Another clothing swap is in the books! By rights, this one ought to have been #20, but thanks to COVID, we are just shy of that milestone. But swap #19 did not disappoint! It had the biggest turnout yet, which included four ‘next generation’ members. It’s so nice to see our daughters engage with the tradition and continue it. Mine had been looking forward to the swap almost more than me! She helped me with the set-up, which was a game of house Jenga this year, as we had to find a way to make room for eighteen people (plus all their swap goodies) in our smallish living room. The event is becoming a joint venture between my daughter and me, and I love it! Family rituals and traditions like this are a wonderful way to remain connected through her teenager years and beyond.

But enough about that – let’s talk about the swap business!

As always, I kept things pretty informal and chill; there are no real rules to my swap except ‘bring good vibes’. Everyone takes turns showing off the clothing items they’ve brought, and we encourage each other to get/try stuff we think they would enjoy. It’s not too often that several people are interested in the same item, and when it does happen, amicable negotiation gets things sorted out. There is always a ton of clothes to go around. This year, for example, the bags that people brought took up most of the floor space in my library. This was just my contribution:

Items that don’t immediately get claimed go in a big pile in the middle of the room. During breaks, people usually go back to look through it for things they are (re)considering – like a second, and third and fourth, pass. Breaks are also for trying out clothes (and exchanging with others, if items don’t end up working out) and snacks and chatting and perusing the ‘boutique’.

The boutique is the display of accessories – jewelry, bags, belts, shoes, scarves, etc. – home goods, makeup and skincare, books, and other small bits and bobs. I set this up separately, and people add their stuff to it as they come, so that’s it’s easy to view and offer an experience similar to being in a shop … except everything is free. Truly, such a fun experience! Here, too, everyone can take as much or as little as they like (just as they can bring as much or as little as they like/have for the swap). In fact, my whole swap tradition is built on the premise that there is no keeping track of who brings what and how much. This may not be feasible for large, public swaps, but I think it works well for smaller, private ones like mine.

When I started my swap, back in February 2007, I was motivated by the idea of sharing my love of secondhand style. That still remains at the core of this tradition, but my philosophy has evolved over the years, influenced by my experiences – both in swapping, and life in general. I’ve come to see how important it is to share abundance. Giving makes room for receiving. Some of us have more to give, others need more to receive; and we can take turns giving and receiving. This is why I don’t keep score when it comes to my swaps. I am lucky to know women who have generous spirits, and who have adopted the ethos of my swap. It wouldn’t work without them. (And if someone didn’t, they probably wouldn’t get invited back. I mean it when I say that bringing good vibes is the only rule of the swap.)

Ok, I know you’re waiting to see what I got this year.

The short answer is: a lot more than I was expecting/planning. The one thing I really need at the moment is pants – my size has changed and I’ve been struggling to find pants/jeans that fit both my body and my current style – so that was my focus. That was also pretty much the one thing I wasn’t able to get, lol! This is the thing about swaps: as with thrifting, you can’t control what the universe delivers. But, don’t worry, I found plenty of amazing things to make up for the lack of pants.

Starting off with some skincare stuff. I love trying out new products in a low commitment way. Last year, I picked up a hair spray that I ended up loving and re-purchasing on my own. This year, I’m especially excited to try the Clinique moisturizer. Also, that Biore sunscreen is my absolute favourite, so I’m pumped to get a tube since it’s nigh impossible to buy in Canada now.

More personal care stuff. I’ve been wanting to try the MAC Turquatic perfume for ages; ditto for the Armani perfume (and the bottle is almost full!). I’m currently wearing the Nars Orgasm blush stick, and it’s quite nice.

Two pairs of cute earrings. I love pomegranates and butterflies, so these are both totally up my alley.

Never overlook basics! They might not be exciting finds, but they will definitely come in handy. Two pairs of opaque tights (one of them is going to my daughter) and two base layers in neutral colours. I’m pumped about the turtleneck bodysuit because I have a super long torso and this one fits!

Extremely excited about all of these. I’m not a baseball fan, but these NY hats are my faves; the plain black will be a great ‘go with everything’ option. I’ve been wanting a belt like this for ages, and this Banana Republic leather one is really nice. I’ve also been wanting to try these Free People bralettes for a while and see if I can pull off the peekaboo lace look this summer.

As soon as this came up, I was, like, ‘YES, PLEASE’. Everyone immediately agreed, because everyone knows my love of (a) brown, and (b) tulle skirts. I’ve been stalking one just like this on Poshmark for more than a year, never quite satisfied with the options to pull the trigger. Well, the universe delivered!

I’m not 100% sold on this dress because it’s polyester (and unlined), but I do love the colour and the full, faux layered style. And I was ‘peer pressured’ into taking it, because the consensus was ‘it’s an Adina dress’. We shall see. I do think it would look great layered over the tulle skirt, so that will be my first experiment.

This Pendleton cape was an instant ‘yes’, too. I mean … just look at it. It’s reversible, too!

This dress was one of my other fave pieces. I am obsessed with the magnolia stained glass window effect.

This might seem a bit boring in a flatlay, but trust me when I say that the fit of this Holt Renfrew shirt is absolutely insane. Just wait until you see it in an outfit – you’ll understand.

This is just a cute, fun summer top. Is it too ‘young’ for me? No such thing!

I love long column dresses that are not too bodycon, and this is a nice, elevated staple from a local designer (Emmy Deveaux). It’s hard to see but it has a zippered slit on the side, which gives it a bit of extra sex appeal.

I actually thrifted these pants for one of my friends, but she’s outgrown them so she brought them back. They’re a bit big for me, but as no one else was interested, I decided to take them and give them a whirl. Belted, they have a paperbag waist effect that’s kinda interesting. We will see if they work out in the long run.

Also not 100% sold on these jeans, but thought they were worth a try. I like the fit in the waist and hips, but the length (cropped) and leg (skinny-adjacent) are question marks for me. I’ll give them a few wears and see how I feel about them.

I’ve been low-key thinking about getting a new denim jacket for the summer, so this was very timely, haha!

Last but not least, this is a funky, witchy-coded tulle shrug thing. Marie Saint Pierre is a high-end Canadian designer, so this is def luxe Stevie Nicks territory. Now and then, I do love me a witchy moment.

And that’s it! That’s a wrap on my 2026 clothing swap. What do you think – which is your fave piece?

I don’t even know where to start. This week was a whirlwind; some bad, some good. And then there were great parts, like my son’s graduation, which we got to celebrate as a family. He delivered one of the keynote speeches at the grad ceremony and did an amazing job! I can’t believe that he’s off to high school next year. He’s been at his current school for 10 years, so it’s truly the end of an era. Come fall, it’s going to feel strange to have the kids going to different places in the morning – not to mention logistically challenging, haha! But we will cross that bridge when we get to it.

Meanwhile, the next big event coming up is my annual clothing swap on Saturday. For the first time in years, the weather looks like it won’t be cooperating to allow us to hang out in the back yard. Speaking of logistical challenges … trying to figure out how to fit 16+ people in my (modestly sized) living room has been occupying me all week. But it’s a good problem to have! I am so looking forward to seeing everyone. This year, the guest list is all clothing swap veterans plus a few “next gen” members (aka daughters of OG participants). We love to see that! I’ll write more about it next week.

And THEN, next Tuesday is another big day: pub date for The Mysterious Affair at Gaunt Hall. If you are planning to get the ebook, please consider pre-ordering it – pre-sales are super helpful in creating early visibility for books. A paperback version will also be available come June 9. This week, I received my first ARC review and it was super positive, which was great. This book is a departure from the style/genre of my first two books, so I am extra nervous and excited to see what readers think about the story. In the words of my editor, it’s a ‘wild, fun ride’ 🙂

And speaking of exciting things on the horizon, I am taking next week off from work and I am beyond excited. I’ve been in low-key burnout territory for months, and I need a good reset. In the past, I would have tried to use any vacation like this in a “productive” way, but I have made a pact with myself to do nothing of the sort this time around. So … no writing! I’ll try to keep chores and errands to a reasonable amount, too. The kids are still in school (and my husband will be at the office), which means I will have most of the day (and the house) to myself – bliss!

The current plan is to do a little gardening, a little scrapbooking, a little cooking (for fun), and lots of reading. I’ve fallen way behind on my reading, and my TBR list is out of control. The one thing I probably won’t get a chance to do is thrifting; wee currently down to one car, which my husband is using for his commute, so I won’t be able to get out much, except for walks, during the week. Honestly, I don’t mind. I love spending time at home with my books and my projects.

Have a great weekend!

In case you were wondering, I’m still fully onboard the scrapbooking train. In fact, I’m more onboard than ever. Obsessed, you might say. Scrapbooking is that magical thing that reconciles not one but two sets of conflicting paradigms in my life. Item one: creative self-expression feeds my soul, but the drive for external validation that is built into many creative pursuits feels soul-crushing. Item two: having a meditation practice contributes to my mental wellbeing, but my neurodivergent brain can’t handle most typical meditation practices. Scrapbooking is a creative but inherently personal pursuit; the objects I create cannot be monetized and, therefore, their value is entirely independent of external validation. Scrapbooking is also (to me) a very meditative activity, in the sense that it effortlessly puts my brain in a state of flow, which is my version of a “clear mind”.  

I’ve been sharing what I call my “daily pages” (full-page collages I make in my scrapbooking journal) on Instagram because (a) I find vicarious enjoyment in looking at other people’s scrapbooks and want to share that thrill with others; and (b) as a devoted hobbyist, I want to (passively) spread the scrapbooking bug, lol. Basically, similar reasons to why I share my thrift finds.

I guess it’s been working too, because I’ve had a few people reach out to me, curious to learn more about my methods for creating my daily pages. Since I am not sufficiently skilled in Reel-making to create video tutorials or even progress videos, here I am writing this post instead. With photos. And my best attempt at breaking down the process, step by step.

Step one: blank page

My current scrapbook journal is a 9 x 12 inch, spiral-bound drawing notebook (purchased at Dollarama). I think it originally had 80 pages, but I can tell you, that’s too many. By the time you collage both sides, 40+ pages become extremely chunky. Even with a spiral binding, there’s not enough room to keep the pages from getting bent, etc. I’m not sure what the sweet spot would be; I am only here to tell you that you don’t want a book with too many pages (or, like me, be ready to rip some out).

My preferred style of collaging is full-page coverage, so the goal is to find scraps that cover the entire surface of the page. I like to think of it as a blank puzzle that I assemble as I go along.

Step two: choose the focal piece(s)

In every collage I make there is a focal piece — sometimes 2, but rarely more than 3. This is usually an image of a person, animal, or unusual/interesting object. Basically, focal pieces create the first landing place for the eye. They also set the tone/vibe for the rest of the collage. Everything else gets built around them. To put it in clothing terms, these are your “statement pieces”.

Focal pieces tend to be the largest individual scraps on the page, though this is not always the case; if I’m using smaller focal pieces, I tend to use 2 or 3 to create a composite arrangement. Most of the time, I end up using one large and one (max two) smaller focal pieces. The key is that the pieces have to be big enough for the details to be visible and catch the eye at a first glance.

Once I got serious about scrapbooking, one of the first things I did was to sort and organize my scraps. I keep focal pieces in 2 folders, one for large pieces and one for small pieces. This makes it easier to peruse my available options and choose whatever strikes my fancy on a particular day.

To help illustrate, let’s build a page together. Here are the focal pieces I chose:

Step three: arrange your players

Once I’ve got my focal pieces, it’s time to decide where they go on the page. For this, I use their shape as a guide and eyeball a position that feels “right”. Personally, if the image is partially cut off, I will often try to line up the straight edge to one of the edges of the page. But there’s room to play around; I have a bunch of techniques I use to “hide” missing parts of an image, if need be, which gives me leeway to put the image pretty much anywhere I like.

In this case, I decided I wanted to put my focal pieces roughly here:

This now creates a bunch of space that needs to be filled in, and defines the general parameters of the other puzzle pieces. I think of this blank space(s) as the “stage” for my players (aka the focal pieces). Time to design it!

Step four: set the stage

Background or set pieces can come in a variety of flavours, but mine tend to fall into four general categories: landscape and other figurative images, abstract patterns, solid colours, and printed materials (book pages or musical scores). To make my life easier, I also sort these.

First, by size. I have larger pieces organized in one accordion folder, and smaller scraps in a different one. Second, by directionality/positioning. I separate scraps into a number of categories, like: top (of page), bottom, right hand edge (full page), left hand edge, bottom right corner, top right corner, bottom left corner, top right corner, non-directional, etc. What this allows me to do is quickly find and review available materials based on what “puzzle shape” I’ve got to fill on the page around my focal pieces. Choices are made based on vibes – what feels like it “goes” with the focal pieces and the vibe of the page. If I need to, I re-cut and re-shape existing scraps to fit.

I start by filling the biggest “holes” and go from there. I “dry fit” each piece as I add it, without gluing anything down at this stage. Part of this process includes deciding how to layer pieces. To continue the theatre analogy, some pieces are foreground, some are background. Focal pieces are often in the foreground (aka top layer) but not always.

Here’s the set pieces I chose:

And here is how everything fit:

Step five: gluing time

This is pretty self-explanatory but a small tip. Once you’ve assembled the complete collage in the previous step, un-assembled it in reverse order in preparation for gluing – and keep that order straight. That is to say, you want to make sure that you are gluing your bottom layer first, and then gluing pieces in sequential order so you end up with the correct layers. I have been burnt on this in the past. I rush and don’t pay attention to the order that pieces are meant to be layered in, and end up gluing layer 3 before layer 2 that’s meant to go under it. Ugh, it’s the worst!

Step six: frosting time

Frosting is what I call adding the final finishing touches; for me, this is usually stickers and lettering/block text (that is meant to be read, not part of the setting). I almost always add stickers – because I love stickers, lol! – but I don’t always add text. Sometimes, I add stars in contrasting colours (made using paper punches) because it’s a motif I enjoy, as an extra pop on the page.

To keep with the cooking metaphor, this whole step is basically “season to taste”. [Sorry, I’ve mixed my metaphors! Hopefully, you get the idea.]

Here’s the final collage, all frosted:

If this all sounds complicated … trust me, it’s not! It takes much longer to explain than it does to actually do. The whole point is not to overthink it. And, keep in mind, this is only my preferred process. If you’re wanting to give scrapbooking a try and don’t know how to start, feel free to use it. But once you’re comfortable, I would encourage you to explore different approaches and see what feels right to you. There are no wrong ways of scrapbooking! That’s the beauty of it.