Let's Celebrate a New Year, A New Beginning

  

HONOR YOUR SUCCESSES IN 2025

You can also look at the Winter Solstice as the beginning process of closing out the year and preparing for the next.  Between the Solstice and New Year’s Eve is the perfect opportunity to go within and take stock of the past year and prepare for the cycle of new beginnings.

Make a list of all the high points of 2025 – special moments, events, realizations, accomplishments, changes, new relationships.

 I usually do this right before I write my holiday letter to my friends.

Not only do I have content to share, but it also gives me a chance to reflect on what transpired over the year in a somewhat objective point of view.

 The bonus is it always helps me get a perspective on where my life has been heading and in observing the transitions throughout the year, can find so much to be thankful for as well as helping me to get a clearer view of the big picture so I can make adjustments, updates, take new directions to move closer to where I want to be in my life going forward.

 There have been times when I thought not much happened over the year or it was not so great, but when I started going through my appointment calendar and journal entries month by month, to my surprise, I discovered just how much I have to be grateful for.

 

It’s worth taking the time to honor your life and the successes you’ve had over the year.

That way, it makes things clearer as to what direction you want to take going into 2026.

 

Which leads me to the tradition of New Year’s Resolutions.

 

More often than not, we set them out of “I should do what’s good for me” list.

 

This makes them difficult to keep because they are based on shoulds – should give up, should start doing and not on what you actually would welcome into your life.

 

That’s why I prefer to create 2 lists for my New Year Intentions Ritual.

 

One list is saying goodbye to all the things I don’t want to continue into the next year. 

 

The second lists all the things I want to have in my life.

 

 From there I create Intentions I want to manifest and first step to move it forward, then go from there.  I teach a Dare to be Creative Workshop that offers ways to do this.  My Intention Booklets were created for this as well (see previous post of product). 

 By the time January 1^st is here, there is a sense of purpose and direction that motivates me to move forward toward manifesting them.

  

And of course, don’t forget to save space for magic and miracles

 

Remember, setting Intentions doesn’t just have to be just for the New Year.

 

It can also be used for a major change in your life like moving to a new location, starting a new job, a new relationship, a personal milestone. 

 

It’s always important to stop and take stock on where you’ve been, where you are and where you want to be.

 

Welcome to Paper Architect 2026

 

Welcome to Paper Architect 2026

 

We've taken a low-key approach the last couple of years.  

 

But now it's time to open up and get things moving in a bigger, more visible way.

 

Stay tuned for new posts, 

new products, 

new workshops, 

new ideas, 

new information 

to inspire you,

give you courage,

feel connected, 

give you clarity, focus and 

embrace the amazing being that is YOU!

 

Here's to a new year filled with beauty, laughter, joy, magic, miracles, light and much LOVE! 

 

 

Featured Product: PURSE JOURNALS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   This exclusively designed PURSE JOURNAL is a fashion accessory that doubles as a journal, diary, or notepad to keep ideas or lists.  The length of the shoulder cord allows you to write in it while still wearing it.  Just sling it over your shoulder crosswise for hands-free wear and will prevent you from leaving it behind or have to carry it.

   It is handcrafted using a rose colored, embossed diamond design on textured leather-like vinyl cover.  It is bound around the edges and tied with silk cord and accented with a purse charm.  A plain pink version is also available.  The color of the binding cord can be custom chosen.  We also have a gold tone purse with an antique gold purse charm and binding cord in ivory, black or gold.

   We use white Green Seal Certified paper for the inside pages.  Some pages are lined. 46 double-sided pages = 92 pages total.  The inside cover has a space to add your name and claim it yours.

   This journal is renewable -- meaning once you have used the pages, they can be removed and replaced with new ones. 

   Classier than ordinary notebooks.  Impress those around you with the fashion accessory that's also useful in so many ways.  Students use them for class notes, take them to seminars, make notations at exhibits or museums, for networking events to jot down who you met and how to contact them, or even use it for autographs when the opportunity presents itself.  I'm sure you can use your imagination and personal needs for other uses. 

Purse measures:   7" H x 5" W - closed, 7" H x 13" W - open

   Have fun adding it to your wardrobe accessories or give it as a gift for your fashion conscious friends.

Inspiration Quote: by Jean Shinoda Bolen - Whenever I experience something beautiful . . .

 

 

 “Whenever I experience something beautiful, I am with Soul. That moment of inward breath, that pause and awareness of “how beautiful this is” is a prayer of appreciation, a moment of gratitude in which I behold beauty and am one with it.”

~ Jean Shinoda Bolen~

Creativity Quote: by Rumi -- What if life is calling you . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“What in your life is calling you, when the noise is silenced, the meetings adjourned . . . the lists laid aside, and the wild iris blooms by itself the dark forest,. . . what still pulls on your soul?”

- Rumi -

Featured Product: INTENTION BOOKLETS

 

 

 

INTENTION BOOKLETS

    Instead of focusing on giving up something you love or doing something you “should” do, why not focus on things you want in your life?  It has been said that when you write out your thoughts, it helps manifest them.

   Our INTENTION BOOKLET offers you a place to put those special intentions in an attractive booklet.  The cover is handmade paper* with matching thread.  The inside pages start with a title page with space   for the date and your name.  The second page has space to list your intentions and date them, followed by 26 blank pages to write out in detail what those intentions encompass.  Also included is an envelope accented to compliment the booklets and is oversized to allow for additional materials you may want to include such as pictures or small objects to remind you of specific details for your intentions for visual inspiration

   You can start your booklet on a special day such as the season’s equinox, your birthday, the start of a new job or any new start, when moving, or for relationships or personal life changes.

*Note:  Handmade paper is imperfect with irregularities that give it its own unique personality.

These INTENTIONS BOOKLET are handcrafted with loving care.

 

Interested in purchasing this item?  Please contact us directly at:  gotopaperarchitect.com

 

Resolutions vs. Intentions

 

 

RESOLUTIONS vs. INTENTIONS

 

   Writing something by hand to most people is not their go-to way of communicating.  Sending emails, texts, posts on social media and putting your appointments in your phone is the norm.  But once upon a time, we wrote everything by hand.  Writing on cave walls in pictures, illuminated manuscripts were an art form now in museums to admire and throughout history people kept personal diaries, letters were exchanged that give us insight to what was taking place and how people felt about what was happening in their lifetime.  In this era of instant messaging, computerized communicating, how will we look back at this time to gain an understanding of life in the 21^st century?  Handwriting classes are no longer a required class in many schools yet our personal signature is required on every important document. 

 

   Pencils and paper come from nature, using them connects you to your basic life force.  You actually write differently when you write directly onto a computer then when you take pencil to paper.  I noticed this many years ago and find I am more authentic when I write out my thoughts.  Even when I type those thoughts in a document on a computer … like this newsletter, it comes out much better if I write it out by hand first. 

 

   It has been proven that there are psychological benefits to writing by hand.

Did you know that a number of studies have all came to the same conclusion that writing by hand can improve your brain’s memory. For example, researchers compared students who took notes by hand with those who took notes on laptops. What they found was that students using laptops tended to write down what the professor said word for word whereas those taking notes by hand were more likely to analyze the professor’s words for important content and process information better by “reframing it in their own words.”

 

   Another study revealed that parts of the brain associated with learning are more active when people write out their thoughts by hand rather than on a keyboard. At a time where our brains consume so much information every day, writing by hand offers a chance to remember the things that are most important to us.

 

   Probably one of the reasons more people use technology over hand writing is because it’s slower and we are forced to slow down.  Everything is instant, especially those who group up with technology and have no experience or awareness about writing things out my hand don’t have a clue to what they’re missing.  According to neuroscientist Claudia Aguirre, we write more thoughtfully when we write by hand. That’s because writing by hand forces us to slow down and take more time to pour over thoughts. This is both the beauty and the pain of writing by hand, especially since we are a society of instant gratification.

 

   “Recent neuroscientific research has uncovered a distinct neural pathway that is only activated when we physically draw out our letters,” said Aguirre. “And this pathway, etched deep with practice, is linked to our overall success in learning and memory.” When we type on a keyboard, those same pathways aren’t opened up the same way.

 

   If you write out your thoughts, you are more likely to remember what you wrote down.

 

  I encourage you to including handwriting as part of your writing process.  Image, many years from now, your handwritten pages may end up in a museum to document this time in history.