List of Creative Achievements 2011

The Year in Photos. Click to watch the slide show.

Last year I compiled a list of my creative achivement of 2010 to celebrate the year. I am doing the same this year, and here is my list:

1. The first class I took was the online photography class A slice of life by Darrah Parker, where we asked questions like What matter most?
2. I discovered and fell in love with pitt brush pens
3. I started with the intention of daily art journaling but found out I couldn’t keep up and didn’t want to. I continue to enjoy every-now-and-then journaling and have filled a thick hand bound journal during this year.
4. Filled 2 diaries with hand written jounaling about everyday life
5. I played with wool embroidery again
6. I was part of two embroidery exhibitions with my embroidery group
7. I posted a creative nudge about using gray in your art journal at Diana Trout’s blog
8. I posted a very popular tutorial on How to make your own planner and continued to use my planner during the year
9. I painted flowers on wood and was happily supriced by the result
10. I was invited to write a guest post for Julie Balzer’s popular blog
11. I started a sketchbook with colour studies where I used oil pastels and added Paper weaving
12. I experimented with cloth weaving as a base for embroidery – inspired by Jude Hill
13. I taught my first class in real life on how to make sketchbooks
14. I made tiny tiny embroidery squares (inchies) in pink for a swap
15. Invited Pian Bates to our town. She held a class where we painted, printed and hand dyed fabric and learned a little about sketching for embroidery
16. I arranged the The DIY Postcard Swap for the second year and had over 280 participants
17. Arround my birthday I joined the crusades and made a mini-book called the forensic report
18. I got my collaborative ocean embroidery back and it was awesome!
19. I gave away 2 different online creative classes (held by blog friends) through this blog
20. I sent in my Grids and lines sketchbook to The Brooklyn Art Library in the US
21. I tried masking fluid for the first time
22. I created a collage here and there but didn’t make nearly as many as I would’ve wished for
23. I sewed an embroidered ball in wool, and taught the technique to co-workers at Nova
24. I read a book about found faces and started to look for them everywhere
25. I experimented some with wire and fabric
26. I finally sewed my own bunting flags and hung them outside in the trees for my birthday (they were also used during Easter and at my brothers graduation party)!
27. I crochet a purple Heart Cat (hjärtekatt) and donated it to a child with a weak heart
28. I created over 60 collages on index cards during the Index-Card-a-Day summer that Tammy invited us to
29. I almost lost all my blog posts, moved my domain to a new server and finally got to update wordpress to a newer version and started to tag old posts, rearrange categories and update the look of almost everything
30. Participate in 5 of the 12 crusades at Michelle Ward’s Street Team
31. I attended Jennifer Lee’s first ever Right-Brainers in Business Video Summit and Goddess Leonie’s World’s Biggest Summit online (I watched almost all the videos, except those that was a bit too much voo-voo for me)
32. Bought Moleskine notebooks on sale and pimped another one with paper patchwork
33. Started to keep a numbered content index in my diaries
34. Created a lot of fabric ATC’s (especially embroidered owls) and made a tutorial on how to finish those with a sturdy paper backing
35. I arranged a FB-swap for embroidered ATC:s and had about 30 participants
36. I tried to keep a blog in Swedish too but didn’t succeed in writing much for it
37. Went to Nusnäs for midsummer and took lots of photos for the Dala Horse Craftalong; how the wooden horses are made, painted and sold
38. Continued to use Pinterest
39. Took the time to document street art just because I enjoy it
40. Was (and still am) obsessed with doodling using a black pen, mostly in the diary where I also write morning pages
41. Read Quinn McDonald’s book Raw Art Journaling and was inspired to try several of her techniques (like the confetti line doodle) in my own art journal. I also got the chance to give a copy of her book away to one of my readers in Europe!
42. Went to Gotland with the guild and learned a new knitting pattern
43. Was seen in the magazine Året Runt in an article about my Embroidery group, which also was featured on a blog about local cultural events this year
44. I made my first wreath (using a recycled red sweater to make roses from)
45. Designed my own moving box labels and made them colour coded
46. Sewed an awesome book cover using acrylic paint and free motion sewing on the sewing machine (love that combo!) and finally assembled painted and sewn envelopes to a hand bound journal
47. Read lots of inspiring books about collage, art and creative expression but less about personal development than previous years
48. Wrote quite a few book reviews about awesome books that I wanted to share with you all on my blog
49. Finally found myself a new place to live and went into nesting mode
50. Fell in love with my new home
51. Painted my secondhand livingroom table turquoise
52. And then a stool too
53. Redesigned and became the webmaster and editor in chief of Sweden’s Embroidery Guild’s homepage
54. Presented the homepage to the members at the annual meeting with a crowd of about 150 persons listening to me
55. Took a self portrait with my android phone every day during the entire summer
56. Got a paying job with my own office room from June to December where I got to write articles, blog posts and tweet professionally, which is probably the reason this list is not as complete as it would be otherwise
57. Together with the editorial staff of the Embroidery Guild I created two more issues of the member’s magazine about embroidery
58. Bought a turquoise Lamy Safari Pen and ink
59. Joined Flattr on Pay a blogger Day to give my readers a way to pay a little for all the time and love I poor into these posts…
60. Experimented with watercolours on fabric and embroidery on top of that
61. Played with my first inkblot creatures, inspired by Leah
62. Sent in a embroidery (called Fängslande) to the Embroidery Guild’s contest Guldnålen (Gold Needle)
63. Made a page in my Art Journal that was a pink tribute, a contribution to Daisy Yellow’s rainbow experiment
64. Hung pink lights in my window
65. made and sent out embroidered Magic Feathers to Jude Hill in NY
66. created my own ATC album
67. I bought a 50 mm lens for my Nikon because the only other lens I own broke. Just recently I also bought myself a pink everyday camera (an Ixus again) for more wide angled shoots, movie making and on-the-go-photography
68. I read 44 books and watched quite a few movies and tv-series too
69. One of my articles about creativity got translated from Swedish into Danish and published in the magazine Haandarbejdets Fremme
70. And, let’s not forget: I wrote 170 posts for this blog – which inspired many of you to be creative too

Celebrating my accomplishments

These are some of my main creative achievements during 2011. I have written this list to celebrate a rich and busy year where I feel like I’ve grown in many ways, mostly professionally. I haven’t blogged everything that I wanted to share with you guys but such is life. I feel a little disappointed over the opportunities I have seen/gotten but let slip through my fingers this year. It’s easier for me to remember the big mistakes – but this list is not about them (though next year I’d like my list to be a little more like Jenn’s). Instead let me feel grateful for big changes like; enough money to pay my bills, a new home for myself, the (few) friends that kept calling/sending email requests to see me, overall good health, having co-workers and daily habits, new music experiences, finding a way to exercise that I actually enjoy – and lots of ideas left to pursue through 2012!

Ta-daaaa!

I’m posting this list for the first crusade of the year too. Crusade #59 is about making a ta-da list, and that is exactly what my list is about. I’m printing it and putting it into my journal for safe-keeping. Also check out my previous post with favorite posts from 2011 and watch the photo slideshow in the beginning of this post. And let me know your thoughts. Was 2011 good to you?

I’ve achieved a lot! Celebrate with me, will you?