2011 flew by. It was a strange year for me in many ways, a lot of them written about here in over 270 blog posts, and it ended with me having travelled more than expected, meeting some amazing people and life just seeming weirder than I had ever imagined.

My main memory of 2011 is of visiting Tucson and sharing a swimming pool, and amazing times, with Kate McKinnon, Dustin Wedekind, Marcia and Mark DeCoster, Teresa Sullivan, Ellen Stoune, Gabriella van Diepen and Jeroen Medema. Even now I'm not sure that wasn't all a dream.

At the start of 2011 I wrote some resolutions for the year and even though I have failed miserably at some of them (please especially don't mention the camera) I have worked hard at my beading and am happy to look back at what I have produced and say that I have come up with some of my best projects. Off the top of my head some that I remember are my new Pentagon bangles, the sculptural Urban Beaded Beads, the challenging Key To My heart Necklace, the reversible and sparkly Rivoli Roses, the interchangeable Copper Wheels, the dazzling Jaipur Jewels and the big and bold Affinity Bangles (these will be in the next issue of Beadwork so keep an eye out for them). It's funny looking back at all the projects and realising that this really was the 'year of the metallics' for me. If I wasn't using silver or pewter it was bronze or copper. I wonder what caused that?

This time last year I had just found out I was to be a Beadwork Magazine 'Designer of the Year' and my mind was already whirring with project ideas and as I write this I'm busy finishing project four of six and plotting the last two in my mind.

If you had told me that over the next 12 months I would skate in Sweden, finally get a tatoo, break my finger, make a bronze casting, learn taxidermy (and how to land a plane, ski and do magic tricks), work on a book about wire beaded caterpillars and bugs, see my little sister get married, return to New York, be profiled in a Uk magazine and hold an owl, I think I would have been so overwhelmed I'd have not got out of bed.

2012 is going to be a busy year with my book with Kate and Dustin, lots of travel to teach and hopefully many new exciting projects. I'm looking forward to seeing what it brings.