The Lovely Pear is a year old! I remember I was sick when I created this blog and I sat in bed as I typed my first post on Shawn’s laptop. I posted my first blog post on January 3, 2015 explaining the meaning behind the name “The Lovely Pear”.  I seriously had no idea what I was getting myself into but I’m glad I ended up doing it.

I wrote about my New Year Resolution for 2015 on my third post, and I actually fulfilled it (yay me)! My resolution was to keep up with The Lovely Pear and I have had an awesome year with this blog, joining in on challenges, trying new things, and meeting A LOT of new friends!

One of the new things I tried this year was Project Life. It was in June that I decided that I  really wanted to focus on Project Life as a way to keep my pictures in a scrap book. Because of this, I also put more effort into not only taking more pictures, but trying to take better ones and learning to edit them better. With that being said, I’m exited to announce that I have made it into Becky Higgin’s Project Life Creative Team for 2016!!!

I actually cursed out loud at work when I got the news that I had made it onto the team. I even waited awhile, regularly refreshing my e-mail, thinking Becky and her team had made a mistake and sent the e-mail to me on accident, but the news broke on December 30th and my picture is on the creative team page! Can I get a WOOT WOOT!?!

Like I mentioned earlier, I started off blogging mostly about cards. Even though I don’t make them as often as I was, I still enjoy making them. I was so excited to win a challenge and to be mentioned on blogs like Paper Smooches and Lawnscaping Challenges. It was also exciting to see my cards posted by Lawn Fawn, Hero Arts, and Ranger Ink on Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram!

When I first started The Lovely Pear, I knew I wanted to do a “Top 5” but I’m actually surprised I kept up with it. The Top 5 is something I look forward to doing at the end of each month. I’ve had a lot of fun doing it and it’s also pretty cool to get likes/comments from the companies mentioned!

Something I do want to mention is the crafting community. I have been blown away by all the support/likes/comments/followers that I get on social media. I LOVE the crafting community, and that includes all the card makers, scrapbookers, all the stamping companies, the Project Life designers, the companies that sell all these supplies, EVERYBODY! Everybody is so welcoming, positive, and supportive of each other! I hope to meet a lot of these people face to face sometime soon!

So for my resolution this year, I am going to try my best to relax. I want to make sure I take my time to “stop and smell the roses”. I want to focus more on my family, especially my son who will become an official teenager this year (so scared…).  I’m going to try to stop having my phone with me everywhere I go, especially at the dinner table (I really sucked at that this year), and I am going to try my hardest to keep it together during our big move! This includes getting everything ready for the new house and allowing myself to take the time I need to say goodbye to my childhood home (see, I’m already tearing up just typing this).

2016 is definitely going to be a big year for me and I’m ready for it! I hope you guys had a bad-ass year and I hope we all have a more peaceful one this year! I’m going to leave you guys with probably my most favorite picture I took this year, and because of this I will proclaim 2015 as the year of the duck!