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NEW FEATURE! Not one, not two, but three new features available now. Learn more ->

Let’s Get this (Graduation) Party Started

May 29, 2024

Graduation season is full of excitement and of the unknown. So much potential in those next steps. Before moving on, we’re diving into the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of graduation and how “kids” today are celebrating it, too. Take a moment to remember all your school day “firsts,” “lasts,” and “favorites.”

POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE 

This is not just a descriptor for how we celebrate this milestone but the name of the more than century-old classic song played at graduation ceremonies. Sometimes also called “The Graduation March,” the song is actual one of five marches composed by Sir Edward Elgar, starting in 1901 and stretching out over a 30-year period.

If you’re eager for some modern music to boost your post-ceremony celebrations, we found an eclectic list of 24 tunes from Billboard that’s full of themes about growing up and making new memories. Here are the first five:

      • Vitamin C, “Graduation (Friends Forever)” is a smart starter to the list for the "Easter egg" buried in the chorus… do you hear Pachelbel’s “Canon in D” floating through? 
      • Green Day, “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)”, to which one of the founders of Artifcts commented, “This is from when I was in school. Is it actually still popular?!” 
      • Queen, “Don’t Stop Me Now.” Listen close, we hope this for all our grads. 
      • Lizzo, "About Damn Time,” because we all need a little reassurance. 
      • OneRepublic, “Good Life” shares an important theme about the power in letting go.

GRADUATION CAPS 

Otherwise known as mortarboards, as in the flat board used by masons and bricklayers, thus representing the skill of a master worker. Maybe! Or maybe it was inspired by the shape of quads on the campuses of Oxford University, where many graduation customs are believed to have originated. Either way, before you walk out that door with your cap on, remember to wear the tassel to the right as you enter and move it to the left once all graduates have received their diplomas.

DIPLOMAS 

Have you ever heard them referred to as sheepskins? No, not us either. But somewhere apparently this is true as every graduation “facts” site will report and harkens back to when diplomas were made from sheepskin. Let’s be glad paper and printing industries have come such a long way.

WOMEN, YOU’RE SHINING 

Women are now more likely than men to graduate from college. A modern phenomenon and trend that’s strengthening. In 2022, 39% of women aged 25 and older had completed a bachelor’s degree or more as their highest level of educational attainment compared to 36.2% of men in the same age range, according to the US Census Bureau.

The ‘why’ of this trend is complicated. In an October 2021 Pew Research Center survey of Americans without a degree, men were more likely to say they just did not want to get a four-year degree and that they did not need one for their career aspirations, which is unsurprising given the continued dominance of men in many high-paying trade skills, including electrical, plumping, and construction, among others.

“The fact remains, that if we want more women in the board room, we need more women completing degrees beyond high school. Brava!” said Artifcts co-founder Ellen Goodwin.

ACT NOW: SORT THE STUFF, SAVE THE MEMORIES 

In mere days, your amazing graduation photos and videos, mementos, garb and more will be relegated to the land of memories. You’ll struggle to dig them up and share them. The details will slip away. What did that teacher say? Who was in that awesome picture with you as you tossed your cap? What did the design on your cap look like?  

Collection of graduation photos and videos on an iPhone

 
 
What will you remember?!
 
 
Photo and video chaos from graudation. Save the memories, one Artifct at a time. The ceremony, the friends, the parties, the acheivements.

Here’s your checklist for graduation stuff, but don’t forget to check out Artifcts School Days inspiration checklist, too (available here)!

      • Certificate or diploma 
      • Graduation gown, cap, cords 
      • Announcement 
      • Awards 
      • Video and photos of the ceremony, with your parents and mentors, with your very best friends, of the post-ceremony party, etc. 
      • Capstone or thesis 
      • Portfolio items, prototypes 
      • Speech 
      • Press coverage, newspaper and online 
      • Book and people who inspired you 
      • Favorite study music and study places 
      • Pics of dorm room and off campus residences

 
 
Beyond School Days and Graduation, we have dozens of other FREE downloadable checklists waiting to inspire you!

We wish the graduates the very best in all their nexts and offer warm congratulations to the parents and mentors who helped them along their way.

xoxo, the Artifcts Team

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Aspirational Clutter & Your Closets: What is Aspirational Clutter, and What Will You Do With It Next?

Have you heard of aspirational clutter? It’s the stuff you buy, collect, or otherwise hold onto with intention of some future use. Or maybe it's for some future version of you and the life you plan to lead.

Aspirational clutter can exist anywhere and everywhere in your home. Take the kitchen, for example. How many cookbooks, special pans, unique spices, and gorgeous serving vessels do you keep with the intention of expanding your cooking repertoire and hosting more events in your home?

For others, many many others, the bedroom closet is an absolute magnet for aspirational clutter. For this reason, you even commonly find references to this sort of ‘stuff’ in popular books. For example, the NYC-dwelling lead character in best-selling author Jodi Picoult’s book, Wish You Were Here, lamented her inability to let go of her shoebox full of art supplies when she pivoted to a career in art sales with Sotheby’s. But it was not only art supplies.

“The shoebox came with me, still unopened. I set it on the highest shelf of my closet, behind sweatshirts from college I no longer wore but couldn’t bear to donate to Goodwill, and the winter hiking boots I bought but never used, […]”

(By the way, Artifcts is a perfect digital shoebox for the valuable and sentimental items you collect alike.)

Here are more examples of aspirational clutter that find cozy homes in our closets:

      • Clothing that ties us to a special moment in our own story or we’ve outgrown or matured beyond, but we tell ourselves maybe one day we could wear again.  
      • Accessories, like gorgeous silk ties and cufflinks, clutches and stilettos, and more for fancy events that we never attend. 
      • Everything for the wrong climate. If you live somewhere in which winter’s scarcely a month long and snow is a once in a lifetime event, how many sweaters, sweatshirts, mittens, snow boots and spare down comforters do you actually want to make room for?  You may dream of vacations or a return to cold living, but is storing this all for years if not decades practical? 
      • Kits and crafts, maybe you bought them, maybe they were gifts, but you’ve never picked it up or kept it up. Maybe it’s time to let go in favor of a hobby that is you?

Closet Tales from Texas & Wisconsin

Our co-founder Ellen who lives in the heart of Texas recently emptied every single thing that belonged to her from her master bedroom closet. Her goal was simple: LESS. She reported that she felt depressed by the end by what she saw as so many aspirations unmet as well as waste, articles of clothing barely or never worn, “Because I just never felt good in it or never had the right occasion for it. It's no different than buying framed art for a wall or a pillow for a couch because you love them and then you realize, you really have no space for it.”

As depressing as it was, there were nice moments, too. Ellen saw in her items so many lives she’s lived.

“I literally found a maternity shirt I wore when I was pregnant with my daughter 14 years ago. Ha! I also realized I still owned the suit jacket I wore to my first interview at the CIA nearly 20 years ago. I really thought I had already gotten rid of it.”

When we asked what one tip she has for anyone undertaking a rightsizing of the contents of their closet, she said it was important not to let yourself off the hook. “I was smart to lay it all out on and around our bed because it put a clock on my work. We couldn’t sleep if I didn’t get through it.” Her sorted piles ended up looking like this:

      • Sell 
      • Donate, “But first you can bet that I Artifcted that suitcoat from my CIA interview!” 
      • Wash and/or repair (and then keep)
      • Keep 
      • Trash 
      • Give to my daughter/neighbor/friend 
      • Recycle, “Especially all those hangers! I was able to return some to my local dry cleaners and the rest to Goodwill. I also marked a bag ‘Textiles for recycling,’ that could not be sold and gave that to Goodwill, too.”

More than 1,000 miles away from Texas, tucked in their new home away from home in chilly Wisconsin, a member of the Arti Community undertook a similar closet downsizing effort recently. But her efforts were precipitated by a change in career and a move from DC to Wisconsin.

Her biggest challenge? What to do with all those formal work clothes! They still fit, that was not the issue, but would she need them now? Suits, heels, and designer handbags, oh my! They meant enough to her to make the move, but now that she was staring at the ever-shrinking space in her new closet, did they warrant the space?

Her silver bullet was unexpected: her husband! Weeks of hemming and hawing, combined with a healthy dose of “do-you-really-plan-to-wear-that-up-here" questions from her husband helped her decide to sell the pieces that were sellable (thank you, The RealReal!) and donate the rest, but not before she Artifcted them. She now has the memories of the clothes, and what they meant to her, safely stored in Artifcts, AND a lot more closet space for all those cold weather necessities.

Before we conclude this ARTIcles edition, we want to know, what items are the tough stuff in your home, the hardest to let go? Please let us know at Editor@Artifcts.com. We'll update you next week on the results!

Which category of stuff is the tough stuff for you to declutter

Happy Artifcting!

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© 2025 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Trio of New Features | March 2025

Today we’re excited to share a trio of new Artifcts features with you.

Over the course of eight in-person conferences during 2024 and approximately 80 hours of interviews, we discovered ways to fine tune your Artifcting experience to support you even more both during and after you’ve created those Artifcts.

As always, we placed ease-of-use and privacy at the heart of each new feature.

Thank you for being a part fo the Artifcts journey. Let’s explore the latest from Artifcts!

Private Notes 

As it turns out, sometimes you want to share your Artifcts with others, but you want to include details in your Artifcts that you’d prefer to keep to yourself. So, what’s one to do? 

Now at Artifcts you have an optional field titled, 'Private notes.' It’s exactly as it sounds. Whatever you type there will not be visible to others if you share the Artifct. The exception of course is if you give someone “Full Control” over your Artifct (versus the default “View” access or other “Edit” access).

This new field is on the “Full form” when you create or edit Artifcts, directly after the “Story or Description,” making it a natural extension of what you have to say about anything you Artifct. 

private notes field on Artifcts

Customizable Reports  

It was professionals in appraising and estate management who first approached us about downloading customized reports on Artifcts. Later, this request was seconded by professional home organizers and move managers. Finally, individuals, several of whom were working on their wills, asked for the same. 

Now you can create custom reports, no matter your “why.” When you click 'Download,' you’ll be prompted to select the fields and related files you want to download, too, ensuring you can download only the information you need, when you need it.

As shown below, we’ve simplified matters by choosing the Artifct title and description by default, offering a "Select all" option, and reducing your download size by allowing you to exclude photos, videos, and documentation when you do not need them. 

pop up window providing options for which Artists details you want to download

Artifcts Up Next Report 

We consider this saving the best for last: the new Artifcts Up Next report.

The truth of the matter is that at the end of the day, digitizing the stories and financial value by creating Artifcts addresses one set of needs, but you still must deal with the physical stuff in the room, sorting it and often re-homing it, too.

When you Artifct, there’s just one optional field we show you on the 'Quick form' because we think it’s that important. It’s called 'In the future.' As the name suggests, we urge you to consider what’s next for everything you Artifct. Your options are: 

      • Sell. You can even set a custom reminder and Artifcts will email you.  
      • Bequeath. Adding details to whom is optional. 
      • Donate. Here, too, adding details is optional. 
      • Keep in the family. We hope your “Description or story” offers a compelling reason. 
      • As you wish. Meaning, “I won’t haunt you. Don’t keep it in storage for the next 30 years on my account.” 
      • It’s too late. Enjoy the memories. I already got rid of it. Do not go looking for it. 

When you download the new Artifcts Up Next report, it will give you a checklist of all your Artifcts, sorted by the ‘In the Future’ category. You can then work through the list yourself, with family, or with an organizing, estate, or move management professional to get the ‘stuff’ where it needs to go next.

example report showing items to bequeath to loved ones

 
 
This is just a snapshot of a sample report, showing the Bequeathed section, guideline, and the type of Artifct information you'd find listed.

 

We have an open door!

Is there something you wish Artifcts could do or help you with? Is there a feature driving you a bit crazy or confusing you in any way? You can write us a Support@Artifcts.com. And be sure to catch up on past product updates, too!

button to jump to past product updates with Artifcts

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Helpful resources as you get started and continue enjoying Artifcting:

Quick Start Guide

Inspiration Lists

FAQs & Videos on YouTube

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© 2025 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Storytelling Guide for Your Family Heirlooms

If you want to elevate an item to heirloom status, Webster’s dictionary says pass it down, generation after generation.  

definition of heirloom

But solidifying an object’s place in your family history requires a little more tender loving care than that alone.

For every heirloom, we recommend you: 

      • Preserve essential facts. What is it? How did you come to possess it? And closely related, where did it come from? Which side of the family?
      • Be specific. Why should anyone care about this object? The why is critical. Why does it matter to you and your family? 
      • Create awareness that this object even exists. If you’ve tucked it away or added it to a shelf or cabinet, never pausing to share its origin or story, no one will be able to raise their hand to say, “Yes, I want this” when the time comes to pass it down. Instead, it will easily slide into the discard pile. 
      • Provide and/or transfer relevance and context. When @Grandmom’s rolls recipe from the early 1900s was reborn and brought out for everyday enjoyment engraved in her mother’s handwriting on a cutting board, a whole new generation took interest in the recipe’s origin.

These points all build up to a key conclusion: You need a story for the heirloom.

Your story might be a poignant 5 words, “My father gave me this.” And knowing you, and that your father passed away when you were only 9 years old, your family understands a lot in those 5 words.

Or your story may be much longer and follow a beginning-middle-end story arc, pulling in the reader as you evoke in them the emotional or sentimental value and appreciation for the item that you feel.

Here are two very different examples of family heirlooms and their stories, one a traditional family heirloom, the other a modern heirloom, an object acquired now that the owner hopes will last for generations more.

The knitting needles with no story

Elizabeth is a passionate genealogist. Her globetrotting, history and life loving self has seen a lot and collected even more. While her home and the mementos within may be a living testament to her fascinating life, she is also a family keeper.

Artifcts' Definition of Family Keeper

Despite being a genealogist, she’s inherited heirlooms without necessarily giving much thought to their origins or their futures.

Case in a point: her beloved knitting needles. Elizabeth brought her knitting needles to an Arti Afternoon, an event with one of the founders of Artifcts during which participants share items show and tell style. Elizabeth volunteered to go first.

view of the ends of a pair of whale bone knitting needles

“I brought these, because I love them, but they don’t really have a story.”

Our co-founder Ellen nodded, encouragingly. “Objects don’t have to have deep stories to share them and Artifct them. It’s enough to let your family know you love them and what you want to do with them one day. But I have a question: What are those?”

You see, Ellen didn’t even know what the objects were that Elizabeth was holding. 

With a startled laugh, Elizabeth replied, “Oh, they are knitting needles.”

“Knitting needles?” Ellen said with a questioning look.

“Yes. They’re made of whale bone.”

“Whale bone,” repeated Ellen, thinking to herself she was starting to sound like an echo.

“Yes, my Yankee grandmother lived in Connecticut and was an accomplished knitter. Hers was a whaling village. I’ve had family in that area since the early 1600s.” Elizabeth went on, “I love how the needles feel in my hands, so much nicer than plastic.”

With a smile, Ellen turned to the group, “Who here thinks these needles have no story?” 

Smiles and laughs returned all around. These needles have a great story and are a sweet family heirloom and dose of national history all in one. 

a woman using her cell phone to photograph a pair of knitting needles to Artifct

A 50-year-old Yugoslavian stool

From the Artifcts collection of our co-founder Ellen Goodwin.

You know the stools that students used to sit on back in the day - four fixed metal legs, a circular wooden top that spins? Picture them in a chemistry lab. Picture them in Yugoslavia, built from iron and native oak, handmade, and in the "brutalist style."

What style is that, you ask? You know brutalist style from many government buildings in the US, your travels through Eastern Europe and the former states of the USSR, and the movies. Think large cement minimalist buildings, the opposite of beautiful aesthetics. If you have a home with a lot of personality already, a splash of simplicity in the "brutalist" fashion may be just what you need. Or at least that’s how I think of it. 

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and that's the case here. I think it’s more fun to sit on a stool with history than a modern, lighter weight, less durable replica or alternative. You get to feel connected to another time and culture. That's what the stool means to me, a collector who is curating my home to feel uniquely us.

an oak wood topped stool with medal frame, on wheels

And if you think it’s strange to fixate on the charm or design of a stool, blame my mom. She had this really cool antique stool in a corner that always had one type of draping plant or another perched on it. I wanted something like that, that felt homey and less ordinary, I guess.

And that makes this 1970s Yugoslavian creation a keeper. Will my daughter want it ever in her home, transforming it into a modern family heirloom? Maybe. For now, it’s a stool with a story that Mom picked out.

(By the way, the fact that the company reselling the stool has an icon that's a laughing grandma smoking a cigarette amuses as much as mystifies me. And that, friends, adds further charm to my 50-year-old Yugoslavian stool.)

Ready to tell the stories of your heirlooms?

Quote from Jeff Greenwald

If you need some prompts to get started telling the stories of your heirlooms, we always recommend what author Jeff Greenwald taught us: Start with something true.

In the story of the knitting needles, simply answering “What is it?” was enough to unravel a story that the owner had never recognized was there all along. And now, with the story known and Artifcted, it’s exponentially more likely those needles will stay in the family.

When creating an Artifct, click the lightbulb icon in the story/description field to get other prompts and our downloadable worksheet.

Here are some other tried and true heirloom storytelling prompts from genealogist and author Deborah Holman:

      • The first time I saw this object, I felt ________. 
      • This object reminds me of ________. 
      • If this object could talk, it would say ________. 
      • This heirloom is important because ________. 

And we have a special bonus for you. Deborah has shared with the Arti Community her Heirloom Storytelling Worksheet. Download it free now.

Happy Artifcting!

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© 2025 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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