Do you save your "good paper"?
 

You know that paper that is so pretty that you are afraid to cut it and use it up because you will no longer have it. Many times when I flip through my stash I think I can't use that, no not that one either. I mean I bought this paper to use but I just can't part with it. Sounds strange I know. Am I the only. Am I the only one that does this????? Please someone tell me I am not.

HAHAHAHAHA! I so KNOW exactly what your talking about...
I have paper from like three years I still can't part with...I don't know what wrong with me...lol...I know exactly how you feel...

I have all kinds of materials for cardmaking and scrapbooking that I just refuse to use until I'm ready to part from it...and it can take yeeeeeaaaaarrrrssss....lol..

You are NOT alone! In fact, I just bought more sheets of paper I already had so that I'd have one to save and one to use...If I don't have at least two sheets, it won't get used if I really love it!

Paper is so pretty to look at, so comforting to touch and so intoxicating to smell that it shouldn't actually be cut or glued or stamped on! What are those paper crafters thinking anyway, when they start with a perfect 12x12 masterpiece and end up with a card?!?!?
Mary Beth

You are totally not alone. I hate to use my paper, cause then it's gone! And I can't get any more of it....

lol I totally know what you mean. I'm like that with my paper and ribbon! It's just so pretty I hate to use it and not have any left! I thought I was crazy but at least if I am, I'm not the only one!

Not here! I used to, but now I dig into my paper and embellishments with wild abandon! At some point, there is just too much stuff, and I'm at that point. Have to use stuff up if I want anything new!

You are not alone! I do this as well. I can't seem to part with the paper that I most like and find myself going out to buy other brands so I can use that instead :confused: Ridiculous, I tell you. I've got to learn to let go.

No way! I use it so I can justify purchasing more of it! I used to be a fabric stasher and found that I don't like the stuff very much after a couple of years. My tastes change etc. Same with paper.

I usually buy 3-4 sheets of each design so I can use one sheet and have one for a back up or to make more and 1-2 for hoarding - so that I can actually bring myself to use the first sheet.

You are definitely not alone!

I am in the same boat as you are! LOL

The trick is to have SO MUCH stuff that you don't mind using it. LOL I am to the point where I WANT to use as much as I can. My stamp room is stuffed full and I need to do things with it so I can buy MORE stuff. LOL

I save it for scrapbooking, but then don't get around to scrapbooking very often. :(

I am so glad I am not the only one. I thought I may need therapy for my inability to let go/paper obsession.

HA! I may be a newbie but I've got you all beat!! Not only do I have piles of designer paper--double sided!--but I also have 2 cupboards full of fabric that I don't dare cut into! I take it out and pet it..buy more patterns to use it...and figure out ways to hide it (freezer, anyone?).

You stamping guys are lucky that your stuff doesn't take up a ton of space (relatively speaking, before you all yell at me!)...my fabric spills out of cupboards, flip top totes, and in any hiding place conceivable!

This is SO me. I have to buy 2 sheets otherwise I'm afraid to use it. I think, What if I make a horrible card and then the nice stuff is wasted. Which is ridiculous, because it's just paper; it's meant to be used. but I'm like some others too -- in the past few years my tastes have changed and the stuff I loved then I don't really have any feeling for now. So I'm using that up.

Me Too!
 

I have tons and tons of paper and I keep buying more. My daughter gives me her scraps and I mostly use those. I just can't cut the good stuff up until I use up all my cheap stuff. I love supplies and new stuff. I think I am more a collector of supplies than a card maker. It's so fun!

Like this poster said, I'm beginning to realize that if I don't use my pretty paper now I may not like it as much a few years from now. So I'm trying to use it while I do like it. But, it's still not easy to make that first cut!!

barb

You make such a good point! I have paper that I bought when I first started scrapbooking (back when God was a boy) and I detest it now! Guess I saved it for too long!
I'm trying to break the hoarding habit but I will admit, it's tough.

I'm here too. Up the pretty paper and then get to buy more pretty paper. And there is always new and better paper out there.

Yep, so I usually buy 2 sheets of each paper. One for crafting, one for admiring.

I feel so much better after reading all these posts. Several had me lol, as I am the same way. I am such a perfectionist, and if I cut the paper it won't be perfect anymore, so it just gets hoarded!!! And I just bought about 40 more sheets today---2 of each--just in case one of them gets 'ruined'!!! Glad I'm not the only crazy one!! :-D

I agree with this! I got a bunch of SU!'s designer paper when they first came out with the double-sided designs a few years ago and never really used. Now I don't like it and I'm stuck with it, so I'm going to use all the new DP I just got!

I know what you all mean when you say that you buy paper and then a year or two later you just don't like it any more. I found a great solution to this problem. I stamp background stamps on it to change it up or punch stuff out of it or distress it. I am falling back in love with some of my old stuff. It's a good thing because I have tons of it!!! I wonder if they have a program for paper addiction? If so I need to go to the meetings!

It is good to know I am not alone. I hoard my paper and save even the tiniest scraps. You never know when you might be able to use them.

That is such a good point about your tastes changing. I have many fabric scraps that I hoarded for quilting and now I so dislike them, that I can't imagine using them. At least paper is cheaper.

I seem to hoard paper as well. I have a piece of handmade paper that I rally love - I even put part of it in a frame so I can look at it! I got my payback, tho - we acquired a new puppy who came to us paper trained - she got out one day and too care of some of my paper.

Just wait for time to go by when you have 1000 plus stamps, 120 prismas pencils, 100 + markers, gel pens, 30 punches, a die cut machine, 4000 pieces of paper, 30 stamping pads, a heat gun , drawers of adhesives, 45 twinking H20.s , drawers of embossing powders, glitters,fun flock, cutting systems, brads and eyelets in a gazillion colours , drawers of ribbon...- well, I don't think I can go on.... it's a space hogging hobby just as bad - or worse - than quilting!!!!

I used to hoard it. But now I've been using up the scraps that my friend gives me. :D No money to buy new paper for myself, so I use what she gives me! :mrgreen: She gives me some beautiful paper scraps sometimes! And then some that I'm not really so keen on but I try to use that up, too. I figured out a while ago that paper goes out of style much like clothing. Me? I've not been one to wear the latest fashions either so I don't mind her 2 year old cast-offs. :D

ummm I confess I am a paper stroker, ribbon collector, embossing powder collector, marker collector, embellishment collector, brad/eyelets collector, ummmm I just collect no one told me I had to USE it.....you mean I have to c...u....t my love things.......**shudder**:rolleyes: :-D Having said that I am trying (OK not so successfully at this moment in time I admit;) ) to start cutting and using as I don't have anymore room....I had to unmount 2000+stamps to get room as it is:cool:

I used to be a bit of a hoarder but my paper collection was getting silly (couldn't shut the lids on some of the boxes) so I have been training myself to use it up. I am a bit sad at the moment because I recently finished 2 of my fave Rob n Bob papers and really want to replace them but can't find them anywhere :( But while I've been looking for them I have managed to aquire prob 15 sheets of other new papers that I like so it's not all bad lol.

Me, too!

THis is a great idea. Yesterday I was going through some old stuff. As I was looking at it I thought "what was I thinking buying this icky paper?" When I bought it I thought it was gorgeous - guess I have admired it too long. I'll have to try some of the ideas you've suggested to revive my stash.

I've started making covered composition books with some of my "good" paper. It gets me to use it, but the book lasts for quite awhile, so I get to look at my pretty paper all the time :) .

In addition to more patterned paper than I could EVER use, I also have a bureau full of yarn that's too pretty to use....

Don't tell my husband!

I tend to try to buy plainish papers and alter them (stamp, ink, glitter, glue, flock) - then I don't have the problem of cutting DP - I have a group of DPs and I got a couple of years ago and I AM cutting into them because I just can't justify keeping them around anymore - I like them but not as much as I used too. :lol:

I'm a paper collector. I used to be a paper hoarder too. But, like others, I reached a maximum capacity point long, long ago and it's much easier to use that pretty stuff instead of just admiring it. I also realized, that paper is like Doritos . . . they'll make more! And I'll have to buy it. :mrgreen:
Once you start using up some of the pretty stuff (paper, ribbons, embellishments), it gets much easier to use it when it's new . . . there's always going to be more stuff for us to buy. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Now I just have to get back to quilting . . . that fabric stash has gone no where!

ooh! bad dog!

LOL, that was funny, TFS!

I know how you feel! One of my stamping goals this year is to use my pretty papers up. I have so much just sitting around.

I've got some of you guys beat. I used to buy 3 sheets of pretty paper so I could make a two page scrapbook layout and still have a pretty sheet of paper to look at. As if seeing it in the scrapbook wasn't enough. Thankfully I have now learned to use even my "too good for that project" paper and embelishments. I think I also had the moment where I realized how much stuff I had, and I was running out of room to buy the new pretty stuff! Now everything gets used.
Later today I'm going to Target to buy a bunch of cubes because my paper collection is out of control (I didn't say I could use up stuff faster than I bought new stuff)!

For the newbie: Just wait untill stamping stuff is overflowing out of cupboards, and you will consider dumping your pretty fabric to make room for it! It's an uncontrollable addiction, especially if you hang out at SCS and hear about all the new must have supplies.

I am a hoarder also. When I am making a card for someone, I ask myself: "are they paper/embellishment worthy"? Also if I goof with a piece of designer paper I have to say my mantra over and over again-"it's only paper, it's only paper..."

too much paper?
 

There was a great post a few days ago about making envelopes out of some of the paper that you weren't crazy about. I have very little PP, I'd rather make my own, but I do have a few sheets that were given to me that are just not my taste, but they would make great envelopes! Or you could use it as a lining if it's just too awful for the outside.

A bit of a hijack here, but I got a beautiful engagment announcement in the mail that had a matching lined envelope. I removed the lining and used it to make a congratulations card to send to the bride. Sigh, if I had a digital camera, I would've posted a picture. The bride called my daughter and raved about the wonderful card that she had received and told her that she thought I was a paper genius (insert smilie here, blushing, scraping toe back and forth in the dirt, aw shucks mode!)

Jutta