Happy New Year folks! I hope your January is off to a good start. Over the holidays I took the opportunity to reset and prepare for the year ahead. So let’s take a look at what’s in store for 2024 because it’s going to be a big one!
A NEW CREATIVE CHAPTER
Over the last couple of years my creative focus has shifted from style and fashion to our life and work at Steep Hill Cottage. This has been an organic transition and I’m ready to formalize this change by more intentionally sharing the passions and projects that excite me most.
So with that being said, I’m thrilled to announce that this spring what you’ve known as Style Bee, will become Steep Hill Studio!
WHAT IS STEEP HILL STUDIO?
Steep Hill Studio is an online space (currently under construction) to share all of the exciting things that my husband Dave and I are up to both personally and professionally. If you’ve enjoyed my lake life updates over the last year or two you will absolutely love what’s in store for Steep Hill Studio. There is so much I haven’t shared about the wild ride we’ve been on and I cannot wait to open the vault!
These are some of the topics we plan to cover:
- HOME – A window into our life and the work we’re doing at Steep Hill Cottage.
- Small space living (while we move into the Sleeping Cabin for a year)
- Updates on our renovation progress
- Candid fireside chats between Dave and I as we iron out ideas and plans
We’re going to dig into all the goodness and challenges of building a special lakeside homestead.
- CREATIVITY – A place to share and explore our creative interests.
- Gardening
- Photography
- Books
- Journaling
- Artwork & so much more
We hope to inspire your own creative pursuits through the ones we share.
- EXPERTISE – A virtual studio where we will offer professional consulting to support your home and building projects.
- Building & Design Fundamentals
- Design Plans, Palettes & Sources
- Community Q&A Sessions
- Individual Consultation
Dave is a professional engineer and builder and together we have developed a wealth of design and implementation expertise that we look forward to sharing.
Steep Hill Studio is going to be a treasure trove of inspiration, insights, delight and resources!
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WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE STYLE BEE BLOG AND THE STYLE BEE NEWSLETTER?
The Style Bee blog will remain active until Steep Hill Studio officially launches in March and the archived posts will be available for you to reference until then.
My most popular resource, Define & Streamline Closet Toolkit can be downloaded for free.
The Style Bee Newsletter will be taking a pause while I focus on bringing this next creative chapter to life and will resume in March as the Steep Hill Bulletin. It will still be coming from me every week and the most popular elements from the current newsletter will be included. It’s going to be full of even more wholesome goodness than ever!
My interest in style will always be part of my work and I look forward to sharing it in the context of Steep Hill Studio. I’m currently putting together a Cabin Capsule for when we live in the Sleeping Cabin full-time.
Whew! That was a whopper of an update to start the year with. Change is scary but I could not be more excited about this new direction and everything it will offer. Now I’ll share the sentiment that has guided me into 2024 and 5 simple actions I started the year with.
A SENTIMENT THAT SPOKE TO ME FOR 2024:
SIMPLE ACTIONS TO START 2024 WITH:
1 / CONTEMPLATION – I always like to start my year with a good journalling session. I used these prompts to get going this year but there are so many great ones to choose from on my Journal Jotting board. It’s always interesting to see what comes through and the more I continue my journalling practice the more clarity I get from it.
2 / VISUALIZING – I know vision boards are cringe, but I don’t care, the activity brings me joy and the result gives me something to work towards. I started by making a list of how I want to feel, the ways I want to spend my time and the things I want to accomplish. Then I pulled images that resonated with the items on my list onto a Pinterest board and suddenly I was done. It’s a great high level resource to revisit throughout the year.
If you’re not the vision board type, consider simply choosing a phrase or even just a single word for the year. My phrase last year was “Trust my intuition unconditionally.” and my word for this year is “INITIATE”. The last couple of years have been about inward work and now I’m ready to start putting my ideas out into the world.
3 / READING – Find yourself a good book to bring comfort and inspiration. This year I’m starting the year with Mary Oliver’s Devotions and finishing up Weyward by Emilia Hart. Both have strong themes surrounding an appreciation of nature, which is definitely a through-line in my life.
4 / MOVING – Winter is definitely here and even though going outside is borderline painful, it always does my body and soul some good. Dave and I have been making a point to get outside with the dogs everyday (even though they spend most of the time inside our coats). We always return home filled with energy and ideas.
5 / CREATING SPACE – It’s going to take a lot of focus to accomplish the things I want to this year and that means reducing distractions and making space for my productivity to thrive. I started by decluttering our living and working areas to open physical space. Then I unsubscribed from streaming services, publications and content that have been serving as a distraction to open my mental space. I’m already feeling the freeing effects of these two simple actions.
Cheers to a 2024 of bold creative endeavours!
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Thank you for sharing your good taste and expertise–I’m excited for this shift in content!