SYW341 – Scrapbooking Nostalgia and Childhood Pop Culture with Leilani Schirmer

Leilani Schirmer: [00:00:00] I see a lot online about whimsy. But it is true. Like people need more whimsy in their life. Like it doesn't have to be so serious. Or as you get older I think people lose that sense of self. And you can still have fun and be colorful and have like a a bit of a childlike wonder even though you're an adult.

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 341. In this episode, I'm chatting with Leilani Schirmer about nostalgia, why we love looking back, and how she weaves childhood pop culture, physical media, and playful collections into her scrapbooking and everyday life

Welcome back to Scrapbook Your Way, Leilani.

Leilani Schirmer: Hi.

Jennifer Wilson: I'm excited to chat with you again. We have a really fun topic today. Can you remind our listeners a little bit about yourself?

Leilani Schirmer: Sure Hi I'm Leilani I [00:01:00] live in Mississippi with my husband and our two dogs and our cats and all the neighborhood critters that I always end up taking care of. Uh we also we also live on the same property as my parents I'm really close to them so we're neighbors. So that's really nice. Um and as far as my scrapbooking goes uh I've really scrapbooked as long as I can remember. I have scrapbooks back from middle school. And whenever I was really young I always was the one in the family that loved to uh organize the photos put them in the albums, all that kind of stuff. But I've been consistently scrapbooking and like doing Project Life things like that since 2018. And I started to share my stuff online in 2020.

Jennifer Wilson: Great. Yes, yes. So do you have a favorite recent layout or project?

Leilani Schirmer: Okay So I would say my alltime favorite project has to be Project Life. I'm I still do Project Life. I'm a I am a a tried and true Project Lifer. And I just love [00:02:00] everyday life memories. And so I I have a lot of fun still doing that. And I'm old school I do the week blah blah blah. And I do a 12 by 12 album. Which I know a lot of people try to get away from. They are huge but I love them. Um but another thing I am excited to do that's more recent is my summer junk journal. So.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Leilani Schirmer: I've done that like uh I think this is my fourth year. Um and I I love that one because it's a little bit different. I'll get a thrifted children's book and deconstruct it and take it apart but still use the front and back covers and all the pages inside and then add scrapbook paper. And I use the Cinch tool and then kind of create a summer junk journal So that's a fun one.

Jennifer Wilson: How do you decide what ends up going in the junk journal versus your Project Life? In terms of like maybe bought a fun summer bathing suit and you have the tag from that. Where does that go?

Leilani Schirmer: Yeah Okay so that would definitely go in the junk journal. That is [00:03:00] hard because I don't love to double scrap, you know. So it kind of depends. The summer junk journal would probably have even smaller micro stories of summer. Like I was mentioning to my friend the other day that I somewhat accidentally bought an $18 bag of cherries from Whole Foods. And so I was like I have to eat these cherries. So I think that that will go in the summer junk journal. And I probably wouldn't have mentioned that in Project Life, you know. But cherries are like a summer fruit. So I'm like maybe if I make things with it I would include that. Like you said the new bathing suit. But it will also house larger stories. Like me and my husband just visited his family in California. So I'm sure that's gonna go in there somewhere. And and it'll be a little bit of double scrapping. But in a totally different way than Project Life which are larger photos pockets. The the um junk journal is obviously gonna be smaller, and more like um I I don't know It doesn't have such a layout you know It's kind of like [00:04:00] anything goes in that one.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, it's really like kind of the opposite of Project Life.

Leilani Schirmer: It is yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: I'm curious before, before we go on, with your Project Life, what... Are you using a particular collection o- of cards these days?

Leilani Schirmer: So I usually use Elle's Studio um or Elle's Studio I never know. But I am on their design team. And I love Elle's Studio products. I think they're so fun for Project Life specifically. Because I love a theme. And I kind of love to like lightly theme my album for each like as the passing of the seasons go and things like that. So I think that they're like perfect for that and they have like a lot of small alphas things that are easy to use in Project Life. And this year and kind of last year I've been on a quest to not buy scrapbook supplies or a very small amount. Because I like most of us have a ton of stuff. So I've really been trying to use what I [00:05:00] have So that's kind of been my goto has been the Ellie Studio.

Jennifer Wilson: Fantastic. Yeah, they have really, consistently designed products. I love how no matter when you grab an item from, it's all gonna kind of go together.

Leilani Schirmer: Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: And be cohesive, so.

Leilani Schirmer: That's so true. I have past Project Lifes where the l the different layouts will be totally different and that doesn't bother me at all. But I have to say it's really satisfying to look through like a full Project Life album, and they're all different and themed. But it all kind of just flows together nicely and I do really like that.

Jennifer Wilson: So do you end up needing two albums to do a whole year?

Leilani Schirmer: I do. I do.

Jennifer Wilson: It's okay.

Leilani Schirmer: I uh you know I I see so much online about that. And I you know I don't have kids. And so I'm like you know what If I have to fill up every space in my house with these albums I'm gonna do it. I don't care I love my albums I love my 12x12 albums. And I'm gonna keep doing them. You know that's just the way it is. But I do wish I could fit it all into one. But it just doesn't happen. And I [00:06:00] do add in, the majority is definitely pockets. But in the past I have included like layouts of different sizes some 12x12 or smaller. But I don't really do those anymore. Um but I do sometimes do inserts in like additional pages. So it gets big.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I get it. I get it. I think sometimes we undervalue, uh, the experience and, like, the deeper why behind what this gives us in our everyday life, connecting us to our gratitude and a- and.

Leilani Schirmer: Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: Making us feel creative. And yeah, the, the, the story, the memory, the legacy part, that is important. But I don't think that's, that's solely or even dominantly what keeps people coming back to the table every day, every week.

Leilani Schirmer: Oh I completely agree. I mean for me I I do love looking back on them. Just just me. Um no one else really looks at my albums. But I do go back and look. But um.

Jennifer Wilson: Mm-hmm.

Leilani Schirmer: With with not having kids, um I don't really have like Oh this is [00:07:00] a this is my legacy. This is I'm gonna pass these on one day or something like that. Like it is solely for me It's the practice of just creating and the joy that that brings me.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes, I love that. So I also like to ask our guests, um, this other question. Is there something new you're excited to do, use, or try? Um, either inside your scrapbooking or in your everyday life?

Leilani Schirmer: Okay I was excited about this one. Because um, so this year I have been, I don't know if you've seen this a lot but on my feed at least it was everywhere the analog bag. And people are trying to go more analog. Which I think goes along with the nostalgia story of today. But um so this year I was really wanting to focus on staying off my phone. And trying to stop doom scrolling. I mean we all do it but I wanted to try to help myself. So I did create an analog bag a few or like a hobby bag, um a few months back. So I just grabbed a bag that I had and I filled it up with [00:08:00] just easy things that I could play around with whenever I'm usually by myself. Um my husband kind of has later hours and stuff. So sometimes I have a lot of free time. And um yeah so I have my sticker book, my coloring books, word searches just fun things like that. But that's really helped a lot and I've enjoyed that. But another thing kind of going along with that same idea, is uh I've been sharing the past three months on Instagram, my monthly makes post. And so that consists of other crafts that I've been working on that aren't scrapbooking related. But still just crafty. So for instance I've tried out like air dry clay or making bag charms. I've made felt uh bday ribbons for my friend's little girl. And lately I've been creating my own nails. Like paint you know painting my own nails and and doing different nail art. So just trying out different crafty, whimsical, fun projects. Has been like a big thing for me this year.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I've really [00:09:00] gotten into nails myself. I never thought I would be this person, and now I'm like, "I am totally this person."

Leilani Schirmer: Oh I love that. I love that. It's so fun and making them yourself oh there's a whole new world. Like it's just so crazy how each and each craft has its own thing. You know. So there's so many different types of things I wanna try out with the nails.

Jennifer Wilson: Its own community. And like, you know, I really enjoy watching.

Leilani Schirmer: Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: A lot of YouTube videos. And so, like of course there's niche creators in that realm too. Those that do lacquer versus gel, and it's, yeah, it's, it's so fascinating.

Leilani Schirmer: Oh my goodness I haven't even gotten that far. So that's I'm sure I have a whole world to dive into.

Jennifer Wilson: So actually had a couple people say, "You need to have Leilani back on to talk about nostalgia. Because you've done some projects related to this. It's something that you are just like, that excites you and gets you interested." So I thought we could set the stage for this conversation by sharing our graduation years, which making people do math instead of knowing exactly how old we are. Um, just to like give [00:10:00] them context for what we consider nostalgia and what is, um, you know, what feels old to us, I guess.

Leilani Schirmer: Exactly. Well mine is 2005.

Jennifer Wilson: Okay. Mine is 1998.

Leilani Schirmer: Okay, great years.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, yeah. So, and also like a little n- enough, you know, separation there that we have maybe different things that we've been interested in, so.

Leilani Schirmer: Definitely.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. Like I saw a, uh, a preview today for the new Elle show on Prime Video. Which is from the Legally Blonde world. And I'm like, "Oh my gosh, that movie came out 25 years ago. And now like a teen Heartthrob who I liked from back in that day is now the dad in this show."

Leilani Schirmer: Exactly. Exactly. I don't mind you know if you don't wanna do the math um this year is my 40th year. Which is.

Jennifer Wilson: Uh.

Leilani Schirmer: Big one. Yeah it's a big deal. And.

Jennifer Wilson: It is. It is.

Leilani Schirmer: It's and so yeah it's crazy to think about all the you know these different [00:11:00] things like that like. Like you said you know someone who you relate to you're same age now they're the parent on the show. Or there's so many things right now that are um going through like the anniversary of you know like s bringing it back for the 30th for the 25th. All of that kind of stuff. So it is exciting for us that are into nostalgia. But it does kind of um you know it's a rude awakening sometimes.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, for sure. And I think comparing it to what we thought was old when we were young.

Leilani Schirmer: Oh my gosh.

Jennifer Wilson: Even trippier part to think about 30 years before the '90s was the '60s. How is that possible?

Leilani Schirmer: Yeah and back then I don't know it felt real It felt so long ago. Like the 60s seemed ancient. But the 90s seem like yesterday. So it's really weird.

Jennifer Wilson: So there's been a surge of Instagram accounts and probably, I, I guess there are YouTube channels too. I've certainly seen, like, you know, this is, you know, one evening on MTV from 1991. And it's [00:12:00] just, like, three hours interrupted that somebody converted from their VHS. And it's, it's just, it's mind-boggling, and it's so fascinating.

What do you think... Why do you think we love this so much?

Leilani Schirmer: You know I was trying to think about this one. And I think h as you get older you just naturally love looking back on the past. And thinking of maybe a simpler time. And uh definitely I feel as you get older you start to like notice your generation compared to the newer generation. And you think yours is obviously dominant. Like in my mind I think well the 90s is the best, clearly. And then you look at the young kids now and you're like What are they thinking. And I know people thought that about my time being a millennial. And you know all of that. But I think it's just it's nice to look back on um things from the past. I think especially now maybe everyone feels this way. See this is the part that gets you. But I feel like the [00:13:00] jump from the 90s to now with technology and with the way the world works is so different. And I truly do feel like it was a simpler time. Than with things like being able to rent movies burn CDs like appointment viewing. Like we had to wait and be patient and be like have that anticipation for things. And sometimes I think that's really missed these days.

Jennifer Wilson: I actually really appreciate it when like new series come out on Apple TV and they actually made us, make us wait a week. 'cause it does create appointment viewing again. We're like, "Oh, it's, it's out today." You know, maybe we're watching it on our own, you know, clock schedule, but still we're excited that the new episode is out and we're gonna watch it right away.

Leilani Schirmer: That is true Like sometimes I will be like Ugh I wanna binge this. You know I'm like annoyed and whatever. But it is really nice Or like if you are watching that with someone else and then you can like talk about the new episode. Cause that was things that we used to do back like in high school and stuff. And you would talk about the new episode of some [00:14:00] show. You know, and that's It is a little more fun I think.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, it helps, I think, individual episodes kind of stand alone more. Like, there's, there, you can talk about it.

Leilani Schirmer: True.

Jennifer Wilson: If you just binge the whole thing, you're really just, you know, covering the broad strokes of what happened, did you like it.

Not, you know, did you remember what happened in, you know, episode three? That was just crazy. Um.

Leilani Schirmer: Exactly.

Jennifer Wilson: I actually like watching shows these days, like even if I'm binging it, I watch it in tandem with a friend. So we kinda keep up with which episode we're on and try not to do any spoilers. But then we can talk about it episode by episode.

Leilani Schirmer: You know it's funny me and my mom kind of do that a lot. And also uh with one of my best friends. We we just started this but we were watching uh the newer season of Traitors. And we did that and it was so f it really did make it so much more fun. And I paid attention more. Like I wasn't on my phone and stuff because I knew I would want to like go recap with her afterwards. You know. So I found that yeah I was more in the [00:15:00] moment.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I have to, uh, kind of pull myself back on my Googling with shows that have already completely ended and I'm starting from the beginning. Because there'll always be that one fact in the headline that, you know, it- by that time it was common knowledge that so-and-so died or whatever. I'm like, "No, I don't wanna know."

Leilani Schirmer: Oh true. You know and i in that same idea a lot of times when I'm watching shows or movies or whatever. You know how you are. You start googling the cast. And and and a lot of them they they will have kind of traumatic stories or they will have passed. And I'm like Okay maybe I just shouldn't look at this right now. Whenever I'm trying to enjoy the movie cause a lot of times it's it's a movie from like 30 40 years ago.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, there's some things that don't age well for sure.

Leilani Schirmer: Exact. Exactly. Like I sh I just shouldn't know that.

Jennifer Wilson: So what are some of your favorite sources for nostalgia inspiration these days?

Leilani Schirmer: Okay I have two big ones and some smaller ones. Um because [00:16:00] this is basically my entire feed. This is all I consume. I'm like in the rabbit hole of nostalgia. So I have a lot. But two of my very favorite things are and and if anyone follows me in any way you're gonna be like Okay you've talked about this so much but I can't help it. My favorite podcast is the Cool Kids Club podcast. So it's a brother and sister, Amy and Justin. And they just It it's just really conversational. They're funny and silly and I just personally like them. But they talk about obviously nostalgia from the 80s mostly 90s maybe some early 2000s. So they go over just the the gamut of all the things from toys to shows to you know anything in the world that you could think of. Treats and um they'll do different holiday episodes and it's so fun. And I've actually been on their podcast uh a few times. And I talked about MaryKate and Ashley. Huge for me. And Lizzie McGuire. Also I was maybe a little too old for that but I loved Lizzie McGuire as well. [00:17:00] So uh they're really fun to check out. So that's my number one. And another thing.

Jennifer Wilson: We'll link the episodes that you've been on in the show notes for sure.

Leilani Schirmer: Oh okay. I would love to do that. They're super fun I mean I think if anyone's interested in nostalgia it'll be right up your alley.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Leilani Schirmer: And another big thing for me that kinda goes with scrapbooking or craftiness is the BFF Sticker Club. So I'm wondering if you've heard of.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, they've been on the show before. So.

Leilani Schirmer: They've been on the show. Okay. So I love Annie and Laura. And um I've been involved with the with the BFF Sticker Club since the very very beginning. I've gotta say I'm an original member. Um but And I went to camp a couple years They do a a sticker camp an adult sticker camp. Which is phenomenal, and so fun. So um I've made a lot of fun sticky friends through them. But they are a super great source of just nostalgia. Because as far as crafting goes that's what I've been trying to do with the monthly makes and like trying new crafts. Because [00:18:00] I think as we get older I don't know if this is everyone but I feel like for me I've always been a crafty person. Like I always say like I'm an indoor kid. I never went outside I didn't like to be outside in the heat. Like I like to do arts and crafts inside. So I've done that forever. And um I think as you get older everything has to have a purpose. So I feel like with the BFF Sticker Club they've brought back that nostalgic feeling of just creating something fun and silly just for the just just for doing it. You know just because it makes you feel happy. And so I love that about them. And of course collecting stickers I mean there's nothing more nostalgic than just collect just buying stickers. And it's fun to buy old stickers that you remember or find new uh brands and everything. So I love the BFF Sticker Club a lot.

Jennifer Wilson: Somewhere in a box somewhere is my original sticker book. I just don't know if it's here or if it's at my parents' house in Texas, but I know it still exists.

Leilani Schirmer: I love that. I don't have much from my childhood. I do [00:19:00] have a few kind of random sticker book pages. Um that I do have in my craft room. But I unfortunately don't have a lot of things like that. But those are prized possessions. So special.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, yeah.

Leilani Schirmer: I would say beside those I do have a couple more. I have um a Instagram account called I'm Stuck in 1999. And that one I know you had mentioned the magazines and loving um old magazines. And they share things like that magazine pages or just old ads and toys and just things that you might have forgotten. Like as you're you know and you'll you'll have a memory unlocked which is one of my favorite things. So I do follow several accounts like that on Instagram. But that's one of my favorites. So those are my top three.

Jennifer Wilson: Is called, uh, Teen Magazine Museum. And I remember my very first issue of Seventeen Magazine. It was the December 1990 issue. Winona Ryder was on the cover. I got it at the airport when we were traveling for Christmas, and that felt like, "Oh gosh, I am a grown-up now. I feel so cool. That [00:20:00] I have.

Leilani Schirmer: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Seventeen Magazine.

Leilani Schirmer: I love that.

Jennifer Wilson: Only 10 years old."

Leilani Schirmer: I love that. And I love that um the the accounts like they have some sort of almost like archival thing where we can go back and actually remember that. That's happened to me a lot. Where I'll be like Oh my God I remember this exact ad. Or I remember this exact magazine that had this. And.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Leilani Schirmer: Thing. That's been big I've kind of also fallen down the rabbit hole of American Girl dolls. And um I'm not ashamed to say that I bought myself an American Girl doll. And she's sitting proudly on my shelf. And I have I'll get into that. But anyways um she's adorable and I don't know if you've followed but but this year is their 40th anniversary of American Girl. So it's the. This is uh it was in 1986 my same year. So whenever it was created so it's pretty exciting. And you know they're known for the historical dolls although they have many others. Um but they came out with the [00:21:00] latest historical dolls they came out with maybe I don't know three years ago or so. Are uh Isabelle and Nicki Hoffman and they are historical dolls from 1999. So um it's they're adorable. They have all kinds of like relics like um Tamagotchis and blowup chairs and they're so cute. But it's hilarious because they are historical from 1999. But I did purchase one of them. And then I went and found I ha I had a American Girl of Today. Which was like the modern doll at the time in 1996. So I I went and found that outfit off of eBay. So Isabelle is now wearing proudly the exact outfit that my doll had in 1996. And I love it. So I do have a few other things I I didn't write any of them down but um from Instagram. I'll follow a lot of like American Girl nostalgia accounts as well which is always really fun.

Jennifer Wilson: I, I don't directly follow them, but I'm seeing a lot of like very [00:22:00] sassy things related to the American Girls dolls these days. Um, connecting to like, you know, maybe more politically correct versions of their historical past or what they would say today in this world, and yeah, some of.

Leilani Schirmer: Exactly. Exactly yes I've seen those.

Jennifer Wilson: So do you find yourself having more interest or feelings about your more childhood years or more of your teen years, or is it kind of a combination of those?

Leilani Schirmer: I think mine is mostly a combination. Whenever I look back at like my own childhood teen years I don't always have honestly a lot of idyllic memories from those times. A lot of that was was a little hard for me. And I think possibly that is why I hold onto nostalgia so much. So I don't typically reflect on my own past and my own memories. But what I just have latched onto is the pop [00:23:00] culture, the toys, the music. All that kind of stuff. So I think in general it would be more from like the 90s. Where I was four to 14. That was like just That's like the perfect time of of all that stuff in my opinion. Like right like we didn't have computers for the majority of that. And then you randomly get a computer and it's exciting and it's like the Wild West internet. Nobody knew what they were doing and all that. But also my teen years um I was what you would call a mall goth. I loved Hot Topic and I loved like Blink182 and indie music and stuff. So I do like cringe a little but look back on those times fondly as well. And I love early tech. So I love thinking about the the first phones the you know Nokia phones the Razrs the iPods and all of that I think is really fun. But for the most part I think I I more reflect on the 90s stuff for sure.

Jennifer Wilson: Interesting. Yeah, I think to me it's, it's a weird [00:24:00] combination of the stuff is more from my childhood. Like toys, the stickers, the clothes. Like, I remember these little, like, white fringe boots.

And then the teen years are more about how the music reminds me of what was happening in my life, like where I was, who I was with, um.

Leilani Schirmer: Totally.

Jennifer Wilson: What was going on then.

Leilani Schirmer: The music is way more important. Mmhmm.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. Especially for, for mem- like, for really taking you back. And, and even, like, my parents' music, that also really gets me too. Because that's what they were listening to.

Leilani Schirmer: Mmhmm. Exactly.

Jennifer Wilson: So you already mentioned the, your, uh, American Girl doll. Is there anything from the olden days that you've brought back to your everyday life, either as an original or a reproduction?

Leilani Schirmer: Oh yes. Oh yes. And my obsession right now is physical media in general. And also uh pr I think in February I purchased a kitchen [00:25:00] TV. So I have the cutest little white fat back TV. It's a nineinch screen so it's a little guy. And it sits in our kitchen and this has been the biggest source of happiness I've never been so obsessed with an inanimate object in my life. But I This this TV is like my child. I love this thing. It is so cute. And me and my husband we love to go DVD. So right now we just have a DVD player. I would expand to a VHS but they're like more expensive and VHS's are so much bigger. But we have a little DVD player. And um we've gone, like our We always love to thrift. But our big thing right now has been DVD hunting. So we have had so much fun looking for nostalgic DVDs from like our childhoods. And things like that It has been so fun. And every day uh our big thing is we have lunch together, before he goes to work. So we always put on some sort of like old movie or show. And we'll have it on. Sometimes we just like have it [00:26:00] on for the vibes. And sometimes we listen to it. But it has been so much fun to collect physical media. And we also have a little um CD tape player in our living room. And we have been building up a collection of like cassette tapes and CDs as well. Which has also been just a really good time. So I love it.

Jennifer Wilson: I'm curious if you're having challenges finding appropriate storage solutions for these items, or are tho- are those still existent?

Leilani Schirmer: Okay so this was li this was a big thing for me because I was like okay aesthetically we cannot have DVDs everywhere. And so I did a little spring cleaning. And in my kitchen we have this big huge builtin like pantry thing. And I you know I just had stuff in it that I needed to get rid of. I got rid of everything inside of these huge cabinets. And so they're blocked off so you can't see what's inside of them so you don't have like the ugliness of the DVDs. And I have so much storage for [00:27:00] DVDs. So I just lucked out in particular. That I was able to find storage solutions. But that can definitely be an issue. You know cause I I know years ago we loved to d I'm I'm assuming everyone was like this but like in our TV rooms like I know whenever I was like in high school we would just show off the DVDs. We would just have them out on a shelf and stuff. I feel like everybody just had the DVDs out and now it's like not something that you would really wanna show off. So yeah good question.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, 'cause I, I, I still have some binders of music, I think, and then we do have a lot of DVDs in packages, but they're all in the basement. 'cause I mean, we, our only DVD player right now is the Xbox, but it usually has a game in it, so.

Leilani Schirmer: Exactly And see like we have to have a a ton packed away somewhere but I don't know where any of those things are and so we've just been you know rebuying things um which has.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Leilani Schirmer: Been super fun. But yeah it is tough, whenever That's the thing about physical media It is just so much easier to [00:28:00] stream. But the joy that it brings you to open the box and put something in and be intentional. And also the DVD like menu screens. That's a lost art that we've forgotten about. Because those are so much fun. They're so much fun. And I'd totally forgotten.

Jennifer Wilson: Have you used any of like the, the art from old DVDs, VHS tapes in, in your scrapbooking or junk journaling? Or is it too like precious to do anything with?

Leilani Schirmer: I haven't actually used any of it specifically. Um a while back like a first project that I was this was years ago that I was documenting from my childhood. Though I did uh go on eBay and I I had a beloved um computer game and it was called Rocket It was about a girl named Rocket. No one knows of it really. But I found the little booklets that I could buy off of um eBay. So they were like dirt cheap. And I did use those in a couple projects. [00:29:00] But for the most part I just take it to Google and I'll just print off the movie covers or CD covers which I have documented tons of times.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, yeah. Oh gosh, my favorite video game from like when I was very little was called Peanut Butter Panic. We had a weird, i'm gonna put computer in quotes, it was a keyboard that attached to some

sort of cassette player that all attached to your TV. To play these games that were on cassette tapes.

Leilani Schirmer: Oh my God.

Jennifer Wilson: It was something about making peanut butter sandwiches, and then you had to eat peanut butter sandwiches, and like you were, it was a race to do it fast enough or something. I don't know. But.

Leilani Schirmer: I love that.

Jennifer Wilson: I was addicted to it.

Leilani Schirmer: I love that. Mine were like, um So I was I had a few computer games. I I've never been a video game kid. I never had like video game consoles or anything growing up. Um

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Leilani Schirmer: Love my computer games And whenever I was in the eighth grade so I don't know what year that is but like roughly 99 2000 something like that. We got [00:30:00] a computer like a big you know regular home computer and it was a Gateway 2000. And my parents were never I'm an only child and my parents were never interested in anything internet. Like they couldn't care less. So this was like my computer. They never sat at it. They never used it one time in my entire life. So it was amazing. And you got like games with it. You could get you know back then of course they had to gender everything so you could get the boy pack or the girl pack. So I got the girl pack of games. And it came with some iconic games It had an American Girl game. It had Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh.

Leilani Schirmer: Then Clueless. And you got to like uh check out Cher's closet and stuff. Which was really cool. And a Babysitters Club game. Which I am uh like a Babysitters Club crazy fan. So those were like really big for me. So a lot of really iconic uh computer games there so.

Jennifer Wilson: Did you see there's some speculation that Reese Witherspoon is gonna do something with Sweet Valley High?

Leilani Schirmer: [00:31:00] No but I love that.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. Like I was, I was way into that. Even I think almost, I wanna say almost before Babysitters Club. Like I think it's just 'cause what my friends were reading at the time, so.

Leilani Schirmer: I was I was a huge Babysitters Club That was like right at like peak time for me. But Sweet Valley I did get into. And I do have some old Sweet Valley High books still. And then I know whenever I was in like maybe high school they came out, I don't I don't know if they were like the same stories. But they were definitely modern covers. And that's what I really remember. Like they were they had like real people on them and it was like super like 2000s modern look of Sweet Valley High. But I always loved that So yeah that would be super fun.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, no, the ones I checked out from the library were always like the vintage ones that I think most of them came out, I wanna say late '70s, early '80s. I don't know for sure.

Leilani Schirmer: have a few of those.

Jennifer Wilson: So in terms of like things that you're accumulating, things that you've been, you've kept around for a long [00:32:00] time, how do you decide what to keep and what to let go of when we, we love the stuff and it, it gives us so many warm fuzzies and, and good memories?

Leilani Schirmer: That is hard. Um I one thing I don't have uh anything really from my own personal like childhood toys and things. I didn't like inherit a lot of things. So really I I love to thrift I've always loved to thrift. And that's a huge thing that me and my husband do together. And so I just love to look at it whenever I'm there find things point it out you know. We'll tell different stories while we're thrifting Oh I remember we had that exact thing or whatever. And we don't necessarily always buy it. But I do um purchase plenty of things and really it stays in my craft room. I have a few nostalgia shelves that are absolutely filled to the brim. And they have small things on them like chapter books and um like Oh I ha I do have my [00:33:00] Pog collection uh my actual collection so there's a lot of Pogs up there. And like there's some um Nickelodeon orange VHS tapes. You know things like that. So really it it's what I have space for. So if I find something that's like just top tier I'm keeping it like the American Girl doll. Or I did find a seethrough phone like with the cord one of those classic phones. The seethrough.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Leilani Schirmer: So that that has a perfect spot in my craft room. But it is pretty full. I have a teeny tiny little craft room so I really can only fit what I can have in here. But I'm I'm a maximalist at heart. So if I had extra space in my house I would devote. I I do follow I should have mentioned those cause I do follow a couple of accounts that have recreated childhood rooms and stuff. And I would totally have one of those. And I would just fill it up with everything I could find. So I don't think I'm the perfect person to ask what to let go of.

Jennifer Wilson: Sure.

Leilani Schirmer: I do my [00:34:00] best.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh my gosh, so many different thoughts. Like, A, that, that clear phone is still actually plugged in at my parents' house upstairs in what we call, like, the game room. I don't know if you have game rooms in Mississippi. It's like an upstairs living room.

Leilani Schirmer: Yes a lot of people do. We don't Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: I saw it, I saw it the last time that, that I was there.

Leilani Schirmer: That's amazing.

Jennifer Wilson: Did you, did you watch Stranger Things?

Leilani Schirmer: Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: And so, uh, towards the end when they had the little girl's bedroom from like 1986, and I'm just like, "Oh my gosh, I had that and I had that," and like.

Leilani Schirmer: Ah

Jennifer Wilson: I was the exact age. I know that's when you were born, but.

Leilani Schirmer: Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: I was 6 years old when she was two or seven or whatever. And it was just such a trip for me.

My daughter was like, "Uh, Mom, you're, you're flipping this is, what it is.

Leilani Schirmer: It's like you don't understand. I love that. Yeah. That's so fun.

Jennifer Wilson: So I mentioned earlier that I have a, a bit of a connection to things of my parents' generation. Because they listened to so much music, [00:35:00] especially in the car. Um, they played records a lot at home. Do you also find yourself kind of looking back further to those other, to other, other generations that, that give you those, those thoughts and feelings too?

Leilani Schirmer: Definitely. Not as much as my own you know personal. But when you mentioned the records um and music and things I think that's like a huge thing that probably a lot of us take from our parents. And um one thing we have a record player here at home. We do wanna upgrade. But we have a record player. And we have our own uh record collection but we have inherited my dad's record collection. So that's uh a new tradition I've actually just been talking about that I want to start is where like every weekend when we're home together to pick out one of the older records and listen to it from start to finish. And if we have like um multiple ones on the same band to listen to em and get acquainted with those. Or Yeah so I thought that that would be really fun. And [00:36:00] also since um last year uh me and my husband Will we both created a movie list of older movies that we'd like classic movies that we'd never seen but we'd always wanted to watch. And we've been kind of uh taking turns picking a movie and and watching those. And that's been super fun. And a lot of those have been from like generation before us. You know movies like Rocky and um I don't know a lo a lot of those kind of classic movies. That we never saw. So that's been really fun. And I also made a list. We we haven't seen a lot of movies so we were trying to branch out. So I made um a list recently of movies from 1986 since this is my big year. To try to watch and so like Ferris Bueller's on there and uh Howard the Duck. I don't know if you've saw that but that is an interesting one that we watched recently. Um I don't know if it. Yeah, I don't know that it was good but it was really a wild ride. That was a crazy movie. So that's been kind of fun to connect to the [00:37:00] older stuff.

Jennifer Wilson: I remember, like, when that came out on, I mean, I think it was on HBO, and at some point we had HBO, and I recorded it. And so I had, like, not even VHS, I had a beta tape of Howard the Duck. And I know I tried to watch it several times, but I was too young. I didn't get any of the jokes. It didn't make any sense.

Leilani Schirmer: It's really adult. It's way I mean you wouldn't think so because of the way it looks. But it's really crazy. I mean if if you haven't seen that or if you just need to remember that movie it is worth watching cause it's so ridiculous.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. Um, so let's talk more about scrapbooking. So what are some of the ways that you have included this interest and passion for nostalgia in your memory keeping projects?

Leilani Schirmer: Okay so I think just in general even with projects that I do all the time like uh Project Life of course. I also work in a Hobonichi I do like a undated [00:38:00] Hobonichi and just do layouts when or um journaling spreads whenever I feel like it. But I think like my general style is very colorful and playful and quirky and stuff. So I think that kind of just lends to a nostalgic feel. I've had a lot of people just tell me that with my regular scrapbooking. Like Oh this reminds me of something I would do you know whenever I was in high school or something. So I think maybe I just have a that's just my style perhaps.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Leilani Schirmer: I have done a few specific projects in the past. Um it was really early on into me sharing projects I like on Instagram and things. So it was probably in 2021. But I did create a book out of a Heidi Swapp Storyline Chapters like the smaller version of those. Uh that was called Childhood Documented. And I created prompts and I can't remember all of them now. But like a lot of them were typical prompts like music and uh you know your style icon and [00:39:00] collections that you had and things like that. And I would just Google images and then tell a quick little blurb about uh w whatever that thing was. Whatever it meant to me or whatever. And so that was really fun and it caught on a little bit within my own small area of the internet. And a lot of people started to do do their version of that. And it was really fun to see other like maybe people from the 80s. Or people from you know that were from totally different timeframes the 70s and stuff. Do their own versions of that. And that was a super fun project. And then um in maybe early 2024 I did a twopart project out of a Ali Edwards I think I definitely got them from Ali. But I think like the 3 by 8 little uh binder style album. So kind of a small one. And I did one about like my childhood so the 90s. And then one about the early aughts like my high school days and that one had a lot more like reflection [00:40:00] and tons of journaling also with pictures and some pictures from my childhood. Although I don't have that many. Uh like I have a lot of baby pictures but like no other pictures. So my pa you know I'm the only child My parents weren't into it My mom wasn't a mom that scrapbooked or anything. So it's like I'm lucky I got anything. But yeah so I documented those. I did that over on I did have a Patreon at the time. But I do have flipthroughs of all of those on my YouTube. Um but yeah so I've done several uh just specific childhood documenting. Mostly again focused on pop culture and things.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I definitely wanna do one of like the, the toys of my childhood. I've been thinking about that lately.

Leilani Schirmer: Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: 'Cause I think I'm maybe most likely to forget that. Like, I want to just make sure I get the images. Um, there's actually been some toys that my parents, like, bought for me again on eBay so I would have it.

Leilani Schirmer: Uhhuh That is so fun

Jennifer Wilson: It's... I mean, some of it's kinda silly. 'Cause it's like literally a toddler toy engine, but my dad always [00:41:00] worked on cars, and I thought, like, w- it was the most fun thing in the entire world to be able to, to put together this toy engine. So I have this Fisher-Price toy engine.

Leilani Schirmer: I love it.

Jennifer Wilson: Part of my collection.

Leilani Schirmer: It's crazy. Yes how much that like you know it brings you back and it's really so special. I don't know I love that.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Leilani Schirmer: Like I was really like I mentioned before really into Pogs. And having my personal collection I have a little Pog case and all my Pogs in there. I mean and my Slammers and stuff like that's really something. Because I remember those individual ones. And I would like play those like I was you know really really doing something. Like we were like playing poker and stuff back in the day with our Pogs whenever I was like in third grade. And also I do have my own personal Polly Pocket. So that's kind of fun too. But those are like the only things that I have. But I love looking on eBay and finding old things like that on eBay. That that's dangerous. Because you can really you know start to accumulate things that way.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah, I'm looking-- I'm here in my office and I'm [00:42:00] looking at my shelves and I'm like, A, there's plenty of room. And I need to pull some stuff out from the basement or bring it home from, from my parents' house. And B, some of my decorations here are very boring and don't need to be here. So they could be replaced by something more interesting.

Leilani Schirmer: Oh yeah replace them. Replace them. They gotta go. Mine really my room is kinda wacky. But yeah I have I have a lot of nostalgia stuff. As I'm looking around I ha definitely have Beanie Babies. I have um I loved Power Rangers and I loved specifically the Yellow Ranger either Trini or Aisha. So I have um some Barbies of that. I have some VHS tapes in here like I have the Babysitters Club. And um I just have a lot of random you know just anything that makes me happy I stick it in here.

Jennifer Wilson: I love that. I love that so much. I love that permission that you've given yourself and just to really, um, celebrate this aspect of your personality and, and have fun with it. We, we probably all need a little bit more of that these days.

Leilani Schirmer: That's what I think. Anything like I see a lot online about [00:43:00] whimsy. But it is true. Like people need more whimsy in their life. Like it doesn't have to be so serious. Or as you get older I think people lose that sense of self. And you can still have fun and be colorful and have like a a bit of a childlike wonder even though you're an adult.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. Yes, yes, 100%. I, I think sometimes as maybe as, as women who are the predominant gender in scrapbooking, we, uh, perhaps escape that more than the men who I think they s- often grow up less.

Leilani Schirmer: That's true I don't disagree.

Jennifer Wilson: Only saying that because my husband has said that out loud. He's like, "I'm still just like a 10-year-old boy inside."

Leilani Schirmer: Yeah you think about guys a lot I mean not that there aren't gamer girls and things but you know I feel like there's a huge pass for that with guys and gaming, and things like that. And then it's like you know we get to have stuff too. For sure.

Jennifer Wilson: I love it. So can you share where our listeners can find you online? Anything else you might have new or coming up this [00:44:00] year?

Leilani Schirmer: Sure. Definitely my Instagram account which is leilani_scraps and I share a lot on there I do all kinds of posts and and I'm I'm very active on Instagram. And then also I have a YouTube. Same name just Leilani Scraps. And I do share definitely two videos a week. I do a huge range of things. Always Project Life but I constantly have other projects going on. I do like the Sisterhood of the Traveling Journal. I do um I'm doing a Martina Calvi Junk Journal series right now. I just had a vlog go up. Um so I do a vlog a month and it just has a different topic. This month's is the Summer Junk Journal which I'll be sharing. I do my Hobonichi. I just do like a large range of fun projects over there. So those are my two main things. I did have a Patreon for a while. And although that's not open anymore I do have my Patreon archive open. And I link that in all of my YouTube videos. So I have [00:45:00] probably hundreds of videos over there as well lots of process videos. And it's just 5 a month. Uh to get access to all of my past uh archive just in case.

Jennifer Wilson: Excellent. Excellent. Yeah, no, very cool. Now you have to tell me, what is Sisterhood of the Traveling Journal?

Leilani Schirmer: Oh Oh my gosh. Okay. It is so fun. So there's a huge community. Uh I didn't name this There's a huge community that does this online. But me and a group of mostly my sticker friends from that I originally met through the BFF Sticker Club. But you could do this with any obviously any group of friends. And everyone in that group I think there's six of us. We all created our own junk journal. So in any type of size style whatever you wanted to do. And you make a few pages introducing yourself and maybe make a few uh interactive pages that everyone could fill out about themselves. Like you could make a nostalgia page and you could say uh add a photo of yourself as a kid [00:46:00] or uh add you know do a sticker bomb here whatever. So you make your pages and then you're gonna send it to the next person in line out of those six girls. So then it travels around all around the US and we all just add to the existing pages and create our own pages. So then we'll eventually get our our journal back. And it will have like all kinds of spreads from all of the girls in it.

Jennifer Wilson: That is so fun. I love this concept.

Leilani Schirmer: It's really fun. And I have shared those over on my uh YouTube so you can see It's it's kinda neat because normally it's just my stuff over there obviously. But you get to see other people's styles. You know And then you get to add your own style to it. So that's It's like the first time I've ever done like a collaborative project like that so it's pretty neat.

Jennifer Wilson: So cool. Yes. Thank you so much for bringing such delight to our conversation today. Um, I'm definitely having lots of, lots of feelings and look forward to scrapbooking some of these topics myself.

Leilani Schirmer: Thank you so much. That means so much to me. I appreciate it.

Jennifer Wilson: [00:47:00] And to all of our listeners, please remember that you have permission to scrapbook your way.