I make things, like art and other digital and crafty stuff. It’s a big part of my life and who I am. And I love that. There have been years when I have made an amazing amount of crafted items and artwork. Last year was not a year like that, but I still made some things that I am proud of. So without further ado, here’s my list of achievements made in 2024, things that I wanted to share with you today.

I wrote lists on my blog 2011-2013 but then got out of the habit, so more than 10 years later I’m picking up the habit again, because why not? Life is short, this list is long even though it does not contain as much as I’d liked it to. Let’s celebrate it anyway.

What I did in 2024 – a celebratory list

Here’s my list of achievement’s of 2024! On social media happenings, writing, blogging, documenting, creating and experiencing (artists dates/inspirations).

1. Changed blog theme for the first time in for ever, because I was forced to by the updating gods of Internet, but now feel pretty happy about.
2. Started the arduous work of updating all old blogs posts, uploading images stored on Flickr because I am no longer paying for their expensive pro account and while there also setting a “featured image” in old blog posts, adding a footer and updating some things at the same time – like categories, tags, links to other’s blog posts (that has been removed or disappeared through the years). This task is huge and will be ongoing into late 2025 I’m sure (it’s something I’ll share a bit more about later on). BTW: This is work that few (probably nobody) will ever notice, that nobody (else) cares about and that is non-essential, so why am I doing it? No really, I would like to know!
3. Fixed the Subscribe to this blog feature by adding back the plugin that did not work in the previous iteration of the blog, and now it’s been working for a while and I’m thrilled about that. So much fun to know your blog posts are being read.
4. Wrote 64 blog posts on the blog.
5. Participated in NaBloPoMo during which I wrote 30 of those blog posts. I feel this might be my biggest accomplishment of the year… It was so much work to write, format, find and edit all the photos, upload, double check everything and then daringly and without hesitation publish all that – but also worth it, big time. It still feels like an accomplishment of epic proportions.
6. Learned how important community is after 20 years of blogging, with the NaBloPoMo experience. Or at least I learned a new way of thinking about it all, about commenting, visiting back, finding friends online again, staying open and not being so bitter about times gone – and that was good for this little ol’ lady.
7. Re-created my entire book review page – and I’m still working on moving categories around.
8. Uploaded 25 videos to YouTube, all filmed, edited and voice overed by me. It’s not one every week which was my goal, but it’s half of that and I feel like that is really great too. I love sharing videos and will keep doing so to my Studio iHanna YouTube channel this year.
9. Got follower number 4000 on YouTube – after having +3800 for forever it finally tipped over. It’s a rather low number for YouTube (and me being on there for years and years), still, but let’s celebrate it anyway.
10. Finally edited and uploaded Winter – the first part of my seasonal series of videos, of which I am rather proud. Now I only need to do the three remaining…
11. Filmed the entire set up process of a new to me Stalogy journal. Still enjoying journaling in my Stalogy.
12. Scanned all collages from 2022, titled them and decided to share them on the blog.
13. Hosted the DIY Postcard Swap twice (in spring and in autumn), and had a lovely time with it.
14. Participated in Junk Journal July – even though I only finished the first 10 days and haven’t shared anything of those pages (yet, haha).
15. Upcycled a fodder organizer.
16. Started using my napkins collection in decoupage on paper, which will be used as art materials.
17. Prepared an altered book with acrylic paint, tissue bits and paper napkins to use as an art journal.
18. Participated a few times in the WOYWW blog challenge to find some other creatives and community.
19. Participated once in a bloggy art journal challenge called AJJ – with the theme autumn colors.
20. Refueled my Feedly list with new blogs as well as many new to me Substack subscriptions (because even though Substack is a newsletter service you also get a blog like archive and you can follow along on free publications via RSS!)
21. Did quite a bit of stitching, although I of course started more than I finished. I also had an idea for a textile series and have started that, whic I hope will end up being four different seasonal mixed media embroideries which I hope to finish in 2025.
22. Embellished two tote bags using gifted hexagons, a blue tote for my mom and one with green hexagons for myself. Yay, a finished craft project. Amazing grace.
23. Bound together my first finished textile art book and was very happy with the result.
24. Bound a watercolor journal for myself called The Pink Bloom Art Journal and started using it promptly. Yay!
25. Embroidered a few more flat hearts, which I hope to share in February on the blog. This project have been in the works for a few years as well but I don’t think I’ve shared anything from it here on the blog (yet, haha).
26. Mended another pair of jeans that was in dire need of it.
27. Created Valentine’s cards that was sent out to friends, in time for Valentine’s (!). Made a few crafty envelopes with a little notebook and stickers for kids I wish I’d spent more time with instead of sending them cards, but I was so happy that I did this little thing for them.
28. Read 72 books.
29. Reviewed a few books on creativity on this here blog, for example Sarah’s Share the Joy (in which I am featured).
30. Registered for an account on StoryGraph, an alternative to amazon owned GoodReads, just to check it out and see if I like it. So far it’s been sweet, but I don’t use either of these online services to keep track of my reading, just to browse and add a title here and there. Instead I use a database in Notion that I made myself. I want to have ownership of what I add in, and be able to register some data that is not possible online, so that’s why. I love using databases, to sort what I add in into different views and in different ways. So satisfying and fun.
31. Bought the book The Untamed Thread but to my chagrin have not read yet, so that’s going on my to read ASAP list.
32. Went to two different author events at the library because they were free, local/close to me, and both were really nice.
33. Attended all but one book meeting – and read all the books picked for the book circle.
34. Celebrated my birthday at my parent’s because dad is not very mobile anymore and I did want to have him in my day. I am so very grateful to have both my lovely parents in my life this year.
35. Finally visited the Hallwylska Museum in Stockholm that’s been on my wish list for over 25 years, but was a bit disappointed. It’s grand, yes – but I was expecting something spookier, more eclectic and cozier I think…
36. Bought a lot of crafty materials second-hand online (washi tape and stickers mostly) – but sold even more stuff (mostly from my toy collection) to clear out space. Sent out so many packages!
37. Filmed and photographed finished junk journals that I made to sell – but did not put up anything new in the Studio iHanna Shop which is very unfortunate for my economy and head-space.
38. Started to crochet a cardigan. Did not finish (yet, haha).
39. Got a new bike after the last one I had was stolen a few years ago. This new one is black and sturdy, but I love it so so much! Biked quite a bit over summer.
40. Started to photograph and document things from my childhood, like baby clothes and toys found in my parent’s attic. I think all that will become a photo book… some day.
41. Almost entirely stopped posting to my Facebook page and Instagram, which I didn’t even realize at first. But looking back on new years day I saw that I shared very few photos through the entire year. It’s probably to do with the low count of things made or finished, which then lead to less photos (in good light) being taken, less time spent art journaling and creating art (which I miss) but also the app is not what it used to be. I like creating reels, but I hate that there is no way to avoid being sucked into random material, often stolen from small creators and re-shared to large accounts that are overrun with stupid comments and random questions… I still have my accounts and will keep checking in on instagram, but might not post much in 2025 either. We’ll see.
42. Created an account on the app Cara – which is similar to instagram but called a portfolio site for artists. I did this after instagram announced that they’d let AI “learn” (i.e. steal and remix) from all images uploaded through their app. I opted out of this on Instagram through an arduous appeal process but still don’t like it one bit. Cara though seams to mostly have attracted working illustrators, not my mixed media and art journaling community unfortunately. If you do join, let me know and I will follow you there!
43. I created an account on Blue Sky as well, just recently. I downloaded the twitter-like app BlueSky (url spelled bsky.app) and have been enjoying it a lot lately. I am iHannas with an S at the end on BlueSky – feel free to follow me there to see what I tweet if that’s what its called. I hope to lure all of you in there, so we can chat live again, share images and art, and just hang out a bit…
44. Just before the New Year I got my 200th follower on BlueSky and I enjoy sharing things there, with those new to me followers and strangers, than I have in years hanging out where “everyone else” is… I think it’s weird, but that’s how I feel right now. The community created and the sharing around the hashtag #ArtAdventCalendar in December was so much fun! No BS, I promise.
45. I created a feed on BlueSky called Creative Bloggers – because that seemed like such a fun feature to try and I really want to see more bloggers from the art and craft world on there. To share your post (including a link to your most recent blog post on creativity of course) directly to the feed you simply add the hashtag #creativeblogger. To follow the feed all you have to do, when you’re logged into your account, is to “pin it” to your homepage by clicking the pin needle symbol at the top. It might not be used at all, but I wanted to give it a try and it just might be fun… In any case, I look forward to seeing more of you guys on BlueSky in 2025, tihi.
46. Moved my mailing list to Substack and let everyone know they are free to subscribe to the Studio iHanna Newsletter – and then I opened up strong by declaring that I hate writing newsletters because it feels like Selling my soul and paying for it myself, haha. Still not sure what I am doing there, but it’s where I am now and if you want to subscribe via email, read it online or give something I’ve written a “heart” it will be much appreciated as always.
47. Did a few interviews that became articles as well. Yiihaaa.
48. Experimented a bit more with the Cricut Joy but still don’t think it’s for me… I don’t like all the pre-planning and faffing about with it before I get something out of the machine…
49. Borrowed mom’s laminating machine and tried it using laser print + foil which I enjoyed the result of (so in love with glitter and holographic anything). Those foiled prints has ended up in my Stalogy as monthly start pages. I need to create more soon.
50. Doodled – a lot.
51. Made lussebullar and Christmas candy with mom in December.
52. Hand dyed embroidery yarn to see if I could make my own variegated versions. I can.
53. Worked on various projects on the computer but finalized few.

That’s it for now. I probably created a few more little things and I sure had more ideas than I could even start on, but not much. It was a year of shuffling things around, clearing stuff out and hard work for little to no pay-off, but I did it. Yay me. I survived and I am so ready to refresh, restart, do better and make more! How about you?

Over to you: What did you achieve / make / create / do

If you’d like to create a similar list I have some ideas on how to do that. Actually I wrote down 10 reasons why you should write a list of achievements, and included how I create mine – so check that out and then do the prompt. Let me know where to find it.

If you are a regular reader of my blog, let me know below if any of these things surprised you – and if you’d like me to blog something from the list what would that be? I have the photos, all I need is to sit down and do it. Haha.

Cheers and keep on keeping on my friends.

Previous yearly lists of achievements here

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