Q&A with Marilyn Heywood Paige
Editor’s note: Nancy Cox is the founder of Research Story Consulting and former CPG corporate researcher. Her work and play include words, sketchpads, cooking (not baking) and the occasional sock puppet.
Passions, hobbies, healthy distractions and even guilty pleasures – discover how the research community plays and how that plays out in their work life. In the Venn diagram of work and play, what happens when they overlap? Research colleagues share their work and play stories in this interview series by Nancy Cox.
Hello Marilyn Heywood Paige, Principal, Heywood Paige Consulting
What is the “play” in your life?
Cardapalooza! At least once a year, my sister and I spend a week making greeting cards. This has been an annual thing but recently, we decided to make it biannual. In the spring, we made cards for Mother's Day, Father's Day, birthdays and just random. This October, we made Christmas and Valentine's Day cards. My sister is the only person in the world who would spend seven days, all day long, making cards with me.
I’ve always loved paper, everything about paper, even the smell of books. I have done scrapbooking professionally. That began when my father passed away and I discovered that the boxes of family photos were not documented. People saw my scrapbooks, and I started getting commissions to make scrapbooks or finish scrapbooks people had started. I made a beautiful scrapbook documenting the long career of a Broadway dancer who had danced with Bob Fosse and other legends. I was commissioned to do bigger scrapbook designs as art on large canvases. One of those large pieces commemorated Ed Sabol, the founder of NFL Films, which was exhibited at Sabol’s induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
I do like the smaller scale of cards. I spent years designing cards from scratch, cutting out images. Really time consuming. Also, frustrating. My challenge is that I perceive colors precisely. My mother has what I call “perfect color” – like perfect pitch – and I've inherited something close to that perception. When colors and hues don't match perfectly, it bothers me. It's like nails on a chalkboard.
Then I found Anna Griffin card kits, where all the colors and hues match or coordinate beautifully! No anxiety of these colors not working together. She’s an incredible paper entrepreneur. Her kits are very comprehensive including details like envelope liners not just envelopes. Inserts preprinted with messages so I can choose if this is a birthday card or friendship. I love using the inserts as I tell the recipient they can remove that insert and use the card again!
Anna drops “Create” kits a couple times a year that are four or five-hundred dollars each. They include several complete paper projects. I saw that and told my sister, “We’re going to have a Cardapalooza. We're going to take a week just to make cards.” We do have totally different approaches, at the end of one week, she made 275 cards, and I made around 50. My sister can grab some pieces, throw them together and move onto the next card. I literally work on one design for hours. For example, I did these elaborate shoes. Each piece is hand cut with metal dies using a hand-crank die cut machine. Then, I carefully built the shoe, folding and attaching so the result was an elegant 3D shoe popping off a card. Very time-consuming because I don’t want any glue to show. Despite our different approaches, we do inspire each other often asking, “Oh! How did you do that!”
We work on two tables in my home office, the TV in the background. I bring out all my tools I've collected. Scoring tools, cutting mats, tweezers, brushes, scissors, bone folders, a hat pin I use to open glue. I’ll order a week’s worth of meals from a chef’s service. Beverages are critical to Cardapalooza. My sister is a green tea freak. I’m an iced tea freak – I go to Chick-fil-A to buy both their iced tea and ice in volume. Gallons of tea are consumed.
How has your play influenced your research work?
There is no work during Cardapalooza. This is my stress relief. I make cards all year. I’m also a caregiver for my mom, a full-time job in addition to my full-time work. That can be overwhelming. I will tell her, Mom, I’m just going to go make a card. When you’re handling a double load like this you need a break. This is a strategy I’ve shared with a group I started in 2025 for fellow researcher/caregivers.
I send my card creations to clients. I don't have the budget to give presents to my clients. Plus, I struggled with what to send – a loaf of artisan bread? But if I send a beautiful card that I clearly spent time on, signed with a personal note, boxed in a package with sometimes a little confetti – the card becomes a gift. The response I get is, “Oh my God, you made this? I'm never throwing this out. I put this on my refrigerator because I want to look at it every day.”
I had two designs that I made last holiday season, both very elaborate. One was a home decorated for Christmas – every gold detail such as the windows were cut out one by one with a die then assembled into place. Tiny wreaths and other details carefully attached. One client thought this card was so fabulous that she put it in her Christmas village, sent me a photo and told me the card is part of that display forever. I’m top of mind every Christmas the card comes out.
Or I recently made a very handsome card for my business coach to thank him. He sent me a video of himself with the card, thanking me for the thank you card! Cards make quite the impression. It’s good marketing as mail, any mail, breaks through. With mail, you’re taking the time to look through it physically, open the envelope then decide what to do with the card vs. just quickly opening and likely deleting an e-mail. There are rituals around cards – I display cards people send me on my mantel year-round.
My card making has made me more aware of my meticulousness. That same meticulousness that I bring to all my clients. Much like my cards, my clients don’t have to see all the pickiness going on behind the scenes. No one wants to experience that! Everyone enjoys the great results whether it’s an engaging website for a fellow researcher or an exquisite handmade card.
What would you tell readers who want to know more about your area of play?
While I am meticulous, that is not a requirement to make cards. My sister makes beautiful cards without that perfectionism! Also, I want to emphasize that making cards from kits is really assembling cards. Which means you can start quite simple. There are simple kits on scrapbook.com where all you do is peel and stick pieces onto a card. Easy peasy. Remember you can “dry fit” – arrange pieces on the card until it’s pleasing before you stick or glue the pieces down. That’s what I always do. Although my sister grabs pieces, sticks them right down with no limitations and that works, too!
If you’d like to make cards with another person like I do with my sister, there are opportunities for that as well. There are Facebook groups where you can meet others. If you’re an Anna Griffin fan, she herself hosts two-day live event where each kit in the Create box and demonstrates how to make everything. These events show how to use her kits beyond cards – for photo frames, bookmarks, scrapbook pages. Of course, there are YouTube videos.
No matter the type of kit you use, your recipients can still tell you made it because the card elements are different from store bought cards. They know you personally took the time to put this card together. You, too, will hear a delighted “You made this card? For me!”
