Retired?

I am currently and for the foreseeable future back in New Zealand. Not currently in significant paid employment, but hesitating to call myself retired.

Retired is one of those funny words that we use all the time without thinking about its meaning or source. Of course, like so many good things, its from the French. 

Retire: Mid 16th century (in the sense ‘withdraw to a place of safety or seclusion’): from French retirer, from re-‘back’ + tirer ‘draw’.

One of my big tasks is to rationalise my papercraft supplies. Many of my Stampin' Up! products are retired: in this case, retired has the meaning of no longer available to purchase! Surely I am not alone in having lots of inks, cardstock and designer papers in beautiful but no longer supported colours? For the sake of sanity in my craft room (and perhaps with echoes of Swedish Death Cleaning) I am planning to craft, focusing on using retired products and completing projects. And I am going to blog about it: there will undoubtably be some giveaways along the way.

This will be a bit of a trip down memory lane, please come along for the ride. I'd love to see what you are creating with your "old" supplies.

The card today uses The Designer Paper Stack Fresh Prints from 2014. The colours (Real Red, Coastal Cabana, Crumb Cake and Whisper White) are all current, now that Coastal Cabana has returned to the fold in the Colour Refresh 2018. I have been experimenting with Fancy Fold cards as they are a great way to use patterned paper (I have such a lot of patterned paper!) I used the tutorial from the inspiring Amanda Bates for this: its a Double Z Joy Fold Card. The stamp set is also retired: Balloon Adventures from 2017. I fussy-cut the balloons as I never bought the punch.

Oh, and to declutter and give joy to others, part of this campaign is to actually post or deliver the cards I make. This card was hand-delivered to a special friend whose birthday it is today!