New Year, New Challenges!

One-Layer Simplicity Challenge: The OLS monthly challenge continues for 2015 with eleven new challenges, each beginning on the first of the month and running through the 24th.  On the 28th of the month, the Design Team--Ardyth, Karen D., Cheryl E., Heather T., and I--will share our favorite details of the month's entries. Click over to the OLS blog on January 1, 2015 for the first challenge of the new year!

Use Your Hoard: Starting January 1st, I'm kicking off the follow-on to my Use-Your-Stamps Challenge. Use Your Hoard has three motivations behind it:

1. Clutter Clearing. Too much stuff clutters up our stamp spaces, making it hard to find the stuff we really love and use. As we Use Our Hoard, we will made decisions about what to keep and what to clear away, making our spaces much easier to work in.

2. Creative Karma. As we show our unused supplies love, hopefully they will love us back with refreshed and renewed creativity and inspiration.

3. Style Savvy. Sometimes, our style doesn't suit our supplies. For instance, I hardly ever do lumpy-bumpy cards, but I have a LOT of supplies (buttons, hardware, etc.) hanging around taking up space and weighing me down. Does my style need stretching or does my hoard need pruning? If we try to play with stuff, we might learn something new...or we might learn how to say goodbye more easily to unnecessary crap.

If any of that sounds good to you, join right in!

Step 1. Start by making a list of all the products and tools you have in your hoard. This might take a while, and if you're like me, you'll keep finding new things to add to the list as you open drawers and peek in boxes. You may see my list on this page HERE.

Step 2. Pick an item from your list and get started! Play around with it, search Pinterest or the interwebs for ideas, try new stuff, don't be afraid to screw things up or waste things. The whole point is TO USE YOUR HOARD. So use it. No apologies, no regrets.

Step 3. Reflect on and evaluate the product as you go. Is it fun to work with? Did you find it easy to use in ways that made you happy? Did you feel like it was fighting you the whole way? Was it too fussy or not fussy enough for you? Do you like the idea of it better than the application of it?

Step 4. Make a decision. Either a) keep it and store it for easy access in your craft space; b) toss it into a donation box that will go somewhere else when it's full; or c) keep it stored away from your craft space for future use or to re-evaluate at a future time. The third option is there for those who have a tough time letting go of stuff or who might have very legitimate reasons for holding onto things. For instance, even though I rarely use my Bind-It-All and accessories these days, I KNOW I will use it again. It's not going away permanently.

Step 5. Repeat Steps 1-4 until your whole list is finished! For some of us, this might take a while.


Now, some of you might not have a big hoard to use. You might have joined the stamping world recently, or perhaps had to downsize, or just have a small budget that makes you highly selective and careful with purchases. Watching what others do with their hoard can be very helpful for you, too! You'll see products in action, read honest evaluations of them, and can make better decisions of what might be worth your space and investment.

And now for another card using Doodlie-Do and some enamel dots.

And I mean that. You're amazing!!! Thank you so much for reading and supporting Simplicity, and for encouraging me as you do. And Happy New Year!!! I'm so excited to be starting another year with you and hope we all have a simply spectacular crafty year together!