Happy new year! (I am a day late oops) How was 2025 for you? This is the time of the year where I like to look back at my creations, tidy up the atelier, and make plans for the year coming. I am still trying to keep up with my at-least-once-a-month output, but I think September didn’t quite fit the bill…

Presenting Atelier Ilyere’s 2025 art summary!

In case you missed the respective posts:
January: Origami place card holders
February: Origami pentagon rose by Naomiki Sato
March: Origami daffodils
April: Simple engagement card
May: Small origami crane curtain
June: Kusudama – Hanaboshi Hakkaku Kiriko Type B
July: Cherry blossom-patterned kusudama bouquet
August: DIY fabric flower hair clips
September: Origami butterflies and variations
October: A “stack of pancakes” cake
November: A crafty Christmas 2025 – Origami star garland
December: A crafty Christmas 2025 – Macramé holly leaves and berries wall ornament

In 2025, I did a lot of origami in various forms. I have been experimenting with origami decorations, vases, centrepieces, and models. There is good reason for this! I will reveal all soon…
Aside from that, I did a mix of other things. Cardmaking, sewing, baking, macramé…
I can’t say I tried anything explicitly new this year, although decorating the cake to look like a stack of pancakes was definitely a new challenge!

My favourite thing I worked on was the macramé holly leaves and berries wall ornament. It just looks so cute and I made it from just coloured cords and a wooden hoop! I might have followed a tutorial for a part of it, but I also came up with my own edits to properly personalise it.

Something I could have improved on is keeping inventory. There were a couple of things I wanted to do but lacked a key component for it. For example, the two tsumami kanzashi kits I got from Japan are still sitting in my drawers because I don’t have the glue. I also wanted to do some Christmas-themed jewellery but I did not have any star-shaped beads to signify the top of a Christmas tree. I will need to think about what I need for every project going forwards!

By the way, here is the workstation going into 2026! I have cleaned up the desk a little by getting a new shelf unit under the desk. There is also a collapsible box of the nice washi and patterned paper I got from Japan and other stores. And there is a new mysterious box in the corner full of wondrous things…

I have now properly packed away the Christmas-themed makes on the walls and on the boxes to go with the other decorations in the loft now. So it’s a little tidier in that aspect! The large bag of stuffing is just in another bag out of view though. Actually a lot of stuff is overflowing and lining the walls on the right, so you don’t need to see that…

In 2026, I and this blog will be preparing for a major event. I will release the details soon as it will encompass almost the entire year. It will be tough but hopefully rewarding so join me on this new journey! And do you have any goals and plans of your own?