Everyday, I embroider an icon that represents my day. This could be somewhere I went (to see a waterfall in Pitlochry), something I ate (a slice of cake), or even how I was feeling (a frowny face). I tend to avoid duplicating any icons, because I feel that everyday is truly unique in its own way. These days I work full time, but In my freetime, I create resources that guide you in how to create your very own Embroidery Journal.
Without further ado, let’s get into 2023 which was not my year.
January
I started off 2023 strong by taking a two night trip with my boyfriend to a small town in Scotland called Pitlochry. We went to see a small waterfall, enjoyed some specialty hot chocolates together, and enjoyed the snow.
I even had an article posted in Love Embroidery Magazine about how to create an embroidery journal. Throughout the rest of the month I was teaching myself how to use my new airfryer. I also read a whopping 10 books!
February
In February, I began to focus on picking up my business after the holiday rush died down by working on my keywords on Etsy. I also started to experiment with my embroidery by using mini embroidery hoops. After my printer died suddenly, I had to run around trying to find a local printer to print some shipping labels for me. I ended up succumbing to ordering a new printer for the business. It was definitely a worthwhile investment in the end.
In my free time I went out with my friends and boyfriend quite often, usually over coffee and pastries.
March
In March I began to apply to different craft markets in Glasgow in order to grow my business locally as I found myself spending quite a lot of time at home.
The rest of the month had its ups and downs – I managed to find a salon specialising in curly hair, my electric shower died and needed to be replaced, and I started scrapbooking.
April
In April I kept myself extremely busy – I worked five markets across the month, bouncing from location to location each weekend. In April I watched as my business continued to quiet down so I continued to try and find ways to drum up more activity.
I kept myself occupied by reading books and trying to work on new embroidery projects.
May
May was a busy month in my personal life. My boyfriend and I went to Edinburgh to go on a Chocolate tour for my birthday. I also tagged along with his family on a week long trip to the York countryside where we spent most of the week relaxing, playing games, and chatting.
During this month, I also began to feel quite down about the state of The Stir Crazy Crafter. Sales had been slowing down for a few months and I was having a tough time at the local markets as my products are quite niche. I came to the decision that maybe The Stir Crazy Crafter should be a seasonal business, rather than one that I promote year round.
June
In June, I began to devote time to job hunting. I decided that I could no longer sit around and wait for sales to roll in. As luck would have it, I managed to land a job back in the hospitality industry as a sales coordinator on a temporary contract.
Later on in the month I went to Woking for Father’s Day to see my extended family. June ended spectacularly when I took my flatmate to see Hozier perform in Glasgow.
July
In July I started my brand new job which went well. The onboarding was well thought out and I quickly felt like a member of the team. After my first week of work, my boyfriend took me out for a celebratory dinner in Glasgow city centre at a local pub. We also took a trip to Deep Sea World – an aquarium known for their shark and stingray exhibit. I began feeling quite a lot better about having The Stir Crazy Crafter as a side project, rather than my main source of income.
August
For the first half of August, my boyfriend and his cat, Scratchy, ended up staying with me while he was in the middle of relocating for a new job. I also attended a gaming night with some friends where we played Catan at a board game cafe. I even had a day where I was in desperate need of pancakes, which I found at a local cafe. British pancakes just aren’t the same as American pancakes though and my craving was not satisfied.
Getting into the swing of things at work, I started encountering an issue with some of the software used in my job – all due to the fact that I have an apostrophe in my name. Eventually the issue was fixed and I was able to progress in my work.
September
In September, I began to think ahead. At work I I interviewed to become a permanent member of my team after a position opened. After a few weeks, I found out that I had secured the role. I was absolutely thrilled to no longer worry about where I would be working in January.
In my personal life, I applied for my UK provisional license, I visited my boyfriend in his new flat for the first time, I announced my interview series: A Stitch a Day, and my boyfriend and I celebrated our second anniversary by taking it easy by going out to breakfast and enjoying a homemade cake.
October
October kept me busy! The night before having foot surgery, my boyfriend and I went out for dinner and drinks in Glasgow City Centre. I realized that I had lost a bit of weight and contacted my GP to run tests, who felt it might be Celiac Disease, but wanted to run more tests to confirm.
One day, I went out for a walk and a coffee to get out of my head, it was quite helpful. I was in and out of the library throughout the month picking up new books.
November
In November I found out that I don’t actually have Celiac Disease, but my GP wanted to do more testing to figure out what was causing my symptoms.
My boyfriend and I flew out to California for 10 days to visit my family. During this time we were able to stay in Santa Barbara, go to The Aquarium of the Pacific, drive along the coast to San Clemente, we also had a day at Knott’s Berry Farm, and a night at a Duck’s hockey game. The trip went by so quickly and we were sad to return back to Glasgow.
During Black Friday my Etsy shop went wild! I had a few hundred orders in the span of a week. It was incredibly unexpected. I was selling kits and digital resources left and right.
December
December saw the rise and fall of me attending markets. I had three scheduled, but after the first two, I pulled out of the last one. Soon, I realized that it was too difficult for me to balance working full time, an online business, AND attending markets. I had to do what was best for me and in this case, it was removing myself from markets. In the end, I decided to launch a digital download store on this very website. I make a little bit more from this website than I do on Etsy
In December we also had our first snow day of the season and as a Californian, it was stunning. As a treat to ourselves, my boyfriend and I booked a hotel in Edinburgh and attended the Christmas market.
I was officially told by my doctor that I should go gluten free as I may have a gluten intolerance. This process has been tedious, but hopefully worthwhile. I feel the exact same, just hungrier.
2023 was quite a big year for me. The biggest being that I came to the realization that while I was proud to have started my own business, it’s just not meant to be my full focus as it’s not sustainable fulltime. I had a solid few months in the middle of the year where running my business was no longer enjoyable. It was stressful and probably didn’t help with my health problems that I suffered from throughout the year. So for the foreseeable future, The Stir Crazy Crafter will take a backseat to my career. I’ll continue to ship orders, interview artists for A Stitch a Day, and update my embroidery journals, but only as long as I find it worthwhile and enjoyable. I have already made the decision that once I sell out of physical items on Etsy, there won’t be a restock until late 2024.
I am excited about my future though, I love my job and have some great coworkers. My relationship with my boyfriend continues to somehow get even better day after day, even after two years together.
I’m at a point where I don’t mind putting The Stir Crazy Crafter to the side, I’m doing what’s best for myself.
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