Well folks, it’s been a year. Let me start by wishing you all a Happy New Year!!! And, by thanking you for popping by my little corner of the interwebs when you did. As with every new year, I like to begin by taking a look back to see how far I’ve come. And let me just say, last year was quite a ride…

In January 2011, I took things quite easy on the blog as I was a) doing a lot of solo parenting (the hubby was directing a show), b) had visitors in town, and c) had two Monkeyboys to plan birthdays for. I started posting “Creative Inspirations” links (see also the list at right) to share with you some of the sites “out there” that inspire me. Of course, times and tastes change, so I think we may be due to overhaul the list… but I’ll have to see how busy January 2012 looks first.

February 2011 saw the return of some more time to create, and as a result it seems, some of my most popular posts. People apparently want to know all about iCarly Penny Tees and birthday parties, and Angry Birds crocheting. But I think my favourite creation blogged about that month was the fat quarter hostess aprons, which I both gave instructions for and created for myself.

March 2011 saw me going on a trip to LA, which led to some fun suitcase personalization, and was followed by me crocheting the cutest little Poko hat for Monkeyboy Junior Jr.

In April 2011, I got busy in my garden and made only a few blog contributions – like the quilty critter cards I made as thank you cards, a few yummy recipes, and the IKEA dog revamp.

May 2011 involved even more gardening and lots of spring cleaning in preparation for the garage sale, which meant little time to create “stuff”. But there were a few nice photos as I recall… like this, of my favourite flowering plum tree.

In June 2011, I was a little lot too busy with life – the garden, the kids, the house, etc. – to blog about much. But I made up for it in July 2011 by posting about tons of stuff – like making the backyard cabana, the gorgeous summer blooms in my garden, putting up more art, my temporary rock cozy crocheting addiction, and my favourite of all, painting the Kelly Rae-inspired  “Love” girlie.

August 2011 saw me participating in Susannah Conway’s August Break once again, but with a new twist – the use of online editing programs like Pixlr-o-matic. Which <ahem> I have become quite happily addicted to. =) It also saw me starting on the Dancing Mermaid-inspired Words On Bodies project, taking some gorgeous photos of some gorgeous ladies (see Day 5, Day 9, Day 17, Day 25, and Day 31). I shall have to find some more “guinea pigs” for this project once the weather warms up again. Yup. August was a great month for my photography…

In September 2011, I finally purchased PSE9 and started playing around with it on some baby photos for a friend, but I really didn’t have much time to explore all of it’s offerings. Instead, I continued to play with the quick-and-dirty online presets I had grown to love, and began using my photos to create more mosaics for the “These Moments” Flickr group, and to pepper my new gratitude journal.

In October 2011, I continued to take lots of fun photos and play around with them in editing. But I also tried my hand at some embroidery (for the first time in years), completing the Alicia Paulson-inspired alphabet sampler and creating some “Naughty Stitches” of my own.

I also learned a bit more about PSE9 and created a wacky composite self-portrait.

Thanks to the arrival of my replacement spy-cam (woohoo!), I spent November 2011 and December 2011 mostly blogging with photos. But I’m afraid I was too preoccupied with working on tidying up the house, preparing for Christmas, and various travels and whatnots, to do much else. Except maybe make a few gifts, but I haven’t posted about them yet…

So, yeah. Even with just the highlights, 2011 has been quite a year. Not to mention all the stuff that I never got around to blogging about! Whew. Talk about ebbs and flows… As for 2012, I am looking forward to carving out even more time to get the house in shape, and to create some more fun goodies to share with y’all. Peace and joy to you! =) K