You may have noticed it's been a little quiet in the land of Butterfly-Crafts blog lately. There is a reason for it, I have been busy planning a rather big change at Butterfly-Crafts and this has been taking up a lot of my time, I'm not talking "Saving the planet" magnitude of changes but a big change for me nonetheless.

This bag change is set to occur on March 26th if all goes according to plan! I will endeavor to blog more between now and then and update you all on how my Thirty before Thirty challenge is going and various other things.

If you would like the inside scoop on the changes then the best way is to become a Facebook Fan or sign up to the e-newsletter!

This is the year!!! In just 203 days I will turn the big 3-0. Yep, August 1st is going to be fast approaching, and do we think i have progressed much with my challenge? Not so much. I will do my best, but if things roll over until the end of the year then so be it!

But here is an update...

1.Own a sewing machine, - I have dropped plenty of hints about this and will have to leave it to fate.

2.Learn to knit socks – I have the yarn, and the pattern. Just need to sit down and figure out dpn needles!

3.Visit Buckingham Palace – Done!!!! I need to blog about it though, but Mum and I had a great time in September.

4.Swim in a lake or stand under a waterfall - This is likely to be the Serpentine one hot day in the summer...if the UK has a summer this year!

5.Own a home (the BIG challenge) – I can categorically say this will not happen in 2012 but I am working towards it. Perhaps in my 30th year.

6.Be debt free except from a mortgage if Num 5 happens – I am working well on this.

7.Visit Dickens House – DONE!!! But it was a real disappointment, I will blog about this too.

8.Go to a soap making workshop - DONE!!!! And I'm now selling natural soap through my shop.

9.Learn to hang wall paper –We will be redecorating quite a bit at my parents house and yes, I will be roped into it!

10.Spend a night on the Norfolk Broads – Sort of DONE!! Just need to blog and am going again in June.

11.Learn to make pastry – Did not do this over Christmas as I had hoped but will soon.

12.Learn the succession of kings and queens from William the Conqueror in 1066 – I have been given a few hints and tips on this, just need to learn it!

13.Make and wear my own dress – I have an idea to make a dress to wear to dinner on my 30th birthday.

14.Read five books from my bookshelf - One down, four to go!

15.Have a make up lesson – DONE!!! Although I wasn’t all that impressed. I had a free session at Bobbi Brown which was educational and expensive.

16.Do something every day to make me smile – Now I have a new "friend" in my life I am smiling a whole lot more each day.

17.Learn to change a car tyre – I'm still laughing about why I included this!

18.Be able to jog a mile without stopping - with my leg issues this is a BIG thing – This will be hard but I have a space which I know is a mile so am building up walking it and then will jog/walk and then who knows...

19.Go to Rome or Sorrento – DONE!!! and it was AMAZING!!! I need to blog with photos though.

20.Sleep for 6.5+ hours sleep a night consistently – Some nights are good, others are bad, and some are unmentionable.

21.Visit Giant's Causeway – This may not happen now as I potentially will go to NYC in August, but I still want to visit Antrim and that area in the future.

22.Have a dinner party - This was the plan for my birthday, but I think there will be a party instead so I will have to replan the dinner party! I have had a practice with doing lunch for my parents at my boyfriends over the holiday.

23.Have Butterfly-Crafts mentioned in a newspaper or magazine – DONE!!!! – coverage of the craft fairs I've organised in the local paper.

24.Sleep under the stars - I am an option in mind for this, watch this space, just need a mozzie net!

25.Live as much of a handmade/homemade/economical life as possible - I am aware of this every day and am going to try and make as many of the gifts I will need this year as possible.

26.Begin to have the stamina, strength & body shape from pre-leg issues – the gym is definitely helping. I will never be a ‘gym bunny’ but I do feel much better to go after work and at the weekend for a little brain space. I really miss rowing but that’s off limits at the moment, one day though, one day.

27.Watch: Casablanca (done), Dr Zhivago (done - yawn), Gone With the Wind (done), The Philadephia Story (done), A Street Car Named Desire (done - yawn), The Godfather (done), Citizen Cane (done) and Ferris Beulers Day Off (done - crap film) so just Goodfellas and Schindler's List to go.

28.Go to a comedy club – Need to plan this very soon I think.

29.Finish my knitted patchwork blanket – I finally started to knit again over the holidays having had a break of about 8 months. I have 83 squares to go plus sewing in, joining them together and then edging. It will be a "30th year" project

30.Visit 15 exhibitions at museums and galleries – Well there was Handmade Tales at The Women’s Library, Afghanistan at The British Museum, Out of this world at the British Library, Eadweard Muybridge at Tate Britain, Electroboutique at the Science Museum and a few others I've currently forgotten!

I sit at my computer looking out at the sunny afternoon outside and thinking that 2011 is just a few hours from being over. What a year it has been.

I started the year with the harsh realisation that I will now be medicated for the rest of my life on "rat poison" to keep my blood nice and thin thanks to the lovely blood clots that descended last boxing day. This is now all under control thankfully and I appreciate the compliments I have received about how well I dealt with it. Well, its not like I have an incurable disease but it does have its problems later in my life, but I can deal with it as and when it arises. I will be glad that I only have 360 more days left to wear my sexy stocking though!!

A few months later in March I got to do something I had been waiting TWO years to do - hand my notice in at my job as I had finally been offered something else. I can honestly say I hated my previous job. Not the people there, but the job. I felt worthless and like I was stuck in a hole and had no way out despite trying and trying for months on end. I struggled to find something new because although I had the job title, I didnt have the experience necessary to take on the role I applied for. But, I couldnt get that experience where I was because no opportunites were created for me and I couldnt do anything about it. I also grew tired and jaded that I had seen some very friendly colleagues leave because of the way they were treated by a particular member of staff. But my day came in March and I cried. I took the job offer phone call as I was leaving work, and when I got on my train home I sobbed - pure relief that I was free. I had to wait a week to hand in my notice and from that day I didnt feel scared going into work, the thumping heartbeat I would have as I walked through the office door each morning was gone. The day I left I was sad to leave some of my friends, but that was about it.

And so on to April when I started my new job. I dont think it will be a job I have for life, in fact Im already realising that I no longer want to work in London because quite frankly its way too expensive and I feel happier out of the city. But, nevertheless its a new job with new people and new challenges and I need to learn from it as much as I can. I have to say it did provide the best staff Christmas party EVER!

Holidays this year have been special. I took my parents to a lovely little chalet in Norfolk where we had a break for a week and just spent some time together. I did of course find a shop that sells beautiful fabric and look forward to going back when we return in June. I also took myself to Rome, somewhere I have longed to visit since I was 13 and first started to study Latin at school. Five days of walking and walking and feeling in awe at the buildings and ruins and the ice cream...only I could eat 15 icecreams in 5 days.

I turn thirty in 7 months tomorrow and so I have been working hard on my Thirty before Thirty challenge. I have visited exhibitions, visited new places and started to learn new skills. There is still much left of my challenge to go by August 1st but what I have realised is, if it doesnt get done it doesnt matter, but I will have fun trying.

November saw the safe (and early) arrive of my third niece Scarlett who I am dying to meet and snuggle and welcome into our family. I have also had friends have babies and it is so wonderful to see them turn into parents.

I have also grown my business starting out with more craft fairs, securing consignment and wholesale orders with shops both in the UK and the USA and at this moment in time I am planning a total relaunch in March 2012 having been in business for three years - where did that time go?

But, these past few months have been a particular highlight because something very unexpected happened (blushing a little now) - I fell in love. Its funny how these things creep up on you when you least expect them to. March 2010 was a particular low point for me but wow thats done a complete 180 and I couldnt be happier. In my new "friend" I have found someone who is so supportive of what I do to the point he came to my farmers market just four weeks in and is going to help me build my new website, he even was allowed to count inventory and stick labels on card bags! I joke I have "crinkles around the edges" in my quirks, and he accepts them, even my talking in my sleep! And he likes that I bake, and hoover and dance around the kitchen to crazy music! I think this has been the most unexpected, but best highlight of the year.

So what are my hopes for next year? Aside from wishing all of my friends and family a happy and safe celebration tonight, I wish them all the love they could hope for, happiness in bucket loads, warmth and shelter for the year, good health and luck in what ever they will be doing.

When I was a child I use to set resolutions (bed early, lose weight, less chocolate) but this year I see it differently, I have 2 different ways to look at 2012. The first is to pick a word which I hope will sum up my year, mine is ACHIEVEMENT. I picked this because I hope to achieve my goals (see below) along with achieving a slimmer waiseline, my Thirty before Thirty challenge, an improved business and quite honestly, achieving each day with a smile on my face.

So, my "public" goals for the year ahead are this (I do have a few more but they are private):

1) Declutter things I no longer need
2) Improve my fitness
3) Relaunch my business and new website
4) Continue to save towards a home of my own
5) Complete my 30 before 30 Challenge, even if it takes until December

I wish you all a very happy and healthy 2012! - What goals do you have for the year?