My results of 2018

Now, when all last year's salads are eaten, all new year's concerts and films are watched, and my vacation is at its end, it is time to resume the last year. It has become some kind of a tradition for me. Writing about the results helps me to see how efficient the year was and to re-live all the best moments of the year.

I remember, at the end of the year 2017 I wished the next one (2018) to be more calm, without this constant rush that I had in second half-year of 2017. Fortunately or not, my wish didn't come true, and all year 2018 passed in such a crazy rhytm without slowing down. It all started in June 2017 and we lost our peace ever since. Even my husband says that he doesn't remember anymore those beautiful days when his wife didn't have any tasks/projects/events. :)

Well, at some point, it's good, at least there is no time for boredom. On the other side, I feel that I am tired. Even when most of the tasks/projects/events are good, you still get tired and need some time for a reboot. I am sure, the year 2019 will also be interesting, already January seems to be fascinating, meanwhile, I start telling about the last year's results.

My handicraft

Living in a constant rush has its one unpleasant side effect - there is less time for creativity. I had to put aside my needle in the middle of 2017. Sometimes I didn't take the needle for months, but by the end of 2018 I realized, that I cannot continue this way and that it is time to return to the world of cross-stitches. Suddenly, I realized that I haven't stitched the Christmas stocking for my daughter. It made me take out the Dimensions  kit that I bought several years ago and make a start. Of course, I didn't finish it by Christmas, but at least I began it and my child will get her own stocking with her name on it for the next Christmas. For now, I want to show you the progress of my work.

Cross-stitching the Christmas stocking

Unlike cross-stitching, I made quite a lot of scrapbooking. It seems, I cannot live without it anymore. There were two periods in a year time when I worked like a machine: in summer and before Christmas. I made a lot of birthday cards and Christmas cards. I participated in two joint projects on Instagram and learned how to make cards using sketches. I also tried out a new technique called "iris folding", I even made a masterclass in my BLOGnote. You may see it here.

Before Christmas holidays I made a gift for my subscribers - all of them got my handmade greeting card from me, except for ones that refused from the present and didn't send me the address where to send a card. Below you may see my favourite cards. You may enlarge pictures by pressing on them.

Aside from cards, I also made a money envelope, gift boxes, decorative Christmas-tree and also made my first order - the thanksgiving letters. It was quite unusual work which I made very carefully and attentively. I liked the job a lot and I am very thankful for this order. Making it was a great pleasure for me. I dare to say that getting the order was a challenge for me, but also an achievement. I represent you my works below. You may enlarge them by pressing on them.

These are the works I made last year. I already have many plans for this year: invitations, decoration elements, workshops. I already made some invitations this year, but I will show you them later. I also entered one scrapbooking course on Instagram. insta_scrap_school organized a huge project for whole year. During this project will be held free masterclasses and will be given different tasks. Project starts next Monday. More information about the project on Instagram, but it's in Russian. I am waiting forward to this project to begin. I am very anxious to start creating.

In addition to the new techniques in scrapbooking, I also learnt one new type of art - the stained glass. I visited one workshop at the gallery of art Murano in Helsinki last spring. There I learnt the basics of stained glass and made one nice tulip from glass. Some day I will tell you more about it. I also want to learn paper marbling. I hope to visit a suitable workshop this year.

Stained glass

Now, that I showed you my handicraft results, lets move on to general results.

Results of 2018

As I told you above, the last year was overwhelming. I think I didn't have such a busy year for my entire life! And it last since January till December! It is hard to believe it's true. When I sat down and started to think what happened last year, I was quite shocked. I am surprised myself how I managed to do so much.

The first event in 2018 was in January. It was the wedding fair Love Me Do, which last two days. It was the second time I participated in it. I made an acquaintence with Irina Rogusina, the wedding designer in Finland. I introduced her dress at the fair. I wrote about it on my old blog. It's in Russian, but you may see the pictures from the fair here.

February was even more fascinating. I turned 30 and on my birthday I performed at the first conference of Russian-speaking bloggers of Finland. It was an amazing experience which let me move to the next level. I must admit, the conference also affected my old blog in a good way - the number of readers rose remarkably. And I firmly decided to run a standalone blog after the conference.

After the conference, me and mu husband traveled to Paris for a couple of days to celebrate me turning thirty. It was very memorable! How beautiful Paris is! This is one of my favourite cities. The city where I want to go back again and again. The city of grace and splendor. I was 16 when I last visited Paris. It was the first time I visited the city in winter. Some day I will certainly tell you about this trip and show the pictures. I really want to go back there one more time, but due to the last events in France, I think it is better to wait a bit until it's completely calm there.

The next important thing that happened last year, was graduating from vocational school in Finland. I studied one year at school called Amiedu , and got a school assistant diploma (koulunkäynninavustaja). This was my first professional course in Finnish, after the language course. I obtained a profession, and got a job at school and in after-school activity club. Although, these studyings were not as serious as were my studyings at university, it is still an achievement. Thanks to my study and work, I improved a lot my Finnish skills: both speech and writing.

I guess, I may call the year 2018 - a year of the study, for I've been studying whole year. As soon as I got my diploma, I enrolled the driving school at once. I also entered one online blogging school Wow! Blog Project. I passed a blogging course last summer. I learned so many new, interesting and useful things about blogging. The course was very intensive, it included different topics such as search engine optimization (SEO), e-mail newsletter, how to find a target audience, how to fight your fears and many-many other. At the same time I began to deal with the creation of my website. Honestly, it is not easy to come up with the name for your blog and a domain name. :) 

By the way, a new course starts soon at blogging school. It is possible to study blogging from January 28th to March 31st at Wow! Blog Project. The course is held by the founder of the blogging school Maria Olendar. She is a wonderful teacher and a very nice person who is always ready to help with an advice. The course is in Russian, so if you know the language and you are interested in blogging, then feel free to enroll the school. I strongly recommend the course. If you press on the picture below, you will be transfered to the school's website where you can read the full information about the course. If you decide to join the course, you may use my promocode blognote17 and get the 10% discount.

In addition to the blogging course, I also passed a blogging marathon in autumn from the very same school. It was a real race for a month and a half. It included learning materials and lots of homework. It is all thanks to that maraphone, I made an effort and started my Scanner's BLOGnote and I am very proud of that. This is one of the most important achievements of the year. Maria and whole our maraphone group were very helping and they supported me a lot. I thank them with all my heart. A great job was done, and here it is! A dream became the reality. You can see it, you can read it! It is alive and is ready to grow and develop. There is one more thing about the competition. I won the second place. It was quite a surprise for me, but also it was a sign that I am worth of something. 🙂

Autumn was great, except for my kids' illnesses. Autumn was time for meetings and nice surprises. I also had my hair cut! For the first time in the last six years! In addition, I participated one more time in wedding fair Love Me Do. There I finally got rid of my fear of stage. To my greatest amazement, I met the famous fashion designer in Finland, Amer Hasan. He is the creator of the gowns for the contestants of the beauty pageant "Miss Finland". He also designes the dresses for the Presidential Independence Day reception. It was something really incredible! You may read about the autumn wedding fair here.

Our Love Me Do family

One more achievement of the year is that I finally got the driving license! Oh, if you only knew how hard it was for me! How many times I cried: "I will never learn how to drive a car!" But here I am with driving license in my pocket, practicing my driving skill. One I may say for sure, I like to drive! 🙂

Speaking of more personal and sacred things, last year I became a godmother, which I am very happy for. I have waited it for long. Now I have a beautiful goddaughter with incredibly beautiful eyes.

In conclusion, the last year was very successful. Of course, there were also many failures, disappointments, troubles and illnesses. Oh my! Whose illnesses! Fortunately, we managed without chickenpox and pertussis this time. Luckily, I didn't get an HFMD from my kids. Trust me, it is a horrible desease! The child had huge bumps all over his hands and feet, he also had rash around his mouth and under the eyes. After the desease, the skin got off his hands, feet and mouth for two months! He also got the fingernail and toenail loss which also last for two months! It was really horrible what my poor child got through. I don't want to remember all bad that happened last year, I want it to stay in the past where it belongs.

I would like to finish this post positively. I thank year 2018 for everything it gave me, and it gave me a lot. I thank for all the achievements, for all the opportunities and for the most important - for all the people I met. I got to know so many interesting people! My friendlist grew a lot within one year. It's more than in previous four years of life in Finland. I also found many like-minded people. Now we may come up with something exciting together. And this is so cool!

I guess, that's all. I've finished to sum up the results of the previous year. I have lots of plans ahead of me, although I'll try to make this year more relaxed than was last year. By the way, I joined one project called "Year of conscious life". This project is about living every day of your life fully and consciously. I have noticed that sometimes I get lost in time and stop noticing how one day is replaced by another. I don't want it to continue this way. I want to live every day noticing it and remembering it. More information about the project on Elena Tuleiko's blog "Joy in every day". The blog is in Russian. Resuming the results of the year is one of the project's stages. I will continue sharing some moments of this project with you. Who knows, maybe some of you would like to join.

And how about you, do you resume your year? Or do you think it's completely unnecessary and only waste of time?

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6 comments
  1. Прекрасный год у тебя был, Илонка! Пусть этот будет ещё лучше!

    1. Спасибо, Майя! Пусть и у тебя будет классный и насыщенный год! 🙂

  2. Круто, молодец, Илона!

    1. Спасибо, Андрей! 🙂

  3. Замечательный и насыщенный год ,Илона. Успехов тебе в Новом году! И пусть больше никто не болеет :)))

    1. Спасибо тебе, дорогая! Да будет так! :*
      Я тебе тоже желаю удачи и успехов в 2019 году! Будьте и вы здоровы! :*

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