A Look Back at 2017

I'm a little shocked to discover that I have been blogging for seven years.  SEVEN.  Slow blink.  Wow.  I have published 445 posts prior to this one.  Double wow.  I've been stamping far longer than that.  Since the year 2000, in fact.  That's a lot of projects.  Last year was my least creative and I gave up on my crafty goals pretty quickly.  It was a year of highs and lows.  Sometimes you just need to focus on other things that need attention.  The self-doubt monster was pretty ruthless last year in many areas of my life.  Still, despite it all, I made some projects that I really loved.  Here are a few of my favorites.  Click on the pictures to see the original posts.

My son Matthew got married to my lovely new daughter-in-law Meghan in July.  I made this pretty box in her wedding colors for a bridal shower gift that contained handmade jewelry by myself.

While I was in Utah visiting family for my son's wedding, I also attended a bridal shower for a nephew's fiance so I made her a similar gift in their wedding colors.

One highlight of the year was being featured on the Inspired By All the Little Things blog in May.  I made this sweet floral card that I gave to my mom for Mother's Day.

I love these darling chairs pieced with a polka-dot patterned paper.  I adore polka dots and it would be fabulous to have a couch in this print!  

I made this card for my youngest daughter Emily.  She loves emojis (like every other teenager) and it's super fun and colorful.  Just like her personality!

I really like how the soft flowers pop against the black background on this card.  It was a labor of love and fun to make.

So there's my past creative year in a glance.  I have quite a few crafty goals for this new year.  Create more.  Use my stuff.  Actually send cards to people.  Make one hundred projects to post.  Participate in blog hops.  Tackle the self-doubt monster head-on and create anyway.  Embrace imperfection.  I've been straightening up the clutter in my studio.  Purging too.  I love to organize my things almost as much as I love to create.  Here's to lots of crafty adventures in the year ahead!