De-Clutter Regrets

Doesn’t it always happen? You finally decide to get rid of something that has been hanging around for years and never used, then when it’s gone you suddenly need it or want it. That’s what happened to me.

In the last quarter of 2025, I decided it was time to go through my scrapbook paper pad stash (hoard) and let some of them go. I considered them all very carefully, and there was a lot to go through, selecting the ones I thought I’d never use. I gave them to my next door neighbour who likes to scrapbook. I gave her a LOT of paper pads. Both she and her daughter were delighted and they were gone from my house.

And as it goes, the greeting card making bug latched onto me late last year. Some of that paper I gave away would have been perfect for greeting cards. I lament losing it but I know in my heart that there would only be a few sheets in each paper pad with small enough designs suitable for card making. The rest would just sit here for another ten years. What is the point of that?

Much of the paper that I have left is good for journal making so that is great as I will definitely be making more journals, but not card making. There will still be multiple sheets left in each paper pad that I’ll never use, and store for years until I’m ready to do another big destash.

So I’ve decided to ‘try’ to avoid purchasing new paper pads and only pick up individual sheets with small patterns for my card making. I know it will get used, and I won’t have a lot of paper being stored and ignored. Good plan, right?

Ongoing Projects

There are two main projects that I’m working on so far this year…cards to send for the birthday card exchange group I belong to on Facebook and the 31 Halloween Howl ATCs for a private swap. Both are moving right along.

I ‘may’ have ordered some new birthday stamps and dies this week. I couldn’t help myself. I’m really enjoying making greeting cards now. I think I will start my Christmas cards soon too, to get ahead of the game.

My February birthday cards are already mailed out. I stamped ‘Happy Birthday’ on all the envelopes so hopefully, people do not open them early. I find it much easier to just send all the cards for a month in a batch at one time.

For Halloween Howl, my partner and I are sending out 3 ATCs per month from January to September and 4 ATCs in October to total 31 cards. The first envelope is going out this week. I have a good start on these and a few ideas for more. Trying to make them all different from each other and different than last year is a challenge I’m looking forward too. The ATCs shown here are some that I sent last year.

What projects are you working on this year? I'd love to see what you create!

Halloween Howl, 2026

The other big project I’m working on is Halloween Howl. That is a swap for 31 different artist trading cards to send to one person. She will be sending me 31 cards too. They will be in sealed envelopes and opened one a day in October. It will be like Christmas every day!

I’m swapping with the same person as last year, so the big challenge is to create 31 different ATCs that are different than last year’s 31 cards. I have 11 cards completed at this point, and I think I’m doing pretty well. I’ve been able to come up with some new ideas. I still have 20 cards to go though. Wish me luck.

(The ATCs shown are some of the ones I sent to my partner in 2025. You won’t start seeing this years’ until October.)

New Card Designs

I’ve been watching a lot of card making tutorials on YouTube and learning some simple techniques for creating unique greeting cards (for ANY occasion). For the first set, you take three different but matching pieces of patterned card stock, then cut and shuffle the pieces a specific way to get three cards.

For the next idea, I printed ‘Happy Birthday’ several times into a new document, saved and printed it. I cut a 2” X 2” piece of cardboard to trace around the words so they were in the centre of the square rotated 45” (like a diamond shape). As you can imagine, I had a difficult time getting it right since I don’t have x-ray vision. So, I asked my son to cut me a 2” X 2” piece of Plexiglas so I could see through it to position it correctly (the first time) to trace around it. Works MUCH better.

Here are a couple of the resulting cards. I cut a piece of patterned paper, positioned the sentiment in the middle of the piece, then added ¼” strips around all four sides of the sentiment extending them to the edge. The pieces were them adhered to a white or coloured card base giving them a border around the outside. They are so quick and easy to make. I will be using this design a lot too.

You Get What You Pay For

I purchased an inexpensive acrylic stamp set with birthday greetings recently to use in my newfound card making hobby. I cannot get those stamps to leave good impressions no matter how hard I try, not with my stamping platform or using acrylic stamp blocks. I even tried a new ink pad thinking that the old one has dried out too much. No luck. I pretty much wasted my money. I am not happy.

So, being a problem solver, I decided to type up some birthday greetings and sentiments in a Word document and print them out to use on my cards. That is working much better for me. I am more productive and less frustrated with the process. I have a lot of cards to make this year for the birthday club that I belong to and I need things to run smoothly and efficiently. This is going to work for me.

A good reminder that you get what you pay for. Think twice next time and spend your money wiser.

Happy New Year, 2026

As expected, I was fast asleep when midnight rolled around. I did hear some fireworks in the neighbourhood around 10:30 p.m. but nothing after that. If there was any at midnight, I slept through it.

One of the new year ‘traditions’ that I will not be participating in is the Polar Bear Dip into Lake Ontario. It is currently -11 degrees Celsius (12.2 degrees Fahrenheit) and I imagine with the wind chill it feels even colder. What are these people thinking?

My goal for today is to get the bathroom cleaned. Maybe I will sit at the craft table for awhile and make some birthday greeting cards and/or Halloween ATCs. My son, the birthday boy, will come over to see me also. Do you know how difficult it is to find a Happy Birthday/Happy New Year card in the stores? Most years they have none. For every other holiday, you can typically find plenty (Christmas, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, etc.).

Happy New Year everyone!! This year is the beginning of a new chapter in your Book of Life. Dream big and make the most of 2026!