CONGRATS! You made it to February!
I know a lot of people really struggle with January, but I actually really enjoyed this month! Part of it has to do with some important realizations I had over the Christmas break that have helped me have a better mindset and improved mental health going into the New Year. Another part of it, I strongly suspect, has to do with finishing some pretty substantial projects over the last few weeks. Read below to find out about those!
Patreon
At the beginning of the month, I sent out some little postcards of my art to all my patrons. I had to pick the piece from the If It Feels Like Home scene because it’s one of my very favorites.
Sidenote: if you are a patron and you don’t get one in the next week or so, please let me know and I will resend!
In other news, the vlogs are returning! As we speak, I’m working on a recap vlog for all the projects I got up to in the month of January. I’ll also be posting some before and afters and other behind the scenes content throughout the month, so if you want to see those, or if you’re looking for more ways to support me, I’d love to have you join us over on Patreon!
And if you’re an existing patron, I am always looking for ways to improve the experience, so do let me know if there’s ever more I can do!
TikTok/Social Media
In social media news, I started a TikTok! I actually started it back in September, but haven’t been great about advertising it. A lot of that has to do with the fact that I really wanted to just make it a fun thing to try, without all the pressure of “analytics” and “metrics” that I focus so heavily on with my other social media platforms.
And it seems to be working! Last week, I surpassed my Instagram following (my largest following on any platform), which was such a strange, albeit rewarding feeling. I mean, I’ve had Instagram for nine years…. I’ve had TikTok for five months…. It’s crazy!
Anyway, I mostly just goof off and show some editing process videos over there, so if you want to see me make a fool of myself, come join me!
Boutique
I am officially launching the Sugar Springs Boutique this month! And what I mean by that is I’ve been working hard on reorganizing my online shop so that it’s easier to navigate (and so it looks a lot prettier). I’m also putting a BIG focus this year on developing my own product lines based off of my Passages series, which has been a TON of fun so far.
Right now, I have the beginnings of The Spinner line listed, with some fun merchandise and candles, but I’m hoping to greatly expand and improve upon this little tester line in the near future. Anyway, I’ll be doing a bigger announcement when the shop is live, but if you want to see some of the products I’ve been developing, you can still check those out in the current shop!
Twitch
Twitch streams have a new schedule! I have now moved them to 2:00 PM CST on Tuesdays and 10:00 AM CST on Thursdays.
I am also excited to announce that, after the success of my Halloween Party last year, I’ll be doing another on stream party in the month of February! And, of course, this one will be Valentine’s Day themed. I promise, though, that this will be fun (even if you’re not the biggest Valentine’s Day fan). There will be giveaways and fun activities, so set your calendars for Tuesday, February 8th at 2:00 PM CST and make sure to follow me on Twitch at the link below!
Green Rider
Extensive and very loud drum rolling please, becaaaaaauuuuseeeee….
The artwork is finished!!!
On January 26th, I made the final edit to the very last photo and called it finished! The sense of relief and accomplishment I feel is HUGE right now!!!
With the artwork finished, I can now focus fully on designing the art book and then on order fulfillment. I’ve gotten a little bit of a start on the art book, so here’s a little sneak peek!
Maddie Mondays
This last month, I’ve been working on two different house projects. I actually started AND FINISHED a single project within one month (look at me being efficient with my productivity for once!): board and batten up my stairs and into the second floor hallway! I just finished it last week and it looks SO good. So good, in fact, that it looks like it was always meant to be there, which I think is the best result you can hope for with a house project!
I also started working on stripping some solid wood doors to use as new closet doors in our bedroom. Last year, my parents were flipping a house built in the 1950s and ended up needing to replace most of the interior doors (which were all solid wood). My dad, in his need to purge all the “junk,” put the doors in the dumpster, a mistake my mom and I, of course, gave him MUCH grief over.
They’ve since been sitting in my back room and, after my high from finished one project so quickly, I figured now was a good time to figure out how to replace my current hollow-core doors with something better. It’s definitely been a PROCESS (several rounds of citristrip and scraping), but we now have all the old paint off. My next step is to figure out how I’m going to finish them, and then get them hung in place!
Passages
I’ll be honest, Passages has kind of come to an unfortunate pause. I’m a little stumped with Differences and how I want to make the costumes, so I haven’t been putting any work into it over the last few weeks. I’m not sure if this little roadblock is something I can just work through, or if I need to change directions and work on another Passages photo until I get a little more confident in how to do the Differences costume. I’ll definitely be thinking through this one over the next couple of weeks, though, so that I hopefully have a new update in the next newsletter!
Whew! I know that was a lot, so if you’ve read all of that, my hat comes off to you! Turns out when you don’t send out a newsletter for two months, you have a LOT to catch up on! Anyway, I hope this month’s little update got you excited about some of the exciting things that have happened or will be happening shortly.
Last year was a GREAT year, if a bit stressful, and I have high hopes that this year will be even better!
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