Business Affinity Designer, Cats, Leverage Your Art, Liz Kohler Brown, New Year, Procreate, Stacie Bloomfield, The Studio

Happy New Year 2025 – My plans for 2025 and a review of 2024

Helen White January 9, 2025

In this post I am sharing with you my plans for 2025 and look back at the things I have accomplished last year. To change things up little I am starting with what happened with my non-business plans first.

What happened to my non-business plans for 2024?

One of the things I wanted to accomplish in 2024 was to take more care of my health and be gentler with myself. Well, that didn’t really happen and in fact I am still struggling with chronic issues. Mostly I have noticed an increase in migraines and general aches (foot and lower back) and pains due to the natural aging process we all have to go through.

We both are still very smitten with our gorgeous kittens who are proper grown cats now, but are still very much like kittens. They have wonderful purrsonalities and are super cuddly. Max loves to sit on my lap in the afternoon and late in the evenings, while Lucy loves to cuddle at night and very early in the mornings. Paul has built them a brand-new climber for the garden which is even higher than the original one, so the cats can overlook the side street. Both love their new climber.

Our cats Lucy and Max sitting on the new cat climber.

View on our cat climber with our cats Lucy and Max.

Different view on the new cat climber with our cats Lucy and Max. — View on our cat climber with our cats Lucy and Max.

Charlie is still visiting our home every day without fail, but has developed a rather unpleasant habit. He tends to spray when he is about to leave. As he’s neutered it doesn’t smell to us, but it’s still pretty disgusting – so when he does this, we turf him out and have to clean up after him. Sigh. He thinks this is his home.

We have managed to declutter the home a little, but we still have lots to do. We still need to get rid of books and other stuff we don’t use. I have listed my guitar and amplifier on Gumtree, but the right buyer hasn’t contacted me yet. Most people just want the guitar for a very small amount of money. I want to sell the whole kit.

I have also discovered Vinted where I have listed lots of clothes I have worn only once or not at all. So far, I have sold two petticoats, one skirt and one dress. I have sold books and CDs to selling sites such as Music Magpie and WeBuyAnyBooks, but they don’t really pay much. I have also finally started getting rid of years of tax files which went to a shredding company. You only need to keep seven years’ worth of files.

The loft, garage and garden still need a good tidy and one of our gates needs to be fixed.

Sadly, I haven’t started mandolin lessons, something I wanted to do – but work really got in the way last year.

I have however read a lot of books, which I tend to do at bedtime.

What else happened in 2024?

I am still working in my part-time job on a temporary contract and have designed a card for the charity to use when children finish their cancer treatment, which is a big milestone for them. Creating this card was quite an accomplishment as I have never designed a card before and for this I have used Procreate.

Last year I was hoping to hit 1000 subscribers on my YouTube channel which you can find here. Unfortunately, I didn’t hit the target. At the time of writing I have 673 subscribers, so still a long way to go. I have noticed that YouTube places ads on some of my videos, but I don’t profit from this. I don’t churn out videos, but aim at uploading one a month as I simply don’t have more time to produce quality content. I do get positive comments on my videos and I always respond.

Another task was also to go through my inventory and get rid of items that don’t sell. This is really an ongoing and slightly depressing job. I have had not much luck selling my jewellery items, but found a home for some of my polymer clay I don’t really use. Due to the bad economy in the UK it is really hard to sell anything. One can only hope things will change!

I wanted to design new jewellery, but that hasn’t really happened and my kiln is still in the same place – our conservatory. The garage is still a mess and unsuitable to move the kiln. I hope to change this this year. I want to phase out plated materials and only use Sterling silver.

Our cats Lucy and Max in the conservatory. The main reason I haven’t used my kiln.

I wanted to list paintings I have created while I was a member of the Confident Brush, and have released these two mini collections, which you can find here and here. I still have more paintings to upload to the website.

Another one of my goals was to publish notebooks and planners on Amazon and I am happy to write that I have achieved this goal – I published my abstract notebook as a test item to understand how the listing process works and I have also published three cute planners which you can find here.

I haven’t painted that much with watercolours or coloured pencils and haven’t touched any lino last year – well only briefly, but got very side-tracked, which happens a lot to me. I get distracted a lot, which is a real problem when you are running a creative business.

I have had a lot of student enquiries and taught more students than in 2023. I am proud to report that my two GGCE students achieved an A* and an A in their exams.

Getting side-tracked is a problem, but can also lead to new interesting avenues.

One of my biggest personality flaws is probably that I get easily distracted and side-tracked and can’t keep doing just the one thing. It’s quite a curse when you want to succeed in well – anything really. However, I have now made peace with it. I just like variety and like to learn and try out a lot of different things. My boredom threshold is very low. Sigh. I wish it wasn’t. Life would be much easier, but I just have to deal with it.

So, this year I discovered surface pattern design and the designer Bonnie Christine who runs the Immersion Course. That led me into a whole new rabbit hole of exploring how to get art on products and making digital art. While I decided that the Immersion course wasn’t for me, mainly due to cost and also the fact that Bonnie uses Adobe Illustrator, I was still interested in learning more about how to create repeat patterns and designing surface patterns (that don’t repeat).

A couple of years ago I came across Stacie Bloomfield, who is another artist who specialises in surface pattern design. In her Leverage Your Art course she teaches you all about how to get art on products and art licensing and last year in Spring I decided to take the plunge and enrolled in that course. You can find my blog post about this learning experience here. I also subscribed to Skillshare, as they have tons of classes about digital art and pattern design.

As a lot of artists use Procreate, I finally caved in and bought a used I-pad Pro 11 inch and downloaded Procreate onto it. I have an X-Pen tablet which is quite big and a faff to attach to my laptop and it can run with most programs, but Procreate was created for the I-pad. I haven’t used that tablet much (about twice) and am considering selling it.

Snowglobe illustration created with Procreate — Snow globe illustration created with Procreate

Using Procreate is quite a steep learning curve, as you have to think in layers and figure out where which layer goes. It offers a lot of amazing brushes and you can buy a lot of brushes or learn to make your own, which is amazing. Procreate has so many functions and one of my favourite tools is the symmetry tool. I was able to use Procreate for the design challenges in the Leverage Your Art course and have also used it for the card I made for the charity I work for, the cover art for my planners and my brand-new logo .

I also bought the Affinity suite, after hearing a lot of good things about it. Especially Affinity Designer which allows you to create vector art. I also found pattern designer Liz Kohler Brown who uses Affinity Designer and Procreate for her art. She not only teaches on Skillshare, but also in her own membership “The Studio” which I joined in August last year.

I am so glad I did, because her content is great. I am learning so much and the other students are lovely. There are so many classes and interviews to choose from and it is a bit overwhelming, but I am trying to learn at my own pace. So far, I have mostly focussed on learning Procreate. Which brings me to this year.

My plans for 2025.

Business plans:

This year I want to continue making planners and journals for Amazon KDP
I want to continue learning how to use Procreate to create illustrations and patterns and Affinity Designer to create repeat patterns with vectors.
I want to open a Society6 and a Spoonflower shop. For this though I need to create a body of artwork in the correct sizes.
I would also like to create a print on demand shop I can attach to my website. At the moment I am looking into using Prodigi. They produce calendars, art prints, Christmas decorations – all things I would like to put my art on.
I want to launch more of my art I have created a while ago. I have a lovely flower collection and a cat collection based on our cat Bobby, who passed away in 2022.
I also want to get back to designing new jewellery using my silver clay and kiln, however this depends on the progress with our garage. I also want to sculpt cat faces in polymer clay and add to my products.
As I haven’t done much lino printing last year, I hope I can find some time to add a new design in my shop. I also would love to work with alcohol inks again, but I can only do this in the conservatory.
I also want to try my hand at Sumi-e painting as I have the ink and a useful book to learn from. I also still like to continue with watercolours.
My YouTube goal of 1000 subscribers is still on my list of things I want to achieve.

As you can see this is quite an extensive list and I probably end up only getting a fraction done, but that’s ok. Nothing is set in stone and life always throws a curveball.

My non-business plans:

I want to continue with decluttering house, garage and garden and improve our living space.
I also would like to go on a proper holiday. The last time we have been on holiday was in 2018 – twice in Germany to visit my family and once in Lisbon. The only slight problem is that I do worry about our cats. When Bobby was alive my parents-in-law took care of her and the house when we were on holidays, but we can’t really ask my mother-in-law (my father-in-law sadly died in 2020) as she is getting frail and no longer drives. Plus taking care of two still very young cats is quite an ask. Instead, we will have to explore the option of a trustworthy cat sitter or a cat hotel.

And that’s it really. It will be interesting to see how much I can realistically achieve this year. I probably get side-tracked and also simply haven’t got the time to get all of this done anyway, but I will certainly have a go at it 😊

How about you? What have you planned for 2025?

Let me know in the comments below

Helen x

Contents hide

1 What happened to my non-business plans for 2024?

2 What else happened in 2024?

3 Getting side-tracked is a problem, but can also lead to new interesting avenues.

4 My plans for 2025.

4.1 Business plans:

4.2 My non-business plans:

Ivy cooper leaf bracelet

January 9, 2026

My dad bought me this bracelet for Christmas and I absolutely love it, it has amazing detailing.

Malia Mackenzie

I could have kept them for myself!

March 25, 2022

“I have bought some lovely jewellery and bookmarks from Helen typically to give as special and unusual presents. Everything is beautifully made, reasonably processed and always well packed. I have also been a lucky winner of a red bracelet and earrings set which has bought me some lovely compliments as does the lovely blue and white nautilus necklace which is so unique and eye catching. I was really interested when Helen began making the sculptures, watching her posts as each model developed. As a cat worshipper, this specific group really caught my eye! I bought two cats; one sitting black and white, the second white and black which was laying down – bought them as presents for people with cats of similar colouring; they are so lovely, the detail is wonderful and their recipients are so pleased with them! They nearly didn’t get their presents, as I could have kept them for myself! Thank you Helen, your work is wonderful!”

Cathy St. John

Thrilled with them.

“Just taken delivery of 2 cat sculpture ornaments, a surprise for my birthday and am thrilled with them. Very special as handmade so each one unique. They arrived very well packaged and in cat paper with a ribbon and each even came with an adoption certificate with my cat’s name on, a lovely touch. Very personal service with a follow up to check if parcel had arrived safely and undamaged. I would definitely recommend to anyone looking for a lovely unique gift for friends or even themselves. In fact, I’ve just ordered another cat to go with my others! Thank you, Helen :)”

Louise West

Every item is unique.

“I discovered Helenka White Design through The Cat (magazine of the charity Cats Protection) and I have now bought five of Helen’s beautiful pieces: two sitting cat pendants for myself) and three gifts – including one for a non-cat person who was delighted with her shiny pendant. Helen’s service is prompt and personal, and all the items were lovingly and attractively packaged. Best of all: every item is unique, yet the prices are so affordable!”

Brenda Griffith-Williams

Surpassed expectations.

“I commissioned a custom pair of earrings from Helen and was very happy with both the process and the finished result. She patiently actioned my requests for various adjustments to the design along the way and the finished product surpassed expectations. Highly recommended.”

anon

Very tactile and beautifully made.

“I’ve bought several items from Helen over the years, both for myself and as presents. They’re all unique, artistic and stylish. One of the things I like most about the jewellery is the lovely feel. All the items are very tactile as well as beautifully made.”

Sian Aubrey

Love the little cat pendant.

“I wanted to get something special for xmas for my wife, and, I found Helen’s site. Whilst there was lots there I liked, nothing that would be perfect for my wife, so, I emailed Helen, told her what I wanted, and, GOT IT. Had to pay a bit extra, but, when you ask for pure silver you have to pay for pure silver. Love the little cat pendant I have got, with a pure silver chain. Communication with Helen was so easy, so simple to sort out issues. If you want something from her for this xmas, order now, fast like.”

Mark Fisher

Arrived beautifully packaged.

“I ordered a custom piece to be made for a young lady’s birthday. Helen was very good with communications over the piece, making sure I was happy with the design and materials used. Delivery was very good and it arrived beautifully packaged. She was overjoyed with her present and also the unexpected gift that Helen had added. I’ll be definitely recommending Helen’s work to others and shall be returning to purchase more of Helen’s lovely work at later dates.”

Jim Laver

Delighted with the finished pieces.

“I asked Helen to design me a necklace using beads I’d seen and liked on her website. I had quite a clear vision for what I wanted and she agreed she could make what I wanted and offered to make me some matching earrings.

She communicated with me frequently throughout the design process offering alternatives and using photos to illustrate the options. She gave me quotes for the work ahead of time. She worked diligently and in a very timely fashion keeping me updated as she went. I was delighted with the finished pieces which she packaged beautifully and sent by secure post. I was very happy throughout the entire process and Helen finished the necklace and earrings to a very high standard. I would have no hesitation recommending Helen for her work, design and collaborative approach and the excellent quality of her jewellery. I’ll be keeping an eye out on her website for other items I might fancy.”

Siobhan O'Neill

I received several compliments from family and friends.

“I was thrilled when Helen contacted me in October to inform me that I had been chosen as the winner of her latest giveaway to celebrate her 4th successful year in business! I was to be the proud owner of her beautiful Macaw polymer clay pendant and earring set and I also had to thank Bobby, her beautiful pet kitty, who pawed my name out of the bag!

Just a few days later my handmade jewellery set arrived safely secured in a pretty little drawstring black velvet bag. The colours were striking and the set was so well made with Helen’s signature marked on the back. I wore it first with my red top and black jeans and received several compliments from family and friends! I would like to take this opportunity to thank Helen and Bobby once again for the lovely giveaway and to wish Helenka White Design much success in the future. I will definitely recommend her products to all my family and friends and will be looking forward to seeing her new creations!”

Tracy Nixon