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By Danika Herrick on March 8, 2024
By Courtney Napier on February 12, 2024
How do you close out each year? Whether you write down a New Year’s Resolution in your journal, pull together a vision board, set your intention in your own heart or something else entirely, inquiring minds want to know, what’s your big craft goal for 2022?
Looking to plan your own goal? It may be helpful to keep in mind what we reminded everyone about sharing their goals here, the SMART criteria for goal-setting: making sure your goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound.
We asked what Spoonflower employees, as well as some ambassadors, small business grant winners, makers and designers have planned as a big craft goal for 2022, how they plan to achieve that goal and also how they plan to celebrate when they reach it! We also gave everyone the option to share an inspirational photo for their goal too!
Website: 3rdstoryworkshop.com
Instagram: @3rdstoryworkshop
Spoonflower shop: https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/3rdstoryworkshop
Big Craft Goal: In 2022, I would love to draw and paint more!
How will you go about achieving your goal?
I plan to put together a collection and print some fabric at Spoonflower!
How will you celebrate when you achieve your goal?
I’ll likely sew something! Nothing more satisfying than creating something with my hands.
Website: mochagirlplace.com
Instagram: @mochagirlplace
Big Craft Goal: I really want to learn how to sew a pair of pants that I can wear in the summer!
How will you go about achieving your goal?
I need to become more knowledgeable on types of fabrics and patterns and start out simple.
How will you celebrate when you achieve your goal?
Oh, I believe a photoshoot for my birthday in the summer would be perfect!
Website: casawatkinsliving.com
Instagram: @casawatkinsblog
Big Craft Goal: I’d actually love to create my first surface pattern design collection and use it for a space in my home. It would be incredible to make my dream of being a surface pattern designer happen in 2022! On the smaller scale, I’ve had some ideas for paintings living in my head this year. Taking the time to get those on a canvas would be wonderful too.
How will you go about achieving your goal?
Regarding my surface pattern design dreams, it’s more finding the time to sit and create. I hope that in 2022 the demands of home/work life lifts a little to allow me the dedicated time to create. I always feel so much more balanced mentally and physically when I create.
In 2022, I definitely plan to schedule in more of that creative time and make it happen. Looks like I’m shopping for a new planner!!
How will you celebrate when you achieve your goal?
After jumping for joy that I finished something that I’ve dreamt about, I’m definitely going to need some treats. Champagne, cookies and a good bunch of balloons will be purchased for a grand photoshoot!
Website: megmadesewing.com
Instagram: @megmadesewing
Big Craft Goal:I tend to be a bit of a hobby collector and over the years I’ve accumulated lots of supplies for various projects. My goal for 2022 is to finally dive into some of these projects, like weaving, indigo and ice dyeing, macrame, gouache and turning my bin of fabric scraps into a scrappy quilt or two.
How will you go about achieving your goal?
I’ve been keeping a sewing journal for a few years so luckily I’m already in the habit of planning projects and breaking down the steps, which I intend on applying to these other creative ventures.
I’m also thinking that it might be useful to do monthly themes and spend that month doing a deep dive into the assigned craft or art medium.
I’m not particularly focused on output or a quantifiable product, so I think giving myself a dedicated month will allow me some time to experiment and play with materials and really enjoy the process of making, regardless of the outcome.
How will you celebrate when you achieve your goal?
I’m a very visual person (I’ll just sit there for a good 15 minutes studying and feeling something I’ve made after it’s finished), so I think a good way to celebrate my efforts would be displaying my project in my home. Then I can look at it and enjoy it as I go about my day!
Website: aekieren.com
Instagram: @aekieren
Spoonflower shop: https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/aekieren
Big Craft Goal: Design 4 new textile designs
How will you go about achieving your goal?
A little bit of progress every day
How will you celebrate when you achieve your goal?
Dinner at Red Lobster
(Featured design in bio photo: Anthony’s Skyful of Ravens. All photos by Alonzo Maciel.)
Website: ruthnathans.com
Instagram: @ruthnathans
Big Craft Goal: Organizing my new office when I move into my new home. Ahhh, the sweet sound of space!
How will you go about achieving your goal?
Budgeting how much I spend on making the space nice, and going slowly. No rush!
How will you celebrate when you achieve your goal?
A nice cold glass of meade.
(Portrait photographer: Reese Bland)
Website: homerowfiber.co
Instagram: @homerowfiberco
Spoonflower shop: https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/homerowfiberco
Big Craft Goal: My big craft goal for 2022 is to make time for creating new artwork! As a surface pattern designer (or any creative type for that matter) it’s too easy to say yes to stressful deadlines. I often upcycle pieces of old designs and hodgepodge them together to create new(ish) artwork with a faster turnaround. I want to create something entirely new and never seen!
How will you go about achieving your goal?
In 2022 I need to say “no” more often so I can say “yes!” to myself instead. When opportunities present themselves I need to ask myself who the partnership actually benefits: their business or my own? If the benefit of the collaboration isn’t genuinely mutual I’m going to be brave and kindly say no thanks. This sounds so simple in theory but as an easily excitable and enthusiastic people-pleaser, I find this extremely difficult. In short, saying no to others actually equals saying yes to so many more of my own goals.
How will you celebrate when you achieve your goal?
I will bask in the comfort of my cozy bed on the weekends, without any “I could probably be working” guilt(!!!!), and snuggle my cats. For hours. Hours, I say! …With snacks!
Website: terrancewilliamsdesigns.com
Instagram: @terrancewilliamsdesigns
Big Craft Goal: I’m going to teach myself Procreate so I can illustrate and design my own fabric patterns.
How will you go about achieving your goal?
I’ve purchased an Apple Pencil and Procreate and have already started learning through YouTube tutorials on how to use everything and teaching myself different techniques and styles.
How will you celebrate when you achieve your goal?
By launching a special collection of headbands and accessories featuring my prints! I’m expanding into athletic headbands along with expanding my cotton headbands so I’m very excited to add to the collections with prints of my own.
Website: qrscreative.com
Instagram: @qrs_creative
Spoonflower shop: https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/danlehman
Big Craft Goal: I would like to learn how to let go of total creative control in order to run a more efficient small business.
How will you go about achieving your goal?
I’ve dreamed of starting a side hustle of sewn flags featuring my artwork, patterns and lettering. As a perfectionist, I’ve spent years prototyping every aspect of the design in order to get the details just right. Though it’s hard to admit, I’ve finally come to terms with the fact that I’m better at creating visual patterns than I am at sewing.
I’ve heard that one key to success for small businesses is to outsource tasks that others can do better or that take time away from the things you are most passionate about. To this end, I leveraged my local artist community to find a sewist who will be capable of bringing my idea to life. The final product will be higher quality, and I’ll have more time to create new artwork—a true win-win situation!
How will you celebrate when you achieve your goal?
Feeling the pride that comes with personal growth will be reward enough. Creatives are notorious for starting dozens of fun side projects while never actually completing any of them (guilty!), so I’d really like to see this through to the end—a tangible product that I’d be proud to release to the public. Even if I only sold one flag, I’d be ecstatic!
Website: wingmade.com
Instagram: @wingmadehome
Spoonflower shop: https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/wingmade
Big Craft Goal: I want to sew all the pounds of fabric I keep buying into practical products for my friends and family!
How will you go about achieving your goal?
Keeping my family and home going, designing fabric and creating art is a full-time job, so making time to sew will not be easy! To reach my goals, I will tell my Instagram audience and include them in the process, letting them help me decide what to make and show them my progress. If I give myself two months per project, I’ll have six new useful products by the end of the year!
How will you celebrate when you achieve your goal?
A giveaway seems like the right thing to do!
Website: juliaschumacher.com
Instagram: @julia.schumacher.design
Spoonflower shop: https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/juliaschumacher
Big Craft Goal: I want to design a floral collection in 2022 and bring myself closer to a new technique with gouache.
How will you go about achieving your goal?
I will work with online courses and share my progress on Instagram.
How will you celebrate when you achieve your goal?
I could imagine making products from these designs, maybe a bag or an apron.
Photos by Cordula Jäger.
Website: newsouthpatternhouse.com
Instagram: @katie.m.hayes, @newsouthpatternhouse
Spoonflower shop: https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/katie_hayes
Big Craft Goal: In 2022, I’ll be transitioning my studio space out of the little room adjacent to my kitchen, and building a dedicated studio space for my printmaking and surface pattern design business. It’s a huge deal! I’m so proud that I’ve been able to grow my business to this point, and that I’ll be able to invite clients out to my house to give them a studio experience that keeps some privacy for my family.
Like many creatives, when I post images of my workspace on instagram, what my followers don’t see is that my kid’s Legos are just out of sight, or that my hand-pulled block prints are actually drying on a clothesline above the car in the garage.
The storage building that will become my studio needs a lot of work before it can become the maker’s space of my dreams, but at least it’s not filled with Legos, and now I’ll be able to climb in my car without ducking down to avoid the artwork hanging from my garage ceiling :).
How will you go about achieving your goal?
I’ve already got some of the big scary stuff in motion, like lining up HVAC and electricians, and passing along some of the items we had in storage. The fun part will be designing my workspace—I’m planning to build a large L-shaped art table for my printing press and carving tools, and thrifting some storage and desk solutions.
As for accountability, our local art guild has a studio tour every year. I’m going to sign up to participate as soon as the application opens up, so I’ll have a deadline that forces me to get everything ready to host clients by Fall 2022.
How will you celebrate when you achieve your goal?
Oh! A photoshoot would be a great way to celebrate! I was sort of thinking that a studio “soft launch” would be a fun idea—invite some of my local customers and friends over for a tour, some cocktails and maybe a printmaking exhibition.
Website: scarlettesoleil.com
Instagram: @scarlette_soleil
Spoonflower shop: https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/scarlette_soleil
Big Craft Goal: I really want to learn how to embroider. The embroidery challenge on Spoonflower left an itch in me to give it a try.
How will you go about achieving your goal?
I plan to blog about it and share the art/embroidery with family and friends on Instagram.
How will you celebrate when you achieve your goal?
The reward will hang in my studio/office space reminding me I can learn new things, and have fun while doing it. I have just the spot to hang it!
Website: samarrakhaja.com
Instagram: @samarrakhaja
Spoonflower shop: https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/sammyk
Big Craft Goal: I think the biggest thing we all contend with is all the stuff we currently own. Because of limited house space and concerns about environmental impact, I am now making a concerted effort to use what I have. (I even imagine it as though I’m stranded and have NO options to get anything additional, so I have to get my creative brain in full gear to imagine ways to use all the art supplies I have “in stock” in my own closets and figure out what to do with them.)
My objective this coming year is to use the materials/supplies I have and re-home or give away other things (either by giving away the raw materials or making things—like blankets—with them and donating those to organizations/children’s hospitals/etc that can happily use them.) I’m focused on making and giving, in an effort to declutter. Oh, and P.S., then I will feel better about future buying because I will have used up a lot of what I already had (read: more fun future purchases!).
How will you go about achieving your goal?
I’m currently going through bins and bins of fabric I’ve collected over the last 5-10 years and sorting them into groups. If you don’t know what you have, you don’t know what you can make. I’ve just discovered I have an inordinate number of solid color fabrics and seeing them all out at once on a table is inspiring me to get on with making that king-sized quilt I’ve been dreaming about for a couple years now.
Instead of making a mood board with aspirational visuals, I highly recommend making one using the actual materials and supplies you currently have. I suggest getting a big tray from the kitchen and grouping some marking tools, sequins and beads you’ve been carting around and whatever fabrics, yarns, scraps of this and that, wooden clothes pins, WHATEVER you have (you know you’ve got stuff) and put it out where you can see it so that it can inspire you to dream up a project.
How will you celebrate when you achieve your goal?
I love to photograph things I’ve made to keep a visual record for myself; if I’m feeling especially proud of a creative solution I came up with, I will take a few more photos in case I ever want to replicate it. If something is being given, the celebration is in the person’s reaction and hopefully it’s a good one, hahaha.
Website: antlersandastronauts.com
Instagram: @antlersandastronauts
Big Craft Goal: I want to dip my toe into floral arranging this year, specifically with dried flowers! I’ve always admired the art and I’ve identified spaces within my product offerings where I believe this skill would serve my business well. I have already signed up for a wholesale membership to purchase dried bundles—the next step is just placing the order and giving it a whirl!
How will you go about achieving your goal?
Social media! I plan on letting my customers know that this is a skill I’ll be honing in the new year so there’s an expectation that I’ll be able to present a finished product to them. I’m not going to give myself a hard date to work towards but I’ll say by mid-year, I’d like to be able to present my customers with at least one small batch of arrangements.
How will you celebrate when you achieve your goal?
Photos for social media and my website, sure, but I think an arrangement for myself in our new house is certainly in order!
Big Craft Goal: To come up with a signature gift I make for family and friends. Open to suggestions for the (very) novice crafter!
How will you go about achieving your goal?
I will recruit the help and expertise of the MANY geniuses in the marketing department who can inspire ideas and push me when I get stuck.
How will you celebrate when you achieve your goal?
Gifting to EVERYONE!
Instagram: @themarvelousmrssummers
Big Craft Goal: My goal is to finish the puff quilt I started in 2020! Last fall, I was super inspired by Lo and Behold Stitchery’s Ombre Puff Quilt and dove headfirst into making my own autumn-toned version. I cut all the pieces out, sewed every square, figured out my layout, got halfway through the puffing phase, and even bought a coordinating vintage sheet for the backing.
Then, I got pregnant, and all my energy went into preparing to be a mom and caring for a newborn. My quilt has been sitting half finished for about a year now, but my goal is to have it ready for fall snuggles with my toddler (eek!) come next October.
How will you go about achieving your goal?
Historically I’ve been a maker who works in bursts—I get inspired, and immediately work on something for hours and hours until it’s done. This is definitely not a work style that’s compatible with motherhood. To finish my quilt, I plan to attack this project the same way I do as a Product Owner at Spoonflower: by breaking the remaining work down into small, achievable chunks that I can complete in shorter periods of time. And yes, there is a spreadsheet.
How will you celebrate when you achieve your goal?
I love the idea of booking a dreamy family photoshoot featuring my quilt—we’ve yet to take professional photos with our son, and I think the combination of a looming deadline and the promise of adorable Christmas card photos for next year is just the motivation I need to finally finish it.
Website: wanka-berlin.com
Instagram: @wankaberlin
Big Craft Goal: My big craft goal for 2022 is to be more creative again, which I have neglected the last months. In 2020, I founded a small sustainable brand for women’s clothing (including a marketplace for sustainable women’s fashion by Ukrainian designers) and put a lot of energy and creativity into it. I would like to revive that.
Next year I want to pimp the stuff from the first collection and make it unique. I don’t want to design new clothes at the moment, but I want to upcycle (or something like that) my already designed clothes. For this I am already working in the art of punch needling and already have pretty cool motifs in mind with which I want to make my fashion a very special one-off. Here’s the link to the first collection: https://wanka-berlin.com/produkt-kategorie/eigenmarke
How will you go about achieving your goal?
This is the hardest part. But for me, it actually always works very well to tell good friends about it, to have a little bit of pressure. I also want to allow myself short creative moments and to have time for myself.
How will you celebrate when you achieve your goal?
First of all, I’ll be incredibly proud of myself and maybe plan a nice long weekend in the mountains.
Instagram: @geeland
Big Craft Goal: I want to move my son’s wardrobe to mostly handmade and sustainably purchased items. He has a lot of handmade and second hand items now, but as he moves into next sizes, I’d love to craft and choose them with intentionality and sustainability in mind. This includes not impulse buying clothing, reusing thrifted fabrics and clothes to make something new, and purchasing from companies that are sustainable and ethical.
How will you go about achieving your goal?
I have a list of items that he will need over the next year and plan to slowly make my way through them in order of size and season. I’ve shared my goal with my husband and will also be posting on Instagram as I finish items.
How will you celebrate when you achieve your goal?
I will get to enjoy the cutest, sustainably dressed toddler in town!
Website: hellobetsygreer.com
Instagram: @craftivista
Big Craft Goal: By the end of 2022, I’d like to have made 20 pieces of bunting for a new collaborative textile project I’ve just started, where each piece of bunting states something that brings me joy and why it does so. Part of my personal work is about sharing why people make things and how making can be a transformative act of agency, so I’d like to bring more joy into my life intentionally on the regular in the new year!
How will you go about achieving your goal?
I’ve shared the idea for this project online and the next step is to create a spreadsheet to track my progress so that it doesn’t become October and I’ve only done a few! There’s so much truth to the adage that ‘what gets measured gets done,’ and since making with joy brings me joy, I want to be sure that I’m intentional about bringing joy into my life even when things get tough, as they inevitably will.
How will you celebrate when you achieve your goal?
The biggest celebration would be to show all the pieces I’ve made (and those of others if they make them too!) somewhere where they can be seen in person! But, as I’m also all about defining project success in both big and small terms, when I’m done, I’m also going to take a hot minute to sit with all the pieces and savor how good finishing feels! (Chocolate, optional.)
Instagram: @jlesesky
Big Craft Goal: My first open mic night! I started taking guitar lessons in October 2021 with my 11-year-old son, Henry. The company we’re taking lessons from holds two open mic nights a year (spring and winter) and my goal is to learn a song or two well enough to participate.
How will you go about achieving your goal?
Starting by putting the goal out in the wild here! Most importantly telling my family and showing Henry that you’re never too old to set big goals for yourself, work hard and achieve them.
How will you celebrate when you achieve your goal?
Definitely some bubbly or a nice bottle of Pinot Noir.
Instagram: @theresarizz
Spoonflower shop: https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/trizzuto
Big Craft Goal: In fall of 2020, I started on my goal of painting all of the state birds of the 50 United States. I’ve been working my way through the list (very) slowly, and have only 12 birds left! In 2022, I am resolving to finally finish my project of painting each state bird, then I would like to create a tea-towel design for each state featuring the state bird, and upload them to my Spoonflower shop.
How will you go about achieving your goal?
I keep a spreadsheet to help me keep track of which birds I’ve done and which I’ve yet to still paint, and I cross them off as I go. If I plan to paint 2 birds a week, I should be finished by February. It will probably take me about a month to get all of the tea towel designs created (I’m slow!) so right now I’m targeting March for when this goal will be completed. I’ll be sharing my progress on Instagram, too, I’m sure!
How will you celebrate when you achieve your goal?
By printing out a few of the tea towel designs, and sending them out as gifts to friends and family members across the country. Maybe I’ll keep a North Carolina one for myself. 🙂
Instagram: @kmjphoto
Big Craft Goal: So many ideas for 2022! My biggest Craft Goal is inspired by my late grandmother. My grandmother taught me how to sew when I was younger by creating blankets and quilts for my dolls; I would love to sew doll accessories now for my own children to play with and enjoy.
How will you go about achieving your goal?
Letting my kiddos in on the process will help me achieve my goal! Once they know the plan, they will be eager to help (and let’s be honest, curious about what they will get at the end of this). I will start by planning what piece specifically I will make first, and then blocking off time on the calendar will be key to making it happen.
How will you celebrate when you achieve your goal?
I will celebrate by taking photos of my children playing with the pieces we create! I imagine it will also inspire me to dig up old photos of me with my grandmother. I might even find one of us sewing together…
Business name: Defiantly Happy Comics
Instagram: @defiantlyhappycomics
Big Craft Goal: Three years ago I wrote an original comic book series. It is a story about a robot named Reve who finds themselves stranded on a foreign planet far away from home. It was meant to be a cheesy combination of everything I loved about the “Grade B” science fiction movies I grew up watching with my dad.
My hope was that the real star of my story would be the natural environment, the world that the main character finds themselves in. I finished the writing, but I have not yet finished the illustrations. I have hardly put a dent in them. My goal for this year is to complete all of the rough draft illustrations to this series. Sounds easy… Right? I have finished the rough draft illustrations for 90 pages. Just 300 more to go. It’s okay, you can laugh. I do it all the time!
How will you go about achieving your goal?
I have already taken at least one step towards my goal, chiseling out that sweet sweet time! I moved to a three-day work week which will give me larger chunks of time outside of work to focus. On an average day of planning/production I know that I can roughly draft 8 pages. This is good news.
In order to meet my goal of drafting 300 pages I only have to produce approximately six pages a week for one year. Geez, when you break it down like that it seems almost manageable! I will treat this like Inktober and commit to posting my rough drafts on Instagram (a social media forum in which I am already active).
How will you celebrate when you achieve your goal?
I’ll celebrate by going out on a long walk in a forest, find a gorgeous spot and just sit there.
Big Craft Goal: I have some furniture that needs to be spruced up either by painting or refinishing. I’d also like to learn more advanced embroidery stitches.
How will you go about achieving your goal?
Ouch, this is always the problem. I need to spend time figuring out how to hold myself accountable for these craft goals.
How will you celebrate when you achieve your goal?
I’ll have the enjoyment of seeing these achieved goals in my home daily and that will bring me joy.
Website: etsy.com/shop/MaskandMoonlight
Instagram: @maskandmoonlight, @seraphin_cosplay
Big Craft Goal: My big craft goal is to finally make use of some of all my craft materials and fabric! I plan to create lots of pretty costume pieces for my Etsy shop, as well as for my own personal use. I’d also love to see my Etsy shop grow, and will be focusing on getting better at doing my own marketing, etc. I also hope to bring lots of costume ideas I’ve had on the back burner for a while, to life!
How will you go about achieving your goal?
I might get some friends to hold me accountable, simply because it can be easy for me to get sidetracked with other projects. I’m very passionate about crafting, and when I get new ideas, I want to create them immediately and old ones can fall by the wayside.
How will you celebrate when you achieve your goal?
I’m not sure yet, but I’ll figure something out!!
Instagram: @onehtl1ama
Spoonflower shop: https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/patwood
Big Craft Goal: Get better at fitting my broad shoulders- so I can actually move my arms in things that I’ve sewn! And to complete the Brooks Ann Camper Skirt Skills & Top Class courses that I have – to learn about pattern drafting!
How will you go about achieving your goal?
Make sure I give myself time to make muslins when working on projects.
How will you celebrate when you achieve your goal?
Make even more things that actually fit and that I will actually wear!
(Featured design in bio photo: Kate Rhees’ Retro Zinnias.)
Instagram: @sharonsworkingout
Big Craft Goal: I’ve gotten inspired by all the creative teammates and our blog tutorials here at Spoonflower, and I’d like to start to sew my own clothes for the first time. I can hand sew reasonably well, but the goal is to learn how to sew properly with a sewing machine and make those fancy zig-zaggy stitches on my clothes (and learn the real name for those stitches).
How will you go about achieving your goal?
I’m very big on jumping in feet first to projects, so it’ll probably involve a large order of fun Spoonflower fabric and buying a ton of stuff I probably don’t even need at JoAnn. Then searching the internet for beginner-level patterns to start off with. Watching YouTube tutorials. Reading blogs. Reading books. Talking my poor husband’s ear off about my projects.
My plan is to start off with something small like scrunchies, move onto simple wrap skirts, and, at some point, maybe adding pockets.
How will you celebrate when you achieve your goal?
Posting a lot of my progress on Instagram or Facebook and maybe onto my Pinterest. Wearing my clothes out of the house and hopefully someday to the office when we return there, and proudly pointing out to people that I made the skirt myself from Spoonflower fabric!
Instagram: @knit1curl2
Big Craft Goal: Zippers. Inset zippers. Use my skills to perfect a Dopp Kit. And to use them in skirts. With the big goal to not buy any new clothes. To only make what I think I need. Okay, three cheats for fundraiser t-shirts.
How will you go about achieving your goal?
Social media announcement with progress reports each month. Showing what I made or clothing that I fixed. And progress on the Dopp Kit. I will use the Dopp Kit as a raffle item for a curling bonspiel fundraiser.
How will you celebrate when you achieve your goal?
For the Dopp Kit, with a spa treatment. For the clothing goal, I will celebrate with dinner and friends.
Alexa Terry Wilde is on the Brand Marketing team and is Spoonflower’s Maker Community Manager. She also runs a vintage clothing business called Antlers and Astronauts.
2 comments
So inspiring to read about all those cool craft and creativity goals. My ultimate creativity goal this year is to design three fabric collections and then make a lot of e-learning classes to inspire others. I will need the one or other Spoonflower fabric for this, too. (and I am thinking about making a wallpaper for our little kiddo Nils, too).
Glad you liked the post, Marie, and thanks for sharing big craft goal for 2022!
It sounds like exciting creative things are ahead for you!
Best,
Betsy
Spoonflower