How has another year gone by? Not to sound like the old fogey in the room, but seriously, the older I get, the faster time flies. 2019 was such a challenging year for me. The biggest and most significant struggle for me personally was losing my mom over the summer. Losing anyone you love is heartbreaking, of course, but losing my mom was especially difficult. She was my best friend, my confidante and my north star since the day I was born and the truth is, I’ll be feeling the pain of this loss for a long time to come. Like for the rest of my life. This is all the more reason for me to welcome in a new year (and a new decade!) with even more anticipation than usual. It’s been so good for me to start laying the groundwork for the year ahead. I’ve got some big plans for you, 2020!

I want to take a step back for a minute, though, and run through some of the brighter spots in 2019, specifically in my creative endeavors. I became much more intentional in the second half of this year with my overall goals and it’s made me ready to hit the ground running on January 1.

70 New Designs

I have 70 new designs for sale between Simply to Impress and Photo Affections. SEVENTY. Give or take. A few designs may have actually launched in 2018, but nonetheless, that is a lot of new cards and invitations for sale! I so enjoy working with these partners and am looking forward to continued growth with them in 2020.

7 Editor’s Picks at Minted

2020 will mark my 10th year entering design challenges at Minted, which is crazy. I don’t have a ton of wins, and truthfully, I’ve taken breaks here and there to pursue other ventures, so consistency has been a struggle. This year, though, I welcomed the distraction of designing for a few of my favorite categories and I managed to get 7 Editor’s Picks across wedding, holiday and grad. Bonus: One of my letterpress wedding invitation picks also won a special award. I’m going to do my best to submit more to Minted challenges in 2020 and, fingers crossed, significantly add to my inventory.

A reboot of my blog

I set a goal for myself somewhere around September to post on my blog 1-2 times a week. Spoiler alert: this didn’t happen. But not for a lack of ideas. I have a ton of those, but it takes time to put a quality post together and I just didn’t have enough of that to go around. I adjusted my expectations a bit and managed to at least maintain some regular posting consistency, which I hope to keep up going forward. Be on the lookout for more helpful content, inspiration and some fun freebies this year.

A New Partnership

My last bit of news from a business perspective for 2019 is a new partnership with Greenvelope. Greenvelope specializes in online invitations, which is something I really want to be a part of. I’ll always be a fan of paper and snail mail, but I also like the idea of going digital for some occasions and think it will play a big role in the future of greeting cards and invites. I have one design for sale so far with a few others in progress and I’m excited for more to come.

Looking Ahead

Believe it or not, deadlines for holiday 2020 are already on my calendar and quickly approaching. As my creativity rebounds with each passing day, my overall goal in 2020 is to exceed what I accomplished this year and design even more. There are exciting things ahead, so stay tuned for updates and new creative adventures and I’ll see you in 2020!