. I still, I still kind of do it if I have time. It used to be more of a thing. Now, I literally, I. If I do it, this is a big if. If I didn't do it well, I kind of went back and retrospectively did it for One Little Word. But like I'm doing October Daily and then I'm doing December Daily. Do I really need to do November Daily like.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Megan Dosch: That is what it always boils down to. But I have done it where I just have a page of journaling cards and I literally just write. I am grateful for, x, y, z on each one of those cards, one for each day of the month. And I do, I do that anyway. A lot of times throughout the year.

I'm big into gratitude journaling. I just usually write it in my planner.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Megan Dosch: Um, but taking it the next step further and actually documenting it and putting it into a scrapbook is not, is not a priority for me. So, um, if it [00:43:00] happens, great. If it doesn't, it's fine.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I've been really trying to ask myself, do I have to make this a thing or can it somehow go in my planner. Because there's always plenty of space. Um, and the answer for a lot of things ends up being yes. And I, I really appreciate that, that I'm having those conversations with myself.

Megan Dosch: Yes. Yes, absolutely. And, and just like once again, giving yourself grace, giving yourself permission to be like, enough is enough. Like that, that is enough. That is good enough. I love it the way that it is. It doesn't need to be extra.

Jennifer Wilson: I guess the flip question here then is, are there things that you're like, oh, I am like, I'm really wanting to start this. I wanna try this, I wanna buy this thing and, and do it.

Megan Dosch: Um, I, I think that really goes more into the artistic side for me. Um, um, doing more. Just doing more art. I, it, it's just a [00:44:00] really great outlet for me. Um, it's a great way for me to, you know, we always hear about the, like the flow state. I can definitely get into a flow state doing art and I think it's therapeutic. But it takes a lot of time. Um, and I'm not very patient and so waiting for things to dry is frustrating to me. I really got into, like I said, more of the mixed media in the last couple of years and really playing around with paint and art and paper. And I feel like it's an extension of my scrapbooking because a lot of times I'm journaling on that as well. Um. And so, yeah, I, I want to do more art, but as time allows. I, I feel like I got behind on a lot of my projects last year and once again, what, what does behind mean? It doesn't mean anything. There is no deadline. But I didn't feel like I got to scrapbook as much as I wanted to because I was taking more time for art. And, [00:45:00] um, guess I need to find a, a nice balance between the two. But I've already kind of decided 2026 is definitely going to be more of a scrapbooking year for me.

Jennifer Wilson: Nice. Nice. Yeah, it's like we go, we ebb and flow. We go through stages of what we feel like we most need, what's most important to us. And I love that we have options to, you know, to flex with it.

Megan Dosch: Yeah. Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: So, do you have any other advice for scrapbookers who are working on long-term projects and maybe it's kind of, it's bothering them that they're not caught up?

Megan Dosch: Oh yeah. No, don't, don't ever, don't ever feel behind. There's like, there's always going to be photos, there's always going to be thoughts about those photos. Um, always my number one tip is to just start where you're at now. Um, I feel like a lot of people will try to start at the beginning of the year, which of course we're, we're talking in January right now, so that wouldn't be a big deal now.

But [00:46:00] don't feel like you have to start at the beginning. Start right now. Like start where you are. So look at the week, the previous week. Look at the photos. Which ones are your best, choose them, journal about them. And then go to the week before that. And in fact, when I get behind that is exactly what I do.

I start with the most fresh memories, and then I work my way backwards. I never try to start at the beginning and work towards where I am. Um, because I want, I wanna have the, the freshest memories come out before, before they become old and stale as well.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, they're, I mean, they're often more exciting. It's easier to find like, what is the meaning? What, what is this? What is this even? What is happening here? Um. I think it's just an easier entry point, and so I definitely always encourage folks to do that, even if they feel like they're decades behind. Do not go back to 1988.

You need to start now, and maybe you took a picture of your beautiful fireplace and then you could incorporate that with a photo of a fireplace, your fireplace from 1988. And how life is so [00:47:00] different now that you know your, your kids are grown and now the grandkids come. And whatever, whatever your life stage is, those kind of comparisons can be super valuable.

Megan Dosch: I love those kind of pages. I love those then and now. And

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Megan Dosch: Love when Google will surprise me with those sometimes.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Megan Dosch: Me the little photo of like, look at these kids then and now. And I'm like, oh, I immediately, I have to save that and write something down about it so that I can scrapbook it later. I think the other thing I think people get hung up with on specifically Project Life is, um, weekly documenting, like doing a spread for each week. And I only do one page for each week. I don't do an entire spread. So, um, that's something that I think I do a little bit differently. But you don't have to do that. Like, um, sister is also a scrapbooker and she of course has to use Project Life because I insist that she does. And she loves it too. And that's, you know, one of our favorite things to do, although it doesn't happen as [00:48:00] much anymore with rowdy kids, but we used to get together and just kind of hang out and scrapbook on our phones and hang out.

Um, but her big thing was always, especially back before her youngest and or her oldest and my youngest are the same age. So I had kids she did not to begin with and she's like, I don't, we don't do anything, like nothing ever happens. We do the same thing every week. um, so the solution that we came up with for her was actually to scrapbook monthly. And so she would do one or two spreads per month. And then like, you know, if something happened like, she has this really great core group of friends that they do a lot of fun things together. And if they had an event, then she'd add in like event pages to kind of supplement just the, the monthly scrapbooking.

Um, but that was a, that was something that worked really well for her prior to kids, and I kind of foresee that as being something that I would consider doing after kids after we're.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Megan Dosch: Empty nesters and things are [00:49:00] not happening as much. Um, you know, as bam, bam, bam as they are right now.

Jennifer Wilson: I am curious with doing one page per week, does that allow you to fit all of your printed pages in one album?

Megan Dosch: Yes. Yeah, that is actually my goal. Um, my other, the other thing that's in the back of my mind is I do actually print, um, three copies. Three copies of each year for each one of the kids to someday have. Whether they want them or not, I don't know that they'll want them. Um, so I know that there's a limit on Shutterfly.

It's uh, what, 110 pages, I think.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Megan Dosch: 109. And so, um, I am really aware of trying to condense things as much as I can, but still tell the story. Like I don't wanna leave things out. And I do actually sometimes leave things out in their printed copies because it just didn't [00:50:00] fit. Um, my big Project Life albums, I know that I have room to put, you know, like certificates or, um, I can type up a longer story and put it in like a six by eight page protector, eight by 10 or something like that. Um, So yes, I do, I like for, same thing with December Daily. I like it to all be contained with one album. I have, side note, I guess I have, um, always been a planner. I always have a planner.

I always fitted in one year. And last year it ended up being in two planners. And I'm like, I am never doing that again. And I'm already thinking like, it's probably going to happen again. 'Cause I just, I don't know. I had more words this year. I was doing a lot more journaling in my planner and I had to, I had to expand it over too.

So, yeah, I want it to fit in one.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I mean, I understand like we, we have those, those needs. I don't know if they're neurotic or not, but I totally understand that.

Megan Dosch: [00:51:00] Absolutely. Yeah. It's a little bit crazy, but it's okay.

Jennifer Wilson: I, yeah, I, but I, I get it and I, I made the mis, I know it's a mistake, but my most success recently with a planner, I bought it mid-year and I'm like, oh my gosh. Like I have a, I have a half year, or you know, a school year planner and it kind of makes me squirrelly sometimes.

Megan Dosch: Yes. Yep. I want it to fit in one book. Um, it's just, yeah, I don't know. I have that per perfectionist side of me that's like, it has to be in one book. I have no idea where it comes from. And I don't know, I'm, it's so funny 'cause I, I feel like a lot of the other things I talk about is like, worry about it, be free.

Like enough is enough, it's gonna be good enough. Like everything's fine, but it has to fit in one book.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, I mean, it's a, it's a realistic parameter to give yourself so that you can, um, you know, hold, hold in some of the stories and words. There's, there will always be more things that we can scrapbook, but if we want it to fit in a book, which I think is, you know, is a [00:52:00] common desire, then we have to make certain choices.

Even doing digital Project Life versus physical allows you to fit it in one book. It's, I don't, I mean, you'd have to do monthly probably to do, be able to do, um, physical Project Life in one book. I think.

Megan Dosch: Right. Yeah. Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: So, yeah, I think those are, it's where we have to make, you know, helpful choices for our needs and desires.

Megan Dosch: Exactly.

Jennifer Wilson: Megan, this has been so delightful. Thank you for spending time with me. Can you share where our listeners can find you online?

Megan Dosch: Yeah, absolutely. I am mostly on Instagram. So you are going to find most of my reels and um, pages that I'm sharing are gonna be over there at Megan Scrapbooks. And then I do have a YouTube that I occasionally will post on. I am hoping to do a few more videos here coming up. Um, and that is Megan scrapbooks at, or, I'm sorry, hold on. I think it's like 79, [00:53:00] 65. It's not, it's not a nice clean YouTube name.

Jennifer Wilson: Okay, so MeganScrapbooks7965.

We will definitely find it.

Well, I hope you have a wonderful rest of your weekend. Again, thank you for spending time with me.

Megan Dosch: Thank you so much for having me, and thank you so much for doing this podcast. I've really enjoyed listening to it.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, thank you. It's so nice to hear that. To all of our listeners, please remember that you have permission to Scrapbook Your Way.