Tender Tokens Studio
a living scrapbook ✿

little scraps,
big feelings.

saved, scribbled, stickered, treasured.

Tender Tokens Studio is where I letter, collage, and doodle the bits of a day most people toss: receipts, labels, napkins, boarding passes, a server's goodbye. Made in San Francisco, and in sketchbooks carried everywhere else.

Follow along on Instagram See the scraps ↓
saved the receipt
keep
this
felt important ♥
the collection

30 tiny proofs of living

A growing little museum of paper feelings: sketchbook pages from San Francisco, Kenya, Mallorca, and the in-between. Tap any page to look closer.

…and more being taped down all the time ✿

outside the Sanctuary

Tender Tokens Takes a Walk

Liquid Metal

Dawn light can turn water into liquid metal. I first saw it on mornings at Lake Tahoe.

Diani, Kenya

watch with sound on Instagram ↗
follow the work
Sketchbook spread in pink bubble letters: 'maybe we can keep in touch — Timothy, server', signed Kinondo Kwetu
the little shop

now open on Etsy

✦ TENDER TOKENS STUDIO ✦
order no. 001 thoughtful tools for work, life, & a little play. instant digital downloads · more being made visit the shop ↗
how a page gets made

three tender little steps

01

Collect

Keep the napkin, the label, the boarding pass. Save the little thing instead of tossing it.

02

Compose

Tape, letter, layer, and let it be imperfect.

03

Sign & date

Every page gets a little “cmp” and the date, down to the minute. Proof it happened.

tender prompt

a tiny dare for your day

✦ TENDER TOKENS STUDIO ✦
daily scrap prompt

what did you almost throw away today?

— keep one scrap. name the feeling. —
want twelve more? Small Creative Breaks a printable deck of 12 prompt cards for scrapbooking, collage & journaling notice · collect · play · return get the deck on Etsy ↗
Cover of Soul Centered by Christine Manalo Pelaez: an illustrated nurse with a stethoscope, eyes closed, red leaves and flowers swirling through her dark hair
my first self-published memoir

Soul-Centered

A Nurse's Fucked Up Few Months including a Life-Changing Code Blue, a Rage Attack to Get Help, and A Bipolar Hospitalization

A candid account of nursing, a life-changing code blue, rage, and bipolar hospitalization. Soul-Centered is an early piece of my storytelling—a willingness to put difficult experiences into words and let them be seen.

Read Soul-Centered on Amazon ↗

got a scrap with a story?

A collab idea, a question about a page, or a weird little paper thing you think I'd love. Write me.

Send a tiny note ✉

I read every tender little message ♥