Dreams, goals and aspirations

Did you make new years resolutions this January? I'm not a fan of them myself, I find they are so often focused on the negative parts of our lives... loose weight, spend less time working, be a more patient parent.... they can feel a bit like a list of things we beat ourselves up about.
To me that's not such an inspiring start to the year, so instead this January I made a list of goals instead. This list included personal as well as business aspirations, less a fixed 'to do' list and more a guide to start the year with a clear sense of direction. 
A really great part of keeping this blogazine is the recording of this time in my life, a time-capsule of who I am now as an artist, designer and small business owner. I think it will be really interesting to look back on my aspirations in the future so I'm going to share a few of my goals here for posterity.
It's a long list I have to confess, so I will only share part of it! 

• Get engaged.

It may not sound like the most romantic way to go about things, but my boyfriend and I have decided it would be really lovely to get married. It's been something we have talked about since shortly after we met, and just a matter of time until we both felt ready. I'm the luckiest girl ever and can't wait to celebrate our relationship! 

• Work my butt off

I never thought I would say these words but 2013 is the year of work. Generally I think working hard is pretty over-rated but this year I have some business goals I want to achieve and the only way to get there is by hard graft. Every small business owner will tell you it's hard going working for yourself but I'm determined to knuckle down and make this year the most rewarding and fulfilling Red Brick year ever! 
I can only apologise to my darling friends in advance, I love you dearly but I will be thin on the ground this year.

• Make more things

There's nothing new here really, I'm ALWAYS making things it's true, lots of things. But this year I want to make more artwork, design and make more products and get them into other peoples loving hands. 
Running a creative space can be really amazing, but sometimes I can get so busy enabling artists and designers to create and show their work to the world that I run out of time to do my own making. This year I'm making it a priority!

While we are on the subject I thought I would share some of the things I have been working on this summer. These things involve wood, brickies twine, foraged timber and the most wonderful pastel-flouro paint mix I have ever created.... it's ZINGY on the eyes!

Fun wooden goodies aren't the only thing I have been making this summer, I spent most of my Christmas holidays re-building our website and these pretty one-off wooden jewelry designs will be appearing on it soon. I'm really proud of the new site and would love to hear what you think of it too. You can see it here. 
I know I don't always make it easy to respond to my ramblings and rants but I love to get emails from readers so please feel free to get in touch, My email addy is hello@redbrickgallery.com.au you can also say 'hello' on our Facebook page too!
X Steph