Category: Studio Yearbook

Sending the Yearbooks with Love

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photo by Shannon Ridler

In our family, if you do something twice and like it, it’s a tradition – and that’s what’s happened with Ephemera Friday! When we launch the season’s Studio Yearbook, a fill-in-the-blank creative journal, it includes sending out 100 print copies  – #thefirst100 – and along with them, we like to include a bit of treasure and magic!

In between yearbook seasons, we have fun gathering paper ephemera so that by launch date we have quite a collection. We find beauty in books, magazines and any other paper source we can find!

Ephemera Envelopes
photo by Shannon Ridler

My sister Shannon also works on creating amazing handmade envelopes from found papers. I’m blown away by them every single time!

Suzie & Shannon Ephemera Friday

As the change of season approaches and the Yearbook goes on sale, early birds tend to snap up the First 100. Once they all find a home, the production cycle begins. The order goes to the printer and Suzie, Shannon and I get together for Ephemera Friday!

photo by Suzie Ridler

As we choose treasures for each of the First 100 purchasers, we say their name out loud and hold them in our heart. We lean into our intuition and trust that the right little tidbits will find their way to the right creative heart so that they can be inspired as they begin their seasonal journey.

photo by Suzie Ridler

We have a lot of fun and totally enjoy the ephemera! In fact, some pieces find their home in our journals! This one was clearly for Shannon!

It takes us hours to put all the ephemera together and when bring our magical evening to a close, we celebrate the good work we’ve done and know that we’ll be meeting again to package everything for the mailing.

On Sunday we meet again and the table is reset for the next step. The envelopes are ready and the yearbooks are piled high. We continue to layer love and magic into the process. Once again we imagine each person who will be receiving the yearbook as we prepare each package. We often exclaim, “Brittany!!!” “Melody!!!” “Tracie!!!” as we go. The ephemera party has created such a connection with the yearbookers!

I wish that we could send out every yearbook this way but what I know is this. Whether you get a print copy or print up your own, the real magic comes from you! It lives in the creative heart whose journal this yearbook becomes. It comes from your heart. It comes from your dreams. It comes from pouring your wonderings and wanderings into these black and white pages.  Yes, we give the First 100 a little jump-start but no matter where you are, no matter how you begin, I promise the magic will find you.

Jamie & the Fall Yearbook
photo by Suzie Ridler

From Receiving Inspiration to Sending with Love

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By now you’ve probably heard the story of how inspiration woke me up in the wee hours last January and wouldn’t let me go until I had poured the Studio Yearbook out of my heart. I didn’t know what I was creating. I just wrote and wrote and wrote for hours. After I had messily put every idea onto paper, I thought to myself, “I think maybe this is a thing.” I mean, how could it not be if it woke me up in the wee hours to be created? For the past year, I’ve been following that inspiration to fruition. I’ve followed it all the way here…

Box of Yearbooks
photo by Suzie Ridler

Yes, The Studio Yearbook is now officially “a thing”, a magical wonderful thing.  This guided journal pulls together practices and principles from Jamie Ridler Studios in one creative place. It is a clean, open and inviting space just waiting for the magic of the creative who steps into it. It is a guide, a companion and a daily reminder of the artist within. It is inspiration come to life.

After a full year of use and testing, by myself and an amazing teams of creatives, it is awesome to not only see the yearbook in print but also to be sending it out into the world. We created 100 print copies that sold out in 36 hours. We also created a PDF so people could get immediate access (and no shipping fees!) and dozens of people printed them on the first day, like Lorraine in London.

Lorraine in London Yearbook
photo by Lorraine

Here in the studio, we worked to get the print copies ready to go out into the wide, wonderful world! It took a dedicated week to pack them up with care.


It’s important to me that each step of the way, we infuse studio creations creativity, magic and love. My sisters, Suzie and Shannon, helped me do just that with the Spring Studio Yearbook.

Handmade Envelopes

I knew I wanted to tuck a few treasures into the print copies of the Spring Yearbook, which we affectionately call The First 100. Shannon made a collection of beautiful one-of-a-kind envelopes, which we then added some treasures to.

Shannon and Ephemera

We had an amazing night, listening to music and packing up each envelope with intention. We let our intuition choose a treat selection that felt just right somehow. We trusted absolutely that the right envelopes would find their way to the right creative hearts. (And according to Bryonna, the magic worked: “They might have been random in the envelope, but the Universe directed that envelope to me!”)

Our Packing Table Set-up

The next day we had a packing party! We lit the twinkie lights and played some music. We set up all our supplies with care and one by one we put the packages together with love.

Suzie was in charge of washi tape and she tuned into her intuition for every choice she made. She and I would read the name of the person who was getting the yearbook and then Suzie would reach out for the washi that felt just right. Next I would package the yearbook in an envelope, imagining the beautiful artist that this book would be a companion to this spring. I imagined her receiving it with delight and filling it with her own unique creative spirit.

Shannon and First 100

Then Shannon would finish it off with a commemorative First 100 sticker and it was ready to put in the mail. Even getting these beauties posted had magic! Though it took me three trips with a granny cart and lots of patience from post office patrons, the two clerks were kind, supportive and really helped get these yearbooks out with efficiency and care. I’m so grateful to them both.

Journal & Washi Tape
photo by Suzie Ridler

Making a project like this come to life is thrilling – and a lot of hard work.  I am beyond grateful to everyone who has been a part of bringing it to life – my sisters Suzie and Shannon, my husband Justin, my marketing maven Kim, the alpha team, the beta team and the cheerleaders, plus the whole team at the printers and the staff at the post office.

Every moment of care and kindness, every word of encouragement, every act of support, all of it bolsters the magic of a creation.

The Studio Yearbook is richer, stronger and more vibrant because of everyone who has touched it. Now, it is out in the world, ready to be filled with the magic of the creative heart it will pair with.

If you’re ready, the Studio Yearbook is ready for you.

Interested in getting a yearbook of your own? Find out more here.