Happy New Year, Everyone! I hope you had a wonderful holiday, and spent lots of quality time with family and friends. I had a wonderful Christmas & New Year. I enjoyed every minute of the time I spent with my family, and felt so very fortunate for them.
Now that the new year is upon us, I thought I'd take a moment to reflect on the year past. 2011 was a year of exciting adventures, and growth both personally and professionally for me. It was only January a year ago that I dedicated myself full-time to my business, and wow, what a journey. I can't help but think my poor husband must have thought I was crazy running a scrapbooking business in the middle of an economic recession, but I feel a little like "Field of Dreams"…"build it, and they will come." And, you guys did! I have met so many wonderful people that share my enthusiasm for scrapbooking, papercrafting, and art. The friendships I have formed with people that I have so much in common with has just been the highlight of my life. You guys have forever touched my heart, and I am so very grateful for that.
I cannot begin to tell you how passionate I am about creating. It's what I think about when I get up in the morning, when I go to bed at night (sometimes the very wee hours of night), and when I wake up at 2am! To me creating is an introspective process, healing, happiness, joy, and an act of love. Writing isn't necessarily my "thing," but I can tell a story through an art journal page, or mini album. Sometimes I flip through my 12×12 scrapbooks, and think, "Oh my goodness, this is my entire life's story right here on these pages in front of me!" It's so gratifying, and gives me such a feeling of accomplishment knowing that I can reflect back on all of the great moments in my life just by sitting down and opening a few books. Hopefully, when my children are all grown, they too will enjoy and appreciate the time and effort I took in preserving our memories.
It is that passion and enthusiasm that has brought me to this point in my life. I often have people ask me what the key to success is. I couldn't begin to suggest I know the answer to that very large question. However, if I had to hazard some type of guess, it would be 2 things #1 passion, and #2 a heck of a lot of hard work 
On the professional front, some interesting facts about my growing business in 2011. We have shipped to every state in the US, most US territories, and over 20 countries. We've sold over 15,000 products. We started the year with a product offering of 260, and have grown to almost 2000! Our average monthly growth rate is over 20%. We've tripled our server service, become PCI compliant, and redesigned our website to make browsing easier. We streamlined our shipping process to print labels quicker to meet our growing order demand. And, something I am extremely proud of, I am still able to review each order, read comments (my favorite part of order processing), and write personal notes on each order (with only an occasional hand cramp LOL). The list goes on and on….
Since it's the beginning of the new year, I thought I'd take this opportunity post some of my favorite blog posts from 2011. Because I have so many favorites, I thought I'd break it up into 2 posts. Be sure to come back tomorrow for the second half of 2011 in review.
TO READ THE ENTIRE POST CLICK ON THE LINK UNDER EACH PICTURE.
JANUARY 2011
A Card to Start the Day One of my favorite cards, probably because of the mixed media elements, and kraft envelope.
Getting Organized In the New Year, January 6, 2011. I may need to reread this post.
FEBRUARY 2011
Grand Finale Week of Cards I love this card, and made it on vacation at the cabin with the family.
Gypsy Journeys Portfolio One of my most popular kits. I had so much fun designing this kit, and teaching the classes.
Springtime Canvas A favorite project because I LOVE working with canvas
MARCH 2011
Spread Your Wings Mixed Media Album Another extremely popular kit that I ADORE! It's everything I love in one book.
APRIL 2011
JUNE 2011
Birthday Cards I created these as a class for a retreat I held. I keep thinking I really should do a UStream because these are one of my favorite sets of birthday cards I've designed.
Fabulous Blog Post my Dear:)
This has been a Wonderful Whirlwind of Fun being one of your Customers! Watching you grow in the Business, and Succeed is such a pleasure to witness:)
But I must say, the Personal Touch that you give to your customers is one of your biggest successes. When I had a post card arrive in my mailbox as you were stuck in an airport at last Springs CHA was over the top! You certainly gobsmacked me, and I’m sure all the others that you took time out to send the cards too. You have the drive, determination and the talent! Looking forward to a Fabulous 2012 for You and Your Family! Cheers!!
lovely projects. i would love to see a ustream and a kit for those Birthday cards…they are fabulous.
Thank you for sharing your articles, I hope you have an interesting and creative new year.
Congratulations on a great year…….here’s to an even better 2012! Love your style and creativity…thank you for the inspiration.