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