Continuing the series, let’s see what I was doing every July since 2007!
2007
Only one post this month but it was a big one as I launched my own shop on Shopify. It looks terrible! A special thank you from the future to the people who still ordered stuff. Thankfully my Shopify coding skills improved hugely over the years. Joining Shopify was a brilliant idea for many reasons, but especially as this locked me into a no monthly fees forever deal that I am still taking advantage of. It does pay to be an early adopter.
2008
July 2008 also had some early adoptions as I joined Spoonflower and Folksy! I’m still hanging on to my longest-running Folksy shop trophy. I was also doing a lot of gocco printing, using it to make cards, badges and book hearts. I returned rom a super fun trip to Thailand and shared some of my favourite shops. You can read more about this trip in my free zine.
2009
July 2009 has a lot of new products and characters that are long-discontinued including I Like Bears and Forest Friends. I was still making pretty much everything by hand, including drawing on mugs and baking them in the oven. It’s fun looking back at all this and thinking about how I could bring back some of these ideas for limited edition products or Trouble Club rewards.
2010
July 2010 has some more new products with mini letter sets and it was good to see these again as I’ve been planning more, either as finished products or printables. I also shared my first of many desktop wallpapers, that I created for a contest and was looking forward to my Sew Cute rain boots arriving. Otherwise, it’s mostly surprising seeing how many events I was selling at since I’m now done to 1 or 2 a year, and only around Christmas. I also liked remembering my trip to Manchester – must go back soon.
2011
July 2011 has a lot of sewing – I made tea towels for the shop (I still use mine!) and placemats for my dad. There’s also some new products – gift wrap, stickers and the first 5 Year Diary. There’s also a Day in the Life post that made me very glad to have moved out of Glasgow and these fun banners I made for my blog that changed throughout the day.
2012
July 2012 was International Zine Month and I launched my first full colour zine, Next Time in Japan. I did visit the bunny cafe and Sky Tree on my actual next time in Japan and we have plans to go to the Cup Noodle Museum this year. Maybe we’ll manage a cake buffet too! I also ordered a bunny laptop case from my Zazzle store and decorated my IKEA drawers with polka dots, both of which are still doing well.
2013
July 2013 has some sad memories as I was so excited about speaking at the Folksy Summer School, little realising I would be spending that weekend in hospital instead. I’m still disappointed about that, as they never did another one. In more fun news, I started making a simple quilt from my fabric offcuts. It got stored away pretty soon but I am determined to finish it some day. I shared my top ten blogging tips, which are still worth a read. Mostly I was preparing to take August off for a summer holiday, which I did for a few years. It’s always good to take a break before everything ramps up for Christmas. I’m still mad I never had a chance to visit the Suica penguin hotel room in Japan too.
2014
July 2014 is filled with personal craft projects! I took a hard look at all my unfinished craft projects and made a wish list of craft kits and projects. I did finish my bargello tapestry cushion that month but the rest are still in limbo – another post to revisit? I was now living in Helensburgh and showed off some of the artwork on my walls and my perler bead Arecibo message. In more business-related news, I shared some of my design process creating sewing notions patterns, tried out Spoonflower’s new gift wrap and did an interview for a new stockist.
2015
July 2015 was a fun month! I started the Summer Postcard Club (recently reinvented as my Surprise Mail Swap), was interviewed by Folksy for my 7 year anniversary, and entered my favourite ever Spoonfower contest: What’s In My Bag? I did a list about this recently and so much is exactly the same! I also finished off the My Art History posts – these ones have much less embarrassing artwork than the early ones. It was a big month for stickers too as I made my Do Not Bend banana stickers available to everyone, and added some new mini sticker sheets to the shop.
2016
July 2016 continues the Japan and crafts themes. I started sharing more in-depth posts about my recent Japan trip with a trip overview, info on hotels, a recap of Design Festa, a look at all my new souvenir stamps and some fun post-trip mail swaps. In crafts, I finished the bunny pincushion kit I bought in Japan, and started my first sashiko project. Business-wise, I shared a new Summer Ice Cream Treats printable garland (still free!), started offering a necklace/keyring option for my brooches and joined Thortful for personalised cards.
2017
July 2017 was pretty creative as I had discovered Amaziograph and was creating cute kaleidoscopes and patterns. Procreate just added a similar feature and you really need to try it sometime. I was feeling inspired after the Colour My Every Day photo challenge and created a new Kawaii Skies pattern, plus my paper craft tutorial had three options: Mt Fuji, Volcano & Mountain! I also got to visit Hyper Japan for the first time, and…aww, look at my tiny enamel pin display – it is so much bigger now.
If you’re reading this in the future, you can also check out all my posts for July 2018.
