Monday, 16 January 2017

2016 Review and Goals for 2017

Happy New Year!  I hope that I am not too late to say that, as we are now already starting the third week of 2017!  The start of a new year is a good time to take stock of things, remember achievements from the previous 12 months and look forward to planning the next.  I've not really made new year's resolutions but instead thought about goals I would like to achieve, or work towards.

So first, here's a quick look back at some of the things I did in 2016...

The top 5 most popular blog posts for 2016 were mostly craft tutorials...

5.  3 Techniques to Decorate Pencils
3 ways to decorate pencils by Hazel Fisher Creations

4.  DIY Matchbook Notebooks
DIY Matchbook Notebooks tutorial by hazelfishercreations

3.  Rainbow Colours and Free Printable Planner Page
Rainbow Colours my sketchbook hazelfishercreations

2.  Learn How to Make Your Own Sketchbooks
How to Make You Own Sketchbook - learn this bookbinding technique to make sketchbooks, journals and notebooks! hazel fisher creations

1.  Origami Box Tutorial
Origami box tutorial, summer strawberries papercraft project Hazel Fisher Creations


I have to also mention the Printable Advent Calendar Village - this post from 2015 was also popular in 2016, as was the village in my Etsy shop (which is still available to buy from my shop if you missed out for 2016).  I'm so glad that so many people enjoyed making up their own Advent villages!  I'm planning to design some new Advent / Christmas printables ready for the next festive season.

Christmas Church and Advent Calendar Village - printable boxes to colour in a make up yourself - available from hfcSupplies on Etsy. Hazel Fisher Creations

One goal I set for 2016 was to blog at least once a week on average - I'm pleased to have achieved that with 59 posts.

Other things that happened in 2016...
I joined thortful to sell some of my card designs.
I also published my first class on Skillshare.
I also made lots of new designs for my Etsy, Spoonflower and Society6 shops.
I made a dress using fabric I designed from Spoonflower (I'll share some photos of this soon hopefully!).

I find that it's really important to remind myself of all the things I have done, because actually a lot of the time I feel like I'm trying really hard to do all sorts of things but mostly feeling like I never quite get 'enough' done, or what I have done isn't good enough.  So for 2017, I'm trying to set myself realistic goals - what do I think I can actually achieve in a day, week, or month.  That isn't to say I don't intend to challenge myself, but I want to do it in an achievable way.

For 2017, I would like to continue to grow my business and look for new ways to expand but also try to streamline and connect the different things I do more.  Amongst the many things I regularly do for work are: selling on Etsy, Spoonflower, Society6 and thortful, blogging, sharing things on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. So many things to do!  I'm going to try to plan ahead more and link up these different things - so work on one design theme at a time and use it to produce content across all these channels.
Blog wise I would like to average at least 1 post a week, and post more craft tutorials and sketchbook/ art work.
I also plan to publish more classes on Skillshare, and practise using video to share elsewhere too (like on Facebook/ Instagram - did you see my 'Happy New Year' video?).
Craft projects I would like to do in 2017 include: knitting a cardigan, sewing another dress, a handbag and a coat (I have seen a pattern I really like and although it says it is 'easy' I expect making a coat to be quite a challenge!)

What are your goals for the year?

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