Every year I like to set a theme rather than a never-ending list of resolutions. My theme is something I carry with me throughout the following 365 days and as a result habits then set in and stay with me for the next year too. Of course, there is also the usual
"I will eat better."
"I will stress less"
"I will learn to relax"
etc etc
But lets be honest, most of those fizzle out before the end of January. However I always like to stay on top of my theme and it has always worked well for me, thus far.
I often spend the last few days of the year in a very reflective mood, looking forward to the start of the next. However, this year, while I know has been horrible for a lot of people, has actually been a pretty lovely one for me. I have learned so much about myself, about my work and about what I am really capable of if I put my mind to it. I feel like I have grown so much as a person in the past 3 years; more so than I had done in the previous ten and to tell you the truth I'm a little sad to see the end of 2016.
This year was my year of productivity. Long gone are the stagnant days that I let slip through my fingers due to endless procrastination and fear to actually do things and I can wholeheartedly say I stuck to it. I worked really hard. Really. Really. Hard. Excelled in some areas, miserably failed in others (Buns, I’m looking at you.) but I didn't let me failures stop me, which I have to admit, they usually do. I kept my head down, kept going and while some parts of this year were pretty tough (Especially the kidney infection, the working hours during the Summer/Winter Sales and my step-dad's terrifying health scares back home) I have to say that I did have a good year.
I feel like I found my sense of style a bit better in 2016. It had been years since I was active in the doll community before we started Frappzilla Studio and it took quite a while to find my feet again. I now know where I stand in that department and as a result I've declared that 2017 will be a year of Creativity but i’ll save that for the post about next year. This one, is just for reflecting.
I have to thank Arkelle from the very bottom of my heart for re-igniting my odd sense of character design. I hadn't felt it for so many years but now its back with a vengeance and not only have I found someone to bring some of those offbeat faces to life, I also found the courage to stop worrying about being so bold in my choices and just went at it. I’m sure that a lot of that has to do with her constant bubbly enthusiasm and obvious fantastic execution of the bizarre requests and rambles I throw at her. I had lost the confidence and the inspiration to do that ever since I created Circa and Taxi many years ago and I'm really pleased to say that I have finally gotten to the point where I can bond with dolls smaller than SD! That hasn't ever really happened before (Except for one Customhouse Junior girl I had ten thousand years ago) and I'm adoring having smaller dolls around me all the time. I’m certain I have Arkelle to thank for that, so really, Thank you so so much!
I also really want to thank Lua from Garodoll who bought my little superstar back to me. I know I already spoke about this when I posted Circa the other day but there are no words to describe just how special he is to me and having him back makes my little soul feel very complete again. And not only did Circa come home but many other beloved characters (Including some new faces) that I am so excited to work with in the New Year. She did such an A+ job of bringing them to life and I feel like my resin family is feeling so much more complete than it was. Not only that, but she's been an angel to me with all of my stupid English-girl-attempting-to-live-in-Spain questions. I haven’t even had a chance to share Frapp’s new face with you guys yet…But I think that I’ll save that for the New Year. c;
In terms of wigs; we figured out our zig-zag part, our packaging, our ideal cap material, a whole lot of new styles and so many other fiddly bits that I feel our wigs are at a level i'm really really happy with. Of course, there is always more to figure out, more to learn and the more you do something, the better you get at it so I'm excited to see, with so many hurdles cleared in 2016, just what 2017 will bring in terms of our work. This year we also got to create wigs for other doll artist’s full sets which was a very exciting experience that I am so honoured we got the chance to do and we had two very challenging sales periods. I’ve lost count of how many wigs we actually made this year. We’ve improved greatly and ironed out so many problems and overall, 2016 comes to a close with me feeling really satisfied about where things are and how much we have grown.
On a personal level I think 2016 has been so rewarding because I feel like I really found another soul sister and looking back now I honestly don't know how my life was before I knew her. I find that every opportunity I get to gush about her ends up with me unable to write anything because there aren’t enough words to literally say just how special she is to me and how boring my days must have been without her fun, silly goofballness in them. Knowing Cin has become such a massive driving force in my efforts to get home to England so we can hang out in person and do this monumentally massive giant list of stupid things that we want to try and experience one day. I don’t find it easy to really reach that level of friendship with people (mostly because I’m hugely annoying and a bit hyperactive and can’t hold a conversation about one topic for longer than ten seconds very easily) so when I do, its very special and they mean the world to me. I just wish I had the words capable of expressing it.
Cinberry, I love you so very much and I’m really rubbish at telling people I care about that I do love them so please don’t take that lightly.
This year Alex got to meet my Dad’s side of the family and we managed to not only share my birthday with my dad, but got to spend a few days in October with him, my aunt, their respective partners and grandparents which was lovely. Of course my surprise visit from my Mum and Step Dad this Christmas was pretty unforgettable too so I didn’t spend Christmas day wallowing in a ball of tears about being so far from everyone but instead took it as a well deserved day off. I spent the whole day in bed, catching up with friends I had barely spoken to during the sale, watching youtube and just relaxing and it was glorious. Being the year of productivity, I had very little time for myself this year, so while I have every intention to bring my freshly acquired pro-activity with me next year, I do want to take some time for myself too. In the Summer, we had our 1 year anniversary of living Vegan, In the Spring, our two year anniversary of being together and I still can’t believe its only been that long when it feels like I’ve achieved so much in such a small amount of time. The wigs would not be possible without such a wonderful man in my life so I want to give the second half of Frappzilla Studio, a champion shout out for not only putting up with me and my issues day in, day out, but for bringing out the best in me and making all of this dream a reality.
I’m so sorry that this year in review turned into a gushfest but my life wouldn’t be what it is without the special people I share it with and that includes you guys. Thank you, all of you for reading this, for supporting us, for every like, comment, share and for every little bit of feedback that helped us to grow and get better. Just Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. You’re the best.
All in all its been a year of growth, thankfulness and of productivity and despite every year having its ups and downs, this one wasn’t a terrible one.
So here’s to you 2016.
Thanks for being a goodun.
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