ALP x Harvest Fest 2020
A few weeks ago, Kristin reached out to me to ask if I was interested in participating in her Awesome Ladies Project Harvest Fest 2020 event. Specifically, would I be interested in being an ambassador and facilitating one of the challenges. This is the first time anyone has ever asked me to be a part of a crafty event, and since I’m so new to getting back into my creativity, I was a bit unsure/nervous about it. To my surprise, my first instinct was to say “of course!” before the doubt could creep in. I highly recommend reading “Year of Yes” by Shonda Rhimes.
After looking over the list of projects, I stopped dead on project #7 – documenting new friends made during covid-19/quarantine. I *knew* this project was meant for me because 1) 7 is my favorite number and 2) I deliberately changed my social media strategy during covid-19 to stop doom scrolling and get back into creativity, so I have plenty of new friends I could talk about. I love this challenge so much and am so excited to show you my approach.
First, I brainstormed which of my new friends I would be featuring which was not easy! It was basically like choosing guests for your wedding. I ultimately decided on four incredible women who have had a major effect on my spiritual, mental, and emotional well-being during these *unprecedented times*. We’ve got Kristin, Sarah, Tricia, and Amie and I cannot wait to tell you more about them later.
Once I had my leading ladies selected, I decided which format I would be using. My life is absolutely bananas at the moment so I knew I needed this project to be highly portable, flexible, and accessible. I decided to design digital pages in Canva since digital would be the quickest and easiest way to incorporate the photos and content I wanted to use. Then I decided on page an album size – 8.5 x 11, binder style. I needed room to brag on these ladies and knew the smaller pages just wouldn’t cut it. I am a journaler after all and just like Hamilton, I can write like I’m running out of time.
My approach to highlighting these lovely ladies was: profile page – instagram handle, first and last name, a photo, and synopsis of their work and how it has impacted me. I knew each of the ladies would have multiple pages and I envisioned each of them essentially having their own section. I wanted to include a few of their social media posts that really spoke to me (limited to four because like I said – Hamilton = non stop). I also wanted to include various aspects of their work in various sizes throughout their section. I designed a color palette specific to each lady and their typical color palette or slightly modified it to match the harvest colors. Luckily, most of their colors already fit the “harvest” color scheme.
Once I had the content brainstormed, I purchased an album and page protectors, and got designing in Canva. The digital aspect made all of this so easy and seriously, Canva is my jam. This project would not be what it is without the flexibility of digital scrapbooking. I worked on this project from my bed, my couch, my desk, my dinner table, and my iPhone. Plus, the digital aspect allowed my imagination to run free with colors and fonts and pictures oh my!
Once the digital pages were complete, I printed it at Staples on nice paper (because my printer is slightly messed up and I wanted to do this project justice). Knowing I wanted this to be a hybrid project, I assembled some of the prints in the page protectors and others I stuck on card stock paper and hole punched them in. This is the beauty of a binder style scrapbook; the versatility just makes my heart sing. Now, onto the important stuff.
Kristin Tweedale / @rukristin
Feminist Scrapbooker. I mean hello? Are you not already in love? I love that Kristin makes scrapbooking an inclusive community where she makes it crystal clear that no matter what your life looks like, your stories are worth telling. Tell them however you want, and come as you are. Her weekly challenges make memory keeping so easy: beginning of the week – currently list. #Thursday3. Intersectional feminist Friday. And here’s the pièce de résistance: Daily Pages. Daily pages are essentially the creativity gym: spend a few minutes each day creating something in a small notebook on a double page spread using what you already have. She says daily pages will change your life; and spoiler alert: she’s right.
Sarah Hosseini / @sarahhosseiniwriter
Fellow wild woman; I know them when I see them (even online!). Completely unapologetic and passionate, Sarah encourages women to SPEAK UP, stand firm in your truth, challenge the status quo, and live a life that feels authentic for you. A fellow journaler, she highlights the importance of shadow work which, let me tell you, will keep you VERY honest and authentic. If you are doing shadow work properly, you will have no choice but to live authentically – it will just happen. If you watch Lovecraft Country, shadow work can look like episode 7 titled “I Am.” She has given a Tedx Talk and has also written many articles for many news publications and I encourage you to read them – she is so refreshingly open and honest. Your favorite influencer could never. Seriously go to her website and check out her work. She writes about everything from motherhood to feminism to marriage.
Tricia Hersey / @thenapministry
The Nap Bishop. Tricia is the one who made me redefine how I view rest and how my current “relationship” with rest came to be. I was 31 years old when I realized I was sleeping every night, but I wasn’t resting. (!!!!!!) Resting, by the way, is not just taking naps. It comes in many forms – use your imagination and brainstorm a few different forms of rest for yourself. She drops major truth bombs every day and actually, she is one of the women who helped me understand and recognize the system of modern day white supremacy and the importance of calling it out and refusing to let it steal my dream space/joy/hope by working my body into the ground. Modern day capitalism is the devil y’all. She helped me to get off of living my life on auto pilot. I encourage you to please please please go to her profile right now and just get lost in it. Meditate on the message. Journal about the message. It’s that important.
Amie McNee / @inspiredtowrite
Journaling and Mothering. Two elements that have been absolutely KEY in how I show up during these times. I have always been a journaler but I have always kept that top secret. There’s so much childhood trauma surrounding journaling that it was just not something I ever considered talking or posting about. Then here’s Amie living her best time lapse journaling life LOL! I am so grateful to have stumbled across her, she has normalized journaling and its importance for me. I don’t feel nearly as much shame around it which is fantastic since I’ve been journaling for years and am extremely knowledgable on the subject. Ultimately, rejecting journaling was rejecting part of my brilliance. Something I’m not as knowledgeable on is the concept of Mothering. Amie explains that this is a key concept we must embrace because it is essentially the way we talk to ourselves and, more specifically, the way we talk to our inner child. Because I am not an overly nurturing person, this is a concept I will need to spend more time on but one that has already changed how I speak to myself. So when I spill coffee grounds on the counter, instead of going straight to allllll the f-bombs and being mad at myself, I tell myself “its ok we will clean it up – it’s not a big deal.” Major shift, major thanks.
And speaking of major thanks, major thanks again to Kristin for having me and giving me a safe and inclusive space to share my art, heart, and voice! Also special thank you to the Hamilton soundtrack, Kendrick Lamar, SavagexFenty Fashion Show playlist, and Euphoria playlist on Spotify. Music is life.
Happy Harvest Fest! I cannot wait to see what you all create!
