I am always looking forward to New Year’s eve.
Not because of the party (I tend to go to sleep early anyway), but because of the energising feeling kicking in on the 1st of January. Every day is as good as another for changing habits or starting something new. However, it feels motivating to do so after turning a page in he calendar (or getting an entirely new one).
What happened in 2017?
On a personal level:
- After 2 years without a single day off we decided to rest and visited Nicaragua. (Read about the treasures I brought back here.) Taking a step back from my busy, fast pace city life gave me the opportunity to recharge and evaluate. I had to admit that I was working a lot, however, I struggled to survive, and a month later I came home with the decision to do something else for living then beading and writing beadwork tutorials.
- Nope, it didn’t happen 😀 New beading friends and a modest but stabile stream of income persuaded me to stay around the bead-world, and to continue to do what I love and what I believe I am good at.
- We moved to our own apartment and hoped to call it home. It was a big decision, as it means that probably we will stay in Amsterdam for some more years. On the other hand, we can always sell or rent if the time comes to move back to Prague, right?
- Some personal trouble set me back in the autumn. Unfortunately it had a big impact on my work by zeroing motivation and energy.
- Late 2016 I started to work as a tour guide in Amsterdam besides beading. Beading and writing tutorials tend to be a lonely job, and it’s nice to combine it with a more active field I think. In 2017 I met a lot of people from all around the world, shared a lot of adventures with them and in the meanwhile learnt a lot about myself and the city, too.
- December brought some precious family time. It recharged my energy level, so I can dive into 2018 with full speed and new plans 🙂
In my bead-world:
- TheStorytellingJeweller was visited by 17,046 beaders from all over the world. Most of them were from the USA, with Hungary, The Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom behind.
- My goal was to double the number of pageviews, so I hoped to reach 37,000. 2017 was a lot better year then I expected, as the number grew to an incredible 51,126! Thank you so much for this!
- I wrote 13 articles for the blog. You enjoyed to read 12 of the best beaded Christmas ornaments and The most beautiful finished jewellery with L2studio.sk cabochons the most. I don’t wonder! Both of these feature a collection of work from a lot of different amazing artists, Miriam Cielo Shimon, Helena Tang-Lim, Julia S Pretl and Sabine Lippert among them.
- I organised a BIG giveaway, where you could win a beading book of your choice. Among the 293 participants Barb Cristman was the luckiest, and she chose Isabella Lam’s ‘Beautiful beadweaving.’
- I beaded less then I was hoping for. I added 10 new beading tutorials to the shop here. Your favourite tutorials were Passiflora, Caravaggio and Indira. And which were my favourites? Probably Indira and Starlyne, if I have to choose!
- Several of my tutorials were published in the Bead & Jewellery Magazine. Sweetbriar in the February / March, Florina in the July and the Vanitas bracelet in the December issue. These will be published here on the website and on Etsy soon, too, so you can bead them even if you don’t have the magazine.
- I was teaching in The Hague and gave workshops in Amsterdam, too. Seeing the proud faces after a class is definitely the biggest pleasure 🙂
- In 2017 I continued to work with Beadsmith. Thanks to their generosity I could try a lot of new beads, and I enjoyed working with GemDuos the most. Thanks to them three of my latest pieces (the Starlyne pendant, Starlyne earrings and the Indira bracelet) were featured on the Jewellery Maker TV in the UK.
- Lenka Gondova of L2Studio.sk asked me to help her market the beautiful art cabochons she makes. As this came just before the sh.tstorm hitting hard, unfortunately I was not able to do it to my best. It should change in the new year for sure, and I hope I can see a lot of your creations featuring Lenka’s amazing art!
- I tend to use a lot of different beads, however, I don’t like kitting… Amy Blevins of Bead and Glass Boutique came to my rescue! Now you can simply message her if you would like a kit to be made for one (or two, or more) of my designs.
- And the best for the end: #beadmorepeace started to happen, and hopefully it will continue to grow in 2018!
Plans for 2018
- My priority is to get (and stay) organised in order to not waste time on unnecessary details. I designed a daily planner, so I can keep on track easier. Do you see, what is at the top of my list? 😀
- In order to become a better beader I will purchase some very advanced tutorials and new beading books from my fellow designers. The first one already arrived: Albion stitch
 (by Heather Kingsley-Heath). I am looking forward to play and experiment!
 (by Heather Kingsley-Heath). I am looking forward to play and experiment!And most importantly:
I would like to bead and share the love for beadwork in 2018, too!
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