SYW340 – Decluttering and Reorganizing Your Scrapbook Supplies with Rebeca Ruiz

Rebeca Ruiz: [00:00:00] having this space organized feeling good when someone enters here and don't see a lot of things that are not in the correct placement. So I'm so happy about that. And I know that I can sit at any moment that I want and create just for me or for design team or for a gift, whatever I want to do. Now I feel very good that I can do it.

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 340. In this episode, I'm chatting with Rebecca Ruiz about her craft room renovation, the massive decluttering project that came with it, and how reorganizing her supplies by collection has changed the way she creates

Rebecca, welcome back to Scrapbook Your Way

Rebeca Ruiz: Thank you. How are you, Jennifer?

Jennifer Wilson: I am great today. It's getting a [00:01:00] little bit warm here. I imagine it is for you as well, and, uh, I'm looking forward to our chat.

Rebeca Ruiz: Here is very, um, humid and very hot. It feels around 80, um, sorry, around 100 degrees.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh my gosh.

Rebeca Ruiz: Very hot. We are in the air conditioner all day.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I bet. So, um, for those who haven't listened to your previous episode, which we'll of course link in the show notes to this episode, can you share a little bit about yourself?

Rebeca Ruiz: Well, my name is Rebeca Ruiz. I am from Puerto Rico, a small island in the Caribbean. I was born and raised here. I have 48 years. I- my birthday was, I think last week or two weeks ago in, at the end of May. I have two daughters. One is 21, the other is nine years. And I'm with my husband. We've been married for around, oh, in July we, we will be celebrating [00:02:00] 23 years of marriage. So.

Jennifer Wilson: Congratulations and happy birthday, so

Rebeca Ruiz: Thank you. We are always at our home. We enjoying be- being here and we, when we travel, we want, we travel together. We like to spend a lot of time together, so we are family people.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm. Now, of course, I always like to ask our guests about things that are exciting them. Do you have a favorite, um, recent layout or project?

Rebeca Ruiz: Well, uh, I love all my projects. I, I really enjoy doing a scrapbook. This is like a passion for me. And when I share a layout, it's because I like it. Um, if I don't like it, I never share it. So I don't have any favorite. Maybe I can say that I'm very happy because recently I've been doing more layouts about myself, using photos of myself, trying to, to take selfies, and trying to [00:03:00] scrapbook about me. So this can be something that is getting me happy and something that, uh, I can say is a favorite.

Jennifer Wilson: Awesome. Yeah, no, I mean, that certainly counts for sure. It's hard to, it's hard to pick a favorite when it's all so delightful, right?

Rebeca Ruiz: Yeah, I enjoy playing with the papers and the products and creating. And I adding small details and telling the story sometimes about the family. Sometimes about one of my daughter or the other, my husband. They are all special. They, they are, they are for, for a story and because I want to document those, those moments and this is something that makes them special and favorite.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes. Yes. Now, is there something either inside of your scrapbooking life or in your everyday life that you're excited to do, use, or try?

Rebeca Ruiz: Well, right now I'm trying to do more in the paper craft, um, world. I'm trying to do more art [00:04:00] journal. Because I have a lot of stuff that I want to use for art journal because I bought it for that. And in my personal life right now, as I mentioned in the previous, um, question, I'm trying to focus more in myself to do more things for myself. Like taking time to enjoy a book or doing things that I like. But also, I have some new projects, family projects, that I want to do this summer, and I'm very excited about it. One of them is that I want to create a vegetable garden with my daughters. We are going into this new project, so we are going to prepare the, the, the, how you say, the soil, and prepare everything. Sorry, my first language is Spanish, so sometimes I am thinking in Spanish and translating to speak with you.

Jennifer Wilson: No problem.

Rebeca Ruiz: Some, some delay. [00:05:00] Well, um, and we are working on that to select the vegetable we want to try and preparing that to, to do it together. Since they are out of school, we can spend more time at home and doing those kind of stuff.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes, that sounds fun. What do you think you're gonna be planting?

Rebeca Ruiz: For sure tomatoes and peppers and things that I can use to cook. Those kind of, of stuff that I'm always using. Here we have, um, cilantrillo. This is, I don't know, um, it's, it's something you can see always in the Mexican food, the green leaves, tiny leaves.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. I love cilantro. Yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: At home, so it's very easy to, to have this type of, type of stuff. And we use it a lot, so it's going to be one of those that is important to be there in our garden. And tomatoes, because we consume a lot of tomatoes and [00:06:00] lettuce and peppers. So.

Jennifer Wilson: Sound, sounds great.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yeah. And do beans too.

Jennifer Wilson: Like, like green beans?

Rebeca Ruiz: All different kinds of beans we have because, um, in the Caribbean we tend to eat a lot of rice and beans.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: We, eat white beans, red beans, pink beans.

Also, the, the green beans and things for the salad, but we consume a lot of beans here.

Jennifer Wilson: Nice. Nice So you were last a guest on the show in 2024, so it's been about two years. What has changed in your life or in your scrapbooking in that time?

Rebeca Ruiz: Well, lot of things happened in two years. Um, right now, um, I ha- I'm having a new scrapbook area, a new crafting area.

Jennifer Wilson: Uh-huh

Rebeca Ruiz: I remodeled. I have some renovations here. So this is something new. And as I mentioned, I'm [00:07:00] trying to give myself more time, to enjoy the things that I have. If I purchase something, like a book, I want to read it.

I want to take care of my friends. I want to spend more time with family. So I'm doing all that stuff that I enjoy. And this is something that I'm trying to be more aware of. I'm trying to, care. I think maybe it's because as we get older, we think more of those special people and the family and things that really matter because that's the only thing we, we only have that no money can buy. So those are special moments.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, certainly.

Rebeca Ruiz: And what's important.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, and I, I think being a memory keeper, uh, helps us even keep closer to that idea than, than those maybe who don't have the, the luck of being in this hobby with us.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yeah, for sure. This hobby is special.

Jennifer Wilson: So you already mentioned that you are [00:08:00] scrapbooking a little bit more about yourself. Do you think that the photos and stories that you include in your scrapbooks have shifted as your children have gotten older?

Rebeca Ruiz: Well, I, uh, I think, mm, not a lot of, of it has changed. Only the thing that I'm trying to be more in the pictures. So I d- I finally bought a f- um, photo stick, um, selfie stick, sorry.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: Selfie Stick uh, be part of the photos, because I'm usually the person who is taking the photo. So, I always say, "I'm going to buy a selfie stick so I can be part of the photo," and I forget it, and I forget it. And now I have one. I place it in the car so I can have it accessible every time we go out. So let's see if, if I improve that and use it more and be more on the photos instead of being just selfies.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes. I love that. I end up doing it with just the, the reach of my arm, [00:09:00] and I, so I have a big head in the front of the photo, and then there's everybody else behind me. So I might need a selfie stick.

Rebeca Ruiz: For family photos, I, I use my daughter because short like me. I'm only five feet tall and one inch, five feet and one inch, so I'm short. She is like me, only five feet. But she can extend her, her arm a little bit more and photograph better. I think.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: She can see clearly. I use my, my glasses to see, so I'm always taking selfies looking for the opposite side. It's, it's not, it's not my best, um, talent to take selfies. She's good at it. So, uh, I, I told her, "Now you got a selfie stick, you can take better photos of us together and not being your face in the front, not having your face in the front.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: She's happy for that.

Jennifer Wilson: I love that. So you mentioned that you did some renovations for your craft room. Now previously you said you were gonna kind of build it outside of your house. Is that what you ended [00:10:00] up doing or something within, within the space that you already had?

Rebeca Ruiz: I, I had the id- the idea of making a room outside my home. That was something that I was, um, thinking a lot because constructing a room at this moment that the materials, construction materials are very expensive because of the things that are happening. And I was thinking about that and I was not sure if it is going to be a good decision or not. Because, not only because of the money I'm going to spend, but also because the room is going to be outside of my home, so I need to go out. And, uh, sometimes I wake up very early and it is very dark and I need to go out and I'm not sure about that. So I prefer to be inside the home. I don't want to spend a lot of money constructing a room and having a [00:11:00] bigger space, maybe to, to, to have more stuff that I need to organize, have more stuff that I won't be using, having more stuff that is going to need to be cleaned.

So after thinking a lot, I decided, no, I'm not going to make that room. Because it is going to take a lot of effort and a lot of things that maybe is going to make me craft less instead of craft more.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. That makes a lot of sense.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yeah, I decided no. I need to use what I have, use it, um, in a better way. That I can feel good, that I can use what I have at any time of the day. It doesn't matter if it's rainy, if it's not rainy, if it's dark or have light, I can be there and feel safe in that space. I decided to stay where I was. Just to make a renovation and change the things [00:12:00] that were not working for me, and this is what I did. If you want more detail, for example, in the previous interview in 2024, I told you that I had had the embellishments divided.

Some are in a place, other in other, just to, to fill the spaces that I had. This time, I took everything out of the r- of the family room. This is where I craft. I took everything, all my things out. The, the, um, living room and the dining room were full of stuff. And they were in that way for, like, two weeks, and with my OCD, that was crazy.

Jennifer Wilson: I bet, yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: I barely sleep because I want my, my dining room and my, and the home, um, in an open space that people can move and, and use the space. So it was something that was hard for me to have all that stuff, but it was needed. [00:13:00] I empty everything. I measure the walls I, I decided what things I should buy to use the space well so I can arrange more stuff in a better way. So after having th- having everything out, I organized the embellishments by collection. I decided which one I like, which one were damaged with, with the time, or things that I don't like anymore. So I, filter what I want to keep. And then I start buying the stu- the stuff, the furniture and everything. And start packing and arranging and putting them back in the space. The things I don't want, they were damaged, I throw them away, I recycle them. If they were in a good condition and I know of a friend that can use them, I gave it to that friend. And other stuff, [00:14:00] I just sell it, and I still have a few things that when I prepare a class, in-person class, I, I bring the stuff and people buy there if they want.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, yeah. That's smart.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: In terms of the fur- new furniture that you got, did you replace i- were you replacing items or adding items to your space?

Rebeca Ruiz: I replaced and I added. For example, um, I, I have here a brown cubicles. They are the same size as the IKEA KALLAX, but I don't... I bought them a few years ago in Costco. They came with, um, canvas basket, and there I used to store the embellishment. Those basket, I took re- to, um, rid of them because they, were a little bit old. That, that was the second time I replaced them. So I decided to go for something darker because the [00:15:00] humidity here in the, in the cream color of the canvas turns like with brown dots. Um, so I decided to look for something darker and this is how I get the new... They are like canvas, but they are boxes with lids.

So now they are closed, they don't get dust a lot. and I replaced that. I used to have some white, desk and I changed that completely. I remove it. It was damaged because during the Hurricane Maria, it got wet. Before staying in this home, um, this is the one, two, three... This is the four home that we live.

This is the one that we expect, expect to live until we die.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: So I think we are not going to change anymore. Unless God says other thing, okay? But if it's for us, we are going to stay here until we die. [00:16:00] And I decided to use the space better. Because I have two walls of the family room where I store my things.

So in this wall, I basically covered the wall almost until the ceiling. So here now I have the KALLAX cubicles. But also I have some of the BESTA they have that I can close the door and of using the KALLAX, I decided for the BESTA because of the space available. If.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Rebeca Ruiz: I use the, if I use KALLAX, there will be some inches of a space that won't be used. So I changed for the BESTA to use it in a better way. And then I decided to store in the family a f- few of the pattern papers that I have. Because in 2024, all my papers were stored [00:17:00] in, in a closet that I had in the master room. But now I have some of the paper because of the design teams, I'm constantly getting more pattern papers. So the, the paper stash grows quickly. But I decided to take near me the pattern papers that I want to use first. Those collections that I love a lot, that I can have on hand, and also the things that I need to work for design teams. So now those kind of stuff are near me, and in the closet, I reduce the amount of paper and I have things that I can later.

For example, right now I'm not going to use Christmas, so Christmas is there. Um, amusement parks are there. Um, cardstock, colored cardstock are there. If I have a collection that I want to use and I need cardstock in color, not black or white, I go with the collection [00:18:00] there. And choose what I want and take it to the, to the room.

It's easier for me now to, to find the things since now they are very organized by collection or by product.

Jennifer Wilson: That's fantastic. And I will also mention that we'll include links to any products you mention, like the Ikea furniture, as well as a link to your YouTube video where you give a tour of your space.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yes, I recently prepare a tour because it's hard to imagine the things, but it's better when you can see it in working. Now I can have, for example, for the paper, I use a, a product from IKEA, that is the Tonstad. I'm not sure if I'm saying it correctly, if Tonstad. And I went to IKEA, like, two or three times. And I, I need to tell you this joke because IKEA is not near from me. In Puerto Rico we only have, um, two IKEA [00:19:00] stores, only one of it have the products that you can buy and pick up at the moment. The other is just a showroom.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Rebeca Ruiz: The IKEA that have the products on, on inventory that you can get like, two hours away from me. But when doing this renovation, I went there, like, three times with a ruler, checking the spaces inside of the cabinet just to be sure that the inside space can hold the pattern papers or the embellishments. So I know the, the Kallax can do that, but I was looking for something to, to fill the space in between the k- the, the Kallax. So this is where I was measuring and deciding for the Besta and the Tonstad. Because sometimes when you see online the product, it says that the, the space is 13 inches of depth. But when you see it in person and you measure, the measurement inside [00:20:00] is 11 and a half because it takes some space with the door or the back. So I was making sure that the 12 by 12 paper can be stored there. And this is a lot of travels there. My little daughter, if you say IKEA, she is in a trauma.

She says, "No, please, I don't want to go third time to IKEA. I don't want to go there." She, she... I think she hates the store. She don't want any, anything out about IKEA at this moment.

Jennifer Wilson: The, the nearest IKEAs for me are each, uh, at least two to... two hours, up to three hours away. Um, so I'm... I definitely understand that of.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Needing to travel. Sometimes I've had things shipped. And of course it's very, very expensive to do that, and then you also risk that it might not arrive in one piece, which that has happened too.

Rebeca Ruiz: And, the measurement part that for me is very important.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Well, especially for [00:21:00] scrapbookers, 12 by 12 is a very specific and unique size.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yeah. I'm, I'm an industrial engineer, so for me, using the space properly and doing a, a good use of the, uh, of the space is something that is in, in my nature. I need to measure. I need to be sure that it can fit. So this is something that is part of me. And my husband just let, let me be. Because he knows how I am, and he says, "Okay, take your time. You just tell me when you're ready."

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: And he assembled them with my older daughter. And it was a family project during the month of December. Because it's a lot of furniture and things to, to change, all the Kallax and the Tungsta. And something else that I added for the printer and to arrange the old photos.

I have a lot of old photos printed. And I decided to have them here and store them in [00:22:00] some clear plastics, um, that I bought at Amazon. There I arranged the photos by year and some by event. Because if it was a vacation, well, I, I put all the vacation photos together by the year. And also have them by people.

I have a box if the, if, if, if the photo is about one of my daughters, I have a box for her. In case one day she move away and she wants to get the, her pictures with her, she can take that and, and it's only photos of her. So I had a lot of, I spent a lot of time arranging photos, arranging embellishments. Spent a lot of time arranging.

The furniture was easy to assemble. In a one, two, three days it was ready. But getting everything organized to fill that space, that was took me a lot of time. But I'm pleased and happy that I did it the way that I did it [00:23:00] because now it's easier for me to, find the things.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, certainly. Yes, it sounds like it. Uh, is worth that investment of, of time and energy if it helps you be a more productive and creative scrapbooker.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: So you mentioned the photo boxes that you... Are these the ones that, like, maybe hold 100 photos? Are they larger than that?

Rebeca Ruiz: They can hold, um, around 100 photo or a little bit more. Um, used to have those photo boxes that looks like shoe boxes.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Rebeca Ruiz: But they deteriorate, and with the weight sometimes they broke. So I was looking for something in plastic to get the, to, to maintain the photo away from the humidity. Because they are closed. And I found these boxes that have a lid and a closure, and inside they are divided in a small four by six, a little bit bigger, uh, boxes that you [00:24:00] can store the four by six photos. They are four by six or sh- or smaller photos.

Jennifer Wilson: Nice.

Rebeca Ruiz: If you have 5 by 10, uh, five by seven or eight by 10, you need another things to store that. But for s- four by six, that is what I had more, um, you can store that there. And I will send you later the link in case people want to check them.

Jennifer Wilson: Perfect.

Rebeca Ruiz: They are very good and comes with the, the dividers, the plastic dividers. So it's very easy to, to store and label.

Jennifer Wilson: So you mentioned before how you had your embellishments in all those canvas baskets. Where, how did you end up organizing those in the end?

Rebeca Ruiz: Previously, I had a Ziploc bag, resealable bag. That I had, for example, with the six by 12 stickers. Then in other, I have the chipboards. Then in other I have the brads or, or things like that separated by product. When I was looking for a [00:25:00] collection, I need to go to the stickers, to the chipboard, to everything to see if if I had something for that collection. So it took a lot of time. I took everything out, and I start sorting by collection. Now, in this new basket that I bought that have lids, I organize by collection. And to hold the things together, was looking for something that I can open and have the embellishments individually. I cannot use a tie wrap and the metal rings like the ones we use for the albums the ones that open. I think that are going to take a lot of space because they are not flexible. So I ended using, a thick thread. think it, they are from Dollar Tree or something like that, very inexpensive thread and thick. I think it can... It's [00:26:00] like a twine or something that can be used for crochet. But doesn't have a lot of loose, fibers. So I, I hold all the embellishment together with these threads. If they damage, I can replace them easily with another thread. But when I'm looking for, for example, example right now, if I want to do a summer layout, I go to my summer box and check the embellishment.

"Oh, look, I want to work with this embellishment." I took everything out. It's from the same collection. And I can look for the papers later or the opposite. If I have the paper that I want to look and they are summer, I go to the summer box and check for the collection products because they are together. So very easy now to, to reach for them.

Jennifer Wilson: So just to kind of summarize here, you took everything that was organized by type of product and reorganized it back into collections, likely how they arrived [00:27:00] at your house.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yes. Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: Did, did you find there were some things that, like, maybe you just had... It didn't really have enough to be even be called a collection anymore?

It was like a one-off piece? What did you do with those kind of extras?

Rebeca Ruiz: The things that I have a few that I w- won't be using, as I mentioned, I If they are in, not in good shape, I throw them away or gave it to another person. Because I usually works with the collection. It's so easy because a few years ago when I started in this hobby, I think in 2004 or 2005, I can't remember. The companies makes paper but the embellishment we can find were only a few, maybe a sticker and that's all. But now they make a lot of products and beside of getting some of them because of the design team. when I like a [00:28:00] collection, I like to buy, um, different products to have, um, different materials to work with. That's something that I enjoy, um, using chipboard, using sticker, using different materials just to add dimension to my, my project.

So now it's easier and instead of holding things that I know I won't be u- be using, I decided to take r- get rid of them and hold what I know I can use. And it ended being mostly collections. Some other items, for example, the know if you can remember Sassafras Lass. I have a s- I still have a few embellishment from Sassafras and they were basically chipboards.. That's the only thing I have. s- I'm still holding them because I have the paper and they.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: Are alone there in a bag, in a resealable bag. But in the category that they need to be, if they are baby or if they are summer, are there, [00:29:00] organized there. So I can go to the box and find what I was looking.

Jennifer Wilson: Do you have anything that's organized by color, or is that not a way that you think about your supplies?

Rebeca Ruiz: By color, I have the cardstock. It's much easier to have that by, by color. But the embellishment and the papers, I prefer to have them in a bag with the, all the th- the papers from the collection, but by theme. If it I have some theme categories, and if they don't fit in these categories, then I store them by manufacturer. The main categories I have are Christmas, Winter, Summer and beach, they are together. Love and wedding, they are together. If they are masculine, I don't have a lot of masculine products, so the masculine products, I have everything together. If they are, um, amusement parks, I have them together. And babies or kids, something [00:30:00] that is very baby or very kid-related or, or youth, I have those together. Everything else that is very generic, that I can use for any theme, I store by manufacturer.

Jennifer Wilson: That all makes, it all makes sense. And I think it also reminds us that sometimes we need to give ourselves permission to rethink previous decisions, because just because that decision was good for that time doesn't mean that it's still working for you today.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yeah. Sometimes we have things in one way, and then it is no longer way, um, working. I notice it is no longer way, um, working for me because I was storing in a crazy way. If I got something, I just want to store it wherever I can put it. Um, it ... I was in a moment that I don't care if it was a theme or manufacturer, if there is an empty space, I was placing it there just.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: So I didn't see it near me. And I said, "No, I'm not like that. I don't know where it's [00:31:00] going to be later. Because I know I will forget. So I need it... I, I think it's time to do this." And I can tell you, this renovation that I did in December, I was not thinking about it, but I'm that kind of person. I was here, and, um, was ... I was not happy with having some totes under the table with papers and embellishment. And looking my desk in a way that I, I was not feeling, um, when you get inspiration, I was not feeling inspired. I was not happy. And I told my husband, "I'm not going to make a room outside." I explain him why. I've, I've been thinking about this in the f- the last few days. I'm not going to make any room outside. I want to make a renovation here. I want to change things. So my Christmas gift this year, I want to be that you help me paint these walls, change [00:32:00] everything that I'm going to buy, and you assembly this.

And he was, "Are you sure you're going to do this in December?" And I said, "Yes. I'm going to do it now. I'm not going to wait anymore.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: Because later it's going to be worse. I need to do it now." I spent the, the Christmas, season here doing that. It was a lot. My family was happy because since I was at home, they spend a lot of time, um, playing, um.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I bet.

Rebeca Ruiz: Doing stuff here.

They were very happy to be here. Uh, but I was frustrated. I was so tired of being, um, and organizing and organizing and not sleeping well until I have the, places ready.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. Sometimes when you're in that messy middle stage, it's, it's overwhelming, and you just kinda wanna get to the other end of it, but it feels never-ending

Rebeca Ruiz: Yes, and for some people, having the things in, in places [00:33:00] like the dining room where it's not very stressful. Because they know they are going to arrange it little by little, which is the best way to do it. I shouldn't be stressed just to make it quickly. But my OCD don't allow me to do that.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Rebeca Ruiz: I was trying to concentrate on other things, but I just wanted to have my home visually, clean and organized for me. Because if, if it is not, I, I am not happy. I am not creative, and I am not me.

Jennifer Wilson: It seems like you'd actually ended up downsizing quite a bit of your pattern paper. How did you end up making those decisions?

Rebeca Ruiz: It was very hard because pattern papers are my favorite products all the time. From since I begin scrapbooking, pattern papers is my favorite product. You can do so much with pattern paper. You can cut, um, with dies. You can, do so many things with that, that having pattern paper sometimes is enough to create something beautiful. [00:34:00] So downsizing that was very hard but needed. Because as I told you before, because of the design team, I get a lot of pattern papers. And the stash is, is growing so fast, faster than I can use them. So I need to do something. And this is when I took... After having my, the family ready, all the embellishment and all the stamps and all this stuff. I go to the master room, open the closet, and start taking away all the pattern papers. Um, if you visit my Instagram, you are going to see a, a quick video, a reel, where I show you the stacks of pattern papers. I think it was in January that I made that. It was crazy. Crazy. So I, I sort them by team and by manufacturer, as, as I mentioned before, the way that I like to have the things. [00:35:00] And then I start checking one by one the packs. Some papers I have two or three packs of the same collection. That was easy. I only need one, so took away the other. That was the easiest part. The papers that the patterns I don't like anymore, that was easy for me. But other papers, for example, Cocoa Vanilla, I love their papers. I love their products, and they are from Australia. So for me in Puerto Rico, it's not easy to get them.

I need to buy them directly from them on Australia or but them online in the US and pay the shipping and all that stuff, for product. And one of their collections when I was checking, I have five and six papers of the same, and they have 12 papers in the collection. [00:36:00] And so imagine having five and six paper of the same.

Jennifer Wilson: That sounds like great for an album project though.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yeah, but that was difficult for me. I.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: Get... Yes, I didn't get rid of the Cocoa Vanilla papers. I- that's something I have to say. I get rid of other things to make space for them. Because I cannot find them here, and they were expensive, so.

Jennifer Wilson: That makes sense.

Rebeca Ruiz: Anybody's going to pay me for that. Or, or I don't know if, if my daughters ask for that, and I don't know if I'm going to give that to them, but I'll, see. Those are special for me. But most of the paper, that's what I did. If I have many of them, I reduce the amount. If they- I don't like the design anymore, I took them out. And by that, I can tell you quickly, for exam- I think, [00:37:00] like 24 inches of paper, I got rid of that for sale. I got rid of.

Jennifer Wilson: Wow.

Rebeca Ruiz: A few more inches as gift to my best friend. I think I gave her, like, eight or nine inches of paper. And others that were damaged, I, I just recycled it.

Jennifer Wilson: That's a lot of paper. So how, how much, how many inches did you keep?

Rebeca Ruiz: Oh, I can, I, I can tell you that right now, because near me at this moment I have two, four, six, seven, like 14 plastics. Those plastic, um, vertical containers, and I think they can hold from 80 to 100 piece of paper.

Jennifer Wilson: Uh-Huh.

Rebeca Ruiz: Here in the family I have 14 of those. And in my room I have more, much more [00:38:00] of those containers, and if I include the cardstock, it's going to be a lot more. Oh, no.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: I still need to get rid of some of them as I start getting more papers, I will need to continue getting rid. So right now on my side, I have a container that have last chance paper.

Jennifer Wilson: Okay, that makes sense. Yeah

Rebeca Ruiz: Yeah. Uh, I, I have a few in mind that if I don't use them, I need to start getting them away. Because this space is not going to grow. This is what I have, and it is going to stay in this way for a few years, or maybe until I die. And, the space is not going to grow, so I need to get rid as I start getting more stuff. To help me not get a lot of stuff, I'm trying not to buy new things. I'm only getting what I from the design teams, and I'm trying not to buy pattern papers.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I was actually thinking about that today. There's a lot of holiday collections that [00:39:00] came out today for pre-order, and I was like, "What if I just bought some embellishments that were different and that I like?" I'd never th- I'd literally probably never thought of that before, of not just buying all the things that I liked.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yeah. For me, it, um, um, when I say I'm not buying pattern papers, it also mean not buying embellishment. I'm not buying.

Jennifer Wilson: Okay.

Rebeca Ruiz: Trying to not buying anything.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: Because I like to have the embellishment with the pattern papers. And I know if I like a particular embellishment and I buy it to use with other product, I know how I am and I am going to buy the papers.

Sooner or later, I'm going to buy it. So to be sure that I don't buy any more papers, I'm trying not to shop. It's hard. It's hard because I think my favorite part in this hobby is shopping. I shop quicker than I craft, and I think most of us are in the same boat. We shop faster than we can [00:40:00] craft.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I think there's a lot of folks that think, you know, I've heard like there's, we have two different hobbies, but really there's three. There's the shopping for supplies, the organizing of the supplies, and then of course the using of the supplies. Those are three very different activities.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yes. A, a few years ago, I had a store in, a, a physical store in Puerto Rico. It was also an online store. My clients became my friend and they, we talk about that because brings joy to us just to shop, to see the new products and imagine what project we can do, what we are going.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: To create. But we buy maybe at the same time two collection, then the, in two weeks we go again and buy something extra, and shop faster than we create.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, I think you've made a really important observation, that b- not only just your creative preferences, but because of your design teamwork, you are often creating a lot with a single collection, and you love that, and it works well for you. And so that is, I think, an [00:41:00] important, you know, filter that you can use for new purchases. That it's, it's kind of gonna be all or nothing. Because I need to have all the coordinating things, and I'm getting enough, so that is enough.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yeah. But I also have stuff, um, when I travel, the, a few years ago in, in our travels, I went to JoAnn, to Michaels, to Hobby Lobby. And I got pa- um, the notebooks of paper, the paper pads. And they usually don't have embellishment. So I have those papers. They are beautiful. For those, um, pads, th- they usually came with two or three sheets of the same design. I broke the pads and I stay only with one sheet. If the sheet was very special with foil or something that I like, maybe I have two in my stash right now. The others, I've put them away for the, for the reduction of [00:42:00] the storage. And when I'm working with that, I need to check embellishment from other collections. So those that I don't have a embellishment for them, I go to the boxes and see what I can find by theme. Which is the easiest way for me, or a manufacturer if I remember that the colors of this manufacturer are similar to the colors I have in this pad, I can go there and find embellishment. But I still have papers with no embellishment, that I want to use. Hopefully, now that I have my space in a better shape that I can find things easily, can work with more stuff for myself, not just design team. I want to create for myself with products that I have from a few years ago or that I just bought because it's beautiful. I want to work things that are not only design team.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, no, it all, it all makes a lot of sense. And I'm, I, [00:43:00] I'm so thankful for you to share so much detail about this process. I think a lot of our listeners are gonna really enjoy this and, and be thinking critically about their own things as well. I'm curious if there were any other like, uh, like tools or stamps. Like did you declutter anything else or decide maybe even whole categories of things you were ready to let go of?

Rebeca Ruiz: I declutter everything. I declutter everything. And in my personal life, not the paper craft world, I'm always decluttering in the kitchen, in my drawers. I, I think I enjoy decluttering. hardest is decluttering the paper craft. But I declutter everything. I declutter my paints. If with damaged paint, if they I don't like the colors, I declutter the paints. I declutter the ink pads. I h- I don't know if you n- remember a company named Paper Salon.

Jennifer Wilson: [00:44:00] Mm-hmm. Yep.

Rebeca Ruiz: I had ink pads from Paper Salon that's very old.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: Are not going to believe that, but they work perfectly. The ink was working perfectly. But I know I don't use dye ink pads, so I took them away. I took away all my Liquid Pearls, all my Stickles. Because it's been years since I used them, so I got rid of them. Um, I got rid of a lot of ribbons. Because they were not in the best shape. Ribbon tends to, to damage with the time. So if they were not in good shape, I got rid of them. Something that I have a lot, and maybe this is some- the next thing that I'm going to declutter when I need space, are the washi tapes.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm. Yes

Rebeca Ruiz: I receive a lot of washi tapes from design teams. But I don't use them. [00:45:00] It's not a product that I use a lot. And you know that the rolls, you use a few inches, but they come with feet, feet of, of washi tape. You're not going sometimes to use all of that in a project. So a product that stay for a long time, but when they, they are old and you try to use them, they are not working. The glue is no longer working. They damage, especially here in Puerto Rico with.

Jennifer Wilson: With the humidity, yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yeah. They are a product that don't last long. I maintain them in the plastic container that they come. But, um, I know I won't be using them, so I'll be giving away to, to my friends or, or to schools and things that m- can use them, or kids. I know my, my daughters and her classmates would love a few rolls of, of washi.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Rebeca Ruiz: I don't know why kids [00:46:00] love tape so much. So I think that's the next thing that I'm going to get rid of, because know I won't be using all of that. So I need to retain what I can use and get rid of all those other products.

But as I mentioned, I declutter everything. Everything, rhinestones, pearls, ribbons, papers, stamps. I had a lot of stamps that never used before, and I know I won't be using them, so I gave them to my friend. Because she loves stamps, and her daughter too, so I gave that to her. And as that, I, I declutter everything.

Jennifer Wilson: How, how do you feel now compared to how you felt before you started the project?

Rebeca Ruiz: At the moment, I was very stressed, as I mentioned before. But now that everything is finished, um, I feel so good. Because I have things that I know, besides the washi, I [00:47:00] know I'm going to use. I have a plan in my mind for when I need more space, what to take away, and how to make new space. And I have a pr- few projects in mind that I want to create to start using what I have. And now I feel happy when I come to the family. Because since I am in the family room, when my daughters' friends come home. They are always in the family room. Because here they can play video games, they can watch movies, and they ended here. So having this space organized feeling good when someone enters here and don't see a lot of things that are not in the correct placement. So I'm so happy about that. And I know that I can sit at any moment that I want and create just for me or for design team or for a gift, whatever I want to do. Now I feel very good that I can do it.

Jennifer Wilson: [00:48:00] Oh, that's so wonderful. Yeah, no, it's such a, such a relief it sounds like, and I can't wait to, to see how it continues to shift your creating and your, your motivation.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yeah, I'm try- I'm, I'm thinking about going back to my YouTube channel to create more content. Because I don't make money with those videos, is the true. I don't have a lot of followers, um, a lot of view. But s- many people I know here, they enjoy it, so I enjoy sharing what I know with them. And maybe one day the community grows and I got mo- more followers and things. But in the meantime, I just enjoy sharing my knowledge with other people and creating and inspiring. If they are inspired, we will have more people in this hobby, so manufacturers can continue to create, and it is not going to die.

Jennifer Wilson: Certainly, yes.

Well and one of those ways that you're sharing is you are still teaching classes, I believe you were two years ago as [00:49:00] well, um, surrounding specific collections that you do sell to folks. Has your process around all of that changed at all since we last chatted?

Rebeca Ruiz: I, I don't think so. I've been teaching for many years. Um, things that I have changed is the way that I make the instructions. Every time I try to make them better. Because

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Rebeca Ruiz: I don't want people to buy a class and just leave it there. Because they don't know how to finish it alone. It is impossible for people to complete a class in two hours.

My classes, if I do them, online, I stay in the video until I finish everything. But when it is an in-person class, usually it's from 9:00 AM to 5:00, taking a break for lunch or, or some snacks. So sometimes it's difficult to finish everything. Something [00:50:00] that I to be sure is that I provide them visual material to make sure they can finish the class.

So it takes me a lot of time. I create videos explaining the things. I create videos showing them how to cut the papers one by one. I create videos for a special, um, technique if needed. And also I provide them photos and instruction. My instructions sometimes have 80 pages of photos and details. And tables and things just to help p- people complete that project.

And I am so happy when people tell me, "I finished the project because the instru- the written instructions were enough to complete that." So when I constantly receive that, I'm very happy about that. I know that I'm... all the effort and all the work I put on that is good and, and people can finish. So people continue [00:51:00] buying my classes, and then they tell other people.

Right now, I have a lot of clients from different parts of the world. And it's because they share with friends about the instructions, about the classes, and they are so happy that they invite others to, to do that. So I'm very happy with that.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, no, it sounds like your, your kind of natural attention to detail comes into play really well with this particular avenue,

Rebeca Ruiz: A lot of details there. A lot of details.

Jennifer Wilson: Your most recent class was w- with one of the Say Cheese collections from Simple Stories. So these are Disney themed. Um, that class has 14 layouts. How do you approach planning 14 pages from a single collection?

Rebeca Ruiz: Disney is one of my favorite themes when s- um, scrapbooking. We enjoy visiting the parks. So I have plenty of photos and everything that is Disney, I love it. I, at the beginning of the class, usually when I'm going to teach a class, I'll [00:52:00] prepare a class, I focus on 12 layouts. If after making the 12 layout I still have papers and embellishment, I create more so people don't have a lot of left over. Because those leftovers are going to stay there. I have

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm. Yes.

Rebeca Ruiz: People that... I have one, one friend that I... We, we start our friendship with, with the store that I had a few years ago. She went there and start buying and start visiting me for classes. We make a friendship. And after a few years, I noticed she always bought me classes. But she never bought products. And it is because she's been in this hobby for a lot of year, and she says, "I don't have the time to sit and think and create. What I enjoy is [00:53:00] documenting my photos, so when I have the time, I bo- I buy a class from any, any place in the world." She buy from everybody.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Rebeca Ruiz: She sits ju- just to create layout from classes or albums from, from classes. And put her photos there. But she didn't like to create. So all those products that left after she create are there, or she throw them, she gave away.

I don't know what she did. But she tell me she didn't likes to create. She wants to follow instructions and create something. So when I create my classes, I try to use the packe- the, the package of products that buy so you don't have left over. And for my process, I, when, when putting the kit together, I first think about the bases for my layout, what cardstock or special pattern papers I need for the bases. From that, I usually include the [00:54:00] collection kit, which are 12 papers, and three or four additional papers. And then I added the embellishment. I an s- I make some sketch to how to use, especially the double layouts. I usually three double layouts. That's six pages of the class, the, the half of the class. When creating double pages is the hardest pa- part because I l- I like, in my style, I like to have continuity from one page to another. So I need to use the same paper in one side and the other in a way. Something that coordinates well. I first create those double-sided page, and then I start creating the others and dividing the papers, using them. And if I have at the end more, like in this Mickey class, I created two more layouts for them as inspiration to use the leftovers.

Jennifer Wilson: Fantastic. Yeah, no, [00:55:00] I think, that kind of scratches an itch, as, as they say, in terms of using up every piece of it. And, um, feeling like you got a lot done in the process and, and had fun and also being able to follow instructions also is, uh, so a stress relief? If you will. Um, in terms of not having to make every single decision yourself.

Rebeca Ruiz: Yeah. um, we are living in times that people have a lot of stress.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Rebeca Ruiz: A lot of responsibilities. And so taking the time to create a class, a layout from a class is something that relax them. That helps them feel better. They can document their photos. I try to use in my layouts, photo sizes that are not too hard to get. People can, can use their photos in easily from the phone or from a camera, and just document the everyday life.

This is the, my favorite thing. I think I... In my albums, [00:56:00] you can see photos from vacations, but they are not usually the, the perfect photos, p- posing with a lot of things or something. No, they are photos that we as family took with our phones, or if I bring the camera, we took. And they are everyday photos.

Doing things at home. If my girls are cooking, if they are playing a video game, or if they are... A board game, I took photos of them. And this is what I like to enjoy, because at the end of the time, this is what we remember.

Jennifer Wilson: 100%. Yes.

Rebeca Ruiz: We remember something funny that happened on a vacation. Or something we eat that we really enjoy, or in the contrary, something that was so bad that we laugh a lot and, and we didn't want to eat, and w- we want to remember that so we don't go there anymore. Those kind of stuff is the things that I, I try to document in my pages. And, and I think that's something that people enjoy when they see, because they see, [00:57:00] um, layout with everyday photos.

Jennifer Wilson: They see you, they see your family, they see real life. For sure, yes. Rebecca, this has been so amazing. Thank you so much for sharing your time with us. Can you share again where our listeners can find you online? Anything else you might have new or coming up later this year?

Rebeca Ruiz: Well, right now I don't have any class plan, but I still have, um, a few kits of classes and digital instructions too. People can find me on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram as Simply Rebecca Ruiz. Um, you g- you have the links to all my social media, but they are Simply Rebeca Ruiz, the easiest way me. they can contact me for questions or anything that they want me to, to share.

Jennifer Wilson: And to all of our listeners, please remember that you have permission to scrapbook your way. [00:58:00]