What Styling Taught Me About Collage, Memory Keeping and Curating a Life in Paper
A set I designed and styled for Martha Stewart Living magazine when I was the Home Editor. Happy to see that I can spot both scissors, glue and lots of beautiful paper in the images!
The most incredible pages in scrapbooking, journaling, memory keeping and collaging begin with curation.
Long before Scissors & Glue existed, I was a magazine editor. I began my editorial career at House Beautiful, moved on to Real Simple and O at Home (Oprah’s short-lived home mag) and eventually became the Deputy Home Editor at Martha Stewart Living. My years at Martha were transformative.
A Blank Room. A Blank Page.
For me, placing elements on a blank page is not so different from walking into an empty studio and creating a magazine spread.
There is always a hero. There is always a supporting cast. There is always something that needs to be removed, tweaked or reconsidered in the photograph.
Collage uses paper. Styling uses objects. But the thinking is the same.
What I Learned at Martha
The most valuable part of my time at Martha Stewart Living was not just the aesthetic standards. It was the culture of learning.
Every stylist, editor, and craftsperson arrived at shoots with an incredible range of skills. They were constantly experimenting, teaching, trying new techniques, studying materials, and asking questions.
That spirit of exploration is why I love collage.
I am a reader and a thrifter. A lifelong collector of papers goods and vintage ephemera. I love discovering the history behind papers, books and pamphlets that have made their way to me rather than ending up in a landfill. It feels important to me to give them new life, meaning, and relevance.
Every collage or photo album I make is a result of decades of looking, learning, and collecting.
When Memory Becomes Material
When my parents moved from their home into a smaller apartment, I inherited a truckload of boxes and bins filled with family photographs, letters, slides, documents, and ephemera spanning generations. Piles and piles of family history spanning continents and full of countless adventures and choices.
There are photographs of strangers (yet still relatives) I have never met, handwritten notes sent during wars, postcards from far off lands, snapshots of specific styles of the time and fragile documents that have quietly survived.
Sometimes it feels overwhelming but I’m slowly making my way through the boxes. Traditional scrapbooking and photo albums felt too rigid and chronological for the way I experience memory.
I began approaching those materials the same way I approached styling.
How do I edit down all these items?
What is the story here?
How can I make these pieces feel alive again?
Instead of treating the photographs and papers as relics, I treat them as design elements. I layer old photos with fresh paper. I frame documents in unexpected ways. I create spreads that blend past and present. Some pages became framed artwork that now hangs in my home. Others became part of journals that tell the story of my family in a way that feels layered, emotional, and personal.
The goal is never perfection. It is connection. Collage allows me to honor history and give those papers a second life.
Why This Matters at Scissors & Glue
Scissors & Glue is not just about cutting and gluing paper into pretty pieces of art.
It is about creating a space where people can slow down, explore, and play without pressure.
Memory keeping is a huge part of that. Whether someone brings photographs from a trip, a child’s artwork, ticket stubs, letters, or small pieces of everyday life, collage allows those moments to be transformed into something visible and lasting.
Paper holds memory. Design gives it voice.
And when we gather around a table to cut and layer and rearrange, we are doing more than crafting. We are collecting stories and preserving history in a way that is meaningful.
Until next time, friends. Scissors down, glue capped. ❤️ Alexis
