Hello 2025! I know, I know. There are just a few days left in January, and I’m just now publishing a post to welcome in the new year. Life outside of scrapbooking has been nonstop since October—a whirlwind filled with ups, downs, and everything in between. I’ve missed connecting with all of you and am so ready to get back to nurturing my little slice of internet real estate. This is a long post, so grab a hot bevvie, and let me fill you in on what’s been happening over the past several months!
All of what I’m about to write is tied to my word for 2025. So before I dive in, I want to share my One Little Word for this year: "Nurture." It took some time for this word to reveal itself to me. Even though I’m not participating in Ali Edwards' One Little Word class, the memory-keeping community’s chatter about choosing a guiding word for the year always inspires me. I love the idea of letting a word choose me instead of making a list of resolutions that, let’s be honest, would likely be forgotten by mid-January. As December came to a close, I was starting to feel a bit unsettled that no word had surfaced yet.
Then I reflected on everything that unfolded in the last few months of 2024, and suddenly, "nurture" made its appearance. Here’s how it came to be:
October Hurricanes
My husband and I live along the Gulf Coast, just south of Tampa. In October, we experienced something we’d never faced before: two hurricanes hitting within two weeks of each other. Prepping for these storms was an enormous task, especially since we evacuate for the second one–Milton
Preparing to evacuate not only meant moving furniture, clothing, and other items from the first floor to the second floor, I needed to pack all our family photo albums, printed pictures, external hard drives, computers, into the car to ensure they came with us (even though all of our digital pics are backed up to Backblaze, I still feel better taking all the external hard drives). It. Was. Exhausting. Physically and mentally exhausting. It made me realize something important: I need to better nurture how our printed photos and photo albums are stored. I don’t want to deal with packing all of that up again and then having to put it all back after the hurricane has left.
In 2025, one of my big goals is to tackle the task of scanning our photos. It’s a daunting project, but one that feels necessary to protect these precious memories. If these hurricanes taught me anything, it’s the importance of safeguarding what truly matters. Anyone have a high speed scanner they can recommend?
November Getaway + Artisan Market
We love the mountains of western North Carolina, and try to visit every year. We rented a house for two weeks–the last week of October and first week of November. I don’t even think we put the house back together after Hurricane Milton before it was time to pack and leave for NC. The mountains were calling. I couldn’t wait to go. We hiked, visited craft breweries, and supported local businesses who were affected by Hurricane Helene. It just felt good to nurture our connection to nature and to the little community we have been visiting for several years.
During our visit, there was an artisan market at the college in town. It was great connecting with other artists and discussing their work. I organize a handmade artisan market three times a year in our community, including a Holiday Market after Thanksgiving, where I also have a booth. In North Carolina, I brought craft supplies to work on items to sell. I love crafting, especially knitted wire art, felting, and crocheting, and plan to nurture these crafts in 2025. It’s refreshing to explore creative outlets away from the computer. I’ll share my creations on the blog soon!
December Chaos
I don’t know about you, but man, I was NOT happy that December 1 came just a few days after Thanksgiving! I used to having at least a week between Thanksgiving and the beginning of December. It really threw me for a loop. Any one else? I looked ahead on my Apple Calendar, and for the next several years we can expect the same–there will only be a few days between Thanksgiving Day and December 1. This caused me to pause and realize that I need to nurture + plan out my calendar more in 2025. I don’t want to be caught off guard come the ‘ber months!
Photography Skills
Back in December I was scrolling through some of my Photo Libraries I have on my 6TB external hard drive (more on how I do this in this blog post). I was searching for a food photo I took of one of my favorite recipes so I can send it, along with the recipe, to my son and his girlfriend. While scrolling through these libraries, I realized that my photography skills have seemed to decrease over the past few years. I don’t know why, but my photos taken 2023-24, seem to be lacking something compared to those taken in years prior to 2023-24. And I want that to change. I upgraded to an iPhone 16 Pro Max back in December and I am looking forward to nurturing my photography and video skills. I’ve mentioned in the past that I love the DIY Family Film Class (that is an affiliate link, BTW). I am also considering enrolling in the iPhone Photography Class, by Emil Pakarklis. Don’t get me wrong, my iPhone photography skills don’t suck, but the camera on this phone is pretty amazing, and I would really like to learn more about the features. I’ve been following him for several years, and I think I can learn a lot from him!
Gardening
Scrolling through the above mentioned Photo Libraries, I was reminded of how much I enjoyed planting succulents and growing fresh herbs in my tower garden. I came across photos of when my backyard patio was full of container gardens and I want to do it again. I want to nurture seedlings and work on my gardening skills. Playing in the dirt makes me happy.
Nurture my health
I am writing this blog post while recovering from knee surgery. Last May, I tore the meniscus in my left knee. My doctor and I hoped it would heal on its own, but it didn't, so surgery became necessary. I am eager to recover and return to my regular workout routine. Oh, I did work out over the past 7 months. I often walked to our community fitness center and did what I could. However, it wasn't quite the same. I missed those endorphins, but I couldn't risk further injury to get them. It’s been frustrating, but it has also made me realize how crucial exercise is for both my physical and mental health. I’m looking forward nurturing and restoring my body and mind to health through diet and exercise!
Daily Devotionals
Several years ago a friend gave me a copy of Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young. I love this little book. Last year I made a commitment to myself to read each daily devotional, along with it's Bible verse(s), and journal my thoughts/takeaways. I had a few Simple Notebooks by Becky Higgins stashed away, and they were perfect for this. In 2025 I want to further nurture my relationship with God, and I have been using the Holy Bible App for daily devotionals and Bible Study plans. I bought the Bible Study Journal by Clever Fox off of Amazon. I love their journals and planners! I’m in a nice routine now, where I spend about an hour in the morning upstairs in my studio reading and listening and writing. It’s such a great way to start the day!
Nurturing Pixels to Pages
I’ll admit it, while there were several things that went right for Pixels to Pages in 2024, there were a few things that did not go as planned. And that’s okay. Bumps in the road made me stop and really think about the direction I wanted to take Pixels to Pages. My daily habit of reading Jesus Calling taught me to ask for direction, patience, and clarity for my business. Ask and you shall receive. I realized I could do the memory-keeping community more good through teaching rather than designing kits, so I closed my online shop. Teaching others how to use technology to document their photos + stories—whether it be through mobile apps or desktop software—fills me up. My heart does a little happy dance every time a student posts about having an “aha moment” in the classroom message boards. Nurturing my business is definitely a top priority for 2025. You will see a big shift in how classes will be offered, email content, and blog posts. I can’t wait to tell you more.
Nurture. As a verb it means to care for, feed, foster, protect, or encourage the development of something or someone. As a noun it is the care and attention given to someone or something that is growing or developing. It’s such a good word for me and I look forward to seeing all the ways it will show up this year!
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