Well Hello There 2011

It appears that the time to publish my little review of the year has rolled round again.

So, 2010 then. In some ways, it did rather fly by, but at the same time it seems like forever ago that I moved into my lovely new flat. So, what was last year all about? Hmmm. If 2009 was a year of firsts, I think 2010 was a year of learning. I begin 2011 with rather less bounce and excitement than I did 2010, due to being completely exhausted! I gave pretty much everything I had to my jewellery hobby over the past year, hoping to turn it into a business, with not even a little holiday to chill out a bit.

My, but that was a bit of a moody way to begin this post wasn’t it? I have an annoying habit of getting brought down by all the things I didn’t achieve and kind of forget a bit about the things that I did.

The first exciting thing was that I actually made quite a lot of things for friends this December, hurrah! People were after little crash helmets as Christmas pressies for their derby girlfriends, wives and daughters, including one friend who has to be the coolest dad ever! I ended up getting my little silver derby skate charm finished rather late in the year, but can't wait to sort out a website and start selling, as I invested a lot of time and money into making them.

For next year, the thing I learned from December is that I need to be stricter with cut off deadlines for making this for people for Christmas. There we go, first resolution. Yay!

Another exciting thing was starting to build my website. Which is not yet finished. But I really really meant to finish it by the end of 2010, the making of shiny things just got in the way. I learned that even using an idiot proof web design program is pretty time consuming. Especially with the obsessive way in which I approach things... But yes, it will soon be finished. Honest, it will...

What else did I do? Oh, I made some new business cards for when I'm finally ready to launch, which look like so:


Now I just need to learn to (a) take them places with me, and (b) actually give them to people, rather than just mumbling and running away when people say they like the jewellery I am wearing.

I found a fantastic forum at www.larsandingrid.co.uk, full of lovely people willing to share their jewellery making wisdom and knowledge.

I’ve still managed to find time for some messy and inexpert experiments involving Fimo and wallpaper paste (separately obvs). I am hoping 2011 will also involve some sort of random crafty experimentation.

Some cupcakes were also made, my favourites being my little summer bees:

In other jewellery related stuff, I had some custom boxes made, which finally arrived (very late) near the end of December. Here they are:

Fancy, huh?

I think the boxes were a good investment. Other things I invested in this year were some proper studio lighting (definitely worth it) and a new camera. Although I do kind of wish I’d gone for an SLR...

I also made a couple of sets of custom wedding rings involving skulls, hearts and moustaches, which were great fun to do:


So, all in all I had a very productive, but also very hectic year. 2011 will be more about balance. I will still need to work hard so I can finally launch my business, but shall also take breaks, go on holiday and finally give the long-suffering boy some attention!

Onwards and upwards then. I have a super-exciting (and more than a bit terrifying) project to approach, more of which I shall share later, as I fear I have wittered enough for one day. Farewell for now...