What do you do with your old cards that are just not

[edie3]

appealing to you? Or old cards you have made, that now you think look crappy? Do I dare throw my old cards away? Of course, saving embellishments, etc.

[Sambini]

I've given some to teacher friends to use for all of their thank you notes but some I must confess hit the recycle trash can!

[Joan B]

i remove embellishments and use paper as I can (put in my huge box of scraps)

[craftymomto2]

You could donate them!

[creatingisfun]

donate them

[Allistamps123]

I have a pile from stamp camps that are not really my style and I give them to the local thrift store.

[craftymomto2]

http://www.stillsomeone.org/
click on donate

[craftymomto2]

Here is a link on SCS:
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/fo...d.php?t=466353

[Stampinmom57]

I donated a lot of them to the hospital today. They loved it.

Sheri

[TheSaucyStamper]

Thanks for mentioning Still Someone! We definitely need them for our seniors!

Originally Posted by craftymomto2

http://www.stillsomeone.org/
click on donate

[AGMommyof2]

I donate most of my cards to the WishRAK Cards for Troops ~ I figured someone might like them...

[JenWI409]

I donate them - www.operationwritehome.org

[KristaTracy]

I've donated them, given some to family, and recently sold some at our LSS garage sale. I sold about 100 of them for a dollar apiece, which I was happy about.

[jazzytobi]

Cool! Thanx for the inspiration. I just picked up a few cards from the flower shop that didn't sell in 4-5 months and was wondering what to do with them.. Now I know!

I accompany a community choir and part of being a "community" choir is doing some outreach at local hospice centres and such.. Should I just bring some cards with me on our next concert and give them to the front desk??? Should the front desk sell them with procedes going to the facility?

[KathiR]

I send them to my father-in-law. hahahahahahaha

[peebsmama]

I donated mine.

[stamphappy1650]

If really crappy then I salavage but if I just don't care for them I put them in gift sets and give away. I've found that the cards I don't like someone else does. I also donate them.

[MikiBee]

My m-i-l heads up a foundation to sent cards to troops overseas, so I donate to that cause.

[gram2boyz]

I usually take mine apart and redo them. I salvage what I can, and throw the rest away. Why would I want to donate something I wouldn't use myself? That's not very charitable. If you give, make it your best cards, not your substandard. That's the true spirit of giving.

[MrsAngotti]

I'm very big on donating. My mom was in a nursing home for a year before she passed away so they get a box around this time of year to pass out to patients who normally do not receive holiday cards. I also have a friend who sends cards to our brave men and women protecting our county oversears.

[JenWI409]

Originally Posted by gram2boyz

I usually take mine apart and redo them. I salvage what I can, and throw the rest away. Why would I want to donate something I wouldn't use myself? That's not very charitable. If you give, make it your best cards, not your substandard. That's the true spirit of giving.

I'm not sure that this is the issue, though. I am a fairly new stamper, and my first cards? Not the most gorgeous! LOL I didnt' have the supplies nor the no-how to make what I can do now, not because I wasn't *trying*, I just didn't know. Now, if it looks terrible, I'm probably not going to use it or give it away; but most of my early cards were just really simple and kind of plain. Some people prefer that style anyhow. I don't see how that's not charitable.

[TrishG]

I donated a box of mine for the Canadian Military...

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/fo...d.php?t=233231

[sprtchick]

I send mine to Hope... (Mrs. Angotti) and many others...lol

[craftymomto2]

Originally Posted by gram2boyz

I usually take mine apart and redo them. I salvage what I can, and throw the rest away. Why would I want to donate something I wouldn't use myself? That's not very charitable. If you give, make it your best cards, not your substandard. That's the true spirit of giving.

As with anything in life, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, what may not appeal to me, may be something very pretty to another, so why not donate cards that I would not use. People who do not make cards usually find homemade cards very pretty because someone took the time to make them!

[vanislandwoman]

If you think the card just doesn't 'work', and you cannot recycle it, then it can be actually a very freeing thing to put it in the garbage! I used to save every mistake. I didn't think they were good enough to give to someone, but I thought I'd feel guilty, as if I had been wasteful, if I threw it out. One day I just bit the bullet and fired a bunch of stuff into the wastebasket. I was very surprised at the feeling of lightness that came with dumping them. No guilt after all!

[LateBlossom]

Originally Posted by gram2boyz

I usually take mine apart and redo them. I salvage what I can, and throw the rest away. Why would I want to donate something I wouldn't use myself? That's not very charitable. If you give, make it your best cards, not your substandard. That's the true spirit of giving.

I'm sure that's not what any of those suggesting donating mean. I make lots of cards that are really nice but not my style or not something that anyone I know would like, but plenty of other people love them. When I make a bad card, I tear it apart to recycle or simply throw it away.

[jazzytobi]

Originally Posted by LateBlossom

I'm sure that's not what any of those suggesting donating mean. I make lots of cards that are really nice but not my style or not something that anyone I know would like, but plenty of other people love them. When I make a bad card, I tear it apart to recycle or simply throw it away.

i agree.. i have a couple of Thomas Kinkade cards i've make and I'm like YUCK YUCK YUCK (i don't really like those stamps... don't ask why i bought some..) so I shall throw them in the pile to give to charity... Somebody will like them!

[SophieLaFontaine]

Originally Posted by gram2boyz

I usually take mine apart and redo them. I salvage what I can, and throw the rest away. Why would I want to donate something I wouldn't use myself? That's not very charitable. If you give, make it your best cards, not your substandard. That's the true spirit of giving.

Well, most people would just give away the stuff that's not their style (rather than truly ugly cards), and that IS charitable.

I, however, do admit that I'm not charitable at all, and I give my ugly rejects that I would never ever use myself to my sister-in-law, with her knowing full well that they ARE my rejects (knowing that she is under no obligation to be grateful to me or anything). She knows that if I had not given them to her, they'd be in the trash. I told her once that I threw away cards I hated, and she immediately and quite energetically insisted that I give them to her instead. So, I do.

Most of my rejected cards have putrid purple on them, because every now and then, I attempt to make a card using purple, because soooooo many of my card recipients actually SAY that (puke) purple is their FAVOURITE colour. *sigh* My sister-in-law's favourite colour is ALSO, unfortunately, purple. So she probably likes my rejects more than I do.

Most of my rejects that are not contaminated with purple have those nauseating, mushy sentiments on them (also puke) that I sooooooo badly wanted to use ANYWAY just to see what they look like, because the fonts and word arrangements are just so visually beautiful (and these cards ARE visually beautiful; just the meaning of the sentiments is overwhelmingly nauseating). I myself would never be caught dead sending any of those sentiments to ANYONE. But my sister-in-law actually thinks those sentiments are sweet, rather than sickening.

[polargirl]

I give mine to my MIL. She appreciates getting them and she gives them to her friends for birthdays or anniversaries.

[punchaddict]

I was just thinking about taking some extras to the nursing home this year. I work with seniors as a caregiver. Last year I helped my clients make cards, if they were able, and made cards for those that were unable to. All had fun sharing the cards with others that may not receive Christmas cards.

[Saucy1]

I can't stand giving away any cards that aren't primo. I actually redo all of the cards I dont' like. I don't get to work on them often, so I am still learning. I figure looking back on them shows how much I've learned, so I try not to cringe. I have also learned that people sometimes love the cards I hate. I didn't know about donating cards...I'm going to look into that!

[Jill with a G]

I dontated mine to the military overseas in Afghanistan and Iraq. They always need cards they can send back home. No card shops there, and they prefer our homemade ones like we all make on Splitcoast!

[HolleyTX]

Last time that I got rid of cards, both my own plus cards from swaps, I gave them to

http://www.cardsforheroes.org/

It was 3 huge bags full. I hope they were able to use them. They didn't have to be flat even as the solidiers are not charged for postage, so the size wasn't an issue. They collected these at the Scrapbook Convention that I went to.

Holley
http://holleybarnhartsblog.blogspot.com/

[StickUps]

I keep them inside the box with the stamp set, and if I sell the stamp set later, I include the card.

I also donate to http://operationwritehome.org/ for deployed soldiers. Operation Write Home is very well organized, but they can't take cards with glitter. Apparently the glitter gets on the soldiers' uniforms and makes them more visible at night.