Elizabeth Albers is a mom of seven who has built a digital template design business in the margins of an extremely full life. She started as a paper scrapbooker, discovered digital through a friend, and quickly realized that designing page layouts was her favorite part of the whole process. Today she creates eclectic, photo-focused templates at Hey Scrapper and maintains a weekly scrapbooking practice that produces a complete family album every year.
- Her move from The Lilypad to Hey Scrapper gave her a more relaxed release schedule, which freed up time to learn Illustrator, take photography classes, and explore the hybrid scrapbooking community.
- Elizabeth designs her weekly templates to be finished in under 30 minutes, and she has kept up with them even during her daughter’s wedding week, proving that simple, intentional design makes consistency possible.
- She shares how batching her design work into evening time blocks and keeping a detailed daily checklist helps her run a creative business while homeschooling four kids at home.
Links Mentioned
- Elizabeth Albers Blog
- Scrapping with Liz on Instagram: @scrappingwithliz
- Scrapping with Liz on Facebook
- Waialea Bay Layout
- Hey Scrapper
- Hybrid Gallery at Hey Scrapper
- The Lily Pad
- Photoshop
- Canva
- Illustrator
- Shutterfly
- Blurb
- Persnickety Prints
- Creative Memories
- SYW296 – Disrupting the Status Quo with Elif Sahin
*Affiliate links help to support the work we do, at no additional cost to you.
Elizabeth Albers: [00:00:00] I have seen people do amazing creative things with templates, with my templates and with other templates, that I was like, "I would've never thought to take that direction with that template." So I think getting over that idea of like it's cheating. Think of it as a starting point, and go from there. Let the kit inspire you, let the photos inspire you, let the template inspire you. You can make it your own.
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 339. In this episode, I'm chatting with Elizabeth Albers about designing digital scrapbook templates that help memory keepers document their stories quickly and consistently.
Elizabeth shares how being a scrapbooker first shapes every template she creates, and why she believes getting your pages printed is the most important step of [00:01:00] all
Hey, Elizabeth, welcome to Scrapbook Your Way
Elizabeth Albers: Hey, thank you for having me.
Jennifer Wilson: Can you start by sharing a little bit about yourself?
Elizabeth Albers: Um, sure. Um, I'm Elizabeth or Liz online. Uh, I, um, am the mother to seven children. I've been married to my husband for 20, almost 27 years. Um, we live in Western North Carolina. Um, recently, um, my oldest daughter just got married, so that was fun.
Jennifer Wilson: Oh, congratulations.
Elizabeth Albers: Yeah. And last year my other, my second daughter got married. Uh, my daughter, my other daughter just graduated, so we're in this weird transition period with, we have four kids at, at home, three off doing their thing.
Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.
Elizabeth Albers: Yeah, so.
Jennifer Wilson: Super fun, yes. And how old's your youngest at this point?
Elizabeth Albers: Uh, she just turned 12.
Jennifer Wilson: Okay, okay. So still middle school age.
Elizabeth Albers: Yep, just now middle sc- getting into middle school. We're done with the elementary years. Yeah.
Jennifer Wilson: [00:02:00] Yeah. Do, like, do you feel that kind of wistfulness of like, this is my last one type of thing, and especially with the other ones getting, going off to their own families?
Elizabeth Albers: Yeah. I homeschool too, so I'm seeing like the light at the end of the tunnel, but I'm.
Jennifer Wilson: Oh, yeah.
Elizabeth Albers: I'm excited but I'm also like, "Oh no, this is, ah.
Jennifer Wilson: Yes.
Elizabeth Albers: Six more years, you know?
Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes. So I always like to ask our guests a few little icebreaker questions. Do you have a favorite recent layout or project that you've worked on, and why do you love it?
Elizabeth Albers: Oh, that's a tough question. So, um, every year I do a weekly scrapbook, uh, uh, album, uh, that shows our weekly life. It's just in a double page layout throughout the year, and that's... My most recent is usually my favorite just 'cause I love the project. I like looking back at those pages from the year. Um, but I was looking at another album that I'm working on.
It's a trip my husband and I took for our 25th wedding [00:03:00] anniversary two years ago to Hawaii.
And there's a recent recent page I created, um, of a beach we went to. And I was just looking at it now. I was looking through my pages, and it really stuck out to me. I really like it. Because it has, uh, the pictures are really big and beautiful on the page of the beach, and it just reminded me of our time there. Um, I think that's my favorite one. It's called Waialea Bay.
Jennifer Wilson: Um, Okay. Do you, do you have a shared online where we could link to it?
Elizabeth Albers: It is on my Instagram and my Facebook page.
Jennifer Wilson: Okay, perfect.
Elizabeth Albers: It's, it's a, it's a more recent post, so you should be able to find it.
Jennifer Wilson: Nice. Yeah, yeah, we'll definitely link that up in the show notes as well as, you know, anything else that you mentioned today. Now, is there something new that you're excited to do, use, or try, either in scrapbooking or in your everyday life?
Elizabeth Albers: Oh, I don't know. That's a tough question. Um, I'm, uh, I'm so in a routine of what I do. I have been very, um, inspired by, [00:04:00] um, hybrid scrappers. And I really want to try it. I really wanna try to do, like, a paper/digital, um, album. But, uh, honestly, I'm, I'm kind of afraid to try it. I'm afraid that, uh, I'll be really, almost kind of, like, be really hooked to it and wanna, wanna do that. Um, and time-wise, I just don't have time. But is something as my... I see my kids getting older and and having a little bit more free time, of something I would like to jump in and try to do.
Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes. So I, I remember one of my first YouTube videos a long time ago was like how I fit all of my scrapbooking supplies in one, one tiny cart. And that's because I was primarily a digital scrapbooker. And yeah, it's, it does spiral in- into the stuff.
Elizabeth Albers: Yeah.
Jennifer Wilson: Because then you wanna try the other thing, and then.
Elizabeth Albers: Mm-hmm
Jennifer Wilson: It's mixed media, and then all of a sudden you have a whole room full of stuff.
So.
Elizabeth Albers: Yeah.
Jennifer Wilson: I can get that for sure. So you are primarily a digital scrapbook template designer. How did you get started doing that versus, you [00:05:00] know, choosing to do something more like kits?
Elizabeth Albers: So when I start... I, I've been-- I was a traditional paper scrapbooker before I started digital scrapbooking. Um
Jennifer Wilson: Do you still have any of that stuff or did you kind of let go of it at some point?
Elizabeth Albers: I have the albums. I don't have the stuff.
Jennifer Wilson: Okay.
Elizabeth Albers: I actually, I do have some of the fun scissors. You remember the, the fun.
Jennifer Wilson: Oh yeah
Elizabeth Albers: Scallop scissors and all of those? Uh, I did hold on to those just mainly for my kids, 'cause.
Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.
Elizabeth Albers: Projects and things, you know, that's always fun. So I do have some of that stuff, but majority of it is, is long gone. So when my kids were really young, we had recently moved to North Carolina. I had made some new friends, and a friend just mentioned, "Oh, have you tried digital scrapbooking?" I was like, "What is that?" I...
"Show me." Um, and so she introduced me to Photoshop. She introduced me to digital kits, and so I started learning, you know, how to use Photoshop. How to, how to use the kits. [00:06:00] Um, and I, one of... When I was a paper scrapbooker, I loved of designing the page and laying it out. That was my favorite part of scrapbooking to me. Um, so naturally that translated into digital scrapbooking.
Um, and when I first started, I, I used a lot of free stuff online, 'cause I didn't want to, I didn't wanna invest heavily in case this was something I wasn't too sure about. So there were free templates, free kits, you know, back in the day.
Jennifer Wilson: Oh yeah, especially back then too.
Elizabeth Albers: Yeah. So I started off with the free stuff and, um, I came across a template one day and I...
So I tried it out, I was like, "Oh, I... This is pretty cool. I could totally make my own templates." Um, because I- that's the favorite, my favorite part of, um, designing a page. So, and I think too, it was probably a little bit easier to jump into designing a template than to designing a whole kit. So.
Jennifer Wilson: Certainly.
Elizabeth Albers: I, I did.
And I did, I did try to... I, I dabbled a little, [00:07:00] l- very, very tiny bit into designing, um, some papers and some elements and things like that, but my knowledge of Photoshop and-- was very limited. And with the time constraints of my family and homeschooling, I just didn't have time to, dive into learning all of that really well. Um, so I stuck with templates. It was my favorite part. It seemed natural. So, um, that's how that happened.
Jennifer Wilson: Now, do, are your templates based off a layout that you made, or do you start with, you know, the, the, the empty blocks a- and the concept for it?
Elizabeth Albers: I start out with an empty page. Um, so, so I might be inspired by some photos I have or a page I might wanna create or an album I might wanna create. But for the most part, it is just a blank page, and I, um, start out with that.
Jennifer Wilson: Nice, nice. So your templates are described as eclectic, fun, and easy to use. What, what makes a digital template easy to [00:08:00] use?
Elizabeth Albers: Okay, so for me, I think an, a template that is easy to use has minimal extra stuff. So we
have the basic, you know, photo spot, some journaling. What's... I was thinking what... I... Okay, I'm gonna be honest. I create templates for my- myself, and so I think about what do I wanna, what do I want on a template for my own personal scrapbooking? I want photo spots. I want journaling. I want a place for a title. I want a place for a date. Those are the most important aspects of, of a page to me. So I, I start with that, and then I might add a few elements in to kinda balance it out or add some, you know, creative fun. So to me, that's what makes a template, easy to use is, is ba- it has the basic parts and, and it's easy to kinda plug and go. Um, I do... And, and then the eclect- eclectic part of it, you know, I have, I have some creative templates out there, my art journaling sets, um, some blended photo type templates. [00:09:00] So I get creative there too, but even those templates are, are simple as in that it has the fun parts, but it's still simple enough where you can just kinda put your stuff in there, and it can be done quickly and easily.
Jennifer Wilson: Sure. So without a lot of, I mean, you can choose to e- embellish to your heart's content but, um, it feels complete without that too.
Elizabeth Albers: Yeah. Yeah.
Jennifer Wilson: So you mentioned that you do weekly pages, so this would be similar to maybe a, a paper scrapbooker's Project Life album.
Elizabeth Albers: Mm-hmm.
Jennifer Wilson: And, and you've talked about how you try to work on getting them done even during busy weeks.
Elizabeth Albers: Mm-hmm.
Jennifer Wilson: Can you talk more about how being a scrapbooker first and foremost informs how you design templates and the, the decisions that you make in terms of making series and different, different overall styles?
Elizabeth Albers: Yeah. So when I'm designing, especially on weekly template sets, I think, "What is my purpose this year? What do I want to make sure I capture on my pages for my family.
Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.
Elizabeth Albers: And so I, I, I want [00:10:00] to think about that first and foremost when I sit down to create a template or scrapbook. My weekly scrapbooking, um, the way I get it done quickly is when I design the templates, I design the templates to, um, be able to sit down and scrapbook them quickly. I think about what is my goal, do I wanna accomplish with my weekly, um, templates, with my weekly pages for my family.
So then when I sit down to, to scrapbook, kinda plug and go. I can get my pictures in there, I can get my journaling in there, I can add the few little fun things. And something that keeps me, um, keeps me on top of my projects, keeps me going, is that I sit down at the same, on the same day every week, and it's my number one priority is to get that weekly page done. So I make sure that's done before anything else.
Jennifer Wilson: What day of the week is that?
Elizabeth Albers: So usually Sunday afternoon or evening is kind of our break.
Jennifer Wilson: Okay.
Elizabeth Albers: You know, restful day. And so I'm like, "I'm
sitting down, I'm creating this page." Um, and this year's templates especially are... I've created them [00:11:00] especially simple. 'Cause I just know life has been crazy. So I even, even the week of my daughter's wedding, I completed my double page spread, which.
Jennifer Wilson: Oh, that's amazing.
Elizabeth Albers: You know, yeah. So I was able to sit down within 30 minutes, get my photos. I had my template ready, and just go and do it. Um, so that's something that keeps me, um, designing the template so that I can quickly and easily create those pages, but then also having that time set aside every week where my family knows this is Mom's time. I know, like, this is my time to focus on this and not have any distractions of other things I need to get done. And then also think about my family because my scrapbooks for my family have been a huge blessing. My kids love looking at them. It's helped them feel like, their place.
They get to see how our family was formed. They get to see the activities that we do, the, the way we do things together as a family. So it's just, it's a priority.
Jennifer Wilson: I love that. I love that. Yeah. No, it's, you, you do have to choose to make it a priority as well and. I think [00:12:00] that's, that's the difference between someone who can get it done in a busy week and someone who it, it's a lot harder. So talk to us a little bit about your design process? Are you doing a lot of batching work, or do you really work on a, on a schedule, a rhythm?
Or are you kind of a more organic creator in terms of waiting for that piece, point of inspiration?
Elizabeth Albers: So mostly I would say I am a batch worker. Mainly I have very limited time. I... Usually my design work is done in the evenings after the kids are in bed. I have, you know, a couple hours in the evenings. Um, and so each evening I kind of have a thing, okay, Monday night's this. You know, my, I might be getting, uh, my, my template packs in packaged up and d- and zipped and all of that. Uh, Tuesday my, Tuesday and Wednesday are usually design nights. Thursday is usually getting my newsletter ready and marketing stuff. So I do s- kind of have that batch process. Now, I will say sometimes I get in the zone. And I, I get working on a [00:13:00] template pack or an album, and it's all coming to me, and I'm like, "I got it."
Like, I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna do this until it stops, until the creativity.
Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.
Elizabeth Albers: Just stops.
Jennifer Wilson: Yeah
Elizabeth Albers: That happens sometimes. Um, but for the most part, I do have a... I'm a type A person. I have a schedule. I have a checklist. Um, so that's, that's how, kinda how that works.
Jennifer Wilson: I'm curious, and this is, this is kind of a follow-up question, um, what advice you might have to someone else who, uh, is an aspiring business owner but also has a very full, busy family life and is trying to fit these things into the margins. What have you, what have you learned about not even just your choices of what to do, but maybe even choices of what, what you can't do?
Like, I just don't have time for that.
Elizabeth Albers: Yeah. So I am a big list person, and so what I... And I, I make a schedule, you know, Monday through Saturday or Monday through Friday, at whatever days are available to you. And I, I have a very [00:14:00] detailed checklist, even if it's the simplest thing, and I try to really focus on that checklist, like not get sidetracked. You know, we can easily get sidetracked by the internet or by a fun little project over here or whatever. Um, so I go through that list every night, like am I, have I done this? Have I done this? Have I done this? But I keep it pretty simple, too, um, so that I'm, it's not, it's not overwhelming. And that's the, kind of the approach I take to daily life is, you know, even when it comes to thing as like cleaning the house.
Like if I can just clean for 15 minutes every day, I can, I can keep my house straightened up. If I can just sit down.
Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.
Elizabeth Albers: And, design a template for 15 minutes or sit down for 15 minutes and scrapbook, I, and I can do simple, do, do kind of that simple process every day. I can get something done by the end of the week.
Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes.
Elizabeth Albers: I would say break it down into the small chunks, make a list, don't get sidetracked. S- um, that's, and that's also my Type A personality. So that has [00:15:00] helped me sort of at the end of the day, especially when you're tired or worn out and you're like, "Well, maybe I'll just," you know. But I look at that list, I'm like, "Well, first I gotta get through this list, um, then maybe I can scrapbook or desi- m- do some fun designing or do whatever." But that list really helps me stay focused, um, to get done what I need to get done.
Jennifer Wilson: Well and I think for everyone, if you can really believe that 15 minutes counts and is substantial, like when you really do focus, put down your phone, and don't look at anything else, and do something for 15 minutes, you can get a lot done.
Elizabeth Albers: Yeah.
Jennifer Wilson: And sometimes it just because time can, uh, fritter away so easily, and I am 110% guilty of that, you don't, you don't always believe it.
Elizabeth Albers: Yeah. Yeah. So it
does. Those time chunks help.
Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes. So it looks like you have kind of different template series for your weekly pages depending on how someone wants to approach it. Uh, you have Tell Your Story series, a Note series. How do you approach [00:16:00] designing your weekly templates versus ones that are not for that type of storytelling?
Elizabeth Albers: Um, so weekly, my weekly templates, um, and my monthly templates, I would say I'm really focused on, I know how I would wanna approach that as a scrapbooker. I
want something where I can get these pages in and they have s- very specific things in them. You know, you have your journaling. If it's a monthly template, uh, maybe it has some specific things to do with that month that I know that are happening, like, you know, in June, or May and June you have end of school year or vacation.
So there's some, a little bit of maybe that thrown in on the template. So those specific things. But mainly my goal with those would be, uh, quick, easy, get it in there, get the main parts. Um, those, that's my goal for those types of templates. For templates outside of that, more, the more eclectic side, maybe the more creative side, so to speak, um, there's a little bit more freedom there. And I try to let [00:17:00] myself, um, think about me as a creative person.
If I just wanna sit down and create a page for art's sake, if that makes sense. I might add... I'm gonna add some of those fun things in there that maybe I don't try all the time. Or maybe my normal scrapbooker, uh, customer base doesn't try all the time, to give them some kind of encouragement. Like, think outside the box a little bit.
Try some fun journaling. Journaling like wavy lines or try some stamps.
Jennifer Wilson: yeah
Elizabeth Albers: Some, some things that maybe that you're not necessarily gonna use on those weekly or monthly pages where you're just trying to document your, um, you know, your year or your week in a quick and easy way.
Jennifer Wilson: Well and especially I think, you know, I've noticed with some of your templates, I mean, it's a, it's a truly original design where you're fitting papers to, to certain shapes that you may not come up with on your own. And so I think that, that really, um, highlights the value of, of using templates for getting started when you wanna do something.
You wanna have the freedom to, you know, choose all the things, but not have to [00:18:00] come up with the idea.
Elizabeth Albers: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Jennifer Wilson: So we've mentioned that, you know, your audience is primarily digital scrapbookers. Mine skews a little bit more towards paper and hybrid, but I certainly have a lot of digital scrapbookers in the community. Um, what do you think paper scrapbookers misunderstand or underestimate about being a digital scrapbooker?
Elizabeth Albers: Hmm. I don't know. I'm, I'm... Uh, maybe it's less creative. I don't know, maybe it's not.
Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.
Elizabeth Albers: You know, it's because you're not working with your hands and real materials, so to speak. Um, but I've seen some beautiful, especially at Hey Scrapper, some beautiful, um, artists create these layouts using my digital templates, but making paper, um, pages with them.
So I think it's can be fairly e- very easily crossed over. And used as a start- a template can be used as a starting point, for those hybrid scrapbookers. But I th- I think they're both equally, can [00:19:00] both be equally creative.
Jennifer Wilson: Certainly.
Elizabeth Albers: So.
Jennifer Wilson: Do you think it's easier to be a digital scrapbooker in 2026 than it was in, say, 2006?
Elizabeth Albers: Probably. Because there are other programs out there to use
that, that are more drop and go programs rather than Photoshop had a, has a pretty high learning curve. Um, so I think in that way, and then obviously all, you know, we're all taking digital photos. So it's all the photos are digital. So if you're a paper scrapbooker, you know, that's another step.
You have to print those out. And, so I think, I think it's easier. Um, there's more resources, there's easier programs to use, um, than when I first started back in the day.
Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, yeah. Do you, um, are your templates delivered only as a PSD file? Do you provide the PNGs? And do you still, like, get a lot of requests for alternate formats and, and where you have to say, you know, "I can only do so many things"?
Elizabeth Albers: Yeah, I have [00:20:00] PSD, TIFF, and PNG, and then page files, um, for Ar-Artisan creators. I, have... The, the only request I've gotten is, um, probably to work with Canva and make Canva templates. And I've tested it out. I've tried, um, to see how that might work. Basic template-- my basic PSD templates will work in Canva. Um, the ones with more unique photo spots or journaling don't necessarily, aren't as easy to use. But you could still possibly use them as a starting point. That's recently the, the only, um, requests, um, I've been, I've received, you know.
Jennifer Wilson: It's so interesting cause I am, I guess I'm glad that Canva bought Affinity. Because Affinity's a great program, and they know how to actually do drop shadows, whereas Canva still hasn't seemed to figure that out.
Elizabeth Albers: Yeah. Yeah. I think that all, from-- I've tried different programs just so I kinda know, but I [00:21:00] do think, and I'm, been using Photoshop for 20 years, you know?
Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.
Elizabeth Albers: Crazy to say. But, um, Photoshop is, I think has the m- you just have a lot to work with and a lot you can do in Photoshop compared to some other programs.
Jennifer Wilson: Oh, certainly, yes. So you mentioned that you have some curiosity about doing more hybrid work. You might wanna start dabbling in that again, I'm sure that's part of being at Hey Scrapper. It, it tries to, to bridge this divide between the digital and paper communities.
Um, are you seeing more folks use your templates as a starting point for hybrid pages?
Elizabeth Albers: I've had-- I have seen a few. Especially at Hey Scrapper, and I think it's very inspiring, so I'm hoping that ki- you know, it kinda takes off and I think s- sometimes when I'm creating those more, um, creative or like art journaling or kinda have u-unique photo spots or unique pa- um, paper spots, I do have, actually have the hybrid scrapper in mind. 'Cause I think, um, this would be so much [00:22:00] easier if you use a template to get some of these shapes or some of the, these design elements into that hybrid, um, layout.
Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, it'd be so interesting to like have the template be literally all the pieces on the page, like all the layers separated, not overlapping, so that you could just clip your papers and then print that out rather than... I tend to think of like, of, of hybrid, like true hybrid as I'm gonna print the embellishments and either cut them out myself or do print and cut, and/or I'm gonna print out, you know, larger pieces of paper from that. But actually having like the clipped shapes printed out, that would be really interesting.
Elizabeth Albers: Yeah. There's, there's some scrapbookers at Hey Scrapper who do that. Maybe I'll, um, sh- give the links and you can share some of those pages.
Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, that would be fabulous. When you think about the scrapbookers who get the most out of your templates, what do you think they have in common? Like, think about some of your very best customers, maybe some of your creative team members.
Elizabeth Albers: Mm-hmm.
Jennifer Wilson: what qualities do they share?
Elizabeth Albers: I think, um, [00:23:00] that probably the focus for the pages are usually on the photos.
They wanna scrapbook their photos. They wanna keep it simpler. Um, the, the majority of pages I see that, that's, that stand out to me are that, that more people have used my templates is they... I can tell they want to show their photos off.
Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.
Elizabeth Albers: That's an, that's sort of that number one thing about, especially my weekly life or monthly templates is, is focusing on the photos and just the memories. Not necessarily all the, the extra stuff.
Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes, I love that. So I remember back in the day, I felt like there was such a debate about templates, and it was almost between digital and paper scrapbookers, and they're like, um, it's like digital was bad enough, but now you're gonna use a template too? Like, that's truly cheating. I don't know. I had a, like a, a Twitter, uh, [00:24:00] argument with Noel Hyman about using templates in, I don't know, 2009 or something.
And yeah, have, how have you seen that evolved, and is there anything that like, that you still want more scrapbookers to understand about using your templates?
Elizabeth Albers: Yeah. So I think, I, I think there's a, there's like been an ebb and flow with template use. And I think it took off, took off for a while. I mean, I know in
the beginning it was kind of like, "Eh, I don't know about this." But I, I think what people need to understand is using a template is just a starting point.
It's, it can be a creative.
Jennifer Wilson: Yes.
Elizabeth Albers: Starting point. So if you're, if you are... I think there's could be two, two purposes with templates. One, and, uh, my weekly sets, my monthly sets, it is about documenting the memories, getting that in an album so that you can share it with your family and friends. Then there's the creative aspect of scrapbooking, where we wanna be creative and we wanna, um, a beautiful page that's our own, so- sort of has our own stamp on [00:25:00] it. Um, but that template again, is just a starting point. You can add or take away whatever you want to it. I have seen people do amazing creative things with templates, with my templates and with other templates, that I was like, "I would've never thought to take that direction with that template." So I think getting over that idea of like it's cheating. Think of it as a starting point, and go from there. Let the kit inspire you, let the photos inspire you, let the template inspire you. You can make it your own.
Jennifer Wilson: Well, I think with like so many things in life, it's much easier to react to something than to start with a blank page.
Elizabeth Albers: Mm-hmm.
Jennifer Wilson: I think that's why many of us feel like it's, it's easier to edit something than write something from scratch. Um, because we're reacting to it and making choices, yes or no. Do we like this? Do we not like this?
Elizabeth Albers: Yeah. Yeah.
Jennifer Wilson: So it just gives you that place to start even if you completely change it and it looks nothing like the template when you finish.
Elizabeth Albers: I'm a homeschooler, so I'm applying this to other areas. Well, I think of, you know, when you're teaching your student to write a essay, you start with a [00:26:00] outline, right? You're not just gonna give a blank.
Jennifer Wilson: Yep.
Elizabeth Albers: Canvas of like, "Do whatever," you know? And as they use that outline, as they use that template, they get better and better and get more creative.
And so I think it can just be the same way. Like, it's, a template, if it's a good template, has that good core to it, you can build on it, um, and do what you want with it
Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes. Definitely, 100%. I think one other thing that stands out to me is that I feel like if you start digital scrapbooking with templates and just learn how to do a clipping mask, like you don't have to know 98% of what Photoshop does, but if you can do those things, you
can, you can make your layout.
Elizabeth Albers: Yeah, yeah. How, that's how I started. I mean.
Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.
Elizabeth Albers: You know, and I think it's a great... If you wanna learn Photoshop, it's a great way to start.
Jennifer Wilson: So you've been at this since at least 2012. Was it before that? Blogging, YouTube, Instagram.[00:27:00]
Elizabeth Albers: So I started-- So my daugh- my, my daughter was, I remember we moved up here and she was about six months old, so that was 2008. When my
friend introduced me to Photoshop and digital scrapbooking. I think it took me about a year or two before I kind of s- kind of, um, took it into the blogging. I sort of, I think I started with a blog and just started sharing my pages, and I was, I started creating free templates. And that's how I started. And then I think, I cannot remember exactly when I started at Scrap Orchard. That was my first store. So that might have been 2000, that might have been 2012, 2011.
Jennifer Wilson: Okay. Awesome. How has, like how has your approach to showing up online evolved over the years? Especially, you know, since you've been in the, like the busy family season of life for, for so much of that or all of that really.
Elizabeth Albers: Yeah. So this is, uh, this, at, at the beginning it was a little bit easier because it was just taking off, [00:28:00] you know, blogging, Facebook. It, it was kinda easier to get into it and figure it all out, and I was, I was younger, I was more, like I kinda knew what was going on in that, that world. And as I've gotten older and more kids and, um, I would say that learning curve of social media, social, being socially present has, has gotten harder. I think 'cause there's just more out there.
Jennifer Wilson: Yes.
Elizabeth Albers: I, this goes back to my tried and true schedule. Like I have some basic things I do, um, that just keep me present. Now it might not be the best way to do things currently. But it's... But I'm like it's, I'm, I'm doing what I can with the time that I have. Um, through my blog post. I still have a blog, my same blog. I still put my pages out there. I share my pages on Instagram and, you know, my new releases out there and Facebook. I every once in a while try to be creative, you know, and put a little reel or something like that. But I can't, that's something I'm having a harder time [00:29:00] finding time for or wrapping my brain around as I get, um, get older or I don't know, social media stuff changes. I guess the most important thing to me about being present online is I do wanna share. I love sharing my weekly pages. I like showing people how you can do this, you know, you can do this every week. You can
scrapbook a page every week and make an album for your family. I think that's probably my number one, uh, goal of being present online would be sharing my weekly pages and saying, "At the end of the year, you can have a complete album for your, for your family."
And then I sh- throw in my extra creative pages every once in a while that I've done for other albums or other projects. But I just wanna show people, "Here I am. This is my page. You can do this." it's, that's kind of my extent of, of what I, um, have time for online, I guess. So to speak, and sharing and being, trying to be present in that way.
Jennifer Wilson: Well, it sounds like that's kind of [00:30:00] deeply integrated with your motivation to keep designing, and like your your personal scrapbooking fuels your interest and passion for sharing these tools with your audience.
Elizabeth Albers: Yeah, and when I'm creating, especially my weekly set, when I'm sitting down and creating those templates, I think, I, I'll be honest, I'm a little bit selfish. I'm creating them for myself.
Jennifer Wilson: Sure. Yeah.
Elizabeth Albers: That is my goal. Like, I, I... if I couldn't make these scrapbook albums for my family, um, I don't, I don't know. I don't know that I would be doing what I'm doing.
Jennifer Wilson: Do you print your pages as a book at the end of the year?
Elizabeth Albers: Yes. Yep.
Jennifer Wilson: And do you have a, a service that you really love to use?
Elizabeth Albers: I've tried different ones. Uh, I've done Shutterfly and Blurb. I've done the, um... I've used Persnickety Prints to print 12 by 12 pages and put them in a three-ring album. The last couple years I've done Shutterfly. It just seems like the easiest and, um, the, um, you know, [00:31:00] you can get the...
wait for a deal, get it done, done pretty cheaply with a good deal. But yeah, and that's an, that's another important thing I tell people, and I want, wanna make people sh- you know, you're creating these digital pages, print them.
'Cause that's how people are really gonna enjoy them. And my family, mean, they...
I would say every week at least an, a scrapbook album is pulled out, and it's really fun. Or we'll do an event, or we'll think of... Um, my kids will be like, "Oh, I remember that." And they'll, they're like, "When was that?" And so they'll go find the scrapbook album, find the page. They're like, "Oh yeah, that was, you know, so and so, and that was..." So it's... having them printed is, I think, super important.
Jennifer Wilson: That's really cool. Yeah, no, I totally agree. Um, whether it's just printing photos, printing your digital pages, or actually getting your paper layouts into albums, we need to make sure that we're closing that loop and, and getting our work shared.
Elizabeth Albers: Yeah.
Jennifer Wilson: So last year you moved to Hey Scrapper after a long time with The Lily Pad. How has that transition been for you?
Elizabeth Albers: So [00:32:00] it's, uh, it's been great. I think it's helped me... The way Elif has set out the release schedule and, um, the calendar, it's, it's actually relaxed me a little bit.
So that I've had a little bit more time to try some new things and experiment. And I'm a, like I said, I'm a Type A person, so if there was a release every week, I- that's what I'm...
You know, I'm, I'm releasing something every week, and at Hey Scrapper, we release, make, uh, new releases every, uh, two times a month. So that has freed me up a little bit. So I've learned Illustrator some more. I've done some photography classes. Um, so it's actually helped my creativ- creativity a little bit. Um, and then also I love seeing, it's, it's a different... There's some different design styles there, and so it... I see the hybrid scrappers using my templates.
Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.
Elizabeth Albers: So it's, it's been inspirational in that way. Um, it's, it's been a tr- I mean, it's, it w- it was definitely hard moving away from The Lily Pad. It was... I was there for a long time.
A lot of, [00:33:00] a lot of people, a lot of, um, customers, a lot of, um, friends. But through social media and all that, we still... There's still connection there. So it's been, been good.
Jennifer Wilson: We will, we will link, uh, Elif's episode, um, that she did with us right when, uh, Hey Scrapper launched. Because she really talks a lot about how she wanted to create a, um, a designer supportive environment, and how important that was to the whole, the whole business model.
Elizabeth Albers: Yeah. Yeah. It's, it, it helped me, just be a little bit more relaxed in that sense, but then also focus on some other creative and design, like learning some different, learning some new things.
Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.
Elizabeth Albers: So yeah, she did a good job at that.
Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. If, if you, spaciousness is what breeds, you know, new creativity, new ideas, um, for sure. So just to wrap up here, is there one thing you want listeners to know about you or your work that doesn't always come through online?
Elizabeth Albers: Oh, I don't know. I thought about this. I, I would hope that I'm, I'm transparent [00:34:00] online with the way I scrapbook and the way I design things. So if not, if people don't know this about me, I, I do. I scrapbook, I design for myself. I'm always thinking about what... How would I want this page to look? Would I, would I personally use this template myself? so I, I, I think about that a lot when I'm designing. You know, also feel free to message me, ask me questions. Like I love, I love... I always say there's a couple things I love talking about. I love talking about scrapbooking.
Jennifer Wilson: Yes.
Elizabeth Albers: And I love talking about homeschooling. So like anybody wants.
Jennifer Wilson: Okay.
Elizabeth Albers: To ask me any questions on those things, you know, just send message.
Jennifer Wilson: Wonderful. Can you share where our listeners can find you online? Anything else you might have new or coming up that you'd like to tease, um, for later this year?
Elizabeth Albers: You can find me at scrappingwithliz.com, that's my blog, and then Hey Scrapper. Um, and then you can find... Also, [00:35:00] I'm on Instagram and Facebook under Scrapping with Liz, so you can find me there. And, oh yeah, something I have coming up. Okay. So my family and I have a really fun summer trip coming up. It's, it's, it's big, and it's something we've been looking forward to for several years. And so keeping that in mind, I've been designing a special vacation album. That will be coming out hopefully in July. And I've, I've... As I've been designing it, I've been really thinking, how do I wanna scrap- how am I going to wanna scrapbook this vacation?
Thinking about the kinds of photos I'm gonna take and the kind of memories I wanna document. So I've kept that in mind. So that's a, that's gonna be a bigger album that's gonna be coming out in, July. And I'm hoping to have multiple different sizes of albums, so there's gonna be a variety, uh, um, for all different kind of, um, hybrid scrapbookers and digital t- 12 by 12 traditional scrapbookers. So, um, look out for that.
Jennifer Wilson: Can [00:36:00] you share whether the album would work for any kind of trip, or it's specific to a location or type of trip?
Elizabeth Albers: It, it will work for any trip.
Jennifer Wilson: Okay.
Elizabeth Albers: Uh, well actually, and it will be very easily, um, u- can be very easily used just for any sort of album. It's not gonna be a specific area or specific place, or even really specifically vacation.
Jennifer Wilson: Sure.
Elizabeth Albers: I'm calling it a vacation album. There'll be some vacation-type elements on it that you can definitely use or not use. Um, but I'm just thinking of the big, beautiful pictures I imagine taking on our vacation.
Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.
Elizabeth Albers: Uh, so it's kinda h- I'm keeping that in mind when I'm.
Jennifer Wilson: Wonderful. I can't wait to see it.
Elizabeth Albers: Also, I think it would work really well 'cause I have, I have two weddings that I still need to scrapbook. I'm thinking, "Oh, this, this might work really good for big, beautiful wedding photos too."
So, yeah, it should be good for, for any, any type of, uh, that, that [00:37:00] type of album. So.
Jennifer Wilson: Wonderful. Do you feel, like, intimidated to scrapbook your daughters' weddings? 'Cause these are so, like, so big and important.
Elizabeth Albers: It's, so probably. Because I haven't even started my, my daughter's wedding from last year. I haven't even started it. And I did ask her, I said, "So, want me to scrapbook this? Is this something..." She, 'cause she dabbled in digital scrapbooking a little bit. "Is this something you wanna do? What..." She's like, "I don't know, Mom, you do whatever you want." And so it is, I'm like, "I don't know." Too much freedom.
Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.
Elizabeth Albers: It is, it's, it's so, it is, it's... And when I think about my, my wedding album, I was a paper scrapbooker, did Creative Memories with all the fun scissors. So I look back and I'm just like, Ah, I don't know." I, I... So I, I wanna, I, I don't know. I haven't, it-- That's probably why I haven't even started or thought about it really, because it is a little bit daunting and overwhelming. Um.
Jennifer Wilson: I bet. I bet
Elizabeth Albers: But um, [00:38:00] think, I mean, it's definitely something I want to do, and it's on the back of my mind. Um, so maybe it will be next year's goal. We'll see
Jennifer Wilson: Sure, sure. Yeah, no, best of luck on that. Um, I'm sure you'll come up with a, an original beautiful idea for that too, so. Thank you so much for spending time with me.
Elizabeth Albers: Yeah. Thank you for having me. This was fun.
Jennifer Wilson: And to all of our listeners, please remember that you have permission to scrapbook your way.
Sign up to receive email updates
Enter your name and email address below and I'll send you periodic updates about the podcast.
How to Subscribe
The best way to listen to Scrapbook Your Way is with a podcast player on your mobile device or with iTunes on your computer. You can subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or by searching for “Scrapbook Your Way” in your favorite podcast app.
Scrapbooking an entire album each year sounds like a solid way to capture memories. Do you have a specific theme you recommend for each album?