Topics for our show today include: * Why do we think it matters when we include other people’s words in our scrapbooks? * How we incorporate words from people into our lives. * How to get people to get used to the idea of using words in their art. * How to incorporate current events into your scrapbooking * How song lyrics and lyrics can help you tell your story. * Bringing in other people’s perspectives can help when you don’t know what to say, but also add important context. Amazing! Look for a full blog post over on the Awesome Ladies Project later this week, and make sure to check out awesomeladieslive.com before it's too late to join us here in East Lansing next month!!! Our Guests: Christine is a memory keeper and crafter of all types and has been scrapbooking for well over 20 years. She lives in Northern NJ with her husband, daughter and Havanese, Lulu, in the town she grew up in. Professionally Christine is in commercial real estate, primarily investment and asset & property management. She is an art journaler, an avid book lover, a music, theater, movie and tv fan and a hardcore foodie. Christine has been a member of the Awesome Ladies Project since 2018 and a member of the ALP FSS since 2020. She can be found on IG as cpscraps and on the ALP as ChristineP. Megan Kiekel Anderson (she/her) has been a memory keeper for over two decades. A dark fiction writer, she lives in Kansas City with her chaotic family including too many cats, chickens, and foster kittens. You can find her on Twitter and Instagram under the handle @megan_nerdnest or at her website at www.megankiekelanderson.com (www.megankiekelanderson.com)

In another great roundtable for the Season of Scrapbooking, we engage in a candid conversation about the significance of selfies in personal storytelling and documentation. The episode begins by highlighting the role of selfies as a means of self-narration, allowing individuals to contextualize their own stories. Kristin shares her realization during college that she lacked self-portraits in her scrapbook layouts, leading her to consciously incorporate selfies into her routine through the creation of the Thursday3 project. Vanessa shares her journey with selfies, admitting her initial reluctance due to negative societal connotations. However, Kristin's encouragement and the support of the ALP community enabled her to view selfies as a valid form of self-documentation. She emphasizes the importance of capturing various aspects of her life, including her own presence, alongside her family and daily experiences. The conversation takes an introspective turn as Kirsten reflects on their early experiences with pictures and the desire to be seen and recognized as part of the group. Selfies, for them, became a way to ensure their presence was acknowledged and documented. The discussion further explores the evolution of selfies over the years, from simply being part of the group photo exchange culture to intentional self-documentation. The episode addresses the feminist aspect of selfies, challenging the notion that they are solely attention-seeking or self-indulgent. Instead, the guests emphasize that taking selfies is an empowering act, asserting one's presence and embracing self-importance. The normalization of selfies is encouraged, giving others the opportunity to explore self-portraiture as a form of personal expression and documentation. Throughout the episode, the practical aspects of taking selfies are discussed, highlighting the ease and convenience offered by smartphones as versatile tools for self-capturing moments. The guests also touch upon the freedom to edit, experiment with filters, and embrace different styles, thereby enhancing the creative possibilities of selfies. Listeners are invited to embrace the idea of selfies as a valuable means of self-expression, documenting personal stories, and cherishing moments in a visually engaging way. The episode aims to inspire individuals to see the power and significance of self-portraiture, reminding them that their self-worth should not be dictated by societal standards or external opinions. Find out more about Awesome Ladies Live at awesomeladieslive.com (https://awesomeladieslive.com) Our guests: Kirsten is a school counselor by day, and a memory keeper by night. She makes fully digital layouts and balances that with crafty paper projects. Everyday life is her favorite topic. Originally from Germany, she and her husband now live in a beautiful corner of Washington State. Vanessa is a mom, feminist, artist, latina, book lover, speech and language pathologist, and wife, who loves to learn and have deep conversations with other awesome people, especially awesome feminists!

Topics we cover in the show: * The origins of the BFF Sticker Club * How to use stickers as a way to Tell Your Story * Our favorite stickers and sticker challenges * How to get started with stickers if they're not totally your thing (yet!) * Currently List x2 About Annie and Laura: Laura Wonsik and Annie Simkin are childhood besties who grew up to be mental health therapists, sticker enthusiasts, and adult besties! Together, they formed the BFF Sticker Club- a vibrant Instagram community of “Stickies,” who love to share their passion for stickers, snail mail, and kindness (with a decent dose of sarcasm and lots of laughter). We hope you come and join the fun- it’s the friendliest little corner of the internet. You can find us at Instagram.com/thebffstickerclub BFF Sticker Club on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/thebffstickerclub BFF Sticker Club on Insta: https://www.instagram.com/thebffstickerclub/

In this episode, A + K talk about scrapbooking as an amazing tool for personal growth since it causes you to be reflective, and how the craft of memory keeping blends the past, present, and future all at once. The girls discuss supplies and not treating them so preciously. Also, A + K make a point that choosing supplies is not the only choice you need to make for a project. Crafters don’t realize that choosing the approach is equally if not more important. How to extrapolate EASE and JOY in scrapbooking is what the girls are goaling to get across in the episode, and also suggest focusing on using all FIVE SENSES to pay attention to the little details of your life.

SUMMARY // Cathy Zielske (pronounced simply as Zil-ski) gives us the backstory of how she got to where she is today, from her job as an assistant editor for a magazine to having a baby and freelancing to her foray into scrapbooking and how she ‘got hooked’. Amanda + Kristin also talk with Cathy about finding your ‘thing’ and staying afloat in the creative industry by pivoting when needed and always evaluating when you need to make a tweak. Cathy also gives the girls the low-down about FIT: her online class all about documenting self-care. The class aims for its participants to to answer: Can you connect to what you need?

How is it that time of year again, crafty ass females?! It’s time to choose a guiding word for the upcoming new year based on some aspect of your existence you want to explore. We’ve had this awesome conversation last year & the year before, and it’s fun to see how A & K have grown! // Listen to Ali’s one little word® interview with us here.

We have gotten some listener requests for another PLANNER-THEMED episode, so here it is! A + K have done this before almost 100 episodes ago (!!!), but so much has changed since then…and PEOPLE, WE ARE ENTERING YEAR 2020! OMG! Let’s go!

Vanessa Oliver-Lloyd shares with Amanda & Kristin how she ended up in Shanghai, got back into art journaling with '“nothing books”, and finally embraced the word ‘artist’ while creating a second career as one out of necessity. The girls also discuss how women’s art has been seen as pastimes and perceived with some degree of condescension - as “just hobbies” and therefore without much value. Vanessa reveals how the medium & technique she chooses for her art is very intuitive. Her advice for when her inner critic is triggered or imposter syndrome flares up is LISTEN, ACKNOWLEDGE, and KEEP GOING.

In this episode, A + K talk about people pleasing. Why do we do it? How can we become more aware of it? How can we set up appropriate boundaries? The girls share their versions on this phenomenon, and discuss the answers to these questions.

Katy-Rose Bye shares with Amanda & Kristin about how she spent a good portion of her life trying to invent or reinvent herself, trying figure out her purpose. She feels you don’t have to take an eat pray love approach to reinvent yourself, and makes a great point that a LAPSE is not a RELAPSE. The girls also discuss negative bias and how we’re almost hard-wired to put more emphasis on negativity. Katy-Rose talks about prioritizing the positive in her life and redefining negativity like in the example of saying “resting” instead of “slacking”. Katy-Rose reveals that the brain works in habits, and the more we do something the more our brain will habitualize to it. She talks about stacking habits and adding a new activity you want to make a habit to a habit you already regularly complete.

Today on the podcast we are excited to bring you Anna Lovind - a writer and editor who believes in women’s creative freedom and the power of our voices and stories. Through her writing, courses and workshops she has guided thousands of creative women to go from dreaming to doing. She is the author of The Creative Doer – A Brave Woman’s Guide from Dreaming to Doing, and co-founder of Write Your Self, a teacher training for people who want to use writing as a tool for healing. Anna lives in the deep forests of Dalarna, Sweden, with her man, their two kids and a dog.

THE CRAFTY ASS FEMALE PODCAST IS NOW MADE UP OF 100 EPISODES! Amanda & Kristin are thrilled to bring you the 100th episode of the podcast, and whether you’ve been around for all 100 or just stumbled upon the show, we’re thrilled you’re here and we couldn’t thank you enough!

Alicia Michelle talks to Amanda & Kristin about how she got into planning with an Erin Condren Life Planner, what her first impression was of The Happy Planner®, and how she ended up embracing the discs! Alicia also discusses the inspiration & evolution of her sticker business on etsy and the process she goes through to ‘make stickers’.

In 2015, MIM was diagnosed with breast cancer and had to leave her corporate job. During this time, she got back into using a paper planner and decorating it with stickers as a way to take her mind off things. MIM is now cancer-free and the host of the Planner podcast. Mim started out making stickers for herself and then decided she would give selling them on Etsy a go — and was successful! Her next step was teaching people how to make stickers through a course she created, and now she’s creating her own planner community empire! Mim talks about how the community she's built around stickers has grown over the years. We talk about how amazing it is to have this incredible online community of people who enjoy planning, scrapbooking, and all of our favorite paper crafts! Thhe community is welcoming, supportive, and friendly. Where people of all ages and from all over the world can connect with each other. We get into how the commonality of anxiety is just one of the things that brings people together in both of our communities; and we discuss the different ways of dealing with anxiety and managing our daily lives. We also celebrate the variety in the way that people use planners. We talk about personal favorite planners, how we’re using them, and the different ways that we love seeing other people use them as well! We both love seeing people find new and creative ways to use the stickers and other features to suit their needs. Links: The Planner Craft Pro Summit: https://www.theawesomeladiesproject.com/pcp (https://www.mimjenkinson.com/a/2147513878/aS8fy5Vb) All About Mim: https://www.mimjenkinson.com/ Mim's Secret Sticker Society: https://www.mimjenkinson.com/sss (https://www.mimjenkinson.com/a/2147520934/aS8fy5Vb) Mim's Planner Podcast: https://www.mimjenkinson.com/podcast (https://www.mimjenkinson.com/a/2147505372/aS8fy5Vb)

Jennifer Perkins talks to Amanda & Kristin about how she went from making zines that she distributed locally to working for HGTV and being the brand ambassador for Treetopia! Jen also discusses how her taste-level is questionable most of the time, and even though her style skews very kitschy, she reveals that she in fact does carefully curate and choose what is displayed at any given time. The girls chat about why she started her podcast Creative Queso, the importance of connecting to like-minded people, and her fabulous in-person meet-and-greet mixed called Caftans & Queso!

Kelly Purkey starts off by talking about her backstory a bit, strolling down memory lane referencing the workshop she hosted where A & K met, and why she decided to pay the women on her design team. The girls chat about Kelly’s new products for December and how she always strives to create something new every year and create products for those documenters that don’t have photo-heavy holidays.

Caylee Grey starts off by explaining where her title ‘Fairy Art Mother’ came from, and tells A + K how Get Messy kind of “fell from the heavens” into her life and how she turned it into a business. In a world that focuses so much energy beautifully curated images and moments, Caylee makes ‘MESS’ a word to strive for and celebrate! Getting messy, says Caylee, is dancing naked in perfectionism’s face! The girls chat a bit about depression and Caylee shares the small steps she took to get out of it. Amanda talks about how breathing is sometimes all you have for the day, and that blends into a conversation about what a NonZero Day is.

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Elise Joy starts off by jumping right into her first book Big Dreams, Daily Joys and tells A + K how the idea for it came about. She also talks about a bit about her blog, and why Instagram is her main jam now. Elise goes into how she prioritizes her multiple business and creative ventures, and how she defines HAVING SUCCESS WITH HOBBIES. We also hear Elise talk about goal-setting in such a pragmatic way! PRE-ORDER BIG DREAMS, DAILY JOYS NOW !!!

Caytlyn Cole starts off by recounting her creative backstory to A + K and how she always knew she was going g to have a creative career. She also talks about how she got started in memory keeping & the creation, break from, evolution, and relaunch of Push Print Studio! YAY! Amanda gushes about how good Cay’s designs are, and feels like Push Print Studio is a digital print shop where each card is like the favorite card you’d pick out of a whole collection!

Rachel Gajardo starts off by explaining to A + K how she created her Instagram account to get a planner company’s attention. She also talks about her ‘tunnel vision’ in thinking there is only one right way to be a creative person, and forgetting that there are so many possibilities & models for living a creative life! She’s proof! Rachel’s answer the question ‘Why pop culture?’ and goes into detail about what we’re all dying to know about: (1) where does she get all her stickers and (2) her process from choosing a theme to the sticker hunt to how far in advance she plans.

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When she isn't painting on rocks or wrangling her tiny humans, Alisha Joy likes to write about some pretty amazing and uncomfortable topics: shame, belonging, self-love, vulnerability, grief, jealousy (you know, the fun stuff!) But the thing that really gets her fired up is happiness: how to create it, where to find it, and why we sometimes feel it's out of our reach. (Don't worry, it's NEVER out of our reach. Like, never ever.)

The Crafty Ass Females take some time before some big interviews to talk about all the ways we want to hear from you and find out more about you. Make sure to be a part of our Patreon community and let us know more about yourself, your crafts, your femininity and even your ass.

In this episode, Kristin sits down with Allie Trumpower to chat about her upcoming free event: Scrap School Summit (register FREE at scrapschoolsummit.com/crafty). The conversation immediately dives into the importance of our creative community and why creating an online event that anyone could join in on -- for free -- from anywhere in the world. This event has an incredible lineup (including Kristin) of speakers, and Allie talked about the different awesome things that attendees will get to learn through the event! A few of the topics we got into during this episode: Why having dedicated time to creating can be so important The different ways in which we can learn from people who's style is different from our own In-Person v Online Events -- the pros and cons of each. (With the announcement that Awesome Ladies Live 2023 will be on July 15 & 16th, 2023 here in East Lansing, MI!) A tangent into K-Pop scrapbooks and why K-Dramas are amazing for learning more about storytelling structure register FREE at scrapschoolsummit.com/crafty About Allie: Allie has been scrapbooking as long as she can remember – what started as a creative way for some “mother daughter time” quickly became a career when Allie discovered that she would love to design products for scrapbookers and creatives. Armed with a graphic design degree, Allie opened up Allie Scraps and designs printable (and some physical!) products for scrapbookers, planners, and bible journalers. Always a fan of “getting messy,” but not liking the clean up, Allie created her line of printable “Art Starts” so she (and others, of course!) could get the messy, painty look without the actual… mess. Allie is a fan of starting art journals and notebooks, but is super bad at finishing them. She’s also looking forward to this summit so she can learn even more ways to actually… FILL a notebook. Oh and if you wanna know some personal details: Allie lives in Ohio with her husband and two little boys. Other than creating in any form, she also loves The West Wing, cozy sweatshirts, and brownie batter M&Ms!

In this episode, A + K check-in with each other about where they’re at mid-summer, different angles you could take to tell your story, and where they want to go with their creative energy. Amanda thought she would use summer to catch up on her memory keeping, and talks to Kristin about how she’s not doing enough PLAY / PRACTICE with her crafting. Kristin talk about her morning pages practice and how it allows her to “just play”. A + K each talk about their identity as a creative artist and putting self-imposed rules on their projects. Amanda’s been exploring how she can use IG stories & her digital space to supplement her paper memory keeping.. The girls also reflect on where they are at with their one little words for the year. Amanda talks about what’s FOUND and Kristin talks about how she thought her word PROJECT would have been a louder word than it has been.

Megan Dowd starts off by telling A + K about where the ‘has good words’ part of her online identity derived from. They also dive right in to Megan’s morning pages & how daily lists can serve as a scrapbook in and of itself and show you your arc of personal growth. dressing for your day as a work from home creative entrepreneur conscious narrative - taking agency over the story your life writes. “My life tells a story,” Megan says, “…be conscious about it.” About humaning the best you can human. the evolution of language and we can’t use words just because they sounds ‘cute’ or ‘trendy’ when the meaning attached to them

In this episode, you hear A + K talk about their perspectives on this year’s Awesome Ladies Live creative retreat. Kristin talks about her intentions behind this event, how she feels it succeed, and how she’s SO GEARED UP for next year’s (July 24, 25, 26)! Amanda talks about how she wanted to use her time at the retreat to get back to that ‘play’ mentality…to use what she had on hand to finally document the past few months. SPOILER ALERT: mission accomplished!

In this episode, A + K dive into a word that’s been on Amanda’s mind lately as she’s nearing the end of this unexpected jolt back into teaching: SURVIVAL. We survive hard things we don’t think we can. We survive loss and anxiety and chronic conditions and negative emotions and awkward situations and bad days and rejection and (the list goes on)... The girls dive into the coexistence of pain + hard things alongside positivity + productivity. WE ARE NOT BEING FAIR TO OURSELVES when our responses to ‘hard things’ are negative ones. The core idea of this episode: It’s fucking hard to be alive. How are YOU surviving it?!

Lisa Congdon starts off by telling A + K about her “early mid-life crisis” and what her really intense desire to be creative manifested into. Lisa then goes into the greatest lesson writing her first book Art, Inc. taught her. Teaching is also a big part of Lisa Congdon’s creative life. She goes into what she loves about teaching and letting go of the preciousness of her work when teaching students how to “art” using her techniques. Lisa and the girls discuss copying vs. ‘being influenced by’, and how to embrace your own voice, ideas, and “wonkiness”. Amanda + Kristin pick Lisa’s brain about being personal & political, and using her voice/platform to talk about topics she cares about. The girls discuss putting out messages of self-love, worthiness, self-care and being an influencer vs. being an impacter.

Today we have Heidi Butters-Stabb on the podcast! Heidi is an Australian/American dual citizen who has lived most of her life in regional Victoria (southeast Australia) and sees kangaroos in the wild on an almost weekly basis right now because of the ongoing drought. She also has strong ties to Minnesota in the US and understands what “real” winter is. She works as a University librarian and her wife is a high school teacher. They have two cats. Heidi is a scrapbooker, crocheter, cross-stitcher, quilter, failed knitter and wannabe writer.

Promise Tangeman starts off by telling A + K the origin story of how @scrappylikeafox came to be - including the time before smart phones when she used to carry around a point-and-shoot camera. (Been there. Done that.) The girls then go into what it means to be on the cusp of the millennial generation and Tracey then shares her thoughts and approach to scrapbooking and why 12x12 pages are her JAM! She talks about her TREND WATCH series and celebrating other’s creative content.

HAPPY FIRST MONDAY OF SUMMER 2019! Amanda ‘survived’ her first year back to teaching and she + Kristin reflect on what it means to be in ‘survival mode’ and suggest that even when you are in that mode, good things can happen and you can be thriving. We’d love for you to have a listen!

Tracey Fox starts off by telling A + K the origin story of how @scrappylikeafox came to be - including the time before smart phones when she used to carry around a point-and-shoot camera. (Been there. Done that.) The girls then go into what it means to be on the cusp of the millennial generation and Tracey then shares her thoughts and approach to scrapbooking and why 12x12 pages are her JAM! She talks about her TREND WATCH series and celebrating other’s creative content.

Sabrina Poole starts off by telling A + K the origin story of how @mrsscrapandplan came to be - from a tin she used to store scraps in as a kid to her foray into hybrid scrapbooking as an adult. Sabrina then shares her thoughts and approach to planning, first bringing up how she feels the planner community can be a bit intimidating. Then, Sabrina goes into how she maintains two planners - one for planning and one for memory keeping.

The Virtual Scrapbook Festival ran from August 16th - August 21st, 2022 and was filled with live events, challenges, games, sharing, making new friends, and so much more. To find out more visit theawesomeladiesproject.com/festival Use coupon code PODCAST to purchase the festival and enjoy all the live recordings, challenges, templates, and inspiration from the community on your own schedule. What is an AMA? An AMA - ask me anything - is a format that was popularized by Reddit, drawing all sorts of people to answer all sorts of questions. We adapted the format for a live podcast recording and took some e-mailed questions, some questions live from people attending the recording (thank you for coming off of mute to ask!), and questions from the chat. Plus - a bonus Currently List to finish out the episode!

Sara M. Lyons starts off by telling A + K what the ‘M’ stands for in her name, and then goes into the backstory of her creativity from making art with her mom to the fashion blog she expressed herself on to losing her office job to her Tumblr posts gaining traction to slowly developing an online business. Sara started cutting out stickers on her couch and has developed her creative career in such a way where she has worked with brands like Urban Decay and illustrated a pop-up book on periods + vaginas! UHHH-MAZING! Sara also opens up to Amanda + Kristin about how she responds to blatant plagiarism and has learned that she needs to choose which battles she will fight and which she will let go of.

In this episode, A + K gush over the unofficial start of summer and share their upcoming summertime crafting plans. Amanda plans to jump back into her 9x12 project life album once the school year is over, and Kristin will be keeping up with her daily pages. The girls also chat about the weird phenomenon of pre-grieving the end of summer before summer has even began. Kristin suggests looking forward to short term things that will be happening within your present day, not just at the end of the week or month.

According to The Hill: On Wednesday, Governor Kay Ivey signed H.B. 314 — a near-total ban on abortion — into law. With her signature, Governor Ivey made Alabama the fifth state — after Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia and Ohio — to ban abortion just this year. ENTER: Ep. 76 of the podcast, and in light of the recent ruling, A + K felt the need to contribute to the conversation about womanhood and our female bodies and minds and how we can be resourceful considering where we are at as women in America.

After multiple episodes on Mental Health, A + K talk about another aspect of health in this episode: PHYSICAL HEALTH. They start with NUTRITION & Kristin relates how figuring out what foods makes her feel the best has been the best thing for her body. Amanda brings up MOTIVATION and how the anger + grief of her breakup a few months ago was the HARD RESET that allowed for her to snap back into eating well and going g to gym regularly. The EXERCISE aspect of physical health is opened up and while Amanda finds a combination of aerobic + strength training works best for her, while Kristin has found out that exercise tends to exacerbate her. physical pain. The girls then dive into the importance of getting enough REST + slowing down enough to focus on taking care of ourselves.

In this episode, A + K revisit the topic of finding & identifying your ‘THING’. After talking with the wonderful Austin Kleon about his new book Keep Going, A & K felt the need to do a bit of a corrective to what the original episode on this was about. The girls talk about how this podcast has become both of their ‘thing’, but only through commitment, collaboration, and a consistent weekly routine. ‘Take the edge off’ is something the girls also discuss as an important aspect of discovering your things. When the stakes are high any and all decisions regarding your ‘thing’ become big risks, which can intern disrupt your creativity and corrupt your inspiration. Finally, the girls have a laugh as Kristin describes the ever-changing nature of life & finding a ‘thing’ with this phrase: “Here it is, and there it went.”

In this episode, A + K talk about scrapbooking as an amazing tool for personal growth since it causes you to be reflective, and how the craft of memory keeping blends the past, present, and future all at once. The girls discuss supplies and not treating them so preciously. Also, A + K make a point that choosing supplies is not the only choice you need to make for a project. Crafters don’t realize that choosing the approach is equally if not more important. How to extrapolate EASE and JOY in scrapbooking is what the girls are goaling to get across in the episode, and also suggest focusing on using all FIVE SENSES to pay attention to the little details of your life.

In this episode, A + K talk about how they both ‘got into’ plants and how you can’t get more ‘off the phone’ than planting and being connected to your garden. The girls discuss going through seasons and season of learning curves, dormant periods, and dispelling the myth of ‘you need to know what you’re doing’.

Megan Auman starts off by telling A + K her creative backstory and how she came into metalsmithing. She talks about diving in head first exhibiting at her first trade show with no experience, with only two months to prepare for it, and repeating everything she heard in the next booth over. She says, “If you wait ‘till you’re ready, you’re never gonna be ready. Sometimes you have to jump in.” Plus, Megan talks about the big ‘P’ WORD in running your own business: PRICING. She brings up the term 'artificial pricing’ for the first time on the podcast, and how ‘dream jobs’ are still JOBS and ‘work we love’ is still WORK! Megan makes a case for what her jewelry has that big box stores don’t: a story, a REAL person behind it, and a connection. She finishes the conversation talking about the hashtag #endstudioshame, to end the anxiety + shame about how messy & un-Pinterest worthy the creative process in your physical space can get.

Erin Maya starts off by telling A + K what she’s been up to since grammar school (haa haa!) and what was involved in her track to being the musician and artist she is today. Erin also shares her perspective on her past ‘broken’ relationship, how she feels they were both not ready for each other, and how going into massage therapy was the best thing she ever did because it forced her to have new experiences. Erin opens up to Amanda + Kristin about the hardest part of leaving her ex, being rejected by the rebound guy, and singing words she had written in her journal.

Austin Kleon is the New York Times bestselling author of three illustrated books: Steal Like An Artist, Newspaper Blackout, and Show Your Work! His next book is Keep Going, a guide to staying creative in good times and bad. His books have over a million copies in print and have been translated into over two dozen languages. He speaks about creativity in the digital age for organizations such as Pixar, Google, SXSW, TEDx, and The Economist. In previous lives, he worked as a librarian, a web designer, and an advertising copywriter. He grew up in the cornfields of Ohio, but now he lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife and sons.

In today’s episode, Kristin talks about the upcoming ALP Virtual Scrapbook Festival happening at the Awesome Ladies Project from August 16th through the 21st. You can join in on the fun at theawesomeladiesproject.com/festival. In this episode I talk about: Why crafting around a community of like-minded women is so amazing How I put together this festival to that no matter what your life looks like, or how you like to hang out, you feel excited to attend this event The different types of sessions we have going on throughout the week, including self-paced, live, games, crops, and more. The LIVE podcast recording happening during the festival, and a coupon code to make sure you can be there!

WE WOULD SAY “We’re back!” BUT IN THIS SEASON’S CASE, WE NEVER LEFT! Haa haa! But anyway…CHEERS! We’re TENURE AS A PODCAST! Season 4, let’s do this! The theme for this season of Crafty Ass Female is GROWTH - because you don’t release almost 70 episodes of a hit podcast, have THEE best conversations with some of THEE best people, and NOT pick up a few things along the way!

Megan Anderson has come back on the podcast to update us on what’s going on with her these days and different ways she has lived out our Season 3 motto which was WORK SMARTER, NOT HARDER. Amanda + Kristin also talk with Megan about how she plans and making lists, what she did with the GET TO WORK BOOK® to ‘work smarter, not harder’, what it was like when she used to have her etsy shop & how it helped her learn about sunk cost. Megan also generously chats with the girls about the relationship with her husband Jake and her perception of how they are doing as a married couple and where they might go in the future!

Cathy Zielske (pronounced simply as Zil-ski) gives us the backstory of how she got to where she is today, from her job as an assistant editor for a magazine to having a baby and freelancing to her foray into scrapbooking and how she ‘got hooked’. Amanda + Kristin also talk with Cathy about finding your ‘thing’ and staying afloat in the creative industry by pivoting when needed and always evaluating when you need to make a tweak. Cathy also gives the girls the low-down about FIT: her online class all about documenting self-care. The class aims for its participants to to answer: Can you connect to what you need?