2024 Reflections and What I'm Taking into 2025

As is natural with the end of a new year (or the end of anything), we tend to look back and compare the year with what we hoped would happen at the beginning of the year. Here are some of my thoughts on 2024 end of year reflections.

It’s Complicated

I’ve mentioned in the past that I have a complicated relationship with the end of the year. I can be pretty hard on myself as I look back and see clearly the things that I had hoped to accomplish and didn’t. Today, I have been feeling down and I know it ties directly into the end of the year and accepting that the year turned out differently than I had hoped. I didn’t make the financial goals I had set and I didn’t end up pitching my work like I had hoped. I am sharing this because I just want to keep things real here. I don’t ever want to project that I am doing perfectly all the time.

Celebrating the Wins

Even though I am disappointed I didn’t accomplish all the things I wanted to in 2024, I have many wins. Most of my wins are a little more quiet, behind-the-scenes types of things but very important to my personal growth and to my business.

Art vs. Artist 2024

Here are some of my wins from 2024:

1. I finished my new website! This had been a goal for a couple of years. I had a very basic portfolio website and wanted to update it to my showcase surface pattern collections and highlight the services I provide. The Showit website platform was really great to work with and I am so proud that I finished it - designing AND creating it all myself! Check out https://cloudeightdesign.com if you’d like to see!

2. I released three full collections and one mini-collection on Spoonflower! I also added a couple one-off designs as well. I have multiple collections ready to go for Spoonflower this year so please stay tuned as I plan to at least triple my number of collections in 2025. (side note: Spoonflower is have a 30% Sitewide sale today!)

3. Learned some new skills in animating: I have been wanting to diversify my content and learn some new skills so I joined an animation challenge in June using Adobe Express. I also learned to animate in Procreate with Bella Boss’s Skillshare course (totally recommend! so fun!).

4. I designed over 30 patterns in 2024! I participated in another pattern challenge in June and designed 24 of them in one month. I love participating in challenges because I get a lot of interesting patterns out of it that I wouldn’t have normally thought to create - thanks to diverse prompts.

5. I got 110th Place on the Non-Directional Ditsy Holiday Spoonflower Challenge! I get it, that’s still waaaayyyy down the line, haha, but hear me out! There are usually well over 1,000 participants in every Spoonflower challenge so getting in the top 100 is pretty awesome - I figure being only 10 away from top 100 is pretty great too! (see my pattern in the bottom, middle square in the graphic above).

6. I finished my pdf portfolio for pitching: This is one of those things that I put off forever because I just didn’t know how to organize it or how to pick which work to showcase. I had a great friend who really helped me weed through it all and she gave me valuable input on how to better write the captions too. She was a huge reason why I was able to finish it. Thank you Katie! (Check out her amazing travel substack at https://katieelainetravels.substack.com). Also, if you are an art director and would like to see my portfolio for a possible collaboration, please let me know!

7. I opened an Etsy Shop! This was also on my to do list for awhile. I wanted to be able to share more products with my patterns and other intentionally designed options (some customizable!). I am offering wrapping paper, notebooks, ornaments and pillows print on demand at the moment. I plan to add many more options in the next year. Please let me know if you are looking for any particular products. I’d love to help! Check out https://cloudeightdesign.etsy.com to see it.

Here are some of my fabrics from Spoonflower on the left and my wrapping paper options in my Etsy shop on the right.

I hope that in your reflections, you are giving yourself credit for all that you accomplished and appreciating the amazing experiences you had in 2024. If you feel disappointment, use it to propel you forward.

We have a tendency to want to make huge, startling changes at the beginning of a new year that are hard to keep up with. I would suggest instead to maybe make a couple small ones. Or add something small that will be positive for you in the new year. Let’s not start out the year setting ourselves up for failure.

What I’m taking into 2025

I am using the mantra: Be Brave to guide me in 2025. It sounds a little cheesy but I will definitely need that bravery. It is easier for me to quietly make art in my own house and never talk to a soul but I will need to put myself out there if I would like to license my work and meet new clients. I have decided that 2025 is going to be all about action and action requires confidence and bravery (for some of us, anyway).

Let’s make this next year one where we are proud of the things we tried, even if it takes us somewhere different than we expect.

Feel free to comment one of your wins from 2024 or a mantra for 2025 - I’d love to hear!