Friday, January 7, 2011

2011

2011
My first post for the year.   Happy New Year to everyone!


Last year saw me actively working on my Artfire shop (even opening up a second shop on Artfire called The Bamboo Box) and getting quite serious in making a go of my handmade jewelry business.  And while sales on Artfire were quite slow, the last two months of 2010 found me working feverishly on Christmas orders from clients in the Philippines, alternately crowing with joy when an order for a custom-made piece came in and tearfully slogging on when the stress of keeping up with orders, holiday preparations and demands from the day job took their toll.  Needless to say, sleep was not an option for me in the last 6 weeks of the year.


The stress and harried pace also took a toll on my ME time.  I stopped journaling, forgot blogging altogether, and even forgot about marking time each week to try out a creative technique.  Now, THAT last one really made me a grumpy old witch. 


I finally had time over the New Year week-end to sit down and figure out how I want 2011 to look like for me exactly one year from now.   As soon as I did that, the feelings of being overwhelmed started again and I found myself making my first (and, I think, most important) reminder  for the New Year:   “Keep it simple, small steps  will still help you complete the journey.”


So this year, each month, I would like to:

a)     Try out or learn a technique I’ve been wanting to use in my jewelry or mixed media art.
b)      Visit a place in the Philippines that I have always wanted to see for the first time or revisit a place that I’ve been meaning to see again for some time now and see it with fresh eyes.
c)       Continue to help other handmade artisans promote their work.
d)      Do something brave regarding my creative work and business that will help push it forward and upward.


Four things.  Four things to do each month.  Four things to tell you about.  Four things to help me get over humps and keep walking forward. And I won't even hit myself over the head if I am unable to keep up. (That's my second resolution: to be more forgiving to myself.)


There – now that I’ve written them down, they’re not as scary as they first looked to me.  

What would you like your 2011 to look like?  

3 comments:

Bindu said...

I would like to have my 2011 to help me bring out my creativity.
I would love to post more entries to my blog.
I would like to see more comments in my blog. May be more items to the Artfire store....and a few more crafting techniques to add to my mind...
Happy new year to you!!1

Anonymous said...

Tammy and I have been looking at our 2010 year as well and although we have added a huge vending option to our weekly list we feel the other work will equal out and we will breath, we will hike, we will Live life and not just survive it. You have set amazingly wonderful goals and keep us posted as you live them.

Sharlene said...

@Bindu: yes! more items in your Artfire shop! yey!!!

@Entwined Vines: love what you said about living life and not just surviving it. :-)

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...