I hope I never have to live through another year like 2020 but it wasn’t all terrible. Let’s have a look back at the year through my blog. I didn’t post a lot here, partly for lack of news but mostly because I was spending so much time keeping Super Cute Kawaii going. I still managed at last 6 posts a month though.
January
January started in the usual way with me setting some 2020 Plans & Goals including Making Time For Crafts. Both were surprisingly successful and I’ll write more about that soon. I also shared My Christmas Gifts & Buys, my personal Christmas Card and all the Redbubble Socks with my designs that family got! My January sale included 10 Products That Are Almost Gone, Forever and a couple of them are still hanging on 12 months later!
February
February was a big month for zinemaking and I published 2 new zines: Japanuary – 31 Days of Japan Memories and my 2019 Favourites. I also created my first new products of the year with holographic Bunny stickers and seasonal fruit & veg magnets both becoming big sellers. And I tried to bring back wish list posts but ended up taking them to my Patreon instead (I do one every month now!).
March
March is my birthday month but it was very different this year! Little did I know that picking up my repaired laptop in Glasgow early that month would be the last time I’d leave my local area or go on public transport. Despite that, it was quite a productive month. I created 2 new designs for my print-on-demand shops – Kawaii Bunny Emotions and Bunny Fruit & Vegetables and drew a few favourite Pokemon for fun. I started the first of my lockdown projects, Organising My Kawaii Stationery, and made some Free Wallpapers with my motivational characters to keep everyone’s spirits up. With my blogging becoming less frequent, I returned to my Recently… series to catch up on smaller things including making fabric hair bows for SCK. And the year was saved by the arrival of Animal Crossing New Horizons!
April
April began in full lockdown with my sister and a recap of my Lockdown Birthday party. I was furloughed from my part time job, giving me a lot of extra time so I threw myself into creating useful and helpful content on SCK and also shared a Spring Bunnies Printable Garland to keep kids busy. With my mum’s birthday coming up, I finished a project from 2013 (!) – an Angel Bunny Tapestry Pillow! I also shared the first post of the year with my Recent Purchases including folders to organise all my stickers.
May
May brought a rush of productivity with Two New Colouring Books, Printable Weekly Planners and some New Products including very popular Happy Mail bundles. Determined to keep positive, I added Rainbows & Happy Faces to my on-demand shops and created my first ever Face Masks with Redbubble. My sister was still here and we made a Free Animal Crossing Mini Zine together and went on lots of Lockdown Walks nearby. I also picked up lots of new Craft Projects, with the Creative Kawaii Box being especially fun.
June
June was a very quiet month for blogging and I had to do another Recently… catch up. My sister (and Kogumachan!) went home and I tried to return to my normal routine. I helped Claire Brown XStitch with her rebranding and new website and we started working on some new cross stitch patterns together. Inspired by all my flower walks, I made a new Kawaii Flower Field Pattern, and there were new styles of Face Masks available. And let’s not forget 2020’s most unexpected moment for me: Dua Lipa has my vegetables chart in her kitchen!
July
July was the first anniversary of The Super Cute Book of Kawaii being published! To celebrate, I created some custom clothing for Animal Crossing and free wallpapers, plus some cute new patterns featuring the SCK animal mascots. The Animal Donuts from a book project also arrived in my on-demand shops and I worked on some New Stamps. I started a new series of posts about life on my Animal Crossing island Neptune with part 1 and part 2. But my favourite project of the month was A Cute DIY With Spoonflower Wallpaper, to make my boring IKEA bedroom furniture so much better. This has held up really well too and I still love it.
August
By August I was getting used to my weird new 2020 life and even got to leave my town for a few outings. But first, I checked in on my 2020 Plans & Goals and shared My Most Popular Kawaii Face Masks. The last of my book-related patterns – Kawaii Cupcakes – was added to my on-demand shops and I was working on more New Products. I even made a Video Tour of my Animal Crossing island for my tiny Youtube channel. I also managed to start spending some money again and shared some Recent Purchases and cute mail.
September
September brought my first piece of travel blogging this year, even if it was only a few miles away! I got to meet up with my Dad & Jan and we did a few things locally around Loch Lomond, including an aerial adventure course in the pouring rain. My dad and I also completed our long-delayed Window Seat project, making the padding seat with my fabric. Things were busy in my shop too, with Fruit & Veg Cross Stitch Patterns and new Polymer Stamps & Clear Stamp Sets. I even managed to design a 2021 Calendar for Spoonflower’s annual tea towel contest, and I was also interviewed as part of Tofu Cute’s 10 year anniversary DigiFest.
October
October was spooky season and I made the most of it with New Products including mystery bags, a printable paper doll, new glow in the dark brooches and another batch of Cross Stitch Patterns, plus I squeezed in some Pumpkin Cats at the last minute.. On-demand sales continued to keep my bank account healthy and there were new new Fitted Face Masks at Redbubble and all 12 of my 2021 Calendars on various products. I also took part in some online markets with Indie Roller and invested in a Silhouette Cameo for making stickers.
November
November was a busy month getting ready for Black Friday and Christmas. I designed an all-new Birthday Calendar and some Winter Stationery and created a new Gingerbread House illustration to add to my on-demand shops, along with some Avocados. And there was a last little bit of spookiness with a look at all my cute Halloween Happy Mail.
December
December was an exhausting month as I caught a cold* while having to deal with a super busy Christmas shopping season and completely overwhelmed Royal Mail. I put my Christmas decorations up super early and managed to have some fun despite being home alone thanks to my lovely family and friends, and video chat. I shared my last batch of Recent Purchases (including a tiny wearable version of my book!) and my personal Christmas card design and then looked forward to a new year with 2021 Calendar Printable Bookmarks.
*Still pretty certain it wasn’t Covid but I self-isolated anyway.
Especially big thanks to everyone who bought my products, read my blog, joined my Patreon, sent me surprise mail and/or interacted on social media in 2020. There were a lot of scary and worrying moments this year but we got through it. I feel like I learned a lot about myself, my business and my priorities in life that will help me in the future. Here’s to a better 2021!
