List of Creative Achievements 2013

Many people await new years day, to make a new start to their old habits. I wish you otherwise, Happy New Year!

Time to post my list of achievements of 2013. And above, as usual, a slide show of Everyday Life in 2013. Press play to watch it.

If you take the time to read/watch I’d love to get your feedback!

A few of iHanna’s Creative Achievements in 2013

1. I decided to focus on collage and make 365 collages in 2013
2. I feel proud to have completed the mission and love the finished collage artworks
3. I also posted 7 new collages to my blog, almost every week for the entire year
4. I finally released my DIY calendar pages for sale, my first digital product!
5. Celebrated 9 years of blogging, which makes 2014 year 10!
6. My profile and art was published in yet another pretty American Craft Book
7. My Inspiration Board (photographed by me) was published in Diane Gilland’s latest book Quilting Happiness (page 27)
8. I arranged two big DIY Postcard Swaps again in 2013, and joined & enjoyed both!
9. I painted and collaged my first batch of cut-apart postcards (love this idea!)
10. …and for the autumn swap I used the sewing machine for my pop art postcards
11. I was the editor and designer of the embroidery book Berättande broderier, that we in the Embroidery Guild made to celebrate our 20th anniversary.
12. One of my embroidered stories is featured in that book, and was also in the exhibition with the same name, at Eskilstuna stadsmuseum, and will be shown again at Jönköping länsmuseum this spring (starting in January)!
13. Almost all of my other embroideries are in a local exhibition right now, at the City Hall
14. I wrote articles, edited and did the entire layout of the two member magazines that the Guild publishes every year (it was a big step for me to do the layout – and I loved it!)
15. I had a lovely time in Gotland in May (eye candy from the trip here, here, here & here)
16. In Gotland I held a small workshop on pink fabric beads which was fun to come up with
17. Later in the year, I also held a much bigger workshop, on painting dala horses
18. after the Gotland trip I self published a photo book, one that I haven’t blogged about yet because it was a Christmas gift for my mother (she loved it)
19. I finally finished & self published a book about my Week in the Life project 2012
20. I bought a new camera, it’s a Nikon d5200, for Week in the Life (and life in general)
21. I documented my second Week in the Life 2013 too (love this project!)
22. I wrote several articles for the entrepreneurial magazine Entré
23. I wrote several new book reviews and participated in my first ever book blog tour
24. I did some embroidery on my Heart Sampler inspired by Jude Hill’s class
25. Sewed and gave away a heart (and still want to make more of these some day)
26. I embroidered and finished an awesome pink Kantha Pillow
27. Dito on the Jeans Skirt that made and then I wore the entire summer
28. …altered clothes in several ways, dyed some in the bathtub even
29. And a patchwork pillow with vintage bed linen fabric that is so yummy
30. I participated in the Millenium Postcard Swap that Tammy invited me to
31. I created an account on ColourLovers and created some quick, digital patterns
32. I drew a lot of patterns in my art journal too, like a copy of mon amie or office doodles
33. I created collage ATC:s in a new way, the first ones that I’ve made for years
34. I introduced acrylic paint to my mom and got her hooked on playing with a plastic card
35. Got into neon colours (especially neon pink): I painted with it, sprayed it – and wore it
36. I knitted a grey winter cap for myself, and this autumn I bought yarn for a cardigan that is almost finished!
37. wrote about my new found joy of working on loose art journal pages
38. I finished several small, square art journals (volume 1 and volume 2)
39. I participated in Moorea’s list project and was really disappointed when she just stopped posting prompts to what should’ve been a year long project
40. filled a whole lot of pages in my Glue Books and participated in Glue it Tuesdays.
41. edited and posted a short video of my watercolour experiments to youtube
42. I had many, many sessions of “creating together” with friends this year, and those are some of my favorite moments of the year (I even had kids visiting several times in my studio)
43. I went on a week long sabbatical from my ordinary life, to live alone in a tiny cottage by a lake, and fell in love with nature and creating outdoors (my favorite of the year!)
44. For community I managed to go to one knitting café and two embroidery café meetings this whole year
45. I created ideas/doodles outside my art journal, often drawing on scrap paper (or stamping)
46. released captured stones back into the wild (altered of course)
47. and brought my pens and paper outside, when fishing, sun bathing and, oh well, a lot!
48. created digital Kaleidoscopic Mandalas and a very hands-on Autumn Mandala
49. I even did some crocheting this year, with a big hook and tricot yarn
50. I finally made a few Grey Owl softies from recycled wool sweaters
51. I covered my work desk with polka dot oil cloth
52. Sewed with mom, and finished the bowling bag that she made for me…
53. …and the red owl tote of course, made with sponsored fabric
54. I also bound two new art journals called the Jardin lime journal and the Kawaii journal
55. I created a miniature garden inside a glass, using succulents (still alive – but barely)
56. I finished one (1) canvas (a rainbow kitten) but doodled with paint on several others
57. I did a lot of hand writing, and some fun collages, in two lined diary notebooks
58. I created a new version of a printable postcard backside (free to download and use)
59. set up an information page about the DIY swap & an FAQ too this autumn
60. I glittered a small madonna icon for the wall and cut paper snowflakes with a friend
61. I sold a lot of paper scraps , bits from my stash sent to collage lovers around the globe
62. I took several online classes this year, the first one was “Expressions” by Regina, where you learn to draw a face
63. then I followed along in all free classes from Strathmore (as always)
64. I was invited to take part in “30 days of collage”, a blog class by Stephanie Levy
65. …then I listened in on several free broadcasts from Creative Live classes (great information!)
66. Also took Pennsylvania State University’s Introduction to Art: Concepts & Techniques this summer (earned 85.9 % with distinction!) thanks to Tarsh for recommending the class, and started two other coursera classes that I didn’t finish
67. I managed two posts on a Spotted Photo Theme (critters & hearts) before I stopped
68. I also created quite a few new tutorials for my blog, among the most popular ones was How to Start an Inspiration Notebook and How to keep Organized with a 365 Project
69. I wrote 253 blog posts for this blog (and additional posts for other sites too)
70. my instagram account grew from friends and family to 590 followers this year
71. I sent out 4 newsletters and answered a whole lot of blog comments
72. I read an article about how you should try to make a comfortable place out of Facebook (if you’re like me and don’t particularly like that site) so I did, and I am calling it Studio iHanna
73. I grew said facebook page from zero to +100 followers in a few weeks
74. I traded my old android phone for an iphone, tried a lot of new apps and took a lot more phone photos than previous years
75. inspired readers and friends to be creative in many different ways

2013 was very much about collage for me personally, so much so that embroidery and other crafts took a step aside. I also did a lot of work (maybe too much) for the Embroidery Guild where I am involved in editorial work (both print and online, and this year, the book) and active on the board (I got re-elected for 2 more years in October). Still the best part of that work are the meetings and the people, which I need. I will look for more community and people of my (strange) kind where ever I can this year. I had a lot of fun with free online classes, but missed the interaction from 2012 where I participated in a whole bunch of IRL classes. Good and bad, slow and stressed out, energetic and tired. A year of this and that really.

A Few Favorites

Favorite craft project: the jeans skirt
Favorite art project: 365 collages
Favorite new concept: outdoor creating

That’s it (I think). If I come up with anything else I’ll add it in later. For now, let’s move on with 2014! Yay!

You can also view my previous lists: Achievements 2012, 2011 and 2010!

So did you start writing your own list yet? If you need inspiration I’ve posted 10 Reasons to Write a List of Achievements yesterday, but then there have been server problems at my blog hosting place, so not sure you saw it. I’d love to know if you write a list of your own!