I don’t even know what to say about this year as it’s been another weird and kind of exhausting one. I did get to do some normal things again, and create some new stuff so let’s look back.
January
January started off a little differently as I decided to have a no goals year! Instead I shared my 2021 Achievements, along with My Year in Books and My Year in Crafts. There was a look at my Christmas decorations & gifts too. Jammie Dodger got the first new product of the year, with a redesigned Valentine’s card and a new pattern for print-on-demand. I also shared some of my Christmas craft projects over on SCK (along with loads of other posts – I’m only highlighting a few especially interesting ones each month).
February
February was a quiet and short month but I did create a cool new Cat Planets pattern. I also designed new homes for my Animal Crossing villagers and shared my new Habit Tracker and some recent purchases. Things were a little busier over on SCK, where I created a new Animal Crossing Felt Frosted Cookies Tutorial and reviewed the Winter 2021 Pusheen Box and HAPiNS Happy Box.
March
March is my birthday month and I was very excited to finally be able to leave the house on my birthday after 2 years of lockdowns. I was also quite creative adding new Acrylic Keyrings to my shop, creating a cute Handle With Care design and Playing With Outlines. I started playing Pikmin Bloom and wrote about it on SCK, along with reviews of Gachapon Lucky Bags and new Japan Books, plus I interviewed Luli Bunny.
April
April started to feel like Spring with the first blossoms but first I had to recap My Birthday with the fanciest afternoon tea and lots of cute presents. I was busy with my shops too, adding Lots of New Stickers to my shop and Cat Umbrellas and Baby Pineapples to my print-on-demand range. It was quieter on SCK but I did enjoy working with Mollie of Wild Olive to celebrate Halfway to Halloween for the first time with a Pumpkin Wreath Tutorial.
May
May was a very quiet month but I did share my Pineapple Pattern Process and had fun adding my designs to the New Pets Products at Redbubble. The Dahlias in Bloom Bouquet Kit that I got for my birthday turned out so nicely and I wrote about it on SCK.
June
June brought my first proper holiday of the year and a chance to spend some time up north again with my family, including a tour of the lighthouse! I designed some fun new Happy Mail Clear Stamps and created a new Cat Cupcakes design and pattern for print-on-demand. I also got myself set up on Faire for wholesale and started working with some lovely shops.
July
July was very busy on the blog, first sharing 10 Photos From My Early Summer Holiday and a look at some Home Improvements as my dad helped me add a big new unit to my living room. My Sunshine Cats and Ice Lolly Cats were added to my print-on-demand shops and I was delighted to have my products stocked at Shana Logic. Over on SCK, we celebrated the 3rd anniversary of The Super Cute Book of Kawaii, and I also shared some tips on how to Create A Kawaii Kitchen (inspired by my own home), reviewed the Spring 2022 Pusheen Box and interviewed Susie Ghahremani of Boygirlparty.
August
August had some big news as I took over the Claire Brown XStitch range of fancy printed aida after Claire decided to close. I celebrated by stitching a tiny Tea & Cake! It wasn’t the best timing as I was also trying to organise some fun things for the 15th anniversary of Asking For Trouble, including making 15 Mini Paintings (part 1/part 2). I also created my favourite new pattern of the year with Cat Cups and designed some hilarious Bucket Hats at Redbubble. Over on SCK, I reviewed the Summer 2022 Pusheen Box Review with a picnic in the park.
September
September was my 15th anniversary month where I finished the Mini Paintings (which hardly anyone bought, sob sob) and had a big Shop Update with new wooden pins, glow in the dark ghost stickers and a seconds sale. We also had a lovely family holiday to Aviemore & Skye and the new leisure centre finally opened in my town after years of delays. SCK also celebrated its 14th Birthday and I started some new post series including Kawaii Shop of the Week and a monthly roundup of kawaii & Japanese snack subscription boxes.
October
October means Halloween and I created an Animal Crossing Spooky Cookies Halloween Garland Tutorial for SCK and a new Ghost Favourites pattern for print-on-demand. The Printed Cross Stitch Aida finally launched in my shop and I also revealed my 2023 Calendar design with a kawaii food theme. I started some more Craft Projects and shared my visits to some Cute & Fun Animal Crossing Dream Addresses.
November
November was a weird one as my blog had some technical issues but I was mostly busy with Black Friday & Christmas prep (and watching Twitter burn to the ground). I also added a few New Products including 2023 postcard sets and Reduce Re-use Recycle stickers. Things were much busier on SCK and I reviewed the Fall 2022 Pusheen Box and shared my latest craft project – a Mushroom Family Cross Stitch Sampler.
December
December was quieter than usual, due to the Royal Mail strikes making me decide to close early – and coming down with a cold! I took the time to put up My Christmas Decorations and make handmade New Year Cards (which I will be sharing a tutorial for). We finished up the year at SCK with Our Kawaii Favourites of 2022 and The Cutest Things We Bought in 2022 before I took a break. We were able to travel up north and have a proper family Christmas again and even got some snow – more on all that in January.
Overall, it was another difficult year, and not as creative as I would have liked but looking at my Art vs Artist collage, I still managed to create quite a few things I’m proud of – and it’s still huge deal to still be able to do this after 15 years. I’m glad I was able to see family more and do some normal things again, and I still haven’t had Covid! Thanks for all your support this year, especially if you bought something, sent me surprise mail or just read these blog posts!
