The final instalment of the little monthly round ups here on the Sunshine Blog and I still can’t get my head around where 2018 went, let alone all the things that have happened. What a year it’s been!

From mini adventures and exciting work developments to two of the BIGGEST, most exciting days in my life (getting married and buying our very own Sunshine Van), 2018 has certainly delivered some blinders.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the monthly updates here. It often helps me (when I get time) to sit back and reflect on everything that has happened - big or small - as the months fly by. My brain often gets tied up in all my day-to-day niggling negatives and paranoias so it’s quite easy for me to forget about the ‘rewards’ that everything I work so hard to achieve can also bring.

Anywho, before I start getting over-emotional and keep waffling, here are some things that happened in December…

hello Sunshine

I know it’s not ideal with global warming and everything, but the mild weather this month brought some spectacular mornings, days and sunsets with it!

all the markets

I was lucky enough to be accepted to take part in several AMAZING Christmas Markets this year, including 3 Etsy Made Local events. In hindsight, agreeing to do 3 events over 4 days (same weekend), in 3 different cities was probably a bad idea.. but I DID IT and I had a great time!

A HUGE thank you to all the organisers of each event! Each one was brilliantly organised with such a high standard and variety of work from talented makers and I felt honoured to be amongst them all.

the buddy shed

After Team Workbenchshop came to visit and helped us get the frame and foundations started last month, The Beard did an INCREDIBLE job at getting Buddy’s Winter home finished.

Buddy is mighty happy in his new shed and I could’t be more proud of Will for getting it all finished (mostly on his own too!) I offered to help and provide a bit of design advice where I could but I am happy to admit that I mainly just delivered tea, snacks and held things in place when called upon.

busy little elf

Day to day, most of this month (and last month) has been filled with making stock and fulfilling wholesale and online shop orders, which in itself has blown me away. I think it’s safe to say I’ve had my most successful year in this respect and although it almost left me scuppered for my markets I couldn’t be more grateful - THANK YOU!

last call for swears!

The personalised Christmas Jumpers came and went but not without some of the most hilarious requests I’ve ever seen this year! So although I was sad to close the order books, I was definitely left smiling …and ugly laughing as I sent the last few jumpers off to their new homes.

On a less cheerful note, I also discovered that a factory in the Far East has been producing copies of my jumper decorations for the past couple of years. I discovered these copies were being sold in the gift shops of some rather prestigious places, which broke my heart a little. I don’t have the beans, brain space or finances to fight the case legally so it’s likely the jumpers may get a little makeover or even be replaced in 2019, which I’m actually quite excited about now I’m over the initial frustration - so watch this space!

cambridge creatives xmas party

Not only did Buddy get a new home for Christmas but Buddy and his Shed also ended up providing the perfect venue for the Cambridge Creatives Christmas Party that Claireabellemakes and I hosted.

Happy Fabric came to deliver a Christmas Jumper workshop with their heat presses and vinyls whilst Bespoke Laser UK helped us with some wooden jumper shapes to also decorate on the night. Claire also worked with Flying Tiger who kindly supplied us with some amazing decorations, party plates, napkins, cups and festive slippers.

Although I found it quite overwhelming having over 20 people in our tiny house and garden space, it was SUCH a fun evening and The Beard also helped to provide the perfect ‘bar’ (and escape space for me) in Buddy!

Fingers crossed we can use the Buddy shed and garden for more events in the future!

#festivemoviechallenge

The wonderful Jen of Wren & Wilson ran another cheeky Instagram challenge, which I jumped at the chance to join in with again. Any excuse to watch Christmas Movies is enough to get me excited but I also decided to try and use the four fun prompts as a kick up the bum to get me back into using my iPad Pro and pencil again.

Although I’m not entirely happy with how they all turned out on my iPad (I must keep practising!), I had SO MUCH FUN watching all my fave Christmas movies and joining in with the challenge. Here are my 4 attempts but don’t forget to check out the #festivemoviechallenge hashtag on instagram for lots of other people's submissions too!

On that rather festive note, I’m going to sign off for the month (the year!) now and wish you all a very happy rest-of-December and an even happier New Year when it lands! THANK YOU as always for following along and showing me so much love and support this year.

We will be welcoming 2019 on one of our traditional Winter Camping trips but with a slight difference this year… we will be in Buddy! YAY! I’ll be sure to update you all again in 2019 with how it went and if we have any more blow away poop tales to share…

See you next year, you lovely lot!

☀️