2026!
Oof, yes, 2026. I’ve been writing and rewriting this first line as the days of January have already been filled with very intense feelings. If you don’t read the rest of this (I’m long-winded), I hope you can take this bit away. I wish you the good things we wish for all of the times - happiness, health, prosperity. More so, my personal motto this year is to own 2026. I hope YOU will get to do the things to really make 2026 your own.
I think that’s appropriate now that we’re transitioning from the year of the snake, a time of quiet progress, shedding the old skin, to that of a determined, fire horse.
These are the values I hope to embrace this year. While the values sound the same from year to year, the thought and intention behind them change based on current and past experiences. Here goes.
Staying Creative
Before this all became a business, I dabbled in various forms of craft and media - calligraphy, watercolor painting, pretending to be a photographer like my husband. The one dream I’ve always had was to be a graphic designer, so for many years, the graphic designer-y way of thinking was what I tried to adopt. Since making card-selling an official thing, I’ve narrowed my focus on only illustrating things to be printed, and strayed away from most other forms of art.
I want to open up my mind this year on two paths: 1) refreshing my design brain by brushing up on design principles, good typography, clean elements, learn some new software and 2) diving into other crafts with less care for perfection. That could be drawing things I’m uncomfortable with drawing (people, for example!) and picking up a crappy camera again. I ventured into some of this last year when I started to illustrate simple things for this blog, which gave me a chance to not think so much about producing to sell.
Community
Building community and connection has truly been where my heart is since stepping out and making myself known. I confidently know now, after creating for myself for so many years that I will be creating forever, but it’s being a part of this amazing creative group and connecting with customers over shared nostalgia and sentiments that keeps this tiny business going.
Seeking opportunities offline - I plan to keep my eyes peeled this year on a variety of craft events and pop-ups. Each new type of event I’ve done in the past has allowed me to connect with different people in the Bay Area and beyond!
Nurture my relationships with retailers - My wholesale group has incrementally grown over the last two years. It’s not amazing, by any means, but for having given pretty low effort and having at least 50 retailers reach out with some form of interest, I should acknowledge that I have something good going here. I would like to continue putting in effort with building those relationships and connecting in that way with the stores.
Building community online. Frankly speaking, maybe because I’m older (very proud to turn 39 this year, btw), I’m finding staying on social media and doing the dance with the algorithm to be quite draining. There was an era where sharing pretty art and meaningful things was fun and exciting, but I am more apprehensive these days. Needless to say, I have met so many artists and wonderful followers/customers this way. Perhaps, you found yourself here by way of my IG. I am hoping to find other opportunities to connect. Sharing a piece of my mind on my own blog here is one way.
Authenticity
This was a value listed a year or two ago that is resurfacing again now. I’ve continued to stay true to who I am and where I am in my life when I share anything. It’s shown up in practically all the products I have, whether it hits a nostalgic note growing up Asian American, or it speaks to the motherhood side. Sharing the more personal stuff on IG has dwindled over the past year, parallel to the decline in my excitement in using social media overall. However, I do think that sharing my story is what makes all of this authentic. My goal is to focus a bit more energy on the behind-the-scenes, the thoughts and intention that go into each and everything that I make.
Keeping the calm and focus
During a recent performance review with my boss at my day job, it was highlighted to me that I have an underrated quality, which is the ability to keep calm. It is true for most of my life that I’ve been that calm presence in the background. I’m not one to react intensely to situations, but try to understand what’s happening first. However, I do know I have my moments where - as one friend a long time ago called it - being a swan. I appear calm from above water, but underneath, my legs - or all my inner thoughts - are going 300mph. Especially this past year, with all the numerous to-do’s, I can feel myself being increasingly flustered, losing my calm and ability to focus, and with it, comes mistakes and lower quality work.
I do have a specific list of items I am aiming to create, which is upwards of 25-30! But realistically, it might be half of that, which is still okay!
If you’ve read all the way here, wow! And thank you, seriously. I don’t think I can ever say enough that I am very grateful for having you here.
*All silly and far-from-perfect illustrations above are drawn by me, Sherry, not AI.*