We have covered A LOT in this series and we have worked our way up to another category that some of you would probably prefer not to read.

Accessories! Bling, buttons, ribbons, glitter, dots, resin, charms, brads, eyelets, twine, and more, I am sure.

We LOVE our accessories! And the best accessories are the ones we use.

The Good and Bad With Accessories

I hear this all the time… “I can't use them because they are my favorite and you can't get them anymore!”

Our really only constant are basic pearls and rhinestones.

And that's true from all companies that sell accessories. They know you will buy them, so the more they create, the more you will buy. And this is actually a good thing…

As long as you are using them up, they are awesome!

If you have bin after bin to organize them, I can pretty much tell you that you aren't using them.

Going Through Your Accessory Stash

There is a very good reason that I saved accessories for last. You have now hopefully gone through your patterned paper. You've hopefully pared down your scraps. You've hopefully boxed up tools/punches, etc. And I hope you've pulled ink pads off your shelf too.

When you have done that, this part will be drastically easier.

Ribbon and Twine

I've built a good part of my business with ribbon and twines, so I hope you know how much I love it! Many of you have and love your 10 Second Bow Maker, which thrills Matt and I to no end.

So you might be surprised that I'm suggesting you go through ribbon.

But, you now know your patterns of paper that you are going to use. You've pulled the rest for either gift packaging, envelopes, crinkle, or it's boxed up.

You know the tools that are going that it made sense to have ribbon for.

You've pulled colors that you are tired of or they don't go with anything you have, maybe they were that bargain purchase that matches nothing in your craft room.

By doing these other things first, it's time to pair down your ribbon/twine and sort it into sections.

• I am keeping these ribbons/twines for my card making because it specifically goes with the products I am excited to use.
• Red and Green ribbon/twine
• Don't need/out of style/out of trend

The first section is pretty obvious. These are your keepers.

The last one is also an obvious, box these up.

The middle one is the wild card – but with a shelf life and with an *.

If you are making gift bags with your patterned paper for the holidays, keep holiday colored ribbons and twines that would have gone in the box with the “I'm done” ribbons. But keep them through this next holiday only. What doesn't get used, let it go.

If you aren't making gift wrap with them, go ahead and box the up.

Out of Date/Out of Trend Accessories

Box these up faster than Jimmy John's can make a sammich.

This is where things like eyelets go. They were trendy for years and then BAM, just as soon as you had some in every color and bought cute little storage organizers for them, they were out of trend.

Decorative buttons that have all the designs and textures, also way out of trend.

Anything you haven't touched in the last 5 years, other than basic rhinestones and pearls are most likely out of trend or they coordinate with products you have used up or are getting rid of.

Glitter

Trash it all, every bit of it. Kidding – but not. I'm not a fan of glitter, so this one is easy for me to simply not have in my house.

But… if you are a glitteraholic, be responsible with it. If you have little bits left, make your own custom mix.

I know a stamper that has over 200 colors of ultra fine glitter. While merely typing this part, I'm trying to hold it together, let me tell you… ain't no one that needs that much glitter unless you sell glitter.

Embossing Powders

This one is always an interesting one to talk about, and I wasn't sure if I should put this part with tools or accessories. But many stampers keep their powders and glitters together, so I chose to put it here.

Over time, something happens to it where it isn't as good as once was. I barely passed chemistry, so don't ask me why, but here's what I do know…

I replace my white and black embossing powder every two years. If I compare my brand new white to a two year old white, the old one is not as crisp and vibrant. With my black, it's not as good. I don't know how to describe it, but it lacks something.

So while I don't know what it is that does that, I do know it happens.

This came up in Stamping Family one day, and I was telling them I was excited because my new white powder came in. They had no idea this was a thing I did or why. I had already thrown out my old powder, so I couldn't show them. But then one family member believed me and bought new powders. She posted in the group that she was amazed at the difference. Then more members did it, same result again and again.

So if you want your embossing to look it's best, out with the old and get you some new. When it comes in, write the month and year on the container so you know when you ordered it.

Colored embossing powder is way out of trend, so let them go.

White, black, and metallics are all that's used right now.

Charms

This section is a funny one for me. And I get why, but I'm going to share a personal story that was pretty recent.

This last holiday, Stampin' Up! came out with these flat jingle bell charms. They were perfect for mailing and I bought the first package. Then when they went on clearance I bought two more.

I knew I would use them again for Christmas this upcoming year but on gift tags instead of cards. I love making my own gift tags. And they were downright cheap to buy on clearance, and I had a clear plan for them.

A friend came over and lost her mind that I put them in one container. I don't know why we feel the need to keep ALL the containers. And I used to do this myself. I used to have tons of little containers that held doodads of all shapes and sizes. She asked if she could have the ones in my trash, uhhh. yeah – you can have them, they were in the trash.

Rather than these flat jingle bells staying with my card making stuff, they were consolidated into my holiday gift wrap box. What I don't use this year, I will get rid of.

What happens when we don't use up the charms and doodads is that we have a hodgepodge of random stuff that only grows in size of the collection. Am I right?

And all of that leads to frustration and guilt.

I'm going to throw out a concept here that some of you will fight me on tooth and nail. And everyone is entitled to their opinion. But we are talking about decluttering, so if I don't say this, then what was the point.

And we will cover this more in an upcoming post even more.

We are going to keep the math pretty simple, but here comes some numbers.

Let's make up fictional numbers but stick with the name flat jingle bells.

Let's say there were 20 flat jingle bells in a package and they cost $10. That makes the cost $.50/each.

But if I only use 15 of them, that makes them each $.67/each.

I am okay with them costing me an extra $.17/each if I am using those 15.

If I am okay with adding a $.50 accessory to a card, I'm probably okay with adding a $.67 accessory to a card. It's not a huge price difference.

In other words, if I get every penny out of the ones I use, I am good with letting go of the rest.

And I know the “but” that's coming again…. BUT what if I can't get them ever again?

There WILL be something else that comes out you will be excited about.

However that excitement is often dulled because of the build up of leftovers that we have 2-3 left of so we can't make a big stack of cards that all look the same because we only have 2-3 left so this whole card design won't work because I don't have enough.

Does that run on sentence sound familiar?

Often, we stop crafting because we can maybe only make 1-2 of something that's the same because we sat down with the intention of making 5-6 cards. So we throw our hands up in the air and walk away.

So keeping those leftovers often slows us down.

My Challenge to You

Here's my challenge to you when it comes to charms, bling (other than basic rhinestones and pearls). Get a clear box that's no bigger than 4″ x 6″ x 2″. Most cardboard backed blingy things will fit in that size. No more than 2″ of bling, charms, anything.

And when you get down to less than five of whatever it is, push to use them immediately or thank them for bringing joy into your craft space as you sail them into the trash bin.

While this all may sound harsh, I promise you will thank me for it!

Accessories are so amazing. And as I said above, the best ones are the ones that you use!!

There is such a feeling of satisfaction of using up the last dimensional, using the last rhinestone, using all of the accessory that you planned to use, whether the sheet is empty or not!

There's that funny expression, whoever has the most toys wins. And I find that fun and funny at the same time. Too many supplies is often a buzz kill because it's overwhelming.

“Stuff is not satisfying, making cards is.” Meg D. (you can quote me on that!)

I think you know what to do now…

You're choice on this, either go through your accessories and then leave a comment. Or leave a comment and then dive into your stash. Either way, I want you to do both. If you had read this far, it's most likely that you have too many accessories and are looking for a solution. Or you are simply bored. And I doubt you are bored enough to read through all of this. The other option is that you are newer to the hobby and you haven't amassed the same amount of cra…, I mean stuff, that the rest of us have. And you are here learning what not to do so you can follow this going forward into this craft. If that's you, welcome! I love meeting new stampers and helping them get started. The rest of you, you've got some homework to do 🙂 XOXO, Meg